Deck of many things fun, or not?

[firruna]

Hello playgrounders!

So with the start of summer, my old group is back in town, and we going to start playing. For now it's just going to be a one off adventure. The premise is a descent into hell/7 layers of hell. In the past whenever this group was told 'Have a character ready to go' they came with somewhere in between an idea in their head, and a sheet that's 'ready to go' as soon as they finish the gear/spell list. So to make this game go faster, I sat down with one of the players that I know I can rely on, and he is going to bring a bunch of 100% finished characters for them to all chose from.

I'm making a 4 layer dungeon, centered around the idea of hell, (demons, devils, and the like). At the end, there will be a 5th layer that's just a boss, maybe with some minions.

I was looking through the DMG looking for cool magic items to potently give out over the course of the 4 layers. When I once again found The Deck of Many Things. I've not had the chance to use one before, as a player or a DM, but I think it looks like it could be a fun idea.

So my question to you playergounders is, if I put one in, but giving them cards through out, that if they explore the whole map, they will have the complete thing by the end of layer 4. Is that likely to be fun for players who chose to draw? or just screw it all up for everyone going into the end?

Thanks
-Firruna

[erok0809]

I've found that, while fun, the Deck tends to be ridiculously unbalancing and sometimes annoys the hell out of people. Most (not all, but most) of the effects of the Deck basically mean "Alright, you're too strong/weak/dead/imprisoned to continue with this party, roll up a new character so we can have a balanced party." There are a few that don't do too much, where you might be able to continue mostly unchanged, but a number of them are character/campaign ruiners. However, to answer your actual question, yeah, it sounds pretty awesome actually.

[Extra Anchovies]

The Deck of Many Things always seems fun, but that's when you're looking at the deck list and thinking about all the interesting and cool ones, like Balance, Knight, or Flames. Whether it's actually fun is entirely up to random chance. A lot of the cards are boring (Euryale, Gem, Jester, Key, Skull, Star, Sun, heck, even Moon isn't that interesting) or anti-fun (Fool, Idiot, Ruin, Talons, The Void). I wouldn't recommend including it in any game, even silly ones, because there are plenty of ways to more reliably make a game interesting. It's almost always better to take one of the ones that contributes to the story in an interesting way (Balance, Comet, Donjon, The Fates, Flames, Knight, Rogue, Throne, Vizier) and either pick the one that sounds best or draw randomly from only those nine (or ten if you want to include Moon).

[Andezzar]

First of all, I don't think making the players choose from a set of pre-existing characters is a good idea. The players probably won't be as invested in the character and won't be as familiar with the character's mechanics as when they did their characters themselves. And that's even if they don't object to the practice in principle.

I never made a character for someone else but I once helped too much with a character. In play this resulted in the player often forgetting much of the things the character could do. Which was frustrating for the player and me.

Secondly in all the published settings demons and devils do not mix. In fact they are enemies.

And now to the deck of many things. This item is mostly an annoyance to the players (this includes the DM) for the reasons erok0809 already listed. If you distribute the card around the dungeon you would also have to decide whether picking one up counts as drawing it or not. If it is the former you will have several instances where a character is just screwed without any chance of getting something positive, which reminds me of the Tomb of horrors or other old very binary games.
If it is the latter the characters would have to find all cards before they can even use the deck (should they so desire).
The last point is that rules savvy players will probably recognize the deck and just not draw from it at all, or they will and you will be stuck with the consequences (unplayable characters)

[Thurbane]

It depends on the level of the campaign: it's ability to completely demolish a game diminishes (slightly) as the PC's are of higher levels, and have Wishes, Miracles etc. to help deal with the fallout.

[Yahzi]

That's a typo in the DMG. It's supposed to be called "Deck of Destroying Your Campaign." I've seen the deck deployed at least 3 times over the last 3 decades, and each time it lived up to its proper name.

[MyrPsychologist]

The introduction of a deck of many things int oa campaign is kind of like the DM saying "rocks fall and everyone dies". It ruins the campaign and just forces new characters. It's fun and silly and may be cool for a session or two. But if your game is supposed to go for any longer it just isn't a good contribution.

[Brookshw]

I'm not sure how much they'd enjoy building it but sounds good offhand. My group tends to enjoy the deck. If you're going to use it you might want to sprinkle some various scrolls around the dungeon for them to use in mitigating the risks of using it.

