Crothian
First Post
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Every now and again a publisher brings something new to the RPG world. It is not always new ideas and a new way of doing things, sometimes it is deals with how a book is released. With the world wide web being as popular it is, new ways to get ones book noticed have really sprung up. There are web sites, message boards, e-mail lists, and all sorts of new and different ways to get the world out. It has been a fascinating thing to watch. Some things work, others do not but that does not stop people from trying. The Kyngdoms brings us an interesting way to release their campaign world. It is all on their web page for free. And it is all in a PDF that I am reviewing here. But the question that this brings up is why buy the PDF when all the information is on the web page?
The Kyngdoms is a new campaign world. The PDF is over three hundred pages long and just filled to the rim with information. The art and layout are both good and really makes the book easy to read. One of the strongest parts of the book is the organization. This book puts most other RPGs to shame in this area. It has a very complete table of contents, index, and book marks. Frankly, in this day an age most books seem to have a lousy table of contents and that is it. The web page is also well organized, but not like the PDF. I found it much easier and faster to use the PDF then the web page. The art is well done and one will see the same pieces of art on both the web page and the PDF though the pictures are bigger on the PDF. There are only two pages of color, the front cover and back cover. It is easy to not print those two pages and just print the other three hundred. The web site is not set up to print things out as easily as the PDF. The PDF I found easier and more convenient to find things and to read through everything though the web site is not bad in this regards. Printing is just a lot better from the PDF as well.
The book has some really nice maps in it. They are in black and white and cover the known world. There are other products out that are just the maps that I will review later, but I will note here they are in color and are bigger so it is easier to see the details on the maps with the other products. The website also has the maps of everything on it though they are also in color. They have a very simple way that allows one to zoom in a bit on sections of the map. They also have drop down menus on the web site that allow on to pick a country or other location and then have the map zoom in to that exact place. This is a very handy function especially when one is not sure where everything is on the maps. So, for the maps the other PDFs I find to be the best. The ones in this PDF make good player hand outs that can easily be printed for them. The web site though makes things easy to find and use.
The campaign setting is very thorough but not all that original. That is not a bad thing, there just does not seem to be a hook like many campaign settings have. Oathbound steals characters away to fight and adventure for mysterious reasons. Midnight has the characters in a hopeless situation fighting against the only god left who happens to be evil and has pretty much conquered everything. Dragonmech has the world being invaded by Lunar creatures, a celestial war between gods, and the reemergence of mecha. The Kyngdoms does not have any simple obvious hook to describe it like those settings do. That does not make it bad by any means it just makes it a little harder to describe in a short amount of space. But what the Kyngdoms lack in simple definition they make up for in the details and completeness of the world. Not since the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting came out have I seen so much detail in a world. Lots of campaign settings focus on the conflicts, the Kyngdoms focus on the world.
The book is mostly setting but its does have some mechanics in it. The book does a stellar job with using some options from Unearthed Arcana and fitting it into the world. There are Racial Paragon levels in the book. Many of these are very similar to the ones presented in Unearthed Arcana. There are also some feats and prestige classes and spells and new races. The new races are also from Unearthed Arcana as many are the alternated sub races from that book. But they fit really well. So, even while I am reading and recognizing that many of these options came from else where I am impressed by how seamlessly they have been made to fit. If I was not familiar with Unearthed Arcana I would not have noticed. Other books I have read the options they borrowed were obvious as the writing was not smooth between them. Here it is.
People should when they have some time go check out the web site. It is all free and all the information is there. It is like the perfect preview. One sees exactly what one gets. The PDF has the advantages of being very well organized and much easier to print things out. It is an interesting contrast between the two. Though If I were running the setting I would take advantage of both and basically have the best of both worlds.
The Kyngdoms
Every now and again a publisher brings something new to the RPG world. It is not always new ideas and a new way of doing things, sometimes it is deals with how a book is released. With the world wide web being as popular it is, new ways to get ones book noticed have really sprung up. There are web sites, message boards, e-mail lists, and all sorts of new and different ways to get the world out. It has been a fascinating thing to watch. Some things work, others do not but that does not stop people from trying. The Kyngdoms brings us an interesting way to release their campaign world. It is all on their web page for free. And it is all in a PDF that I am reviewing here. But the question that this brings up is why buy the PDF when all the information is on the web page?
The Kyngdoms is a new campaign world. The PDF is over three hundred pages long and just filled to the rim with information. The art and layout are both good and really makes the book easy to read. One of the strongest parts of the book is the organization. This book puts most other RPGs to shame in this area. It has a very complete table of contents, index, and book marks. Frankly, in this day an age most books seem to have a lousy table of contents and that is it. The web page is also well organized, but not like the PDF. I found it much easier and faster to use the PDF then the web page. The art is well done and one will see the same pieces of art on both the web page and the PDF though the pictures are bigger on the PDF. There are only two pages of color, the front cover and back cover. It is easy to not print those two pages and just print the other three hundred. The web site is not set up to print things out as easily as the PDF. The PDF I found easier and more convenient to find things and to read through everything though the web site is not bad in this regards. Printing is just a lot better from the PDF as well.
The book has some really nice maps in it. They are in black and white and cover the known world. There are other products out that are just the maps that I will review later, but I will note here they are in color and are bigger so it is easier to see the details on the maps with the other products. The website also has the maps of everything on it though they are also in color. They have a very simple way that allows one to zoom in a bit on sections of the map. They also have drop down menus on the web site that allow on to pick a country or other location and then have the map zoom in to that exact place. This is a very handy function especially when one is not sure where everything is on the maps. So, for the maps the other PDFs I find to be the best. The ones in this PDF make good player hand outs that can easily be printed for them. The web site though makes things easy to find and use.
The campaign setting is very thorough but not all that original. That is not a bad thing, there just does not seem to be a hook like many campaign settings have. Oathbound steals characters away to fight and adventure for mysterious reasons. Midnight has the characters in a hopeless situation fighting against the only god left who happens to be evil and has pretty much conquered everything. Dragonmech has the world being invaded by Lunar creatures, a celestial war between gods, and the reemergence of mecha. The Kyngdoms does not have any simple obvious hook to describe it like those settings do. That does not make it bad by any means it just makes it a little harder to describe in a short amount of space. But what the Kyngdoms lack in simple definition they make up for in the details and completeness of the world. Not since the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting came out have I seen so much detail in a world. Lots of campaign settings focus on the conflicts, the Kyngdoms focus on the world.
The book is mostly setting but its does have some mechanics in it. The book does a stellar job with using some options from Unearthed Arcana and fitting it into the world. There are Racial Paragon levels in the book. Many of these are very similar to the ones presented in Unearthed Arcana. There are also some feats and prestige classes and spells and new races. The new races are also from Unearthed Arcana as many are the alternated sub races from that book. But they fit really well. So, even while I am reading and recognizing that many of these options came from else where I am impressed by how seamlessly they have been made to fit. If I was not familiar with Unearthed Arcana I would not have noticed. Other books I have read the options they borrowed were obvious as the writing was not smooth between them. Here it is.
People should when they have some time go check out the web site. It is all free and all the information is there. It is like the perfect preview. One sees exactly what one gets. The PDF has the advantages of being very well organized and much easier to print things out. It is an interesting contrast between the two. Though If I were running the setting I would take advantage of both and basically have the best of both worlds.
The Kyngdoms
