D&D 5E Why is no one talking about THE BOOK OF MANY THINGS?

[Starmaster]

As a little aside, one or more of the posts above mentioned the cardstock deck of many things that was included in Dragon 148 (and the grayscale copies of the same deck included in Dungeon 19 along with an adventure module making use of those cards). Dragon had some cool inserts over the years, but I think this was probably my favorite. The description of the deck in the 1e AD&D DMG listed the individual regular playing cards that could be used to represent the deck, but it was so very cool to have an actual deck with awesome illustrations on it that could be used instead. And all for free with the purchase of the magazine.

 

[Micah Sweet]

As a little aside, one or more of the posts above mentioned the cardstock deck of many things that was included in Dragon 148 (and the grayscale copies of the same deck included in Dungeon 19 along with an adventure module making use of those cards). Dragon had some cool inserts over the years, but I think this was probably my favorite. The description of the deck in the 1e AD&D DMG listed the individual regular playing cards that could be used to represent the deck, but it was so very cool to have an actual deck with awesome illustrations on it that could be used instead. And all for free with the purchase of the magazine.

I still have my set!

 

[pukunui]

To clarify, I think the setting book is good and the bestiary is fine; I think Turn of Fortune's Wheel is among the very worst official 5E adventures and is so shockingly bad that it really brings down the box overall for me.

Really? I've read it and am eager to run it! Yeah, it needs some fleshing out in parts, but I wouldn't call it "shockingly bad". The only 5e adventures I would apply that to are Dragon Heist and The Shattered Obelisk. Turn of Fortune's Wheel is, IMO, significantly better than Light of Xaryxis from the Spelljammer box set.

Book of Many Things would be a much more frequently recommended product if you didn't also need to buy a $50 deck of cards you'll never use in order to get it

The book is full of way to use the deck of cards, so I'm not sure why you say it something people will never use. In addition to using it for the eponymous Deck of Many Things, you can use the cards to randomly generate adventure outlines, to narrate long journeys, as an alternative to the generic rule for inspiration, and so on. They really made an effort to provide DMs with lots of different ways to make use of the deck. It's far from useless!

 

[jasper]

I just didn't get it was because it was outside my price range for a D&D product.

it was a $25 idea book for $100.

 

[Parmandur]

Interesting, I think Planescape is a great product. First time I became interested in the setting!

But to the OP (@THEMNGMNT), I passed on the Book, what is there that would make me want to get it?

IIRC, you do not DM...so, honestly, not much? The material in thus book, except for a handful of Feats and a lot of magic items, is pretty much all DM prep material.

Great present for a DM, though.

 

[Parmandur]

That, specifically, is a reasonable critique.

I personally, don't mind it - I find it less a "cute gimmick" and more "artistic conceit". And, in terms of interpreting cards, I find it an interesting example.

Looking at the books a way to make the Deck of Many Thinhs usable in play, instead of the Russian Roulette joke it has been traditionally, organizing by the cards makes a lot of sense: it helps make any card that gets pulled a story opportunity instead of a campaign wrecker.

 

[Parmandur]

Really? I've read it and am eager to run it! Yeah, it needs some fleshing out in parts, but I wouldn't call it "shockingly bad". The only 5e adventures I would apply that to are Dragon Heist and The Shattered Obelisk. Turn of Fortune's Wheel is, IMO, significantly better than Light of Xaryxis from the Spelljammer box set.

Even Dragpn Heist and Shattered Obelisk are usable: honestly none of the campaign books from 5E have been Forest Oracle material.

The Spelljammer and Planescape campaigns, IMO, are helped greatly NY a lower pahe count and Level length, not needing to stretch am idea to 256 pages.

 

[Thommy H-H]

I had no interest in the deck or the other accessories, so I just bought the digital book on D&D Beyond, and I'd say it's paid for itself since.

