D&D 5E Shenanigans - The Deck of Many Things

[Quickleaf]

Had the Deck in the hands of a crypt thing (a type of undead that could teleport PCs around the dungeon), which requested that a visitor draw a card. Players wisely refused, got teleported, reemerged in crypt thing's chamber which was sort of at the center of a labyrinth layout. Led to some colorful debate about whether they needed to draw to escape, and who would draw, until one player remembered they had a Ring of X-Ray Vision and tried to see the top card. I think I punted (was a young GM then), and had them see a card with the image of the castle on the surface, and crypt thing teleported them there.

 

[el-remmen]

The only time I can remember using the Deck of Many Things is the two times I ran X2 - Castle Amber for AD&D groups (in 1E and 2E) and replaced the tarot card reader encounter (with similar effects as the actual deck) with the Deck of Many Things. It was so long ago that I can't really remember the details of how it worked out - but since the parties finished the module both times, I can only assume the chaos it caused was limited. TBH, Castle Amber gives out so many wackadoo things, I can't remember what was the deck and what as just the typical weirdness.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Had the Deck in the hands of a crypt thing (a type of undead that could teleport PCs around the dungeon), which requested that a visitor draw a card. Players wisely refused, got teleported, reemerged in crypt thing's chamber which was sort of at the center of a labyrinth layout. Led to some colorful debate about whether they needed to draw to escape, and who would draw, until one player remembered they had a Ring of X-Ray Vision and tried to see the top card. I think I punted (was a young GM then), and had them see a card with the image of the castle on the surface, and crypt thing teleported them there.

Oh, man, x-ray vision on a Deck of Many Things is a fun idea. So many possibilities to freak the caster out.

 

[billd91]

I've trotted it out a couple of times in campaigns I've run. It's a great temptation for certain kinds of players. The most recent time was in a 3e campaign I was running. I was able to weave some of the results into the campaign pretty well. One drew the Keep and got the deed to Kendall Keep (Return to the Keep on the Borderlands) where the campaign started. Two PCs ended up with knights that I stated up as cohorts. And the hapless human sorcerer ended up getting gems, losing his magic items, and dying whereupon he was reincarnated by the druid into a gnome. That started off a solid run of reincarnations ended up as gnomes in multiple campaigns. It was uncanny.

On the player side, I usually don't partake. It did come up in a 1e play-by-post message board game I was in years ago. Some of the other players pounced on it like rats banging on levers that directly stimulate their pleasure centers. Absolutely no hesitation.

 

[Lanefan]

I've trotted it out a couple of times in campaigns I've run. It's a great temptation for certain kinds of players. The most recent time was in a 3e campaign I was running. I was able to weave some of the results into the campaign pretty well. One drew the Keep and got the deed to Kendall Keep (Return to the Keep on the Borderlands) where the campaign started. Two PCs ended up with knights that I stated up as cohorts. And the hapless human sorcerer ended up getting gems, losing his magic items, and dying whereupon he was reincarnated by the druid into a gnome. That started off a solid run of reincarnations ended up as gnomes in multiple campaigns. It was uncanny.

Ha! For me it's Hobbits. For some reason it seems like every reincarnation in my game produces a Hobbit, even though the odds of coming back as a Hobbit aren't great.