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<blockquote data-quote="JoeGKushner" data-source="post: 2011642" data-attributes="member: 1129"><p>Sometimes I think I’ve read too many books and been involved with too many campaigns. It leaves me a little jaded and feeling that perhaps I shouldn’t be doing reviews. That my point of view is too different from the mainstream to be valid anymore unless the person reading my review has my experiences.</p><p></p><p>With that in mind, let’s look at Valus, a new campaign setting by En World’s own Ryan Smalley, better known as Destan. Clocking in at 176 black and white pages for $29.99, the Valus has got to work hard to prove itself in a field bursting with campaign settings. Looking at the back, I’d almost think that I was reading an introduction to the Wilderlands by Judges Guild as it notes that this is a dark and brutal world with a high mortality rate and the gods are at war! However, it also notes that it has variant rules for clerics and paladins, as well as some customized information in the area of feats, weapons, narcotics and flora.</p><p></p><p>Divided into eight chapters with three appendices, the book covers the continent near Valus, as well as the island Valus itself. This includes the races that live upon it, as well as the standard classes and a new prestige class.</p><p></p><p>The world about the Valus reminds me of dozens of other fantasy settings I’ve read before. The semi-Roman empire of Apia, the norsemen of Gordia and other generic themes that are easy to recognize work well, but they’ve worked well in many campaign settings including the Conan world. Settings that use such common elements are good in that they allow the reader to fill in the blanks and allow the writer to focus on the campaign world and the action going on itself.</p><p></p><p>In terms of races, there were some renamed, changed in their core style. Humans are not one of the mind you. Instead, like the Wilderlands, Kalamar, and the Scarred Lands, humans are broken up into different ethnicities. Information includes standard physical characteristics, as well as relations, religions and sample names. This allows the GM and players to quickly have a Carrik woman by the name of Rossa meet a Genn male name of Amati-Genn and move on.</p><p></p><p>For non-humans, we have most of the standards. However, most of them have been renamed. Take Dwarves or Durven. Why the naming convention change happens is beyond me. In most cases the word dwarf is used in the book. Probably because it’s easier to remember. Racial traits that are changed are noted. The Drel, or elves, also have some changes. We have the Horadrel and Gammhedrel, neither of which match the standard elf from the PHB. Another elf variant is mentioned, the morhedrel or delve elves, which aren’t detailed in this section. </p><p></p><p>The PHB race that takes the biggest hit in my opinion, is the Pems or Burrow Gnomes. These individuals hail from a shy race that keeps to itself and favors the sorcerer class. Fairly hardy and charismatic, they are neither smart nor strong. Because of their reclusive nature, they’re masters of camouflage. An interesting change and to be honest, makes gnomes something other than a dwarf’s poor cousin. Then again, I’ve never liked gnomes.</p><p></p><p>One of the new race, the Roven, is basically a dog man. No illustration of the creature is to be found in their section, and looking through the book again, I don’t see any illustrations of the Roven. Due to the keen sense and wilderness love, it’s natural that their favored class would be ranger. The Trull on the other hand, is a bit stranger. These individuals are the evolved form of a half-troll after many years of crossbreeding and troll hunting. One of the things that’s different about them, is that they kill with hands and feet and tend towards lawfulness as it was law that allowed them to conquer their darker natures. With those things in mind, it’s easy to see why monk would be their favored class.</p><p></p><p>One thing the book does a nice job of, is explaining how the core classes fit into the Valus setting. Each class is touched on and game rule changes are noted. Some of these are minor. For example, no one becomes a barbarian after 1st level. It’s an upbringing, not something you just decide one day to min-max your character. For others, it’s a much greater change.</p><p></p><p>Take the cleric for instance. Here, the cleric has to choose one deity from a group of gods known as the Risen Gods. No philosophies provide power here. Now the cleric can access an alignment domain if her own alignment mates that domain but neutral clerics can take good or evil, but if they take one, they have to take both. Some domains, including Good and Evil, are universal, and joined by War.