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Beginning
Created By
Arty @Artificer_Games
&
Jack @PirateTemple

A solo storytelling game

for creating characters
with rich backstories, for
entertainment or usage for
other games.
You need:

1 deck of tarot cards and

2 six sided dice

Usage of regular playing

cards is also possible.
Art Credit: Alfred Rethel - 2, 4
Arty - Cover
Basics Character creation Events and Timeline
This is a game of creating a story, using This game tells the story of a singular character During gameplay, you will draw cards, and
randomization to run its course. You will draw who is returning to a place of great nostalgia, each card and its orientation is matched by a
cards, roll dice and write the story, piece by such as a hometown, childhood home or question. This question is answered by an event
piece, starting from the end and making your school. It is a place the character did not set foot in the character’s past.
way back to the beginning. in during the Journey.
The events are resolved in a reverse order, with
Take out all the minor arcana cards, or if you’re The character’s personality and identity can be the latest being resolved first and the first event
using a normal deck of cards, remove all cards left vague, but if you want to, you can provide being resolved last.
9 or less, keeping the two Joker cards. Your finalanswers for these questions and write them
deck is equal to 22 cards. If you’re using regulardown: During gameplay, it is preferable to write only
playing cards, take a pen and make a mark to an overview of the event that happened. The
either end of the card with an arrow pointing Who is the character’s Friend? events and the Journey will be reviewed and
upwards. Orientation (upright or reversed) is Who is their Foe? honed after the game to formulate a coherent
important. What Object is important to them? backstory.
What is a Belief they hold?
Take out the Fool or black Joker card (or either What is their most prominent Emotion?
joker, if they’re identical) and separate it from What is their foremost Ideal?
the rest. Shuffle and remove random cards
from the deck to achieve desired playing time:

Short - 7 card deck (remove 14)

Medium - 14 card deck (remove 7)
Long - 21 card deck (remove 0)

You may to want to write the story down, so

have a writing implement, a notepad or a text
document ready.

Put the card you set aside to the bottom of the

deck. Its orientation doesn’t matter.
 Question Table
Drawing a Question Linking Events Value Upright Reversed
Draw the top card of your deck place Although the next event can happen 0 The Fool
Why did you leave? -
it in front of you (but not on top of several years before the previous one, Joker (Black)

the writing implement). Take note of
its value and orientation, and search it
from the Question Table.
it is important to link past events 1 The Magician
What did you take with you? What or who did you wait for?
Ace of Spades
into events you resolved already. For
2 High Priestess
example, if the character betrays a King of Spades
What did you learn? What secret must you keep?

friend, the friendship of the characters 3 The Empress What did you have in What or who did you depend
Queen of Spades abundance? on?
should be explored further in previous
Creating an Event 4 The Emperor
events. Jack of Spades
What or who did you protect? What or who did you abuse?
To create an Event from the Question,
5 The Hierophant
roll both of your dice and assign each This makes every action you do Ten of Spades
What or who did you follow? What did you challenge?

result to a value on the Resolution weightier the further you go backwards 6 The Lovers
How did you find harmony?
When did you feel
Table. One of the values will define the in time. The longer the character has
Ace of Diamonds disconnected?

tone of the Event and other a Feature. interacted with a thing, be it friend,
7 The Chariot
King of Diamonds
Who or what drove you
forwards?
What hindered your progress?

foe or ideal, the more weight the 8 Strength

What fear did you overcome? What made you vulnerable?
Answer the Question posed using this triumphant and somber moments
Queen of Diamonds

feature and tone. connecting to them have.

9 The Hermit
When did you stop?
When were you isolated and
Jack of Diamonds alone?

10 Wheel of Fortune Who or what did you meet

For example: Rolling 2 and 6, your Marking meaningful characters, Ten of Diamonds again?
What weighed you down?

result can either be Happy and Friend, objects and traits (by bolding them for 11 Justice When did you trust your When did you do something
Ace of Clubs instincts? wrong?
or Somber and Ideal. To answer the example) makes making connections 12 The Hanged Man
Question ”What made you stronger?”, faster. King of Clubs
When did you change? When did you hesitate?

you have two radically different ways 13 Death

What did you let go? What did you refuse to let go?
to approach the question. Queen of CLubs
Resolution Table 14 Temperance
When did you compromise? What was nagging at you?
Jack of Clubs
You might resolve it with ”I formed Value Tone Feature 15 The Devil When were you too late to stop
When were you at your lowest?
a family, and my bonds with them Ten of Clubs yourself?

strengthened my resolve” to get Happy 1 Grim Foe

16 The Tower
Ace of Hearts
What made you stronger? When did you lose hope?
and Friend fulfilled. 17 The Star
2 Somber Friend King of Hearts
When did you feel hopeful? When were your beliefs tested?

Alternatively, you might resolve it with 3 Disappointing Object

18 The Moon What experience did you What experience did you lock
Queen of Hearts cherish? away?
”Left in a desperate struggle in the
19 The Sun
middle of a battlefield, the only thing 4 Hopeful Belief Jack of Hearts
When did you feel content? What did you regret?

that kept me going was my resolve 20 Judgement What was your greatest
5 Triumphant Emotion When did you doubt yourself?
to fight for the right cause” to fulfill Ten of Hearts endeavor?

Somber and Ideal. 6 Happy Ideal

21 The World
Joker (Red)
What was your greatest success? When were you frustrated?
Epilogue and The end
After resolving your last card, your character’s
memoirs are over. Instead of in the past, we
move into the present. Their destination looms
in view.
Reflection and Story Arcs
The stories you create with this game can be
intriguing, but they can sometimes also be
confusing, meandering and inconclusive. This
is where post-game review comes around.

It is time to ask the final question. Take a look at the story. Are there plot threads
that are inconclusive or don’t lead up to
”How has the destination changed?” anything?

Resolve the question however you like. You Most of the time I would say you should cut
don’t need to roll dice anymore, but you can them. However, if you are making a character
roll if you want. If you can, tie it to the journey you’re going to be using in an RPG, I would
thus far, to make the change more satisfying. ask you to keep them and let the GM decide
what to do with them.
You reach the destination, and the game ends.
But the writing doesn’t. Create story arcs from the events, and move
events around in time. Add details such as
characters or items that would be around at
Ending the game prematurely
that time when you do. Just jiggle the pieces
Sometimes the character never reaches their until they fit.
destination. This can be because they die
or because they never intended to return. Then you can write it down. This time start
Sometimes the journey is still not over for from the beginning, and just make simple
them, for example when making a backstory connections between events until you have a
for a character you use in a game. fleshed out story.
In this case, never ask the final question, and You can then do whatever you want with the
never resolve it. Move on to Reflection and story. It can work as a character backstory, at
Story Arcs. best it can work as an outline for a short story
or a novel.