So it's about time I start talking about the Diamond Throne. The Diamond Throne is a campaign setting for Arcana Unearthed -- the default setting, like Greyhawk for D&D, I suppose.

I thought I'd start by introducing the themes and feel of the world.

While there are many themes, I suppose the overall idea is that there are no easy answers. While Arcana Unearthed is set up for traditional, high-fantasy play, there are no alignments. You can't cast a magic spell and say, "That man is Evil, therefore it is all right for me to slay him. In fact, it is Good to do so."

The races do not necessarily all like each other or get along. While none of the core races for the game are enemies, certain built-in issues make things complicated. For instance, the giants arrived long ago and delivered the humans from bondage to the wicked dramojh. However, the giants became rulers in their place, leaving the humans unable to exercise their own sovereignty. Another example? In ages past, the sibeccai were a race of canine animals. But they were magically raised to their current level of intelligence. However, the race as a whole still is bothered by lingering feelings of inadequacy due to their low-born past. The lands of the Diamond Throne are a place meant to appeal to roleplayers as well as monster slayers.

Another theme is that of choice over destiny. This goes hand in hand with the absence of codified alignment. You aren't born evil because you're a member of a certain race. You don't, as a member of another race, have some manifest destiny to conquer and rule. And while there are certainly heroes and villains worthy of those titles, they are heroes or villains because of the choices they made, and continue to make. A hero can make one wrong choice and find himself a villain, and vice versa.

With places in the world like the floating forest, the crystal fields and the displaced ruins of Thartholan, the world of the Diamond Throne is extremely fantastic. The setting is not necessarily high magic -- not everyone is a spellcaster -- but it does assume there are characters out there casting 9th-level spells. It assumes the level of magic found in the treasure tables of the DMG. Well-guarded merchant caravans carrying potions cross the wilderness to sell in the small market towns of the south. Faen raiders mounted on giant bats swoop down to attack them and steal their valuable wares. Hired mercenary mage blades repel the attacks with sword and spell. This is the world of the Diamond Throne.

The feel then, is a traditional high-fantasy world, stressing the fantastic over the black-and-white distinctions between good and evil prevalent in much of the genre. You'll be introduced to the world in Arcana Unearthed, and you can zoom in for a closer look in Plague of Dreams from Fiery Dragon Productions and Siege on Ebonring Keep from Mystic Eye Games. And of course, there's The Diamond Throne sourcebook, which I'm writing right now.

 

DESIGN DIARY PAST ENTRIES

* Death's Door -- May 8 , 2003
" I like the D&D death's door rules. I like that at 0 hp, you're still up and can take a limited action, but then you exhaust yourself...."

* Hero Points -- May 1, 2003
"A roleplaying campaign can be like putting up wallpaper...."

* Truenames -- April 18, 2003
"Truenames are common in many fantasy settings. I think I first became aware of the concept in Ursula K. LeGuin's Earthsea trilogy..."

* Go, Go, Go! -- April 10, 2003
"Short entry this time. I hate spells with 1 minute/level durations...."

* Ceremony -- April 3, 2003
"I think I've already mentioned that one of the goals I set for myself with Arcana Unearthed was to make things a little less generic...."

* Things That Rules Take Away -- March 21, 2003
"There are aspects of fantasy roleplaying that rules, inadvertently, can actually take away...."

* Still Talking Classes -- March 13, 2003
"I've saved some of the best classes for last. Let's talk about the runethane, the mage blade, and the witch...."

* More Classes -- February 27, 2003
"This time, I want to tell you about some of the other classes: akashics, magisters, and greenbonds...."

* Build a Better Fighter -- February 23, 2003
"The title this week is facetious. It really should be 'build a different fighter'...."

* The Magic Balancing Act -- February 13, 2003
"In Arcana Unearthed I'm introducing a new method of magic item pricing. First, I streamlined the item creation feats..."

* More Magic -- January 23, 2003
"This week, I thought I'd talk more about the new magic system in Arcana Unearthed."

* Magic -- January 17, 2003
"As a designer, magic in Arcana Unearthed posed a huge challenge. I knew that I wanted to ditch the Vancian system...."

* Design Decisions, Part Two -- December 24, 2002
"Here's a bit more discussion of some of the general issues I faced as I began designing Arcana Unearthed...."

* Design Decisions, Part One -- December 19, 2002
"Before jumping into another big area of Arcana Unearthed's design, like classes or the magic system, I thought I'd discuss some of the general issues I faced as a designer starting the book...."

* Arcana Unearthed Races -- December 5, 2002
"I started with the races. While I knew that the game needed humans as a basis, I wanted all the other races to be new. I didn't want to just create dwarf and elf analogs with different names...."