The Star
Narcissism, Celebrity, Vanity, Hope, Healing
I have something to admit. Sometimes, my reads on Tarot cards do not align perfectly with the accepted standards. The Star is, at least according to most books on the topic, a card of hope, positivity, and healing, but I just see someone utterly entranced by their own reflection1.
It’s not an intentional read of the card — the term “star” to indicate celebrity status doesn’t seem to have taken root until the 1910’s, some time after the initial printing of the Rider-Waite Tarot — but who am I to let authorial intent ruin a perfectly good pun?
Think of it as the focus on the self of The Hermit but without the ability to be alone, without introspection, growth, or empathy for others. The Hermit longs to be alone, The Star can not exist without being the center of their own little universe. The Star is selfish. The Star demands attention.
Before we judge too harshly, in some sense this is a healthy behavior. As a deeply awkward and embarassing man of marginal consequence, I can respect that the thin line separating me from total ego death rests on the shaky house-of-cards of delusion. We, I think, benefit and even come to depend on the lie that we tell ourselves: that we are important, that we are special. Everybody deserves to feel like a Star now and again.
Friends & Foes
The Never Meet Your Hero is beloved by all, except for folks who have met them in person. It turns out that their legend is somewhat exaggerated: in real life they are very flawed.
The Diva has let their fame go all the way to their head. They have an entourage and they refuse to show up at all unless their many pages of demands are met to the letter.
The Stalker has developed an unhealthy obsession with their victim. They think about them all the time. They have a little shrine to them in their home. They follow them. They imagine being best friends.
The Notorious is well-known for something bad2. Whatever shameful thing it is that they do (or did), their notoriety serves mostly to make their life worse.
The Fountainhead is convinced that the world should be and is an every-person-for-themselves free-for-all, that the highest moral dictate is unrestrained selfishness. This tends to make them a very popular preacher among the wealthy and powerful3.
The Alien Geometry is so beautiful and terrible that looking directly at them presents a significant risk to one’s sanity.
Hooks
The players must put on a show4.
One of the players enjoys a burst of sudden, unexpected fame for something they didn’t actually do.
One of your players has a skill or ability that hasn’t seen a lot of use for the entire adventure: now is that skill’s time to shine. Finally, a chance for that obscure specialty to be useful.
Locations
The Perfectly Still Pool offers up perfect reflections that are oddly mesmerizing. What lies under the surface?
The Grand Theatre is intended to entertain a large number of people, with well designed sets, lighting, rigging, even trap-doors for dramatic entrances and exits.
The Tailor/Seamstress/Costume Shop/Barber/Salon offer a wide variety of options to change one’s appearance.
The Observatory contains both a very big telescope and charts and murals detailing the cosmology of the universe. This is the sort of thing that can make one feel very small and inconsequential5.
The Cartographer’s Guild is responsible for upkeep and sale of maps. Not only can they help you find where you’re going (for a price) but they can also sell you a map to an exotic destination, and they’ll pay top dollar for new maps.
Treasures
The Hallucinogenesis Shard takes those who touch it on a revelatory, dreamlike journey through their own psyche.
The Pocket Disguise is great for small changes to one’s appearance on the go.
Names
Marilyn, Dolly, Hepburn, Buddy, Brando, Presley, Lennon, Jackson, Spears, Cobain, Diaz, Bullock, Carey, Winslet, Gemini, Orion, Libra, Cygnus, Virgo, Vela, Crux