Using Tarot to Develop Original Characters' Motivations

He went to take another slow step toward the dagger, intent on grabbing it and waving it in the air if no one were to stop him. Thoughts of his zombified friends filled his mind once more, but this creature had to be stopped lest it take the very thing he hated. No more shall anyone feel that same pain. He intended to destroy it.

— Sample of an older RP, playing an exceedingly traumatized retired knight

All characters have their own unique motivations, fears, and desires, and with enough of these, they start to feel very much alive. It's one thing to have a character, but how do you get other people to feel them as much as you do? How do you get your ideas out of your head and onto paper? Worse - how do you come up with ideas when none spring to mind?

My partner would approach me with these issues, stating that they had a rough idea of a rogue, but no real motivations for the character. This proved difficult to flesh anything out given they had little more than "steals things" written down. And there isn't anything wrong with that! In fact, it gives us a good baseline to go off of. So first, motivation. Why does this character end up where they are? Let's call them Kaelan. (Yes, I used a generator, don't judge me.)

First, pull three cards. More can come later, but let's focus on the three for right now. For Kaelan's motivations, I pulled the five of wands, the three of swords, and the three of cups in reverse. This immediately makes me think of a conflict that leads to Kaelan's entire mistrust of people. After that, they start solely looking out for themselves. With the five of wands in the first position, the conflict is in the past and this character is no longer dealing with those involved. The five of wands is also interesting, because it's a competition card. In contrast, the five of swords is more about manipulation and gaining the upper hand over other people. Therefore, I think they're angry due to being hurt over what was supposed to be a fair fight.

After all this pain at being hurt and abused over what was supposed to be a group on equal footing, they have completely turned their backs on any sort of enjoyable friendship. Or the concept of having them at all.

In the name of having even more context, I pulled three more cards: the devil, the four of coins, and the ten of wands. This again, talks about their insistence of putting up walls for anybody trying to get in. The ten of wands indicates a resentment for letting others carry the burden for them. They wish to do this all on their own.

This will be their downfall. With the devil at the forefront of this set of cards, this speaks to Kaelan's addiction and ties to the crimes they get themselves tied up in. This can also speak to the bonds they place themselves in.

From six cards alone we have seen a little bit into this rogue's past, their current concerns, and their emotional difficulties. (What rogue doesn't have trust issues?) It goes to show how little cards you truly need to begin to develop an OC.

It only takes a few at a time! Pull three cards for one question, perhaps one more as a clarifier and let me know what sort of message you get. A simple past/present/future spread should suffice and you can pull a whole bunch of information out of very few cards.

I hope this little snippet helps you to develop the motivations of your TTRPG character. In future posts I will be going over their past, present and potential future paths. I also want to talk about developing backstories regarding specific people in a character's life as well as going over possible obstacles and choices.