LIVING ARCANIS Home Page

On this page you will find support for Paradigm Concepts' print (and PDF) products -- in particular, Paradigm's adventures that have been sanctioned for play in the LIVING ARCANIS campaign. Print products from PCI that have been adapted for LIVING ARCANIS are considered "evergreen" -- they never retire from active play in the campaign as long as the corresponding product is in print (or available as a PDF). These adventures are played just like any other LIVING ARCANIS event, with the GM following the text in the print product as modified by the adaptation sheet. Adaptation sheets do not provide enough information to run the adventure without a copy of the actual product; we ask that you support PCI by purchasing a copy of the adventure for every table that you run. If all the players chip in a few bucks the adventure is paid for and PCI is thereby encouraged to keep producing support products for the Arcanis line.

Not all of Paradigm's Arcanis adventure modules have been sanctioned for play in LIVING ARCANIS. Some of the modules are set many years before the start of the campaign timeline and would therefore be inappropriate (such as Spear of the Lohgin and Blood Reign of Nishanpur). Others are simply too high-powered (such as In the Shadow of the Devil). Even those adventures that haven't been sanctioned for LIVING ARCANIS contain a great deal of information about the campaign world and their events are referenced in subsequent adventures, so they still make great background reading (and are a lot of fun to play even if you don't get XP or certs for your LA characters).

Paradigm Concepts is proud to present The Year of Ill Harvest by Henry Lopez. This sourcebook collects all of the Year 1 Hard Point adventures that launched the LIVING ARCANIS campaign along with several of the most popular Year 1 Soft Point adventures. These adventures, which have been "retired" from active play for several years, are now brought back into the campaign via this sourcebook. We hope that The Year of Ill Harvest will help bring new players into the World of Shattered Empires.

Everything you need to run these adventures is included -- all of the statistics blocks, maps, treasure and XP tables, etc. All you need to do is download the certificate file from this website and you are ready to play. The adventures are not scaled by APL. Rather, the product is intended to start with a group of new 1st-level LIVING ARCANIS characters and take them all the way through the adventures in order (which we estimate will require 40-50 hours of gameplay).  By the end of the final adventure the PCs will be 5th level and well on their way to 6th.

To be clear, the old v3.0 adventures that were originally released are NOT valid for LIVING ARCANIS play.  Those adventures are retired and are not legal in the current campaign. The only version of these scenarios that is LA-legal is the version contained in the Year of Ill Harvest product. Players who previously played the adventures may NOT play them again (but you may play the new version of any of the old adventures that you missed, of course). 

Players who have certificates from the older (retired) versions DO NOT need to download the new cert file -- the old certificates remain 100% legal and valid in the campaign. We have made some changes to the new certs, but that does not invalidate the old certs for people who already have them and we do NOT want people "exchanging" their old certs for the newer versions.

The bonus material included under the title A Settling of Scores is the original "third round" of Assault Upon the Gate of Tears that originally ran for the triumphant Table of Heroes at Gen Con 2002.  This material has been included for the use of home campaigns that might want to introduce the val'Sosi family into their campaign, and for the benefit of players who wanted to learn what happened during that special event five years ago.  This chapter is NOT legal for LIVING ARCANIS in any way, shape, form, or fashion.

The campaign cost for each "chapter" of the printed product is 10 Time Units, with the exception of Temptations of the Flesh, which costs 20 TU.  (This adventure was originally released as a single two-round scenario with a 20 TU cost, but in the printed product it is only treated as one chapter.)  So, characters who play through the entire series of adventures (including the two "optional" chapters, but excluding A Settling of Scores, which is not LA-playable) will spend a total of 100 Time Units.

Due to page-count limitations, we were not able to include maps for the adventure Drinking Deeply from the Chalice of Midnight. The maps from the original organized-play version of the adventure have been converted to a PDF and may be downloaded from the link above. There might be some slight differences between the text of the adventure and the layout depicted on the maps, but we trust the GM will be able to figure out how to resolve those without having an effect on gameplay.

If you have any questions about how to use this product in LIVING ARCANIS, please contact the campaign staff.  Have fun!

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UPDATE 2007-08-24: At the Origins 2006 convention, we ran a few "preview" tables of this adventure. The version of the "Favor of Quentac" certificate that was given to those players was subsequently revised in the final (published) version of the adventure. The corrected version of this certificate (only) has been added as a download. If you have the old version of the certificate, please download the new version and attach it to your original. The effective date of the new cert is the same as the effective date of the old cert (meaning that the one-year duration has almost certainly already expired for you, but the cert has other benefits that do not have an expiration date). If you purchased the adventure online in 2007 then you do NOT need this certificate as the version you received is the correct version.

