Midgard 5e campaign setting

[Jester David]

Be interested in your guys thoughts. One of my players bought Tome of Beasts while I bought the the Midgard/Southland heroes PDFs. In the market for a campaign setting that is not FR.

My box arrived a week or so ago.
Heroes Handbook review: 5e Review: http://www.5mwd.com/archives/4719

 

[TerraDave]

Be interested in your guys thoughts. One of my players bought Tome of Beasts while I bought the the Midgard/Southland heroes PDFs. In the market for a campaign setting that is not FR.

I thinks its now the best supported 5E setting.

There is a lot to it. Fantasy Earth--Southlands is fantasy Egypt--with a very distinctive flavor. And I mean that in a good way. The world guide is the DM book, the size of Tome of Beasts, but mostly system neutral. There is a 30 or so page 5E appendix with some crunch. The heroes guide is much crunchier, lots and lots of players options, including things like a new rune magic system and fighters that can ride griffons as a player option.

One nice thing about their approach is that everything--tome of beasts, the heroes guide, the other magic books, all the adventures--can be set in Midgard and reference it, but are very easy to use in other fantasy settings. And the world book itself has lots of material that could inspire ones homebrew.

 

[darjr]

The current episode, 65, table top babble the Kobold Chief discusses Midgard, among other things.

https://dontsplitthepodcastnetwork.com/table-top-babble/65

 

[Zardnaar]

I thinks its now the best supported 5E setting.

There is a lot to it. Fantasy Earth--Southlands is fantasy Egypt--with a very distinctive flavor. And I mean that in a good way. The world guide is the DM book, the size of Tome of Beasts, but mostly system neutral. There is a 30 or so page 5E appendix with some crunch. The heroes guide is much crunchier, lots and lots of players options, including things like a new rune magic system and fighters that can ride griffons as a player option.

One nice thing about their approach is that everything--tome of beasts, the heroes guide, the other magic books, all the adventures--can be set in Midgard and reference it, but are very easy to use in other fantasy settings. And the world book itself has lots of material that could inspire ones homebrew.

Nice how does it compare with Golarion? Assuming you are familiar with t and/or don't hate it.

 

[Jester David]

Nice how does it compare with Golarion? Assuming you are familiar with t and/or don't hate it.

It's big. Let's compare it to the Tomb of Beasts, PHB, and Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting:



Now, a lot of that is the thicker pagestock Kobold Press uses. But it's still 461-pages of text, with 400-pages being world lore.

There's some online support for the setting:
https://koboldpress.com/midgard/
On that site you can see each region gets a blurb.
Also, check out this little map program to get a look at the world:
http://midgardmap.koboldpress.com/

You can see there's a definite "Eurasia and North Africa" vibe of the world. But there's a LOT going on in the world and a vast amount of information in the book. Which is extra dense with the limited art of a 3rd Party Publisher.
I've been reading it for two weeks and still feel like I've barely skimmed the surface of the world.

In terms of comparison with Golarion and Pathfinder's book, the world seems smaller. It's a less expansive world. Both have some real world analogues, especially in Egypt. But Midgard tends to twist its more, adding non-human races to the mix and more active gods. And there's a focus on Norse mythology, with the Northlands being a key aspect of the setting, especially their gods (Thor, Loki, Woden, etc). Vikings are a thing, but these might also be raider dwarves and ravenfolk have a key role in the North (along with Trollkin). The magic and other species seem much more a part of the setting and it's less "Revolutionary France land... but with magic" or "Horror Romania Land... but with elves and half-orcs in the cities". Which makes sense as the world was slowly designed over a number of years, and with constant feedback from fans and backers of the Open Design project. (Basically, everyone could pitch ideas and concepts, with people voting on the best ideas.) Magic is much more of an impact on the world, with clockwork mages and ley lines crossing the world. But the magic also has a tone beyond "these are the game rules, which are the physics of the setting."

 

[Zardnaar]

It's big. Let's compare it to the Tomb of Beasts, PHB, and Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting:

View attachment 95935

Now, a lot of that is the thicker pagestock Kobold Press uses. But it's still 461-pages of text, with 400-pages being world lore.

There's some online support for the setting:
https://koboldpress.com/midgard/
On that site you can see each region gets a blurb.
Also, check out this little map program to get a look at the world:
http://midgardmap.koboldpress.com/

You can see there's a definite "Eurasia and North Africa" vibe of the world. But there's a LOT going on in the world and a vast amount of information in the book. Which is extra dense with the limited art of a 3rd Party Publisher.
I've been reading it for two weeks and still feel like I've barely skimmed the surface of the world.

In terms of comparison with Golarion and Pathfinder's book, the world seems smaller. It's a less expansive world. Both have some real world analogues, especially in Egypt. But Midgard tends to twist its more, adding non-human races to the mix and more active gods. And there's a focus on Norse mythology, with the Northlands being a key aspect of the setting, especially their gods (Thor, Loki, Woden, etc). Vikings are a thing, but these might also be raider dwarves and ravenfolk have a key role in the North (along with Trollkin). The magic and other species seem much more a part of the setting and it's less "Revolutionary France land... but with magic" or "Horror Romania Land... but with elves and half-orcs in the cities". Which makes sense as the world was slowly designed over a number of years, and with constant feedback from fans and backers of the Open Design project. (Basically, everyone could pitch ideas and concepts, with people voting on the best ideas.) Magic is much more of an impact on the world, with clockwork mages and ley lines crossing the world. But the magic also has a tone beyond "these are the game rules, which are the physics of the setting."

Jealous been cutting back on D&D purchases vs previous editions (that and not much to actually buy except 3pp).

Had a talk with oe of theplayers, might split the books I might et the CS and he gets the players guide which I might get in PDF IDK.

 

[TerraDave]

Nice how does it compare with Golarion? Assuming you are familiar with t and/or don't hate it.

They are both well detailed and supported. Thats about all I know.

Midgard feels like a developed version of the D&D Known World. Albeit with bear and rat people versus dog or cat ones. Norse, Greek, and Egyptian gods are explicitly included, together with fantasy ones unique to the setting.

 

[Dualazi]

Got mine a while ago, I'll post some thoughts on it when it's added to the reviews section and I've had some more time to go through it.

 

[Istbor]

Got mine last week some time. Still reading and rereading through them.

I like the social standing stuff in particular so far. I also like some of the different subclasses available.

Right now, I am probably not going to go into that world and run a campaign, but I am thinking of taking parts from it and using that for a world I am currently building. It is a world in the twilight of its life. Fickle Gods have conspired to end mortal life.

I think some of the feel, places, races, magic and whatnot are going to fit well to help make that theme stand out. I can discuss more about the books themselves as I continue to go through them.

 

[Jester David]

Finally got my review for the Worldguide up. You can see the final thoughts on the Review section (with a link to the full thing).
Hope to see some more reviews there.