Deck of Many Things

[Wolfspirit]

"My party got wealth, XP, and Imprisoned when they drew from The Deck of Many Things, and all I got was this Stinking T-Shirt

Good Deal." -T-Shirt I made

So far, the only times I've seen the Deck used were twice at the end of a decently lengthy campaign (about a year and a half and 5 months, if I recall correctly). Both times the game would have altered significantly if they'd kept going. I'm not a huge fan of it; I guess I like a bit more orderly and non-random progression in my games.

 

[Morrow]

I used the Deck in a one-shot, where it was a great deal of fun. (A character started out with it, and essentially used it as a last resort option.)
Some day, I want to run (or play in) an encounter where the PCs and villains draw from the Deck as part of some desperate bargain. (Or trick: 'Since we're at a standoff, I propose we resolve our differences by drawing cards. Highest wins. You want to go first, or should I?')

Someday I'd like to run a short campaign with mid level characters that started with the characters drawing from the Deck. The campaign could revolve around rescuing character A from imprisonment, getting character B's soul back, or deal with character C's new found enemy.

Morrow

 

[Look_a_Unicorn]

Our "best" DM allowed a Deck to fall into our laps. Much tenseness as most players decided to draw a few cards...
One character, Tara was Imprisoned (and the party "leader" is still trying to discover what happened to her soul.)
The party leader gained an extraplanar enemy, lost all his gear (ie all the party wealth as he's the Lord of the area), then got it back again- OOG the extraplanar enemy is the one that has imprisoned Tara.
Two other characters got minor items & riches
One player lost all his gear, but he didn't have much to begin with...

And one player gained 100,000XP in total, boosting him to 17th level when the rest of us were 12 or so. As a straight Sorcerer he became a powerhouse, capable of annihilating the strongest foes we encountered & making the rest of the party's efforts far less relevant (despite the DM's efforts to modify encounters so we'd all have something to do). That player then got really really cocky & eventually got himself captured by some Draconian Liches when the rest of the party fled. Now, unknown to the other characters, he is the lich's lackey masquerading as the same ally he's always been (now NPC'd)

So fairly major changes resulted, the campaign was heavily disrupted but the DM skillfully maneuvered it back on track without stepping on toes. And that was with a "lucky" set of results.
A worse set of draws, or a less experienced DM would have meant disaster for the campaign!

 

[Wormwood]

I've simplified the Deck of Many Things in my campaign. Instead of having the players draw, the DM does:

01-10 "I Got A Rock."
You are favored by the gods. Nothing happens. Campaign proceeds as normal

11-50 "I Hate That Guy"
Select one PC at random. Heap incredible, unearned rewards upon him. Campaign circles the bowl in 1d3 months unless the PC is somehow destroyed. In any event, the player in question will be despised for the forseeable future. As will you, naturally.

51-90 "How About a Nice Game of Chess?"
Collect 2d4 character sheets. Tear them up in front of the players then burn the remains. End campaign.

91-00 "God Mode"
Give all characters their pick of 1d4 minor artifacts, 10d10 thousand experience points, and---oh what the hell--- thrown in a couple of wishes while you're at it. Players rejoice!. DM burns out and takes up cribbage in 1d4 weeks.

 

[HellHound]

SPOILER

As some of you may rmember from Monte Cook's GenCon 2002 discussion, one of the things he mentioned was both of the gelflings going up to him and thanking him for putting a Deck in RttToEE. They both drew very well... no one died, no lost souls, just a few major demons hating various party members (had a midnight assassination run about a week later... and one character has been kidnapped by their demonic foe no less than three times...)

 

[Quickbeam]

My group just finished a session last week which included all of the players drawing from The Deck for the first time ever. The PC's ranged in level from 10th-12th I believe.

Each player chose to draw bewteen 1-5 cards. The results:
** Three characters managed to draw alignment change cards.
** One character found the void.
** Another PC drew the Abyss and now has a rather later devilish foe waiting somewhere in the shadows to be confronted.
** One character drew The Moon, and like Barendd mentioned above spent two of his three wishes on helping other party members.
** Somebody had an ability score drained.
** And one lucky player managed to draw the 50,000xp bonus and magical item card, moving up three levels and acquiring a pretty cool item in the process.

It wasn't a party or campaign killer, but it's certainly more likely to bring about chaos and disappointment than anything positive.

 

[Brother MacLaren]

Used it once. Disruptive, but then I kind of had no ideas where the game should go at that moment.
I also made up a variant that I haven't used yet, "The Deck of Baneful Blessings," where everything is a tradeoff. Inspired to do so because I have the cutout Deck from an old issue of Dragon magazine.

 

[ciaran00]

Use the Tarot Deck of many things from the encyclopaedia magica, 2nd edition. Many cards in it with a host of interesting effects (including followers).

ciaran

 

[Ferox4]

Used it once, in my first 3E camapign. Characters were 8th -9th level. It was part of an enchanted room and any characters failing their save had to draw one card. There were two PCs that entered the room and were compelled to draw. One was Imprisoned and the other lost all of his wealth (including the party's keep!). The other PCs ABSOLUTELY refused to go into the room - it was the most scared I had ever seen them at the table (to that point). Be careful, it can be a killer.

 

[Sir Whiskers]

SPOILER

As some of you may rmember from Monte Cook's GenCon 2002 discussion, one of the things he mentioned was both of the gelflings going up to him and thanking him for putting a Deck in RttToEE. They both drew very well... no one died, no lost souls, just a few major demons hating various party members (had a midnight assassination run about a week later... and one character has been kidnapped by their demonic foe no less than three times...)

As a player, I was rather disappointed by this. My group absolutely refused to draw - we'd put so much time and effort into the module, we weren't about to ruin it all with a few draws. I suppose we could have gone back after defeating ----------- and stopping the plan, but the GM was ready to take a break so we never got the chance.