Malhavoc Press

Monte Cook's Arcana Unearthed Chat Transcript

April 12, 2003 -- 12 p.m. PST

Monte hosted another chat in our very own chat room to answer your questions about Arcana Unearthed and more. Thanks to everyone who attended, especially those of you in Europe -- glad we didn't have to get you out of bed this time. We also appreciate the moderating talents of Kraah from our message boards. Thanks for sending us this transcript* too.

Monte: Hey everyone. Thanks so much for coming. I appreciate you taking the time to be here. It's flattering that you'd want to hang out on a Saturday with us. This chat will last about an hour, and I'll be happy to answer questions or talk about things you want me to talk about. First off, I wanted to remind everyone that Bruce Cordell, author of Mindscapes, If Thoughts Could Kill, and the upcoming When the Sky Falls (along with some products put out by a little company called Wizards of the something or other) is going to be doing a chat right here on April 17th at 5 p.m. PST. He'll be happy to talk about all kinds of cool stuff, but in particular the brand-new event book, When the Sky Falls. Okay, so without further ado, let's get to your questions or comments. I've blathered on enough. Send your questions to Kraah. He's our moderator today (and many thanks to him for doing it).

CyanBluestone: Monte, I am curious about how skills will work in Arcana Unearthed. I mean with the advancements of D20 Modern and other systems that are very skill dependent -- how have they affected the way skills will workd in Arcana Unearthed? How do the skills differ in Arcana Unearthed from those of the PH? And will Arcana Unearthedhave similar skills changes to what 3.5 will be using?

Monte: Arcana Unearthed will have some of the same changes to skills that you see in 3.5. However, it will be no more or less skill dependent than regular D&D. I have changed a few skills around, such as Perform, Intimidate, and Move Silently/Hide, because I thought of some variants to make them different (oh, and Concentration and Tumble too). But really, if you don't like what I've done, you can use the skills right out of the PH and it won't change a lot. There are some small changes, like getting rid of the exclusive rogue Seach ability, because there simply aren't rogues in Arcana Unearthed. There's also a whole new set of Knowledge skills to convey the different implied setting.

psionotic: Monte, with so much happening for Malhavoc this year, are you pretty much done freelancing for Wizards of the Coast, Fiery Dragon, et al?

Monte: No. I am co-writing the Arcana Unearthed support adventure A Plague of Dreams that Fiery Dragon is working on, but that's it. No other non-Malhavoc stuff this year. Too busy.

ArthurQ: I playtested Anger of Angels for Sean K Reynolds. It's due out in a few months......so just a general question: How's the book looking?

Monte: It totally rocks. The art is fantastic. We get it back from the editor soon, but from what I've seen of it, it's going to be a really, really cool book. If you like angels or demons even a little bit, you'll like this book. Lots of in-depth detail.

CyanBluestone: Do you already know what the skill changes in 3.5 are, will skills like Navigation from D20 Modern appear in either book?

Monte: Unfortunately, I'm not at liberty to give out any 3.5 info. I signed a Non-Disclosure Agreement, and I take that kind of thing really seriously. Sorry.

Kraah: Monte, will it be possible to mix-and-match regular D&D with Arcana Unearthed? Are they balanced to work together? I'm specifically thinking feats, classes, races, etc. And on a similar note...

CyanBluestone: How compatible is 3E core with Arcana Unearthed? I mean could you take a 3E core character with the PH spells and other abilities and play him along side an Arcana Unearthed character with no problems? Specifically I want to know if the two magic systems can cross over and if the spellcasters from both systems are equal in effective power... realizing, of course, that the Arcana Unearthed spellcasters do have a versitility advantage over a wizard.

Monte: Absolutely. That's one of the main thrusts of the book. It is indeed stand-alone, but it's all compatible with D&D or other d20 stuff. A lot of care has gone into balancing it not only with itself, but with core D&D. So if you want to stick in a few feats, spells or classes, you can. In either direction. The spells in Arcana Unearthed are written up like D&D spells, so those will be easily switched back and forth. The magic systems are different, but not so different that you couldn't run a mage blade and a wizard in the same group. It's about as different as having a cleric and a sorcerer in the same group, really (a little more different, but not much).

ArthurQ: Any official plans for Malhavoc to put out d20 Modern products? Do you want to go into that? If not, why?

Monte: Interesting question. At the moment, no. There are no plans to do any. As to why, there are two reasons. First, we think that we do fantasy pretty well. It's really Malhavoc's thing. Second, from a business standpoint, we know that doing stuff that appeals to D&D's audience is worthwhile financially. Our sales are really good. I have no idea if d20 Modern has a large enough audience for us to support. I like modern stuff, but I think the larger audience is into fantasy. I suppose you might also say that I've kinda done my "d20 modern," but it was called d20 Call of Cthulhu. Ultimately, though, it's because we're having the time of our lives doing what we're doing now, and don't see any need to change, at least for the foreseeable future.

