"Monte Cook’s Diamond Throne Roleplaying Game is about storytelling in the world of Serran, created by the imagination of Monte Cook some years ago. Each player creates a hero and teams up with other heroes (played by friends). In the preface you will find a lot of useful information about the world, like festivities, important ceremonies, timekeeping, colloquialism and many other things." -The Diamond Throne, Unearthed, page 3.
The Diamond Throne (TDT) is a unique, stand-alone Cypher System game that serves as a complete fantasy RPG, featuring a distinctive setting, rich background, and flavor. The game feels much like "Cypher does an OSR game" style of feeling in how it is put together, with a specific, yet generic fantasy world, with plenty of backstory to spur your imagination and plots in the setting.
This is one I wish to have gotten more attention, since it is every bit as capable as any 5E-based fantasy game, if not more so on the narrative front, since it is Cypher System.
The game's world has a D&D 3.5E feel, breaking the mold enough to feel different yet adhering to just enough fantasy tropes to feel familiar. It is not "so far out there" that people have trouble even conceptualizing a character within the setting. This is closer to OSR-style fantasy in structure, as it features a comprehensive equipment list, allowing you to purchase items such as bedrolls, candles, and tents. That "very low level" play where you are scrounging coppers together to buy a torch is the essence of old-school play, and TDT has that.
And you can ignore the game's world, or use it as much as you want. There is a premise here where three major factions are fighting, with humans and the typical fantasy races caught in the crossfire. The usual fantasy kingdoms were conquered by demons and ruled over for centuries. A race of benevolent, civilization-building giants (double-sized humans) came in and kicked the demons out, and now rule the land. The typical fantasy kingdoms now have freedom under the rule of giants. And now the dragons are showing up to fight with the giants.
That is the setup. Use it or ignore it as much as you want. The game even tells you to. You can insert "your fantasy race here" into the game, and it fits the structure. Want to play a "dark elf" - sure, you crawled out of a cave somewhere, and you were always down there, waiting to appear. It's fantasy, no one is going to complain. The setting has several preset races, but you can add your gnomes, halflings, wood elves, or anything you want to it.
It serves as a starting point, much like any semi-generic D&D 3.5E setting was back in the day. It saves you a ton of work developing history, locations, backstory, and everything else - and then tells you that you can ignore it all and do what you want. Again, this is an OSR-ism, and perfect. Why buy it? Well, when I am not feeling creative in an area, I fall back on the book and just use that.
One fatal flaw the TDT books have is that there are not enough monsters! I know what they are trying to do with the monsters they included: slow down, present each one as special and interesting, and give it a unique twist that fits the setting's flavor and history. As a result, the number of traditional monsters they have is a handful, and this game desperately needs its own bestiary with unique takes on the standard fantasy critters.
If you want more standard fantasy monsters by the dozen, pick up Godforsaken, the Cypher System fantasy supplement. While some of the other Cypher-based fantasy games have good monster lists, they do not come close to the number and variety of the fantasy standards in this book. This book is also the best resource for your standard "generic fantasy tropes," so it will be handy for a lot more than just a monster list, as you get magic items, spells, species, and much more.
Godforsaken is more of a "fantasy world-building guide," but the wealth of things in here makes it an excellent companion book to TDT.
The conflict between giants and dragons is the setting's next big fight. The giants here are not your evil D&D brutes; they are a civilized race of builders who create civilizations as their core ideals. They can be both good guy, or the force of conquerors the characters seek to depose.
And I do hope they make that "twisted fantasy bestiary" for this game, even as a resource for other Cypher games; that would be a handy book. A "tome of twisted magic" with more spells, magic backgrounds, artifacts, and cyphers would also be very welcome. Yes, I know about the generic magic book, 'It's Only Magic,' but that's for more modern magical settings. I want this setting to outdo the OSR with every release and raise the bar.
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| TM and © 2024 Cook Games, LLC The Diamond Throne, Unearthed, page 44 |
The setting presents giants as too noble and mighty for my tastes, as they wiped out the demons completely. Demons are linked to the tenets of humanity and sin, and they will never truly disappear since they are more a physical manifestation of a metaphor for human failings and morality. Giants should not be portrayed as all-powerful and benevolent dictators, since any threat that appears, players will assume that "our giant parents" will be around to wipe them out, just like the demons.
That is not happening this time.
Giants need a fatal flaw, such as their numbers decreasing with every passing year, and they are always worried about passing on the legacy of freedom and civilization they have given the people of the land. They need to worry about constantly being "called home" over the sea to help repopulate their homelands. They need to find worthy successors in these lands among the fantasy races to carry on their creations and legacy. Being an "evil giant" means turning your back on those you freed and losing faith in what the giants created here to seek power, wealth, dominion, or comfort. That is a powerful story with meaning in our world today, that "who shall take up the legacy of freedom" thing, and it needs that theme.
The giants are passing on the legacy.
Especially with the rise of the dragons. The need to find rules and worthy warriors to protect the legacy becomes urgent, and that is your call to adventure. The dragons are a metaphor of war and the barbarism of the fall of civilization, another theme with its foot in our world, so it takes on a deeper meaning.
The dragons are war and barbarism.
The game says you can bring demons back, but with this conflict made stronger, the setting doesn't need them as a direct force. They can sit in the background, scheming and plotting, corrupting souls, feeding into both sides, and making everything worse. That is the best use for demons, the hidden faction fanning the flames, spreading lies, turning giants to evil, whispering attack plans into the ears of dragons, and weakening both sides for their eventual rise and return.
The demons are corruptors.
With this story structure, The Diamond Throne becomes a passive setting where the default assumption is, "Oh, the giants shall take care of it," to an active setting where The Diamond Throne is waiting for a character to sit upon it and be declared worthy. The giants are still benevolent, but they have a foot out the door, and they are looking for someone to stand up.
This is very much a Game of Thrones setup, with factions seeing opportunity, and the characters picking sides and proving they are worthy to take responsibility for guiding the lands through the next major war with the dragons. Having a few factions willing to do evil things to grab power is also another strong story arc, and it can set up different factions seeking to hold power to take the throne for themselves.
The Diamond Throne is up for grabs.
What will dark hearts do to take it?
And what shall you do to prove you are worthy?
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