L
lowkey13
Guest
*Deleted by user*
Deck of many things
- Thread starter Glomb175
- Start date
L
lowkey13
Guest
*Deleted by user*
aco175
Legend
We seem to use it in every campaign at some point. In the 2e/3e days it caused a lot of problems, but most would get undone with someone pulling a card that could avoid something. Usually ended up with some characters getting something cool, but nobody having terrible problems.
In 4e I had a quest for gathering all the cards since the plot was that some were sold over the years and the deck did not work. Never did collect all of them. I remember a few changes to the makeup of the deck in 4e so I'm not sue how it played. In 5e we have not gotten that far with level 9 characters, although I have a NPC merchant with a couple tiles if the players want to start collecting.
In 4e I had a quest for gathering all the cards since the plot was that some were sold over the years and the deck did not work. Never did collect all of them. I remember a few changes to the makeup of the deck in 4e so I'm not sue how it played. In 5e we have not gotten that far with level 9 characters, although I have a NPC merchant with a couple tiles if the players want to start collecting.
In my current home game, I've decided that the Deck of Many Things functions more like the Dragon Balls from Dragon Ball Z than the item in the DMG.
Individual cards are scattered across the world, and the PC's have been finding them here and there as they adventure.
Eventually they will find enough to make a lesser or greater deck, and it will remain functional for a short period of time after someone draws the first card. Once all the draws have been completed, the deck disappears as the cards disperse to the far corners of the world again.
That way they know it's coming, but it doesn't happen until I let them find the final card.
Last edited:
L
lowkey13
Guest
*Deleted by user*
Fanaelialae
Legend
The Deck of Many Things has shown up in most of the campaigns I've played in. Believe it or not, I can't think of any time it broke the campaign (at least not in any way that wasn't insanely fun for everyone at the table). It usually gets introduced around level 6, which is the ideal for us (not so low level that the good cards will break the game, and not so high level that the bad cards like talons will never be recovered from).
The most recent time I was playing in an evil underdark campaign. We had allied ourselves with a militarily poor but well positioned trade city, and our goals were based around improving the influence of the city and attaining positions of power for ourselves.
In fairness, I don't recall all of the draws, but here's what I remember. My character also made a deal with a hag for a second round of draws later in the campaign, so I may be mixing up which cards I drew the first time).
I drew the Knight (my character's stalwart companion Isabella, who was with him through the end of the campaign), the Vizir (which answered a very important question later in the campaign that helped my character attain his driving goal of reviving his master), the Throne (I have drawn this card I don't know how many times and I still have never gotten to claim my keep), and Gems (which were very handy for financing the war effort later in the campaign). I definitely drew Euryale the first time around, so one of the above cards came from the second time.
Two of the characters drew Balance, which changed them from evil to good. Their goals remained very similar (help the town) but their methods and motivations changed significantly, which was a lot of fun.
I think both Ruin and Talons were drawn (I may have drawn one of them). We managed.
The Throne and the Knight were also drawn again. That keep we did reclaim, and the knight was another great NPC with a deep backstory that tied in with the rest of the campaign.
I think Gems was also drawn again.
Star was definitely drawn at some point.
Key was drawn as well (the player was quite happy with that one).
Someone drew Skull but managed to defeat death.
I think The Fates was drawn but we had to use it when someone drew The Void.
One of the characters also drew Flames, which came back big time later in the campaign. A hunting party came looking for him. We tried to fight them off, but the dice were not with us. They ended up killing that character and forced the party into retreat (and took his body). The reason my character tried drawing from the Deck again was because he was trying to bring back his friend (who was basically impossible to resurrect because there was no body). Alas, while my draws the second time around were fantastic, I drew neither the Fates nor the Moon that could have brought him back.
But yeah, the Deck usually results in both craziness and fun. Personally, I've never cared for some of the cards like The Void or Donjon (lose you character - how is that an interesting result?). Which is why I created my own alternate version that I'll be using from now on. It tones down some of the best cards (50,000 xp from the Sun isn't a deal breaker in my book, but it is a lot), as well as some of the bad cards. Basically, I tried to make the cards more interesting. For example, Talons takes your magic items and gives them to one of your enemies. On one hand that sucks, because you don't have your items and your enemy does. On the other hand, since they haven't been disintegrated you have an opportunity to get them back, which has a lot of potential IMO.
The most recent time I was playing in an evil underdark campaign. We had allied ourselves with a militarily poor but well positioned trade city, and our goals were based around improving the influence of the city and attaining positions of power for ourselves.
In fairness, I don't recall all of the draws, but here's what I remember. My character also made a deal with a hag for a second round of draws later in the campaign, so I may be mixing up which cards I drew the first time).
