The Deck of Many Things releases in hard copy today
January 5, 2024Are you feeling lucky…? You should, as the delayed The Deck of Many Things launches in stores today. A manufacturing issue delayed the physical product’s launch by almost two months (it released as scheduled on D&D Beyond), but clearly the second-cut of the product passed muster, as it officially releases today.
This set is based on The Deck of Many Things, the Dungeons & Dragons artifact that has been the end of tens of thousands adventurers over the past fifty years.
Briefly, the deck is a set of cards – the number can vary, but each is a generous boon or a devastating bane. The traditional effects can cause immediate changes in alignment, gain riches in gems and gold, magic items, the enmity of powerful devils and so much more.
What you’re getting
The content in this new product is quite robust:
- A hardcover book, The Book of Many Things, which includes Dungeon Master advice, adventure locations, new monsters, in addition to character options, magic items and more.
- A Deck of Many Things, which includes 44 new cards, in addition to the original 22, as well as a deluxe box and slip case in which to store them
- A guidebook that will assist a DM in using the cards as a traditional oracle deck or created card-inspired adventures
Building an entire product on the Deck seems at first glance, a limiting one – but the team has revealed new and creative ways to use the cards, as well as offer DMs some additional inspiration as well.
The cards themselves are lavish and will provide a really nice visual boost to any game. The new cards add some variation to the Deck itself, which hasn’t changed much over the years. If you’re planning on introducing some chaos to your game, this clearly will help.
The Book of Many Things is divided in chapters by cards it’s extraordinarily thematic, but it isn’t my favourite way that they’ve organized chapters, as I found myself leafing through the book to find the information I was looking for. Fortunately, the index is very detailed and will guide you to where you want to be, so I always found what I was looking for.
The magic items are fun and unique, and the book’s narrator, Asteria, is the first new POV character introduced to D&D in the last ten years.
There’s plenty of material here – you could build an entire campaign based on the threads that are provided!
Should you buy it?
If you’re a DM that wants to introduce some chaos into your games? Absolutely!! The directed experience that you can use, the tactile nature of the deck, and the beauty of the cards will make for a stunning experience for your players. Just make sure you have a camera rolling for when you pull out the Deck for the first time!
If you’re a player, there are some character options in here, so you can definitely pick it up – you may not have use for the Deck itself right now, but the book will be one you can reference to support future characters.
If you’re on a limited budget, this one might not be the right choice for you. The Deck itself can be replicated with playing cards, and the deluxe-nature of the cards and case is a big part of the selling feature for me. There are a lot of books expected this year, so you will still have a ton to buy, don’t worry!
Hope you’re feeling…lucky.
A review copy of this product was provided
