One of the more unusual Derivative Works is an Italian-suited tarot deck based on a piece of fiction. These typically use characters from the fiction with thematically equivalent major arcana, and sometimes replace the minor arcana suits with something from the adapted material.
There are also numerous other decks based on various non-fiction themes.
Note that some media have unique or special tarot decks as a plot element within the story. Those are not examples unless they are defictionalised.
See also Tarot Motifs and Themed Stock Board Game.
Examples:
Based On Fiction
- The Lord of the Rings [1]
- Hello Kitty: "The Hello Tarot" an unauthorized uncolored deck by Joe Rosales. Hello Kitty is on several cards, like The High Priestess and Queen of pentacles. Death is a cute bunny riding a horse. The devil is a monkey with the classic goat horns.
- Oz [2]
- Alice in Wonderland "The Wonderland Tarot" deck designed by Christopher and Morgana Abbey. Unlike most decks, all of the Major Arcana remain the same. Instead, the Minor Arcana's suits are different to reflect Wonderland symbolism: Cups become Hats, Pentacles are Oysters, Staves change to Peppermills, and Swords turn to Flamingos.
- X/1999 [3]
- Tabletop RPG Mage: The Ascension had its own themed tarot deck, and a lot of tarot symbolism in the game. The cover image for the main sourcebook was The Magician card, renamed, of course, The Mage.
- Mage: The Awakening has one as well. Fitting, since the Tarot Motif is a large part of the game's mythos.
- Cthulhu Mythos [4] [5]
- Jane Austen [6]
- Pokémon [7] (fan-made)
- Yggdra Union [8] (fan made)
- Gunnerkrigg Court [9] (fan made)
- Digger [10], though there are only a couple of cards so far.
- Nasubionna's incomplete Harry Potter Tarot at [11].
- Revolutionary Girl Utena [12] (a doujinshi tarot)
- Rurouni Kenshin [13]◊.
- The Major Arcana only of a fan-created Avatar: The Last Airbender Tarot deck, seen here, here, here, here, here and here.
- The Vertigo Tarot [14]
- Sailor Moon has some.
- Sleepless Domain has a fan-made tarot deck here that assigns characters to the cards of the Major Arcana.
- Fate/stay night [15]
- Reborn! (2004) [16]
- Fairy Tales [17]. Many of the Major Arcana are changed to represent either specific fairy tales or stock characters: for example, the Empress and Emperor become the Fairy Godmother and Eccentric Mentor, respectively, while the Hanged Man is Entrapment (represented by Rapunzel) and the Tower is Deception (which shows a picture of The Emperor's New Clothes).
- Homestuck: 78 cards based off of Acts 6 & 7
- An official deck of all 78 cards (catalogued here) has been made in promotion of the Kickstarter.
- Touhou Project [18], [19]. There are more.
- Rivers of London (five cards so far).
- My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic:
- "Pony Tarot Deck" by Rannva. A full deck with the 22 Major Arcana and the 4 suits. All Major Arcana except Lovers and Justice have been renamed, The Fool is Silly Filly, the Devil is Discord etc.
- The "Friendship is Tarot" series by Janeesper. A full deck with the 22 Major Arcana, and the 4 suits (with 2 completed). The theming and the card names stay the same, with explanations given for each tie-in.
- There was an official tie-in tarot deck (major arcana only) of W.I.T.C.H.. Sadly, it doesn't seem to be on the internet.
- The Skin Horse Moments of Awesome Tarot by Sam Dyuaaxchs.
- A Dishonored tarot deck◊ came with the special edition. It has mostly different cards than the standard deck representing major characters or distinctive enemy types on the cards.
- At the back of Turtle Recall, the 2012 edition of The Discworld Companion, are the rules for Cripple Mr Onion, adapted for use with "the official caroc deck". Sadly, the official caroc deck appears to be in Development Hell, but fan versions have been circulating. The Discworld caroc deck has eight suits (the four tarot suits, plus Elephants, Turtles, Crowns and Octograms), plus the Major Arcana, some of which have different names. (The Light Fantastic mentions The Importance of Washing the Hands [probably Temperance], The Dome of the Sky [maybe The World?] and The Pool of Night [possibly The Moon, although The Moon is mentioned in Lords and Ladies] as well as Death and The Star. The illustration in The Companion shows a card called The Ruler that is drawn to resemble Lord Vetinari.)
- Super Smash Bros. [20] (also factoring in Clow Cards).
- The Justice League tarot with art by Sara Richardson.
- A fan-made Undertale deck, with a fun bonus Minor Arcana card and three joke cards. It ended up being sold as official merchandise.