Comment from ArthurQ regarding popularity of d20 Modern:"The Game Mechanics' Modern Player's Companion hit #1 on the RPGnow hot seller list and has been steadily climbing up the all-time best sellers to the mid 40's. The audience is definitely there -- in fact, they are starving for d20 Modern."

Benhamtroll: Monte, you've hinted at the possibility that there might be miniatures released in association with some of your new publications. Can you tell us any more about that now?

Monte: Well, all I can tell you know is that we are talking with a miniatures company and looking over some licensing contracts. Stay tuned.

CyanBluestone: Will there be many expansion books planned for Arcana Unearthed, or will it be a single realease of self-contained rules? Will you be allowing third-party publishers to expand upon Arcana Unearthed and intregate it into upcoming products?

Monte: Whooo boy, will there be support products. Not only are we doing a DM's Screen and Player's Guide product in September, but we're doing a setting book (sorta) called Diamond Throne this fall as well. (Diamond Throne will be available as a PDF in August.) Fiery Dragon is doing an adventure for Arcana Unearthed and a counter collection. Both will be available in August. Mystic Eye Games is doing a big adventure for August for Arcana Unearthed, and plans a whole line of follow-up products. Early next year, we'll put out a bestiary-style product for Arcana Unearthed ourselves. So just in the first six months or so of the product's life, it'll have about six or so follow-up products, some by us, some by other companies. We've also got some deals in the works for some exiting other products as well, from other companies.

Valmiras: Think we might see any of your painted miniatures on montecook.com?

Monte: Well, you can see the Ptolus characters on the Ptolus page. I hope to also show more on the site at some point. I'm not the greatest painter, though.

MacGeezer: How do you see multi-classing between D&D and Arcana Unearthed working, if at all?

Monte: It will work just fine. There's nothing intrinsically different from a warmain, for example, than a ranger. You could easily have a warmain/ranger, and it would work just like you are used to multiclassing working. If you multiclassed an Arcana Unearthed spellcaster with a D&D spellcaster, however, it would have to work like D&D multiclassing -- i.e., the spellcasting abilities wouldn't stack. Two Arcana Unearthed spellcasters multiclassing together do stack. That's the only difference.

Thrommel: There's a lot of questions about mixing & matching Arcana Unearthed and core 3E -- but isn't the intent that Arcana Unearthed really is its OWN genre of D&D? (Familiar, yet different?)

Monte: Well, yes. It's meant to serve two masters, as it were, and the first is as a stand-alone system. The second is as a bunch of new material for D&D. I want things to be balanced, so that you can mix and match and it will all work together. At the same time, though, it all has its own internal flavor and consistency.

CyanBluestone: If I wanted to add elements of Arcana Unearthed to a D20 Modern campaign (mix science and sorcery), how compatible will that be? Or is the fact that d20 Modern holds specific rules like no sneak attack in its system mean that Arcana Unearthed will most likely not cross as easily with that system as with 3E core?

Monte: It would be as compatible as adding D&D elements to d20 Modern. I really haven't given it much thought beyond that.

Zombie-Ralts: How well integrated will psionics be in Arcana Unearthed?
CyanBluestone: Arcana Unearthed has its own type of psionics right? How will they differ from the Psionic Handbook?

Monte: It depends on what you mean. If you mean Psionics Handbook style psionics, that will be as easy or as hard to integrate as it is with core D&D. However, one thing that I've done is create certain classes, like the mind witch, and races, like the verrik, who are very "psionic," which in this sense means that they have mental-based innate powers like telepathy, telekinesis, and that sort of thing. So it's flavored just like psionics, but the rules are not Psionics Handbook-ish at all. There is a spell descriptor called "psionic" that allows people who have the proper feats to "cast" them in a special way that is more like an innate power (no somatic or verbal components), but at a cost.

Thrommel: I'm curious how playtesting Arcana Unearthed has affected the Ptolus campaign. Is it on hiatus? In a parallel universe? Still going strong?

Monte: Ptolus is in hiatus, sort of. Arcana Unearthed playtesting is definitely in a completely different world. The thing about Ptolus (much to my shame) is that the updates that I put on my site are actually very, very old. Those events happened in the game months and months ago. When last we left the Ptolus game, the PCs were all about 15th level or so. However, when we restart, it will be with new 1st-level characters, at least for a while. I'm also going to be incorporating a lot of Arcana Unearthed material into Ptolus.

Benhamtroll: Are you planning a mega module for Arcana Unearthed, like you did with Banewarrens and Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil?

Monte: Right now, the answer is maybe. We don't have firm plans beyond beginning of next year, really. It's a definitely a possibility. I should mention that Siege of Ebonring Keep, from Mystic Eye Games, is 128 pages -- same size as Banewarrens. And from what I've seen, it's quite cool. It's out at Gen Con and it's for Arcana Unearthed.

