5E Deck of Many Things Generator

Yep, rolled out another variant of the classically chaotic Deck of Many Things. This time supporting the 5E system.

Interestingly, 5E allows for players to state the number of cards they wish to draw and then draw them sequentially rather than simultaneously. Most cards return to the deck after being drawn so this change allows duplicate cards to be drawn unless a card effect stops the drawing process.

Also, no limit is placed on the number of cards the character chooses to draw. Prior variants capped the number of drawn cards at up to 4. I previously discussed the Origins of the Deck, which I may update in the future with the new 5E details.

Tarot of Many Things

Around three years ago, I mentioned the Tarot of Many Things in a post on the history of the Deck of Many Things. At the time, I thought the Tarot variant would be a fun generator and perhaps campaign idea. The Tarot of Many Things was originally published in Dragon Magazine #77 and authored by Michael J. Lowrey.

To date, I’ve not brought it up in a game but I finally managed to expand the original Deck generator into a 78 card Tarot of Many Things Generator. As with most generators based on specific works, I’ve excluded a few details to encourage people to buy the original document. In this case, a lot of information is missing. The details about how Tarot relates to the card at hand is excluded. From my viewpoint, that information is as interesting as Michael’s results. Especially when adapting it to a non-AD&D game.

Origins – The Deck of Many Things

The Deck of Many Things is one of the most debated magic items within the Dungeons and Dragons universe. The discourse centers on the ability of the deck to disrupt the balance of the game and the lethality of many cards. Rather than debate the deck again, I just wanted to take a look at the item as it was originally depicted along with differences in the next few incarnations.

Greyhawk Supplment I

The Deck of Many Things first appeared in 1975 in Supplement I for the White Box edition by Gygax and Kuntz. The deck is described on pages 59 and 60 in my third printing copy from 1976. It is the final entry of the Miscellaneous Magic section.

This device is a pack of 18 parchment cards, 4 each of four kinds and 2 jokers. Each of the four in each kind is different. One-half bring beneficial things, and one-half cause hurtful things. The person possessing such a deck may select cards from it four times (or more if jokers are drawn), and whatever is revealed by the card selected takes place.

The deck strikes a tone of balance – half good, half bad. The description uses face cards from the four suits of a normal deck of cards along with two jokers. The simplicity allows quick construction of a deck to use in play.

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Distraction Dysfunction: YAG / Deck of Many Things

There are probably a hundred different variations for generating results from a Deck of Many Things. Somewhere around Littleton, I took a left turn onto Random Avenue and decided #101 would be okay. My variant is based on the 1st Edition DMG and utilizes a public domain tarot deck from 1910. Past, meet past. Pasts greet PHP. Welcome to the modern age.

I had far too many distractions tonight before I could make it pretty. Functional beats form. I’ll clean up the layout later.

Poke away.