Sunday, July 25, 2021

Every Day I'm Shuffling

The Deck of Many Things.

Deck of Many Things, Volkan Baga, Magic the Gathering, 2021

Facebook generates lots of dislike for this not-so-humble artifact.   Typically in the form of a DM debating whether or not to include it in their home game, and the respondents commenting along the lines of 'only if you want to destroy the game or the ongoing story.'

Here's the thing with the DoMT.  The only time it ruins stories is if the campaign has a predetermined ending already set in stone (if that is the case, then player choices don't really matter).  To be honest, if the group is running through a published adventure path (because drop-in adventures are so unprofitable passe'), there is an implied agreement to play out that path to its stated end.  

Otherwise, the DoMT creates stories.  Seriously.  Granted, some of the stories are going to be more player-oriented than PC-oriented.  This is something I am fine with, but humans being humans, some folks may not care for this meta approach to items.  

Still, I maintain that every single card is the beginning of a new story.  Draw some and find out for yourself... or just read along.  

Balance. Your mind suffers a wrenching alteration, causing your alignment to change. Lawful becomes chaotic, good becomes evil, and vice versa. If you are true neutral or unaligned, this card has no effect on you.

Granted, in many games, alignment 'doesn't matter,' but in the better games that do, it makes a huge difference.  Aside from affecting some class-related abilities (particularly clerics - some deities only take specific alignments as worshippers), it also means access/use of certain items or places or people become blocked.  That said, it is likely that similar items and places exist for each alignment, so eventually, you might recover. 

Comet. If you single handedly defeat the next hostile monster or group of monsters you encounter, you gain experience points enough to gain one level. Otherwise, this card has no effect.

One vs. many or one vs. mighty are great tales, even to this day.  As DM, you can rely on random rolls, indirect player choice (we open THIS door), or DM fiat to find this creature or band of creatures.  St George, Beowulf, and Gilgamesh need some company in the bard songs!  To make it worthwhile, the DM needs to metagame and tell the player what is up, just as the ravening ghoul pack rounds the corner.  This is similar to the Skull card, but with Comet, there is no stipulation preventing resurrection.

Donjon. You disappear and become entombed in a state of suspended animation in an extradimensional sphere. Everything you were wearing and carrying stays behind in the space you occupied when you disappeared. You remain imprisoned until you are found and removed from the sphere. You can't be located by any divination magic, but a wish spell can reveal the location of your prison. You draw no more cards.

The Donjon cries out extraplanar rescue mission.  It also implies that Wish spells are available to the PCs, and for a price, even first level PCs can find a wish.  Or they can draw The Fates card, that works too.  As for the player of the trapped PC, well, this is what retainers/henchmen/sidekicks are for.  DnD is a party game for the players, not the PCs.  

Euryale. The card's medusa like visage curses you. You take a −2 penalty on saving throws while cursed in this way. Only a god or the magic of The Fates card can end this curse.

'Only a god' suggests a story there, especially if someone chooses to draw no more cards.  Gaining audience with a god is an adventure, and getting said god to end a curse is another. 

The Fates. Reality's fabric unravels and spins anew, allowing you to avoid or erase one event as if it never happened. You can use the card's magic as soon as you draw the card or at any other time before you die.

DnD's very own 'Get out of jail free' card.  Canny players save this for the right situation; many times the right situation involves canceling other draws from the Deck of Many Things.  Either way, the epic save fostered by dumb luck is a great story.

Flames. A powerful devil becomes your enemy. The devil seeks your ruin and plagues your life, savoring your suffering before attempting to slay you. This enmity lasts until either you or the devil dies.

If the Flames card is drawn and a devil just shows up immediately, the DM is wasting an opportunity.  A long-term, genius-level enemy provides multiple sessions of player paranoia and in-game action.  I don't know if this is most story-rich card in the Deck, but it is up there.

