The Sefirot Tarot dawns again! This gilded queer-friendly deck features new card designs, and a tome of alt-history Renaissance lore.
Latest Updates from Our Project:
Haven's Heir is LIVE! Free Alchemist print, 48 hours only
8 days ago
– Thu, Sep 24, 2026 at 10:01:37 AM
Stellar Beings,
Apologies for crossposting!
The hour cometh, we are riding once again into a crowdfunding battle. We are going back to Dioscoria, to The Hidden Isle, for the grandest adventure of the sixteenth century ever played.
Two new marvellous books, useful tools, and fantastic trinkets await.
Haven's Heir is a dozen linked adventures, exploring the tensions of Dioscoria, hostile realms, and ancient gods.
The Dioscorian Library brings a plethora of rule expansions and content, including:
Two new classes: the Alchemist and the Wild Walker
A full familiars system
New combat, weapons, and downtime rules
New beasts and magical creatures
NPCs and factions to help GMs get inspired
Every previously published adventure, reprinted in one book
A splendid GM Kit includes useful items for your session, such as a world map, a GM screen and progress clocks.
Want even more stuff? How about more Tarot cards, prints, pins, a soundtrack or even a fashionable Dioscorian T-shirt?
If you pledge now, you’ll get instant access to a free, never-before-seen prologue adventure that leads in to the new campaign! Furthermore, there will be a special discounted tier that will be available via our Discord channel! Need more options and complications? How about a 48-hour early bird special that will grant you a free print of our Alchemist for all physical pledges?
I reiterate the traditional invitation to join our socials (fun) andDiscord (even more fun and don’t forget that a special discounted tier awaits there).
Stay safe and stay connected,
The Card Master
On roads less taken
16 days ago
– Wed, Sep 16, 2026 at 06:21:11 AM
Stellar beings,
You might be wondering: Where the heck is that pledge manager? And you are right to do so. We spent the last month pushing numbers around and trying to find the most convenient solution. But in a world as mad as this one, almost nothing is convenient. Traditional shipping routes from our European hub are about twice as expensive nowadays compared to when we started using them in 2022. And that is without tariffs that you would need to pay on top.
(International shipping is currently haunted by evil spirits. )
This is why we looked for alternatives, and the good people at Indie Press Revolution came to our rescue. They are usually selling out TTRPG products to customers in the US, but on occasion, they are also fulfilling crowdfunding campaigns. We had a good look at the numbers with them and came to the conclusion that it would be best to split our fulfilment and serve North American customers via their operation.
This opens up new gates of hell but will make things for you, esteemed stellar beings in North America, much easier. And most likely cheaper.
The immediate consequence is another delay, though. We have a rather complex new situation and need to find ways and means to calculate the shipping now. This will be cheaper, though, but it might take some time. We therefore ask for your patience!
In other news, work goes on as planned. James is chipping away at the guidebook. Cards are being drawn. Oh, and we have the glorious prints for the campaign already made! Look and marvel.
And as always, the best way to participate in our fun Tarot adventures would be to join our Discord, follow our newsletter, and follow us on social media. Do join us there; the more is, as always, the merrier.
Stay safe, hydrated and connected,
The Card Master
On two-headed demons and fun with coins
about 1 month ago
– Thu, Aug 20, 2026 at 09:34:39 AM
Stellar beings,
We have successfully survived the blazing heat domes of the summer and write to you engulfed by water and lightning.
Never mind the Tower, just a weather metaphor; let’s start with the good news. There is excellent progress in the creation process on all fronts! The guidebook is making great progress, and we have finished the Coin Divination rules!
We thought about sharing another excerpt with you, but why not just have a look at it in all it’s glory...
Pardon the mundane format and the placeholder graphics; enjoy the rules in all their unpolished glory.
And now for the obvious and rather unpleasant affair of the pledgemanager. Yes, it should have arrived by now. No, it hasn’t yet. Here’s what happened: We started moving our warehousing operation from Poland to Germany in June. In theory, everything should have been easy to set up again. Unfortunately, it has been a bit of a bumpy ride, and this has delayed the pledgemanager phase.
