This project is still in development. Check back soon to view the completed project!

DESOLATE ARCANE

“…Scouring the sands for lost magic, beckoned like a thousand others in search of something - anything - that can secure safety in a world filled with feral threats….”

This world is Ishadii, a world so dangerous, a world so hell-bent on devouring anything that dares to live here, that the idea of a ‘hero’ simply doesn’t exist here. A hero here is instead someone skilled - or lucky - enough to make it to the next sunrise.

It’s now up to you to endure the challenges of this setting and
at the end of it all be able to say, “I survived.”

What sets Desolate Arcane apart?

It’s still the same base d20 system we’ve all grown to love since the 2000s, but:

  • With extra survival mechanics like stamina, item durability, and exhaustion

  • A versatile custom spell-crafting system

  • Progression systems tied to skill usage, not standard XP levelling

  • Use of the unique VIRTUE attribute system

  • Classic ideas of “classes” & “feats” are merged & replaced with the talents system

  • Armor acts as damage reduction

  • Many unique takes on traditional fantasy races, with some new ones

  • A system that feels cohesive and feeds into itself, rather than a slapped together bundle of different, separate systems with little-to-no mechanical interactions

  • It’s a game system that encourages player build-crafting like no other

What are the VIRTUE attributes?

Whereas virtues are behaviors that display great moral standards, the VIRTUEs are properties of a person’s being. To pursue a greater VIRTUE is a noble endeavor.

The VIRTUES are thus:

  • Vitality - Measures your heath - Determines things like health recovery rates and disease resistance.

  • Insight - Measures your intuition - Determines things like magic ability and speech checks.

  • Reflex - Measures your reaction speed - Determines things like combat order and dodge rolls.

  • Toughness - Measures your strength - Determines things like carry weight capacity and melee damage bonuses.

  • Utility - Measures your resourcefulness - Determines things like how quickly skills increase and how adept at practical skills you are.

  • Ego - Measures your mental presence - Determines things like barter prices and how easy it is to resist mind control.

Project Description

Desolate Arcane is a TTRPG based off the standard d20 system. The desire to start the project was born from a desire for a system with not only more difficulty and grounded consequences for failure, but also a return to the plethora of character options available in the systems that came out during the advent of the d20 system and since. We’ve also wanted to showcase a world ripe with lore and grueling history and interactions - a world perfect to showcase such a system in.

While the game started as a homebrewed mess of another system, over time we’ve written Desolate Arcane to be completely unique in what it has to offer, if not totally original. Other systems of course offer similar things, like spell-crafting or how we’ve overhauled skills, but very few put all those systems together, and none put them together like we do.

The game offers many different systems that should all tie in nicely with the main talents system & the VIRTUE attributes. The ones we are most proud of are the spell-crafting system and how we’ve handled races for Desolate Arcane.

The goals for Desolate Arcane are simple:

  • We wanted to provide players plenty of options for character versatility and build-crafting.

  • We wanted to expand upon, introduce new, or outright replace existing mechanics of most popular TTRPGs.

  • We wanted a system with plenty of opportunities for player choice, while also having the struggle of a survival game that’s almost personally out to get you.

Regardless of your skills and abilities, if someone stabs you with a sword through the gut you are almost guaranteed death. But also, being able to wield a giant hunk of iron capable to rending dragons is just plain cool. We want Desolate Arcane to appease both of these sensibilities. We hope you agree that we’ve done a decent job.