Does Deck Of Many Things DESTROY Every DnD Campaign? | Narrated D&D Story

[@SabreM9]

I once watched as all my party pulled bad cards while I pulled Fate, the card that gives you a city, the one that gives you gold, and a few other of the good cards. While my friends pulled the prison one the video mentions, the one that takes all your gold, and one other friend pulled the wish card. The only bad card I pulled was the assassin card and the DM rolled and it was just a peasant

[@xale1836]

My friend pulled the wish one as a first card and his wish was to remove all the négative cards from the deck... xD 500 iq move

[@novadrake9232]

At least they weren't like Puffin Forest where he pulls the void every single time

[@EclipsisTenebris]

I drew the Void first time as well, so I can relate.

[@quinhoprimeiro1049]

Oh! I love Puffin Forest he is so funny

[@novadrake9232]

@@quinhoprimeiro1049 I agree he is

[@shawngallagher8764]

The two characters I’ve played, a posh fighter and an incompetent bard, would gesture to the BBEG to sit with them at a table and play Russian Roulette with the deck of many things

[@mrjamieb1899]

It's always going to depend on 1) What the party knows about the deck and how they feel about it and 2) Who ends up with it or will be most inclined to use it. If you know that most of your party will enjoy it, or find the risk worth taking, then it's something you can consider doing but if there's at least one person in your party who will weaponize it or react very badly to some of the worst outcomes it can cause then you'd probably be better off not including it.

[@MitchT97]

Funny thing. My first time drawing from the deck was last month. We’d tracked a mysterious and somewhat maybe crazy person across the countryside into his tower where we passed several traps and a test or two and finally made our way to him. He congratulated us and told us he would not simply hand over the staff he’d stolen though. Oh no. We’d have to- the dm then goes quite looking through his notes. I, being the somewhat charismatic wizard of the group, challenged the mad man to a test of wits. You see my wizard wasn’t an academic, his intelligence came from his understanding of his craft but also being ready for anything on the spot. He had a wide array of items and spells meant to support the group however they might need. The dm was intrigued, he said depending on what I offered as a challenge the man might accept. “You uh- happen to have a deck of many things on you? Or maybe we do a game of-“ the dm laughs and accepts. The crazed man smiles and pulls out a fine deck of cards. The groups was mostly silent on this. See. I’m the only one in the group with more than a week’s experience with dnd so they did not know what was about to play out. We’d draw and whoever gets the best card wins the staff. That was the bet. Myself and the monk vs the mad man. I drew and got Throne: double proficiency in persuasion and the deed to a keep somewhere in the world. Not a bad pull. Next came the monk drew followed by the mad man. The mad man who proceeded to draw Moon. 1d3 wishes which he immediately used to get the women he was after and then wish them both away. We’d lost and were horrified, he has gotten away with the staff and the hostage. Then the monk spoke up, he still had his card and got the Fates. This card is what would be considered the pentacle of the deck. With it he could erase a moment in time after drawing the card. He chose when the mad man drew. All the sudden the man appeared again and not understanding what had happened drew what he thought was for his first time. He drew Flames. A powerful devil becomes your enemy. The devil appeared and chased the man away dropping the staff in the process. In a lucky draw the monk had saved the quest and turned our fortunes.

[@jakobthedragonboy]

I had 1 experience with the DoMT and it was quite amusing: Its a starwars 5e game and my character is based off Xenu from Scientology but what if instead of a god-like super alien he was just some scientist that was pretty good at it and had *no idea he had created earth* (remember this). for session 0 our goal is to get a DoMT and we did and me and another person drew 2 cards while the other 3 drew 1, I didn't get the names of the cards drawn but I remember the effects: one became a baby with his mind intact but was also rich, one lost all his money (but was already broke so it did nothing) and another got a guide to their hearts desire. As for old Alf-aria Xinu(my character), for his 1st card he got a member of a royal or high ranking family to suddenly have a vivid memory of us have a heated love affair that ended, lets just say, REALLY WELL(REALLY doing Scientology proud with that one). The other card caused a massive cult to spring up around my character being a god that he was unaware of. *TL;DR Sorry yall, I think I might have caused Scientology, my bad.*

[@JerradsNerdGuideToEverything]

I once had a DM that added a cursed deck of many things that a trickster God gave my character I was forced to make saving throws or draw from the deck I absolutely hated it. My party ended up spending a whole session trying to destroy it so the DM finally gave us a way to get rid of it through a trial.

