Reply to thread

Message

<blockquote data-quote="wingsandsword" data-source="post: 1711415" data-attributes="member: 14159">Aurora's Whole Realms Catalog was in many ways the book that got me into D&amp;D, because it was just so interesting.&nbsp; I was in junior high when it came out, and my dad warned me against playing D&amp;D, because the preacher said it was satanic.&nbsp; I was browsing around at a big bookstore, and ran across a copy of that book.&nbsp; It was so dang neat to read through, that I bought it (even with my mom warning me to keep it hidden from dad).&nbsp; I didn't feel brave enough to buy the core books, but I did get the old Black Box Basic D&amp;D set on a trip to a toy store (and keep all the stuff in another box), and the NES port of Pool of Radiance.&nbsp; I then tried to reverse engineer D&amp;D from these three sources (and try and figure out why Pool of Radiance and the Catalog seemed to be talking about a completely different worlds, and try and figure out why Elves and Dwarves sometimes just had the Elf or Dwarf class but there was no Human class).It's the only 2e book I still regularly use when gaming.&nbsp; It's just great for adding atmosphere to a game.If you really want a copy, there is one up for auction on eBay right now, for pretty cheap, original cover price or less.Back to the topic, the Kalamar stuff was also pretty bad.&nbsp; I don't know if I can really honestly vote for it since I didn't buy it (I would look at it on the shelf, browse through it, and realize nothing in the line had any appeal to me).&nbsp; When Ryan Dancey published that article 4 years ago about why TSR failed in part by putting out a lot of campaign settings that were almost identical to each other, KenzerCo should have listened.&nbsp; Kalamar has no real &quot;hook&quot; to distinguish it from any other D&amp;D world, it was a generic any-system fantasy world that got the D&amp;D label slapped on it because Kenzer paid a fortune for the license, and it's original core book reflected that by not having anything to make it distinctive, it seemed like a generic system-free sourcebook for an average fantasy world.&nbsp; Honestly, what has Kalamar got going for it that you can't find in Greyhawk, or the Realms, or even Dragonlance.&nbsp; I love the Tolkienesque high-fantasy genre, but it's pretty thoroughly covered right now.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="wingsandsword, post: 1711415, member: 14159"] Aurora's Whole Realms Catalog was in many ways the book that got me into D&D, because it was just so interesting. I was in junior high when it came out, and my dad warned me against playing D&D, because the preacher said it was satanic. I was browsing around at a big bookstore, and ran across a copy of that book. It was so dang neat to read through, that I bought it (even with my mom warning me to keep it hidden from dad). I didn't feel brave enough to buy the core books, but I did get the old Black Box Basic D&D set on a trip to a toy store (and keep all the stuff in another box), and the NES port of Pool of Radiance. I then tried to reverse engineer D&D from these three sources (and try and figure out why Pool of Radiance and the Catalog seemed to be talking about a completely different worlds, and try and figure out why Elves and Dwarves sometimes just had the Elf or Dwarf class but there was no Human class). It's the only 2e book I still regularly use when gaming. It's just great for adding atmosphere to a game. If you really want a copy, there is one up for auction on eBay right now, for pretty cheap, original cover price or less. Back to the topic, the Kalamar stuff was also pretty bad. I don't know if I can really honestly vote for it since I didn't buy it (I would look at it on the shelf, browse through it, and realize nothing in the line had any appeal to me). When Ryan Dancey published that article 4 years ago about why TSR failed in part by putting out a lot of campaign settings that were almost identical to each other, KenzerCo should have listened. Kalamar has no real "hook" to distinguish it from any other D&D world, it was a generic any-system fantasy world that got the D&D label slapped on it because Kenzer paid a fortune for the license, and it's original core book reflected that by not having anything to make it distinctive, it seemed like a generic system-free sourcebook for an average fantasy world. Honestly, what has Kalamar got going for it that you can't find in Greyhawk, or the Realms, or even Dragonlance. I love the Tolkienesque high-fantasy genre, but it's pretty thoroughly covered right now. [/QUOTE]

Verification