And now we come to the first in the trilogy that makes up the bulk of the Odyssey print line,
Jakandor, Island of War.
The entire Jakandor line is one that I've never been partial to, which now that I've started reviewing the books themselves strikes me as strange, because the
idea of them is something I like. You have two cultures that are wildly different, both with their own virtues of which they're justifiably proud and flaws to which they're near-totally blind, who see each other as degenerate savages who need to be annihilated. The fantasy cultures of each have excellent flavor text, backed up by new and interesting game mechanics, and it's not like you need to track down a bajillion old supplements to find everything Jakandor-related. On paper this mini-series of products should be a home run.
So why is it that I just can't get excited about these?
I think part of it is that these books come across as exactly what they are: a "campaignlet" that you play for a few weeks, maybe even a few months, and then move on once you've exhausted the central story. That's not me being uncharitable, either; it's how Jeff Grubb, who dreamed up the idea for Jakandor (even if he's not the one who wrote it),
described the idea.
Maybe it's just me, but I've never been fond of that. I like one-shots as one-and-done fun, and conversely, I think that long campaigns
are the ideal for tabletop RPGs (those guys with the
forty-year campaign are heroes in my book), but something like this, meant to be played just long enough to start feeling like a campaign before its planned obsolescence kicks in? I dunno, it just...seems like giving up just when things start to get interesting.
That said, my other major issue is that the investment to really get into the mindset of a character from a foreign culture seems like an awful lot of effort. I hate how that sounds – it seems almost like it goes against the entire
idea of role-playing – but a lot of players, in my experience, play casually, not getting too into things because their idea of fun is being able to kick back and not take things too seriously. They still play their characters, of course, but there's a threshold where remaining cognizant of myriad aspects of their character's culture feels like work rather than fun.
Having said all that, I'll note that those two issues aren't
technically opposites; you can have a long campaign that doesn't require major commitments of deep characterization from the players. That said, we do tend to correlate one with the other. And in any event, I've found that most of what I like out of my RPGs tends to be a minority opinion anyway, so your mileage may vary.
Either way, the Jakandor series (how do you even pronounce that, by the way? Is it "jaKANdor" or "JAKandor"?) was one that, insofar as I know, never caught on with players.
So what can be said about this book in particular, as opposed to Jakandor in general?
I think the first thing that comes to mind is how oddly the book itself is structured. For one thing, it's not just a book; it's two books and a poster map. The main, 112-page supplement is a player's guide to the Knorr barbarians, while a 32-page DM's guide covers their enemies, the Charonti necromancers. A four-panel poster map showcases the island of Jakandor in its entirety. So if you buy this on the secondary market, make sure you're getting all three components.
With regard to the Knorr barbarians who are spotlighted in this particular supplement (the Charonti are the focus of the next one,
Isle of Destiny), I'll refer you to what I said before about a richly-developed culture that's smartly supported by the game rules. In fact, re-reading this now, I found myself thinking that this was a better take on barbarians in a D&D-style fantasy setting than we got in the actual
leatherette guide to barbarian characters. Heck, at least this book makes it clear that it's showcasing a particular culture rather than presenting itself as a book of PC options and then slipping in rather bland, generic barbarian-isms.
As it stands, the Knorr are sort of like D&D's own klingons. It's all about clan and honor with them, particularly via warfare. Smartly, the book ties this into the AD&D game rules not only with new mechanics, but by overviewing how basic aspects of the game work in relation to the Knorr. For instance, there's an entire section (albeit only a few paragraphs) about how they look at resurrection in their society, noting that it's rare because it diminishes the honor of the killer and puts an onus on the resurrected character to take revenge on their slayer.
That said, new mechanics are here in abundance. Kits are put to good effect, because each kit represents a particular social niche in Knorr society, most (but not all) of whom revolve around beast cults that exemplify a particular style of combat. So the Howlers (cult of the hyena) are berserkers, while the Windlords (cult of the eagle) are strikers, etc. Of course, there are various kits for the priests, rogues, and even one for the few wizards among the Knorr as well. The priests, especially, are notable because the Knorr have also got their own form of collective ritual magic alongside not only a bunch of new priest spells, but also a new priest sphere (which is something you're hard-pressed to find in AD&D 2E outside of the
Tome of Magic).
Oh, and did I mention they also have shapeshifting kit for priests, who can not only change into animals but can also use clerical turning against lycanthropes? Seriously, these guys turn werewolves; how cool is that? Plus, the book introduces all sorts of minor rules for things to flesh out Knorr society, such as scars or counting coup.
We haven't even mentioned the giant sentinel mechs that they create, one of which
is made out of wicker but
isn't powered by a sacrifice whose eyes have been put out by bees.
Overall, there are a lot of ideas that I'd steal from this book if I ever wanted to present a barbarian culture in a fantasy world. Heck, I'd probably just rip most of this off outright; it's just the keeping it confined to the Jakandor paradigm, where these guys are locked into a seemingly-genocidal war against the Charonti, with no real presence outside of the island (the Knorr, the book tells us, think that the rest of the world has been destroyed) that would need to be changed.
Council of Wyrms also segregated the new setting it created this way, and while the cultures of Jakandor don't seem like they'd have the outsized influence of a society of dragons, artificially limiting both cultures like this just feels confining, even if it makes for easily inserting them into your campaign world.
To put it another way, of all the products I don't like, this is the one I like the most.
Please note my use of affiliate links in this post.