</p><p></p><p>In addition, clerics can give up a spell to spontaneously cast a domain spell and still retain the ability to swap out spells for cure (or inflict) spells. Turning is also the same. However, the biggest difference comes not in the section on clerics, where it would be handy to have in one space, but under religion. See, each god has a period of Ascendancy and a period of Suppression. During the former, they have more power and during the latter, less power. For example, a cleric of the god Evios the “known unknown”, can pray for an arcane spell (maximum level dependent upon the cleric), as well as enjoying a +2 bonus to Spellcraft checks when attempting to identify spells being cast. When they are in declime, they have a –1 to attack rolls and a –2 on saving throws against electrical attacks. </p><p></p><p>While cool, it’s not the first time an author has done something with divinity. Green Ronin has The Book of the Righteous, the Scarred Lands have the Divine and the Defeated, and I’m sure I’m missing others. Regardless, it’s an interesting feature that helps set the clerics of this setting apart from those of other settings in the way that they do their customization.</p><p></p><p>Some of the problems other classes have in this world stem from the background. See, the Old Faith is still practiced by Druids. Paladins don’t worship gods, but rather, the host of angels that guards the world against demons and devils. This insures that religious conflict is high among the things happening in the world. The bad news though, is that the religious issue isn’t followed for all the classes as the source of a ranger’s spells is left blank. And with the note that no good will powers divine spellcasting, it’s not just coming from nature. That means rangers either worship a god, or they worship the Old Faith, in which case, they’re just as prone to being burnt at the stake as druids. </p><p></p><p>Once again, my time in playing works against me. I remember the original Temple of Elemental Evil where the Old Faith was on the decline and St. Cuthbert was taking over. I’ve been in campaigns very recently where druids served the titans or the Old Faith, and are battling against the upstart new Gods. It’s a solid and traditional role that clerics and druids often find themselves in. Valus however, kicks it up a few notches as druids are burned alive if they don’t renounce their old faith.</p><p></p><p>I find that part of the section on classes fails. I get no feel for how sorcerers or wizards work in the Valus. This is a land riddled with illiteracy and people dying young. Not a lot of room in such a place for the bearded old man with his pointy hat or the young sorcerer. For instance, nothing is said as to where the power actually comes from. Nothing is noted about becoming a sorcerer latter in life. It’s just waved under the table. </p><p></p><p>The Valus is a land of conflict. Much of that comes from the gods. See there was the Mother-Father, Saficea, that gave birth to gods. These young gods battled one another and eventually, Saficea killed them. The corpses became the land of Ostia Prim. When Saficea wept, she created the oceans. But see, as she wept, she left the dead gods her love. So the universe, in essence, has no love because the creator wasted it on her dead children.</p><p></p><p>From those corpses came the Drimm. Immortal but not all powerful. They too waged war against each other and slowly cut their numbers down in size. Of course they eventually wake up Saficea, who puts those who wish to fight on the moon, while allows those that didn’t, to say on Ostia Prim. Eventually these bad children learned that they could create, and so they made all sorts or new monsters like demons and devils, to fight one another. Some of these near gods though, the Ulma-Drimm, lacked the power of creation and so were given the dunce cap and mocked.</p><p></p><p>Of course the near gods woke Saficea up again. She when she woke this time, her awakening created numerous demi-planes and voids of nothingness. The Abyss and Hells were created to hold the various monstrous beings that her children created. She then made stars of those who waged war. Those without the power, the Ulma-Drimm, were given true immortality so that they might never die. In addition, they were given the power of creation. Eventually they learn that they gain power from worship.</p><p></p><p>There’s a lot more to it then that, but those are the big steps. The things that help showcase that a world without love is one that is in serious need of a good Talk Show Host to get everyone to just talk things out. Since Saficea put the gods in a permanent balance of sorts. Each one has a month of ascension and a month of suppression.</p><p></p><p>Now the religious thing gets into a few other areas. For example, there are some restricted spells that can only be cast during times of Ascendancy. There are also some problems with brining back the dead. Remember, the gods are without love so they’re only going to allow the raising if there’s something in it for them. Often, there are side effects. What’s worse, clerics’ can’t target followers of rival deities with curative magic. This could have some serious implications in a campaign where everyone worships a different god. Nothing like having to kill the party cleric to get another cleric in the group. </p><p></p><p>Because of the nature of the divine prisons on the demons and devils, the Risen Gods don’t like summoning spells too much either. Every time a summoning spell is used, there’s a chance, the more powerful the creature, the grater the chance, that the gods will notice and punish their errant servant. </p><p></p><p>By the time we get to Valus itself, there are less than a hundred pages to give life to the setting. Not a bad thing as a lot of the background has been set up through the previous chapters. Each main section, Northern, Central, and Southern, has it’s own map and the maps are fairly detailed. The good news is that everything on the map is at least mentioned. The bad news is it’s not often in great detail.