A Brief History of Diablo Variants

Diablo 1 released in 1997, during a time where games were purchased physically and weren't as readily available as they are today. The internet wasn't prevalent just yet and the ability to download a game was far into the future. Getting new games was an adventure in itself, going to the local computer store and browsing the aisle, carefully examining the box art and reading every line of copy provided, just to try and make the right decision. Once the game was purchased, that was it - you were locked in and it might be the only game you have to play for months on end. This situation forced gamers to make the most out of what they had available to them. Through this the idea of variants in Diablo was born. One of the playstyles and scenes that would contribute to the prevalence of challenge runs and restricted accounts that can be found across a number of different games today.

To set the scene, consider what it may have been like. All 16 levels had been traversed, all difficulties defeated, and all classes mastered. Duping and hacking on Battlenet had lost it's charm (or never appealed in the first place) and the next time you got a new game? Eight months away - on your birthday. So what do you do when the game you love poses no new challenges? You create them yourself. This is the premise that drew me and many others to the Diablo variant community. Creating new and interesting ways to play the game we all loved, and then sharing those frameworks and the stories that sprung from them. Part roleplaying and part challenge run, this was not a new phenomenon in gaming but the idea created a community of like minded players pushing the limits of Diablo, and it's impact can still be seen today through Diablo 2 challenge runs and beyond.

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What is a Variant

So what is a variant - and why isn't it referred to as a challenge run? The word variant can be defined succinctly as "to change". So there is some change to the traditional or otherwise accepted playstyle within a game to either differentiate, limit, or create additional challenge. I believe the term variant was used rather than challenge run due to this way of defining what was being changed about the playstyle of characters within Diablo. It wasn't always about just creating a more challenging playthrough, instead it could be adding more lore or roleplaying to a character, or playing the game in a different manner that wasn't confined to a specific meta. While many of the most popular variant playstyle did in fact make the game substantially harder, this wasn't the case for all of them - sometime it was just about adding additional flavor. Ultimately the idea was to establish an additional set of rules outside of the game that enhanced the gameplay and experience in a way that the player finds fun, challenging, or engaging.

Personal Experience with Variants

I would have been around twelve or thirteen years old when Diablo first released. I can recall playing the demo of the game around that age and also have a core memory about playing the full version in an internet cafe at some point around then.

It may have been a little while until I was able to get my hands on the full version, but like most kids who are excited about something, I would have been scouring the internet (at a snails pace) to gather info on the game. I remember reading through some of the classic guides like Bolty's Warrior Guide. At some point in this journey, I came across the Realms Beyond site and got very interested in variants.

There was even a point where I wanted to get involved in the community enough that I tried to create my own variant and have it published to the site. It was centered around the warrior using axes only and I don't think it had much depth or complexity to it, but it was an honest try by a young enthusiastic kid. It was probably called something super original too - like "Axeman" or "The Chopper".

From there I've been in and out over the years - not necessarily following the community or partaking in the playing of variants, but I've always held a special place in my head for this community. Realms Beyond has had a near permanent place in my bookmarks over the past few years and I regularly look through the site for a hit of nostalgia. In part, the old memories I have of that particular site have contributed to me creating Back to Pixel - trying to create something that is about sharing information and documenting cool stuff.

Popular Variants

There is a definite spectrum of the different types of variants, ranging from ramping up the level of challenge to masochistic levels all the way to the other end where it's more about adding additional flavor and character development rather than shear challenge. Some of the more popular examples from this time are:

The Beyond Naked Mage

Generally considered to be the first Diablo 1 variant, created by Woody. Dreamed up as a way to freshen up the game and spawned from a conversation discussing the frustrations around cheaters on Battlenet, the creator explains what the spirit of the variant is best themselves:

On where BNM got started:

Beyond Naked Mages in general, are the result of many posts that went back and forth with Saint Michael (Hairy(BNM)). While talking about how much we hated cheaters, it was mentioned that we ought to un-equip our high level mages and PKill cheaters 'naked.' Well, this went one step further and it was suggested that we should be not only 'naked,' but equiped with cursed items. Hence the birth of the Beyond Naked Mage. These web pages are meant to inspire players into new styles of play. Really, I think that everyone should play this way to develop their playing skills.

