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Dry Land: Empires of the Dragon Sands
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<blockquote data-quote="Psion" data-source="post: 2010413" data-attributes="member: 172"><p><strong>Dry Lands: Empire of the Dragon Sands</strong></p><p></p><p><em>Dry Lands: Empire of the Dragon Sands</em> is a setting supplement for the <em>Bluffside</em> campaign setting. The book describes the desert region of the Bluffside "northern continent" setting, which is controlled primarily by the reptilian/draconic humanoid race called the <em>dragori</em>, first introduced in the <em>Bluffside</em> city sourcebook.</p><p></p><p><em>Dry Lands: Empire of the Dragon Sands</em> is written by Becky Glenn (who is a major contributor to the Fantasy Netbook Community Council in addition to previous <em>Bluffside</em> material) and published by Mystic Eye Games.</p><p></p><p><strong>A First Look</strong></p><p></p><p><em>Dry Lands: Empire of the Dragon Sands</em> is a 144-page perfect-bound softcover book priced at $22.99. This is about the competitive norm for d20 book of this size and format.</p><p></p><p>The cover has an illustration by Storn Cook, depicting some dragori defending themselves against some scimitar wielding raiders in a desolate ruin.</p><p></p><p>The interior is black-and-white, and includes illustrations by Ben McSweeny, RB Hall, Mike May, Brandt Peters, Shane Coppage, Brad McDevitt, and Tamara Pressman. Maps are done by Tamara Pressman. Overall, the interior illustrations are of good quality, though some of the Dragori illustrations gave me sort of an uncomfortably kiddish "Dragonball Z" vibe.</p><p></p><p>The book uses the typical format of Thunderhead Games/Bluffside style books: three columns, small (but readable) serif font, and single spaced lines and paragraphs. Overall, the book has a high text density and good value for the money based on content quantity.</p><p></p><p><strong>A Deeper Look</strong></p><p></p><p><em>Dry Lands: Empire of the Dragon Sands</em> is divided into four chapters and twelve appendices. The four chapters describe the political and geographic divisions on the Dragon Sands region, and take up less than half of the book. The twelve appendices cover more rules related material such as NPC statistics and new races, classes, feats, and spells.</p><p></p><p>The dragon sands is divided roughly into three regions (each of which has a chapter devoted to it). The no man's land is a region to the north marked by rough terrain and volcanic activity. The burning sands are an inhospitable desert regions to the south of the no man's land and north of the Dragori empire. The Dragori empire itself is dominated by the Dragori, and has severally magically maintained river valleys that make life possible.</p><p></p><p>In addition to these major regions, there is one other region of note. The granite kingdom is a dwarven settlement carved into the mountains in the west end of the Dragon Sands.</p><p></p><p>Each chapter describes some major sites in the region. Each chapter is addressed in a fashion similar to Bluffside. Each has a number of described "points of interest", with a description of the establishment, owner or residents, regulars, and adventure hooks, and references to the NPC appendix for NPC mechanical details. Each chapter also has sidebars with historical and cultural details of the region.</p><p></p><p>The No Man's Land is a dangerous and lawless region, home to many refugees fleeing the influence of the Dragori Empire. The described points of interest are spread throughout the no man's land, and includes sites in the isolated village of Deep End, as well as others sites elsewhere such as the Alchemical Institute (which studies several chemical pools in the No Man's Land) and the Cavern of Souls (which is said to have the echoes of the voices of the dead.)</p><p></p><p>The Granite Kingdom is the central point of dwarven activity in the Great Northern Continent. It was established before the receding of the ice-age that brought the other races back to the region, and is a reminder of a much more vital times among the dwarves. A majority of this chapter is devoted to the unassailable Granite Fortress, though some entries are devoted to the Clay Fortress, a nearby primitive human settlement that hopes to emulate to security of the Granite Kingdom.</p><p></p><p>The Burning Sands region is a harsh and inhospitable desert. It is inhabited by the Rahihn, a nomadic race of desert dwelling humans. The Rahihn are descended from the former inhabitants of the region, who charged genies to repel the invading Dragori from the south, but in doing so blighted the land and made it into the desert that it is today.