My suggestion is to start people's characters off ignorant. They come from small towns, they know legends and names but not dates. Its better to discover it in game from NPCs.
Ideally give them a worn map from some source. Make it the gazateer map. So they can see the blood sea but they won't know much about it.
After they get to around 5th level they'll probably have characters who are "reading about the world" in libraries or talking to bards. etc. Give them the Gazateer.
Paul_Klein said:
1) What is the relative magic level of the setting? (High/Medium/Low) in comparison to, say, Forgotten Relams?
This is a tough question. Here's why:
Originally magic & items were rare in SL relative to FR, etc. Relics and Rituals emphasised the lack of magic items (their rational for there being no item prices in the book was that there was no market, price wasn't set because no-one would sell you a magic item, they were too rare and valuble).
So it's supposed to be relatively low magic. The average person doesn't get their hands on items, you can't buy rings of invisibilty in ye' old magic item shoppe. All but the most powerful don't/can't depend on magic to get things done.
Most magic items predate the divine war. There are great artifacts & might weapons but they're not lying on some store shelf, their either in the hands of somebody powerful or sneaky enough to keep it, or its someplace you can't go to or else you don't -want- to own it.
Paul_Klein said:
From a quick cursory glance, I would say the magic level to be quite/very high, seeing as that the campaign has 2 books devoted to the subject already 
But I could be wrong.
That's the snag isn't it.
S&S has made a name for itself publishing books with some pretty potent stuff. The books are great idea generations and 'treat' bags. I never let the players touch or read them!
As I type this I guess I sound a bit psycho but the game beneifts tremendously from finding about things in-character. and some of the stuff in R&R is a bit problematic.
[edit: basically if you find a weird item or a powerful spell is used against you its about 45 minutes of roleplaying. but if you just read it then it's 1 minute or two tops. It also encourages players to focus on solid tactics and strategies instead of trying to break the system....]
Generally I make magic feel rare in game. Rarely give people magic items without catches, backstories, powerful opponets coming to get them, etc.
Not reallly answering you question... basically having R&R woun't affect your game unless you let it, even if it "exists as written in the world". Most of the spells and items were made by somebody specific, just because there's a great first level spell that's better than MM doesn't mean that anybody but the inventor knows. Players have the right to the PH. After that it's all discression.
Maybe ina hundred 100 years this spell will have replaced MM in everybody's spell books, but it hasn't yet. Its brand new now.
I've been working on this recently but spell casting is probably also an intensely personal thing. Think about operating systems. I've noticed several traits about people who are vehmently pro one sort of operating system (and loath the others).
1. They're bright technical people who know a lot about the subject
2. They interact and use their favorite OS constantly and always tweak, discuss, ruminate on it
3. They feel passionatly that their choice is "the best".
Wizards and sorcs can be like that... and I think this provides a good model for spell casters who make sub-optimal spell preperation choices.
Paul_Klein said:
2) Is an "epic-level" campaign viable for the setting? In that, I mean, going above and beyond level 20 using the Epic Level Handbook. Are there plenty of opportunities for extream-level play?
Yes, kinda and it depends. The divine war, gods walking the earth, paradigm supports high-level play. Historical mortals have attained great power (though very infrequently). Including Valdwin (sp - from the forsaken books), Gest Ganet (sp), the Ghoul King, some of the gods heralds, etc.
At the same time epic level stuff is much less common than FR, Greyhawk, etc. Published NPCs are fairly low level. (i.e. below 20). A group of 10th level characters is likely to have a major impact on a region, especially if they're actively aligned (i.e. good divine casters working for their god, druids trying to root out evil or purify areas, etc). There are Tarrasque and Reavers (from CC) wandering around -- the tarrasque is keeping the Charduni empire partially in check in Termena (I'd love to do that to a party.... the only challenge left for you to face is the Tarrasque.... but if you kill it a horde of black hearted tyrants will come this closer to re-establishing their dark empire).
Basically IMHO to have an epic level game it would really have to be epic.... you couldn't just have a dungeon with epic level monsters wandering around without breaking the fourth wall....
[I share Night's prediction that as each contient gets explored there will be a bit of a power up.... I'm expecting the Dragonlands to be a high-level oriented area. But I couldn't back that up if I tried...]
The depends part is just: the big "will the Epic Level stuff go SRD or not?" question. S&S has a good history of creating on their terms... their gods system in Divine and Defeated included a functional god ruleset a few months before WotC got around to it. But without an SRD I think you'll see that sort of developement delayed.
just my two pentacles,
Graf
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