• I've used many of the included stat blocks, magic items, feats etc. all over the place. One of the characters in a long-running campaign of mine is a charlatan Arcane Trickster who has been flicking playing card themed Magic Missiles around for years already, so he got plenty of new toys to play with.
• In another campaign I lifted the Heralds of the Comet faction basically wholesale and made them part of an ongoing Far Realm incursion metaplot. Their base became the party's Bastion once they'd cleared them out and the blonde human Aspirant who appears in the art was an NPC they callously allowed to be eaten by a cosmic horror and who will hence be returning - horribly transformed - as the campaign's Big Bad.
• Riffing on that connection to the Deck of Many Things, the same party had an adventure into the Shadowfell version of their hometown where all the creepy encounters were based on the cards as well as their own past escapades, and I used a lot of material from the book for that.
• In another campaign, the party will need to visit Baba Yaga's hut in the near future and I've used the House of Cards dungeon in the Void chapter mostly unchanged as the basis for the hut's demiplanar interior (it's all just made of rotting planks instead of cards). It's a surprisingly neat fit, actually - the three Fate Hags will be images of Tasha at different ages, and the Talon Beasts kind of look like they have chicken legs.
• Likewise, the Seelie Market will be dropped into the Feywild somewhere when they get there, and I've already used bits and pieces of it for the other group.
• The Sky of Many Things sits alongside Nyx in one of my settings that uses the Theros pantheon, basically as the secular interpretation of the constellations.
• I used some bits and pieces of the Donjon Sphere for a gnomish clockwork toy factory that was going wrong (pesky ceremorphs got in and nearly ruined Christmas by putting illithid tadpoles in the packages!).

I'm a great one for cannibalising setting and splat books, as you can see, so the Book of Many Things - which is basically just a grab-bag of (loosely) themed content - is ideal for me. WotC probably should have sold it on that basis instead of just treating it like an add-on to a fancy box of accessories for completists.

 

[Parmandur]

I had no interest in the deck or the other accessories, so I just bought the digital book on D&D Beyond, and I'd say it's paid for itself since.

• I've used many of the included stat blocks, magic items, feats etc. all over the place. One of the characters in a long-running campaign of mine is a charlatan Arcane Trickster who has been flicking playing card themed Magic Missiles around for years already, so he got plenty of new toys to play with.
• In another campaign I lifted the Heralds of the Comet faction basically wholesale and made them part of an ongoing Far Realm incursion metaplot. Their base became the party's Bastion once they'd cleared them out and the blonde human Aspirant who appears in the art was an NPC they callously allowed to be eaten by a cosmic horror and who will hence be returning - horribly transformed - as the campaign's Big Bad.
• Riffing on that connection to the Deck of Many Things, the same party had an adventure into the Shadowfell version of their hometown where all the creepy encounters were based on the cards as well as their own past escapades, and I used a lot of material from the book for that.
• In another campaign, the party will need to visit Baba Yaga's hut in the near future and I've used the House of Cards dungeon in the Void chapter mostly unchanged as the basis for the hut's demiplanar interior (it's all just made of rotting planks instead of cards). It's a surprisingly neat fit, actually - the three Fate Hags will be images of Tasha at different ages, and the Talon Beasts kind of look like they have chicken legs.
• Likewise, the Seelie Market will be dropped into the Feywild somewhere when they get there, and I've already used bits and pieces of it for the other group.
• The Sky of Many Things sits alongside Nyx in one of my settings that uses the Theros pantheon, basically as the secular interpretation of the constellations.
• I used some bits and pieces of the Donjon Sphere for a gnomish clockwork toy factory that was going wrong (pesky ceremorphs got in and nearly ruined Christmas by putting illithid tadpoles in the packages!).

I'm a great one for cannibalising setting and splat books, as you can see, so the Book of Many Things - which is basically just a grab-bag of (loosely) themed content - is ideal for me. WotC probably should have sold it on that basis instead of just treating it like an add-on to a fancy box of accessories for completists.

This is the Way.

 

[GreyLord]

Book of Many Things would be a much more frequently recommended product if you didn't also need to buy a $50 deck of cards you'll never use in order to get it

This.

I'd buy the book in a heartbeat...if I didn't have to get the card deck and other book with it. I only want the book with the Magic Items...not the deck itself or it's descriptors.