Lord of the Pit, Chippy, Magic the Gathering, 2017

Fool. You lose 10,000 XP, discard this card, and draw from the deck again, counting both draws as one of your declared draws. If losing that much XP would cause you to lose a level, you instead lose an amount that leaves you with just enough XP to keep your level.

How kind, you get to keep your level.  The AD&D DMG version merely reads "The payment and draw are mandatory!"  That exclamation point sets it off.  Story-wise, this is more of a player story, although in-game, it might be a question of how the 'greatest and best' suddenly wasn't anymore.  

Gem. Twenty five pieces of jewelry worth 2,000 gp each or fifty gems worth 1,000 gp each appear at your feet.

Magic is lazy.  Why create something anew to give someone, when it is far simpler to teleport such things from the nearest source.  In the case of Gems and Jewelry, probably a dragon's hoard or a king's treasure vault.  Both are likely to be upset at the presumed thieves.

Idiot. Permanently reduce your Intelligence by 1d4 + 1 (to a minimum score of 1). You can draw one additional card beyond your declared draws. 

As written, that additional draw is optional.  Granted, with a reduction in Intelligence it may not be seen as such.  The story lies in how the Idiot recovers their Intelligence (and perhaps abilities/skills) or an actual in-game reason to justify multiclassing.

Jester. You gain 10,000 XP, or you can draw two additional cards beyond your declared draws.

This binary choice tests your players, resulting in a story about the players themselves and their actions, stories that are just as entertaining (in my experience) as any in-game fictions.

Key. A rare or rarer magic weapon with which you are proficient appears in your hands. The GM chooses the weapon.

Similar to the Gem card, if this weapon did not disappear from its last owner's hands, scabbard, or vault, the DM is missing a chance at long-term story.

Knight. You gain the service of a 4th level fighter who appears in a space you choose within 30 feet of you. The fighter is of the same race as you and serves you loyally until death, believing the fates have drawn him or her to you. You control this character.

Like the weapon and wealth above, the Knight is not created wholesale from magic, but comes from somewhere else.  Perhaps that Knight arrives from the next visited settlement, his/her disappearance and sudden reappearance in the company of adventurers provides lots of role-playing opportunity.  Especially if the Knight doesn't remember his previous life.  

Moon. You are granted the ability to cast the wish spell 1d3 times.

Even if the DM isn't monkey-pawing the wishes, odds are good that whatever is wished for can bring its own story with it.  If it doesn't, why wish for it?

Rogue. A nonplayer character of the GM's choice becomes hostile toward you. The identity of your new enemy isn't known until the NPC or someone else reveals it. Nothing less than a wish spell or divine intervention can end the NPC's hostility toward you.

The story here writes itself.  How the DM determines which NPC is on them, but - while not the genius-level devil - this NPC is inevitably smart enough to not blindly attack the PC on sight.  The build up, discovery, and confrontation with the new enemy can span multiple sessions.

Ruin. All forms of wealth that you carry or own, other than magic items, are lost to you. Portable property vanishes. Businesses, buildings, and land you own are lost in a way that alters reality the least. Any documentation that proves you should own something lost to this card also disappears.

Lost is such a strong term.  This wealth merely goes somewhere else, especially if the treasures 'created' by the deck are coming from other places, in turn.  Perhaps this card is where lost treasure troves come from.  For PCs that are merely mechanics carrying magic items, well, now you know.  For other PCs, recovering and rebuilding will take many sessions.

Skull. You summon an avatar of death—a ghostly humanoid skeleton clad in a tattered black robe and carrying a spectral scythe. It appears in a space of the GM's choice within 10 feet of you and attacks you, warning all others that you must win the battle alone. The avatar fights until you die or it drops to 0 hitpoints, whereupon it disappears. If anyone tries to help you, the helper summons its own avatar of death. A creature slain by an avatar of death can't be restored to life.

Fighting Death makes for a short, yet epic story, especially when the PC wins.  Looking at the default stats for 5e Avatar of Death and its 'half the HP of its summoner's maximum' and AC 20 means that while things are slanted in its favor, some (lucky) PCs have a shot.  A funny story might be a TPK from PCs helping one another into death.  