[@ddqfpluskick]

It kind of made our campaign more dangerous but exciting. The first time we got it was in Waterdeep Dragon Heist. The player tricked an enemy NPC into drawing a card and they got the void card. Next time we used it when fighting Xanathar and the wish card help win the fight. Next time our paladin got it got his family's ancestral land back Then we used it several times when fighting an aspect of Tiamat. The fight lost all their magic items. I think that was the last time we used it.

[@brandontsosie4514]

The time a gift changed my player wish from the moon card I have a massive story to tell. And I'll start with the beginning. My character Calcifer was on a with his lover, Tavi, heading from his adoptive village of dwarves to help out people that he believed where in slaved. With this they where ambused and one thing lead to another and Tavi was killed. He had a heavy hesrt as he burried her and took onenof her teeth to possibly ressurect her or find a way to. He eventually met the party and made friends with them. This point he was a vow to bring her back or die trying. They went through a lot. Faught hags, monsters, trolls, and everything you can think of. And each time he put his body on the line and was almost killed in three fourths of all enounters. His first chance to bring her back was with a wish from a lady of a lake but it wasn't powerful enough. It killed him as he was starting to realise his chances are where fading. Then a new member of the party came in and started to comfort him. He was still dead set on bring her back. They eventually went and found a necromancer. In his tower, in it was a deck of many things. He knew that there were cards thst can help the moon and fate cards.. be pulmed as many cards he could. First he gained a level. Then he losted a level. Then he gain a clock of invisibility. Then he lost it. He was getting irritated as the card was still there. But the owner took it away before he could pull it again. Others got avatar of death that he one shot. A deed to a keep, which we went and clear out, and someone got their alignment changed, and wr still don't know but my character is slowly expecting something might be eeird with him, and a pet skeloton drsgon. He was mad he couldn't get either of the cards he needed and went off with the group. Over the next few days they kept battling as the snake people and orf where raiding and attacking villages and a town we stayed at. , they where not working together. Then in a foen time the nee girl, who was an artificer, was showing off her gun. And so he decided to test some stuff. And she tried to shoot Calcifer and he deflected the bullet. It was fun messing around and over time she built a bigger gun and he wanted to tedt it out and was able to deflect. They started to get close as Calcifer was a blacksmith and actually helped her make her second weapon. And before going to get allies for a war coming up she ended up making Calcifer a necklace. This changed him as this was his first true gift he ever received in his life. He came from a nobel merchant family who where strift and only cared for greed. So he treasured it. With that they left. They sought out help frok thr necromancer and another member found the cards. And tried to sneak them off. He was caught but drcided to let us draw cards. Calcifer drew a comet card. Then his heart dropped as one of the other party memebers got the fates card. He knew it was almost over. Till he drew again. This time he had it. The moon card and with it One wish. He thought of Tavi, then he thought of his new necklace his gift. He was blinded by his greed the same greed his family had. He was going against Tavi wishes as he knew her tribe believed in reincarnation and because of her life she lived she eill he reincarnated into a better life. A queen for a future tribe. And so he closed his eyes and ask for forgivness and wished to protect those that ment a lot. His party members. He was granted a pair of brscers of defence. And on them wss ingraved the party members names who helped him. He was able to let go of the past. And sought for the future and possible relationships that can happen because of this. This is a section of the dnd campgain if anyone wants more details of backstory and more details of stuff that happen. Might add some more later if people are interested.

[@PizzaMineKing]

The deck needs heavy homebrew modification to go well.

[@Isredel]

My first experience using the deck of many things was like a best-case scenario. We were planning to do some shit to Thay anyway. We found a FULL deck of many things. Our Wizard of Aavandra the Changebringer pulled 2 cards. AND SHE GETS THE SUN AND FATES CARD!! She gained 3 levels and got a wonderous item. AND SHE GETS A TALISMAN OF PURE GOOD We wombo-combo'd THE Red Wizard, Szass Tam. With a Wish to bring him to our location with all of his phylacteries on his person and then the Talisman and even bringing certain iconic heros together who may have had the ability to counter legendary actions. (like resistances) to make them fail their reflex save against the effects of the Talisman. It was the most anti-climactic BBEG Win period and we all had a massive laugh.

[@kcollier2192]

The only campaign I ever ran ended after introducing the party to a modified Deck of Many Things. I forgot the card i changed but one of the effects it had was to transport the party back in time, but only if the rolled it off of a very long list of other possibilities,. After my NPC Rogue drew the Void card and another drew the Donjon, one of the remaining party members drew the modified card, rolled the dice and- as Fate and dumb luck would have it- got the result of the time travel choice- which threw them 750 years back into the past (which I thought wasn't TOO bad, as it could have been over a thousand). needless to say with the remaining heroes stuck in such an unfamiliar ear with no way to return (mainly because I thought the odds were so low that they would get that result that I didn't prepare a scenario for it) the campaign petered out. We still make occasional references to what fate has befallen my Rogue DMPC- oh well.

