How to Understand and Play The Fool’s Journey: Part 3

June 12, 2020 | Guides | 4 comments

Explore more concepts about wands and swords with the help of the Golden Girls in The Fool’s Journey.

It’s been a little time since I last visited The Fool’s Journey to continue this series. Luckily, it’s time for another fun lesson! If you’re comfortable with the earlier concepts, there are only a couple of other elements that need a little attention. Then you’ll be ready to head off on all sorts of journeys with your own Tarot deck. Jump right on in!

Looking Back at Past Lessons

Although the following guide can be enjoyed as a stand-alone lesson, I recommend starting off with Part 1 and Part 2. This isn’t an extremely complicated kind of game, but it can take a little time to get comfortable with the rules and concepts. Take your time! It may look like a lot of text, yet I hope the time is worth it. This is a card game I enjoy a lot!

Cards: 22
Purpose: Challenges and Character
Dungeon Crawl Equivalent: Monsters or Obstacles

Card 0, the Fool, is used to visually represent the main character. The rest of the major arcana equates to numerical challenges that must be overcome with swords, wands, and/or vitality. These range in value from 1 to 21.

Cards: 14
Purpose: Healing/Aid
Dungeon Crawl Equivalent: Healing Potions

Numerical cups cards 2-10 restore vitality up to the maximum starting value. The Ace of Cups may clear the play area and shuffle the deck, like other aces. All “faces” represent specialists that may double other cups cards.

Cards: 14
Purpose: Flexible/Strong Power
Dungeon Crawl Equivalent: Limited Use Shields

Numerical wands cards 2-10 reduce challenges and may be reused if not depleted. The Ace of Wands may clear the play area and shuffle the deck, like other aces. All “faces” represent specialists that may double other wands cards.

Cards: 14
Purpose: Fixed/Delicate Power
Dungeon Crawl Equivalent: One-Time Thrown Weapons

Numerical swords cards 2-10 reduce challenges as one-use cards. The Ace of Swords may clear the play area and shuffle the deck, like other aces. All “faces” represent specialists that may double other swords cards.

Cards: 14
Purpose: Wisdom/Currency
Dungeon Crawl Equivalent: Gold

Numerical pentacles cards 2-10 act as currency to hire specialists of other suits. The Ace of Pentacles may clear the play area and shuffle the deck, like other aces. All “faces” are the same as cards 2-10 since the value doesn’t matter.

A Brief Overview of the Main Ideas

In addition to the breakdown of the cards above, you should be familiar with the following:

  • Overall Goal: All 21 challenges must be overcome before vitality reaches or falls below 0.
  • The Golden Rule: Only 3 of 4 cards in the play area are resolved during each round.
  • Card Usage: Only equipped cards may be used against challenges, as they may not be played from the play area.
  • Equipped Card Limits: Up to 3 wisdom, 1 strength, 1 volition, and 3 satchel cards may be equipped.
  • Wands: These reduce challenges, but the remainder immediately reduces vitality before the cards are discarded.
  • Swords: A card will reduce a challenge and keep it in play to be resolved in multiple possible ways across rounds.

All set? Don’t be afraid to ask questions if you’re unclear about something. I’m happy to try to help out, and if you know me, you’ll know that I respond to almost every comment. I can’t help it. Ha ha!

Starting Over

Rather than continue directly from the last lesson, I reset and shuffled the deck. Never mind the fact that I chose every card to illustrate my points… I still shuffled!

So here we are with a sample turn and Rose in her fabulous outfit as The Fool. There are 2 challenges to overcome, and convenient wands and swords to equip.

The real trick is understanding the difference with those suits. Cups and pentacles are pretty straightforward.

But when wands or swords exceed the value of a challenge, they act very differently. Let’s take a closer look!

Back to the Basics with The Fool's Journey

Cleaning Up a Bit

This is just a cleaner look at the exact same turn. I could have placed the wands and/or swords in my satchel, but for the sake of this example, I equipped both of them.

So that left me with 2 challenges. But wait! You know that’s wrong: Only 3 of 4 cards must be resolved.

