Runic Press has released the first of their new Arcane Armory series, a collection of small, low-cost sourcebooks containing unique magic weapons with beautiful human-made art and evocative origins. The first in this series is The Arcane Armory 1: Blades.
5e Compatible Magic Stabby Things
The weapons in The Arcane Armory 1: Blades are compatible with Dungeons and Dragons 5e (or really any 5e-derived system like Tales of the Valiant).
That said, with very little work, they could plug easily into earlier heroic fantasy TTRPG systems like D&D 3.5 or Pathfinder 1e.
Runic Press has a tendency to release system-agnostic products, so even in a 5e-specific product like this, you see a lot of the system-agnostic design philosophy.
Magic Weapons That Feel Magical
Few things make my eyes glaze over than seeing a “+1 longsword” in a treasure list. BORING.
In the style of Dungeons and Dragons campaigns I enjoy, magical weapons have names. They have histories. They have unique powers. Magic is not mass-produced.
The weapons in The Arcane Armory 1: Blades really resonate with the way I think about magic weapons. The blades have wonderful evocative names like Tidesinger and Praise & Glory and they all have rich histories and interesting powers and curses.
Magnitude is a stone blade worn in the waters of the Immortal Stream which flows from the World Tree. It can strike with the force of an earthquake, and may be recharged by burying it in mountain soil overnight.
Kai’s Shard is a shard of a mirror forged by a frost giant, which can shatter upon use and infect its victim with a flaw that turns the world into an imperfect, grotesque illusion of its reality.
Vigordrinker is a dagger forged of flesh and gristle which imparts great power on its wielder, but also lays a curse upon them that slowly saps their vitality.
Human-Made Artwork
The blades in this book are beautifully illustrated by the artist Lawrence.
Runic Press staunchly opposes the use of AI art in TTRPG products, so all of the artwork in their books are made by real live artists (except for that one guy who may or may not be bit zombified).
Or you can take Cas’ word for it:
Wobblerocket: Can I get a statement I can quote from you or somebody at Runic about the press’ stance on AI? I know I’ve seen somebody in your crew post about it but I can’t find it right now.
Cas: Oh, I can give you my statement because all of Runic’s behind it and I don’t feel bad speaking for the masses on this one: We hate it. We’re creatives ourselves and disavow/condemn the theft machine.
Lately, Wizards of the Coast has leaned into the use of AI in their products, a supremely poor choice that I think will hurt them in the long run. The TTRPG hobby was built on the labor of human imagination and creativity. Large corporations like Hasbro deciding to cut out working artists and letting AI (badly) do the work of producing art for their products is a shitty move.
I’m glad to see companies like Runic Press taking a stand rejecting the use of AI art.
My only gripe with the art in the book is that the blades are set on a black background, which makes it difficult to see the details in the darker illustrations for weapons like the Wisp Whip or Magnitude.
A Taste of Things To Come
Cas let me look at one of their WIP documents for other planned releases in the Arcane Armory series, because they’re cool like that.
Along with The Arcane Armory 1: Blades, Runic Press plans to release books for Ranged Weapons, Axes & Polearms, Simple Weapons, and Blunt Weapons…at least at the time of this writing. Since the preview I got to see was a rough WIP in document, things could change before release.
There’s some seriously cool stuff in the works, like Hydra’s Malice, a hydra-headed mace that can be used to block damage and grows in power as it does so — complete with the mace growing additional heads. When I read this one, I was bouncing in my chair like a giddy kid hopped up on too much sugar, because it’s just so COOL.
The Ranged Weapons book includes a cool blowpipe with little pet poison dart frogs, and Brutalbite, a wicked bow that grants its owner blindsight, but can slowly transform its wielder into a drider if they struggle to resist its curse.
The Arcane Armory 1: Blades – My Take
I do have a couple of minor grievances with the book. I’ve already mentioned how the black backgrounds limit the art.
Organizationally, I would have preferred if the weapons were in alphabetical order — instead, there seems to be no reason why the pages are laid out the way they are. There’s also no table of contents, but for such a short work, it’s almost not needed.
I like that the weapons are listed one per page. I would really love it if a printer-friendly PDF were offered alongside the full-color file. Small works like The Arcane Armory 1: Blades are perfect to keep in a binder, so I can have easy access to them at the game table.
I could also easily print off a page and hand it to a player when they obtain the weapon in question. In the book’s current form, trying to print the pages with the large black backgrounds behind the weapon art would eat up a lot of toner or ink.
Despite these little nitpicks, Runic Press has put together a really phenomenal little sourcebook and I’m excited to see the rest of the series.
Although the book only contains 8 weapons, The Arcane Armory 1: Blades is incredibly affordable at $2.99 USD, meaning it’s cheaper than a coffee shop latte. The blades within are evocative enough that they can become a focal point of your next Dungeons and Dragons adventure.
More from Runic Press
Runic Press is working on getting a dedicated website, but in the meantime, their Patreon is a great place to follow them and get updates on their latest releases.
- Click here for the Runic Press Patreon.
- Click here to follow Caspian Cavien on Bluesky.
- Click here to follow Danny Kodicek on Bluesky.
This isn’t the first Runic Press product I’ve covered. I covered their Vecna’s Book of Vile Darkness on my Bluesky a while back.
Along with the above work, I’ve been eagerly awaiting the delivery of my print copy of What’s My Motivation?, a system-agnostic resource on creating deeper, more complex characters and nuanced villains.
Look for a review of that product in the future once it comes in and I have a chance to sit down with it.