Monte Cook Games Announced Its 5E Project: Arcana of the Ancients

Following up from the D&D 5E hints included in recent Numenera shipments to customers, Monte Cook Games has just announced its new project coming to Kickstarter in March: a 5E-compatible sci-fantasy setting which allows you to play in settings like the Barrier Peaks or Numenera!

Following up from the D&D 5E hints included in recent Numenera shipments to customers, Monte Cook Games has just announced its new project coming to Kickstarter in March: a 5E-compatible sci-fantasy setting which allows you to play in settings like the Barrier Peaks or Numenera!

Jade-Colossus-1-Raph-Lomotan.jpg






Here's the full press release:

Since the very early days of tabletop RPGs, gamers have experimented with mixing a bit of science fiction into their fantasy. From Empire of the Petal Throne to Expedition to the Barrier Peaks, early adventurers into the realm of RPGs saw the amazing promise that mysterious and weird science-fantasy elements could add to their campaigns.

Nowadays, who knows science-fantasy better than Monte Cook Games?[h=2]Introducing Arcana of the Ancients[/h]Arcana of the Ancients will be your comprehensive guide to bringing science-fantasy into your 5th-edition campaign. This hefty, hardcover book will be filled with creatures, devices, character abilities, technologies, tips, advice, and adventure. All fully compatible with 5E.

Starting with a series of adventures that introduce the idea that there were previously unknown, incredibly ancient civilizations in the game world, the PCs themselves will discover first-hand the relics of a past so old that even the elves and the dragons know nothing of it. These ancient peoples wielded powers beyond comprehension, and the things they left behind harness those strange powers for the PCs to find and use—but they also present dangers and entirely new challenges. Once the secrets of the ancient past have been unlocked, weird new creatures and bizarre beings arise and only the greatest of present day champions will be able to defeat them—and only if they wield the arcana of the ancients.

What else might you do with Arcana of the Ancients? Advance (or create) your character with skills and abilities that take advantage of mysterious ancient technologies. Mystify your PCs with a one-off adventure that explores a crashed alien ship, an ancient high-tech outpost, or a portal to an amazingly advanced world. Convert the compelling Ninth World setting of Numenera to 5E and run adventures in a world replete with mysterious ancient works as powerful, unknowable, and weird as any magic. Build a new campaign world, or region within your setting, that includes ancient high technology as mysterious to your PCs as the magic they wield. Or simply use the many science-fantasy creatures, items, and abilities detailed in this book to give your campaign a new and interesting dimension.

Adventures, ways to integrate ancient civilizations into your campaign, new creatures, new items, new character abilities—Arcana of the Ancients will give you everything you need to integrate mysterious high-technology science fantasy into your game.

[h=2]The Ancient Worlds of Numenera[/h]Numenera is Monte Cook Game’s flagship tabletop roleplaying game. Set a billion years in Earth’s future, in Numenera the denizens of the Ninth World are surrounded by the ruins of prior civilizations whose technologies were so advanced they are indistinguishable from magic. It’s a game of exploration and discovery in a setting that combines science-fiction elements with a fantasy feel. Launched in 2013, with new revised Numenera Discovery and Numenera Destiny corebooks released in 2018, Numenera has sold over 80,000 corebooks (plus tens of thousands of additional corebooks in nine foreign languages), and spawned dozens of supplements chock full of amazing creatures, items, adventures, and setting elements. It is a top-selling RPG and the definitive modern science-fantasy tabletop roleplaying game.

The wonder and mystery of the Ninth World of Numenera is coming to your 5E game with Arcana of the Ancients.



Dz4xeueXgAAKqw7.jpg-large.jpg
 

log in or register to remove this ad

ProphetPX

First Post
MWP put out a ton of Dragonlance books for D&D 3.x so I doubt that WotC will put out anymore on the series except for the occasional Dragon Magazine articles. Besides, You can do a ton of adventures with what MWP put out. They covered like 3 different eras!

yes yes yes, but i already own all of those MWP book series ... i was writing to imply that i meant BESIDES those last 3.x series of books.
I also own copies of the fan-base creation sourcebooks as well (Lancefinder and DL Nexus, etc..)

I was hoping to see OFFICIAL and NEW PUBLICATIONS of Dragonlance material in 5e or Pathfinder 1e / 2e, by either WOTC or Paizo.
 

log in or register to remove this ad


Von Ether

Legend
I still can't find an answer to whether this will be OGL or not. I asked on the FB page but got no response.
To some degree, some of it will have to be OGL. It's more a question of how much.

And at this point, they haven't established a date on the Kickstarter, and that OGL question is much farther down the road.
 
Last edited by a moderator:

Morrus

Well, that was fun
Staff member
I still can't find an answer to whether this will be OGL or not. I asked on the FB page but got no response.

If I were to guess (and I have no special insight into this), the 5E mechanics will be OGL because they have to be unless they have some other arrangement with WotC, but not any setting material or descriptive text.
 

Reynard

Legend
If I were to guess (and I have no special insight into this), the 5E mechanics will be OGL because they have to be unless they have some other arrangement with WotC, but not any setting material or descriptive text.

That's the question I have, is whether it is a special book with special licensing or likely to be OGL. It's not important for playing, of course, but good OGL science fantasy rules are something I would incorporate into my own 5E OGL projects.
 

BookBarbarian

Expert Long Rester
It's great to see Monte Cook returning to the fold.

With all respect to his own games, writing for any other system than the 500 pound gorilla in the room feels kind of a waste...

I hope he makes a product next for the standard D&D fantasy, for those wishing 5E was more like d20 with a real uptime use for treasure (=a functional magic item economy) :)

Given the success Kobold's has had with their stuff, and Cubicle 7 with theirs I'm a bit surprised more places aren't cashing in too.
 

Remove ads

Remove ads

Top