The Deck of Many Things

[Corathon]

Back in the eighties, I had a character draw from the deck and get the card that allowed you to gain a level of experience if you defeated the next monster encountered in single combat.

As it happened, we left the dungeon just after drawing from the deck, so I was expecting the next monster encountered to be met on the next trip into the dungeon, but that's not what happened. While we were walking along the streets of the nearest city, we saw an ogre chewing on a length of rope. In this city ogres were allowed to roam the streets as long as they obeyed the law.

I was an 8th level paladin (and probably shouldn't have touched the deck in the first place, but that didn't occur to us back then), and could easily defeat an ogre. But I couldn't simply attack the ogre for no reason.

At that point, the ogre knocked a couple of passersby into the mud. This was rude, but not murderous, so my character stepped up (sword still sheathed) and told the ogre to apologize to the people that he'd knocked down. The ogre's response to my admonition was to attack me - unluckily for him and luckily for my PC. Easiest level I ever made

As for other people drawing bad cards like Donjon or Void - this didn't end the campaign when it happened in our group; it just meant that we now had a new adventure (to rescue the imprisoned character or soul).

 

[Intrope]

I've had two encounters with the Deck, one in a really good campaign, and one that was monty haul.

The first:
We start a battle against a giant 2-headed dragon naked, and chained to a wall (This was our fault). 1 character bursts free, triggering a trap that liquifies another character (didn't kill him due to regeneration). Another slips free. My dragon-man's left alone on the wall.

The first escapee runs into the dragon's pleasure garden/doll house (1:1 scale!); the dragon busies itself trying to chase him out without wrecking anything.

The second escapee spotted a magical item containing spell points (we were using a spell point system, and entirely drained at this point). She uses it to shrink me.

So my chibi-sized dragon-man burrows under a pile of magic items. And finds the deck under the pile:
Draw 1: 50K in Bling. Worthless.
Draw 2: 50K in XP. Worthless.
Draw 3: A keep. "Can I drop-" "NO". Worthless.
Draw 4: Moon! 1d4 Wishes heal, requip, and protect the party from the Dragon's disentegration(!) Breath Weapons.

As you might guess, we won that one!

Monty Hall Encounter:
In this game, I was playing a Wild Mage, had a double-strength luck stone, and had the wonderful (and cheesy) alternate reality spell.

It went like this: I'd pick up the deck, and offer another player a draw. They'd draw, I'd exercise my Wild Mage 'control chaos item' ability; combined with the luckstone, that gave a 60% chance of just choosing the desired result. Also, the Alternate Reality spell allowed me a do-over, just in case the original pick was bad!

BTW, that worked out to a 4% chance of a bad card being drawn--and I could always have someone else draw some wishes to fix minor problems.

Even though we were playing under the Worst DM in human history, who had allowed us to run roughshod over him at ever turn (Wishes with Refund Clauses for the cheese!) realized that was not going to work. So he had the BBGEG (the Lich from Throne of Bloodstone) show up and *steal* it. Not, attack us to rend away a major artifact: but sneak in (he had stealth skills?) and filch it (all our protective arrangements of course had no effect).

Anyway, it was highly amusing while it lasted...

 

[blargney the second]

Decks are as awesome in some kinds of games as they are awful in others. Context is key.

 

[The Lemon Merchant]

I only use the deck when a character returns from death. One of the requirements of returning from the dead is paying the Queen of Thieves (goddess of rogues) for the theft of a soul from He Who Knows (god of death and other badness). That payment is drawing from the Deck of Many Things. Sometimes the Queen looks upon the soul favorably and sometimes not so much.

I've had one draw from the deck so far (next one occurs next week, he wasn't here to draw last week) and he was rewarded for the theft (10,000 XP - Jester Card).

This is the only time I'll allow the deck in play, too much chaos ensues

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

Decks are as awesome in some kinds of games as they are awful in others. Context is key.

I agree. I firmly believe the Deck only belongs in a non-serious campaign, or possibly at the very end of a serious campaign.

 

[Terraism]

I agree. I firmly believe the Deck only belongs in a non-serious campaign, or possibly at the very end of a serious campaign.

I'm running an E6 game where magic is significantly subtler most of the time, and magic items aren't a huge feature. Serious game - very, actually. Things tend to be pretty gritty.

In any case, I've actually been thinking of including a Deck in it - since, when I do include magic items so far, they've been extraordinarily unique, it would feel right at home. I think if I do so, I may run them liberally, using only the tabular descriptions of the cards (instead of the more fleshed-out full descriptions in the text.) Run that way, I think it'll work reasonably well.

 

[GlassJaw]

I agree. I firmly believe the Deck only belongs in a non-serious campaign, or possibly at the very end of a serious campaign.

Or in a campaign that you are basing on the Deck, in that the deck will dictate where the campaign goes next.

The deck should absolutely not be a casual insert into a campaign.

 

[Cheiromancer]

I only use the deck when a character returns from death. One of the requirements of returning from the dead is paying the Queen of Thieves (goddess of rogues) for the theft of a soul from He Who Knows (god of death and other badness). That payment is drawing from the Deck of Many Things. Sometimes the Queen looks upon the soul favorably and sometimes not so much.

I've had one draw from the deck so far (next one occurs next week, he wasn't here to draw last week) and he was rewarded for the theft (10,000 XP - Jester Card).

This is the only time I'll allow the deck in play, too much chaos ensues

Ooh. Very cool idea. I like the idea that raise dead would be a commission to the Queen of Thieves (very evocative name) to retrieve the character's soul. The 5K diamond is sort of a down-payment. Some of the bad cards are signs that the caper did not go well.

Very nice!

 

[Pramas]

While we were doing this, I picked up the DM's "Deck of Many Things" deck, that Paizo put out...

That's a Green Ronin product actually, though Paizo sells it on their webstore.

http://www.greenronin.com/Merchant2...de=1001&Product_Code=grr3004&Category_Code=11

 

[Remus Lupin]

My bad, Chris. It's a great product!