The latest D&D accessory from Gale Force 9 is the Tarokka deck: a deck of 54 black-and-white cards designed to use with the Curse of Strahd adventure.

The cards are a standard Magic size and so are easily protected with deck sleeves. The art – as seen in many places around the web – is glorious. Unfortunately, the cards don’t really show the art in its full glory; it is a real pity that the cards aren’t larger.

The cards feel similar to Magic cards, which indicates a very good quality of card production.

The pack also comes with a card game for 3 to 5 players, Prophet’s Gambit. It is a rather chaotic game where players attempt to assemble poker-like hands, with one shared card, one hidden card and three cards played face up in each of its three rounds. Depending on which card gets played, additional effects may trigger. The rulebook could do with some clarification; there’s the possibility of discarding the shared card, meaning hands are scored on only four cards, but does that mean that flushes and straights are no longer possible? By the way the rules are worded, it seems not, and that is very disruptive to the game.

Honestly, the game feels a little similar to the brilliant Three Dragon Ante without that game’s brilliance. It requires you to refer to the rulebook to determine special card effects, and there are a lot of mechanics in play for what shouldn’t be a long game.

However, I didn’t get the pack for the card game. I purchased it to use in my Curse of Strahd campaigns, and for that it will serve admirable – and provide a lot of interest for the players. Recommended.