</p><p></p><p>The sections start off with general information, geographic features, such as coastline and woodlands, waterways and mountains. Information on sites and settlements includes towns and cities and occasionally even maps of said cities. Some like Tarn Cal are renown for their size and their unique features, like the Crown Tower, while others like the Freetown of Ciddry have locations numbered on the map to allow a GM to have a quick home for his campaign.</p><p></p><p>For those wondering what to do with such a setting, or how to GM it, the author provides a section on what it means to run a Valusian campaign. This includes uses a point buy system, as well as ideas on what to do with the races and classes. It suggests giving starting characters a bonus first level feat, as well as putting characters into more danger than they can handle to not only cull out stupidity, but to improve level advancement.</p><p></p><p>Perhaps one of the biggest changes is that the game uses a silver standard. This is something that should probably have been mentioned in oh, I don’t know, say chapter one. Character wealth is also lower than a standard game. For some reason, other things that would go well in this chapter, like Valusian weapons, foods, and drugs, gets put into another appendix. As a matter of fact, much of this information should be at the start of the book, no further than the character chapter.</p><p></p><p>For those still unsure what to do with it, there’s an introductory adventure, Faith’s Decree, which shows the many difficulties in dealing with religious issues, such as when a paladin seeks out a replacement. Remember, in this setting, paladin’s aren’t looked upon with love and trust, but rather, as those who don’t follow the way of the gods.</p><p></p><p>I think that one problem is that Valus is a little on the expensive side. Not much, but a little. Comparing it to say Races of Stone, a hardcover in full color, is unfair, because that’s a WoTC book. How about Iron Kingdoms Character Guide, a book that costs more, but is twice the size. How about Dragonmech, a hardcover that’s slightly more expensive, but larger, and in hardcover. How about Legends of Excalibur? Well, it is smaller, but both sets of interior covers are used to deliver four separate maps and it’s hardcover. If there were a pull out map like in the Player’s Guide to the Wilderlands, the price would be under.</p><p></p><p>Funny story. There is a flyer with a larger version of the map. We had these all over our En World booth at Gen Con. I didn’t take one because I thought there’d be one in the book and I don’t associate a utility map with a flyer. My bad but hopefully the larger map will be available for download sometime soon.</p><p></p><p>I’ve mentioned it before, and I’ll mention it again, art and layout have a huge impact on me. I can’t say that because this is a new product from a company that hasn’t done much in a long time, that it’s okay that the art and layout is only okay. That diminishes books like Poisoncraft, Redhurst, and Denizens of Avadnu. Each of these was the first book from their publisher and each is a professional looking piece. It’s no longer 2001 and the OGL isn’t brand new. Dos this mean that the art is bad? No. There are some great illustrations here. The Gordian Chieftain on page 24 is an impressive piece, as is the illustration of the half-orc mercenary on page 32. However, most of the art is so-so. </p><p></p><p>Does this mean that things like writing have no impact on me when I read? No. Writing, especially writing that’s entertaining to read is an important aspect for a role-playing game. However, for a campaign setting to have a unique feel of it’s own, art is vital. Dark Sun and Planescape both proved this with their vital imagery that set their campaign tones while Iron Kingdoms has brought that style philosophy to 3rd edition. Thankfully Ryan’s writing is crisp and easy on the eyes, quickly flowing.</p><p></p><p>His writing doesn’t make the layout any fancier. It’s fairly standard two-column style but at the end of each chapter, it’s almost a blank page like on page 53, 73, 105, 169 and 174, or a half-page like 79 and 143. Add in a page dedicated to Ryan Smalley and a page for the credits, another for the printing information, another for the OGL, another two for the table of contents, and you can see why I think there could be more. The maps are fair but I’ve been spoiled by the cartography of Todd Gamble and Ed Bourelle. The cover map is fantastic, but the interior maps of the cities and towns are something I could do, and I’m not much of an artists.</p><p></p><p>In the end, Valus isn’t a bad campaign setting by any means. It offers everything that a GM could want in a setting. It’s different from some mainstream settings in that there aren’t a lot of high-powered NPC’s and literacy isn’t the norm along with early death but the true standout point is the role religion plays not only in the background, but in the current day to day affairs. It’s not a new sparkling gem, or an ancient treasure that’s been unearthed and published for the new edition. It’s a D20 campaign with very solid writing behind it that can provide some interesting alternatives for those looking for role playing opportunities.