Malhavoc Press

Monte Cook's Arcana Evolved FAQ

09-07-04—Updated 10-14-04

Last week we gave you the first hint of our upcoming releases to support Monte Cook's Arcana Unearthed in the 2005 preview page. Since then some of you may have heard some rumors about a new product from Malhavoc Press called Arcana Evolved. Here's the official word from Monte on this exciting news.

What is Arcana Evolved?

Monte Cook's Arcana Evolved is what I call the "Director's Cut" version of Arcana Unearthed. It's 432 pages in full color. We pulled out all the stops and got some of the best artists in the industry to lavishly illustrate it. It includes all the material from Arcana Unearthed, The Diamond Throne, and even most of the Player's Guide from the screen. Plus a lot more.

Is this a new edition of Monte Cook's Arcana Unearthed?

No. As you can imagine, the Director's Cut book provides updates and errata to the original. But frankly, there's not a ton of that. Arcana Evolved isn't a new edition or a revision, so there's not a lot of actual change. Arcana Evolved and Arcana Unearthed are completely compatible, in other words. Someone with one book could easily play at the same table with folks with the other.

It's too soon for a new edition, in the sense of what new editions or revisions imply to RPGs. In fact, I'll tell you right now that I don't forsee doing a new edition of the system. There just isn't that much I would do differently. So if you're happy with your copy of Arcana Unearthed as it is, then good! We plan to release the important errata and clarifications for free (it mostly just comes from answered questions on the message boards, really).

So, why would I want this book?

Well, first, there's the really great visual presentation and having all the information gathered together. Like an "expanded, deluxe, director's cut version" of a movie, Arcana Evolved doesn't change things so much as add new material.

For example, it delves into "epic" level territory, taking each class above 20th level. It provides additional racial levels for every race (although there's a twist involved, and I'm going to save that surprise for later). It has a whole new class, a whole new race, and a whole new subsystem involving combat maneuvers that come in the form of battle ceremonies.

It has new champion types and a new witch manifestation. It has a lot of new equipment, spells (including new spells for above 20th-level play), new feats, new monsters and new magic items, as well as a few more prestige classes (remember, The Diamond Throne material is all in here now as well). It also opens up new details about the world of the Diamond Throne and gives a new look at one of the setting's more enigmatic creatures—the dragons.

If some of this stuff sounds kinda familiar, it should. It's almost all stuff that fans have asked for. Mostly from our very own message boards.

Monte, why are you doing this book?

I call this book my "director's cut" because it's the book I always wanted Arcana Unearthed to be. It's not that I don't love the way Arcana Unearthed came out, but this material and the concept of the variant player's handbook has always been an important one to me. Now that I've seen that the ideas within it have appealed to so many others, I want to really put it all together in an amazing package with a lot of great material that just couldn't fit into it when it was Player's Handbook-sized and -priced.

If I already have Arcana Unearthed, do I have to buy Arcana Evolved?

No. Arcana Unearthed is still a great game, and as I previously mentioned, the two books are fully compatible. But it all goes back to what I was saying about “more.” If you’re an Arcana Unearthed player and you crave more—more of everything that is Arcana Unearthed, really—and you want to have all this material in a full-color, complete volume, you’re going to want to get Arcana Evolved.

How much is this book?

Contrary to what you may have read elsewhere, the price for this giant full-color book is $49.99. That is for the 432-page hardcover version, due out in March 2005. At the same time, we will make available a full PDF verrsion of the book, which costs $23. If you just want the the important errata and clarifications introduced in this book, we'll have that online here for free.

How does Mystic Secrets fit into all this?

Mystic Secrets: The Lore of Word and Rune by Mike Mearls is our newest Arcana Unearthed release—it's available now in PDF and coming in November in print. During the design and editing process of this book, we made sure that readers can use it easily with either Arcana Unearthed or Arcana Evolved. I've injected more Diamond Throne "story" material in Arcana Evolved, and you'll see that Mike similarly focuses on enriching the setting's background in Mystic Secrets.

Visually, Mystic Secrets is something of a "bridge" product between Arcana Unearthed and Arcana Evolved. The cover artist for Mystic Secrets is J.P. Targete, who also lends his tremendous talents to Arcana Evolved and its followups. You'll also see a few new graphic design elements inside Mystic Secrets (in black-and-white) that will form a part of the new Arcana Evolved "look."

What products will Malhavoc release after Arcana Evolved?

On our first-quarter schedule for 2005, we have Arcana Evolved in March, joined that same month by a fiction anthology called The Dragons' Return. We had such a good time creating Children of the Rune that we decided we couldn't pass up the chance to explore this exciting plot element in fiction. You'll see featured some of the authors from Children of the Rune and some new ones as well.

Then, in April, comes Ruins of Intrigue by Mike Mearls. You can see the cover artwork by J. P. Targete on our 2005 preview page. We'll have more information to give you on this new campaign sourcebook—and our other 2005 Malhavoc Press releases—soon.

Are your publishing partners releasing any tie-ins to Arcana Evolved?

We're very happy to be continuing to offer tie-in miniatures from Iron Wind Metals, including exciting new figures in March 2005. In addition, you can expect to see support products from Fiery Dragon Productions as well. We hope to have other partnerships to talk to you about later this fall.

When will you tell us more?

You'll be getting a lot more information in coming months. As with Arcana Unearthed, I'll be doing a series of Design Diaries that focuses mainly on the new material the book contains. And I'll be giving you more info on why it's called "evolved" and what that has to do with dragons.