Rochi, a tavern-style game & divination deck
Rochi uses a deck of fifty-four cards divided into six suits, each card a stunning and vivid picture window onto the world of The Seer. The game of Rochi first appears in a fast-paced gambling scene in The Stranger Trilogy.
Rochi, the game and card deck, was created by James Ernest and Sonia Orin Lyris. Artwork by Mark J. Ferrari. All human-created. No AI.
James is also the creator of Patrick Rothfuss’s Tak. If you’re a fan, look below to see the Rochi card The Game.
Rochi is an exotic and compelling game. To play it is to enter another world, to sit at a tavern table and set your tarnished and shiny coins on the stacks. Winning requires finesse, patience, and maybe a little bit of foresight.
More about the origins of Rochi in the world of The Seer Saga here. The game is available in beta form for free download from Crab Fragment Labs.
The Wheel is a day card. Day cards refer to forces that are more easily seen and known, who declare themselves in full light.
Divination: the calendar of the world, the timepiece of the seasons. Cycles that repeat. The pace and pulse of events.
Urgency. Yet also timelessness. The window onto that which is beyond time.
Often the key to success is not in action, but in cadence and ordering. Skip a step, and the matter may have changed entirely.
If we listen for the pulse, we may be able to find the right moment. Timing is everything.
The Game is a night card. Night cards emphasize forces that are hidden or subtle.
Divination: A competitive engagement, a contest, a puzzle. A means by which disagreement and conflict may be resolved without violence. Or perhaps only without violence. The card invokes politics and diplomacy.
A night card, so look again. Study faces, eyes, and hands. Who are the other players? No game plays itself.
There is an aspect to this card that reaches into our world: the game you see on the board is one that you can obtain today: Tak, from Patrick Rothfuss’s fantasy trilogy, The Kingkiller Chronicle.
