Last week I started talking about The Diamond Throne. I thought I'd go on about that for a bit more, to give you a feel for the setting behind Arcana Unearthed.

"High Magic"
I referred to the Diamond Throne as a high-magic setting. I should clarify, as I realize that "high magic" and "low magic" are terms that get bandied about a lot, but, like "munchkin" or "broken," they don't always have the same meaning to different people.

The Diamond Throne is a world of the fantastic. More "fantastic" than "historical." A place with old citadels where decaying gods still wait, watching for their time to return, where fonts of magical power can be found in the wilderness, hidden from mortal eyes. But it's not necessarily a high-powered setting. In fact, it's my hope that upper-end spellcasters in Arcana Unearthed are a little more balanced and in-control than traditional high-level mages in the game. No time stop, no wish (at least as a spell), no true resurrection.

Monsters
Part of what I've done to give the Diamond Throne a distinct feel is play around with the monsters. Virtually none of the standard D&D humanoid races -- orcs, gnolls, bugbears, ogres, and so on, exist. Instead, I've created different humanoid races, although not nearly as many as I ejected (I think the game's a bit too evil-humanoid-heavy). Of course, the elimination of alignments as a game concept also really changes monsters. A monster isn't "born evil." Eliminating the alignments also forces me as a designer to quit falling back on them as a shorthand. It's sometimes too easy to just say "this monster is evil." Why is it evil? What does it do? Does it like to torture its victims, or does it simply not care what (or who) it eats?

So for example, the Diamond Throne has:

And a lot more.

Plus, The Diamond Throne also provides a list of creatures from the MM, the various Creature Collections, and the Tome of Horrors that are suitable for use in the setting, as well as changes to existing common monsters, like goblins, ghouls, kobolds, and trolls which give them unique Diamond Throne flavor. For example, ghouls carry with their paralyzing touch a terrible mind-affecting curse/disease, so that even if you escape alive, you might start craving the flesh of the dead and become a ghoul yourself.

Prestige Classes
The Diamond Throne also offers new prestige classes. Now, before you roll your eyes, remember that Arcana Unearthed has all different classes, so there's a lot of new material to play off of when it comes to creating prestige classes. Besides, The Diamond Throne product is the sort of thing that I really designed prestige classes to go with when I put them in the DMG. This is a world-building product, and they go a long way to help build the world and establish its unique flavor.

For example, there's the darkbond, which is a greenbond's opposite-the class specializes in dealing in negative energy. The giant paragon allows a giant to get even larger through devotion and mystical ceremonies. The rune lord meshes concepts found in both the runechild race/template and the runethane class and takes them in a new direction. The ollamh lorekeeper is part poet, part sage, and part diplomat, and yet encapsulates all that it means to be faen.

I think if you like Arcana Unearthed you'll like The Diamond Throne. It's part DMG with its magic items and prestige classes. It's part MM with all the new monsters. And it's part campaign setting guide/gazetteer. That's a lot to cram into 96 pages. If people seem to like the setting, though, we'll do a lot more with it and delve into as much detail as you want to see. And don't forget, the Mystic Eyes Games and Fiery Dragon adventures will all be set in the Diamond Throne setting (although you can use them in pretty any campaign you wish).

 

DESIGN DIARY PAST ENTRIES

* The Diamond Throne -- May 23, 2003
"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...."

* 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...."