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="JoeGKushner, post: 2011642, member: 1129"] Sometimes I think I’ve read too many books and been involved with too many campaigns. It leaves me a little jaded and feeling that perhaps I shouldn’t be doing reviews. That my point of view is too different from the mainstream to be valid anymore unless the person reading my review has my experiences. With that in mind, let’s look at Valus, a new campaign setting by En World’s own Ryan Smalley, better known as Destan. Clocking in at 176 black and white pages for $29.99, the Valus has got to work hard to prove itself in a field bursting with campaign settings. Looking at the back, I’d almost think that I was reading an introduction to the Wilderlands by Judges Guild as it notes that this is a dark and brutal world with a high mortality rate and the gods are at war! However, it also notes that it has variant rules for clerics and paladins, as well as some customized information in the area of feats, weapons, narcotics and flora. Divided into eight chapters with three appendices, the book covers the continent near Valus, as well as the island Valus itself. This includes the races that live upon it, as well as the standard classes and a new prestige class. The world about the Valus reminds me of dozens of other fantasy settings I’ve read before. The semi-Roman empire of Apia, the norsemen of Gordia and other generic themes that are easy to recognize work well, but they’ve worked well in many campaign settings including the Conan world. Settings that use such common elements are good in that they allow the reader to fill in the blanks and allow the writer to focus on the campaign world and the action going on itself. In terms of races, there were some renamed, changed in their core style. Humans are not one of the mind you. Instead, like the Wilderlands, Kalamar, and the Scarred Lands, humans are broken up into different ethnicities. Information includes standard physical characteristics, as well as relations, religions and sample names. This allows the GM and players to quickly have a Carrik woman by the name of Rossa meet a Genn male name of Amati-Genn and move on. For non-humans, we have most of the standards. However, most of them have been renamed. Take Dwarves or Durven. Why the naming convention change happens is beyond me. In most cases the word dwarf is used in the book. Probably because it’s easier to remember. Racial traits that are changed are noted. The Drel, or elves, also have some changes. We have the Horadrel and Gammhedrel, neither of which match the standard elf from the PHB. Another elf variant is mentioned, the morhedrel or delve elves, which aren’t detailed in this section. The PHB race that takes the biggest hit in my opinion, is the Pems or Burrow Gnomes. These individuals hail from a shy race that keeps to itself and favors the sorcerer class. Fairly hardy and charismatic, they are neither smart nor strong. Because of their reclusive nature, they’re masters of camouflage. An interesting change and to be honest, makes gnomes something other than a dwarf’s poor cousin. Then again, I’ve never liked gnomes. One of the new race, the Roven, is basically a dog man. No illustration of the creature is to be found in their section, and looking through the book again, I don’t see any illustrations of the Roven. Due to the keen sense and wilderness love, it’s natural that their favored class would be ranger. The Trull on the other hand, is a bit stranger. These individuals are the evolved form of a half-troll after many years of crossbreeding and troll hunting. One of the things that’s different about them, is that they kill with hands and feet and tend towards lawfulness as it was law that allowed them to conquer their darker natures. With those things in mind, it’s easy to see why monk would be their favored class. One thing the book does a nice job of, is explaining how the core classes fit into the Valus setting. Each class is touched on and game rule changes are noted. Some of these are minor. For example, no one becomes a barbarian after 1st level. It’s an upbringing, not something you just decide one day to min-max your character. For others, it’s a much greater change. Take the cleric for instance. Here, the cleric has to choose one deity from a group of gods known as the Risen Gods. No philosophies provide power here. Now the cleric can access an alignment domain if her own alignment mates that domain but neutral clerics can take good or evil, but if they take one, they have to take both. Some domains, including Good and Evil, are universal, and joined by War. In addition, clerics can give up a spell to spontaneously cast a domain spell and still retain the ability to swap out spells for cure (or inflict) spells. Turning is also the same. However, the biggest difference comes not in the section on clerics, where it would be handy to have in one space, but under religion. See, each god has a period of Ascendancy and a period of Suppression. During the former, they have more power and during the latter, less power. For example, a cleric of the god