</p><p></p><p>The Burning Sands region is home to eight major tribes. Like the No Man's Land, the Burning Sands region's places of interest are scattered about the region. Places of interest include things like oases and caravans, as well as unusual sites like the graveyard of the giants and the roving dunes.</p><p></p><p>Some of the more interesting and unusual features of this chapter include the halfling caravans and the Rahihn legends. The halfling caravans are unusual in that the halflings build their homes into the shells of giant tortoises, which they then use to roam the desert.</p><p></p><p>The Dragori Empire is the remnant of an ancient empire that once covered the region. The dragori are a humanoid race with very reptilian features that believe that they are descended from dragons. The empire was forced to retreat from the onslaught of the genies brought forth by the humans to the north, and the Dragori erected a magical barrier to protect what was left of their empire from the burning heat of the burning sands.</p><p></p><p>The Dragori Empire is nearing civil war. The empire is sharply divided into two camps over how to treat the threat posed by semi-intelligent dragons in the north. One camp thinks that the dune wyrms are abominations and should be dealt with, while another thinks that they are true dragons and should be revered.</p><p></p><p>The first appendix provides statistics for major NPCs at points of interest in the rest of the book. The appendix is large, taking up 36 pages. Much like <em>Bluffside</em>, this makes a great resource for campaigning in the setting. The stat blocks appear solid and consistent with the d20 rules.</p><p></p><p>The second and third appendix provides details on the terrain. The first of these appendices provides d20 rules for handling various terrain hazards, and the second provides some informational detail about real world and fantasy desert terrain.</p><p></p><p>Appendix four provides new classes; there are two core classes, one npc class, and 12 prestige classes.</p><p></p><p>The bisaakir zaari is a core class; it is a sorcerer or wizard variant with a special affinity for geniekind. The bisaakir zaari gains spells more slowly than a wizard, but has easier access to spells (which are acquired through their genie servant), and can task elemental creatures to do their bidding.</p><p></p><p>Shamans are another core class. The shaman is a spellcaster with an affinity to spirits. The shaman depicted here is similar to the one in Mongoose's <em>Shamans</em> in that it use charisma as a casting statistic and its spells are determined by totem spirits. The shaman here gets fewer totem spirit than the Mongoose shaman, but has the ability to bind spirits to get access to more spells.</p><p></p><p>The NPC class is the slave, and as listed it only has five levels. It has all poor saves and a limited skill selection. I am unconvinced that a slave class is needed; it seems that the commoner class fills this role just fine.</p><p></p><p>The twelve prestige classes are as follows:</p><p><strong><em> -Badlands Bandit:</em></strong> The badlands bandit is a villainous resident of the No Man's Land who has made the area more than a temporary residence. The bandits are good fighters with some rogue-like abilities.</p><p><strong><em> -Claws of the Emperor:</em></strong> These are elite guards dedicated to the Dragori emperor. They have several monk and assassin-like abilities, in addition to physical conditioning that gives them sharps scales, letting them do unarmed slashing attacks.</p><p><strong><em> -Digger:</em></strong> The digger is a specialist in recovering archaeological treasures. They receive class abilities that let them deal with threats present in tombs, as well as bonuses to history knowledge and languages.</p><p><strong><em> -Halfling Caravan Runners:</em></strong> This class represents talented scouts used by the halfling caravans in the burning sands. The caravan runner has capabilities that increase their mobility and observation abilities.</p><p><strong><em> -Nevae Wanderer:</em></strong> The nevae is a race introduced in <em>Bluffside</em>. The nevae wanderer is a traveller with class abilities that aid in movement and diplomacy.</p><p><strong><em> -Priest of the Eternal Dragons:</em></strong> Dragori revere "the Eternal Dragon." This prestige class is a divine prestige class with slowed spellcasting ability, but which receives dragon like abilities, such are breath weapon and improved natural armor.