The 5e Book I've Been Waiting For?
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- Опубліковано 28 чер 2024
- I finally got my hands on the Book of Many Things and it's time to find out whether it was worth the wait and lives up to the hype as the book I've been waiting for since I first started playing 5e.
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00:00 Intro
01:40 What I Hoped This Book Would Be
03:42 What I Don't Like About the Book
12:00 What I Do Like About the Book
22:39 The Cards & Reference Guide - Розваги
Do you have a story involving the Deck of Many Things? I want to hear about it here in the comments!
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There was a time my group pulled from the deck and I got whisked away by donjon to a random plane. A few other players got donjon’d away as well and we went on a joint mission to get everybody back. Unfortunately, I was playing a back up character and the group never really got around to saving my original character. One of my biggest pain points playing with that group.
My players got a deck of many things from one of the BBEG's minions in two different games(it's one of the things I like to do, lol, give them a moral quandary, should they destroy/get rid of it, or use it :) )
Anyway, one group held on to it in an attempt to destroy, and the other pulled.
Those players got (mostly) good things--one got a squire, another the answer to any one question, yet another got a deed to a monster-filled castle. One did get a rival, and the 5th was cursed to -1 on all saving throws, but every pull gave us a new story hook. That monster-filled castle literally gave me a 4 session arc that ended in a illusory train being conducted by a death tyrant, so that's fun! Still working on getting the one player uncursed, but he is an aasimar with on obligatory tragic backstory, so we have a plethora of gods to get him sorted :D
One thing I found interesting is the division between 4 Class Groups that they were going to use more in the 2024 D&D revision (Warrior, Expert, Mage, Priest). They use them for dedicated sections and random tables. These categories aren't a thing anymore but it shows that they were planning ahead on potentially using them more while writing this book. Some examples are dedicated magic item sections for each of the 4, which could be nice to evenly distribute magic item loot between broad class categories while stocking an adventure, and my favorite, the Heroic Destiny table, which is great to add some intrigue to a character in session 0. If your party just happens to have the classic Fighter, Rogue, Cleric, and Wizard combo or something similar, you are bound to have something that matches each one in this book.
These aren't the only thematic groupings, some others include Good, Neutral, and Evil factions related to the deck, and 1 fiend BBEG for each of the fiend types: Devil (Lawful), Yugoloth (Neutral), and Demon (Chaotic).
Yes, grouping things into themes rather than gameplay sections was really BAD for using the book as a handbook, however, it makes for a fascinating reading experience as one section leads to another. It does give it this feel halfway between a coffee table book and a D&D content book, and I don't think that's a bad thing, but it's unique. I do think re-layout of these options for actual use at the table would do it wonders. I am personally separating the with my VTT's folders, one folder for all the destinies w/ class group sections and divination random tables, one folder for magic items separated into class groups and card based, one folder for the dungeon adventures, one for the villains, one for the factions, and one folder for DM tools for challenges separated into encounter, puzzles, and traps. Physical use of this book seems like a PAIN tho, I think it'd require to use a lot of tabs and highlighters on top of an index, or for one to print out the reusable sections and tables to stick to your dm screen.
I would wonder whether they are choosing to focus on D&D Beyond usability first and foremost and sacrificing the physical layout useability, but they've had problems with how they physically organise information for years!
While I decided years ago to never give money to WotC again, this does sound like something I would enjoy reading and using (except for the layout issues you discussed). Wonder if the layout was done by the same person who thought the PHB spell list didn't need page numbers :P (seriously though, *why*?!) And it seems to me like the publication history should be at the back of the book rather than the front.
The idea of the deck creating new copies of itself from separated cards is so ominous. I love it.
I had my players roleplaying a group of adventurers in a memory. They each made up a quick adventurer, then I had them roll a d20. The “winner” had their character die in the journey, and the player drew a card from a set I created.
Before the game, I curated the list of cards with a specific event, feature or creature that affected their deaths. One player said that his character “Big Bo” was drunk all the time at the start. His was the 2nd to die, and he pulled the Campfire card. My death plan for that card was falling into the campfire, so the players then described building a massive bonfire that the drunken character promptly collapsed into and burst into an even bigger fireball.
I was using it to info dump some details to the players for the actual campaign, and it gave a nice chance to switch up their roleplaying for a moment mid campaign. The adventurers that survived will soon be showing up in the campaign, and they will get to meet the new “Big Bo” (formerly Little Bo)
A long time ago (when we stikk used random tables) one of my players found the deck, identified it and threw it in the camp fire. "I hate chaos and weird magic in our world." I could have kissed him.
🤣 I feel like at some point in the past that player was forever scarred by an encounter with something like the deck!
I believe the layout of this book and the inadequacies of referencing monsters etc. via the tables is indicative of WotC's move towards digital. This book was never designed with a physical medium in mind, since it appears to have slipped the design and layout departments' collective notice that physical books can't have hyperlinks allowing for easy access of data. If were to don the 'tinfoil hat of truth' I may come to the conclusion that making a physical tome as obtuse to navigate as possible may 'persuade' the user to take the digital option instead.
I would agree with you if 5e books hadn't been an obtuse mess for reference since pretty much day 1 🤣
I immediately put my cards in sleeves
Huzzaah! A new video!
13:50 what was that beep?
That was a censor beep, which means I moved the clips on the timeline and somewhere else in the video there's an unmasked F bomb lurking 😅
Wait, the Ambitious Assasin might actually be able to assassinate a character or party? Thanks for the video. Hit that Like!
It's almost like they fired all their bookcrafters.
Those layoffs will have happened long after this went to print, and the issues in layout and structure have persisted through 5e's entire run and are definitely not a new problem.
DnD 5e books are not a premium product. They are a half baked low quality product. Every book has missing and incomplete rules, stupid or non-existent index and reference pages. Each book appears to be the first time the layout person ever worked on a book. There is no consistency between books.
I completely agree about the lack of consistency between books for sure! I'm thinking of making an updated video talking about what I hope to see from the rules update later this year, and more consistency between releases is definitely up there!