Generating NPCs with the Witches Oracle

A little while back, I ordered a deck of cards known as “The Witches Pocket Oracle Deck”¹ to play around with. I’m not convinced by their supernatural abilities, but they are a fun little way to practise improvising meanings from things and I’ve been giving readings for my friends.

Yesterday while chatting with a friend, she gave me the idea of generating NPCs using these cards. Usually I’d get the person requesting the reading to ask me a question and then lay out a three card spread for past, present and future. Each card represents some element that might be relevant for the question. I think this would work really well for quickly figuring out the history of an NPC, what they’re doing now and what they’re planning to do in the future. Let’s give it a go!

Off to https://www.fantasynamegenerators.com/ for some names and then we’ll start (seriously I love this site so much)…

Zeram Mudel

Zeram Mudel is the mayor of a small backwater village. He got:

PAST: XVII The Key PRESENT: XI The Magpies (reversed) FUTURE: IX The Viper

The Key usually represents secrets, revelations and news. The Magpies would normally be a good omen, joy and spontaneity, but a reversed card has the opposite meaning to its usual one. Finally, The Viper refers to shedding the old, renewal and rejuvenation.

Mayor Mudel is something of a mysterious figure. He’s a dour, serious man who only came to the town a few years ago when his brother, the previous mayor, died in a hunting accident. No-one knows what he did before that, and that makes many people suspicious of him. He’s certainly not saying anything about his past.

Recently the village has been plagued by a string of hardships. A fierce summer and long winter have ruined crops around the local area, and bandits are becoming more common and more desperate. The townsfolk blame him for not doing more about these problems, although if pressed they would admit there’s not much he can really do.

Secretly, he hates this village. He’s been saving up, trying to scrape together enough supplies and gold to leave this place and start a new life in the city as a new man. The recent poor fortune of the village mean this dream feels a long, long way away, however.

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That worked even better than I’d hoped! Let’s do another.

Meshi Rainflare

Meshi is a warrior in the dwarven king’s army. She got:

PAST: XVI The Rope (reversed) PRESENT: XVIII The Bread (reversed) FUTURE: VII The Owl

The Rope usually means binding, but also steadiness and security. The Bread usually means sustenance, respite and nourishment. With both of these reversed though, their meanings are also reversed. Finally, The Owl represents wisdom, solitude and knowledge.

Meshi grew up in a very stern household, even by dwarvish standards. She ran away from home when she was barely a teenager and fended for herself for many years, getting into all kinds of scrapes before finally landing into some serious trouble when a group she’d fallen in with were arrested for theft.

Her sentence was three years in a punishment battalion fighting the orcs on the Northern border. Supplies are scarce, and the regular recruits are not above stealing food from the prisoners. She’s always hungry and gaunt, and her complaints are ignored or mocked.

Meshi has discovered that she has a knack for soldiering, however. She has a sharp mind and good tactical sense, and while no-one listens to her now, she’s thinking of applying for the army properly once her sentence is up. With her keen intellect, she might well go far; the soldiers who stole her rations had better watch out!

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That’s all I’ve got time for right now, but I hope this shows how effective and simple this technique is! I’ll try bringing it to the table and report back on how it goes.