On what playing BNM is about:

What playing a BNM is all about is bringing the challenge back to Diablo. I mean, come on. This game has been out since the first week of January 1997 and you can only play a game, any game, for just so long before you lose intrest in it. Again, that's what being a BNM is all about. Making the game interesting again. Another hope is that while some people turn to cheating in order to freshen up the game, they will turn to BNM's instead. Hell, if one person chooses to play a BNM instead of cheating it's well worth the effort.

The rules of the variant are simple, start a new mage and unequip any starting gear. From there you cannot equip any equipment with the exception of 'cursed' gear. Since Diablo had a simple equipment system, with only magic (one or two affix items) or unique items, it's easy to parse this kind of requirement. Cursed gear will be some magic item that has affixes that are detrimental, either reducing attributes, resists or other stats. The variant goes as far as suggesting that if a player does find cursed gear, they are required to equip it. So while you may need to open chests and crack barrels for useful potions or scrolls, you do run the risk of finding a piece of equipment that will actively hurt you.

Ironman Mode

The idea of Ironman mode in Diablo is an interesting one to me, and was a very popular variant for solo players and groups back in the day. My experience with the idea of Ironman mode stems from Old School Runescape, where the rules are simple - no trading with other players, you get all of your gear and resources yourself. The Diablo version came well before this, and for the most part has a similar approach. The key difference between these two ideas is Diablo ironman enter the dungeon at the start of their adventure and do not exit it until the games namesake is defeated. There is no stopping at Pepin for potion refills or Griswold for repairs or new gear. This is a live off the land approach and since classes could compliment each other, and sharing of loot found during the dungeon delve was allowed, it made for a popular and seemingly fun way to approach the game for groups.

The introduction in the Ironman rule set covers the basics:

Ironman is a game with all brand new characters, 1 to 4, with 3 (one of each class) being most common, and the standard for tournaments. The ONLY access to town services is immediately at the start of the game (or difficulty, see below). Armor, weapons, potions, scrolls, may be bought subject to the low starting cash of the party. 'Scoring' is based on two factors: deepest level cleared (so if you clear 4, 5 and 6 but die returning to Leo, your deepest lvl cleared is '2').

More than just offering a new way to play the game, it also established an avenue for players to compete either solo or in teams to see how far they could progress. With the randomness associated with each new game, it also furthered the idea of 'Roguelike' runs in Diablo, without the meta progression. Further to this lots of folks found an outlet to record their victories in the game with Victory Reports either immortalized on sites like The Realms Beyond Diablo site, or forums that were popular in the day.

There are so many other variant playstyles and rulesets to explore if this type of approaching a game peeks your interest. Naturally, if there is a community forming around an idea - there needed to be places for them to congregate and record information relevant to their interests.

The Variant Community Sites

There were many sites recording variant rulesets, hosting forums for discussion, or as a place for players to have their adventure reports stored. Unfortunately many of these sites have been lost to the slow degradation of the "old internet" but a few still survive and for those that don't the Wayback Machine can still provide insight into what was.

Charis' Diablo Variants and Strategy Site

Charis was known in the community for producing the Amazon variant, which grew well beyond just a simple ruleset. From this, stories of great victories were recorded, guides written and gear setups were suggested. While this site isn't active anymore, Wayback Machine provides multiple snapshots throughout the 2000 - 2003 period. There is a ton of info here on different variants, player stories and strategy.

Realms Beyond Site and Forums

The Realms Beyond site is still available at the time of writing this article and is the one that I have the most memories of, even over the years of not necessarily playing Diablo or variants of any sort, I would find myself going back to browse the content.

It provided a good bit of nostalgia and brings feelings of comfort and a simpler time while browsing. This was a site of players who came together to increase the challenge, tell their stories, and share victories through the lens of Diablo 1. There was a simple idea behind the site - how can we play the game legitimately and cooperatively? This thought drew together a microcosm of likeminded people who represented the great part of the "old internet". Where you were known by your screenname and your contributions to forums or in game. This site wasn't just about variants, it hosted stories, guides and other links to likeminded sites that allowed for the community to share their resources and branch out.

Other sites like Dreams of a Sleeping God, Asylum Message Board, others have been lost to time with no archives or archives that have only captured a shell of what the site once was with inaccessible links and missing images. However, no information was really lost from these sites - in particular Dreams of a Sleeping God, as the tightnit community tended to share information and ensure that guides, variant rulesets and other pieces of information were referenced in multiple places. Perhaps the greatest loss is the countless posts on the forums showcasing community interactions and the relationships that were built.