[Bronk]

It's all fun and games until your character is ruined, and there might be hard feelings if some people got great cards and others don't.

http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2010/06/28

Maybe if all the worst or most disruptive cards were taken out? There are also a few variant decks out there that aren't quite as disruptive.

Edit: You're already changing things up by having the cards out of the deck in the first place... Maybe they can let them figure out a way to get the deck to work without putting the cards they don't like into the deck. It would be a pretty lousy end of game reward to get death or whatever.

[Crake]

Secondly in all the published settings demons and devils do not mix. In fact they are enemies.

Could be a homebew campaign setting where devils are the upper class of hell and demons are the unwashed masses? :smalltongue:

[Mystral]

Hello playgrounders!

So with the start of summer, my old group is back in town, and we going to start playing. For now it's just going to be a one off adventure. The premise is a descent into hell/7 layers of hell. In the past whenever this group was told 'Have a character ready to go' they came with somewhere in between an idea in their head, and a sheet that's 'ready to go' as soon as they finish the gear/spell list. So to make this game go faster, I sat down with one of the players that I know I can rely on, and he is going to bring a bunch of 100% finished characters for them to all chose from.

I'm making a 4 layer dungeon, centered around the idea of hell, (demons, devils, and the like). At the end, there will be a 5th layer that's just a boss, maybe with some minions.

I was looking through the DMG looking for cool magic items to potently give out over the course of the 4 layers. When I once again found The Deck of Many Things. I've not had the chance to use one before, as a player or a DM, but I think it looks like it could be a fun idea.

So my question to you playergounders is, if I put one in, but giving them cards through out, that if they explore the whole map, they will have the complete thing by the end of layer 4. Is that likely to be fun for players who chose to draw? or just screw it all up for everyone going into the end?

Thanks
-Firruna

They are great fun, unless you wish to continue playing with that party after the dungeon. Since this is only a one-off, go for it, but take out the instant death cards so your party can still fight the boss.

[dysprosium]

My players know that I love the Deck of Many Things so when we start a new campaign they don't ask me "will the Deck of Many Things be in it?"; they instead ask "when will the Deck of Many Things be in it?"

I've always had a soft spot of this item since back in 1st edition.

One of my players always seems to draw the Void. The last time he drew it, the rest of the players decided that they were going to save him. I created a story arc and when they found their lost friend, they also found all of the characters that the one player lost over the past fifteen years!

[Arc_knight25]

As what most people are saying it can ruin a campaign in a matter of minutes.

My tale of the Deck of many things:


So it was a homebrew God campaign in a 1st edition game, there were Gods walking all over the place. Eventually the DM had the deck of many things not knowing really of what it had in store for him. He thought it was a good idea and would be fun. So of course we start drawing from it. One of the players gets the bodyguard and another level. Nothing but good times right? So the next person goes, a few stat boosts and some extra coin. All good again. Next person goes, they get a few coins and then Death. So Death actually comes for the character, the party finds away to bring him back, all is good again. But we still have the deck. I not having drawn from it don't want to feel left out so i draw upon it. I get enslaved to a Demon Lord, one of the big bads of the abyss. He owns the whole 7th layer. So I'm his prisoner and he owns me and all my gear, he begins to monologue a bit and while he is talking he himself draws a card from the deck (it now belonging to him since it was in my possession). He draws Ruin. So now he has nothing. He no longer owns me or my gear, he losses a whole layer of the abyss something that probably took millennia to achieve. I slip out while the he is stunned at what had just transpired. The campaign kind of died there because the DM really had no response to a whole layer of the abyss being reduced to nothing. We figured that this was the break that the forces of good needed to push into the abyss and end the evil that it is. It was alot of fun while it was all happening, but it really did kill the campaign for he felt he had no real direction to go.

[ZamielVanWeber]

Last time I had the deck we drew at the end of the session. I went for two cards and got Sun (which gave me enough experience to level) and Comet. So next session I quickly leveled again. Other guy went for three cards and got Vizier, Talons, and Euryale.
Net result: He was down all his relevant gear and had an obnoxious penalty while I had gained two levels. Campaign kinda died after that (it was near epic so loosing all his stuff shut him down).

