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DESIGN
DIARY
In
this column, I cover issues that come up during the process
of writing game products for
my d20 imprint, Malhavoc Press.
Some are specific design issues, while others are somewhat
more esoteric. I hope you find them all informative and
interesting, answering a lot of the questions you have about
the book, the kinds of things designers think about, and
about the whole publishing process. This Design Diary is
updated sometimes every week, sometimes every other week.
-- Monte
A Monstrous Challenge
DATE:
February 26, 2004
 Legacy
of the Dragons,
obviously, supports Monte
Cook's Arcana Unearthed. I think, in fact, it's
such a fundamental resource that anyone who enjoys their
copy of Arcana Unearthed is probably going to want
a copy of Legacy as well. However, it's also a
book of cool monsters, so it was important to me for this
book to be usable by people who don't use Arcana Unearthed,
but regular d20. I mean, I love new monster books so much,
I pretty much never pass one up, no matter what. I want
to be friendly to the folks out there who are like me.
It
really wasn't all that hard. In truth, a monster suitable
for Arcana Unearthed is pretty much a standard
d20 monster. There are only really three issues.
1.
Alignment. Arcana Unearthed doesn't use alignment.
If you do and want to use these monsters, simply assign
them one. It won't be hard if you just read the description.
2.
Face/Reach & Space/Reach as well as Damage Reduction.
Arcana Unearthed uses the 3rd Edition versions
of these concepts, not those from 3.5. So we decided to
provide both. In fact, it's so simple to do, we've decided
to do that on all our products (Arcana Unearthed
or not). Judging by the number of people who haven't switched
to 3.5, this seemed like a wise move anyway.
3.
Feats and Spells. Legacy monsters have Arcana
Unearthed feats, obviously, some of which are different
than those from standard d20. Those that have spell-like
abilities use Arcana Unearthed spells. Where they
are different, a d20 analog is provided in the appendix
at the back of the book. So it tells you that, when you
read sorcerous blast, just use fireball
instead. For the feats, since they are more prevalent
than spell-like abilities (every monster's got 'em) we
took the extra step and provided the actual text from
Arcana Unearthed for any Arcana Unearthed
feat. So if you don't play Arcana Unearthed, there
are more than two dozen new feats in this book for you.
And of course there are brand-new feats introduced in
this book, as well.*
So
we've done the work for you, although, to be honest, there
wasn't a lot of work to do.
A
Final Tease
So what kind of creatures dwell within the pages of this
book? Let's just take a quick gander at a few favorites:
-
The
arathad is also known as dramojh battle ooze.
This terror subsumes other creatures, then takes on
their powers and abilities. This means that every encounter
with an arathad is different, depending on what (or
who) it ate previously.
-
Blade
trolls are a deviant version of trolls that learn
to embed armor and blades into their flesh in painful
processes, allowing their regenerative abilities to
grow around the addition and incorporate it into their
physical structure.
-
The
darval is like a living trap, luring foes toward
it with compulsions so powerful that its victims fight
to get near it so that they may stand, blissfully, as
it tears them apart and devours them.
-
Kahrns
are the creatures that I've hinted about in
the past, who feed on strife and conflict. This
means that it is in the beast's best interest to prolong
fights. To further this end, it has a poisonous bite
that heals rather than harms -- thus, even as it rends
you with its claws, it keeps you in the fight (toying
with you) by healing with its bite.
-
Night
beasts are the unliving embodiments of the Dark
itself.
-
Rune
reavers hunt anyone that uses runes (in particular
runethanes and runechildren) in a relentless quest of
destruction. (Fortunately, there are the shuyarn
-- sometimes called rune angels -- that watch over rune-gifted
folk.)
-
Totem
spectres are the corrupted versions of totem spirits
that take advantage of those who would revere them.
-
The
Vallorians are a strange but extremely sophisticated
subterranean people that create living weapons, armor,
and other items.
Oh,
I'd like to go on. I'm really proud of these monsters
and excited for you to see them. And more importantly,
to use them. These are creatures really meant to be used
in your game. As I mentioned last
time, each even comes with a suggested encounter already
all designed. Some even have lair maps.
