The Diamond Throne

[JoeGKushner]

Part setting and part sourcebook, The Diamond Throne brings the lands of Arcana Unearthed to light with history, prestige classes, magic items and monsters. Running at 96 pages for $18.95, its about industry standard in pricing.

The book uses two column layout. Interior covers aren't used. The book has two pages of ads, a page for the title and another page for the table of contents. No index. Art is fantastic and up to Malhavoc Press high standards. My favorite is probably of the Giant Queen, a full page illustration or of the Rune Lord, a mojh with floating runes. Maps are done by Ed Bourelle and are high quality. The only problem is that there aren't a lot of them and the book needs more details for those who don't own the modules Speaker in Dreams and Siege on Ebonring Keep.

The book is broken up into four parts. The first and largest, People and Places, provides some quick details about the land and its people. I found the section to be lacking in many areas. For example, while De-Shamod, the capital city for the giants, has a partial map, others that have been fully mapped in other products aren't included despite their inclusion in the details.

Other areas are just too vague. For example, Sormere, the “most human city in the realm”, has “gothic architecture, elaborate forms of dress, and a complicated code of mannerisms and behavior.” Okay, what exactly does that mean? Does it mean they are snobbish? Does it mean that they have elaborate rites and rituals for everything?

The book does showcase a love of the fantastic. There are organizations being rebuilt like the Council of Magisters even as the warmain-aristocrat Terrst seeks to liberate Verduen from the undead that inhabit it. The faen lurk in the forested Harrowdeep in civilization even as many of their kind revert to an earlier stage. Of particular use to GMs will be the section on The Threats, The Mysteries and Adventure Ideas. These can get a campaign started with a lot of imagination and patience.

Of more interest to gamers not using the setting but like the rules, or interested in some conversion work, Chapters Two, Three, and Four, are all great for high fantasy campaigns. There are eight prestige classes, almost all of which have some connection to the setting itself. For example, the Giant Paragon is a giant who continues to grow to a size huge while the darkbond is a spellcaster who embraces the opposite of the green, the dark. The crystal warrior is a master of using crystal, a new material and concept touted in others parts of this book.

My favorite prestige class is the mage priest. Like the spellcasters from the world of Elric, this isnt' a being who calls down the power of his god as much as makes bargains and pacts with a powerful being. This gives the setting some flavor similar to an old Conan novel where the opponent isn't truly calling down the wrath of their deity as much as using that creature's power. I think most will enjoy how Monte covers how to use prestige classes from several other sources including the DMG, Books of Eldritch Might, and Relics and Rituals (I &II). These are mostly skill adjustments and appropriateness to the setting.

For those more interested in magic items, chapter three has you covered. It briefly discusses the base amount of magic in the setting, as well as which items are appropriate for the setting, noting which ones are not common or even in use at all based on spells or conditions that don't exist in the Diamond Throne setting. For example, I was surprised that mitrhil wasn't in the setting. More important though are the new qualities for weapon and armor and specific weapons and armors. One thing I've been a little disappointed in with several sourcebooks is that they don't include artifacts to showcase the upper levels of power or items that have had a distinct impact on the setting. Monte avoids that route and gives us several, perfect for high level characters to strive for.

The creatures include notes on which creatures from several sources ranging form the Monster Manual to the Creature Collections (I and II) fit into the setting. I was a little disappointed that several of the creatures are humanoid and advance by race, and had no racial traits. While it's fairly easy to do the reverse engineering, it wouldn't have taken up that much more room and would make the creatures more useful for creating NPCs are offering PCs new options like the Alabast. I was also a little disappointed to see the Rhodin here. These were the main antagonist of the Siege of Ebon Ring Keep and speaking as a player, I have no desire to see them here again. Still, with twelve creatures there are bound to be a few that some GMs will enjoy using against their poor players.

I find The Diamond Throne an interesting book but lacking too much detail as a campaign setting to do anything other than heavily wing it and string together encounters. More maps of the cities, more actual details about the cultures and events, would go a long way in making the book more reader friendly. As a campaign resource mechanically, it's a strong offering with lots of crunch behind it.

 

[Messageboard Golem]

The release of Monte Cook's Arcana Unearthed challenged players everywhere with new options and choices. This sourcebook supports those options with more rules and provides DMs with supplemental material of their own.

The mysterious alabasts, marooned on this world for centuries, hail from a dimension unimaginably distant and command powers few understand....

Slassan are horrible amalgams of spider and serpent haunting the shadows-the legacy of a now-dead race that personified evil....


The mage priest makes pacts with gods and demons, using their names to fuel his magic.

This is the world of The Diamond Throne, a high-fantasy realm like no other. This is a land where giants rule, where the legacies of a shattered kingdom of evil are everywhere and magic can tame dragons with something as simple as a name.

Go Beyond Arcana Unearthed!

