#deck: deck of many things

[jasper-tarot-reader]

Hey Jasper!

It's Fern (they/fae) do the cards have any advice on how I can deepen my connection to Unicorn in the coming months?

Thank you for what you do ♡ Fern

You get to be my first attempt at using the Deck of Many Things alongside a tarot deck, which will be the Silver Witchcraft Tarot by Barbara Moore. (I...have a lot of decks by her despite the fact that I want to fight her behind a Taco Bell...) The Silver Witchcraft Tarot is one of the decks belonging to Tehuti, so don't be surprised if you get his vibes from this reading. With all of that preamble out of the way, your cards are the Jester and the 10 of Wands.

Let's start with the Jester. Since I'm winging this, let's look at what this card does. It gives you 10,000 experience points or lets you draw two more cards - which could either mean actively connecting with Unicorn in order to gain experience, or gathering tools to help fortify that connection. Like the Fool, this card disappears from the deck once drawn. (Though for practical use purposes, I'll be putting mine back in my physical deck.) This is a very funny card considering everything going on in the friend group this morning.

Meanwhile, the 10 of Wands's keywords are burden, obligations, numerous opportunities, duty, and responsibility. Since this is a Wiccan-based deck, Barbara Moore has assigned the Universe to the 10 cards, indicating the greater world, endings, and completion. (Aces are the Self, while 2 through 9 are the Wiccan Wheel of the Year holidays.)

These two are quite striking next to each other! The strong reds and oranges of the Jester card with the mere splashes of blue compared to the strong blues and browns with a touch of orange for the 10 of Wands...even the white block with black text of the Jester compared to the black block with white text of the 10 of Wands... Delicious. Utterly delicious.

What I'm seeing here is a suggestion and the blockage preventing the suggestion from being immediately implemented. The Jester seems to tell you to get silly with it and interact with Unicorn more directly in order to deepen that connection (however you choose to do it), but the 10 of Wands reminds you that you are, unfortunately, an adult with responsibilities, so you can't just do the Unicorn-related stuff. You're gonna have to figure out how to balance those duties alongside your interactions with Unicorn to deepen your connection. On the other hand, it could mean that connecting further with Unicorn involves taking on duties related to it, but I wouldn't even know where to start with that one.

Either way, I hope this reading has given you plenty to chew on! If you feel so inclined, please feel free to send feedback in my ask box, leave feedback in a reblog of this reading, and/or reblog my reading guidelines!

~Jasper

(P.S. - Tumblr force-logged me off and I had to rewrite some of this, so sorry if it seems disjointed. Tumblr doesn't believe in how silly we're getting, evidently.)

[bookalicent]

yeah so this was insane

[neottia-orchids]

Happy new year folks!! 🥳🥳 Come get your kisses in!😘😘

[rpgsandbox]

I drafted a legal argument against Wizards of the Coast - and you can too!

WotC is trying to pull off a licensing clawback just two years after the OGL Debacle, and I figured out how to punch back.

If you've played Dungeons & Dragons for any length of time, you've probably heard of the legendary "Deck of Many Things" – one of the game's most iconic magical items. It’s a lot of fun, and it has always been something associated with brand-name Dungeons and Dragons.

This article is about the legal usage of “Deck of Many Things,” and about how Wizards of the Coast seems to be trying to take it back in 2025 after giving it to the community in 2023. And it’s about how you can hit them where it hurts.

The History of the Deck

The "Deck of Many Things" has been a staple of D&D since the earliest days of the game. It's been included in every edition and is as much a part of D&D lore as dragons themselves. For years, this term was effectively the property of TSR and then Wizards of the Coast/Hasbro.

But something important happened in January 2023. After the massive backlash to their proposed OGL changes, Wizards of the Coast – through Executive Producer Kyle Brink – announced that they would be releasing the Systems Reference Document version 5.1 under a Creative Commons license:

Kyle’s announcement goes on to say: “This Creative Commons license makes the content freely available for any use. We don't control that license and cannot alter or revoke it. It's open and irrevocable in a way that doesn't require you to take our word for it. And its openness means there's no need for a VTT policy. Placing the SRD under a Creative Commons license is a one-way door. There's no going back.”

