Here's a comparison of the deck of many things (Dungeon Master's Guide) to the deck of several things (Lost Laboratory of Kwalish). The deck of several things basically just softens the consequences of the deck, removing some of the career-ending permanence of a lot of the cards. Those changes tailor it to the specific Kwalish module, but some additional minor tweaking can make it setting agnostic (recommended additional edits noted in orange italic font), creating what I'm calling the deck of some things.
Deck of SeveralMany Things
Balance. Your mind suffers a wrenching alteration, causing your alignment to change for the duration of the adventure. Lawful becomes chaotic, good becomes evil, and vice versa. If you are true neutral or unaligned, this card has no effect on you. {This change can be removed by a remove curse or similar spell}
Comet. If you single-handedly defeat the next hostile monster or group of monsters you encounter, you have advantage on ability checks made using one skill of your choice for the duration of the adventuregain experience points enough to gain one level. Otherwise, this card has no effect. {No changes from original language}
Donjon. You are instantly teleported to and confined within the prison of the Monastery of the Distressed Body (area M6)disappear and become entombed in a state of suspended animation in an extradimensional sphere. Everything you were wearing and carrying stays behind in the space you occupied when you disappeared. You remain imprisoned until you are found and removed from the sphere. You can't be located by any divination magic, but a wish spell can reveal the location of your prison. You draw no more cards. {Deck of Some Things: change prison location to the nearest settlement large enough to support a prison}
Euryale. The card’s medusa-like visage curses you. You take a −12 penalty on saving throws for the duration of the adventurewhile cursed in this way. Only a god or the magic of The Fates card can end this curse.
The Fates. Reality's fabric unravels and spins anew, allowing you to avoid or erase one event as if it never happened. You can use the card’'s magic as soon as you draw the card or at any other point during the adventuretime before you die.
Flames. The Grand Master of the Monastery of the Distressed BodyA powerful devil becomes your enemy. The bone devil seeks your ruin and plagues your life, savoring your suffering before attempting to slay you. If the Grand Master has already been defeated, you gain the enmity of Garret Levistusson’s patron—a similarly powerful devil.This enmity lasts until either you or the devil dies. {Deck of Some Things: change to any devil of appropriate level for the adventurers}
Fool. For the duration of the adventure, you lose proficiency with one skill or gain disadvantage on all checks made with one skill (with the skill and the penalty determined by the DM). Discard this card and draw from the deck again, counting both draws as one of your declared draws.You lose 10,000 XP, discard this card, and draw from the deck again, counting both draws as one of your declared draws. If losing that much XP would cause you to lose a level, you instead lose an amount that leaves you with just enough XP to keep your level.
Gem. The 1,000 gp hoard of the leprechaun from the Wilderness Encounters table (see appendix A) appears at your feet. If that treasure has already been claimed, you gain an equivalent hoard.Twenty-five pieces of jewelry worth 2,000 gp each or fifty gems worth 1,000 gp each appear at your feet.
Idiot. Reduce Permanently reduce your Intelligence by 1d4 + 1 (to a minimum score of 1) for the duration of the adventure. You can draw one additional card beyond your declared draws.
Jester. You gain proficiency in a skill of your choice for the duration of the adventure10,000 XP, or you can draw two additional cards beyond your declared draws.
Key. A common or uncommonrare or rarer magic weapon with which you are proficient, or a spell scroll featuring a spell of a level you can cast, appears in your hands. The DMGM chooses the weapon or spell, which you possess for the duration of this adventure.
Knight. You gain the service of any of the NPCs in the “Hirelings” section not currently with the party, a 4th-level fighter who appears in a space you choose within 30 feet of you. The NPC serves you loyally for the duration of the adventurefighter is of the same race as you and serves you loyally until death, believing that the fates have drawn themhim or her to you. You control this character.
Moon. You are granted the ability to cast any spell of 5th level or lower, and can use that ability 1d3 times for the duration of the adventurethe wish spell 1d3 times.
Rogue. An NPC A nonplayer character of the DM’GM's choice becomes secretly hostile toward you. The identity of your new enemy isn’'t known until the NPC or someone else reveals it. Any enchantment spell cast on the NPC at 6th level or higher Nothing less than a wish spell or divine intervention can end the NPC’'s hostility toward you.
Ruin. All forms of wealth that you carry or own, other than magic items, are lost to you. This wealth can be recovered either in the treasury of the Monastery of the Distressed Body (area M10) or Kwalish’s lab in Daoine Gloine (area O7), whichever comes later in the adventurePortable property vanishes. Businesses, buildings, and land you own are lost in a way that alters reality the least. Any documentation that proves you should own something lost to this card also disappears. {Deck of Some Things: change to a nearby location, discernable with a locate object spell}
Skull. You summon an avatar of death—a mechanical skeleton (use bone naga statistics) ghostly humanoid skeleton clad in a tattered black robe and carrying a spectral scythe. It appears in a space of the DM’GM's choice within 10 feet of you and attacks you, warning all others that you must win the battle alone. The avatar fights until you die or it drops to 0 hit points, whereupon it disappears. If anyone tries to help you, the helper summons its own avatar of death. A creature slain by an avatar of death can’'t be restored to life.
Star. Increase one of your ability scores by 1 for the duration of the adventure2. The score can exceed 20 but can’'t exceed 24.
Sun. You gain proficiency in the skill of your choice for the duration of the adventure. In addition, a common or uncommon wondrous item appears in your hands. The DM chooses the item, which you possess for the duration of this adventure50,000 XP, and a wondrous item (which the GM determines randomly) appears in your hands.
Talons. Every magic item you wear or carry is lost to you. These items can be recovered either in the treasury of the Monastery of the Distressed Body (area M10) or Kwalish’s lab in Daoine Gloine (area O7), whichever comes later in the adventuredisintegrates. Artifacts in your possession aren't destroyed but do vanish.{Deck of Some Things: change to a nearby location, discernable with a locate object spell}
Throne. You gain proficiency in the Persuasion skill, and you double your proficiency bonus on checks made with that skill for the duration of the adventure. In addition, the Monastery of the Distressed Body’s brains in jars regard you thereafter as the monastery’s rightful master. You must defeat or otherwise you gain rightful ownership of a small keep somewhere in the world. However, the keep is currently in the hands of monsters, which you must clear out the Grand Master and its servants before you can claim the monasterykeep as yours. {Deck of Some Things: change to a keep located nearby, or other location of the GM's choise.}
Vizier. At any one time you choose within the duration of the adventureone year of drawing this card, you can ask a question in meditation and mentally receive a truthful answer to that question. Besides information, the answer helps you solve a puzzling problem or other dilemma. In other words, the knowledge comes with wisdom on how to apply it.
The Void. This black card spells disaster. Your soul is drawn from your body and held within machinery in either the control room of the Monastery contained in an object in a place of the Distressed Body (area M8) or Kwalish’s lab in Daoine Gloine (area O7), whichever comes later in the adventureGM's choice. One or more powerful beings guard the place. While your soul is trapped in this way, your body is incapacitated. Divination, contact other plane, or a similar spell of 4th level or higher A wish spell can't restore your soul, but the spell reveals the location of the machineryobject that holds your soulit. You draw no more cards. {Deck of Some Things: change the object to an object nearby that the party can locate and easily transport}
