D&D 5E The more things change, the more they stay the same

[Sacrosanct]

My teenage son has played D&D sporadically, but not anything close to a regular player, nor is he well versed in the rules all that much. Well, recently some of his friends (who have never played before) want to start playing D&D. My son will DM. He's never done that before, and for all intents and purposes, is a brand new player himself. So he raided my library to read a bunch of books, including the 1e books (Yay!)

So they've been playing really loosely and not following all the rules, and just experimenting around having fun. By the first session, one player wanted to be a half dragonborn half orc. So they made it up. By the fourth session?

By the fourth session of playing D&D ever, they had already broken out the deck of many things.


It's like 1981 all over again.

 

[Satyrn]

If I was a little more lowkey, I'd rewrite the lyrics for Circumstances to be about a boy playing D&D. The chorus might go something like this

All the same
We take our chances
Laughed at by the dice
Tricked by the DM
Plus ca change
Plus c'est la meme chose
The more that things change
The more they stay the same

But better.

 

[CrimsonCarcharodon]

I'm convinced that the Deck of Many Things has irrevocably altered (or killed) more campaigns than any other magic item in history.

 

[Henry]

I'm convinced that the Deck of Many Things has irrevocably altered (or killed) more campaigns than any other magic item in history.

It made an appearance in every one of our campaigns when I was younger; there was exactly ONE campaign that it didn’t wreck.

 

[Sacrosanct]

I'm convinced that the Deck of Many Things has irrevocably altered (or killed) more campaigns than any other magic item in history.

Half the PCs become superpowerful, while the other half get sucked into the void or similar.

Then the players of the powerful PCs either feel guilty, or can't stop themselves, and keep drawing until they get tragically disposed of.

Campaign killer is right. And the DM doesn't even need to do anything but put the deck in the game. Players can't help themselves