This was huge news! For those who don't know, releasing something under Creative Commons essentially means giving it to the public with very minimal restrictions. In this case, they used the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which allows anyone to share, copy, redistribute, adapt, and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially – as long as appropriate credit is given.

The SRD 5.1 document, which spans hundreds of pages, explicitly includes "Deck of Many Things" on page 216, along with a full description of what it is and how it works. By releasing this under CC 4.0, Wizards effectively released this term into the public domain, allowing anyone to use it in their own works.

The gaming community praised this move as a step toward rebuilding trust after the OGL debacle. It seemed like Wizards had learned their lesson and was committed to supporting the community that had grown around their game.

The Betrayal

Fast forward to April 2025. WotC announced that they were revising their SRD 5.1 with a new and improved SRD versioned 5.2. For 5.2 they listed a bunch of milquetoast fantasy terms that I’m sure they’re very proud of, and kind of squeeze in a couple of footnotes. Those footnotes say that they’re going to be clawing back the term “Deck of Many Things,” as well as “Orb of Dragonkind.”

Well lo and behold, on the USPTO’s trademark search database, Deck of Many Things is in fact a pending word mark, with the latest application updated in April of 2025.

The serial number is 97260475, and you can look it up yourself on the USPTO website. This is what it looks like:

So here’s the problem. This application effectively attempts to claim exclusive rights to a term that Wizards had already released under Creative Commons just two years earlier.

Why They Can’t Do This

So why can't Wizards of the Coast trademark "Deck of Many Things" now? Let me break it down:

The Creative Commons 4.0 license they chose is explicitly IRREVOCABLE. Here's what the license actually says in Section 2(a)(1):

"The Licensor hereby grants You a worldwide, royalty-free, non-sublicensable, non-exclusive, irrevocable license to exercise the Licensed Rights in the Licensed Material."

That means once Kyle Brink proudly published the SRD 5.1 under this license on that fateful day in January of 2023, they could never take any of it back. The license explicitly prohibits imposing "additional or different terms or conditions" on the licensed material.

Attempting to register a trademark on material you've already licensed to the public represents an attempt to impose additional restrictions on that material, a violation of a term of the Creative Commons 4.0 license. Specifically it is a violation of Section 2(a)(5):

“No downstream restrictions. You may not offer or impose any additional or different terms or conditions on, or apply any Effective Technological Measures to, the Licensed Material if doing so restricts exercise of the Licensed Rights by any recipient of the Licensed Material.”

My Attempt to Challenge the Trademark

When I discovered this trademark application, thanks to Dark Kelsey, I decided to take action. The USPTO has a process called a "Letter of Protest" that allows anyone to submit evidence showing why a trademark shouldn't be granted.

I drafted a carefully formatted Letter of Protest following all the USPTO guidelines. My evidence was straightforward:

The official announcement of SRD 5.1 being published under Creative Commons

A copy of page 216 through 218 from SRD 5.1 showing "Deck of Many Things"

The full text of the Creative Commons 4.0 license highlighting its irrevocability, etc.

I TRIED to submit this through the USPTO's electronic filing system, confident that the evidence was clear and compelling.

The Setback

Unfortunately, when I tried to submit the Letter of Protest, I received this error message:

"This form cannot be submitted because it has been more than 30 days from the date the application published in the Official Gazette."

I had missed the narrow window to submit a Letter of Protest. The USPTO only allows these submissions either before publication or within 30 days after publication in their Official Gazette. By the time I discovered the application, this deadline had already passed.

This was frustrating, but it doesn't mean the fight is over.

The Path Forward

If the USPTO does grant this trademark – which they shouldn't if they're properly interpreting the prior Creative Commons licensing– there's still another option: filing a Petition for Cancellation with the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB).

A cancellation petition allows anyone who believes they would be damaged by a trademark registration to challenge it even after it's been granted. The filing fee is $600, and the process typically takes about three years.

For this specific case, the grounds would be:

The mark doesn't function as a trademark because it was published under an irrevocable Creative Commons license

The applicant's actions in seeking the trademark contradict their prior grant of rights

The process is more involved than a Letter of Protest, but it's completely doable even without an attorney. The TTAB provides clear guidelines, and everything can be filed electronically through their online system.