[dascarletm]

It honestly depends on how well the DM can handle this sort of thing, and the trust between him/her and the players. In my case, our group has handled it really well, in fact it started our groups most interesting arc in the campaign (we lost our buddy to Graz'zit, whose cultists we had hindered in the past.) So our friend got to play a temporary character until we rescued his character. Someone also got the keep which became our new stronghold and served us the rest of the campaign.

If you can come up with a good scenario and your players are willing to have fun with it, then go for it.

I find a lot of problems come up with people who need to control every aspect of their character's build. Losing all your items (which happened to me) hurts when you expect to have X, Y, and Z by certain levels. I ended up becoming a vow of poverty character, and we made it work. It served as a very interesting way for the character to go, he was a cleric, and fancied the nicer things. His greed led to his downfall and he saw it as divine punishment.

Allowing retraining, and helping to work with the player on their character (keeping them up to par, and what-not) is necessary.

[firruna]

First of all, I don't think making the players choose from a set of pre-existing characters is a good idea. The players probably won't be as invested in the character and won't be as familiar with the character's mechanics as when they did their characters themselves. And that's even if they don't object to the practice in principle.

I never made a character for someone else but I once helped too much with a character. In play this resulted in the player often forgetting much of the things the character could do. Which was frustrating for the player and me.

Normaly, I would agree, however, this time around, it's JUST the dungeon, and I think being able to play fast, will out way the down sides.



Secondly in all the published settings demons and devils do not mix. In fact they are enemies.

I was not aware of this. I'll take it consideration, thanks.


And now to the deck of many things. This item is mostly an annoyance to the players (this includes the DM) for the reasons erok0809 already listed. If you distribute the card around the dungeon you would also have to decide whether picking one up counts as drawing it or not. If it is the former you will have several instances where a character is just screwed without any chance of getting something positive, which reminds me of the Tomb of horrors or other old very binary games.
If it is the latter the characters would have to find all cards before they can even use the deck (should they so desire).
The last point is that rules savvy players will probably recognize the deck and just not draw from it at all, or they will and you will be stuck with the consequences (unplayable characters)

I'm was going to do the latter.

[firruna]

They are great fun, unless you wish to continue playing with that party after the dungeon. Since this is only a one-off, go for it, but take out the instant death cards so your party can still fight the boss.

This seams to be what most people are saying, and so what I'm going to go with.

Thanks to everyone who chimed in.

-Firruna

[Zaq]

Making a 3.5 character takes hours (for a quick character) or days (for a more complex character). There's no way I'm voluntarily engaging in an activity that has a nontrivial chance of ruining a character and making me make another one (without actually being part of any overarching objectives).

Plus, it has a chance of putting the party at asynchronous levels, which is bad juju. It's just not a good idea all around. I say don't do it.

[Telok]

The devils vs demons thing was a late TSR era management decision (along with the t'nari whatever renaming) to move the d&d "Image" away from "satanisim". Before that there wasn't any distinction between demons and devils beyond names.

As for the deck, I've never known players to not draw from it if it was available. So as players everyone seems perfectly happy with it. Of course I've also seen players pull the lever to activate the trap room after being told what the lever did and that it would kill them. To their credit they accepted all blame for the deaths and agreed that it was a good trap.

[Andezzar]

Interesting. I thought that the Nine Hells, the Infinite Layers of the Abyss and the Blood War had always been part of D&D.

[prufock]

I introduced one to my campaign, and the players immediately decided to turn it in to the mage's college to hold in their vault. Good decision, except that one of their nemeses then broke into the vault and stole it. To be continued!...

If you're worried about it being unbalancing, take out all the objectionable items, or replace them with less powerful versions.

[Geddy2112]

My group experimented with the deck of many things and the knucklebone of fickle fortune, but after a couple bad times we won't touch those with a 10 foot pole.

The most fun we had with either artifact was trying to get rid of the dang things or destroy them forever. Destroying the knucklebone actually became a major side plot for one of our campaigns.

[Andezzar]

The most fun we had with either artifact was trying to get rid of the dang things or destroy them forever. Destroying the knucklebone actually became a major side plot for one of our campaigns.Isn't the solution only 22500 gp away (bag of holding and portable hole)?

[Thurbane]

Here's (http://rosyrodofwonder.blogspot.com.au/2008/04/deck-of-many-things-lesser-artifact.html) a homebrew attempt at a toned-down DoMT. Not too bad.

[nyjastul69]

Interesting. I thought that the Nine Hells, the Infinite Layers of the Abyss and the Blood War had always been part of D&D.