Touch of Death, Melissa Benson, Magic the Gathering, 1995

Star. Increase one of your ability scores by 2. The score can exceed 20 but can't exceed 24.

The text doesn't specify if the ability score is chosen by the player or at random.  I'm a fan of random, myself.  In rulesets (like RAW 5e) where PCs gain ability scores through leveling, this card doesn't hold as much appeal for a veteran PC.  But if your chosen ruleset doesn't provide automatic stat boosts, then this +2 (random or not), is a huge boost and is more of a player story than PC... unless the PC is suddenly THE smartest/strongest/wisest/etc mortal in the world.

Sun. You gain 50,000 XP, and a wondrous item (which the GM determines randomly) appears in your hands.

Another free item, with the same potential baggage.  The 50K XP could be in the form of memories rushing in from somewhere, all Highlander like, or maybe in the form of bottled memories weighing down and clinking in your backpack.  Either way, it should be more than the player changing the XP value on their character sheet.  

Talons. Every magic item you wear or carry disintegrates. Artifacts in your possession aren't destroyed but do vanish.

Magic items turning to dust IS harsh - even I agree with that.  Still, it certainly tells the players which artifacts they are unwittingly toting about. Watching your treasured gear turn to dust all Avengers-style is a strong image. Finding replacements or somehow recreating the original items are a story.  If your PC is based on using item X in conjunction with item Y and skill Z, then you are likely to have a terrible time with this card.  

Shivan Dragon, Melissa Benson, Magic the Gathering, 1994

Throne. You gain proficiency in the persuasion skill, and you double your proficiency bonus on checks made with that skill. In addition, you gain rightful ownership of a small keep somewhere in the world. However, the keep is currently in the hands of monsters, which you must clear out before you can claim the keep as yours.

Like the 'free' treasures, a keep needs to come from somewhere. Perhaps this keep is historically noted for its changing hands due to the DoMT.  The local kingdom it belongs too has its own view on that. Note that the 3.x book Stronghold Builder's Guide contains the Cheap Keep, a basic format recommended for the DoMT.  

Vizier. At any time you choose within one year of drawing this card, you can ask a question in meditation and mentally receive a truthful answer to that question. Besides information, the answer helps you solve a puzzling problem or other dilemma. In other words, the knowledge comes with wisdom on how to apply it.

The story with this card is that it provides an in-game way for the players to get around whatever convoluted story-based bullshit the DM has cooked up.  One time, at least, and the players will long remember getting one over on the DM.

The Void. This black card spells disaster. Your soul is drawn from your body and contained in an object in a place of the GM's choice. One or more powerful beings guard the place. While your soul is trapped in this way, your body is incapacitated. A wish spell can't restore your soul, but the spell reveals the location of the object that holds it. You draw no more cards.

Another extraplanar rescue mission! If the soul-containment-device (SCD) isn't in the lair of a lich, archdevil, or ancient wyrm, I would be most surprised.  Finding and retrieving the soul is several sessions, and arrangements to care for the body is at least part of another.

The Abyss, Pete Venters, Magic the Gathering, 1994

So many options for game development scattered among 22 cards.  So many stories.  

In short, don't be afraid to use the DoMT in your campaign, especially if your game has no predetermined ending, regardless if you call it a hexcrawl, a sandbox, or just plain ol' DnD. 

Those interested should know that Dungeon #19 has an adventure (and BW cutouts) featuring the DoMT, and Dragon #148 has a short story involving the DoMT, alongside some sturdy cardboard color versions of the DoMT cards.

My image choices all come from Magic the Gathering cards, which make ideal items to use in your D&D games with a custom-ish Deck of Many Things.  Luckily, most of the cards I would use for this are terrible in play, so are monetarily cheap.

Except for the last one, The Abyss.  Usefulness, age, and limited print run conspire to make it far to expensive for me to own, especially for non-MtG purposes.

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