There exists an item of such tempestuous power, of forsaken woe and glorious splendor, that those who are aware of it only speak its name in whispers. And yet, the temptation always reappears, the prospect of dreams fulfilled too alluring for the ignorant to resist. Throughout the realms, its origins and exact appearance vary, but the results of its use almost never leave those mortal fools walking away happy. It is called the Deck of Many Things. And one just fell into the outstretched hooves of the Cutie Mark Crusaders. May fortune save them from their doom.
(You don't actually need to know anything about D&D to understand this. Not knowing what's coming might actually make the experience even funnier, honestly.)
Coverart by Zetamad
Chapters (1)
Sweetie Belle forgot her "bonus" draw after pulling the Idiot card.
ah the deck of many things a ruiner of all campaigns that have it in them
and https://dungeons.fandom.com/wiki/SRD:Deck_of_Many_Things this
And Scootaloo needs to practice her wishes. She needed to make the deck go away AFTER drawing the Star card.
So my character in a campaign has actually used the Deck of Many Things before. The GM had modified the deck to have a more even balance of "good" and "bad" effects. I swear to you, my character had like, 1 bad draw from the deck, and it was quickly counterbalanced by the fact he drew two cards that time. The 1 bad draw was the summoning of an Avatar of Death. The draw immediately before/after that, I forget which was first, gave him the power to undo any recent event. I undid my draw which summoned Death. This was my first use of the Deck.
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She didn't get a wish - she literally had the power to change fate at a single failure point. Aside from the Moon, the only other "get out of the hideous, hideous mistake that was touching this thing" card.
The Deck of Many Things - like giving the players the Infinite Gauntlet, but only after they lick the brown acid.
The deck of many things. For when you really, absolutely, definitely want your game derailed by nonsense.
So much of it seems innocuous, but it's basically the Monkey Paw. Using it always goes bad for the narrative, even if not for an individual.
"The only hope for fixing things now is the Deck itself."
Weeell, I'd also guess that Harmony magic might work, and much more safely.
But if they tried that, we'd have less of the comedy, presumably. :D
Ah, and I see this version of the Deck doesn't have the restriction of any given person only ever being able to make a single declared set of draws.
"If you wait too long, the Deck will give you every card at once."
Ah, another difference from the reference I'm looking at. Well, no reason they can't vary a bit from universe to universe; I'm not sure I'll remark on any further ones. :)
"I know I took some liberties with how the Deck works here and there, but I think the spirit carried over nicely."
Aye, I think so. :D
And I enjoyed the story. :)
The chapter title raises some interesting questions. The spell has to finish resolving before any triggers that go on the stack do, so it becomes a question of whether there's a "Reveal CARDNAME from your hand. If you do..." clause for the DoMT. And being able to know which cards are on the top of the thing, well...
Huh. Makes sense to me.
Ohhh dear.
Brilliant little turn of phrase for Discord antics.
I have several questions and concerns.
A gripping story and brilliant cautionary tale. Do not taunt Happy Fun Cards. Heck, try not to be on the same planet as them. Thank you for this one.
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That one's optional.
But what's to stop Twilight from using the cards in the name of scientific curiosity?
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Is explicitly disallowed. All mortal magic attempting to do that fails automatically, because of course it does. (Conspiracy Limited and Jace's Signature Spellbook are both post-Mending, but nice try.)
Oh no.
Funny I though Apple Bloom was Lawful Good, so I thought for sure she would have become Chaotic Evil not Lawful Evil. Actually I think for once they should have given it to Discord. Cool Story.
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I'd say all three CMC are Chaotic Good, so AB would have become Lawful Evil.
Very good story, I liked it, I wonder how others ponies could react to the cards and what could happen to them and what other cards are there
Okay, but how true is this really?