In this noble, giant-ruled land, explore the reaches of the Floating Forest. Discover the incomparable beauty of the magical Fields of Crystal. Learn the secret of the God-King of the verrik people. But beware the military might of the chorrim and the fiendish powers of the shadow trolls....

Inside this exciting new setting and sourcebook from 3rd Edition codesigner Monte Cook you'll find:

8 new prestige classes based on the Arcana Unearthed classes
12 new monsters
A multitude of new magic items that build on the new feats and spells in Arcana Unearthed
The basics of the Arcana Unearthed setting: the lands of the Diamond Throne
This book provides fundamental gameplay support for the variant rules of Arcana Unearthed but can also be used with any d20 campaign.

 

[Messageboard Golem]

By Ian Hewitt, d20 Magazine Rack Staff Reviewer

The feel…is…of a traditional fantastic world, stressing the fantastic over the palpable black-and-white distinctions. The setting owes much to the works of Stephen R. Donaldson, Ursula K. LeGuin, Michael Moorcock, Jack Vance, Clark Ashton Smith, Robert E. Howard, Fritz Leiber, and L. Sprague de Camp. Many of these authors come from an “earlier age” that stressed the fantastic. Some created characters who were far too complex to label as simply “good” or “evil.” The Diamond Throne is for them. And for you.”

Initiative Round
Published by Malhavoc Press, The Diamond Throne is a campaign setting designed as a companion volume to Monte Cook’s Arcana Unearthed. Written by Monte Cook (author of The Complete Book of Eldritch Might, The Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil and the co-author of the Third Edition Core rule books), The Diamond Throne is a 96-page book featuring a cover illustration by Sam Wood and interior artwork by Jennifer Meyer, Ed Bourelle, Kieran Yanner and Eric Lofgren.

As already mentioned, this book is designed to support Monte Cook’s Arcana Unearthed a book which introduced an entire lineup of brand new races, classes and an original magic system. The world of Diamond Throne provides a home for all of those races and the best way that a group could begin using them without suddenly inviting races into an established world that had never been present before.

The first half of the book only is given over to the description of the world itself, the second half being devoted to the obligatory Prestige Classes, Magic Items and Creatures. In this way, the campaign setting is reminiscent of campaign settings of a bygone age (such as the World of Greyhawk [TSR, 1983]) that provided just the bare bones allowing much more scope for DM creativity to flesh out the world, as opposed to the more recent campaign settings that feel the need to provide detail to a much finer detail.

This introduction to the world is in fact just a single chapter – but it is a chapter filled with a great deal of information covering all of the aspects you might expect including: People, Gods, History, Geography, and Kingdoms. Mention of the larger world is made briefly as the lands of The Diamond Throne details just a single continent (albeit a large one) and this is the focus of the book.

The people are of course the new races from Monte Cook’s Arcana Unearthed and here they are provided in context with homes and nations and histories of their own. Racial demographics and relations are discussed at length, providing a good springboard for many avenues of role-playing. In addition some wonderful nuggets of flavorful information regarding the people comes in the form of their festivals, games (such as ‘Kings and Kingdoms’ which sounds like chess and ‘Witch Stones’ which is a strategy game played with symbol-scribed tiles) and local colloquialisms.

Religion in the Diamond Throne setting is an interesting diversion from the standard presentation of the deities in a D&D setting. Three of the races (giants, litorians and verrik) do not even worship any gods. The faen make up their own gods as they go along (well – sort of, they have so many gods that a PC playing a faen may just invent gods for his character to pray to as he sees fit), and the mohj worship dragons. But this does not mean that the gods do not exist – they are just a sorry bunch whose churches are lonely and in great disrepair. Several interesting gods and pantheons are presented, most of which tend to avoid the standard portfolios of D&D gods.

The history of the world is well composed and one of the more interesting parts of the book. It further cements each of the races with their own unique place in the campaign and leaves as much room for expansion and inspiration as it does provides detail and answered questions. The race of giants came sailing from (an un-detailed continent) to the east to rescue the poor races from their tyrannical demonic-dragon oppressors. They were ultimately successful but replaced the demonic-dragons in their role as masters of the land, albeit in a much more benevolent (or some might say patronizing) manner.

The land’s geography is explored in a manner that provides as much inspiration as detail with a general overview of the major regions and climates and then focused detail on significant points of interest. No single area – not even De-Shamod, the major city location – receives more than a single page, most areas receive a few paragraphs just long enough to provide an overview and an NPC or two. But these are great locations, such as The Floating Forest (which is just that, a series of forested islands of varying sizes and heights above the ground) and The Crystal Fields.

Campaign flavor is fleshed out with several significant organizations designed as both likely allies and enemies of the PCs and as great tools to provide intrigue and conflict to the region, an examination of the cosmology beyond the world itself and some fully stat-ed major movers and shakers.