Both of these challenges have low values. The Empress is a value 3, while The High Priestess is a value 2. It wouldn’t be hard to just reduce vitality to overcome one of them.

Again, though, that’s not the point of this example. What happens when the high value wands or swords are used?

Making the Most of the Available Cards in The Fool's Journey

Dorothy vs. Dorothy

In a fitting example, I used the Ten of Swords to overcome The Empress. That’s a whole lot of Dorothy!

Ignore any math you might want to do to figure out the reduced value of the swords. Remember how I defined this suit as one-time thrown weapons or delicate power?

There is never a remainder leftover when it comes to swords. Again, imagine they’re thrown against challenges.

The key strategy is to minimize wasted values. This move looks highly unoptimized because the Ten of Swords could be used against many higher-level challenges. 

Overcoming Dorothy with Dorthy in The Fool's Journey

The Pointy Edge of the Swords Discussion

The main point of the swords suit is that each card is used up entirely. I know that may sound obvious, but it’s vital to understand this as we get ready to look at the wands. Just picture Dorothy tossing every sword into a photo of Stan! Also, think of swords as brittle weapons. It doesn’t matter the value of the challenge: Used up is used up.

My apologies for being so repetitive with this idea. It really threw me for a loop and made me so confused when I first played. I hope that tossing in some jokes and puns is making this learning process a little fun! Now, to the wands!

Another Turn for Rose

Rather than backtrack through that decision, it made sense to draw back up to 4 cards in the play area. What a lucky draw! It’s not like I chose those on purpose… Ha!

Once again, 2 challenges are out there. At least 1 must be overcome in order to advance. So, what to do?!

I’ll get there in a moment. Remember that we’re shifting over to a discussion of the wands suit. No swords are even here, aside from in the upside-down discard pile.

You might already start to see what you would do to resolve 3 of these 4 cards. Onward to some examples!

Another Turn with the Golden Girls and The Fool's Journey

Saving the Best for Last

First, I have to say that I love all of these outfits and must have them all someday. Maybe I even need to transform my purse into Sofia’s… But I digress. Back to the lesson!

These cards make up half of the play area. However, we’re going to ignore them for the moment and come back.

Remember that we’re dealing with high-value wands and low-value challenges. Whereas swords are used up entirely, there is a completely different rule for wands.

Don’t think these ladies will be forgotten, though! There is a much more optimal move we’ll see a little later on.

Setting Aside an Important Duo of Cards in The Fool's Journey

Wands and Remainders

With a value of 2 for The High Priestess, the Nine of Wands is more than enough to overcome the challenge.

I defined the wands suit as limited use shields or strong power before. A shield can usually withstand a certain level of damage before it disintegrates. Here, it holds true!

This is represented by placing the overcome challenge partially on top of the wands card, as pictured.

Effectively, the Nine of Wands is then reduced in power from 9 to 7, because 9 – 2 = 7. Not too hard! Going forward, this may then be used against another challenge.

Giving in to Foolish Desires to Showcase an Example in The Fool's Journey

The Better Move

So, what happened above? A horrible move, that’s what! The Nine of Wands is one of the highest wands cards in the deck, and to use it in such a way wastes a lot of power.

Recall again the idea of specialists, who double a matching card’s power by discarding a pentacles card.

May I direct your attention a little further up? This play area included just such a setup! Instead, the Nine of Wands could have a doubled power of 18 for The Sun.

Granted, this would still result in a loss of 1 vitality… But that’s a small price to pay. Yet read on: There’s more!

An Interesting Way to Beat the Challenge of The Sun in The Fool's Journey

An Important Limitation on Wands

You might be thinking that using the Nine of Wands against The High Priestess wasn’t too bad. Why not just use the Page of Wands on the reduced value of 7 to turn it into a value 14 wands card? Because you can’t. Not allowed!

I like to think of the specialists as rather picky individuals. They won’t go near a used item! That’s what it boils down to: Once a wands card is reduced in power, it’s no longer at its full power and can never be doubled. If it helps to think of how cards look when stacked, a specialist may only ever be placed directly on top of a full-power wands card.

