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Dry Land: Empires of the Dragon Sands
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<blockquote data-quote="JoeGKushner" data-source="post: 2010245" data-attributes="member: 1129"><p>Dry Land, Empires of the Dragon Sands, goes a bit farther than Bluffside did and perhaps suffers a little for it.</p><p></p><p>The book is broken up into four main chapters, No Man's Land, Granite Kingdom, Burning Sands, and Dragori Empire. The first section is a strip of badlands where a few locations thrive in the harsh extremes. The local detailed here, Deep End, has several POI (Places of Interest) noted with the characters and ideas on how to use this section in a campaign. One of the best things about it is that it's supposed to be a place where you go when you need to get away from civilization. Perfect setup for getting characters to go there as either the hunters of bandits and other criminals, or the hunted, fleeing from Bluffside or another local.</p><p></p><p>The second chapter, Granite Kingdom, takes the dwarves and makes them masters of ceramics. Now this struck me as a really cool idea. They still have some strange inventions like water canons that are powered by tanks filled during rainy days and aren't tied into the survival of the dwarves. The whole concept takes the metal working heritage of dwarves and puts it in a new light. Not as impressive as the Granite Kingdoms though are the Clay Fortress, the humans who've fled from the Dragori and emulate the dwarves through the mastery of clay. </p><p></p><p>Burning Sands, the third chapter, gives us a little more history of the land. Once field with “heavy heads of grain”, the land was destroyed in a war when members of the genie race fought back the Dragori invaders. During said war, they destroyed the land, leaving it tied to the elemental planes of fire and air. This has some game effects too. For example, you don't want to summon a water elemental to this place. Like the previous chapters, POIs are noted and some game ideas sprint right to mind with the Diamond Springs Oasis. Could players be smart enough to rob such a heavily armed and fortified place or would they seek to find their own diamond mind in this harsh terrain? What about the ruins of Tashmenir, former stronghold of the Dragori?</p><p></p><p>One of the largest chapters in the book, Dragori Empire, provides details on the history and heritage of the Dragori. Endikarr, the capital of the Dragori Empire and home to the Diamond Throne, is mapped and detailed with over thirty POIs. One of the things that sets the Dragori from other races in most standard campaigns isn't really their dragonic heritage, but rather, their lifestyle. While they are a race of conquerors, they do know how to use diplomacy. They have secrets, but many of them, like the Claws of the Emperor, are well known. They have slaves, but no one is born a slave and you don't stay a slave. It makes an interesting contrast to a race like the drow that's basically evil to the core and provides the GM with a model of how to use them as both players, as well as heroic or villainous NPCs</p><p></p><p>Much like Freeport, there are a ton of Appendix listings here. The first one gives the stat blocks for all the NPCs. NO background here mind you, but you do get full stats and the location so when looking over say Boroc Hammerfist, you see GK2, which means Granite Kingdom 2 POI.</p><p></p><p>Appendix Two covers the hazards of the Dry Sands and includes rules for pits, the cold weather of the desert at night, dehydration, tainted water, quicksand and other hazards. GMs now have a ton of options to insure that any trip to a desert isn't the same old same old. Tying into this is Appendix Three, Arid Regions, that showcases the differences between sandy deserts, cactus deserts, and chemical deserts.</p><p></p><p>Those who've been reading through the review and were excited by the mention of genies in a desert setting may be wondering, is that nod towards Arabian Adventures taken any further? Yes. Appendix Four covers Classes and the first one is the Bisaakir Zaari, a spellcaster who gets spells from his Genie Ally. They don't get as many spells as a standard spellcaster and have to make spellcaster level check when requesting spells. It's a neat little subsystem and should be easy to integrate into almost any setting where the GM </p><p>wants to add some spice or variety to his campaign.</p><p></p><p>Those not interested in the Bisaakir may want to review the Shaman, a spellcaster who allies with Spirits, while others may want to check out the prestige classes like the Badlands Bandit and the Claws of the Emperor. The Digger reminds me a little too much of the other PrCs that specialize in finding out loot like the Explorer or Seeker but hey, I know others who always want another option, another variant. Other PrCs help round out the culture of the area like the Halfling Caravan Runner, Nevae Wanderer, Priest of the Eternal Dragon, Prophet of the Sands, Sand Dancer, Sand Rider, Serpent Wardens, Wise and Wyrmrider.</p><p></p><p>Other game mechanics come into play in Appendix 5, Creatures. The Granite Kingdom specializes in crafting Clay Soldiers to help augment their military force while in the deserts, Sand Elementals stalk the dunes even as true Mummies guard their ancient homes.</p><p></p><p>Remember the Water Cannons? They're statted out in Appendix Six with other equipment that can help a character survive the Dry Lands.</p><p></p><p>Appendix Seven covers Feats. The feats range from effecting the classes and races here like Spirit Affinity, allowing the user to bind more hit dice in spirits, perfect for the Shaman Class, to more general like Channel Ki Skin where you spend a stunning attack and get damage resistance of 1.</p><p></p><p>A quick run down of Appendix eight provides terms from the Dragon Sands. Useful for getting the flavor of the setting down. A few examples of how people speak in normal words and then with the material here would've been helpful. Then again, I'd kill to avoid overuse of language such as with Planescape.