Evios the “known unknown”, can pray for an arcane spell (maximum level dependent upon the cleric), as well as enjoying a +2 bonus to Spellcraft checks when attempting to identify spells being cast. When they are in declime, they have a –1 to attack rolls and a –2 on saving throws against electrical attacks. While cool, it’s not the first time an author has done something with divinity. Green Ronin has The Book of the Righteous, the Scarred Lands have the Divine and the Defeated, and I’m sure I’m missing others. Regardless, it’s an interesting feature that helps set the clerics of this setting apart from those of other settings in the way that they do their customization. Some of the problems other classes have in this world stem from the background. See, the Old Faith is still practiced by Druids. Paladins don’t worship gods, but rather, the host of angels that guards the world against demons and devils. This insures that religious conflict is high among the things happening in the world. The bad news though, is that the religious issue isn’t followed for all the classes as the source of a ranger’s spells is left blank. And with the note that no good will powers divine spellcasting, it’s not just coming from nature. That means rangers either worship a god, or they worship the Old Faith, in which case, they’re just as prone to being burnt at the stake as druids. Once again, my time in playing works against me. I remember the original Temple of Elemental Evil where the Old Faith was on the decline and St. Cuthbert was taking over. I’ve been in campaigns very recently where druids served the titans or the Old Faith, and are battling against the upstart new Gods. It’s a solid and traditional role that clerics and druids often find themselves in. Valus however, kicks it up a few notches as druids are burned alive if they don’t renounce their old faith. I find that part of the section on classes fails. I get no feel for how sorcerers or wizards work in the Valus. This is a land riddled with illiteracy and people dying young. Not a lot of room in such a place for the bearded old man with his pointy hat or the young sorcerer. For instance, nothing is said as to where the power actually comes from. Nothing is noted about becoming a sorcerer latter in life. It’s just waved under the table. The Valus is a land of conflict. Much of that comes from the gods. See there was the Mother-Father, Saficea, that gave birth to gods. These young gods battled one another and eventually, Saficea killed them. The corpses became the land of Ostia Prim. When Saficea wept, she created the oceans. But see, as she wept, she left the dead gods her love. So the universe, in essence, has no love because the creator wasted it on her dead children. From those corpses came the Drimm. Immortal but not all powerful. They too waged war against each other and slowly cut their numbers down in size. Of course they eventually wake up Saficea, who puts those who wish to fight on the moon, while allows those that didn’t, to say on Ostia Prim. Eventually these bad children learned that they could create, and so they made all sorts or new monsters like demons and devils, to fight one another. Some of these near gods though, the Ulma-Drimm, lacked the power of creation and so were given the dunce cap and mocked. Of course the near gods woke Saficea up again. She when she woke this time, her awakening created numerous demi-planes and voids of nothingness. The Abyss and Hells were created to hold the various monstrous beings that her children created. She then made stars of those who waged war. Those without the power, the Ulma-Drimm, were given true immortality so that they might never die. In addition, they were given the power of creation. Eventually they learn that they gain power from worship. There’s a lot more to it then that, but those are the big steps. The things that help showcase that a world without love is one that is in serious need of a good Talk Show Host to get everyone to just talk things out. Since Saficea put the gods in a permanent balance of sorts. Each one has a month of ascension and a month of suppression. Now the religious thing gets into a few other areas. For example, there are some restricted spells that can only be cast during times of Ascendancy. There are also some problems with brining back the dead. Remember, the gods are without love so they’re only going to allow the raising if there’s something in it for them. Often, there are side effects. What’s worse, clerics’ can’t target followers of rival deities with curative magic. This could have some serious implications in a campaign where everyone worships a different god. Nothing like having to kill the party cleric to get another cleric in the group. Because of the nature of the divine prisons on the demons and devils, the Risen Gods don’t like summoning spells too much either. Every time a summoning spell is used, there’s a chance, the more powerful the creature, the grater the chance, that the gods will notice and punish their errant servant. By the time we get to Valus itself, there are less than a hundred pages to give life to the setting. Not a bad thing as a lot of the background has been set up through the previous chapters. Each main section, Northern, Central, and Southern, has it’s own map and the maps are fairly