Introducing the Deck of Many Things

[Angel Tarragon]

The Deck is designed to do one thing and one thing only . . . destroy any sense of cohesion that your gaming group has.

This is exatly why I am loath to insert it as treasure!

 

[Wormwood]

I'd love to see someone's take on a toned down deck, one that either provides temporary changes/curses, or permanent ones that aren't too drastic. Maybe tie the removal of curses to a specific quest or something...

Sean K. Reynolds thought so too: Deck of Past and Future Possibilities.

Good design. Bad name.

 

[Psion]

Sean K. Reynolds thought so too: Deck of Past and Future Possibilities.

What a good idea. I should have mentioned it myself.

 

[Ace]

Don't use the deck of many things unless you intend to destroy your game. Seriously. It's bad. Even if the characters draw willingly, it totally distorts the mechanics because you end up with some characters that are exceedingly powerful (the ones that pull the +50,000 XP card) and some that are very weak (the ones that pull the 'destroy all your magic items card). I won't even get into the card that kills characters, steals their souls or imprisons them.

The Deck is designed to do one thing and one thing only . . . destroy any sense of cohesion that your gaming group has.

I agree with this more or less word for word .. I will never ever use the deck except in a throw away game session

 

[EricNoah]

Neat, thanks for the link!

 

[Andre]

There was once upon a time a Dungeon Magazine module that used a Deck of many things as a key element to the Dungeon! However, it listed what card was attached to each entryway, so it wasn't random, per se.

Issue 19, Sep/Oct 1989, House of Cards.

 

[Heathen72]

Would you like me to show you your fate?

So I used the deck of many things in my dreamscape game last night - here's how it all came about, and the way I integrated it into the game without it being a mere 'treasure' item.

The PC's were walking through a chamber at the heart of the dream realm. They were striding down a long carpet that detailed the history of the campaign world in a colourful and intricate tapestry. Suddenly, one of them was sucked in to the very fabric of the carpet, turning into thread and stitch before the eyes of the other PC. To the player on the outside (who made his save) it appeared that the PC was now a static part of the tapesty. The player in the actual carpet, however, was still alive and part of a new world - one where everything (himself included) was made of intricate embroidery! (This was in the dream realm, remember) There he encountered a gypsy witch who told him of a pitched battle - between the Gypsies (the last remnant of a old, old sorcerous family) and the Demon Lord of Fate - for the souls of the PC's. Each group was tugging and twisting at the strands of fate to ensure that the certain prophecized events would fall the right way, and the moment the situation was precariously balanced.

The Gypsy offered the PC an opportunity to do a reading to help the party in it's journey, but warned him that with the demon lord watching there was as much risk that some of the cards could lead to ill as to good. The PC decided to take the risk, and asked for the Gypsy to do a seven card spread! I was using a real Tarot deck, so there was actually little chance of his turning up a really nasty card, but the risk was there. As it happens he only turned up a couple of the actual 'Deck of Many Things' cards, one being a magical item, (he got a lost item back) and the other putting him 'half way into the next level upon defeating his next foe'. He was a bit disappointed, I think - he had been wanting to use a Deck of Many Things so I gave him a couple of the 'normal' cards from the spread to use in the future to influence a situation the way of the PC's (we have rules guiding the use of magic to influence fate).

It didn't destroy the campaign, but it could have if he had pulled The Void or something, and certainly other cards could have damaged the story arc really badly, so I won't be pushing my luck by using it again in a hurry. Luckily for us this time it turned out OK. The risk is part of the fun, I guess.

EDIT: Oh, and this is our groups longest running campaign BTW. Certainly not a once of or a throw away session or anything like that. I don't know if there would be much point using something like the deck when there is nothing really at stake

 

[Saeviomagy]

I'd love to see someone's take on a toned down deck, one that either provides temporary changes/curses, or permanent ones that aren't too drastic. Maybe tie the removal of curses to a specific quest or something...

Yeah - specifically, do what the DoMT is supposedly good for (ie - shake up a campaign) without just killing or incapacitating PCs for good.

 

[Durifern]

Our DM let us encounter the OD&D variant: Wheel of Fortune. I think he toned it down a bit, mostly it did changes attributes and the 'lose wealth' option was there too. It was lots of fun. First I didn´t want to spin the wheel but couldn´t resist after he kept on tempting me.
I got really lucky and it increased my Con to 16. Joy!

Another adventure some levels higher (Castle Amber) whe attended a banquet and every course had an effect. Eating the wrong caused one player to turn into one of the ghostly figures populating the castle. Quite disruptive but luckily the player had two characters at that time.

I will send my players a modified deck with only attribute-changing qualities. The original deck is far too disruptive and the bad outweighs the good by quite a margin imo.

Oh before I forget, 5th level players drawing from a deck can only end in disaster imho: they can´t negate the bad and will be unbalanced if they get lucky.

 

[JediSoth]

I used it once in a serious campaign (I don't count the times when it was just me and friend hack 'n slashing with no continuous plot). I think I threw it in to mix things up. No one really got hosed except me (as DM). A plot-important NPC was with the group and I decided not to be a wet blanket and have him draw one card. Naturally, I got the Donjon (instant Imprisonment per the spell). It wasn't instant for me; I permitted him time to utter one explicitive before going away. They weren't high enough level to undo it, so I essentially wrecked my own campaign. D'oh!

JediSoth