</p><p></p><p>Appendix nine covers the magic items in the setting. The most powerful of these of course is the Diamond Throne. It grants the user a lot of abilities like +10 deflection bonus to AC, Spell Resistance 30, and many, many other cool abilities. The bad thing is that if the Dragon Emperor dies, he becomes one with the throne and the hundreds of previous Emperors and can't be raised by any method.</p><p></p><p>The Dragori finally get their racial stats written out in Appendix ten, Races. There are three subraces, the Sah, Nen, and Fehr, (Sorcerer, Fighter, and Monk based on racial modifiers and culture). The Hukhamet, humanoid canids, are also statted out.</p><p></p><p>I know, you're still reading this review going, “Man, what else is there?” How about spells and skills? Neither one takes up a lot of space, but both are useful for the setting. You get two new domains, Dragon and Sand, and a whole new list of Summoning Lists for sand creatures.</p><p></p><p>A nice index and bibliography helps wrap up the book. One thing I thought was missing was a reference to Al Qadim under the Bibliography and some movies and other good stuff to get a feel for the setting. The bibliography is more of a resource style listing of books.</p><p></p><p>One thing I didn't like was having the new races at the back of the book. They're mentioned in the setting. They're mentioned in the prestige classes. In short, they're all over and having them be done last is a little aggravating as I've got to flip to the back of the book whenever I want to reference them.</p><p></p><p>The main problem people will have with the book though is that this is a huge area. It's not a single city or a village or something you can just add to a setting without too much rework. It's a vast desert with a lot of material in it that'll need some time and thought to integrate into a campaign.</p><p></p><p>I myself find that while the Empire was cool and the race fills some niches, I actually wanted more information on the Granite Kingdoms. I wanted Maps, specialized weapons, and all sorts of material focused on those dwarves who've forsaken iron and replaced it with ceramics.</p><p></p><p>The layout is standard, two columns. Art ranges from okay to great. Map quality is good, but there aren't enough maps. The separation of NPCs from the main body makes it easy to find what you're looking for, but adds the task of having to look in the first place. NPC's of a certain race have racial traits that are repeated each time the character is written up, making for some wasted space but complete entries. One thing I was disappointed in, is that there was no pull out map.</p><p></p><p>All in all, the Dry Land will present the GM with a lot of options and will require several readings to decide how best to integrate it into their own campaigns. Some may want to take the classes whole cloth while others may wish to introduce the new races, spells, magic items or feats. No matter what you're looking for, chances are Dry Land has something for you.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="JoeGKushner, post: 2010245, member: 1129"] Dry Land, Empires of the Dragon Sands, goes a bit farther than Bluffside did and perhaps suffers a little for it. The book is broken up into four main chapters, No Man's Land, Granite Kingdom, Burning Sands, and Dragori Empire. The first section is a strip of badlands where a few locations thrive in the harsh extremes. The local detailed here, Deep End, has several POI (Places of Interest) noted with the characters and ideas on how to use this section in a campaign. One of the best things about it is that it's supposed to be a place where you go when you need to get away from civilization. Perfect setup for getting characters to go there as either the hunters of bandits and other criminals, or the hunted, fleeing from Bluffside or another local. The second chapter, Granite Kingdom, takes the dwarves and makes them masters of ceramics. Now this struck me as a really cool idea. They still have some strange inventions like water canons that are powered by tanks filled during rainy days and aren't tied into the survival of the dwarves. The whole concept takes the metal working heritage of dwarves and puts it in a new light. Not as impressive as the Granite Kingdoms though are the Clay Fortress, the humans who've fled from the Dragori and emulate the dwarves through the mastery of clay. Burning Sands, the third chapter, gives us a little more history of the land. Once field with “heavy heads of grain”, the land was destroyed in a war when members of the genie race fought back the Dragori invaders. During said war, they destroyed the land, leaving it tied to the elemental planes of fire and air. This has some game effects too. For example, you don't want to summon a water elemental to this place. Like the previous chapters, POIs are noted and some game ideas sprint right to mind with the Diamond Springs Oasis. Could players be smart enough to rob such a heavily armed and fortified place or would they seek to find their own diamond mind in this harsh terrain? What about the ruins of Tashmenir, former stronghold of the Dragori? One of the largest chapters in the book, Dragori Empire, provides details on the history and heritage of the Dragori. Endikarr, the capital of the Dragori Empire and home to the Diamond Throne, is mapped and detailed with over thirty POIs. One of the things that sets the Dragori from other races in most standard campaigns isn't really their dragonic heritage, but rather, their lifestyle. While they are a race of conquerors, they do know how to use diplomacy. They have secrets, but many of them, like the Claws of the Emperor, are well known. They have slaves, but no one is born a slave and you don't stay a slave. It makes an interesting contrast to a race like the drow