The Cataclysm • 2018 rpg

3-6 players.  A shuffled Tarot deck.

One player is the CATACLYSM.  They describe the setting and a sense of the potential cataclysm, large or small.

The other players are LUMINARIES seeking to avoid calamity.  Each describes their character.

Deal ten cards to the CATACLYSM in a stack.  Deal ten cards to each LUMINARY'S hand.

Each LUMINARY plays a card from their hand and describes a plan to prevent the cataclysm.

Cups - Environmental
Pentacles - Technological
Swords - Social
Wands - Spiritual, ethical

Major Arcana are wild and can describe any plan.

The CATACLYSM plays the top card in their stack.

Page = 11, Knight = 12, Queen = 13, King = 14.

The LUMINARIES temporarily succeed if:
1.  They played a card of the same suit AND a higher rank than the CATACLYSM, or
2.  They played a Major Arcana of higher rank.

If the CATACLYSM played a Major Arcana, so must have the LUMINARIES to succeed.

Discard all cards played.  If the LUMINARIES succeed, the CATACLYSM discards their next card.  Otherwise, all LUMINARIES discard one card from their hands.  The CATACLYSM narrates the continuing cataclysm.

If all players have cards, a new round begins.  

The loser has no cards remaining.  The victor narrates the end.