[@blackdemonknight]

While we never finished the game with it in, the Deck of Many things appeared and a big bad already used the wish spell so that was out. When I drew two cards from it I got riches with one card and the second I caught an alignment change so it wasn't too bad for me.

[@Mallory-Malkovich]

I've used it a few times, but I used Matt Colville's trick of putting the deck in a box with a lid after the players shuffle it, allowing me to put a few cards in the lid that will then be on top when they open the box to draw. I always stack the deck this way with a few good cards on top, so only a greedy player is in danger of drawing anything too dangerous.

[@craigtucker1290]

Wow, that is just coddling the players and delegitimizing their game.

[@Mallory-Malkovich]

@@craigtucker1290 "Delegitimizing?" How? How is that different than selecting what magic items will be in a treasure hoard, or letting them choose left or right knowing they will face an Ogre encounter either way? Most of DMing is giving players the _feeling_ of free choices in an open world without doing all the insane prep it would take to _actually_ make an open world. It's not like I tell the players I'm doing this. It's a trick, slight of hand. This way they get the fear and thrill of using the _Deck of Many Things_ without it derailing the game.

[@craigtucker1290]

@@Mallory-Malkovich No, that is bad DMing when one gives the "players the feeling of free choices" without actually letting them have real choice. Specifically, what you are doing is coddling them by ensuring what cards they get, which does delegitimize their experience for they did not get to experience the game as it is supposed to be experienced. And the deck doesn't derail the game, it only derails the DM's railroad synopsis which is another DMing bad habit because the game isn't about the DM's story, it is about the PCs and the decisions they make. I run an open world and it really isn't as hard as many claim it to be. One of the things one needs to do to run this style of game is have a good grasp of the rules, how the game is supposed to work, and what exists in the campaign setting. I do not interfere in outcomes, choice, or encounters and if that means a PC dies, then so be it, character death is part of the game.

[@Mallory-Malkovich]

@@craigtucker1290 lol "how it's supposed to work." Touch grass, friend. My players have fun. I hope yours do too.

[@craigtucker1290]

@@Mallory-Malkovich It is a game about risk and reward. However, if neuter risk in an edition that has already neutered death fairly heavily, what is the point of any reward? Such games are certainly not worth bragging about it if you as DM are just going to give it all away for free and coddle your players from any kind of consequence, let alone how the game is designed to be played. But to each their own. If you like the bad fanfic style, then enjoy, it just isn't a legitimate D&D experience so much as a pale facsimile of it.

[@thibni_]

In my game, I Gave it a shot for my players. First time DM, first time using Deck of Many things. Player picks a SINGLE card and I have the deck dissappear before their eyes. The card was for a Key. I showed them where to use that key and gain very powerful magic items. It COULD have been MUCH worse of not for the luck of the player 😅 Overall, good times. But yes, if a player voluntarily makes an action with their player, they become 100% responsible for whatever the outcome.

[@RangerSkip]

If a player suddenly can't do anything for a majority of the session, have a statblock/character sheet ready for them to play. I would use a retainer from MCDM or the NPC Statblock compendium.

[@detalpug1033]

100% playing to use in my campaign I need something to add a little spice and chaos besides the players and we played with the deck before in other campaigns and while true is disrupting to the story, it was ultimately more fun for it

[@denverarnold6210]

Got the deck of many in one of my games once. Someone got a haunted mansion, i got my alignment inverted, and a genie NPC (long story) got 2 wishes.

[@slagmoth]

In 5E assuming this is what they are playing... Insight is for "whether you can determine the true intentions of a creature ..." Perception to notice if something is "off" with the deck and Investigation to determine what that is.

[@rebaxbayushi577]

I don't think the Deck of Many Things ruin anything, the players and DM does. Like said in the video, the players chose to pick a card, so it's on them, and the DM should be able to run with it. I've used it a few times and, yes, it sometimes derailed the campaing for a while. A player picked the dungeon, another the void? Prepare an arc in your campaing where the players will go save the first player (who will play another character untill then and maybe even after if he feel like it after the first character is saved) and make sure there will be enough loot for the player who lost everything so they won't feel entirely useless. It isn't really that hard to do after all and my players liked it and chose to play with the deck a few more time too and the campaing got back to saving the world after that. The thing is, a lot of DM just do not want to go throught that trouble, but that's our job as a DM. Some players do not like the conscequences but you have to remind them, they chose to pick that card and, yes, it wasn't positive, but so is dying during the campaing and they accepted the risk before starting wither of those two. You just have to make sure everyone arounf the table are ready for those risks before using it, like for any dangerous magic item.

