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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Nytmare" data-source="post: 5039807" data-attributes="member: 55178">To me, what the deck of many things always felt like it was trying to be was a gamed up and in your face version of a Tarot deck prediction.  If I were to introduce a Deck of Many Things (TM) now, instead of it being an updated version of the old deck vs chart scenario, I'd probably end up doing something closer to what they did in Everway and improvise an encounter built around a tarot reading.The players pose either a question or a problem they are trying to solve.  The DM lays out a 6 card spread of the major arcana, in a 3 tiered pyramid.  From left to right, the bottom 3 cards represent the player's past, present, and future.  The middle 2 represent the forces working for, and against the player.  And the top card represents the player's fate.  The position of the cards (that is, whether the face of the card is right side up or upside down, not if the card's front or back is showing) is important and changes whether or not the card's meaning is positive or negative. The Magician, for example, could be interpreted as "using your abilities and resources well" if he's face up, and could mean "there is someone manipulating you" if he's upside down.So, as a random example, let's pretend that our heroes find themselves horribly lost and hopelessly trapped deep underground in a partially collapsed dungeon.  The priestess of Sehanine eventually convinces her friend's that their only hope is to turn to the deck.  "How will we escape this dungeon?" she asks of the deck, hoping to force the hand of fate with a question that assumes success.The 6 cards I randomly generate for your viewing pleasure, and the meanings I attribute to them (thanks to our friend the Wikipedia) are:Past - 12/1 - The Hanged Man - In the past, you found truth thanks to a new vantage pointPresent - 20/2 - Judgment (reversed) - You are now dealing with the repercussions of past decisions Future - 17/2 - The Star (reversed) - There may be unhappinessVirtue - 0/2 - The Fool (reversed) - What appear to be risks, may not be as dangerous as they appearFault - 5/2 - The Heirophant (reversed) - Powerful deceptions are at work against youFate - 18 - The Moon - Your fate is that you will be deceivedSo as I looked for a meaning behind this particular spread, the story that unfolded in my mind's eye was that the party isn't really trapped, and that the very, very dangerous Illithid Illusionist they thought they had killed earlier isn't really dead and is waiting for his chance to strike. In the end, what you end up with is closer to a watered down and controllable wish.  It's a heck of a lot different than what the Deck of Many Things used to be, but I think it's a more interesting tool for both the players and the DM.</blockquote>

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