Sell Me DawnForge

[Sargon]

I am interesting in hearing peoples views on this setting. I tried to download the preview pdf(s), however the links are broken. I also read the reviews, and found the setting very interesting, being that I am in the lookout for a new one.

I would very much like to hear opinions by people who have ran or in the progress of running a campaign.

Midnight is another setting I am looking into.

I know that scarred lands is a great setting, however we already have 2 SL gm's in my gaming group, and want to find something different.

Thanks for any info.

 

[Mouseferatu]

Disclaimer: I worked on Dawnforge, so you may not want to take my opinion as 100% unbiased. Then again, I only worked on a small portion of it, so I do think it's safe for me to discuss the work as a whole.

That out of the way...

I love Dawnforge. Love it, love it, love it. I love the fact that it finds a way to include all the "standards" of D&D, and then some, without ever feeling overcrowded or overloaded. I love the feel of "D&D before D&D," the details that make it clear this world will one day develop into something that resembles "default" D&D, but isn't there yet. I love the fact that they managed to balance all the new abilities they give the various races, as opposed to some books that throw in new stuff without considering what it does to balance, CR, etc. I love the feel of the world, I love the plot/story potential.

I'm a die-hard home-brewer at heart; there are *very* few worlds I would even consider running "out of the box." Dawnforge is one of them. I got the core book free, since I worked on it, but if I'd paid full price, I'd be satisfied that I got more than my money's worth.

 

[CalrinAlshaw]

What Mousy said.

Plus Midnight is an awesome and detailed campaign as well, with a nice grim setting much like a world after Sauron has defeated Middle Earth would be and there are a few resistance cells.

Calrin Alshaw

 

[Sargon]

Thanks for the responses.

I just got finished ordering the main book plus first exapansion.

After reading reviews on it, the more I wanted it.

Could you tell me which default classes are not uesd in Dawnforge.

I know druids and clerics are out. I also got the feeling that monks are probably out also.

I hope that there are plans on releasing more product for this campaign setting in the near future.

I was also wondering, since Dawnforge uses the legendary classes if the ones appearing in the legend and lair series would fit in as well.

 

[CalrinAlshaw]

Nope, just Clerics and Druids, are out, others are DM choice.

Calrin Alshaw

 

[Tarrasque Wrangler]

Not that it's much use now that you bought it (I'd have waited for more opinions myself) but I'm going to have to be the lone dissenter here. As a setting the world sorta fell flat for me. When it came right down to it, the only real hook was "D&D in the past" and it all just felt a little too, well...what's the word...cheeky for me. It was like, "Hey look, drow, but not yet! Aren't we clever!"

That said, it makes for great homebrew game idea-mining. Lotsa good crunchy bits there. The new classes are really well done and the way they tweaked arcane casting was cool too. The legendary classes provided were a bit *meh*, but I like the idea behind them.

Hope you got a good price.

 

[LeapingShark]

Dawnforge is nice, it has alot of good new ideas. I'm glad I got the book. I don't think I'll be running a Dawnforge campaign though.

Midnight is by far the best setting ever. Nothing even comes close. Every gamer should have a copy on their bookshelf, and play in at least one Midnight campaign. Even non-gamers should by the hardcover and read it for pleasure! It's that good. And there's all kinds of great new supplements and novels coming soon to support the setting. I can't wait!

 

[Darklone]

Bought it, skimmed through it... the races looked nice at first glance, but all these racial transformations and other stuff (changing from humanoid to giant/monstrous humanoid for example) is not that well explained ... At first I thought you only get your racial HD instead of classes.

Big Pro: Minotaurs as PC race

The rest... ah well, you got evil tiefling wizards somewhere, bad snakebloods somewhere else (everything possible as PC race)... I'll give it a second look next weekend, but till now it just looked nice ... but nothing special.

 

[Belegbeth]

Bought it, skimmed through it... the races looked nice at first glance, but all these racial transformations and other stuff (changing from humanoid to giant/monstrous humanoid for example) is not that well explained ... At first I thought you only get your racial HD instead of classes.

Big Pro: Minotaurs as PC race

The rest... ah well, you got evil tiefling wizards somewhere, bad snakebloods somewhere else (everything possible as PC race)... I'll give it a second look next weekend, but till now it just looked nice ... but nothing special.

I don't mean to bitch, but quick comments like this aren't very helpful. Why bother to post them? I can count on four hands the number of times my first impressions of products have been wrong (3rd edition DnD being one of them). If someone is deliberating about purchasing a product, a random person's "first quick take" is hardly going to help them, and might actually lead them to make the wrong choice.

That aside, I recommend MIDNIGHT strongly. I am a committed homebrewer, but Midnight is the first published campaign that I have ever seen that strongly tempted me away from my homebrew tendencies. It didn't succeed, but it came DAMN close.

 

[Ogrebear]

Dawnforge has some very interesting ideas.

The racial transformations and other mechanical changes are interesting, but what got me was the setting. I like the idea that players can stop/change/infulance all those things that become standard in 'baseline D&D'; such as Drow spliting from the Elves, the decline of the Dwarves or the 'always evil' nature of the Orcs.

Not sure on everything yet- I probably need the expansion, but the base book alone is worth the read. I recommend the setting and its my next D20 project.