The two culprits are as follows:
A certain orange monstrosity has poisoned the once free-flowing waters of our transatlantic logistics chain. Due to a plethora of new malign rules and regulations, we were lacking the clarity to actually provide you with shipping prices.
The other beast is a many-headed hydra that dwells in the Belgian swamplands. Its current fever dream is a brand-new packaging regulation that is deeply troubling for small businesses such as ours. We are still not sure what it entails; it is a proper mess, and seeking clarification in this regard has also thrown sand into the gears of our operation.
However! We are now on the final metres of our journey towards the pledgemanager, which should hopefully open next week. As said, you’ll be able to provide your address and maybe alter your pledge should you require additional goods come September.
Oh dear, September will be a busy month… Here’s a big chunk of news that you might or might not have heard yet: We will launch a new campaign for our first Hidden Isle on Backerkit! Haven’s Heir is our first full campaign book that allows you to play a string of Dioscorian adventures, step into a world of enchantment, uproot conspiracy, and defy gods and despots who want to bring down your safe haven! Sign up now to get a free adventure (The Metaphagus) or even reserve your pledge to claim a unique pin and a charming sticker set.
And the best way to learn more about this glorious event would, of course, be to join our Discord server, follow our newsletter and follow us on social media. Do join us there; the more is, as always, the merrier.
Stay safe, hydrated and connected,
The Card Master
On near completions and the coming dawn
3 months ago
– Wed, Jul 01, 2026 at 06:05:00 AM
Stellar beings,
Where is the fun in creating exciting work for such a delightful audience when one is tormented by blazing heat that lasts day and night? Ours is a land that hasn’t embraced the magical arts of air conditioning, still living in a dreamy past of mellow summer temperatures. Oh, the horrors of the recent weeks, when we had to toil under brutal conditions.
(Actual depiction of fire raining down on Vienna)
But enough with the lamentation; onto the good news, of which there are plenty!
The guidebook has officially been declared completed in note form! Of course nothing is finished yet, but our diligent scribe James Patton has finished all the notes on the cards for the entire tome. Now onto actual completion!
Let’s take a look at one of the already finished passages to celebrate this special occasion:
Philosophy of the Tarot
The Tarot is an artefact, a journey, a narrative and a tool. In short, it is wisdom crystallised into a physical form. What have we learned by speaking with and immersing ourselves in the Tarot? What arethe tensions within this deck, and how do they mirror the tensions of existence itself? We frail human creatures are both divine and base, full of the potential for pure animal desire and rarefied understanding. We know we are more but cannot access that moreness. To be in tension, to be unresolved, is to be alive and conscious: capable of wisdom.
After years of study, one thing became clear: while the Tarot has many elements, as a whole it is a complete entity. The differences between the Majors and Minors, between suits and between individual cards, does not reduce its unity: rather, each piece is a part of a whole. I was thrilled with this, for reaching this conclusion felt like rediscovering an important truth that I had intuitively grasped when I first beheld these cards.
While it is important and necessary to understand each card one by one, it is far more important, in fact, to grasp the overall structure of the Tarot. This work would be incomplete if I were to simply take each card out of sequence; rather, they must be framed into the deck as a whole. We must analyse each card as part of a community, and use the tools given to us by the deck’s artists – color, form, symbols – to draw relationships between the cards and construct this wider logic.
To grasp the logic of the deck itself, we must construct a mandala. In Hindu tradition, a mandala is a visual representation of the home of a god; in Buddhism, a mandala can represent both the universe itself and the pure state of mind necessary to achieve enlightenment. A mandala symbolises and expresses a sacred space, and the relationships between parts of that space: both image of the world and representation of divine power, which can be contemplated to attain a deeper understanding. In arranging the complete Tarot in some two-dimensional form, then, we can understand the Tarot’s message regarding the world itself, and the abode of its deity – which I believe to be life itself, the animating spirit of the universe.
I should point out, of course, that this mandala is not intended to be definitive. The Tarot is an endlessly variable system, and for one person to claim authority over its true form would be pure folly. But this mandala is my expression of my understanding of this complete, world-encompassing system.
