Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.
Enchanted Trinkets Complete--a hardcover book containing over 500 magic items for your D&D games!

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Messageboard Golem" data-source="post: 2011827" data-attributes="member: 18387">By Ian Hewitt, d20 Magazine Rack Staff ReviewerInitiative RoundAncient Kingdoms: Mesopotamia is a campaign sourcebook from Necromancer Games under the Sword & Sorcery banner and priced at $23.99 US. The cover art by Rick Sardinha is a beautiful introduction to the content and theme of this book as it illustrates a fearsome purple worm breaking through the flagstones of what appears to be a temple floor to confront a lone staff-wielding figure. The only vivid color in this painting is that of the red sand (or blood…) being spilled from a cauldron. The cover, while gorgeous, encloses 174 pages detailing an ancient Bronze Age campaign setting based in mostly equal parts upon historic and mythic Mesopotamia. The book is written by Morten Braten and further illustrated in largely hit and miss black and white interior artwork by David Day, Tim Truman, Andrew Bates, John Bridges, James Stowe, Leif Jones, Veronica Jones, Richard Thomas, Jim Nelson, Nate Pride and Brian LeBlanc. The main emphasis of this book is focused upon the adventure locales themselves, which might not be immediately clear from the back page blurb which appears to present the product as a ‘huge sourcebook with numerous new classes, deities, monsters and magic items, including a series of short adventures.’ That said, all elements required to support the Dungeon Master and kickstart his Mesopotamian campaign are present and accounted for and given headlining position in this book. Chapter One very briefly covers the geography of these sun-baked lands and touches upon such locations as the city of Babylon and Zagros Mountains (where one might find the legendary Ark of Utnapishtim and the twisted offspring of the creatures he saved from the Flood). There is a short discussion of the history of the region and a brief look at the current time of the setting. Society, culture and architecture are each examined, as are appropriate weapons and armor for the period. The second chapter leaves such fluffy content well alone and delves into the obligatory crunchiness of the six Prestige Classes on offer. This is the usual fare to be expected in any d20 release, but very well done and certainly with the flavor and tone of the setting in mind. These offerings include such beauties as the Baru-Priest, a diviner who specializes in reading your fortune as he spills your entrails into the sand; and the Temple Reaver, a godless barbarian who would like nothing more than to strip your temple of its golden idols, before he massacres the priests and burns the building down. The others, an exorcist-type priest, a polytheistic priest with some wizarding potential, a ranger/rogue of the desert and a paladin-type cover all other bases but are a little less inspired though still well done. There are no actual new classes, but the remainder of the chapter is spiced up with a handful of new spells, feats, and magic items. A quick examination of religion in the setting follows in the third chapter before this book arrives at the main event.The meat of this book – ten pages and 102 pages – describes just a small portion of the Mesopotomian region known as the Red Waste. The region is described through these chapters essentially as a series of adventure locales of varying length. Each locale is presented with plot hooks to draw in the PC’s, NPC’s, monsters and allies with which to interact and the gradual development of a very loosely based adventure outline that underlies the better part of this book. Ancient Kingdoms concludes with two chapters of monsters. The first are all new monsters appropriate for the region such as the truly disgusting Living Monolith and it’s Crawling Offspring – essentially a stationary pillar of acidic ooze that begets small mindless mutations that crawl forth to eat; and the shedu-golem – a gorgon-like construct with wings and the power to release holy smite against the enemies of the temple it typically guards. The second chapter is a chosen selection of monsters previously presented in Necromancer Games’ Tome of Horrors, reproduced here because they clearly belong in the deserts of Mesopotamia and fully revised and updated for the 3.5 Edition rules. This cast of villains includes such should-be-classics as the Ghoul-Stirge, the Obsidian Minotaur, old friends the Piercer and the Rot Grub as well as a versatile template for the Therianthrope (like a lycanthrope, but these creatures are animals first and human hybrids second - like a jackalwere, for example). Critical HitNecromancer Games certainly delivers upon their promise of “First Edition Feel” with this book - largely because the emphasis is upon empowering the DM to run the game. The presentation of this module does not lend itself to a linear (more typical) adventure. Instead we are given a rich environment of hazards populated with various factions each scheming toward their own agendas. This is an adventure that could care less about the players, they might come along and get involved or they might not, instead this is a dynamic environment that could be brought alive by a skilled DM.The feel and tone of the setting is very gritty and somewhat dark, while maintaining a high fantasy feel. We are introduced to the Banu-Priest, animal and human sacrifice and cannibalism not as tools of the enemy but as accepted realities of religious life which is neither good nor evil. This demonstrates a maturity in the author, Morten Braten’s approach to his topic, and evokes a great atmosphere for anyone who enjoyed Conan better than The Mummy.Critical FumbleThe description on the back of this book and even the title itself may be somewhat misleading. This is not a great sourcebook on Mesopotamia. In essence, only Chapters One and Three (less than twenty pages and a single map) detail the history, culture and society of this region. For example, the City of Babylon receives only four short sentences. All of the basics are present, but the book focuses just on the desert itself and the DM must fill in the remainder of the blanks.The interior artwork is typical Necromancer Games style, and although adequate is nothing outstanding. The lack of any Table of Contents or Index may make page-thumbing an inevitable task of navigation. But these last two points are really fairly minor. Coup de GraceGiven the very brief and basic Mesopotamian content, the adventure locales of this product could easily be placed in just about any DM’s desert regardless of which world his group played. The prestige classes, spells and feats would of course come right along. However, if your current campaign is nowhere near the desert then this book is going to be of extremely limited use to you. Although somewhat restricted by the tightness of its own theme and scope – and this is in no way a bad thing – this is a well-written book that offers much to the experienced DM and a mature group of players. Don’t buy this book if you are looking to explore Babylon or Nippur, but certainly give it a look if you need a vibrant desert campaign setting with just enough detail that the DM and players need bring only the story. Final Grade: B-</blockquote>

Verification