Conclusion

What Hasbro and Wizards of the Coast are trying to do here is repugnant but not surprising. They're attempting to double back on a license they've already granted – something they've developed a pattern of doing every couple of years now.

First it was the OGL controversy, where they tried to revoke a 23-year-old license. The community pushed back and won. Now they're pursuing trademark terms they explicitly released under Creative Commons, trying to AMEND a creative commons license that they just published (5.2 amending 5.1), perhaps hoping no one would notice or care.

This is more than just a legal technicality – it's about trust. When a company publicly garners praise for licensing away intellectual property, only to sneakily try to reclaim it later, they're betraying the very community that supports them.

The irony here is that Wizards didn't even need to do this. They could have trademarked specific implementations or product lines featuring the Deck of Many Things without trying to claim ownership of the term itself after releasing it to the public.

So why am I telling you all this? Because you don't need to be a lawyer to challenge corporate overreach. The systems exist for regular people to participate in these processes. Whether it's a Letter of Protest or a Cancellation Petition, the tools are there for you to use.

If you care about not getting bamboozled by incompetent, dishonest corporations, consider getting involved. Watch for these kinds of trademark applications, be ready to file your own challenges, and spread the word when companies try to walk back their commitments.

Simon Says: An Addendum

After publishing this article, I received some valuable feedback here from Simon, an academic lawyer in the UK who teaches trademark law. Simon pointed out an even more straightforward legal issue with Hasbro's trademark application that deserves attention, one that transcends the Creative Commons argument.

The fundamental problem? "Deck of Many Things" likely isn't even eligible for trademark protection in the first place.

Under trademark law (both in the US under the Lanham Act and similarly in the UK), a valid trademark must be distinctive – it must have the capacity to identify goods as coming from a specific source and not another. But here's the kicker: "Deck of Many Things" products have been created by numerous publishers over the years, not just Wizards of the Coast.

This widespread use means the term has essentially become descriptive or potentially generic within the gaming industry. It no longer primarily signals "this is a WotC product" but rather "this is a type of magical card deck with random effects" – a concept that's been implemented by countless game creators.

Think about it – when you hear "Deck of Many Things," do you automatically associate it exclusively with Wizards of the Coast? Or do you think of the general concept that's been part of gaming culture for decades?

This distinctiveness requirement exists for a good reason. Trademark law isn't supposed to give companies monopolies over common terminology in an industry. It's meant to prevent consumer confusion about who made a product, not to let corporations fence off widely-used concepts.

So beyond the Creative Commons issue, there's this even more basic problem: Hasbro is trying to trademark something that likely fails the fundamental "distinctive" requirement of trademark law.

This remains an example of a corporation trying to claim exclusive ownership over community cultural elements that have been widely used and understood for decades. Whether through Creative Commons “revisions” or by ignoring basic trademark principles, the effect is the same – an attempt to monopolize what should remain in the public sphere.

[fancyfade]

characters taking a break from their mental-breakdown arcs in their solo titles to show up in crossover events is always big 'ok you're sick but who's gonna cover your shift?' energy :P

[wehavekookies]

An alternative cover I've painted last year for the Book / Deck of Many Things has been released, and I am very happy with how it turned out in print / on the final product :)

[7cfc00]

glenn close's total lifetime blackjack earnings is negative $7000.

[szynkaaa]

✦ The Fool ✦

featuring the Destined One

I'm finally doing it!! Gonna try to illustrate a Major Arcana deck featuring Black Myth Wukong Characters. The Major Arcana has 22 cards which should be more doable for me than doing 70+ cards for the entire deck. I think after I've finished the Major Arcana, I will tackle some cards inthe Minor Arcana depending on which character I feel like drawing and which one I think will fit the card.

Also working with limited color palettes for each card

Major Arcana ✦ 00. The Fool ✦ 01. The Magician ✦ 02. The High Priestess ✦ 03. The Empress ✦ 04. The Emperor ✦ 08. Strength ✦ 11. Justice ✦ 12. The Hanged Man ✦ 13. Death ✦ 15. The Devil ✦ 17. The Star ✦ 21. The World

process GIF below here:

[fantastictalesofadventure]

𝘛𝘉𝘏…𝘣𝘰𝘵𝘩 𝘴𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘺 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘥𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴.

