Carcosa Bound

I made a little game.

It’s a card-based “activity generator”; basically, a set of open-to-interpretation prompts for actions that will enrich or improve your life, one way or another.

I call this game the Tarot of the Arriviste, mostly because it sounds badass, and I’ve been thinking about Austin Osman Spare a bit recently.

Pull a card, do the thing. Don’t overthink it; work out the details as you go. Let it get weird. Most people won’t notice, because they rarely notice much. The ones you want to get up to mischief with might, and these are the ones you want around you anyway.

(There's a link to the free download at the bottom of the page, for the impatient.)

Technically, it’s inspired by artist and game designer Miscast’s What am I doing today generator, as well as the excellent LifeRPG android app by Jayvant Javier Pujara.

More esoterically, it pulls ideas from Austin Osman Spare’s Alphabet of Desire concept, and Timothy Leary’s Eight Circuit Brain model, by way of Antero Alli and Christopher Hyatt.

All these guys are artists, one way or another – and, more than anything else, one of, if not the, biggest factors in success in anything is actually doing and shipping the thing.

The magic happens through us, by doing things.

So, I’ve played with it a bit, and find it works well, most of the time.
It’s fun. It’s also free, a prototype, encourages your own interpretation, and has no guarantees. Just like life.

Why I made this: Context

Life can be hard.

Making a game of it can make a hard thing less confronting, or existentially devastating and crippling.

For example: Life is a game, everyone dies in the end. There are some rules but it’s mostly improvised, and there is a time limit. So, Player, the table is yours. It’s your move.

Games don’t have to be fun, but it’s better when they are. Games don’t have to be played with other people; we play games with ourselves all the time. The most fun games I’ve played have been with people, though.

When “to do” lists feel a little like chewing cigarette butts and urinal cakes, I’ve found the best way for me to keep moving is to make things a bit more creative, aesthetic and gameful.

This game started as an elaborate and active procrastination, so I tried to fake myself out; to elaborately create a system that would keep me on task (instead of actually just getting back on task).

It ended up crossing off a heap of ideas I’d had banging around for a good many years; those post-it notes, in trello boards, notebook mindmaps, journal entries. Sometimes, you just have to chuck all the stray one-liners into a pot and cook them down into some sort of weird gumbo.

This is what came out.

How to play

Print them out. Cut them out. Start doing things.

I stuck mine into card sleeves from the local hobby shop, backed with Bicycle playing cards (I made them the same size); this makes them shuffle better.

Basic version: If I’m stuck, blocked, or catch myself staring off into space in a negative way, I pull a card, and do it. No questions, no excuses. Make it happen. A short, sharp shock. Am I free to act? If not, why not?

The slightly more reasonable, sustainable version: I have a few actions I do every day. For each action I do, I pull more cards, which gives me more options to do.

Either choose the easiest or most appealing one, or pick one at random; it is a game, after all.

Don’t overthink it; this is about actions, connections, opportunity, breaking through deadlocks. I bet you Henry Agrippa or Edward Kelly made up half of the shit they did on the spot, and just kept rolling with it.

A good story is far better, sexier and more fun than an easy life.

Keep track of your daily score. Try to hit a set number of actions per day, but don’t beat yourself up about it if you end up doing something else.

Downloads

Download the Tarot of the Arriviste here (40 cards; 5-page .pdf. Make sure you print it at 100%, and remove scaling in the print options, so the cards come out the right size).

Any questions or comments, feel free to get in touch. Happy to help where I can – voidshard@pm.me