| Arcana Unearthed |
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THEMES Two of the most important themes of the game are Ritual and character choices. Both the setting information and the game rules emphasize these areas far more than is typical of ''Dungeons & Dragons'' products. Two examples are ''metamorphosis'', in which ''faen'' become tiny, winged '' Sprytes '', and ''Chi-Julud'', in which the wise '' Giants '' temporarily lose their wisdom to become stronger and more warlike. Both involve rituals, and both also involve choices on the part of both the player and character that are much more far-reaching than those typically faced by ''D&D'' characters (especially Spryte transformation, which is permanent and irrevocable). Cook emphasizes that players should avoid archetypes (presumeably referring to the character archetypes of ''Dungeons & Dragons'') and design their characters more creatively. In fact, shortly after the game was released, Monte Cook's website, www.montecook.com , held a character design competition. SETTING The Campaign Setting for Arcana Unearthed is the lands of The Diamond Throne , a land ruled by Giants (in contrast to the human dominance assumed in most other fantasy settings). The setting includes many elements of a traditional Fantasy setting, along with a focus on ritual and ceremony, Rune s, and the Magical properties of Crystal s. TITLE CONFUSION Arcana Unearthed is not to be confused with Unearthed Arcana , the title of two books published in 1985 and 2004 , both of which provided additional material for use in the then-current version of Dungeons & Dragons. The name ''Arcana Unearthed'' was chosen partially as a Homage to the earlier of these two books. The announcement of the 2004 version came as an unpleasant surprise to Cook and some of his fans, who had believed they had an understanding with Wizards Of The Coast that this title would not be re-used in the near future. (Cook praised the book itself, however, calling the 2004 Unearthed Arcana "Probably the best book ARCANA EVOLVED ''Arcana Evolved'' (ISBN 1-58846-780-5) is an updated "director's cut" of ''Arcana Unearthed'' released in 2005. ''Arcana Evolved'' is a 432 pages in full color. It adds the contents of two previously separate books, ''The Diamond Throne'' and the ''Player's Companion'', to the original variant player's handbook, along with new material including a new class and race, many new feats and spells, and rules for higher level characters than were possible in the original book. On the less mechanical side, it also advances the time line of the Diamond Throne campaign setting by several years - years which feature the return of Dragon s to the lands of the Diamond Throne, reviving an ancient rivalry with the ruling giants. EXTERNAL LINKS
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