Dungeons & Dragons offers its players an incredible number of possibilities due to its freedom to get what they want. However, this does not only apply to the players, as the game master plays by the same rules.
What does the game master report? The game master and Reddit user mildlyanoyed reports in a post in the DnD subreddit that he stole 200,000 gold from his players but does not feel bad about it.
His group discovered a legendary set of fate cards (Deck of Many Things) that can produce various effects when used – both good and bad.
One of his players particularly enjoyed the fate cards and almost recklessly drew a total of 14 cards. “He experienced everything except death,” the game master reports, “lost his entire inventory, received a magical weapon, got a bodyguard, changed his alignment to evil, and then switched his alignment back. You know, the usual.”
Moreover, he lost 4 points of his intelligence and received 10 gems, which are worth a total of 200,000 gold. He wanted to replace his lost items with this newfound wealth on the black market, where the game master was already waiting for him with a more sinister challenge than the fate cards – the player’s freshly lowered intelligence.
Here you see the trailer for “The Mighty Nein” on Amazon Prime, which originated from a famous DnD campaign:
Too much luck must be balanced – at least that’s what the game master thinks
How was the player scammed? The game master explains that he himself acted as a shady black market dealer in the trade with the player. The list of items the player wanted to acquire was worth about 100 gold. Since he had none left, the game master asked if he could offer something as a trade.
In response, the player, due to his rogue’s low intelligence, produced the valuable gems. When asked if there wasn’t something else he could offer, he simply pulled out all the remaining gems, which put all 200,000 gold at stake. This satisfied the treacherous dealer/game master – but only through a generous discount, of course.
The player accepted this ruthless scam honorably since he wanted to play realistically with his drop in intelligence (which had fallen to 8 at that moment). The other players considered intervening but did not expect the game master to do something like that to them. Perhaps not the game master as a person, but certainly a slimy black market dealer.
How does the DnD community react to this action? The community celebrates this story with almost 2000 upvotes. Some were concerned whether the person even knew they were being scammed, but the game master assures: “The player knew he was being cheated, but I don’t think he realized how bad it was.”
“And did he still have fun?” is further questioned, to which the game master clarifies: “He loved it.”
“That’s the most important aspect. As long as everyone at the table is having fun, what you are doing is exactly right,” says Verlepte in response. MissTrillium adds, however, that they should never take this man to Vegas.
The fate cards, commonly referred to by their English name “Deck of Many Things”, are a great way to test players’ willingness to take risks and cause plenty of chaos. Perhaps an inspiration for your DnD campaigns? If you need more inspiration for cool DnD items, exciting items from Critical Role might be interesting: 7 magical items from the most famous group in Dungeons & Dragons that you should definitely know about
