Fortune's Wheel RPG
What is Fortune's Wheel?
Fortune's Wheel is a role-playing and story game using Tarot cards (or dice if you prefer). The system helps you to dynamically create stories and backgrounds for characters, settings and items on the fly while playing or when preparing a game. It has been designed to enable various different play styles from tradtional role-playing through to referee free and improvised play. It is even possible to play Fortune's Wheel solo.
The system is a generic approach to play rather than a hard and fast set of rules. Think of it more as a toolkit or approach than a rule based system. You can customise it with your own or our modded game mechanics so it can be played with quick and easy basic styles of play or deeper more complex ones. As it is generic and modular you can use it as an alternate way to play classic games like Dungeons and Dragons, your own game worlds (and you can use the system to create them as well) or one of the game worlds we will be making available especially for Fortune's Wheel.
The link between all the various adventures players will have is the idea that everything we can imagine or dream exists somewhere deep within a sort of proto universe called the Erebus. The Erebus is the creative soup for everything, feeding off intelligent thought to create pocket places that eventually grow into enduring and self sustaining worlds or universes of their own, or wither and die. The Erebus latches onto both our dreams and our nightmares, our conscious thoughts and subconsious urges, hopes and fears and twists everything that grows within it, creating threats and dangers within even the most idyllic of creations. Nothing is ever quite what appears.
This is the core setting for Fortune's Wheel.
A seemingly idyllic section of English countryside has been magically hidden for centuries in a fold in space. Cradled within is a gate to the fountain of creation itself, the Erebus, which infects peoples dreams and gives birth to their greatest hopes and darkest nightmares.
Players can explore the mysterious 'Witching Fold' and its inhabitants as either outsiders to the Fold or locals and uncover the mysteries of the secret societies, terrifying monsters and numerous plots and conspiracies to be found there.
Inspiration for the setting is found in hauntology, and in the work of Tim Powers (with a nod to Roger Zelazny along the way) assuming he met H.P.Lovecraft on a dark night on the coast of Devon. That they discussed Arthurian legends over a cream tea that was laced with a mysterious poison that bought their nightmares to life, and unearthed a centuries old conspiracy concerning myths and legends, the creation of the universe, fallen angels, faeries and alchemy.
What do fallen angels and Faeries have to do with a hidden part of the English countryside, Arthurian romance and the Tarot? There is only one way to really find out - play the game!
Intended as a prequel to the main Witching setting as well as an introduction to the game this will be a series of adventures taking players from the 1920s to the modern day as they uncover the secrets of the mysterious Knights of the Rose who have been manipulating reality from their magically hidden base in Witching. The first part, 'Long Dead Ink' is set in 1920s Edinburgh. You can find more details below.
Check out some of the artwork for Fortune's Wheel
The art you will see in the Quickstart PDF and in the finished game will mostly be created by Hybridartifacts and Winggleam. We are also using some public domain art from archive.org for the sampler, though as we create more original art for the game many of those images will either be updated or replaced.
Some of the artwork here is still work in progress at the moment. Various books, pamphlets and ephemera have been published over the years in Witching and we will be including samples of some of these for the game. As well providing some local colour they might also include some important game information for the more perceptive players to spot.
Click on your 'ticket to adventure' to see some of the art for the game!
Illustration for the Quickstart and Core book.
Illustration, Fortunes Wheel, Questing Heart
The Goddess of Fortune herself. Illustration for the Quickstart and Core book.
Illustration, Fortunes Wheel, Fortuna
A view of Hock's Hill in Witching
Illustration, Fortunes Wheel,Hocks Hill, Witching locations
The Winter Knight as described by Icarus
Illustration, Fortunes Wheel, The Winter Knight
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Photography, Web Design
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Branding, Web Design
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Branding, Web Design
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PhotographyA Starter Adventure
The Edinburgh Horrors; Long Dead Ink takes the players back to the years after World War one and the formation of a secret society known only as 'the Cabal'. Disenchanted with the 'Age of Reason' by the Great War the Cabal is dedicated to discovering why magic all but disappeared and bringing it back to enchant the world again. If science and reason could lead to the horror of the Great War, perhaps magic might offer a way back from that horror to a purer more innocent age and heal the wounds it caused.
An increasingly rare tear in the fabric of reality, a reality fracture, is due to occur in Edinburgh at Halloween. An influential patron of a parapsychological society send the players to catalogue events and at the same time obtain a rare book that might hold the secret to restoring magic.
This adventure has the basic Fortune's Wheel system built in. It is intended to give players an introduction to the game system with examples woven into the adventure so you can try it out and get used to it as you play. It is designed for a traditional style of play using one player as a 'gamesmaster' or GM who runs the adventure for the other players, taking on the roles the various people they meet, describing places, events and situations and refereeing play. It also allows for some unusual play styles such as multiple players controlling a single character and players being able to play some of the characters they meet during the adventure.
We will be launching a Kickstarter for the adventure along with a guide to 1920s Edinburgh shortly. If you would like to be notified when it launches you can always email us below. We will also announce it on our social media pages.
You can sign up to be notified on launch here:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/fortuneswheel/the-edinburgh-horrors-long-dead-ink
Illustration for the Quickstart and Core book.
Illustration, Fortunes Wheel, Questing Heart
The Goddess of Fortune herself. Illustration for the Quickstart and Core book.
Illustration, Fortunes Wheel, Fortuna
A view of Hock's Hill in Witching
Illustration, Fortunes Wheel,Hocks Hill, Witching locations
The Winter Knight as described by Icarus
Illustration, Fortunes Wheel, The Winter Knight
Proin gravida nibh vel velit auctor aliquet. Aenean sollicitudin, lorem quis bibendum auctor, nisi elit consequat ipsum, nec sagittis sem nibh id elit.
Photography, Web Design
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Branding, Web Design
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Branding, Web DesignWho we are.
We are a husband and wife indie game development team. There is no big corporate entity funding us and we get by as best we can with our various creative projects. We depend totally on the support of people who like what we do and want to see us create more. When we are not creating games we create all sorts of art, write fiction, play games, watch other people play games, travel when we can and take lots of photographs (handy for the art).
The creator of the Fortune's Wheel creative game and story system as well as a lot of the artwork. He has been playing rpgs ever since the first copies of Dungeons and Dragons began to arrive in England.
The layout design and typography brains of the team. She is also a talented artist.
Without the blessings of Fortune we are in for a rough ride. This is what the Roman tragic poet Pacuvius once said of her:
“Philosophers say that Fortune is insane and blind and stupid, and they teach that she stands on a rolling, spherical rock: they affirm that, wherever chance pushes that rock, Fortuna falls in that direction. They repeat that she is blind for this reason: that she does not see where she's heading; they say she's insane, because she is cruel, flaky and unstable; stupid, because she can't distinguish between the worthy and the unworthy.”
What are people saying about Fortune's Wheel?
FortunaGoddess
These foolish mortals should expect trouble for invoking my name and especially for quoting that dreadful man Pacuvius who was just plain rude. Yes I know I can smile on both the worthy and the unworthy, but that is just because I am nice to people regardless, which I am sure you would agree is a really positive trait. I can turn on a dime of course, but that is really just so I can be even-handed and give everyone a taste of both good fortune and bad.
The game? Oh, I am sure it is very nice. I have not really looked at it (wearing a blindfold has not exactly helped).
Get in touch with us.