</p><p><strong><em> -Prophet of the Sands:</em></strong> These are men who wander the desert and prophecy. The have their own spellcasting progression and spell lists, as well as divination-related class abilities.</p><p><strong><em> -Sand Dancer:</em></strong> These are spies and scouts of the desert tribes. The have stealth and ambush related abilities.</p><p><strong><em> -Sand Riders:</em></strong> These are the mounted warriors of the desert tribes, with mounted combat and desert survival abilities.</p><p><strong><em> -Serpent Warden:</em></strong> The serpent warden is named for the major river in the Dragori Empire; they are guardians of these precious resources, with water-related abilities</p><p><strong><em> -The Wise:</em></strong> The wise are elders of the tribal communities. They have their own spell list and progression, and class abilities that protect them and others and divination abilities.</p><p><strong><em> -Wyrmriders:</em></strong> The wyrmrider is a character (usually dragori) who has learned to ride the dune wyrm as a mount. The class abilities enhance the combat capabilities of the mount.</p><p></p><p>The fifth appendix includes many creatures of the settings, including genie allies, sand elementals, the giant tortoises used by the halfling caravans, and templates for sprits, sand creatures, and greater mummies.</p><p></p><p>New feats are mostly related to new character options in the book. Many feats revolve around dragori racial traits, or the new core classes in the book.</p><p></p><p>The dragori are a humanoid reptilian race with three subraces: the dragori-nen, -fehr, and -sah. The nen are large and slow (favored class fighter), the fehr are small and quick (favored class monk), and the sah are charismatic (favored class sorcerer). As a race they are dispassionate and logical, and they have a prehensile tail and dragonlike characteristics (like resistance to fire and natural armor.)</p><p></p><p>Other items tucked away in the appendices include new domains, spells, equipment, and magic items.</p><p></p><p><strong>Conclusion</strong></p><p></p><p><em>Dry Lands: Empire of the Dragon Sands</em> is a fairly simple and detail-light setting supplement. If you are looking for a desert style setting to drop into your game, this makes a good drop-in in the same way that <em>Bluffside</em> does. It uses a lot of commonly referred to tropes in desert oriented fantasy settings, so should fit well if you already have existing concepts of this type.</p><p></p><p>For a change, I actually found the mechanical content a little heavy, and many of the prestige classes didn't seem to add much to the game. The two new core classes are passable, but of course less detailed than similar classes presented in their own products elsewhere.</p><p></p><p><em>Overall Grade: B-</em></p><p></p><p><em>-Alan D. Kohler</em></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Psion, post: 2010413, member: 172"] [b]Dry Lands: Empire of the Dragon Sands[/b] [i]Dry Lands: Empire of the Dragon Sands[/i] is a setting supplement for the [i]Bluffside[/i] campaign setting. The book describes the desert region of the Bluffside "northern continent" setting, which is controlled primarily by the reptilian/draconic humanoid race called the [i]dragori[/i], first introduced in the [i]Bluffside[/i] city sourcebook. [i]Dry Lands: Empire of the Dragon Sands[/i] is written by Becky Glenn (who is a major contributor to the Fantasy Netbook Community Council in addition to previous [i]Bluffside[/i] material) and published by Mystic Eye Games. [b]A First Look[/b] [i]Dry Lands: Empire of the Dragon Sands[/i] is a 144-page perfect-bound softcover book priced at $22.99. This is about the competitive norm for d20 book of this size and format. The cover has an illustration by Storn Cook, depicting some dragori defending themselves against some scimitar wielding raiders in a desolate ruin. The interior is black-and-white, and includes illustrations by Ben McSweeny, RB Hall, Mike May, Brandt Peters, Shane Coppage, Brad McDevitt, and Tamara Pressman. Maps are done by Tamara Pressman. Overall, the interior illustrations are of good quality, though some of the Dragori illustrations gave me sort of an uncomfortably kiddish "Dragonball Z" vibe. The book uses the typical format of Thunderhead Games/Bluffside style books: three columns, small (but readable) serif font, and single spaced lines and paragraphs. Overall, the book has a high text density and good value for the money based on content quantity. [b]A Deeper Look[/b] [i]Dry Lands: Empire of the Dragon Sands[/i] is divided into four chapters and twelve appendices. The four chapters describe the political and geographic divisions on the Dragon Sands region, and take up less than half of the book. The twelve