The Conservatory

A Tarot-based storygame for 1-5 players.

The Conservatory is an ominous & enigmatic institution.

It could be a magical college, a mysterious church,  an inscrutable greenhouse, a cursed performing arts academy, a shadowy spy agency, a haunted film studio, a spooky hunting lodge, a notorious corporation, a terrifying martial arts gym, a bizarre hospital, or any sort of organization doing the Work, a craft influenced by otherworldly forces.

The Conservatory is a tarot-based collaborative storytelling game for 1-5 players about founding a powerful, esoteric, & occult institution, setting it in motion, & tracing its history as it becomes shaped by & embroiled in havoc, leaving a perilous impact on the world.

The game plays out in a series of eras where players draw cards & answer prompts about the institution & its members, as well as its practices, plans, & influence on the local environment and community, each culminating in a dramatic bookend that will define its future. It works as a standalone experience or as a world-building game for another system.

The Conservatory was originally conceived as a prequel world-building game to Major Magicka, a game about bizarro magic college.