History of the Communities

It seems that the idea of variants originated from Woody's Diablo Asylum, through the creation of the Naked Mage and Beyond Naked Mage playstyles. Largely in part as a way to push back against the rampant cheating on Battlenet, these folks wanted a purer playstyle that would increase the difficulty and attract like-minded legit players. Other sites like Charis' Diablo Variants and Strategy site, along with King of Pain's Dreams of a Sleeping God site came about to further build on the network of Diablo variant info and reference materials. Unfortunately only Charis's site is still available via the Wayback machine, with some of the others showing the home page but not having any other links working.

Of course, at the time most sites contained some type of forum or at least encouraged their users to congregate on a central forum. For the time there were lots of places both from the sites mentioned above and on Blizzards official forums to discuss strategy and post thoughts around variants or other topics. Quite a few of these sites also hosted battle-reports or victory-reports of successful runs as some variant, which was always interesting to read, because many of the write-ups took on the creative writing slant. People weren't just saying "I got to level 6 and found a great sword, then I killed stuff and got to level 7". They were chronicling the adventurers of their characters, developing backstories and really leaning into the fantasy fiction while reporting their accomplishments in game.

After a few years lots of content started to become centralized on the Realms Beyond Diablo site - through my research it seems like Charis, Griselda, and KingOfPain came together to bring content for Diablo 2 to a singular place, and through that carried lots of Diablo 1 content over as well. The news posts from the site date from 2000 to 2010 show that the site had some staying power, all the way through the release of Diablo 2 and LoD well beyond that. To this day the Realms Beyond site is still up and the Realms Beyond forum is still active, showing what a long lasting community has been built.

What about Diablo 2?

In particular, the Realms Beyond site contains a bunch of variants for Diablo 2 and most of the news posts reference D2 content. There was absolutely a community around that, and remnants of that approach to playing the game can be found on some Diablo 2: Resurrected posts on the forums. For me, the approach in D2 never felt the same as it did in the first game.

I think it can be attributed to the massive changes to how skills were handled between the first and second games. With Diablo 1, any character could conceivably use any weapon and any spell. While the overall number and variety of items and spells was more limited than the second game, those things could serve to further define your character. The initial class pick certainly mattered, but it didn't lock you out of anything per say.

However, with Diablo 2, class choice mattered much more - it put guardrails up around your character and provided you with a more defined list of skills that could be accessed and through that, limited certain playstyles to certain class types. Additionally the inclusion of class specific equipment, rares, set-items, etc... provided more choice but in a less freeform way that the original game provided.

Through this shift in gameplay style I think the approach to playing D2 naturally evolved towards things like speedruns and other challenge style runs beyond the more roleplaying / steeped in lore approach that Diablo 1 variants brought to the scene. This certainly didn't occur within a vaccum either, gaming as a whole started to trend towards faster paced experiences, bigger worlds, and more choice as technology progressed. While this was and (to an extent) is great, I think it removed some of the burden of getting creative from players as a whole.

The Impact on Content

Lots of the DNA of the original Diablo variants can be found across various Diablo 2 Youtube creators today. Beyond that the idea of variants may have also had some form of contribution towards the many different challenge runs, completionist runs, and speed runs of every game imaginable that is prevalent across the internet.

Youtube creators that come to mind when thinking of what variants may have influenced are folks like Zarfen the Loot Goblin, TheNuclearRabbit, Dai, and Lorbert. They all have unique approaches to the challenge runs they post on their channels. Zarfen has a number of videos along the lines of "can I beat Diablo 2 with only X" or "Diablo 2 but I'm putting all my stats into X". TheNuclearRabbit has similar videos along with a bunch of other takes on the single playthrough challenge run that can be immensely entertaining. Both of these creators have recently started to branch out to other ARPGs (and ironically, Diablo 1 as well) taking there brand of content creation into other similar games. Dai has a very relaxing approach to the challenge runs they partake in, and provides great explanaitions of what is going on, along with some funny moments. Lorbert is a smaller channel, with only seven videos to date but they interesting to say the least. He's approached things slightly differently, with a series of videos titled "Diablo 2 but I am a Historically Accurate X", where he tries to beat the game as a historically accurate assassin, druid, or necromancer.

I think it's safe to say that whether the creators know it or not, the idea of variants and portions of the variant community have certainly influenced the scene and it's nice to see that players are still exercising their creative muscle and pushing the bounds of such great games.

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