Campaign Setting Sourcebook (Dungeons & Dragons: Kingdoms of Kalamar)

Rating:
Summary: Terrific World - the best out there
Review: I have been a player of Dungeons and Dragons since around 1980 or so. I believe this is the best world sourcebook on the market, bar none. The world is a nice outline, but does not have too much detail where you feel straight jacketed into running a high magic world a certain way, like the Forgotten Realms. You get a lot of plot hooks in each chapter and there are lots of ways you can run the plot hooks. And, an added bonus from the design of the book is that it is very easy to just drop in a random module or adventure here. You're not so overwhelmed with details where it would take tons of work to modify a generic adventure. A thing I particularly liked is that you, the PC, can become the most powerful person in the world. In the aforementioned Realms, there is always Elminster or some near god-like bad guy. In Greyhawk, you have legendary characters going back to the game's creation. How can you outshine them? All in all, this book will give a DM a nice world that is quickly playable and easily adaptable to any campaign you want. If you want high magic, it's easy to add in dragons, magic items and whatnot. But, what is the Realms with Elminster and a magic shop on every corner? If you want to run a low magic world, you are all set. It's certainly easier to add the magic in than take it out

Rating:
Summary: Best RPG for people who want a detailed setting
Review: I made the mistake of jumping into the Kalamar setting wholeheartedly, instead of a bit at a time. If the rest of the products are equivalent to this sourcebook (I've only looked at one module so far, the Player's Guide is next), it will have been a very underwhelming purchase. Let me note first, that I was hoping for a more coherent world than the Forgotten Realms, which I like, but with great mysteries of the world to explore. The basic feeling you get from reading this sourcebook is that humans rule the continent that was previously controlled by dwarves, elves and hobgoblins. Therefore, there should be lots of adventuring sites based on old civilizations. Instead, most of the focus is on the current human kingdoms, their interactions, and a couple of elven/dwarven/hobgoblin nations. Some geographical locations are mentioned as areas with high monster activity, but very few ancient cities or well known ruins. The feeling is that Kalamar campaigns are more political in nature than the standard AD&D campaign. I suppose this is good for some people, but not quite what I expect from AD&D. Even so, the conflict between the nations is almost subdued. There's lots of threats and insults and past animosity, but very little actual open hostilities. This part (the various kingdoms) takes up most of the book. Then there's a section on the religions which is nicely done, more detail is given than in the Forgotten Realms book for instance, but they left out the clerical domains (added to a website). There's a section on language which seems mostly superfluous, unless you want to make codes for the players to decipher. Appendices add calendar and constellation info which is actually nice, and a master chart of NPCs which is merely their class, level, race, location and sex.

One of the huge problems I found with the book was a variety of inconsistencies throughout. Some poor grammar, relatively juvenile writing in places, terrible location names (I agree with people on RPGnet that it looks like they just made a random name generator). The worst offenders though are that sometimes NPCs don't seem to be referenced in the back or information isn't complete (there's a reference to a bastard son of a king, I'm assuming.. but all it says is that he plans to make a name for himself and then force the king to acknowledge his lineage or pay him off.. it doesn't actually _say_ what his relationship to the king is, it's only because this appears immediately after the section detailing which son will take over the kingdom that I could make the inference). Also, there's one case of a Necromancy spell of particularly nasty effects being attributed to a good aligned wizard. Finally, quality control seems a bit lax in the Kalamar setting, one of their modules takes place in a town. In the sourcebook, the town is shown as being under the protection of one city, and in the module it's under the protection of another one.

So, I gave it three stars anyway. Part of this is for the exceptionally beautiful maps, and the small portions of the maps shown throughout for each region. The production quality is high with nice black and white pictures throughout. In spite of the inconsistencies and blandness, the world does hang together pretty well. It's merely up to the DM to add the adventuring sites, old civilizations, etc if he/she wants to. For those who want politically based campaigns, the setting will probably work very well. For me, it just doesn't sow adventure/campaign ideas in my mind the way other sourcebooks have.

