Sum up the Diamond Throne Setting

[JoeGKushner]

I thought Dark Harbor was AE, not IH.

My bad.

And yeah, the bouncing from miniature company to miniature company is a little annoying as a painter as they all have different standards in size, price, and format.

 

[Mistwell]

It's also a bit dull, IMO. As far as I know even Monte himself doesn't use the setting. The ruleset is quite good but the setting lacks that certain compelling something that sparks a multitude of plot ideas (well, at least that's the effect it had on me).

I had the opposite experience. I found it to be the most exciting, most compelling setting I've ever read. And given the HUGE amount of stuff to support the setting over at Diamondthrone, it apparently sparked a lot of other imaginations as well.

 

[Monte At Home]

And given the HUGE amount of stuff to support the setting over at Diamondthrone, it apparently sparked a lot of other imaginations as well.

That's always a good point. Diamondthrone.com is amazing.

As far as I know even Monte himself doesn't use the setting.

Well, as I've been playing Ptolus lately, no. But I did run a Diamond Throne campaign and it was great fun. I don't play Planescape, Dark Matter, Call of Cthulhu, etc. either at the moment, but that doesn't mean I don't like them. I wish I could game even more, so I could keep all these campaigns going.

 

[lukelightning]

What I like about the DT is that it is a nice "skeleton" world: the basic framework is there but you have freedom to fill it in as much as you want. The downside of this is that you have to do a fair amount of work to flesh it out, but you only have to do this as needed. It's not like the players are suddenly going to ask you what the primary export of Ka-Rone is, or where the Temple of Wisdom in the town of Jenda is.

 

[Varianor Abroad]

I've got a DM who is looking to start a campaign in the Diamond Throne setting. As a plyaer, what do I need to know going in?

Besides what has been said, I would add this.

Diamond Throne depicts a wide-open fantasy world, with many wonderful ideas and underdeveloped spaces in it. It's very much like Greyhawk after the gazetteer came out and before the wars and 20 years of products.

It's also a rich, deep fantasy world where ceremonys are more than just sitting in one place reciting lines from a book. Rituals are woven into the fabric of life. Magic thrums deep in the earth of Serran and flows subtly throughout every leaf, rock, breeze and fountain. Not necessarily obvious "boom" magic, but a magic like that of Earthsea, that touches the lives of the people.

To get a good feel for it, I'd suggest getting ahold of the two short story compilations in either pdf from RPGNow or DriveThruRPG or in paper. They are titled Children of the Rune and The Dragon's Return.

 

[Andor]

Arcana Evolved updates the setting. To summarize:

The dragons left
Now dragons have come back
But are we pleased?

 

[Imruphel]

(snip) Well, as I've been playing Ptolus lately, no. But I did run a Diamond Throne campaign and it was great fun. (snip)

I think the time you've spent on the Ptolus campaign shows. Everything I've read about it for the past five or so years has had me hooked. It's a compelling world and your personal interest shows (declaration of bias: when you first announced your "big project" that became AU I was really hoping it was instead going to be Ptolus). Diamond Throne just doesn't seem to have that same degree of love.

PS: None of this is meant as a personal criticism. I've bought practically all of your products. I just wish DT was more like Ptolus!

 

[SWBaxter]

The ruleset is quite good but the setting lacks that certain compelling something that sparks a multitude of plot ideas (well, at least that's the effect it had on me).

I dunno, I thought it was a lot like the first Greyhawk folio, in that it put all the elements of an AU/AE game down on a map for each GM to use and abuse as they see fit. It works pretty well in that respect. There's plenty of plot ideas in the book, just none of them are shoved into the forefront so a GM can pick up on the ones they like and ignore the rest.