introduction

FATUM is a powerful yet easy tool designed to crea-

te full-fledged stories for your 5th Edition DnD or any
other fantasy RPG characters. Although built with fan-
tastic/ epic roleplaying game systems in mind, it’s been
developed to fuel other artistic creations, whether you
are a writer, a screenwriter or an illustrator.

With a simple mechanic you may generate characters

and their linked stories in a short time.

game components
• 79 cards deck
• 16 blank cards
• Textile playmat

cards categories

CLASS BACKGROUND BOUND EVENT PLACE

CLASSES
Every character have a class, which represents the
characters field of expertise. The class represents
the profession that the characters has been devoted
to most of their life, due to extensive and specialized
training and accumulated experience.
BACKGROUNDS
The background provides specialization beyond class,
or pictures a special quality.

BONDS
Bonds provide what ties your character to other peo-
ple: it can be a relative or any other kind of relationship.

EVENTS
Events are important and/or particular moments of her
past life that have a lasting impact on the character.

PLACES
Places cards show locations where something relevant
happened to the character.

RACES
These cards are optional and don’t occupy
any default space on the playmat. They
can always be drawn and played together
with certain type of cards in the playmat
and add its effects to the card upon which
RACE is played.

anatomy of a card

Card
name
Draw
request

Artwork
Draw request: Events and Bonds cards show a small
box in the top-right corner with a question and sev-
eral colors code. You have to answer the question to
give full meaning to the card. For example, if you draw
MOTHER, this card asks WHO, so we need to find
out who is the mother. We then use the colors code
to find out the answer through other specific cards:
in the example above, the MOTHER, we’ll resort to
Classes and Backgrounds decks.
The color codes and decks associated are:
• Golden: Classes deck
• Blue: Background deck
• Red: Bonds deck
• Violet: Events deck
• Green: Places deck
• Grey: Races deck

setup
First we place the playmat on a flat surface, then
you divide the main deck into SIX different decks
according to categories. Next, except for Class cat-
egory deck, shuffle every deck and select randomly
a stack of them. Tap the whole stack 180º and put
them back in the deck and shuffle again. Place the
decks face down outside the playmat and follow
the instructions in the box. Notice that all catego-
ries except Class have illustrations at the top and at
the bottom: every illustration and its position in the
playmat will result in a specific interpretation. This
two-side card mechanics allow for countless random
generation of stories!

creation phase
Creation phase is developed through several steps
that need to be taken in order to complete the draw-
ing and placing of cards for the correct interpretation
of results.
The first step is to place a Class card in the central
space (from now on, slot) of the playmat: this card
will be our character main concept.
Next, fill the upper card slots. First draw a Place card
and place it on the Origins slot, then draw one Back-
ground card and place it on the Background slot.
Next, fill the two Bonds slots. Draw the two first
cards of the Bonds deck and place them on both
Bonds slots. At this step, do not answer the questions
marked on Bonds cards yet, you will do it later.
Next, fill the lower slots: Mark of Past and Impetus.
Mark of Past will indicate something that happened to
our characters in the past and changed their lives. Im-
petus indicates the motivation of the characters, that
is, the goal or path that encourages their to carry on.
To finish the drawing phase, draw two Event cards and
place them in order, the first on Mark of Past slot and
the second on Impetus slot. Do not solve yet the ques-
tions asked on these cards, as with Bonds slots, you
will do it later. Move on to the next step.
When all slots around our character slot are filled with
cards, now it is time to answer the questions in those
cards. Do this in order, from least to most complex.
Complexity is stablished according to the number of
colors in the card: the more colors, the more complexity.
First take a look at the card and find the colors code
in the top-right corner. Locate the decks that match-
es the colors. If we have only one color we will just
draw from that deck. Once all single-colored cards
questions have been answered by drawing all the
cards needed, then proceed with the two-colored
cards mixing together the two decks with those
matching colors and answer the questions of these
cards by drawing a card. Repeat this process all over
until all questions have been answered, mixing new
decks according to colors when necessary. Do not
separate cards by decks after answering a question:
a new deck is added and mixed after the questions of
the previous combination have been answered.
Important: answer only questions from cards placed
originally on the playmat. Do not answer questions
from cards drawn when these cards are used to an-
swer previous questions.
When you have answered all the questions of
Bonds and Events cards placed around the char-
acter card, the character creation phase is over.