Rating:
Summary: Bland world, numerous nits drag it down.
Review: I made the mistake of jumping into the Kalamar setting wholeheartedly, instead of a bit at a time. If the rest of the products are equivalent to this sourcebook (I've only looked at one module so far, the Player's Guide is next), it will have been a very underwhelming purchase. Let me note first, that I was hoping for a more coherent world than the Forgotten Realms, which I like, but with great mysteries of the world to explore. The basic feeling you get from reading this sourcebook is that humans rule the continent that was previously controlled by dwarves, elves and hobgoblins. Therefore, there should be lots of adventuring sites based on old civilizations. Instead, most of the focus is on the current human kingdoms, their interactions, and a couple of elven/dwarven/hobgoblin nations. Some geographical locations are mentioned as areas with high monster activity, but very few ancient cities or well known ruins. The feeling is that Kalamar campaigns are more political in nature than the standard AD&D campaign. I suppose this is good for some people, but not quite what I expect from AD&D. Even so, the conflict between the nations is almost subdued. There's lots of threats and insults and past animosity, but very little actual open hostilities. This part (the various kingdoms) takes up most of the book. Then there's a section on the religions which is nicely done, more detail is given than in the Forgotten Realms book for instance, but they left out the clerical domains (added to a website). There's a section on language which seems mostly superfluous, unless you want to make codes for the players to decipher. Appendices add calendar and constellation info which is actually nice, and a master chart of NPCs which is merely their class, level, race, location and sex.

One of the huge problems I found with the book was a variety of inconsistencies throughout. Some poor grammar, relatively juvenile writing in places, terrible location names (I agree with people on RPGnet that it looks like they just made a random name generator). The worst offenders though are that sometimes NPCs don't seem to be referenced in the back or information isn't complete (there's a reference to a bastard son of a king, I'm assuming.. but all it says is that he plans to make a name for himself and then force the king to acknowledge his lineage or pay him off.. it doesn't actually _say_ what his relationship to the king is, it's only because this appears immediately after the section detailing which son will take over the kingdom that I could make the inference). Also, there's one case of a Necromancy spell of particularly nasty effects being attributed to a good aligned wizard. Finally, quality control seems a bit lax in the Kalamar setting, one of their modules takes place in a town. In the sourcebook, the town is shown as being under the protection of one city, and in the module it's under the protection of another one.

So, I gave it three stars anyway. Part of this is for the exceptionally beautiful maps, and the small portions of the maps shown throughout for each region. The production quality is high with nice black and white pictures throughout. In spite of the inconsistencies and blandness, the world does hang together pretty well. It's merely up to the DM to add the adventuring sites, old civilizations, etc if he/she wants to. For those who want politically based campaigns, the setting will probably work very well. For me, it just doesn't sow adventure/campaign ideas in my mind the way other sourcebooks have.

Rating:
Summary: A mediocre sourcebook.
Review: Rarely am I disappointed when I buy sourcebooks, and almost never do I vehemently oppose world building attempts on principle. But this sourcebook is trite, dull, and overrated. I'm not saying that the individual parts are particularly horrible, and I admire the law system and some select portions of the geography. But much of this book tramples cliques in the mud. The Roman Empire, depicted here as the Kalamarians, have lost much of its empire to Barbarian Fokki (Germanic) and Dejy (Native American OR middle Eastern) types, as well as rebellious provinces. The new emperor of Kalamar is going to restore the empire. That's the world dynamic, and it is admittedly boring. The book seems to ignore the Demi-humans and instead focuses on Humans and Hobgoblins (the rulers of two minor kingdoms). The gods are parodies of other gods: Artimis is 'The Great Huntress,' Dionysius is 'the laugher,' Bane (from the FR) or Hexor (from Greyhawk) is now 'the Overlord,' Set is 'the confuser of ways,' and the unfair sterotype of the Marquis de Sade(!) is 'the Vicelord.' This book is bad, and I'd recommend something, anything else.

