Tarot cards and the Ancient Ones

By Jallis370, in Arkham Horror Second Edition

Posted at
I'm a total copycat and got inspired by the total pimping of the game in this thread: https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/714563/arkham-horror-casemodpartial-remake-project-absurd


Picking out an anchient one with tarot cards is an awesome idea and I bought a deck for this purpose. I chose the Thoth cards by Aleister Crowley, even though the cards came out as late as 1969. The artwork is a madmans work indeed.


Now, I want to make this part of the game as special as possible, just like all the other parts. I want each tarot card to correctly represent an ancient one. As of now I only have Cthulhu as The Priestess because some followers describes him as the great priest. But he could also be Cups, as there are relations between him and water.


The main idea is to use the major arcana cards (21) and one of each suit (4), ending up with 25 cards, one for each ancient one. But this is not set in stone if some other cards would suit an ancient one better. A small bonus for me is I'm left with 52 cards I can play with as a regular deck, meaning the rest of the cards won't get wasted.


I'm going to study the ancient ones more deeply while having the tarot cards in the back of my head. If anyone else have any good ideas then I want to hear it. Stupid ideas may be helpful too :) If I don't get mad I'll add the relations to this list as I find them suitable and someone comes up with links between the old ones and a card.


0 The Fool(card 0)

1 The Magus

2 The Priestess - Cthulhu?

3 The Empress

4 The Emperor

5 The Hierophant

6 The Lovers

7 The Chariot

8 Adjustment(trumph)

9 The Hermit

10 Fortune(trumph)

11 Lust(trumph)

12 The Hanged Man

13 Death(trumph) -

14 Art(trumph) - Rhan-Tegoth :: The horror at the museum

15 The Devil

16 The Tower

17 The Star - Zhar :: Star Treader

18 The Moon

19 The Sun - Cthugha :: looks like a sun

20 The Aeon - Yibb-Tstll :: said to watch at the center of all time as the universe revolves

21 The Universe - Yig :: It doesn't really fit the theme but there is a serpent on the card in my deck. Yog-Sothoth fits better because he is coterminous with all time and space

22 Wands(fire) - Tulzscha :: GREEN FLAME!

23 Disks(earth) - Shudde M'ell :: regent of the chthonians, a horrifying race of burrowing creatures

24 Cups(water) - Bokrug :: Amphibian

25 Swords(air) - Ithaqua :: The wind-walker

Edited by Jallis370
Posted at

Got a good pointer from another forum I posted in:Donald Tyson't Necronomicon Tarot.

This makes the list look like this:

0 The Fool(card 0) - Azathoth
1 The Magus - Nyarlathotep
2 The Priestess
3 The Empress - Shub-Niggurath
4 The Emperor
5 The Hierophant
6 The Lovers
7 The Chariot
8 Adjustment(trumph) - Shoggoth, are there any ancient ones relating to this creature?
9 The Hermit - Ithakuah
10 Fortune(trumph) - Yog-Sothoth
11 Lust(trumph)
12 The Hanged Man
13 Death(trumph) - Tsathoggua
14 Art(trumph)
15 The Devil - Cthulhu
16 The Tower
17 The Star
18 The Moon
19 The Sun
20 The Aeon
21 The Universe - Yig
22 Wands(fire)
23 Disks(earth)
24 Cups(water)
25 Swords(air)
Edited by Jallis370
Posted at

I've totally been inspired by the same thread - I was thinking the leftover cards could help randomize investigators in a sort of reading at the beginning of the game that finishes with the major arcana card being flipped to reveal the ancient one. (Maybe if upside down, a herald comes into play too)

I hadn't got as far as assigning ancient ones to cards in my planning yet, or looking at appropriate decks. The Thoth ones look pretty good, I think they're a reasonable choice. I hadn't even considered there might already be necronomicon themed ones - they look appropriately creepy - though maybe a bit too in your face with the mythos theme (they're not the star of the show after all :) ).

I'll have to start looking into it more and trying to fill out the list. Would be fun to have some reasoning behind which AO for which card. I'll start thinking about it and we can compare notes.

Posted at

Put your list on here then ;)

This is really hard...

Edited by Jallis370
Posted at
These are the ones who fit best for now:

0 The Fool(card 0) - Azathoth : Necronomicon Tarot, The blind idiot
1 The Magus - Nyarlathotep : Necronomicon Tarot
2 The Priestess - :
3 The Empress - Shub-Niggurath : Necronomicon Tarot
4 The Emperor - :
5 The Hierophant - :
6 The Lovers - :
7 The Chariot - :
8 Adjustment(trumph) - :
9 The Hermit - Ithakuah : Necronomicon Tarot
10 Fortune(trumph) - Yog-Sothoth : Necronomicon Tarot
11 Lust(trumph) - :
12 The Hanged Man - :
13 Death(trumph) - Tsathoggua : Necronomicon Tarot
14 Art(trumph) - Rhan-Tegoth : The horror at the museum
15 The Devil - Cthulhu : Necronomicon Tarot
16 The Tower - :
17 The Star - Zhar : Star Treader
18 The Moon - :
19 The Sun - Cthugha : Looks like a sun
20 The Aeon - Yibb-Tstll : Said to watch at the center of all time as the universe revolves
21 The Universe - Yig : Necronomicon Tarot, The card often has a serpent on it
22 Wands(fire) - :
23 Disks(earth) - Shudde M'ell : Regent of the chthonians burrowing creatures
24 Cups(water) - Bokrug : Amphibian
25 Swords(air) - :