Do you want to add a bit of chaos to your campaign prep? The Deck of Many Things set provides 44 new cards to mix and match into everyone's favorite fate-shaping magic item. To accompany these additional cards, the set includes a reference guide that provides Dungeon Masters with new and unique ways to use the Deck, like creating your own adventures and dungeons!

In this article, we'll walk you through a dungeon crafted from beginning to end by the new cards and rules for adventure creation found in The Deck of Many Things set.

• The Dungeon Spread
• Travel to the Keep (Ship/Sun/Balance)
• The Keep (Donjon/Ooze)
• Entering the Keep (Bridge/Mage)
• Exploring the Keep (Tavern/Book)
• Confrontation with the Aberration (Tower/Abberation)
• The Ruined Prison (Warrior/Ruin/Prisoner)

The Dungeon Spread

The dungeon spread requires you to separate all 66 cards in the expanded Deck of Many More Things into three piles: Story, Locations, and Features. You then lay out the cards in a slightly varied adventure spread. To learn more about how this works, check out this video about the adventure spread starring The Book of Many Things designer Makenzie De Armas.

After laying out the dungeon spread, I got the following results:

This method of adventure generation ensures that each dungeon "location" (the right-side-up cards) has a "feature" (the sideways card) that presents a challenge to the players. The three left-most cards are story cards and are optional when using the dungeon spread.

Using the prompts in the card reference guide, I was inspired to create an adventure where the party would sail off (Ship) to a remote fortress (Donjon) to rescue a powerful warrior ally that has mysteriously disappeared (Warrior). Unbeknownst to them, their warrior friend was taken hostage (Prisoner) by a beholder (Aberration) because they were infected by an illithid tadpole.

Character Creation

This adventure is fit for a party of 13th-level adventurers. Seeing as the climax will be facing off against a beholder and the environment of the adventure will be a deadly Far Realm-warped keep, there's plenty of danger to keep a high-level party occupied.

The Quest

Thora Dragonsbane is a close friend of the party and a mighty warrior who has been a crucial ally. They have helped defend the realm against dangers faced in previous adventures and are the leader of a strong mercenary force stationed at their remote Ravenhall Keep.

The party has received word that communications from Thora's isolated keep have suddenly gone dark despite being wrapped up in complex political negotiations. They are sent to investigate what might have happened to Thora and her troops.

When they arrive, they find a dangerous keep twisted by the beholder's Far Realm influence. They come across petrified mercenaries from Thora's company, but Thora is nowhere to be found.

They discover that a beholder is behind the sudden disappearance of their friend, but for good reason: Thora has been infected by an illithid tadpole.

The beholder is adamant that the optimal solution is to wait until ceremorphosis completes so it can use the newly created mind flayer in a ritual that will expose the location of the elder brain. Then, they will be able to destroy the scourge at its source.

The beholder also stubbornly refuses to un-petrify any of the keep's inhabitants for the risk that they might have also been infected.

The Resolution

The conclusion of this adventure could have three general outcomes, depending on the party's interaction with the beholder:

• Happy Ending: The party defeats the beholder, rescues Thora, and is able to stop the process of ceremorphosis. Seeing as ceremorphosis doesn't have a cure, the party may have to resort to using resurrection or a similar effect.
• Bittersweet Ending: If the party lets the beholder sacrifice Thora to the ritual, they'll at least be comforted by the knowledge that they have contributed to defeating a greater evil. Thora supports this option if asked, but this option requires the beholder to be alive to complete the ritual. This could spark more adventures if the party wants to work with the beholder to defeat the elder brain.
• Twist Ending: If Thora is rescued and the attempt to stop her ceremorphisis fails, the party might have to defeat their transformed friend, adding a tragic but heroic end to their quest.

Travel to the Keep (Ship/Sun/Balance)

Artist: Ned Rogers

Party Gathers, Adventure Begins, Journey

I've interpreted the Ship card to mean the party begins their journey onboard the ship that will take them to Ravenhall Keep.

If they would like to make any preparations before leaving, this can be done in a flashback.