I drew the Knight (my character's stalwart companion Isabella, who was with him through the end of the campaign), the Vizir (which answered a very important question later in the campaign that helped my character attain his driving goal of reviving his master), the Throne (I have drawn this card I don't know how many times and I still have never gotten to claim my keep), and Gems (which were very handy for financing the war effort later in the campaign). I definitely drew Euryale the first time around, so one of the above cards came from the second time.
Two of the characters drew Balance, which changed them from evil to good. Their goals remained very similar (help the town) but their methods and motivations changed significantly, which was a lot of fun.
I think both Ruin and Talons were drawn (I may have drawn one of them). We managed.
The Throne and the Knight were also drawn again. That keep we did reclaim, and the knight was another great NPC with a deep backstory that tied in with the rest of the campaign.
I think Gems was also drawn again.
Star was definitely drawn at some point.
Key was drawn as well (the player was quite happy with that one).
Someone drew Skull but managed to defeat death.
I think The Fates was drawn but we had to use it when someone drew The Void.
One of the characters also drew Flames, which came back big time later in the campaign. A hunting party came looking for him. We tried to fight them off, but the dice were not with us. They ended up killing that character and forced the party into retreat (and took his body). The reason my character tried drawing from the Deck again was because he was trying to bring back his friend (who was basically impossible to resurrect because there was no body). Alas, while my draws the second time around were fantastic, I drew neither the Fates nor the Moon that could have brought him back.
But yeah, the Deck usually results in both craziness and fun. Personally, I've never cared for some of the cards like The Void or Donjon (lose you character - how is that an interesting result?). Which is why I created my own alternate version that I'll be using from now on. It tones down some of the best cards (50,000 xp from the Sun isn't a deal breaker in my book, but it is a lot), as well as some of the bad cards. Basically, I tried to make the cards more interesting. For example, Talons takes your magic items and gives them to one of your enemies. On one hand that sucks, because you don't have your items and your enemy does. On the other hand, since they haven't been disintegrated you have an opportunity to get them back, which has a lot of potential IMO.
Fanaelialae
Legend
I just remembered my absolute favorite Deck story. This was a campaign I was running, and one of the players was playing a charismatic rogue named Claudia, who made friends everywhere she went.
During a solo session (the other players couldn't make it) Claudia was tasked with breaking into the prison holding Loki and releasing him. She owed a favor to another god (in this setting the gods frequently took human form, so the party had dealings with several of them), and he was a seasonal god of underworld and pasture who would annually be killed by Thor only to be revived when the seasons changed. This god was tired of being slaughtered, and figured that if Loki were free to cause his mischief, Thor might be otherwise occupied. Sadly for her, she ran afoul an elemental guardian within the prison and was smashed until she was a damp stain.
The next session, the party went to look for her and managed to identify her only due to her ruined equipment. They ultimately completed the mission, freeing Loki (which came back to haunt them in a later campaign) and Mina, an oathbreaker paladin joined the party. Despite that Mina was working with the good guys, she was more feared than loved. And wherever they went, NPCs would ask about Claudia and then would be saddened by news of her demise. They spent many an evening in various taverns toasting Claudia with the NPCs that they'd met.
They later defeated an insane beholder who was the bound guardian of the dungeon (technically it was a castle) that they wanted to delve. Since it was tied to the castle, the beholder couldn't be killed, but since it was defeated it would let them pass... plus it offered them draws from the Deck of Many Things. I only recall two of the draws, both by Mina. She drew Euryale, and then The Fates. I expected her to use The Fates to remove the curse of Euryale, but she surprised me.
She decided to use The Fates to avert Claudia's death. I admit, I was poleaxed. I talked to the player about it, and it turned out he wasn't looking to play Claudia again. Rather, Mina was so sick and tired of constantly hearing about how great Claudia was, that she wanted to bring her back so that she wouldn't have to constantly live in the shadow of a dead character. I called for a break because I really needed to give it some thought. Claudia had been dead for weeks, so retconning was out of the question - too much had happened. Then I had a eureka moment. I told the player that Mina senses that the card's power has taken effect, but that she doesn't see Claudia nor have any of her memories changed. She's certain the card worked though.
At that point we had started to build up towards a major villain in the story. A revenant named Hate, whose backstory was so filled with tragedy that his vendetta was with the world itself. When it finally came time to face off against this villain, guess who shows up to save the party's bacon? Claudia of course! The Fates had rewritten what happened in the prison. Rather than being killed by the elemental, she avoided it and freed Loki. Loki, grateful for his freedom, had foreseen that a great tragedy would befall Claudia unless she faked her own death (with Loki's help of course). With Claudia's help they succeeded in permanently destroying Hate, which wasn't originally the plan (since he was a revenant he was meant to be the epitome a recurring villain). Claudia had spent the time she was "dead" procuring the necessary materials to make sure Hate stayed dead.
Claudia, in turn became the mayor of the town the party was from in the next campaign, and she was one of my players favorite NPCs to interact with.