Kraah: Will Malhavoc material released after D&D 3,5E, be written with 3,5 or 3E rules?

Monte: Well, that's an interesting and complicated question. The thing is, lots of 3.5 changes have no impact on support products. For example, let's say that they change a spell's duration, or the way a feat works. In an adventure, those changes will very often have no effect on how a product is presented. There are some changes in 3.5, however, that will be obvious in support products, like new rules for monster creation. So, overall, you'll see Malhavoc products as being 3.5 friendly. There are a few things that I won't be adopting, but you'll never really know from looking at our products. I hope that makes sense.

CyanBluestone: I'm curious as to exactly how you pulled off your spellcasting classes' ability to stack with each other. I assume you have some sort of "universal" spell progression that is part of all spellcasters' format so they all relate to each other, and these similar elements would continue to progress normally. But what else is part of this?

Monte: Well, like I said on the boards, since there's basically one spell list (with some casters getting access to more of it than others) it stacks really easily. Say you've got a class that has spell slots of 4/3/2 and another with 3/2/1. Multiclassed together they've got slots of 7/5/3. And the caster level stacks. This means that you get a bunch more low-level spells but sacrifice high-level ones. That's how D&D multiclassing works -- in general -- but here the price is smaller, since it all works together.

CyanBluestone: (re: Arcana Unearthed spell progression) So does that mean my character with 7/5/3 spell progression could use these spell slots on both classes combined spell lists? This is interesting, not what Ihad in mind but I guess if I wanted higher level spells with greater versitility I should taske the "Magister" class that has a greater access to the spell list than combining too narrow focus spellcasting classes right?

Monte: Sort of. If you have Magister levels, you still need to keep track of your Magister progression because you can only use Magister slots to cast complex spells. If you're multiclassing two classes that have access to only simple spells, like Mage Blade and Greenbond, you don't have to keep track.

Blue: Do you see the way the gaming industry is developing in a positive way? (In that it seems to be diversifying into a lot of companies?)

Monte: Hmm. Well, there are two facets to that question. The game industry as a whole is going through some weird times because sales on non-d20 stuff are quite low. However, non-RPGs, like Mage Knight or Heroclix, are doing phenomenally well. In d20, there is a huge -- I'd actually use the word ridiculous -- number of companies putting stuff out. The market's quite flooded. That kind of thing is good for the consumer, but bad for publishers. However, all indications point to retailers and distributors starting to only pay attention to those companies putting out quality stuff (however those individuals judge quality). So I think we'll soon see higher-quality products but fewer producers, at least in most game or books stores.

Zombie-Ralts: Is Malhavoc Press planning on doing any "Open Calls" for freelance writers in the forseeable future (somewhat like what Wizards did a while back)?

Monte: Not exactly. We have a sort of big contest idea we might do, based on cool submissions from people, but we're really not looking for actual freelancers. We've got more books than we can handle in the works as it is.

BenjamTroll: Are you planning a Gazeteer or Atlas type publication?

Monte: Diamond Throne has a Gazeteer section, along with some Arcana Unearthed-based prestige classes, monsters, and magic items. Beyond that, we might do a bigger, even more setting-focused book, but no firm plans at this point. Relating to all of these points, I should note that it's our philosophy that we want to never get so big, or do so many products, that our quality will begin to suffer. We'd rather put out a few, really good books, than churn out a vast number of products. We're running at about maximum capacity now. That's why we're not looking for more writers and why we choose our releases very carefully.

Thrommel: What's the most recent non-gaming book, movie, whatever, that you've seen that's influenced your game design or inspired a game idea?

Monte: Really, it seems like I get inspiration from everything, but that I can specifically point to I'd say the View from the Mirror series of novels by Ian Irvine. It's a fantasy series with some cool ideas. The very latest Matrix trailer, which was just released yesterday or so, certainly had some cool imagery, though.

Kraah: Okay; the laaast question, ladies and gentlemen, is....

Zombie-Ralts: What part of d20 do you feel that a lot of d20 publishing companies are not really focusing on? What needs more attention, but for whatever reason, isn't getting it?

Monte: Well, I've gotta say, I think that d20, in general, is way too conservative. I'd rather see books on more innovative topics, rather than six books on dwarves, or another fighter book, or whatever. I mean, some of those are quite good, but I think the way to stay ahead of the game is to do something that isn't just building off of something in the core books -- a monster, a race, or a class. I'd love to see more add-on type books, or maybe you could call them "plug-in" books. Things like Necromancer's Book of Taverns or Atlas' Seven Strongholds. Things that are just bits I can stick in my campaign. I can't imagine that we'll ever get oversaturated with stuff like that, assuming it's good stuff. Beyond that, let's see some new magic systems. Or a whole new psionics system. Or something like that.

* Transcript edited for style and clarity.