The Sun card is fitting to represent the beginning of the adventure because it signifies having hope when faced with a difficult situation. You could even start the adventure on a sunny day of easy travel that goes against the party's feelings of unease about their missing friend.

A Turbulent Journey

The Balance card in the journey slot is interesting, but I've taken it quite literally. On the evening of their journey, a vicious storm rolls in, and the party must successfully navigate their boat through the waves and wind.

This could be done via a series of checks, where the party must succeed in performing certain tasks to remain safely onboard their ship. Pulling inspiration from the Storm section in Ghosts of Saltmarsh, each check would have a DC 15 and could include some of the examples below:

Instead of a failure damaging their ship or delaying their journey, as suggested in Ghosts of Saltmarsh, it could give the characters disadvantage on Strength (Athletics) checks to keep their balance and not be flung off the pitching ship.

Any overboard crewmates would have to deal with a pair of giant sharks hungrily tailing the ship, waiting for prey to fall into the water.

They arrive at the keep the following morning if they make it through the storm in one piece.

The Keep (Donjon/Ooze)

Artist: Kent Davis

Entrance

Ravenhall Keep is a stark, militaristic outpost without much in the way of creature comforts. It's located on a spire of rock jutting out of the ocean and is protected by a "moat," which is actually a 500-foot drop to the sharp rocks and crashing waves below.

Since the beholder took up residence, the keep has been warped by the creature's Far Realm influence to defy logic. Rooms and corridors shift unpredictably, so navigating the interior doesn't make sense.

The Donjon card in the entrance slot symbolizes that the keep is now a prison for Thora and her petrified company. The Ooze card symbolizes the fact that there is a simple yet effective trap waiting: Once the party enters the keep, it is impossible to leave without dealing with the beholder in some capacity.

Entering the Keep (Bridge/Mage)

Challenge

I drew a Bridge card and a Mage feature for the first challenge slot. This inspired me to make entering the keep the party's first challenge.

Ravenhall Keep's magical drawbridge is up and requires a code to open. Seeing as Thora Dragonsbane got her name from slaying chromatic dragons, the party needs to display each chromatic color—black, blue, green, red, and white—to let the drawbridge down. A clue the party could be given is five dragon heads, one of each color, hung on spikes above the drawbridge's gate.

Getting Across the Drawbridge

The player's color display could be achieved in several ways, like using magic to create elemental effects or showing pieces of colored cloth.

Flying into the keep or using a rope to cross the moat is possible but difficult because of the whipping winds. Any attempt to cross the moat without the drawbridge requires a successful DC 17 Strength (Athletics) check. If the check fails by 10 or less, the attempt is unsuccessful, but the character returns safely to the cliff face. If the check fails by more than 10, the character plummets 500 feet to the ocean below, taking the maximum amount of fall damage (20d6).

Once they cross the gate's threshold, characters are warped into the keep's main hall. The beholder's Far Realm influence makes it impossible to leave through doors or windows (they all lead back to the main hall), and teleportation spells don't work.

Exploring the Keep (Tavern/Book)

Artist: Matt Stewart

Challenge

The Tavern card represents the second challenge's location, and the note they are given to decipher was inspired by the Book card.

In the hall, the party discovers a scene of panic frozen in time. Statues of people attempting to escape litter the main hall. They seem to be running away from the direction of the main table, which is located at the head of the hall.

Four statues in particular catch the party's eyes. They are located just before the main table, and they each appear to have something in their hands.

When the beholder struck, it was carrying a journal of all its plans and musings (as Xanathar proved beholders are apt to do). During the battle, the beholder petrified the keep's inhabitants with its Petrification Ray and kidnapped Thora, keeping her unpetrified so the ceremorphosis could run its course.

A page fell out in the fray, and the Ravenhall mercenaries tried to escape with the paper, hoping it would give them information on their assailant. The paper was ripped between the four of them, and they were petrified before escaping.

Statues and a Clue

When the party approaches the four statues carrying the ripped pages, the Far Realm magic of the keep mutates each of them into helmed horrors, and they attack.

