The Greater Trumps

CREDITS

The Greater Trumps was written and produced by Ken Brown, Hugh Eckert, and Dave Singer; from an original idea by Ken Brown.

This game is respectfully dedicated to Charles Williams; Pamela Colman-Smith and A. E. Waite; and the unknown men and women who in the Renaissance first formulated the Major Arcana.

The authors owe the shape of the Hierarchy to Gareth Knight.  It comes from his book The Magical World of the Tarot:  Fourfold Mirror of the Universe, Aquarian 1991.  Copyright 1991 Gareth Knight.

All other material copyright 1994, 1995 by Ken Brown, Hugh Eckert, and Dave Singer, unless otherwise noted.

Many thanks to the players who contributed to our new Trumps:  Brandon Brylawski, E. Augustus Knapp, J. Gordon Olmstead-Dean, Stacia Schwartz (who also gave invaluable MS-Word support), and Celia Tite.  Thanks also to all those who sent in ideas- they were great!

Inspirational Sources:   Aliester Crowley, John Crowley, Eden Gray, T.S. Eliot, Tim Powers, Shriekback, Robin Williamson, ZBS Radio, and a host of others.

The Larp Library version of The Greater Trumps stands as a memorial to G. David Singer LARP writer, LARP video pioneer and student of the Tarot. He was a brilliant and generous man without whom this game would not exist.


                  
The Greater Trumps: Your Character Mailing

Well, we've gone ahead and done it.  <Header>The Greater Trumps <Body Text> is cast, and so we have sent you this bulging envelope packed full of secret data. 

You should have:  this sheet of natter; your character sheet; and a bluesheet with general information on what the hell is going on.  Feel free to tell others who you have been cast as, but DO NOT discuss character matters with others before the start of the game.  One exception is mentioned below.  Please bring the material here enclosed to the game; we will have some copies, but it'll make us even more stressed-out, and...

Roles, Not Goals

This game is deliberately heavy on role-playing.  There is only one real plot, and player goals are made rather fuzzy in order to allow everyone to get a piece of the action.  Concentrate on role-playing your character, and you'll be OK. If you have a problem with this, please let us know; we'd hate to disappoint you.

Characters

Those of you playing "Originals" (the 22 cards of the established Greater Trumps) may notice that our interpretation of the card differs from the authorities.  Don't worry about it; just play the character as written.  Those of you playing "Outsiders" (the 11 archetypes that we added) may be a bit confused; if the character sheet seems a bit obscure for costume or roleplaying hints, please let us know.

Composite Characters

Two of our characters for this game have dualistic natures.  Four of you lucky guinea pi... uh players are playing them; that is, two players will have the same character sheet, and be playing two aspects of the same archetype.  No, this isn't a cheap atttempt to avoid writing two more character sheets; instead, it is (we hope) an interesting experiment in player dynamics.  If you are playing such a character, we will list your cohort's name address, and phone number on a separate slip of paper in the mailing.  If you don't find it, feel free to call us up and yell at us, and we'll hang our heads, and mumble an apology, and quiver our lower lips, and our eyes will fill up with tears...


The Greater Trumps: POST-GAME QUESTIONNAIRE

Thank you for playing The Greater Trumps. 

The GM staff would like to thank you for breathing life into the characters we've been living with for so long.  Now you have an opportunity to shape the life of your character. We plan to run  Trumps at other times and venues. We would like your ideas and comments about your character.  Please take a few minutes to fill out the following questionnaire.  Your responses will help us decide what changes are made to the game before it runs next.  If you did not open your reversal contingency envelope please do so before filling out the questionnaire. You can give us the completed questionnaires after the game, or mail them to:

The Greater Trumps
c/o [insert your address here]

Character name                                               
During the game did you: use your special ability?     Y / N
                                        engage in combat?    Y / N
                                        become reversed?          Y / N
                                        
On a scale of one to five with one being the most negative and five being the
most positive please respond to the following.

I had enough info to characterize my role         1 2 3 4 5
My character was clearly written             1 2 3 4 5
   had usable connections to other characters          1 2 3 4 5
My reversal attitude fit the character       1 2 3 4 5
My special ability was appropriate           1 2 3 4 5
                                   useful              1 2 3 4 5
                                   powerful            1 2 3 4 5
The combat system was clearly explained      1 2 3 4 5
                                                   was fun       1 2 3 4 5
                        worked well with the genre          1 2 3 4 5
                              was easy to resolve      1 2 3 4  5
                              
First impressions of your character
What could be done to improve your character?
Favorite character                                                      
The most inappropriate special ability was
Why?      

Was there anything which unbalanced the game?  Y / N
What was it or why was it unbalancing?
Please feel free to comment at length on the back.  Thanks once again!