The second half of the book is divided into three chapters that tackle the Prestige Classes, Magic Items, and Creatures. Although almost required content in a book of this nature, this is far from wasted space and continues to add flavor and depth as well as playability to the setting. The prestige classes, for example, are not simply concepts and character archetypes, but they have a valid role and position in the setting. The Crystal Warrior is a good example, as they use mystical ceremonies to create woven crystal weapons, armor and creations much as legendary artisans did in the distant past. In addition to the 8 new prestige classes, the viability of prestige classes from the DMG, The Complete Book of Eldritch Might and Relics and Rituals is examined.

The introduction of original or interesting new magic items is becoming difficult given the sheer number available in today’s products, but Monte Cook pulls it off well. Diamond Throne encourages the use of multiple single-use items rather than a few permanent items and offers a few of these beyond simple potions and oils. ‘Detonations’ are thrown objects (idols, rune-engraved stones etc) that explode with different touch or ranged effects and ‘Tokens’ which are similar but do not contain attacks – rather effects such as dimensional door or wall of… spells. A good cross-section of the usual assorted magic items is also provided up to and including artifacts.

A really nice selection of creatures completes the book and each receives more text than now seems common in d20 bestiaries. This is valid because it provides room to discuss not only the usual combat techniques, but gives more space than is usually provided to society and even gives a standard encounter in the form of an adventure seed. Lastly an index is provided for the recommended creatures to feature in Diamond Throne from the MM, Creature Collection (Vol I & II) and the Tome of Horrors.

Critical Hit
Many campaign settings provide a unique spin to make their setting stand out from the crowd. Obviously this setting already has a whole host of unique PC races and classes, but beyond that its ‘gimmicky-theme’ is much more mature than most. Concentrating upon the themes of rituals and ceremonies, choice over destiny (no alignment, hurrah!), and high-fantasy but not high-magic this is a campaign setting that promises story as well as adventure and has it written into the fabric of the sourcebook.

The NPC’ s provided in the detailing of the areas of interest and the cities are comfortably reminiscent of much-beloved older products. No stat blocks take up space, but instead we find out who the person is, what they like, and their motivations. A good DM shouldn’t need more than ”Kitlashav, a verrik 12th-level iron witch” and should be more than capable of providing the mechanics themselves – if they are even needed.

Like all of Malhavoc Press’ products, Diamond Throne receives outstanding online support in the form of free previews for any potential buyers, and design notes explaining the rationale behind its design.

Critical Fumble
The single page map detailing the Lands of the Diamond Throne is great, but it would be even better if it were a pull-out map that could be more easily shared with the players. Many are used to getting color maps, and this is black and white (not necessarily a fumble in my mind – it was good enough for Tolkien – but some may see differently).

If you use the races and/or character classes from Monte Cook’s Arcana Unearthed but have no intention of beginning a new campaign in a new setting then this product has limited value to your group (although it does still provide 8 prestige classes and bucket-load of magic – not to mention further insights and sources of inspiration for those races).

The space given to the ‘Ideas for your Cities’ section is meant to aid DM’s in further fleshing out their settlements – but it is really nothing more than a full page with a listing of typical businesses (blacksmiths, carpenters, craftsmen etc). This is most likely to be redundant to any experienced DM and to devote a full page to it seems a little excessive.

Coup de Grace
To anyone interested in beginning a new campaign using Monte Cook’s Arcana Unearthed this is required reading. If you are incorporating those rules into your own campaign, this book is still very much worth a look although it will have less value for your dollar. Given that the entire content of this book is promised to be included (and expanded upon) in the forthcoming Monte Cook’s Arcana Evolved, it would be prudent to consider your options when deciding whether to buy this book, if you also intend to buy the new release.

In a nutshell, this is a great campaign setting for a fantastic spin on the rules we all thought we knew. It is likely to seem a little thin on detail to some, but will feel both nostalgic and welcome to others.

Buy The Diamond Throne IF: You (a) enjoy any of the products released under the Monte Cook’s Arcana Unearthed line; or (b) are an experienced DM (looking for a fresh campaign) who prefers to bring the game alive through her own creativity.

Final Grade: A-

 

[Havoc]

you wrote:
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The NPC’ s provided in the detailing of the areas of interest and the cities are comfortably reminiscent of much-beloved older products. No stat blocks take up space, but instead we find out who the person is, what they like, and their motivations. A good DM shouldn’t need more than ”Kitlashav, a verrik 12th-level iron witch” and should be more than capable of providing the mechanics themselves – if they are even needed.
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In "the good ol' times", that was not needed; a 13rd level fighter was much like another 13rd level fighter. Now, it is not the case anymore, so these stat blocks are a necessity not only to define what is meant by "13rd level fighter", but also to spare me the time consuming effort of doing it myself.