Café de Nuit

Hey guys. I have the original (correct) Tarokka deck from the Forbidden Lore boxed set, and also the misprinted Tarokka deck from the Red Box set. (Where the Necromancer and the Conjurer portraits are unforgivably switched in a fairly monumental clusterflub.) I also have an extra set of some cards from the FLore boxed set, just in case of wear and tear damage for my beloved first deck.

The question is: should I get the TDeck from White Wolf as well? I understand it has entirely new artwork. But are the cards themselves changed or updated at all? I'm a huge fan of Stephen Fabian's artwork, and also of Talon.

Does anybody here own both decks? Or is it only worth getting if you missed out on the 2nd ed. versions?

I own both Decks, and I do think the new cards are worth it.

I own both decks, and the Whitewolf one definitely is worth getting. Not only are the cards bigger and the art impressive, but the Ravenloft logo does not appear on the back of the cards... this was a big thing for me, especially when performing Tarokka readings for player's who did not yet realize that they had entered (or were about to enter) Ravenloft.

^Could you post some pics of your deck? All I have is the old one and I'd be interested in seeing the newer one.

Actually I've been looking for this deck for ages, ever since it first came out, but I was never able to find it. Guess WW's distribution didn't extend to my neck of the woods.

The Tarokka Deck appeared at Amazon and Ebay. Sometimes it is unavailable.

TwiceBorn wrote:I own both decks, and the Whitewolf one definitely is worth getting. Not only are the cards bigger and the art impressive, but the Ravenloft logo does not appear on the back of the cards...

Yeah, sticking the logo on the cards was not one of TSR's brighter moves.

Getting out my decks and comparing them:

1) No more suit colors;
2) The Master cards of the Lesser Deck now have a number as well (10);
3) Lots of minor name changes: the 6 of Stars is now the Evoker rather than the Invoker; the Darklord is now the Dark Master; the Donjon, the Prison; and the Ghost, the Spirit.
4) The Esper card has been replaced with one called The Hero.

The suspicious red stains on the Fortuna Magna or Greater Deck are a nice touch too.

Talon Dunning's art was the reason I bought that deck.

You can see some of it here:
http://www.talonart.com/slideshow.pl?id=wwr&image=14

Trust me, that accessory is well worth its price. You can still find it for sale on the net (ebay, etc...) and in certain shops (luckily for me, mine had two which were just gathering dust).

The White Wolf Tarroka is probably the best iteration of the deck to see print. The designers were smart enough to know that the deck itself is a PROP as well as a gamemaster's tool. So, there were no logos and every effort was made to get the deck to look akin to an old tarot deck.

Fortunately for me, I was lucky enough to buy a copy when White Wolf was selling off their back stock after the Arthaus rights reversion. I got my copy for something like $8.99.

LordGodefroi wrote:Fortunately for me, I was lucky enough to buy a copy when White Wolf was selling off their back stock after the Arthaus rights reversion. I got my copy for something like $8.99.

I already had a deck from when they first came out, but bought three more decks at the selloff at your same price, sold one below cost to a US soldier in Iraq, but sold the other two on Ebay at a substantial profit!

Gwenfloor wrote:The Tarokka Deck appeared at Amazon and Ebay. Sometimes it is unavailable.

Actually, in the months since I have been looking for this on Amazon and eBay, I would have to confirm what you just said and to alter it to "it is NEVER available".

I remember in mid 2006 or so it would crop up occasionally on an eBay search. Now it doesn't even do that.

I would go into a rant about how WotC lets all its best lines die out, but we've already been through that before. I will merely say I regret not being able to get quality Ravenloft stuff.

I only have the original tarokka, my emplyers were always far to cheap to ever think of paying me so I might purchase a copy. Then again, I did rip out the throat of the merchant selling them in the market, I just forgot to take one with me afterwards. Ah, the good old days when I would keep the FoS locked away in their rooms in terror, while I hummed silly tunes whilst crafting paper dollie chains.

I have a copy of the new one. Too bad I can't find it.

SUCCESS!!!11!!11eleven11!!... [-zors]


I have a Tarokka Deck from White Wolf! :party smilies galore:

I remember seeing the deck on ebay a few years back at about $20 and thinking "Geez, that's way expensive. I'm waiting till it comes down in price."

Then I went online sometime last week and the price went up to about $21.50 before I won it. (About $27 in total with shipping.)

I was lucky, though. Another Tarokka deck went up and it ended somewhere in the mid-$40s, which would have been way too expensive for me. (I think I paid something like $50 once for the "Denizens of Ravenloft Ral Partha set, and that's about as high as I'd ever go.)

So if you're still hunting for this, have hope. There are copies out there and they're still coming up for sale, sometimes two at a time.

Congrats!

When it arrives, let us know if you agree that it was worth it.

Oh, it's here all right. I have been reading through the new instructions and admiring the artwork.

By and large the cards are different. Not just in the artwork, but also in a few names here and there. A very small number of cards are done "after Fabian" (i.e. Talon did his own adaptation of Stephen Fabian's work on the Forbidden Lore Tarokka set for 2nd edition) but most of them are his own artwork.

Very good cards, all round. The cards are about double the surface area of the old decks, and the card backs have only a diamondback pattern on slightly yellowed card. The card surfaces themselves are sturdy and glossy, but you probably don't want to Faro shuffle (or ripple shuffle) these cards unless you can help it. Better to do the cut shuffle instead.

The only thing that caught me off guard was the Magna Fortuna deck, every card of which has bloodstains on it. At first I wasn't sure this was supposed to be there - I'd thought maybe the previous ebay owner who sold it to me had been careless while painting some minis!

Now, my only problem is that I don't have a face-to-face gaming group to play with...

I wonder if the Tarokka deck can be replicated online? Does Paizo.com have a pdf version of it? Has anybody come up with a software program that allows Tarokka tellings by HTML?

Either way, a good buy.