by Jeff Grisenthwaite

The Magnetism of Tarot

I never truly believed. My logical brain never accepted that tarot cards could actually divine the future, but I was instantly captivated by the haunting illustrations by Pamela Colman Smith in the classic Rider-Waite tarot deck. I bought my first tarot deck in college and delivered tarot readings for friends for fun, prophesying about how they’ll fare on their final exam in bio-chem or what might happen at the party that night.

The Beginnings of Soothsayers

Born out of this long-time fascination of mine, the original concept of Soothsayers was a simple one: an engine-building game built around the suits and major arcana of the tarot deck.

Some of my initial ideas for the game worked surprisingly well in early playtests and stayed true throughout my many iterations:

• Suit actions: Each of the four tarot suits represents a different type of action that has thematic cohesion. From the beginning, the Cups suit let you draft cards, and the Pentacles suit earned you money.

• Leveling up: Players level up their actions by placing the next sequential card on top of a stack of cards. For example, you might upgrade your 2 of Wands by placing the 3 of Wands on top of it.

• The Major Arcana: The major arcana (The Fool, Death, Justice, etc.) enable players to wield thematic abilities that are powerful enough to nearly be game-breaking.

History of Tarot as Playing Cards

My use of the tarot deck in a strategy game like Soothsayers turned out to be more true to tarot’s origins than the fortune-telling aspects that we now associate with it. Tarot decks originated in 15th century Italy and were used in a variety of card games, mainly trick-takers, for three hundred years before having any association with divination or the occult.

I did not learn these facts until I was well into designing Soothsayers, but I love the idea that my game is taking tarot back to its tabletop game roots.

Standing on the Shoulders of Giants

In terms of gameplay, I knew that I wanted to explore the design space defined by two of my game design heroes: Carl Chudyk (Glory to Rome, Innovation) and Tom Lehmann (Race for the Galaxy, Res Arcana). I set out the following design goals to put Soothsayers in a similar category as their games:

• Multi-use cards as the central component

• Impressive depth of strategy delivered in 30-60 minutes

• High degree of player interaction with big, dramatic moments

Playtesting & Iteration

While the core of the game held true throughout my many iterations, a number of areas went through substantial evolution, including:

• The specific powers of the 22 major arcana

• The actions associated with the Swords and Wands suits

• The victory condition

Much of my playtesting was done with fellow game designers from the Break My Game and Protospiel Online communities. Playtesting with other game designers helps me to rapidly level up my games as a result of their ability to express their feedback candidly using precise language that draws upon their own design trials and tribulations.

I find it useful to complement that by playtesting with groups of family and friends who are more accustomed to playing lighter games to ensure that my games are as easy-to-learn and intuitive as can be.

A screenshot from the second playtest of Soothsayers; I built the digital prototype in Screentop.gg for online playtesting

Finalist in Cardboard Edison

I entered Soothsayers in Cardboard Edison‘s annual game design contest, and I was thrilled when the design made it into the finals, making it one of the top fifteen games out of over 250 submitted. This is the video that I submitted to the contest:

Youtube Video

Here are a few of the judges comments after playing my prototype:

In addition to that praise, the contest judges provided me with crucial feedback for improving the last mile of the game. There was still a fair amount of balancing work for me to do, but more importantly, I needed to improve the arc of the game and the endgame trigger.

To that end, I converted Soothsayers from a point-salad game to a race to claim a set of Fate tokens. Throughout the game, players acquire and reclaim the Fate tokens from one another. The tension and danger ramp up dramatically as the game barrels toward an exciting conclusion. I knew I nailed what I was going for when one playtester described these new mechanisms as feeling like “a knife fight in a phone booth”.

Developing with Play to Z

Once the game was ready, I reached out to Zev Shlasinger at Play to Z. It was a brand new company at the time, but I had previously pitched games to Zev during his time at WizKids, and I had a feeling that he’d really like Soothsayers.

The only change to mechanisms that occurred during development was to add a second deck of major arcana, referred to as the Transcended Tarot, to increase replayability of the game. This second deck adds a whole set of wilder powers that players can either play standalone or mix-and-match with the original deck.

We kept Pamela Colman Smith’s striking illustrations at the center of the game, and Marco Primo created artwork to complement those. The box cover bringing together a group of the major arcana characters is particularly striking.

Published versions of Soothsayers‘ cards

My Hopes for Soothsayers

My journey with Soothsayers began with a fascination for the iconic illustrations of the Rider-Waite tarot deck, and the design process allowed me to much more deeply explore that connection.

I’m thrilled to have designed a game that not only honors the historical roots of tarot as playing cards but also delivers a rich, strategic experience within a concise 30-60 minute timeframe.

My hope is that Soothsayers captivates players with the same sense of wonder and provides a satisfying emotional and strategic arc, leaving them eager to delve into its depths again and again.

Thanks for reading!

Jeff Grisenthwaite