The Wall of the Gods has fallen; the Sealed Lands are Sealed no more. Elebac, Master-Smith of the Dwarves, has invited you to the Enclave of Solanos Mor to discuss rumors of an ancient tomb on the far side of the Wall of the Gods. Ancient words, only now understood, speak of a weapon beyond compare that was sealed within the tomb. What will you discover when you shine the light of the present upon the shadows of a forsaken past?

This adventure is equal parts roleplaying, wilderness exploration, and dungeon delve. While there is something in it for everyone, some characters, particularly those suited for adventuring within a more urban environment, may not find this adventure rewarding in some ways. Because of its length, this adventure is intended for Home Play only, and so it is not advised that conventions order this adventure. This adventure can easily require 20 or more hours to complete, so be prepared to schedule ample time for play. This adventure includes a special “Glory Tier” difficulty level, designed for those groups who are 15th level and higher who desire more of a challenge than usual (be warned, the Glory Tier includes no additional rewards beyond those of APL 15, and features combats that are considerably more difficult).

This adventure is classed as a Special because it contains elements of Standard adventures, some of the difficulty (at times) of a Delve, and the roleplaying aspects of a Story-Focused adventure. This adventure does not follow the standard rules on Time Unit costs. It requires a minimum of 70 TU; however, some of these Time Units may be drawn from the next year’s allotment if necessary.

This adventure draws upon materials presented in the Player’s Guide to Arcanis, Legacy of Damnation, Magic of Arcanis, and Forged in Magic: Revised and Expanded. While it is not required to have any of these books on hand to run this adventure, it is recommended. Although this adventure is designed to be run as part of the Living Arcanis shared-world campaign, it can be played and enjoyed by any group whose adventures take them to the World of Shattered Empires, and it can even be transplanted to other campaign worlds with some effort.

This adventure takes place in 1028 I.C. and as such is fixed chronologically before the Battle of Solanos Mor. Therefore, characters with the Attacker of the Enclave certificate may take part in this adventure. However, choices have consequences, and players of such characters should be advised that not all of the rewards available from the adventure will be given to PCs who later participated in the siege of Solanos Mor.

This LIVING ARCANIS SPECIAL adventure is designed for 4th to 16th level characters (APLs 5 through 15 plus an APL 17 Glory Tier).

(Note: Although the adventure file says that the certs should be downloaded from this website, we made a last-second decision to include the cert files in the main download that you purchase online. Therefore, you should have received the cert files when you bought the adventure PDF. As a result, the only additional file you need is the map file linked above.)

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At the heart of Canceri, like a spider in a vast web, sits Nishanpur, the City of Secrets. Here powerful figures, living and undead vie for dominance in an unending power struggle that has lasted millennia. The average man must walk a treacherous tightrope, courting the favor of the powerful while attempting to avoid becoming a pawn in the endless games of conquest.

Important Note: The judge must have a copy of the Paradigm Concepts print product City of Secrets: An Adventurer’s Guide to Nishanpur (PCI 1007; ISBN 1-931374-16-3) to use this adaptation. The certificates are only included as part of the print product (they are bound into the back and must be removed from the sourcebook for distribution to the players). This document contains only the LIVING ARCANIS adaptation (APL tiering notes and player handouts).

This is a STANDARD LIVING ARCANIS adventure, designed for 1st to 14th level characters (APL 2 through 12).

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Thrust into the intrigues of mighty nations and the sinister plans of the far-flung cities of foreign lands, a group of adventurers join an Imperial legate on a secret mission of direst importance to the ancient outpost of Sicaris. The mission is twofold: To bring back a wayward noble daughter of the Imperial family of val'Assante, and to find the source of the turmoil that seeks to tip the teetering balance of power. These objectives will lead the heroes into a shadow war of sinister alliances, secretive cabals, assassins, spies, and unfolding machinations.

This module is an RPGA home-play adaptation of the print module The Bloody Sands of Sicaris from Paradigm Concepts, Inc. The original product is still in print and may be ordered from your friendly local game shop using ISBN 1-931374-03-1. The adaptation document includes tiering notes, suggestions for pacing, changes to certain encounters from the print product, and the certificate file. However, the adaptation document is not sufficient to run the adventure by itself; you must have a copy of the print product (or PDF).

This LIVING ARCANIS STANDARD adventure is designed for 3rd to 11th level characters (APLs 4, 7, and 10 only).

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Blurb and adventure details to follow. This is the LIVING ARCANIS adaptation of the PCI sourcebook Carnival of Swords: An Adventurer's Guide to Old Coryan, by Scott Charlton (ISBN X-XXXX-XXXX). GMs should be advised that both the original print product and the LIVING ARCANIS adaptation document were developed under the v3.0 edition of the core rules, so some amount of additional work is required in order to play the adventure under the v3.5 rules. However, this adventure is one of the all-time best and most popular introductions to the LIVING ARCANIS campaign and to the World of Shattered Empires. It's a great way to introduce a group of new players to the campaign and to the Coryani Empire.