I'd say that one is my favorite use of the Deck because it was so unexpected, and it let me take the campaign in a direction that I otherwise wouldn't have. Which is, overall, what I love about the Deck. In a lot of ways, it embodies the golden moments of why I love this game so much.
During a solo session (the other players couldn't make it) Claudia was tasked with breaking into the prison holding Loki and releasing him. She owed a favor to another god (in this setting the gods frequently took human form, so the party had dealings with several of them), and he was a seasonal god of underworld and pasture who would annually be killed by Thor only to be revived when the seasons changed. This god was tired of being slaughtered, and figured that if Loki were free to cause his mischief, Thor might be otherwise occupied. Sadly for her, she ran afoul an elemental guardian within the prison and was smashed until she was a damp stain.
The next session, the party went to look for her and managed to identify her only due to her ruined equipment. They ultimately completed the mission, freeing Loki (which came back to haunt them in a later campaign) and Mina, an oathbreaker paladin joined the party. Despite that Mina was working with the good guys, she was more feared than loved. And wherever they went, NPCs would ask about Claudia and then would be saddened by news of her demise. They spent many an evening in various taverns toasting Claudia with the NPCs that they'd met.
They later defeated an insane beholder who was the bound guardian of the dungeon (technically it was a castle) that they wanted to delve. Since it was tied to the castle, the beholder couldn't be killed, but since it was defeated it would let them pass... plus it offered them draws from the Deck of Many Things. I only recall two of the draws, both by Mina. She drew Euryale, and then The Fates. I expected her to use The Fates to remove the curse of Euryale, but she surprised me.
She decided to use The Fates to avert Claudia's death. I admit, I was poleaxed. I talked to the player about it, and it turned out he wasn't looking to play Claudia again. Rather, Mina was so sick and tired of constantly hearing about how great Claudia was, that she wanted to bring her back so that she wouldn't have to constantly live in the shadow of a dead character. I called for a break because I really needed to give it some thought. Claudia had been dead for weeks, so retconning was out of the question - too much had happened. Then I had a eureka moment. I told the player that Mina senses that the card's power has taken effect, but that she doesn't see Claudia nor have any of her memories changed. She's certain the card worked though.
At that point we had started to build up towards a major villain in the story. A revenant named Hate, whose backstory was so filled with tragedy that his vendetta was with the world itself. When it finally came time to face off against this villain, guess who shows up to save the party's bacon? Claudia of course! The Fates had rewritten what happened in the prison. Rather than being killed by the elemental, she avoided it and freed Loki. Loki, grateful for his freedom, had foreseen that a great tragedy would befall Claudia unless she faked her own death (with Loki's help of course). With Claudia's help they succeeded in permanently destroying Hate, which wasn't originally the plan (since he was a revenant he was meant to be the epitome a recurring villain). Claudia had spent the time she was "dead" procuring the necessary materials to make sure Hate stayed dead.
Claudia, in turn became the mayor of the town the party was from in the next campaign, and she was one of my players favorite NPCs to interact with.
I'd say that one is my favorite use of the Deck because it was so unexpected, and it let me take the campaign in a direction that I otherwise wouldn't have. Which is, overall, what I love about the Deck. In a lot of ways, it embodies the golden moments of why I love this game so much.
Last edited:
The next question is, if I were to introduce it, should I let the players know the cards before they decide whether or not to draw? Or just be like "here is a magic deck of card, but be warned blah blah blah"
Sent from my HTC 10 using EN World mobile app
Sent from my HTC 10 using EN World mobile app
You should let them know that some of the cards are grotesquely, unfairly overpowered, and that others can lead to a fate worse than death. Tell them straight up that each draw risks the character being lost forever (really), or becoming way more powerful than the rest of the party. Never spring that kind of permanent change on someone by surprise.
Saeviomagy
Adventurer
If I were you, I'd change a bunch of the cards so that they lend themselves to the campaign going on instead of instant derailments and character destruction. I'd change a bunch of other cards so that they are actually interesting instead of just being flat minor statistical modifiers.
Donjon, void - the entire party are imprisoned or their minds hurled to another plane.
Skull - something more interesting than "a bad undead tries to kill you". Probably "you die, and come back as an undead".
Idiot - I'd much rather hand out a character flaw than just reduce numbers. Especially when for most characters, the number reduced is by far the least used stat.
Talons and Ruin - it's much more interesting if the event is reversible: the items are scattered to the winds, or become the possession of an ally.
Donjon, void - the entire party are imprisoned or their minds hurled to another plane.
Skull - something more interesting than "a bad undead tries to kill you". Probably "you die, and come back as an undead".
Idiot - I'd much rather hand out a character flaw than just reduce numbers. Especially when for most characters, the number reduced is by far the least used stat.
Talons and Ruin - it's much more interesting if the event is reversible: the items are scattered to the winds, or become the possession of an ally.
Similar Threads
