If you've been playing, or wanted to play, Dead Letter Society via Discord there's now a bot to simplify your (un)life.

To use the Discord bot, invite it to your server using this link: https://deadlettersociety.com/discord

Setting Expectations

This Discord bot simplifies playing Dead Letter Society online by providing you with journaling prompts using the Major and Minor Arcana of the tarot. It does not manage character Assets, letters, or provide worldbuilding prompts.  Please request features (or report bugs) using this Google form.

Limitations

In the first instance, the bot supports:

  • One tarot deck, shared between two players or specific to one player.
  • If you’d like to use a deck each, start two solo games (see the /start command below)
  • There is no enforcement of the round sequence and no limit on the number of Chronicle Points a player can spend.
  • You can only participate in one game per server.

Available Commands

There are four commands needed to use this bot, /start, /society, /chronicle, and /end.

/start [Optional: another player’s handle]

This command begins a new game of Dead Letter Society. Specify the other player's Discord username in the optional field for a two-player game, or leave it blank for a solo game.

  • If you have an ongoing game, you will instead be prompted to use the /end command first.
  • If this is your first time using the /start command on a server, you will be prompted to authenticate your game.

Once the /start command has been used, you can use the remaining commands: /society, /chronicle, and /end.

Authentication

This bot requires authentication to confirm that at least one user has access to a copy (digital or physical) of Dead Letter Society as it reproduces all of the journaling prompts in the game.

If this is your first time using the /start command on a server, a pop-up box will appear and ask you to type in the nth word of three different prompts. For example, if you’re asked to input the 5th word of a prompt that reads “The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog”, you would enter “jumps” (without quotes) in the answer box.

/society

Use this command whenever you want to draw a card from the Major Arcana for your Society Phase. A card is drawn, and the prompt is posted in the channel you used this command in. You can

  • Accept the card, then act on the prompt.
  • Discard the card, removing it from the deck and preventing it from being drawn until the deck is reshuffled. If you choose this option, you’ll be asked if you’d like to draw another card.
  • You may discard a card for many reasons, for example, because it’s not in keeping with your agreed safety tools. Any cards discarded using this option may reappear after the Major Arcana deck is reshuffled. However, this only occurs after all 22 cards have been drawn.
  • Return to deck, shuffles the drawn card back into the deck to be potentially drawn again by any player.
  • You may choose this option for many reasons, for example, because you used the /society command accidentally or feel like the card doesn’t lead to interesting consequences in your current game.

These options will time out after 60 seconds. In the case of a timeout, the card is accepted. If the question about redrawing a card times out, no new card is drawn.

/chronicle [Optional: state an intention]

Use this command whenever you want to draw a card from the Minor Arcana for your Chronicle Phase. You can state an intention along with the command, for example, “/chronicle How do I quench my thirst this evening?” If no intention is given, a pop-up will prompt for an intention. This can be left blank – for example, if you’re using a Chronicle Point to Add Depth. Intentions are restated above the journaling prompt for your convenience.

Each card draw is accompanied by the same three options used in /society: accept, discard, and return to deck.

/end

Use this command to end any current game you’re participating in, and make it possible to start a new game.

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