- Welcome to Night Vale [21]
- Umineko: When They Cry [22]
- The author of Critter Coven started a tarot deck when her Patreon reached $100 a month.
- Naturally, there are at least a few Persona 5 decks, such as this one available for sale on Etsy.
- The "Sixth World Tarot" is based on Shadowrun. While it's a pretty standard tarot deck, it changes the names of several major arcana. For example, XV (The Devil) is renamed "The Dragon", showing an image of Lofwyr's human form standing in shadow, while The Fool is renamed The Bastard (showing a picture of Harlequin). A supplement includes adventure hooks themed around the cards appearing in-universe.
- Yuri!!! on Ice has one, Arcana on Ice.
- SCP Foundation has a fan-made set featured on the site.
- Game of Thrones has an officially licensed deck featuring various characters.
- Somebody on reddit created a deck including the major arcana and the four aces using images from the Beastars manga. [23][24][25]
- The uniquely styled tarot cards in JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders is very commonly defictionalised. [26]
- The Tarot of the Hours, featuring items, symbols, and characters from Cultist Simulator. The names of the major arcana are also changed.
- The Nightmare Before Christmas, which changes the names of the Minor Arcana suits [27]
- Fallen London has a few fan created sets such as this set of 21 cards.
- A fan-made Wandersong deck with the Major Arcana.
- The Tarokka is an in-universe Tarot-like card deck in Ravenloft, which was defictionalised as part of the 1992 boxed set Forbidden Lore. The Major Arcana is called the High Deck, and is completely different from the real world version, instead portraying various sinister forces in the Demiplane of Dread. The Low Deck (Minor Arcana) suits are Swords, Coins, Stars and Glyphs, each representing a different Character Class (Fighters, Rogues, Wizards and Clerics), and with each number representing a different Character Alignment (each suit only has one court card, called the Master).
- An idiosyncratic example is the Uncarrot Tarot, a fan-created The Awful Green Things From Outer Space-themed tarot deck created by Interactive Fiction developer Andrew Plotkin during his youth. Amongst the minor arcana, wands/staves become pencils and show Frathms, swords become hammers and show Snudlians, cups become silly hats and show Smbalites, coins/pentacles become floppy disks and show Redundans, and the court ranks are knight, knave, king and hitchhiker (in that order). The eclectic major arcana (such as "the captain", "the doctor", "the robot") are accompanied by "meta arcana" showing concepts related to card design or card decks themselves (e.g. "the misprint"), and "miscarcana" which are named as if they were minor arcana, but do not make up complete suits (including both a "five of kings" and a "king of fives").
Other Themes
- "The Kama Sutra Tarot" by Art School Vijai & Ram of Rajastan (NSFW, obviously)
- Cat People (which went on to inspire a series of novels by Andre Norton)
- "The Da Vinci Tarot" by Mark McElroy, Iassen Ghiuslev & A. Atanas Atanassov
- Another deck inspired by Leonardo da Vinci can be seen here.
- The Gummy Bear Tarot" by Dietmar Bittrich
- Silicon Valley (The deck is out of print, but you can get readings from the electronic version here.)
- The Tattoed Tarot" by Pietro Alligo & Cristiano Spadoni
- "Dragon Tarot" by Peter Pracownik.
- "Steampunk Tarot" by Barbara Moore & Aly Fell. A full 78 card deck.
- Kenneth Hite's Suppressed Transmission tarot, described in his columns but never actually produced. The suits are reworked to represent the four themes of the column: Cups remain Cups (Urban Fantasy), Swords become Knives (Horror), Wands become Forks (Alternate History) and Pentacles become Saucers (conspiracy theory). The Major Arcana uses elements from the columns that transcend these categories, or that, bisociatively, are in all of them at once.
- The Hollywood Tarot has been around since practically the Dawn of the Internet (you can tell by some of the archetypes that were chosen, like Hugh Grant and Paul Ruebens as Regret and Fall, for example). It's online only, but does have a 1, 3, and 10 card reader found here, as well as DIY instructions if you are so inclined.
- Fashion designers, just the 22 Major Arcana.
- The Tarot del Toro, a full 78-card deck inspired by the works of Guillermo del Toro.
- "Mystical Medleys: A Vintage Cartoon Tarot": It's fashioned after the Inkblot Cartoon Style from The '30s. In other words, it features Animate Inanimate Objects and wobbly limbs. Furthermore, the characters always sport gloves and shoes in their attire. Most of them are deliberate shout-outs to the golden era of the Disney Animated Canon.