appendices cover more rules related material such as NPC statistics and new races, classes, feats, and spells. The dragon sands is divided roughly into three regions (each of which has a chapter devoted to it). The no man's land is a region to the north marked by rough terrain and volcanic activity. The burning sands are an inhospitable desert regions to the south of the no man's land and north of the Dragori empire. The Dragori empire itself is dominated by the Dragori, and has severally magically maintained river valleys that make life possible. In addition to these major regions, there is one other region of note. The granite kingdom is a dwarven settlement carved into the mountains in the west end of the Dragon Sands. Each chapter describes some major sites in the region. Each chapter is addressed in a fashion similar to Bluffside. Each has a number of described "points of interest", with a description of the establishment, owner or residents, regulars, and adventure hooks, and references to the NPC appendix for NPC mechanical details. Each chapter also has sidebars with historical and cultural details of the region. The No Man's Land is a dangerous and lawless region, home to many refugees fleeing the influence of the Dragori Empire. The described points of interest are spread throughout the no man's land, and includes sites in the isolated village of Deep End, as well as others sites elsewhere such as the Alchemical Institute (which studies several chemical pools in the No Man's Land) and the Cavern of Souls (which is said to have the echoes of the voices of the dead.) The Granite Kingdom is the central point of dwarven activity in the Great Northern Continent. It was established before the receding of the ice-age that brought the other races back to the region, and is a reminder of a much more vital times among the dwarves. A majority of this chapter is devoted to the unassailable Granite Fortress, though some entries are devoted to the Clay Fortress, a nearby primitive human settlement that hopes to emulate to security of the Granite Kingdom. The Burning Sands region is a harsh and inhospitable desert. It is inhabited by the Rahihn, a nomadic race of desert dwelling humans. The Rahihn are descended from the former inhabitants of the region, who charged genies to repel the invading Dragori from the south, but in doing so blighted the land and made it into the desert that it is today. The Burning Sands region is home to eight major tribes. Like the No Man's Land, the Burning Sands region's places of interest are scattered about the region. Places of interest include things like oases and caravans, as well as unusual sites like the graveyard of the giants and the roving dunes. Some of the more interesting and unusual features of this chapter include the halfling caravans and the Rahihn legends. The halfling caravans are unusual in that the halflings build their homes into the shells of giant tortoises, which they then use to roam the desert. The Dragori Empire is the remnant of an ancient empire that once covered the region. The dragori are a humanoid race with very reptilian features that believe that they are descended from dragons. The empire was forced to retreat from the onslaught of the genies brought forth by the humans to the north, and the Dragori erected a magical barrier to protect what was left of their empire from the burning heat of the burning sands. The Dragori Empire is nearing civil war. The empire is sharply divided into two camps over how to treat the threat posed by semi-intelligent dragons in the north. One camp thinks that the dune wyrms are abominations and should be dealt with, while another thinks that they are true dragons and should be revered. The first appendix provides statistics for major NPCs at points of interest in the rest of the book. The appendix is large, taking up 36 pages. Much like [i]Bluffside[/i], this makes a great resource for campaigning in the setting. The stat blocks appear solid and consistent with the d20 rules. The second and third appendix provides details on the terrain. The first of these appendices provides d20 rules for handling various terrain hazards, and the second provides some informational detail about real world and fantasy desert terrain. Appendix four provides new classes; there are two core classes, one npc class, and 12 prestige classes. The bisaakir zaari is a core class; it is a sorcerer or wizard variant with a special affinity for geniekind. The bisaakir zaari gains spells more slowly than a wizard, but has easier access to spells (which are acquired through their genie servant), and can task elemental creatures to do their bidding. Shamans