Fellowship of Fools: The Game (or FoF) is a card game for self-reflection, creativity and developing relationships with other players.
Content Notes
FoF is a game that asks players to explore Situations and Topics together. FoF asks players to be open and vulnerable with one another about their personal preferences, relationships and past. In these conversations it is possible that painful or difficult Situations and Topics may be explored. The romance and sexuality decks include some questions about non-normative ways of relating (romance) and non-normative sexual desires. We ask players to be kind to one another and adhere to the Code of Conduct included with the game.
Winning and Losing
There are no fixed win or lose goals in FoF. Win or lose goals can vary depending on the player’s goals and the Gameplay Mode chosen. These can include: self-reflection, self-acceptance, self-development, self-exploration, self-liberation, creative expression and idea generation, playful improvisation, collaborative roleplaying and storytelling, developing a new relationship with other players, deepening or maintaining or altering/expanding an existing relationship with other players, having challenging and thoughtful conversations, developing collaborative projects with others, determining interpersonal compatibility, exploring interpersonal differences, conflict management/resolution, and more.
One way to lose is that you decide to stop playing with another player(s) and end any relationship and contact you have with them. But, we are not going to be everyone’s cup of tea, and vice versa; better, perhaps, to know that and learn from that.
Game Components
The main components of Fellowship of Fools: The Game are:
- A modified Tarot deck with Topic and Situation Prompts
- Character Sheets (pdf or included in Medium box physical editions)
- “Rule” Cards-Code of Conduct, rules for the Mods and a few of the Gameplay Modes
- Player’s Manual booklet pdf file (player information that is currently available here on the website)
- Small and/or Medium box (physical editions only)
The Cards
The Tarot card deck has been in use since the 14th century for games and since the 17th century for divination. The art for Fellowship of Fools dates back to 1761 to its creation in France by Nicolas Conver de Marseilles and is called the Tarot de Marseilles. Today, Tarot cards are widely used for game playing, creativity, divination and personal development. Our hope is that FoF can turn that inward reflection of the Tarot outward to help players develop relationships with other players.
We’ve split the Tarot deck into its two parts—-the Major Arcana for Situations and the Minor Arcana for Topics. On each card are two different prompts—-corresponding to the upright and the reversed meaning of the card. Numbers next to the prompts indicate their difficulty, possible experience points that can be gained or lost with the Feedback Mod when playing that prompt, as well as the number of Topic Prompts that can be played for that Situation Prompt.
Character Sheets
The Character Sheets are used with the Feedback Mod and are designed to help players listen more closely during play, to note what they learn, and to practice conversation norms such as turn taking and giving and receiving feedback. On the Character Sheet is a section for Experience Points—this is a measure of that player’s perception of their relationship and compatibility with the other player, for whom the Character Sheet is for. You can download and print your own Character Sheets here.
Rule Cards
Code of Conduct Card
FoF’s Code of Conduct establishes the shared ethics, values, behavioral and communication norms for players during play, or, how players can “play well” with each other in FoF. These are that all aspects of play are voluntary, that players commit to this experience of play by being fully present, putting away devices, practicing active listening, being vulnerable and self-disclosing freely, exploring where conversation leads them, treating each other well and as equals, and communicating, negotiating and respecting boundaries.
Code of Conduct
Gameplay Mode Cards
Included with the game are 3 Gameplay Mode Cards giving players the instructions to play 4 different Gameplay Modes (2 Single Player, 2 Multiplayer). Those Gameplay Modes are included in this Player’s Manual as well as here on FoF’s website.
Gameplay Mods Cards
Gameplay Mods modify how much choice the players have to choose prompts and the flow of conversation within a Gameplay Mode.
Player’s Manual
The Player’s Manual is a pdf file that players can print out or keep on their phones for reference. The Manual includes the information available on this website, including all of the Modes, Mods, Code of Conduct for playing FoF.
Going Forward
Print-to-Play editions are FREE for all three decks as of December 21, 2019. Download, share, and play!
FoF: The (Romance) Game and FoF: The (Sexuality) Game are now out of beta and available The Game Crafter for purchase of physical copies as of December 21, 2019, the Winter Solstice.
In January 2021 we released our beta version of a free Online Card Browser for FoF.
Development will start on FoF: The (Kink) Game and FoF: The (Community) Game in the fall/winter of 2020 with a tentative release of the betas of these decks in the spring of 2021.
How to Support FoF and Affinity Games
You can support FoF and Affinity Games and FoF by either donating to our PayPal at the bottom of our website or supporting us through our Patreon.
Thank you!
