Dungeons & Dragons Reveals The Deck of Many Things’ Origin

Dungeons & Dragons’ final product of the year is a reimagining of a classic (and infamous) magic item, albeit at a surprisingly high price point. Next month, Wizards of the Coast will release The Deck of Many Things, a new “innovation product” that contains both a physical version of an expanded Deck of Many Things, an 80-page reference book, and a new 192-page rulebook called The Book of Many Things that contains rules on the 44 new cards, lore about the Deck, and various other toolsets for DMs on how to incorporate the deck into a campaign. “It really is a book of many things,” said lead designer Jason Tondro in a press conference about the book held earlier this month. “It’s not just a clever name.” 

Like the Planescape boxed set before it, the player-facing rules are rather light, with only 2 new backgrounds, 1 feat, and 3 mystical spells included in The Book of Many Things. However, the set seems to be aimed for DM use, as the product even includes a way to use the physical version of the Deck of Many Things to plan out an adventure in real time via a system that’s akin to a tarot reading. According to Tondro, the product is supposed to be a “toybox book” that can be pulled off the shelf and used to quickly populate a campaign with various magic items, adventure hooks, and other card-related ephemera. 

The Deck of Many Things is one of Dungeons & Dragons’ oldest artifacts, having first appeared in the 1975 Greyhawk supplement that also introduced the paladin and beholders to D&D. The Deck of Many Things has always been something of a “gotcha” item, with players randomly receiving a powerful magic effect based on what card they drew. Drawing the “Moon” card gave players access to the powerful wish spell, while drawing the skull card summoned an avatar of death who challenged them to a duel where anyone slain could not be resurrected. The Deck of Many Things was intended to be powerful but dangerous, with a level of spite built into the deck by the same designers who conceived of the Tomb of Horrors. 

Of course, the almost whimsical cruelty personified by the Deck of Many Things doesn’t really jive with Dungeons & Dragons’ current aesthetic. The game still supports meat grinder dungeon crawls and near impossible battles, but the rules and ethos surrounding the game have become a bit softer in its approach. The new book follows in this approach with the effects and new lore. For example, each of the 44 new cards in the “Deck of Many More Things” have magical effects on par with the original cards, although game designer Mackenzie De Armas noted that these cards were structured around having effects that you “want to let loose in your campaign.” One example De Armas gave is the Dragon card, which when pulled provides the party with a dragon egg that immediately hatches a dragon wyrmling (the DM chooses the color of the dragon) that views the player characters as its parents. “So not only do you get the challenges of adventuring,” De Armas said. “You also get the challenges of parenthood.”

“We definitely wanted to make these effects, not necessarily less punitive, but create a wider variety of effects to suit all kinds of gameplay,” De Armas added. “So you will find cards that are more inclined towards roleplaying and those who are more social encounter inclined.” However, there are still some cards with “tricksy” elements that petrify players or whisk their souls away to other dimensions. The intent is for DMs to “curate” the Deck of Many Things to match the intent, type, and mood of the campaign. 

Other parts of the book are designed to give DMs tools to make the Deck of Many Things easier to use. From providing specific NPCs that might appear when certain cards are drawn to providing fully-stocked dungeons to use when the Void or Tower cards are drawn, the book is both intended to provide a tool box that DMs can use even if they don’t intend to use the Deck of Many Things in the campaign. 

Additionally, the Deck of Many Things now has a definitive origin story – the Deck was created by Istus, the god of fate from the Greyhawk pantheon, from constellations in the sky. This “sky of many things” is another new addition that can be populated into any campaign setting, providing 12 constellations, a star sign that gives a magical effect when that star is active, and even prophecies. Also introduced is the Heralds of the Comet, an apocalyptic cult who is seeking out the original Deck of Many Things that is seeking to use the artifact to destroy the multiverse.

Also given an origin is Euryale, the one named character in the original Deck of Many Things. Euryale, who is shown as a medusa, was given an origin inspired by the modern-day usage of the Medusa by sexual assault survivors and victims. Thus, the Medusa symbol in The Deck of Many Things is “not one of monstrosity, but one of protection, defiance, sisterhood, and reclamation,” in the words of De Armas. The book introduces Euryale as a “kindly but reclusive” medusa druid and Asteria, a princess turned paladin and “sister in all but blood” to Euryale. A full chapter is dedicated to Euryale and Asteria’s story and both characters have statblocks and a home in the Outlands, the planar realm featured in the just released Planescape boxed set. 

The main issue of The Deck of Many Things will be its price point. With an MSRP of $99.99, it may be a hard buy for the average D&D fans. The physical Deck of Many Thing has a gold foil treatment and there’s over 272 pages of material in the book, but this appears to be a premium item meant mainly for D&D super-fans and DMs as opposed to a book that can be enjoyed by the average player. However, the D&D Beyond version of The Book of Many Things has a much more reasonable price point – at just $29.99, this might be the way for folks who don’t want a physical deck to enjoy what seems like a full toolbox for DMs. 

The Deck of Many Things will be released on November 14th. Pre-orders are live on Amazon now. Early access on D&D Beyond starts on October 31st.