The first 2 go back to at least 1st Ed. The Bloodwar was a 2e construct mostly used in the Planescape setting.

[Drork]

The deck of many things is a campaign ender.

However this does not have to be a bad thing. If you design the campaign to have an end point where the deck of many things comes out at the point where you know the campaign is ending it is an interesting epilogue to the campaign. I was a part of a campaign world where the DM would play until players reached a point of leveling he was comfortable with an epic encounter would normally cap off the campaign then players would have a chance to draw from the deck of many things before they became NPCs for the DMs world. Players could be ask risky or safe as they desired and the decks effects would and did alter the world for the next campaign of fresh level 1s. Some effects that had taken place in the world, someone had wished to rule their kingdom which started a civil war centered around a divine mandate of the new king. A paladin got his hands on a holy avenger. Several deaths, the void card but knowing it was the end of the campaign it didnt sting overly much only meant that their character had not lasting impact on the world at large. Alignment changes gave the DM rise to some BBEGs. Knowing what you are in for makes the deck manageable just dont expect everyone to be happy with the resulting character changes so dont force them to play after they draw.

[BWR]

I love the DoMT and so do my players. The other group I play in is a bit less enthusiastic about it.
In one campaign with tons of PCs (more like occasional PCs than full-time PCs), the patriarch of the family allows all his descendants to pick from the deck upon their reaching adulthood (1st level). If they pick good cards, great. If they pick bad cards, instant story hook. Just apply the effects with a bit of creativity to fit the campaign.
Get 100 000 xp, well, looks like your sensei did a good job of teaching you.
Get a stronghold? Your lord father/mother thinks you deserve to have your own shag pad. Now you have to prove your worth by managing it.
What happens when a 1st level character loses 10 000 xp? They lose everything mechanical and are left with nothing but ability scores. No feats, no class abilities, no skill points; nothing. Now they have to go out on adventure and learn everything on the go while trying not to bring shame on their family and sensei by being more useless than a 1st year student.
Have your soul trapped? Instant adventure to find out where it is, who did it and why? Or maybe you have been trapped in the spirit world or world of dreams and must find your own way out (another mini-campaign).
Lose all wealth and property and have your best friend turn against you? You've royally screwed up at some point and your sensei declares you a failure and your family casts you out as ronin. Try to work your way back into their good graces again.

Honestly, the Deck isn't a campaign ender but a story beginner and a campaign continuer, even at low level (though in that particular case there is support of high-level characters to mitigate the worst effects - no 1st level character is dying to a minor death with a nigh-epic legendary warrior around). As noted, at higher levels you have powerful magic to make up for the worst effects, and I always allow a Wish from the Deck to negate the effects of other cards.

[Andezzar]

Get 100 000 xp, well, looks like your sensei did a good job of teaching you. Being nearly level 3 with a bunch of new characters is quite a gap but still doable.


What happens when a 1st level character loses 10 000 xp? They lose everything mechanical and are left with nothing but ability scores. No feats, no class abilities, no skill points; nothing. Now they have to go out on adventure and learn everything on the go while trying not to bring shame on their family and sensei by being more useless than a 1st year student.What's keeping the player from walking off the next cliff to make a new character?

Have your soul trapped? Instant adventure to find out where it is, who did it and why? Or maybe you have been trapped in the spirit world or world of dreams and must find your own way out (another mini-campaign). The character is comatose. How can he act?

What do you do about:
-Imprisonment: the character is out of play.
-Alignment Change: Are all alignments supported in your campaign?
-dread wraith: At level 1 that's a death sentence.

[Inevitability]

I'd make your own deck with the same 'spirit' as the official one, but different cards. Instead of cards that give big bonuses or penalties and nothing else, try making some that add to the story in some way.

For example, 'gain a magic item' is boring. But what if the magic item belongs to a powerful being who would really like to get it back? Or maybe the item is related to the plot in some way. Or it is sentient and has its own motivations.

Similarily, 'gain a small keep' is also pretty boring. Instead, have the PC become the rightful owner of a keep somewhere, except there are complications. Perhaps the keep is infested with ghosts, or goblins, or mind flayers, or maybe it is difficult to reach.


The DoMT is an artifact, and it should be the cause of adventures, not of 'you gain 10000 XP'. If a draw from it doesn't allow for at least a single quest, then it is not a good deck.

