# Interest check: SDMB Arcana Unearthed campaign **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [March 2, 2012, 7:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interest-check-sdmb-arcana-unearthed-campaign/614528 "2012-03-02T07:33:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Omi\_no\_Kami](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a88e4f/32.png) [@Omi\_no\_Kami](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omi_no_Kami)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2012, 7:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interest-check-sdmb-arcana-unearthed-campaign/614528/1 "2012-03-02T07:33:49Z")
I have no idea if we have enough dopers who enjoy or are curious about AU to make this work, but in the spirit of our recent (and thus far, totally awesome) [Shadowrun](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=642768) game, I would be willing to DM a game of Arcana Unearthed if we can get 4-5 interested players. In systemic terms Arcana Unearthed is basically a variant of third edition D&D, with a completely different class balance and set of races. For the purposes of storyline it takes place in a far-away land where the Giants, wise, theoretically benevolent beings rule from the Diamond Throne. Both character design and roleplaying tend to heavily focus around the use and research of magic, runes, and crystals, on the research and performance of various class and race-specific Rituals to advance and specialize your character, and on the wide-ranging effect ethics and behavior have on your character’s relationship with his world. No materials or sourcebooks are necessary, and if we get enough people I’ll happily walk everyone through character creation and see if we can’t get an awesome campaign going from this. ---
**Author:** ![Mosier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ea924/32.png) [@Mosier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mosier)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2012, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interest-check-sdmb-arcana-unearthed-campaign/614528/2 "2012-03-02T17:06:05Z")
Moonlighting on me, eh? 🙂 You know, if I had just a liiiiiittle more time I’d love to play this. As it is, I’ll certainly follow the game thread if you get enough players to start it up. Sounds fun! ---
**Author:** ![Omi\_no\_Kami](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a88e4f/32.png) [@Omi\_no\_Kami](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omi_no_Kami)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2012, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interest-check-sdmb-arcana-unearthed-campaign/614528/3 "2012-03-02T17:09:12Z")
> [@Mosier](#): > > Moonlighting on me, eh? 🙂 > > You know, if I had just a liiiiiittle more time I’d love to play this. As it is, I’ll certainly follow the game thread if you get enough players to start it up. Sounds fun! I can’t help it, you managed to come up with a format that makes tabletop games fun to run on a forum 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Mosier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ea924/32.png) [@Mosier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mosier)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2012, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interest-check-sdmb-arcana-unearthed-campaign/614528/4 "2012-03-02T17:31:20Z")
> [@Omi\_no\_Kami](#): > > I can’t help it, you managed to come up with a format that makes tabletop games fun to run on a forum 😉 To be fair, all I did was ruthlessly plagiarize the format introduced to me by AClockworkMelon. Screw it. Consider me in for this adventure, too. What am I getting myself into? ---
**Author:** ![Omi\_no\_Kami](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a88e4f/32.png) [@Omi\_no\_Kami](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omi_no_Kami)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2012, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interest-check-sdmb-arcana-unearthed-campaign/614528/5 "2012-03-02T18:48:59Z")
Hurrah! ^^ I’ll obviously massage the starting adventure a bit once we have a better idea of how many people we have, and what kind of characters they want to play, but you’ll essentially start as consultants to what pass as the cops of AU’s word- a lot of the classes in AU represent rare, or at the very least uncommon talents that almost any law enforcer in the realm will pay a hefty fee to utilize. I’ll write up a basic intro to chargen later tonight, but for now a few things to think about: **Names** Many people in AU have True Names, a highly secret word which describes their very soul. Having one can be a liability, as despicable magic users and other unsavory sorts can, if they learn your true name, gain a major advantage fighting against or searching for you, as knowing someone’s True Name gives magic users a potent weapon against them, and magic users are _much_ more common than in, say, D&D. If your character is one of the Unbound they lack a True Name, making it impossible for those who would harm them to gain an advantage in this manner. This is quite rare in the campaign world, and results in the granting of an additional Talent (which I’ll detail in the chargen post), a decidedly nontrivial advantage. However, friendly casters will need to know your True Name to cast many of their best support spells on you, including the one that revives you from the dead should you fall in combat. This puts a heft burden on the Unbound, as if they die, they’re gone for good. Something else to think about is your character’s truthfulness, which is the closest AU has to a hard alignment matrix-lying is, of course, as commonplace in AU as in the real world, but inhabitants take an almost fanatical view of the power that a person’s Word has, and if you personally promise or guarantee something, you need to be _very_ careful about how you behave around that promise. A character who has never broken their word has a practically detectable ambiance around them, and can be used by a spellcaster much as an innocent could, to great effect, and NPCs will feel more comfortable going out on a limb for you or trusting you. However, people who break even a single oath tend to quickly take on a slightly dingy, somewhat disreputable air, and it will become much more difficult for them to convince anyone of their sincerity about even the simplest thing. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2012, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interest-check-sdmb-arcana-unearthed-campaign/614528/6 "2012-03-03T01:38:40Z")
I’d be up for giving it a shot. I’ve never done this on a forum before. I’m familiar with D&D 3.5, though not so much with unearthed arcana. ---
**Author:** ![Suburban\_Plankton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suburban_plankton/32/219_2.png) [@Suburban\_Plankton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suburban_Plankton)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2012, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interest-check-sdmb-arcana-unearthed-campaign/614528/7 "2012-03-03T01:43:41Z")
I might be interested, but it depends on when you’ll be starting. I’ll be out of town on vacation soon, returning on the 20th. If this doesn’t start until after then, I’m interested, but if you plan to start up before that, then I can wait for the next one… ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2012, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interest-check-sdmb-arcana-unearthed-campaign/614528/8 "2012-03-05T02:55:44Z")
Bump. I hope someone else is interested in this. I’m willing to wait to start. ---
**Author:** ![Omi\_no\_Kami](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a88e4f/32.png) [@Omi\_no\_Kami](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omi_no_Kami)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2012, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interest-check-sdmb-arcana-unearthed-campaign/614528/9 "2012-03-05T03:21:13Z")
I’m happy to wait too, but I’m hoping we can assemble a big enough group. So far we have: **Mosier Larry Borgia Suburban Plankton** In assured spots, but I’d really like to hold out for 5-6 players, since forum games tend to be slow-paced and are made all the happier for having more participants. ^^ ---
**Author:** ![Hoopy\_Frood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hoopy_frood/32/8452_2.png) [@Hoopy\_Frood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hoopy_Frood)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2012, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interest-check-sdmb-arcana-unearthed-campaign/614528/10 "2012-03-05T15:22:38Z")
I’d consider being in this if you need more people, but I’m already involved in two online campaigns (What Exit’s 1st Edition on Mellophant, and the Shadowrun here) so I don’t want to have too many things I’m committed to. So consider me in if you need an extra person, but if you get enough interest without me, I’ll be content to watch this from the sidelines. ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2012, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interest-check-sdmb-arcana-unearthed-campaign/614528/11 "2012-03-05T19:09:14Z")
No wonder my 3.5 campaign can’t get more than two players… There’s so much competition! Know what? I’ll put my hate of Play by Post games on suspension and sign up. If any community is mature enough to keep a PbP game going long time, it’s the SDMB. So I’ll sign up. When you say AU, what exactly do you mean? The Unearthed Arcana book has tons of various rule supplements; which ones are you using? ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2012, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interest-check-sdmb-arcana-unearthed-campaign/614528/12 "2012-03-06T17:52:46Z")
Mmm. I don’t know much about this, but I’d be interested to learn.