detailed. The good news is that everything on the map is at least mentioned. The bad news is it’s not often in great detail. The sections start off with general information, geographic features, such as coastline and woodlands, waterways and mountains. Information on sites and settlements includes towns and cities and occasionally even maps of said cities. Some like Tarn Cal are renown for their size and their unique features, like the Crown Tower, while others like the Freetown of Ciddry have locations numbered on the map to allow a GM to have a quick home for his campaign. For those wondering what to do with such a setting, or how to GM it, the author provides a section on what it means to run a Valusian campaign. This includes uses a point buy system, as well as ideas on what to do with the races and classes. It suggests giving starting characters a bonus first level feat, as well as putting characters into more danger than they can handle to not only cull out stupidity, but to improve level advancement. Perhaps one of the biggest changes is that the game uses a silver standard. This is something that should probably have been mentioned in oh, I don’t know, say chapter one. Character wealth is also lower than a standard game. For some reason, other things that would go well in this chapter, like Valusian weapons, foods, and drugs, gets put into another appendix. As a matter of fact, much of this information should be at the start of the book, no further than the character chapter. For those still unsure what to do with it, there’s an introductory adventure, Faith’s Decree, which shows the many difficulties in dealing with religious issues, such as when a paladin seeks out a replacement. Remember, in this setting, paladin’s aren’t looked upon with love and trust, but rather, as those who don’t follow the way of the gods. I think that one problem is that Valus is a little on the expensive side. Not much, but a little. Comparing it to say Races of Stone, a hardcover in full color, is unfair, because that’s a WoTC book. How about Iron Kingdoms Character Guide, a book that costs more, but is twice the size. How about Dragonmech, a hardcover that’s slightly more expensive, but larger, and in hardcover. How about Legends of Excalibur? Well, it is smaller, but both sets of interior covers are used to deliver four separate maps and it’s hardcover. If there were a pull out map like in the Player’s Guide to the Wilderlands, the price would be under. Funny story. There is a flyer with a larger version of the map. We had these all over our En World booth at Gen Con. I didn’t take one because I thought there’d be one in the book and I don’t associate a utility map with a flyer. My bad but hopefully the larger map will be available for download sometime soon. I’ve mentioned it before, and I’ll mention it again, art and layout have a huge impact on me. I can’t say that because this is a new product from a company that hasn’t done much in a long time, that it’s okay that the art and layout is only okay. That diminishes books like Poisoncraft, Redhurst, and Denizens of Avadnu. Each of these was the first book from their publisher and each is a professional looking piece. It’s no longer 2001 and the OGL isn’t brand new. Dos this mean that the art is bad? No. There are some great illustrations here. The Gordian Chieftain on page 24 is an impressive piece, as is the illustration of the half-orc mercenary on page 32. However, most of the art is so-so. Does this mean that things like writing have no impact on me when I read? No. Writing, especially writing that’s entertaining to read is an important aspect for a role-playing game. However, for a campaign setting to have a unique feel of it’s own, art is vital. Dark Sun and Planescape both proved this with their vital imagery that set their campaign tones while Iron Kingdoms has brought that style philosophy to 3rd edition. Thankfully Ryan’s writing is crisp and easy on the eyes, quickly flowing. His writing doesn’t make the layout any fancier. It’s fairly standard two-column style but at the end of each chapter, it’s almost a blank page like on page 53, 73, 105, 169 and 174, or a half-page like 79 and 143. Add in a page dedicated to Ryan Smalley and a page for the credits, another for the printing information, another for the OGL, another two for the table of contents, and you can see why I think there could be more. The maps are fair but I’ve been spoiled by the cartography of Todd Gamble and Ed Bourelle. The cover map is fantastic, but the interior maps of the cities and towns are something I could do, and I’m not much of an artists. In the end, Valus isn’t a bad campaign setting by any means. It offers everything that a GM could want in a setting. It’s different from some mainstream settings in that there aren’t a lot of high-powered NPC’s and literacy isn’t the norm along with early death but the true standout point is the role religion plays not only in the background, but in the current day to day affairs. It’s not a new sparkling gem, or an ancient treasure that’s been unearthed and published for the new edition. It’s a D20 campaign with very solid writing behind it that can provide some interesting alternatives for those looking for role playing opportunities. [/QUOTE]
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