COMPENDIUM/IDENTITY — ARCANE RUIN

WORKING TITLE
ARCANE RUIN

HIGH CONCEPT

In a fantasy world rotting under a necromagical plague, a fallen mage tries to
trigger an ancient spell that will convert all life into undead. The game follows
doomed heroes forced to choose between containing the ruin or exploiting its
power—knowing every victory exacts a price in flesh and soul.

SUBGENRE & TONE

Dark Fantasy | Contained despair, decaying beauty, hope minimal yet real.
Direct violence, moderate-to-high body horror, tragic spirituality.

PROMISE TO THE PLAYER

Moral choices with mechanical cost (power vs. ruin).
Tactics grounded in D&D; fundamentals (abilities, classes, saving throws,
resistances/immunities, adapted action economy).
Exploration of a semi-open world saturated with zones of dynamic corruption.
Dual progression: heroic growth and “marks of ruin” that grant dangerous
boons.

PLATFORM & FORM

Game—baseline proposal: isometric CRPG with tactical pause, party-focused
(1–4 characters). Clear UI, legible information, and rolls visible/hideable at the
player’s discretion.

DESIGN PILLARS (5)
Scarred choice: every meaningful decision leaves a systemic mark (benefit +
corruption).
Light is a mechanic: lighting, holy fire, and consecrated spaces modulate
difficulty.
Necromagic is temptation: profane powers are strong, but widen the gates for
the plague.
Knowledge kills: learning the “Old Word” opens routes and breaks encounters,
yet hastens the ruin.
Fragile party, lethal world: deadly yet fair encounters; resources mean survival.

STRUCTURAL REFERENCES

Classic ability scores, skills, checks vs. DC, conditions (e.g., stunned, poisoned,
frightened), damage resistance/immunity, advantage/disadvantage.
Archetypal classes (fighter, caster, rogue, cleric, bard, etc.) rethemed for the
ruin (e.g., Cleric of the Last Ember; Mage of the Broken Word).
Damage types (slashing, piercing, bludgeoning, necrotic, radiant, fire, cold,
lightning, psychic, poison).
Adapted action economy (action, bonus action, reaction, movement), short/long
rests with risk in corrupted areas.

WORLD IDENTITY

World name: Thalóss (“tálas” = dead sea, in the local ancient tongue).
State: advanced decay; walled centers as “ember isles” ringed by grey zones.
Antagonistic force: The Archimorph (the corrupted mage), former Warden of
the Ancestral Word, now host to a Funereal Matter that rewrites the living as
“passive carriers.”
Initial axioms:
Life and death are languages; the Ancestral Word compiles both.
Ruin is memetic and material (contagion via sound, sigil/ideogram, and matter).
Every flame reduces Ruin, but consumes something precious (fuel, faith,
memories).
Death does not end agency: echoes and puppets coexist.
CENTRAL THEME (power & ruin)—Statement
“The closer one draws to the source of power, the more inevitable the ruin—the
virtue is the art of spending oneself with purpose.”

VISUAL MOTIFS

Black iron, weathered brass, ossuary and bioluminescent fungi.
Amber halos in braziers; scorched sigils on stone.
Stained raw linen; bone talismans and shattered glass.
Greenish-gray sky; fine ashfall.

PLAYABLE FANTASY (roles)

Bearers of the Last Ember: individuals marked by a spark that repels Ruin at
the cost of their own vigor.
Paths of progress: traditions (Order, Wild, Profane, Sacred).
Macro goals: locate and deface the Four Compilation Runes of the Ancestral
Word before the Archimorph completes the Final Chant.

COUNTER-PROMISES (limits)

It is not “power without cost”; it is not clean heroic fantasy; romance is optional
and grim; humor exists but is dry.

KEY DIFFERENTIATORS

Triple corruption (flesh, mind, soul) with mutation/boon trees.
Singing zones: areas where words awaken physical effects (silence, echo,
panic).
Radial liturgies: light- and sound-based spells that purge or scorch memories.
Architecture of the Fault: cities raised atop catacombs that “fault” into
neighboring realities (not a multiverse; pockets of instability).

TARGET & RATING

Audience 16+. Players of tactical CRPGs and fans of dark D&D.; Replayability
via corruption choices and rune routes.

CANON CONDITIONS

Mechanical base compatible with D&D; logics.
Single world: Thalóss.
Macro antagonist: The Archimorph and the Final Chant.
Themes: power and ruin, with explicit costs.