When all four pieces are combined, the paper from the beholder's journal reads:

"Before I can let the transformation run its course and perform the ritual, I must deal with the rabble she has under her command. The infection might have spread, something I cannot allow."

Once the clue has been discovered, Far Realm magic causes a doorway to appear in the wall behind the main table. The door takes the party up to the tower, where the beholder awaits.

Confrontation with the Aberration (Tower/Abberation)

Artist: Eric Belisle

Challenge

The stairs leading to the top of the tower have been warped into a fast-moving magical escalator that works against the party and gets faster as they approach the top of the tower. Each character climbing the stairs must succeed in a DC 15 Constitution (Athletics) check or gain one level of exhaustion. If the check fails by 5 or more, two levels of exhaustion are gained instead.

Arrival at the Top of the Tower

Eventually, the party reaches the beholder's lair at the top of the tower, which was inspired by the Tower and Aberration card I drew for this challenge. The beholder, confident the party isn't infected by illithid tadpoles, is blunt and upfront with what they have done. In their opinion, they should be praised as a hero. They also stubbornly refuse to sway from their plan.

Depending on what the party wants to do, they can fight, trick, or try to reason with the beholder to save Thora. If the party managed to free any of Thora's company from petrification, the beholder immediately attacks, hoping to squash the potential threat of tadpole infection.

After the beholder encounter has been resolved, a trapdoor to a circular staircase opens from the floor, leading the party to the dungeons. This trapdoor can be spotted while closed with a DC 13 Intelligence (Investigation) check. Once spotted, a character can use its action to wedge it open by succeeding in a DC 12 Strength (Athletics) check.

The Ruined Prison (Warrior/Ruin/Prisoner)

Artist: Aaron Hübrich

Treasure, Guardian

Navigating the dungeons of Ravenhall Keep is treacherous, which was inspired by the Ruin card that I drew as part of the location for the dungeon's treasure. Even before the beholder invasion, whose alien influence caused black puddings to emerge from the ground, the floor and ceiling were starting to deteriorate with age and the harsh environment.

Now, the stones are eroded and pockmarked, and corrosive black ooze seeps out from the cracks.

Watch Your Step

Any creature walking on the ground must succeed in a DC 13 Dexterity (Acrobatics) check or cause the floor to give way. Creatures within a 10-foot radius fall into a pit containing a black pudding. The pit is 15 feet deep, and scaling the walls requires a DC 10 Strength (Athletics) check. 

The floor can give way in this manner up to three times, at which point the party finds more stable ground. Thora is the dungeon's only prisoner, located in one of the many empty cells.

A Difficult Choice

I drew the Warrior card for the dungeon's treasure, which inspired the idea behind rescuing their friend Thora as the reason for navigating the dangers in this adventure. For the treasure's guardian, I drew the Prisoner card, which dictated the situation with her imprisonment.

Thora hasn't completely undergone ceremorphosis, but she is suffering from an excruciating headache and will complete her transformation in the next 2d6 hours. She doesn't know what is wrong with her but doesn't argue with the party if they tell her what is happening.

Depending on what the party wants to do, there are various ways they can deal with Thora's current affliction described in the "Resolution" section at the beginning of the adventure.

What Adventure Will the Deck Create For You?

The Deck of Many Things set holds infinite possibilities for storytelling, whether you plan on using the expanded Deck to craft dungeons and adventures or you offer it to your players so they can determine their own fate.

Plus, within the set, you'll find The Book of Many Things, a sourcebook that features new lore, character options, adventures, and monsters that stem from the Deck of Many Things. The Deck holds something unique for everyone who wields it, so there's only one way to find out what it has in store for you!

Mike Bernier (@arcane_eye) is the founder of Arcane Eye, a site focused on providing useful tips and tricks to all those involved in the world of D&D. Outside of writing for Arcane Eye, Mike spends most of his time playing games, hiking with his girlfriend, and tending the veritable jungle of houseplants that have invaded his house.