example of play
Start by choosing a Class card and place it on the
central position (slot) of the playmat: that defines
your character. In this example you take the FIGHT-
ER card. When drawn a Place card for the Origin slot,
the FOREST card is revealed. When drawn a Back-
ground card for the Background slot, the ASSASSIN
card is revealed. Then two cards are drawn for both
Bonds slots which turn out to be the MOTHER and
the ALLY. Finally, two Events cards are drawn for the
lower slots: for Mark of the Past the DEATH is re-
vealed and the HATE comes for Impetus. Now the
drawing phase is over.
Now you answer the questions shown on Bonds
and Events cards. Proceed by order of complexi-
ty, starting with the cards showing fewer colors in
the colors code: in this example it is the MOTHER
card. Mix Classes and Backgrounds decks, shuffle
the new mixed deck and draw a card: the CLERIC.
The rest of the cards demand a triple mix, Class +
Backgrounds + Bonds, so add the Bonds deck to
the already mixed deck and draw a new card for the
ALLY slot: it is the RANGER.
The DEATH card asks three questions: “Who”, “Mur-
derer” and “Where”. Answer “Who” and “Murderer”
drawing two cards: you get the LOVER and the PI-
RATE cards respectively. You only need one more
card, a Place card to answer “Where”, so draw an-
other card and the RUINS card is revealed.
Our last card in the playmat, HATE, asks “Who”, so
when a new card from the mixed deck is drawn you
get the BARBARIAN card.
Now we have all the questions answered and all the
cards placed on the right slots. It is time to give an
interpretation to the cards drawn. For example:
“Gloria is a fighter that comes from the heart of the for-
est. She makes her living working as an assassin. She has
a partner, a ranger from the Deep Wood that accom-
panies her since childhood. Gloria is searching for her
mother, who only left her a trinket when abandoned her
when she was a baby: the trinket suggests her mother
was a cleric.”
“During his mother’s search a lover of her was killed by
a pirate, a member of a barbarian tribe that she now
fiercely hates”
You can check the video tutorial at: https://www.you-
tube.com/watch?v=gWuLG6teOac&t

adding races
Races in FATUM are optional. It’s a deck that we
always have to keep separated from the rest of the
cards. You can always draw a card from this deck
and play it on another card to give more depth and
provide more details to it. As opposed to the rest of
the cards, once a card from Races deck is drawn and
shown, the card is put in the Races deck that has to
be shuffled again.
Example: you have picked a Fighter as your character
Class Card, but you want to randomly generate her
race: draw a card from the Races deck, which turns out
to be the Human. So your Fighter will be Human. Put
back the card in the Races pile and shuffle it again.
Later on you want to know the race of your Bond card
Explorer Ally. Draw again from the Races deck to reveal
the Half-elf card: your Explorer Ally is a half-elf. Put
back the Half-elf card in the Races deck. Follow these
steps every time you want to randomly generate a race
for your class, background or bond cards.
extra: create storylines
Fatum lets you create simple storylines using an ad-
ditional alternative game mode.
Draw six cards in the following order:

? ?

THE TRIGGER: A fact that originated the story.

PLACE: Where the story happens.
THE REASON: The reason behind the story.
HELPED BY: Who helps the protagonists.
MENACED BY: Who acts against the protagonists.
FINAL GOAL: The goal to achieve.
the power of imagination
Fatum serves as a tool to fully develop your charac-
ter’s background and story. Following a simple pro-
cedure of drawing cards and answering questions it
provides the foundations of a great tale that can be
enriched and expanded to better suit your preferenc-
es. All you need to do is to answer the questions that
come to your mind according to the cards displayed.
Following the previous example it could be some-
thing like…
…why does our character live as a hired Assassin?
…why is the Explorer your Ally?
…did your Lover die by accident, in battle, or maybe
someone ordered her murder?
Remember, your imagination is your best weapon
here!

A note on special
combinations
Some card or slot/card combinations may seem in-
consistent, weird, or impossible, but they represent
challenges that need some creative effort to be cor-
rectly played. Here are some examples:
IMPETUS and BETRAYED. You must prove that
someone is playing rogue and will sell you or anyone
else for gold. You want to show to everyone her lack
of loyalty.
IMPETUS and BANKRUPTCY. Your goal is obviously
not your own bankruptcy, but that of another per-
son, guild or nation.
MARK OF PAST and LEGEND. You dedicate your life
to investigate rumors of an ancient legend that may
have at least some bit of truth in it. Or maybe you
were part of that legend.
LOVE and ENEMY. Nothing prevents you from loving
your enemy. Does Romeo and Juliet ring any bell?
HATE and LOVER. You may share life with your lover
because you are forced to for any reason, and you
hate it. Or your lover suddenly turns against you and
threatens to destroy your life.
IMPETUS and SHAME. A shame lies so weightily
upon you that you relentless try to get rid of it.
FATHER and QUEEN, MOTHER and KING.
You can either correct this inconsistency rotating
KING for QUEEN and vice versa when necessary.
You can also take the result and provide an expla-
nation of why this happened: maybe a cursed item
provoked it or some evil sorcerer locked up a soul in
the wrong body.
RIVALRY and ALLY, FRIENDSHIP and ENEMY.
It can just be a friendly rivalry. In the second case
someone is your enemy but friendship bonds from
the past still linger, or maybe you are temporary
friends pursuing a common cause, maybe an enemy
of both.

blank cards
Inside FATUM deck you will find five blank cards,
one per category (class, background, event, bond and
place). You can use them to create your own custom-
ized cards, drawing concepts or sticking images on
them, or simply adding a description. You can also
leave them blank to add an element of uncertainty
– your character does not know the answer to that
question yet.
For any questions or requests,
please write to us:
fatum.cards@gmail.com
www.fatumcards.com