[BWR]

Being nearly level 3 with a bunch of new characters is quite a gap but still doable.

What's keeping the player from walking off the next cliff to make a new character?
The character is comatose. How can he act?

What do you do about:
-Imprisonment: the character is out of play.
-Alignment Change: Are all alignments supported in your campaign?
-dread wraith: At level 1 that's a death sentence.

1. 100 000 xp is about level 14. Not a problem in this campaign
2. Why the hell would you do that? We're attached to the characters and play them come hell or high water. When one player is the exception he gets a lot of flak for such decisions.
3. Did you read the bit about being stuck in the spirit or dream worlds? Sure the body is comatose but nothing says the mind can't be active
4. Character is out of play, now the rest of the group has an adventure hook. I don't see a problem
5. Alignment changes happen. You now have great roleplaying options.
6. Like I said, not a problem with a nigh-epic warrior handing out the cards.

Honestly, rather than whining about how the DoMT ruins campaigns, think about how bad cards can be made to make things fun.

[Andezzar]

1. 100 000 xp is about level 14. Not a problem in this campaignNot according to the rules. You cannot advance more than one level in one adventure:
A character can advance only one level at a time. If, for some extraordinary reason, a character’s XP reward from a single adventure would be enough to advance two or more levels at once, he or she instead advances one level and gains just enough XP to be 1 XP short of the next level.



2. Why the hell would you do that? We're attached to the characters and play them come hell or high water. When one player is the exception he gets a lot of flak for such decisions.Character attachment is one thing. Not having fun because you cannot contribute to the story for lack of skill is another. It's kind of like playing the monk in a group of druids wizards and clerics, and not even being able to ride a bike (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFuMpYTyRjw). ;)


3. Did you read the bit about being stuck in the spirit or dream worlds? Sure the body is comatose but nothing says the mind can't be activeI read it, but it is unclear whether the rules support such.
This black card spells instant disaster. The character’s body continues to function, as though comatose, but her psyche is trapped in a prison somewhere—in an object on a far plane or planet, possibly in the possession of an outsider. A wish or a miracle does not bring the character back, instead merely revealing the plane of entrapment. Draw no more cards. How are a bunch of level 1 characters supposed to get that character back? At best that player will have to play alone for a long time.


4. Character is out of play, now the rest of the group has an adventure hook. I don't see a problemYou don't? A player not being allowed to play for several sessions is not a problem?


5. Alignment changes happen. You now have great roleplaying options.Wouldn't that reduce the player's attachment to the character? Suddenly playing CE instead of LG character is quite different. Also, contrary to some other forced alignment changes, the DoMT, does not prevent the player from immediately starting to work towards an alignment shift back to the character's original alignment.


6. Like I said, not a problem with a nigh-epic warrior handing out the cards.Have you read the description of the card?
A dread wraith appears. Treat this creature as an unturnable undead. The character must fight it alone—if others help, they get dread wraiths to fight as well. If the character is slain, she is slain forever and cannot be revived, even with a wish or a miracle. A dread wraith has a good chance of killing a 1st level character in one hit. Then the character is gone.


Honestly, rather than whining about how the DoMT ruins campaigns, think about how bad cards can be made to make things fun.I'm not saying you are not supposed to play with the DoMT, but I really wanted to know how you make those cards work, especially with 1st level PCs. If the deck works for your group, have fun.

[BWR]

Not according to the rules. You cannot advance more than one level in one adventure:


Character attachment is one thing. Not having fun because you cannot contribute to the story for lack of skill is another. It's kind of like playing the monk in a group of druids wizards and clerics, and not even being able to ride a bike (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFuMpYTyRjw). ;)

I read it, but it is unclear whether the rules support such.How are a bunch of level 1 characters supposed to get that character back? At best that player will have to play alone for a long time.

You don't? A player not being allowed to play for several sessions is not a problem?

Wouldn't that reduce the player's attachment to the character? Suddenly playing CE instead of LG character is quite different. Also, contrary to some other forced alignment changes, the DoMT, does not prevent the player from immediately starting to work towards an alignment shift back to the character's original alignment.

Have you read the description of the card?A dread wraith has a good chance of killing a 1st level character in one hit. Then the character is gone.

I'm not saying you are not supposed to play with the DoMT, but I really wanted to know how you make those cards work, especially with 1st level PCs. If the deck works for your group, have fun.