[@RogueInBlue]

It’s the deck of many things. I feel like everyone who gets it knows the risks. Most of the time, the players know how dangerous the cards can be, and they have to make that decision to draw. They can’t be mad at the dm for what happens.

[@chrisvossler8795]

As a DM, *if* I were to give my party a Deck of Many Things (especially if they're fairly low level or it's a long-term campaign that we don't want to derail), I would probably say that it's been used before and some of the cards are missing (the ones that randomly give you extra levels, or send Death after you if they're not a high enough level to handle that, or the one that banishes you to the Void, etc.). That being said, I don't think I would ever really want to use it.

[@wesleyforrester7748]

The Deck of Many Things is a great way to RNG a character you no longer like to play out of the game. You could get rich and retire, suffer a terrible fate, or anything in-between

[@zeevorourke6876]

When my character got trapped in a Demi plane I rolled up a temporary character to accompany the party on the rescue mission

[@ChairyCrasher]

Playing Poker with the Deck is hilarious

[@GreaterGrievobeast55]

YIRBEL LIVES! well af least the question isn't moral this time. Though i'm about as confused

[@cygnusereve4779]

For the first story, you should let the player play another character. I did that oce but for a total other situation. The player had decided to split away from the party. So, I had them play an enemy npc.

[@clericofchaos1]

I use a modded deck of many things and mainly just took out or replaced anything that would bring the game to a halt or just completely destroy someone's character.

[@iitim2152]

Ah the deck of many things... I got it bg2, where after reading the description decided to save it as my trump card... I was having difficulty in hell because there was the one fight that you have the chance to agro two Balor. I died several times before I decided to try the Deck... It summoned a third Balor and a bunch of fire elementals..... Screw that item lol

[@Etsuk0]

Our group has been lucky enough to not pull a game-changing card (bad one, at least; i have pulled moon on my magic hoarding yuan-ti pureblood which changed the world a little bit) every time we have used it.

[@L3X1899]

My sis was in a curse of strahd campaign, the party was in a cave, messing around with the deck of many things, one of the pcs got zapped out of existence, leaving their clothes and items on the ground as if they'd just had an encounter with Cell, another player got a wish, and this guy had the bright idea to wish for strahd to appear before them, and draw the void card, which he did, and now with his soul gone, they just destroyed his body, completely derailing the campaign, the DM, thinking quickly, then turned it into an avernus campaign, [or however you spell that] The amount of cards they drew, along with the wish spell, caused an imbalance that had severe consequences, the realms were smashed together, the heavens and the hells were going at it on the mortal realm, and FREAKING TIAMAT IS NOW ON THE LOOSE!!! TLDR Strahd's soul is trapped, his body is gone, and a bunch of idiots brought about the apocalypse and now have to set everything right again.

[@Aphelion87]

I had a similar story involving my favorite PC I’ve ever gotten to DM for. She was a tiefling warlock who thought she was a cleric, talked to her patron through a magically preserved decapitated head, and carried a deck of many things her patron had convinced her was a “friendship tester” where if something bad happened it meant the person who drew couldn’t be trusted. She proceeded to use it to accidentally set free one of the ancient and dark gods imprisoned at the Amber Temple, nearly killed a plot crucial npc with The Void, and ended up dying with the final battle with Strahd like an absolute legend.

[@kingt-rex1579]

It actually revitalized my campaign and made it way better!!

[@craigtucker1290]

We had a deck of many things appear in game, identified by bardic legend lore. No one was interested in using the deck because of its nature and it was traded away.

[@piketheknight2581]

Finally some good stories. I was tired of horrors Tories.

[@KhaoticKiNG]

Bottom line. You draw you deal. Gm in first story gave a lot of opportunity to be active , the player has no room to complain.

[@ProjectRedfoot]

Well-said! I'd just say, "I'm sorry it didn't work-out the way you wanted."

[@fhuber7507]

100% stack the deck. Pull out cards you don't want the players to draw. And, look at the 2E DMG version of the deck. Compare to the 5E. then use the 2E. ONE PC gets to draw. I have the PC with the deck upon considering the deck hears a voice in their head. "You have the choice: Pass the deck, Delay and put the deck away, draw 0 to 4 cards. Once you state the number, only the deck can change that number" Pass the deck: The next PC will be given the same choice. Delay means do the same again later. The deck ONLY works for one PC, then after the draw of the selected number of cards have been resolved the deck is GONE.