that's basically evil to the core and provides the GM with a model of how to use them as both players, as well as heroic or villainous NPCs Much like Freeport, there are a ton of Appendix listings here. The first one gives the stat blocks for all the NPCs. NO background here mind you, but you do get full stats and the location so when looking over say Boroc Hammerfist, you see GK2, which means Granite Kingdom 2 POI. Appendix Two covers the hazards of the Dry Sands and includes rules for pits, the cold weather of the desert at night, dehydration, tainted water, quicksand and other hazards. GMs now have a ton of options to insure that any trip to a desert isn't the same old same old. Tying into this is Appendix Three, Arid Regions, that showcases the differences between sandy deserts, cactus deserts, and chemical deserts. Those who've been reading through the review and were excited by the mention of genies in a desert setting may be wondering, is that nod towards Arabian Adventures taken any further? Yes. Appendix Four covers Classes and the first one is the Bisaakir Zaari, a spellcaster who gets spells from his Genie Ally. They don't get as many spells as a standard spellcaster and have to make spellcaster level check when requesting spells. It's a neat little subsystem and should be easy to integrate into almost any setting where the GM wants to add some spice or variety to his campaign. Those not interested in the Bisaakir may want to review the Shaman, a spellcaster who allies with Spirits, while others may want to check out the prestige classes like the Badlands Bandit and the Claws of the Emperor. The Digger reminds me a little too much of the other PrCs that specialize in finding out loot like the Explorer or Seeker but hey, I know others who always want another option, another variant. Other PrCs help round out the culture of the area like the Halfling Caravan Runner, Nevae Wanderer, Priest of the Eternal Dragon, Prophet of the Sands, Sand Dancer, Sand Rider, Serpent Wardens, Wise and Wyrmrider. Other game mechanics come into play in Appendix 5, Creatures. The Granite Kingdom specializes in crafting Clay Soldiers to help augment their military force while in the deserts, Sand Elementals stalk the dunes even as true Mummies guard their ancient homes. Remember the Water Cannons? They're statted out in Appendix Six with other equipment that can help a character survive the Dry Lands. Appendix Seven covers Feats. The feats range from effecting the classes and races here like Spirit Affinity, allowing the user to bind more hit dice in spirits, perfect for the Shaman Class, to more general like Channel Ki Skin where you spend a stunning attack and get damage resistance of 1. A quick run down of Appendix eight provides terms from the Dragon Sands. Useful for getting the flavor of the setting down. A few examples of how people speak in normal words and then with the material here would've been helpful. Then again, I'd kill to avoid overuse of language such as with Planescape. Appendix nine covers the magic items in the setting. The most powerful of these of course is the Diamond Throne. It grants the user a lot of abilities like +10 deflection bonus to AC, Spell Resistance 30, and many, many other cool abilities. The bad thing is that if the Dragon Emperor dies, he becomes one with the throne and the hundreds of previous Emperors and can't be raised by any method. The Dragori finally get their racial stats written out in Appendix ten, Races. There are three subraces, the Sah, Nen, and Fehr, (Sorcerer, Fighter, and Monk based on racial modifiers and culture). The Hukhamet, humanoid canids, are also statted out. I know, you're still reading this review going, “Man, what else is there?” How about spells and skills? Neither one takes up a lot of space, but both are useful for the setting. You get two new domains, Dragon and Sand, and a whole new list of Summoning Lists for sand creatures. A nice index and bibliography helps wrap up the book. One thing I thought was missing was a reference to Al Qadim under the Bibliography and some movies and other good stuff to get a feel for the setting. The bibliography is more of a resource style listing of books. One thing I didn't like was having the new races at the back of the book. They're mentioned in the setting. They're mentioned in the prestige classes. In short, they're all over and having them be done last is a little aggravating as I've got to flip to the back of the book whenever I want to reference them. The main problem people will have with the book though is that this is a huge area. It's not a single city or a village or something you can just add to a setting without too much rework. It's a vast desert with a lot of material in it that'll need some time and thought to integrate into a campaign. I myself find that while the Empire was cool and the race fills some niches, I actually wanted more information on the Granite Kingdoms. I wanted Maps, specialized weapons, and all sorts of material focused on those dwarves who've forsaken iron and replaced it with ceramics. The layout is standard, two columns. Art ranges from okay to great. Map quality is good, but there aren't enough maps. The separation of NPCs from the main body makes it easy to find what you're looking for, but adds the task of having to look in the first place. NPC's of a certain race have racial traits that are repeated each time the character is written up, making for some wasted space but complete entries. One thing I was disappointed in, is that there was no pull out map. All in all, the Dry Land will present the GM with a lot of options and will require several readings to decide how best to integrate it into their own campaigns. Some may want to take the classes whole cloth while others may wish to introduce the new races, spells, magic items or feats. No matter what you're looking for, chances are Dry Land has something for you. [/QUOTE]
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