1. Rules work a bit differently in that game.
2. Yet it somehow works.
3. Yes, it is unclear. And in any case, isn't making something fun of the situation better than saying 'sorry you're character is screwed no matter what'? we've had several adventures for this card which all have been fun.
4. That game has a lot of other characters to choose from, and some of them are quite powerful. The 1st level characters have a decent support system of family and friends around them to help
5. Except that's not how it works. The affected character is out of play, other characters are brought in for the duration.
6. Not really in this game. It means that there is a wealth of roleplaying opportunity and the situation may have serious consequences for the story.
7. Yes, it says: "The character must fight it alone—if others help, they get dread wraiths to fight as well." That simply means the owner of the Deck kills two instead of one.

Now I admit this campaign is a bit unusual compared to most D&D games in that there is only myself and one other person and we switch around being DM and player, it has a cast of hundreds including nearly 40 PCs (which, as you may imagine, are part-time PCs, not full-time) with varying levels of power from 1st to 20th (sometimes with a little extra), all of whom are children of previous PCs, given proper backstories and a place in the setting before they get to the playable point. Basically what happens is the GM du jour says "I've got an adventure for character X" and the player pulls out X and we play. Sometimes X is a well established PC with lots of hours of game time and whatnot, sometimes X is a character who's had no adventure time before now (young or old). Somtimes more than one character is brought in and all are played simultaneously, sometimes one PC is swtiched with another because it fits the story at the time. Bad stuff happening with the cards is an excellent way to kick-start the heroic stories of young characters. Tweak a few results (it's an effing artifact - not everything goes as blandly and predictably as the book says) and you've got an adventure.
"You've been transported to the other side of the world and no magic can find you; make your way home"
"You've been transported into a nightmarish realm in which the bad guys won the big war: fight for freedom and Good."
"The soul of your younger brother is trapped in Hell: go save him"
"You've won two fortresses and gain the loyalty of two Fighters: here's the adventure that results in this and/or how getting these things affects your life from now on."
"You've lost all your knowledge and ablities: try to regain your art in secret without bringing shame on yourself and your family and teachers for knowing nothing after 8 years of training. "
"You get an awesome magic weapon: here's how you earn it"

Anyway, the point isn't that the DoMT will work in all games at all levels, the point is that the DoMT can work in lots of games at varying power levels and will not always ruin things as long as your players accept that sometimes bad stuff happens and as long as the DM can think about how to turn adversity into adventure. One of my favorite aspects of Ars Magica is the concept of Story Flaws. Rather than just plain mechanical effects, Story Flaws are disadvantages which bring stories and adventures. They can be a right pain for players but the GM always has something to work with to create adventures. We think of the DoMT in the same way.

[tiercel]

Honestly, the first thing that comes to mind is the PCs assembling the DoMT, and instead of using the thing, battling their way to the "boss level" and simply giving it to the final boss as a finishing move.

Of course, given the perversity of the DoMT, the BBEG would probably choose to draw some suicidal number of cards and then have the multiverse's best run of luck, ever.

[ShaneMRoth]

There is a well established trope in screenwriting.

Hilarity Ensues.

The writers have only the vaguest of ideas what is going to happen, so they leave the specifics up to the director and actors to improvise what actually happens on screen.

As in,

"A truck carrying a several barrels of monkeys overturns. The driver of a second truck loaded down with 40,000 pounds of pool noodles sees this and desperately slams on his brakes. The second truck jackknifes, sending pool noodles flying all over hundreds of confused and agitated monkeys. Hilarity Ensues."

A Deck Of Many Things is pretty much the "Hilarity Ensues" of D&D.

"The characters find a Deck of Many Things. Hilarity Ensues."

At some point, you are going to have to nail down the details. Preferably before a game session.

[Jay R]

A Deck of Many Things is an exciting, exhilarating, suspenseful focus for a D&D game - until they draw from it. Then it is (rarely) an incredible change to the party and the game, and (often) totally destructive of both.

I recommend having the quest that involves finding the deck, maybe card-by-card, but having an NPC who steals it or destroys it at the denouement.

You might have an explosion that leaves a card or two at the feet of each player, which they can choose to pick up. But they shouldn't be random - choose the card or cards for each player carefully, to add legitimate abilities and/or legitimate problems, without gaining four wishes, 50,000 experience points, or instant death. [If two cards, I would make them a positive and a negative one.]