Since I was introduced to the concept, I was disappointed with the "Deck of Many Things". It is, after all, a Deck of Many Things...not two dozen. There've been lots of variants I've seen, but not a lot of them had the punch and flavor of the original.
Here's my attempt at creating some alternate cards, closer to a full deck. Some of them are more flavored and original than others, some of them are really powerful (both positive and negative). This is based on the original so some are tweaked versions of those cards:
note: the suits match a real deck, progressing Ace to King, but they aren't really organized in a specific order, it's just a list I made to match them up with a real card deck.
CLUBS
01: Magician – Gain a minor spell-like ability useable at will.
02: Monkey – Be afflicted with a cursed item.
03: Heart – Gain immunity to mind/soul effects.
04: Chalice – Healed, as well as cured of all diseases, curses, and afflictions, and gains resistance to such things in the future.
05: Balance – Shift behavior to opposite extreme or suffer the effects of geas.
06: The Fates -- Avoid any situation you choose . . . once.
07: Shades – Become harried by creatures from the plane of shadow. Such creatures will attack about once every week.
08: Key -- Gain a major magic item (usually a weapon) that will be of use in some future venture.
09: Hermit -- Gain a look at a critical future event.
10: Wheel – Over the course of a year, lose all wealth/items, and gain replacements.
11: Knight -- Gain the loyal service of a powerful warrior.
12: Vizier -- Know the answer to your next dilemma.
13: Mirror – Defeat an aleax or be forever destroyed. If you win, gain a level.
SPADES
14: Butterfly -- Gain the favor of fey-kind.
15: Sickle – Lose all spellcasting abilities permanently. No more can be gained.
16: Chariot – Immediately transports you and any relevant items and companions to the place you most desire to reach.
17: Ring – Summons an Artifact, a one foot diameter hoop that generates a constant antimagic field in a 100 foot radius.
18: Mantra – Sense living things within 100 ft. You can tell their emotional state, as well as predict what actions they will take during the next round.
19: Clock – Subject is trapped in a permanent Time Stop. This is actually an alternate reality…in the real world they appear to be in an eternal coma.
20: Judgment – Calls down a supernatural storm upon the area.
21: World – Within the next year you will begin a great adventure that will take an entire year to complete. At the end, you will either be powerful, wealthy, and famous…or dead.
22: Moon -- You are granted 3 wishes.
23: Sun – Gain enlightenment and a magical talisman.
24: Star – Gain a permanent increase to ability of choice.
25: The Void -- Body functions, but soul is trapped elsewhere.
26: Talons -- All magic items you possess are mysteriously snatched away.
DIAMONDS
27: Flames -- Enmity between you and an outsider.
28: Donjon -- You are imprisoned.
29: Throne -- Gain a charisma bonus, followers, and a small keep.
30: Skull – Be transformed into a skeletal creature (as bone creature template from Book of Vile Darkness), but retain your own alignment and personality. Does not affect ECL.
31: Diamonds – You find your pocket (or similar space) always has a diamond in it.
32: Eclipse – Gain 3 wishes. However, the opposite effect takes place. This card is indistinguishable from The Moon until the wishes are made.
33: Rogue -- One of your friends turns against you.
34: Dice -- The area in a 100 yard radius of the drawer renders all magical effects random. Spells cast act as a rod of wonder, and items abilities shift every ten minutes. This effect lasts one hour.
35: Silver Sword – Lose your shadow. You become unable to exist in sunlight, taking 1 point of Constitution damage for every minute spent in sunlight. When constitution becomes 0 you disintegrate. You shadow becomes a copy of you with the Umbral Creature template (Savage Species) and may be neutral, friendly, or hostile depending on your personality. In any case, however, it is unwilling to rejoin with you and must be coerced to do so.
36: Brain – All items on your person become sentient. They gain no further abilities. They do, however, gain a retroactive memory to the moment of crafting into present form.
37: Construct – you are permanently trapped in a suit of Golem Armor. This does not affect your spellcasting abilities, and you no longer need to eat or drink (you must still sleep and breathe).
38: Guillotine – You die. You can be raised via True Resurrection.
39: Faceless – Gain the ability to change shape (as polymorph), but never to your original form.
HEARTS
40: Beast – You are forever followed by a huge invisible beast that has causes fear (as per Frightful Prescence, even though no one can see it). See invisibility and similar powers reveal the Beast, in which case it acts as a Phantasmal Killer.
41: Nymph – Gain the ability to speak with animals, speak with plants, and stone tell at will.
42: Black Rose – Find True Love.
43: Sky – Your weapons and armor become infused with the power of Air, granting electrical burst to the weapon, and electrical immunity to the armor. A random item of some value of yours bestows flight.
44: Gate – Gain friendship with an extraplanar creature.
45: Thorns – Become wracked with eternal pain. No longer need to eat, drink, sleep, or breathe.
46: Bliss – Induces a state of permanent euphoria. No longer need to eat, drink, sleep, or breathe.
47: Tower – Lose all nonmagical wealth.
48: Euryale – Turn to stone. Only a wish/miracle can undo this effect.
49: Fool – Lose experience and draw two more cards.
50: Jester – Gain experience and draw two more cards.
51: Pyramid – Gain the Paragon template (no change to ECL).
52: Comet – Within the next few hours, the party will be challenged by a group of adventurer’s that mirror them in skill and persona. If victorious, they will gain greater experience and ability increases.
53: Smiley (Joker) – Gain an aura that causes uneasiness and loathing with reality. This even effects nonliving objects (this manifests as a luck penalty to all rolls that depend on such objects, equal to your charisma score). Plants and animals react hostiley towards you (but do not attack). Bad weather and disaster follow you. Even the dead will return to life and gather around to mock you (though they do not attack). Intelligent creatures do not feel this loathing, but will no doubt distrust you because of the visible effects. This effect can only be undone by a deity.
Any thoughts? Any ideas of your own for cards?
I like it so far - and you're right, the old version of the Deck has a lot of flavour that newer ones didn't. I'd love to have a planar-orriented version of the Deck. Have you considered tightening up the writing on this and submitting it as an article on the site once you get some feedback?