Rating:
Summary: A very detailed world that is full of flavour
Review: The Kingdoms Of Kalamar Campaing Setting is a very detailed book that skips completly over the "crunch" that seems to be a prequisite for most D&D book these days and instead get down to the serious buisiness of discribing the world.

Although many of the human realms are inspired by real world examples (Rome etc.) they still manage to portray a very different world. In the world of Tellene, humans dominate the world but are given heaps more flavour than the standard fantasy humans. Kingdoms of Kalamar uses human sub-races that each have individual appearances and culture.

The section on language further enhances this and although I may never find a practical use for them (apart from naming my characters of course) they add so much to the setting, showing that there is actual structure behind the some say bizarre place names of the setting.

The gods of the setting are, despite whatother reviewers have said, original and their depth is amazing. With information on the organisation of the churches, sacrafices and holy places, it is much better done than any other setting I have seen.

The minor sections of the book, like the armies of Kalamar, laws and section on Tellenes constilations are not entierly nesesary but they add even more detail to the setting already displayed.

Kalamar presents as a low magic campaign world but can be played at any level. One of the things I like most about Kalamar is it's versatility and the magic of the world is a prime example. There could easily be no magic or flying cities it's up to you. This differentiates this setting from those like the Forgotten Realms that are stuck at certain levels.

A mature look at slavery is one of the best things I like about the setting as it is fully integrated and can be used as a moral device for my players.

All in all the Kingdoms of Kalamar Campaign Setting is a very good buy for any game( because the D&D stuff in it is limited to some horse breeds, a few magic items and a NPC index) or indeed just as a source of ideas and material.

Rating:
Summary: Best RPG for people who want a detailed setting
Review: This book is one of the best-created campaign worlds I did ever encounter for a RPG. The design is not based on a few powerful characters or a book, but a complex evolution of races, cities and wars. The history and the religions based on this world makes it the best described and most accessible d20 setting available at this point.

A huge advantage of this setting is the rich support by modules and books, not only is there besides this book an Atlas of the world of Tellene, there are race descriptions, adventures and much more.

In short this world is believable to play in, an evolution where you can believe that actually would work if magic exists while not letting lose the major fantasy marks. I did only encounter as fast as I can recall now 1 book with a better fantasy world and that is Tolkien him self. So I can say without doubt that it is a book worth buying if you are interested in RPG.

Rating:
Summary: Fantasy with Realism, Fantastically Well Done!
Review: Though intended for use with Dungeons and Dragons 3rd Edition, this background-heavy, rules-light sourcebook can be used for just about any RPG system. Where most commercially available campaign worlds for gaming are based on someone's hodge-podge home game, the World of Tellene was built as a whole, with thought to plate tectonics, ecology, weather patterns, cultural migrations, wars, linguistics and sociology all taken into account from the start. Magic flavors the mix, but isn't responsible for illogical juxtapositions like an arctic climate at the equator or similar aberrant phenomenon.

Six human culture/ethnicities clash and mix to destroy or create nations; hobgoblin empires struggle to maintain and expand against hostile neighbors; elves, dwarves, gnomes and halflings try to keep their cultures living and free from the dominance of human influences. Orcs, giants, and monsters on the fringes of civilized lands exist logically according to their natures and resources, with realistic rivalries and goals.

Histories of peoples and nations, backgrounds for adventures, current events, languages, timelines, military forces and more are detailed here - while leaving future events entirely up to the DM and the players. The setting is also well supported by adventure modules, a Player's Guide, an Atlas, sourcebooks, and a web-community where the designers actually thrive on feedback from the consumers.

It's also the only Offical game setting produced under license for the D&D3e game system by a company other than Wizards of the Coast, with far greater quality standards than what mere d20 licensees produce.