[@fhuber7507]

The change in text between 2E and 5E is a terrible mistake.

[@craigtucker1290]

I would never stack the deck as that makes the deck lose its intended function. To that end, I introduced a deck into a current 2nd edition campaign that was identified through bardic legend lore. No one in the party wanted to use it knowing the possible dangers of such an item.

[@Nyghtking]

The best I would do is draw a single card from the deck and no more, as there are only two cards that eliminate your character automatically, though the scales would be bad too.

[@norokodven4768]

No it does not. I gave it to my level three party and it was wonderful. Sure one player got the void card and had to create a new character, but the others got off fairly well. The game goes on

[@norokodven4768]

For reference the way I played the deck was different. All cards are always in the deck regardless if it had been previously drawn. Players could draw from the deck as many times as they like. When no one in the area wants to pull from the anymore the deck disappears.

[@ProjectRedfoot]

I like the idea of this deck

[@henrywilson2136]

I say no because if you're campaign is based on chaos, as well as on the cards themselves. Just have fun.

[@HakoX2]

I get the feeling that most people forget that usually only 13 cards are used meaning that the DM can prepare it however they see fit hence reducing cards like death, donjon, or void.

[@craigtucker1290]

Not only is your interpretation incorrect, but it would be cheating on the DM's part by taking the risk out the deck. The 13 card deck uses specific cards as stated in the DMG: Sun, Moon, Star, Throne, Key, Knight, The Void, Flames, Skull, Ruin, Euryale, Rogue, and Jester.

[@HakoX2]

@@craigtucker1290 Yeah, I just looked it up. Yet, I still believe that altering the deck is not cheating as fun is the more important bit of the hobby and incapacitating a player by putting their character in stasis for who knows how long can be quite boring for the player. Other than these kind of effects, I am totally fine with the other risks and rewards.

[@craigtucker1290]

@@HakoX2 And yet it is cheating. If one is going to cheat and make things up, why not write fanfic? Why bother playing if all one is going to do is handout only good outcomes with a sprinkling of minor penalties. And it is the player who incapacitated their own character so it is a consequence that they must bear. Trying cater to players who want to use the deck but not have to pay the price is only doing everyone a disservice.

[@HakoX2]

@@craigtucker1290 Oh, don't get me wrong. The other consequences are still enough for silly situations. For example, one of my players drew 3 cards. Card #1 made him lose all nonmagical items. Card#2 made him lose all magical items. And finally, card #3 gave him a 4th level Fighter companion. Although, I change the cards, I try to instill a somewhat equally balanced system. Gave us all enough fun times without the player either rolling for a new character or just waiting it out. Also, I had my fair share of main character players that either threw a tantrum, spread how much of "bad" DM I was, or simply just left and never returned. So obviously, I had to do something as a DM. I guess what I'm trying to say is, I'd rather cheat and change rules than people having a miserable time at my table. But I admit that proper talking would solve so much. Just like we're trying here.

[@craigtucker1290]

@@HakoX2 Sounds like your players are immature and need to grow up. I don't cheat because I hated when DMs cheat as a player because whatever my character accomplished might only have been possible by DM enablement meaning the accomplishment was really the DMs, not mine. I would point out two things, one, even when DMs think they are doing it without the players noticing, the players still notice. We had one DM who cheated so often that they lost the use of the DM screen and to roll in front of all the players. This kind of thing erodes trust. Two, when people tell stories, like on this channel, about what awesome thing their character did, some of us know that what they did was impossible without the DM cheating and enabling the player making their story not about them, but what their DM did. These are those terrible *BS* stories that come off more like badly written fanfic than an actually good story about something awesome that happened. We had a deck recently discovered as part of loot, yet no player wanted their character to take the risk of using it because they know that bad things can happen to their characters and I will not intercede on their behalf.

[@ryudragon7]

Deck of many things can destroy games......if you're not a prepared enough DM.

[@Ziergon]

I see all these DMs saying that "the deck adds spice, it's makes the games more interesting." They need to talk to my DM. He threw the deck at us in a 3.5 game. Some minor shenanigans happened, one party member lost his most valuable item, a cursed artifact that was slowly turning him evil and causing interesting drama, and snapped out of its effects. My character ended up with a bunch of wishes. Which in a narratively appropriate way, were effectively used to wish away the end of his campaign he spent weeks working on. It was years ago, and he still harps on me for it. Don't introduce items with consequences you aren't ready for just to mess with your players.