Going back to this example again, it should be obvious how much was lost. The Nine of Wands could have been used for 18 power, but it was locked into only having 9 power. But of course, there’s another caveat that makes it worse!

You can never discard an equipped wands or swords card. There are instances where a wands card might be reduced to 1 power. That can lead to a dangerous situation where you’re almost guaranteed to lose. It takes careful strategic planning to figure out how best to use each card. Wands are tricky, but immensely useful!

About the Aces

Finally, it can be hard to know when to use an ace. Usually, these give you another chance to survive another turn when too many challenges appear at once.

It would be easy to recommend to use an ace anytime 3 challenges appear alongside it. But hold those horses!

Pictured here are 3 challenges… With a combined value of 10. Might it not make more sense to lose that vitality and wait to use the ace? Who knows what might show up next!

Using an ace only shuffles the cards in the play area back into the deck. It’s not a way out of resolving challenges.

A Situation to Store an Ace in The Fool's Journey

Putting Everything Together

There might be a few outlier situations, but you should have all the knowledge necessary to play! The strategies are pretty interesting and can be much deeper than expected. When to use each card or take direct damage to vitality takes a lot of experience. Just when you think you’ve mastered it, lowering the starting vitality adds another challenge!

Because I’m a fan of repetition in the name of separating wands and swords, you should understand the following:

  • Wands: Represent limited use shields whose power may be reduced by lower-value challenges.
  • Swords: Represent one-time thrown weapons that are used up entirely, regardless of the challenge value.

It all may sound like a lot, yet the concepts should make more sense as you play. Don’t worry about any mistakes! I made plenty of them, and the important thing is to learn… And have fun. Enjoy your Tarot deck artwork in all its glory!

More The Fool's Journey

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Continue the Conversation

Do you feel like you know more about The Fool’s Journey? Are there any other questions you would like answered, or examples you want to see in detail? I feel like I’ve covered all of the major concepts in this series of lessons. Yet I love my Golden Girls and would love to feature them again. I hope this has been an entertaining way to learn the rules!

4 Comments

  1. Thanks to your detailed rules description I started a few games because a lot ended very quickly. And because so many are ending swiftly, I’ve added a slight house rule extend the game a bit longer by saving four rather than three in the satchel (and because my fool (me) is quite a novice.) 🙂 My question is, if I use a four of wands against the III. Empress, I’m left with one left. Can I save that one left from rods just like one can with swords for another challenge? I’ll probably have more questions.

    Reply
    • Excellent house rule, Marita! The satchel is very customizable. You can also try using more starting vitality, but if this works for you, stick with it! I’ve adjusted the difficulty for myself over time, and that’s one of the major benefits. You can either settle in for a casual adventure you have a good chance of winning, or create an almost impossible challenge to keep you on your toes!

      Make sure to go through the difference between wands and swords in relation to your question. You can certainly save up that 1-value of wands, though this can be a risky strategy. But let’s say you used a Four of Swords against the Empress. It would be used up entirely, with no remainder allowed. Technically, you could even use the Ten of Swords on a low-value challenge… There are very rare instances when that makes sense, though.

      Also keep in mind that keeping a wands remainder precludes you from using a specialist in the future. That “used” card is already partially depleted. So it often makes sense to use up wands entirely, unless you have a plan for the remainder. Lots and lots of strategic choices in the mix!

      Feel free to stop by at any time with more questions. I hope this helps!

      Reply
  2. Your excellent 3 part play guide helped me make sense of the more confusing rules in this game. I just discovered it and after reading the official rules and watching a play through on YouTube, your guide made it clear. I loved the photos, cute deck, humour and multiple ways of describing rules. So effective! I’ll be bugging everyone I know to learn this game and linking to your site. Thanks!

    Reply
    • So glad to hear this all helped you out so much! Have a great time playing. It’s a unique sort of game that I’ve always enjoyed with a couple of different decks… This one is one of my favorites, though! Thanks for the kind words, and enjoy!

      Reply

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