And
I haven't even mentioned the character chapter. This book
also has as a bonus a number of cool and interesting NPCs
created using Arcana Unearthed, ready to drop into
your game, including all 11 of our
contest winners.
I
hope you get as excited about Legacy as I am. I'm
happy with how the creatures all turned out, and I'm proud
to stand next to Mike as my codesigner.
*
Incidentally, have I mentioned that this book, in addition
to being full of monsters and characters, also has quite
a few new feats, magic items, spells, alchemical substances,
weapon and armor templates, and, in fact, a whole new
magical subsystem that uses fetishes? Fetishes? Yeah,
you know, when the bestial but intelligent monster (or
character) shows up with strange feathers, bones, sticks,
herbs, and whatnot woven into its fur, tattoos and piercings
on its flesh -- it's a way to tap into a primal, natural
source of magic. For you Arcana Unearthed players,
your totem warriors and greenbonds'll love it. For d20
players, if your druid (and possibly even your barbarian)
doesn't use fetishes, he's missing out. More on this topic
in a future article..
DESIGN
DIARY PAST ENTRIES
*
Legacy of the Dragons: Bestiaries I Have Known
-- February 19, 2004
"My
first professional game design ever was a book of
monsters. Creatures and Treasures II came out
in 1989 from Iron Crown Enterprises for Rolemaster..."
*
Legacy of the Dragons: Context -- January
22, 2004
"Legacy
of the Dragons is the product I'm working on now.
Just finishing it up, actually. It's a bestiary to
go along with Monte Cook's Arcana Unearthed...."
*
Chaositech Playtesting -- December
11, 2003
"Chaositech
is one of those products that came directly out of
my campaign. The concept was not meant originally
to have anything to do with a product...."
*
Campaign Paradigms -- October 30,
2003
"An
important thing for all DMs to keep in mind is that
once a campaign is up and running, the basic flavor
-- the underpinnings of the whole campaign structure
-- usually should not change...."
*
Developing a New Subsystem -- October
2, 2003
"Probably
one of the biggest challenges that faces a designer
when working on a book like Chaositech is the
delicate way that you have to institute a whole new
subsystem...."
*
On the Horizon: Chaositech -- September
11, 2003
"If
you'll indulge me, I'm going to divert the Design
Diary's contents to what I'm working on now: a book
called Chaositech...."
*
Magic Items in The Diamond Throne -- August
28, 2003
"Magic
items in Monte Cook's Arcana Unearthed and
in The Diamond Throne sometimes require a little
bit of thought on the DM's part. Using them isn't
a problem..."
*
A Look at the Land -- August
15, 2003
"This
week I've prepared an excerpt from The Diamond
Throne. As I've said previously, it was my design
choice to spend most of the gazetteer portion of the
book on the general aspects of the world..."
*
Designing a World -- August
7, 2003
"I
have mixed feelings about campaign settings. On one
hand -- speaking as designer -- it's fun, challenging,
and rewarding to create a whole world that's all your
own...."
*
Weapons and Armor -- July
17, 2003
"I
absolutely love the introduction of exotic weapons
into D&D. It's one of my favorite things about
3rd Edition. In Arcana Unearthed, I wanted
to make sure that the exotic weapons were worth the
feat required to use them...."
*
Greenbond Notes -- June
26, 2003
"Last
week's preview
of the greenbond class gives a nice glimpse of
a lot of Arcana Unearthed issues. First off,
the greenbond is no druid...."
*
Spell Templates -- June
12, 2003
"This
week I thought I'd discuss an idea that I'm really very
happy with. The idea is spell templates..."
*
Playtesting -- June
5, 2003
"Playtesting
is extremely important to me. When we developed 3rd
Edition, we did more playtesting than perhaps any other
RPG product, ever...."
*
High Magic -- May
29, 2003
"I
referred to the Diamond Throne as a high-magic setting.
I should clarify..."
*
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...."
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