are another core class. The shaman is a spellcaster with an affinity to spirits. The shaman depicted here is similar to the one in Mongoose's [i]Shamans[/i] in that it use charisma as a casting statistic and its spells are determined by totem spirits. The shaman here gets fewer totem spirit than the Mongoose shaman, but has the ability to bind spirits to get access to more spells. The NPC class is the slave, and as listed it only has five levels. It has all poor saves and a limited skill selection. I am unconvinced that a slave class is needed; it seems that the commoner class fills this role just fine. The twelve prestige classes are as follows: [b][i] -Badlands Bandit:[/i][/b] The badlands bandit is a villainous resident of the No Man's Land who has made the area more than a temporary residence. The bandits are good fighters with some rogue-like abilities. [b][i] -Claws of the Emperor:[/i][/b] These are elite guards dedicated to the Dragori emperor. They have several monk and assassin-like abilities, in addition to physical conditioning that gives them sharps scales, letting them do unarmed slashing attacks. [b][i] -Digger:[/i][/b] The digger is a specialist in recovering archaeological treasures. They receive class abilities that let them deal with threats present in tombs, as well as bonuses to history knowledge and languages. [b][i] -Halfling Caravan Runners:[/i][/b] This class represents talented scouts used by the halfling caravans in the burning sands. The caravan runner has capabilities that increase their mobility and observation abilities. [b][i] -Nevae Wanderer:[/i][/b] The nevae is a race introduced in [i]Bluffside[/i]. The nevae wanderer is a traveller with class abilities that aid in movement and diplomacy. [b][i] -Priest of the Eternal Dragons:[/i][/b] Dragori revere "the Eternal Dragon." This prestige class is a divine prestige class with slowed spellcasting ability, but which receives dragon like abilities, such are breath weapon and improved natural armor. [b][i] -Prophet of the Sands:[/i][/b] These are men who wander the desert and prophecy. The have their own spellcasting progression and spell lists, as well as divination-related class abilities. [b][i] -Sand Dancer:[/i][/b] These are spies and scouts of the desert tribes. The have stealth and ambush related abilities. [b][i] -Sand Riders:[/i][/b] These are the mounted warriors of the desert tribes, with mounted combat and desert survival abilities. [b][i] -Serpent Warden:[/i][/b] The serpent warden is named for the major river in the Dragori Empire; they are guardians of these precious resources, with water-related abilities [b][i] -The Wise:[/i][/b] The wise are elders of the tribal communities. They have their own spell list and progression, and class abilities that protect them and others and divination abilities. [b][i] -Wyrmriders:[/i][/b] The wyrmrider is a character (usually dragori) who has learned to ride the dune wyrm as a mount. The class abilities enhance the combat capabilities of the mount. The fifth appendix includes many creatures of the settings, including genie allies, sand elementals, the giant tortoises used by the halfling caravans, and templates for sprits, sand creatures, and greater mummies. New feats are mostly related to new character options in the book. Many feats revolve around dragori racial traits, or the new core classes in the book. The dragori are a humanoid reptilian race with three subraces: the dragori-nen, -fehr, and -sah. The nen are large and slow (favored class fighter), the fehr are small and quick (favored class monk), and the sah are charismatic (favored class sorcerer). As a race they are dispassionate and logical, and they have a prehensile tail and dragonlike characteristics (like resistance to fire and natural armor.) Other items tucked away in the appendices include new domains, spells, equipment, and magic items. [b]Conclusion[/b] [i]Dry Lands: Empire of the Dragon Sands[/i] is a fairly simple and detail-light setting supplement. If you are looking for a desert style setting to drop into your game, this makes a good drop-in in the same way that [i]Bluffside[/i] does. It uses a lot of commonly referred to tropes in desert oriented fantasy settings, so should fit well if you already have existing concepts of this type. For a change, I actually found the mechanical content a little heavy, and many of the prestige classes didn't seem to add much to the game. The two new core classes are passable, but of course less detailed than similar classes presented in their own products elsewhere. [i]Overall Grade: B-[/i] [i]-Alan D. Kohler[/i] [/QUOTE]
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