The Deck of Many Things can be one of the most chaotic, exciting, and simultaneously devastating things to unleash into a D&D campaign. One of the biggest appeals of the Deck is the mystery box randomness that comes from drawing from a set of cards. But what if you want to incorporate that vibe more regularly into your game without the high stakes that come with the Deck itself? Well, The Book of Many Things has you covered!

Chapter 3 of The Book of Many Things, named after the Balance card, is chock-full of suggestions for ways that you can use the Deck or a standard deck of cards as a randomizer in your game. Among these are alternative rules for inspiration.

• Downloadable Handout: The Inspiration Deck
• How Inspiration Normally Works in D&D
• Playing With an Inspiration Deck
• Using the Inspiration Deck as a DM

Pick a Card, Any Card

One of the best parts of these alternate sets of rules is they’re designed to be used with any cards you might have, whether that’s the Deck of Many Things, tarroka cards, tarot cards, or a set of household playing cards. You could even use a set of cards from your favorite trading card game like Magic: The Gathering. 

Downloadable Handout: The Inspiration Deck

Below, you can download a table that shows the effects for each of the 22 cards you’ll use in your inspiration deck.

How Inspiration Normally Works in D&D

Artist: HINCHEL OR

In D&D, a Dungeon Master can choose to reward players with inspiration for playing their characters in a way that is true to the traits on their sheet, such as chasing their ideals or leaning into their flaws. A player whose character is a gambler might get inspiration for doubling down at a pivotal moment. An acolyte might get inspiration for roleplaying their character’s connection to their deity.

When you have inspiration, you can spend it during a game session to gain advantage when making an attack roll, saving throw, or ability check. Or you can choose to give your inspiration to another player at the table if you think they’ve done something to earn it. 

Inspiration is a malleable concept in general. It is intended to enhance and celebrate the fun at the table. In the Dungeon Master’s Guide, variant rules exist for how to use inspiration. As a DM, I tend to be pretty generous with inspiration because I like encouraging roleplay. I also usually reward inspiration to new players at the start of their first session as a way of saying congrats on taking the dive! Likewise, I’ve had several DMs who will reward inspiration for solid puns made during the game. I do eventually get cut off when I’m at those tables.

Playing With an Inspiration Deck

The Book of Many Things offers rules for building and using an inspiration deck, an alternative system to the standard rules for inspiration. This is a deck of cards that utilizes either the complete Deck of Many Things or an equivalent 22-card deck.

To play with the inspiration deck, you will draw a number of cards equal to the number of players and place them face up on the table. When a player gains inspiration, they select one of the face up cards and keep it for later use. Each card has its own unique effect, which you’ll find in the above handout and Inspiration Cards table.

When a player uses their inspiration, they draw a new card face up for the communal hand and shuffle the used card back into the deck.

Inspiration, With a Twist

The inspiration deck can be an interesting alternative to the standard rules for inspiration, as it adds a layer of strategy. Now you might eye an appropriate and fun time to use a specific inspiration effect drawn from the deck. Although advantage is often useful, having the one-time option to use a bonus action to Disengage so you can move back and cast a spell could be clutch. Plus, having a physical card sitting with you at the table can serve as a good reminder to use your inspiration.

Using the Inspiration Deck as a DM

Artist: HINCHEL OR

The Book of Many Things also offers rules for using the inspiration deck as the DM, and it plays into the fickle nature of the Deck of Many Things. Whenever a player uses their inspiration card, the DM gets to draw a card off the top. Rather than add it to the communal deck, the DM holds onto the card to use on behalf of one of the characters’ opponents at a later time.

This is definitely a system that requires a level of buy-in from the players. Some tables view inspiration purely as a reward and might not want to use inspiration if it means it might come back to haunt them. Other players might relish the double-bladed knife aspect of this option. Either way, it’s always good to discuss alternative rules with your players ahead of time and make sure those rules are conducive to the vibes at your table. 

Hammer Away at Your Deck

The inspiration deck is just one of the new ways the Deck of Many Things can be incorporated into your D&D game. The Book of Many Things offers suggestions for other ways of using the Deck, such as to spark ideas for events along the course of a few days of travel, generate random encounters, or even come up with random NPCs to draw from when need be.

The Book of Many Things releases digitally on D&D Beyond on November 14. Order your copy today in the D&D Beyond marketplace!

Riley Silverman (@rileyjsilverman) is a contributing writer to D&D Beyond, Nerdist, and SYFY Wire. She DMs the Theros-set Dice Ex Machina for the Saving Throw Show, and has been a player on the Wizards of the Coast-sponsored The Broken Pact. Riley also played as Braga in the official tabletop adaptation of the Rat Queens comic for HyperRPG, and currently plays as The Doctor on the Doctor Who RPG podcast The Game of Rassilon. She currently lives in Los Angeles.