D&D General Using the Deck of Many Things Tomorrow, Will I Blow Up My Game?

[Swarmkeeper]

Love me some random campaign infusions!

I agree that using The Void as an example with negative consequences could scare some players.

I really like the cards that require/allow additional draws.

While potentially powerful, I don’t see Campfire as a huge issue considering the timing restrictions - once/day and expires after the next Full Moon which could be as soon as tomorrow or 4 weeks out (or whatever moon cycle your world has). ETA: 2 weeks it is!

Looking forward to the recap of what happens at your session!

 

[Charlaquin]

I’m kinda between 3 and 4. A deck of many things always causes a lot of chaos when introduced to a campaign, and certainly has the potential to upend whatever else had been going on. But, I wouldn’t necessarily call that “blowing up” the campaign, and whether it’s a good or bad thing really depends on how attached you all are to whatever else was going on.

 

[Lanefan]

I'll run a Deck every few years just for kicks, and the players (usually) love seeing one come out.

Had one just a few weeks ago, using the original 1e DMG version*. An initial round of draws went poorly - someone got Imprisoned, a few other Bad Things went by - and then someone drew Moon and got a wish. Via some very clever wording, this wish was used to undo all the previous draws...which meant everyone was free to draw again! And so, undaunted by their previous bad luck, off we went on a second round, which came out mostly much better except for one character who in losing all his magic set the all-time record across all our games for the most expensive mishap to befall a single character.

And of course someone drew Throne. Those little castles have been sprouting like weeds in this campaign, to the point where I had to work out a floorplan for them (they're all basically the same) and any variances thereto and make a list of who has what.

Side note: the way I do the castle piece is that the next morning (or at the next reasonable opportunity thereafter) a gang of people carrying very heavy sacks walk up to the Throne-drawer, one of them says "We have your castle. Where would you like it?". The character chooses a location, and the gang trundle off and fade to nothing; the castle appears in the desired location shortly afterwards.

If the character hums and haws over the location the sack-carriers soon get grumpy - those things are heavy! If the character is vague about the location then random chance has its say: one character put his "5 miles west of [specific city]" without ever having been there or viewed the site, by the time he got there to see it his castle was already sinking into the bog in which he'd put it. Oops!

* - in comparison, the version listed in the OP seems considerably watered down.

 

[CleverNickName]

Well of course it will blow up your campaign. But campaigns need blowing up every now and then, right?

Embrace the chaos.

 

[Cordwainer Fish]

Will using the Deck of Many Things in my 5E game blow up my campaign?

That's what it's for. It's a joke item and honestly whoever thought it up should be pelted with stale Cheetos.