Why Kalamar?
Since this question shows up about every six months or so I keep the following post archived for easy posting
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0ghma says:
This questions frequently appears on the boards, so I’m going to take a stab at answering it. Of course, you can always link to Dave Kenzer’s essay, but he’s telling why you should buy his product, and eloquently so. I have no stake in Kalamar financially, so here is my perspective. There are other good opinions on other threads, because of the frequency of this question.
First, however, let me start by telling you a little about me as a DnD gamer. I’ve been playing DnD since 1977. I’ve played a smattering of settings from Greyhawk to Forgotten Realms, not going too far into the more esoteric settings like Maztica, and playing a lot of home-brews both as DM and as a player. I played 1st edition through the publishing of 2nd edition DnD, and jumped to 3e as soon as it came out. I’ve played other RPG’s, notably GURPS, but have generally preferred DnD. As a DM I generally like medium magic campaigns that are more low- than high-fantasy, though I enjoy epic campaigns. (Epic in the sense that the players actiosn can save/destroy the world). I like campaigns that matter.
About a year ago, I started looking for a new setting to play in, having played too much in Greyhawk, and though I like the detail of Forgotten Realms, I’m uncomfortable with the high power/magic level of the NPC’s. I looked around a lot before settling on Kalamar. My review of settings got truncated, though, when I found Kalamar, because I started focusing on it to the exclusion of others.
The first thing I noticed about Kalamar was how it treated the gods and religion. Kalamar gives a pantheon which is worshipped by all races. There are no demi-human gods, so while the pantheon is large, it’s only one pantheon. Many settings give you their pantheon plus a pantheon for each of 5-8 races, sometimes sub-races too. That’s a lot of gods. Kalamar’s creation story is consistent and well-outlined. (I’ll return to consistent and well-outlined, as this is a theme of Kalamar).
Kalamar’s detail on religion is impressive. You get what different cultures call each god, you know how the clergy worship them, you know what gods are allied and opposed, and clerics get abilities which are unique to each god without destroying the cleric class as a whole. It’s consistent and well-outlined.
Next I went on to the setting itself. The setting is detailed without being directive. You are not told how to run the world, you are given the setting as your canvas. Kalamar has the countries, races, history and geography of the world of Tellene well-described and with an internal logic to it that is rare in a published setting. Again, it’s consistent and well-outlined.
Human sub-races are enthologically explained, without giving in-game bonuses to different races. Humans are all the same under the skin. Many human Earth cultures are mirrored, from the Fhokki (northern barbarians) to the Svimohzians (African cultures), which gives a comfort level for many players. It doesn’t get “out-there” with races like genasi and half-celestials. To me this is a good thing. I’d like to decide whether I’m going to allow a race with a higher ECL than one, not be told it’s an integral part of the setting. It allows for psionics without requiring it. (The golden halflings’ favored class is psion, but I house-ruled it in my campaign to be bard because I don’t want psionics).
The geography and the history of Kalamar are so well intertwined you begin to realize how weak other settings are in this respect. Knowledge of how terrain affects culture helps a DM get a grasp on the setting and there are no geographic oddities, such as a desert plunked in the middle of a swamp. If you decide to purchase the Kalamar Atlas, you find it’s even more detailed, with helpful appendices and charts. The world of Telllene makes sense.
The Kalamar Players’ Guide adds classes unique to Kalamar and further details the setting from a players’ perspective. It adds spells and further details how religion is played in Kalamar. It details the Channel Positive Energy feat, which allows a cleric to use a turn attempt to do a deity-specific effect, which I think is very cool. There are prestige classes and more in-depth descriptions of the races.
I am disappointed with some things about Kalamar. There are times when some errors creep in to the published versions that surprise me. They forgot a domains chart for the gods in the Campaign settings book. It was in the text, so you could read each god and find each domain, but there wasn’t a handy chart. The races detailed in the Player’s guide leave out some abilities which appear to be assumed. (Elves’ use of bow and sword, for example.) Many publishers have this problem; it’s not unique to Kenzer. However, this concern is offset by what is perhaps the best part of the Kalamar setting.
The Kenzerco Kalamar boards.
This group of Kalamar users is knowledgeable, friendly, funny, and helpful. They are the best reviewers of Kenzer’s Kalamar products, and they are quick to find inconsistencies. Once found, Kenzer responds amazingly quickly, sometimes within a few minutes. The aforementioned domains list was up within a week of publication. It is an astounding example of a shared love of a setting by the publisher and it’s users. It is as important to me as the quality of the setting. I can post questions about an adventure and be directed to a compiled list of comments by those who have run it, what happened in it, and how they administrated certain events. Rules clarifications and good-natured debate add immeasurable to the enjoyment I get out of the setting.
I chose Kalamar because it’s well-outlined yet not too detailed. It lets me run the campaign I want, and it will let you run the campaign you want, even though they may be different. It’s well-supported, with source books and adventures coming out at least every month. Updates, errata, and revisions are done quickly. Players have input into the publishing process and what their needs as Kalamar users are.
Welcome to Kalamar!
That does a great job of informing without brow-beating, although it does neglect to mention some of the uber-cool newer products such as the Friend & Foe series (which gives in-depth looks at Gnomes/Kobolds and Elves/Bugbears from the ground up. And I do mean incredibily detailed, not just your standard variant subraces and a bunch of worthless PRCs), Blood and Shadows (a race book for the Dark Elves of kalamar and a must have book for anyone
in any campaign that wants an alternative to the "traditional" Drow) and Goods and Gear (a equipment book that has over a thousand(?) different weapons alone, plus just about any other piece of equipment that a character could ever need). Plus I personally know of a number of upcoming Kalamar products that are in the development/playtesting stage that are going to just blow people away!