Such is the wisdom of the Dioscorian sages regarding their most cherished treasure, the Tarot.
For those of you not just interested in our Tarot but also its manifestation as The Hidden Isle game, there are two more exciting news items.
You might have already heard that, but we are running a flash sale as part of the Ennie’s Emporium on Backerkit from July 6 until 16. This is your chance to stock up on Hidden Isle items with fantastic discounts and bonus items. And of course, as it is customary: free stuff!Sign up to access said free stuff, a fully playable Hidden Isle adventure, to be precise. We are delighted to be selected as one of the Ennie Awards nominees of 2025. And who knows, maybe there will be another nomination coming our way this year too …
More mysterious, but in all honesty even more exciting, is the magical day, July 14. Mark this in your calendar. Be prepared and expect trumpets, choirs, doves and fireworks. We shall be announcing one of our biggest projects ever.
Stay safe, hydrated and connected, The Card Master
Update #8 On heating up and divining with coins
4 months ago
– Mon, Jun 01, 2026 at 06:08:42 AM
Stellar beings,
Spring was but a short affair this year, and we have already been blessed (or cursed, depending on one’s disposition) with the arrival of hot and sticky summer days. This has little effect on our monastic working style, though; no matter the weather, we labour day after day to produce precious goods for you.
Last month was a rather busy one, but we can report progress on numerous fronts, from card description to novel divination systems. The latter is all part of the new Seer’s Ledger and its coin divination system. Let’s take a look at its current state:
Coin Divination
Thousands of years ago, the ancient priests of Thoth and Hekate told the future not with cards, but coins. A fortune is composed of four “lines”. A line stands for either birth, darkness, or light.
Using the coins
Choose 3 different coins. Decide which stands for birth, which for dark, and which for light.
Throw them. If one coin has a different result to the others (e.g., only one coin was heads), the coin determines the line.
If all coins are heads, this is a blooming line: “-x-” If all are tails, this is a decaying line: “-•-”. Blooming and decaying lines count as dark lines.
Write the symbol of the line. Continue tossing the coins until you have four lines, like this:
This corresponds to one of the 81 fortunes of the coin oracle: ancient divinatory snapshots that would eventually evolve into the cards of the Tarot. Each fortune is made of two upper and two lower lines, which represent elements or suits.
If there are any blooming or decaying lines, this moment is unstable. Read the fortune once with the unstable lines standing for dark lines, then read a second fortune where every blooming line counts as light, and every decaying line counts as birth.
Fortunes
THE IMAGE: A churning void, without form or colour. The origin before all origins.
TAROT EQUIVALENT: The Abyss
THE FORTUNE: Without emptiness there cannot be fullness; without void there cannot be matter. The void is the birthplace of all things, but also their antithesis.
THE IMAGE: Across the earth a voice is heard, proclaiming the law of the land.
TAROT EQUIVALENT: The Emperor
THE FORTUNE: Laws cover the earth and manage all beneath their purview. They permeate the world like a wind. But, like air, they have an insubstantial existence, and their rule can be swept away by great storms. Likewise, stagnant laws, like stagnant airs, can poison.
THE IMAGE: The four elements quicken and mingle across the earth.
TAROT EQUIVALENT: 9 of Pentacles
THE FORTUNE: The material world is an ever-changing, ever-fruitful mingling of the four elements which form it. Growing ever higher and more complex, its forms are boundless.
and more to come…
We hope this gives you a good insight into our upcoming system. Feel free to comment if you have any questions, or maybe even join our Discord to spark a discussion about it!
Apart from that, we are still struggling with setting up logistics; therefore, the BackerKit phase can’t start quite yet. International shipping and production is still a nightmare due to the current geopolitical situation. We hope it will calm down over the next months and will keep you posted. In the meantime, we are working hard to find good solutions, especially for transatlantic shipping.
I remain with the usual call to check out our socials, check out our Discord or subscribe to our newsletter. As previously stated, this newsletter is for campaign updates regarding the Gilded Legacy, but we share more Dioscoriaverse updates on our main channels.
