The summer vibe is in full swing here in Montreal, and there’s that certain magical feeling in the air—speaking of which…

In this update, I’m excited to delve into the essence of how magic functions within the World, how I’m meticulously translating that into engaging game mechanics for my upcoming 5e compatible supplement, and to give you an exclusive sneak peek!

Magic in the World of Kiynan

One of the main features that distinguishes The Kiynan Chronicles from other high fantasy series is the way magic works. In The Lord of the Rings, magic is tied to the creation of the world by Eru Ilúvatar, the supreme deity. In The Wheel of Time, magic comes from the One Power, which is drawn from the True Source, which is the driving force of the universe. Most fantasy stories I’ve read have some similar explanation, where magic is tied to the world itself.

I took a different approach in The Kiynan Chronicles, where magical effects (i.e., spells) are instead brought into the world by powerful emotions cultivated by the caster. In other words, magicians essentially create their own magic and they do it by letting themselves be completely overwhelmed by specific emotions that they have cultivated over their entire lives. Warlocks get so angry that it gives them superhuman strength, Augurs can be so calm that they can see into the future, and so on.

Don’t you wish your rampaging emotions could give you magical powers (instead of what actually happens in the real world)?

Translating Emotional Magic into D&D

D&D was heavily inspired by Tolkien’s work. But interestingly, while Middle-Earth is actually a pretty low magic setting (even Gandalf kills more Orcs with his sword than with fireballs), D&D uses magic all over the place.

This makes the standard magic classes (Cleric, Druid, Wizard, etc.) fundamentally incompatible with The Kiynan Chronicles setting. I actually see this as a fun opportunity to create a whole new class, guided by the tried and true mechanics of D&D fifth edition. So, the World of Kiynan includes the House Magician class, a full caster with unique features. Each one of the Houses of Ornland are represented as a sub-class of the House Magician.

Twelve Houses, Twelves Playstyles

In the first edition of the World of Kiynan, I already introduced eight Houses (based on books 1 and 2). As I mentioned in my last newsletter, I’m adding more sub-classes in the second edition to represent the new Houses formed following book 3, namely House Angst, House Lethargy, House Love and House Perplexity. That brings the total number of Houses to twelve!

I wanted to make playing each one feel like a significantly different experience, not just a variation on a template. So I defined a specific playstyle for each House, differentiating them while keeping true to their specific emotions.

I’m working on a new campaign book, that I’ll probably make available for free (like I did with Return to Skywall), and I can’t wait to test out all the changes I’ve made to the House Magician class when I run it.

Which playstyle would you want to try out most?

World of Kiynan 2nd Edition Preview

As promised, here is a sneak preview of The World of Kiynan (2nd edition):

What do you think?

Thanks for reading! Take care!