[c-r-ash-crash]

Thinking about the fates card from the deck of many things, and what the riptide pirates would wish for if they drew it

Chip is obvious. He'd wish the Midnight Rose never sank.

Jay has a few more regrets, but I think she'd wish that Ava had never died.

And Gillion, well he's hard to pin down. He's really good at pretending that he has no regrets, but I think in the moment where he draws that card, only one thought would come to mind: he'd wish he'd never been born the chosen one.

[merchant-wizard-and-jerry]

“Shop is open”

1 - Rift and eyes - 58 200 currency *WARNING! RIFT HAS BEEN IDENTIFIED AS A SPACE TIME RIFT, ITS PRICE WILL BE RAISED TO 200 CURRENCY AND A LICENSE MUST BE POSSESSED TO PURCHASE.*

2 - Arch - 25 currency

3 - Magic lamp - 20 currency

4 - Symbolic sun - 70 currency

5 - Divine scalpel - 55 currency

6 - Metal plate of the hull of runak - 10 currency

7 - Staff head of creed - 78 currency

————————

"Wizard Essentials"

————————

Staff - Cain - 10 currency

Orb - eye - 10 currency

Robes - green - 1 currency per robe

————

"Consumables"

————

1 - Health Potion - 5 currency

2 - invisibility Potion - 15 currency

3 - potion of health - 10 currency

4 - healing tablet - 10 currency

——-

"Salt"

@bi-gender-sorcerer @damnable-druid @ignisuadaroleplay @serious-tabaxi

[gavamont]

Legend speaks of a magical deck of cards that can change your fate. However, there are many basis for these decks. Classically there is tarot decks of many things, some expand to be poker decks of many things, but they are all minuscule in comparison.

I have discovered the Cards Against Humanity Deck of Many Things. The vast variety of boons and banes that rest within could boggle even the greatest minds. What fate awaits the one who draws “Getting Naked and Watching Nickelodeon”?

[betterbemeta]

I'm sad that Star Trek: Lower Decks was cancelled. All the talent did the best they could to wrap up the final season and it was okay. But I can feel a yearning for more in it, it wasn't done with what it had to say (and I think it had a LOT of important things to say, that it dragged before us using humor as its vehicle.)

I think my biggest takeaway from it as a series though is that

Star Trek desperately needs a transfusion of its own wackiness into its core experience, ASAP.

Not every show needs to be a comedy. But Star Trek is the oldest TV show fandom active and well-known today. This puts it in a really troublesome spot.

Trek has its roots in radio dramas, okay? And frontier cowboy exploration stuff. With a little bit of military or procedural DNA. Without the sci-fi set pieces, that's what Star Trek started out as, this is WHY its ensemble cast stuff was important originally, but very few of these influences survive in our pop culture. This means that the shorthand Star Trek relied on in the past is NOT being baked into brand new humans now. Which means NO cruise control for Star Trek, EVERY new show is having to meet audiences in a strange place, as a stranger.

You can see this in the anxiety of how to keep it alive, by its owners, producers, etc. Every new Star Trek show that comes out has to be 'worthy' of a legacy but also not alienating for new audiences and also low-risk and also competitive with modern norms and also can't make die-hard fans angry... this is impossible.

But a little bit of wacky can handle that. You can use wacky as a vehicle to communicate non-wacky ideas: about the setting for new audiences, about the show's scope, about the characters, about expectations.

At this point there is just too much BS to ever actually whack through and trying to do it just makes shows seem insecure, or unfocused, or too trying-to-impress-us. But giving up on that BS can easily cost a story its identity, trying to appeal to modern Netflix Expectations. The best thing to do when you can't resolve everyone's competing intentions is help us all laugh. Then you can put what you have to offer on the table.

[undead-knick-knack]

Ashton: *pulls the Void Card as Laudna*

Laudna: *gets voided*

Bye Laudna 😂 🖤💜

[kiwimintlime]

Hey so did anyone ever actually tell Lark about his dad drawing the Rogue Card from the Deck of Many Things? Because while it certainly isn't healthy to make your rage, hatred and misplaced guilt the thing that holds you together, imagine how devastating it would be to find out it might not even really be your own. It was in the stars, it was in the cards, it was going to be somebody, it just happened to be you.

[bedlamsbard]

every day I am shocked the Midwest accent is real