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Enchanted Trinkets Complete--a hardcover book containing over 500 magic items for your D&D games!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Crothian" data-source="post: 2619104" data-attributes="member: 232">In the era of d20 there has been an interesting trend to do low magic grim like settings.  It seems that they are popular with one like Black Company, Thieves World, Midnight, and others dominating the scene.  There is really only one true opposite of a high adventure high magic setting I can think of and that is Oathbound.  I know a lot of people consider normal D&D to be high magic but as that is the base line I always think of it as average.  Perhaps though with the number of lower magic options on the market and their continued success with have an impact on how the base game is done in the future.  Dark Legacies is a lower magic grim like setting so add another one to that long list.      Dark Legacies Campaign Guide is the second book by Red Spire Press.  This one hundred and sixty page soft bound book is also the second in the Dark Legacies product line the first being the Dark Legacy Players Guide.  The first thing I really noticed in this book is the amazing art.  The Players Guide also had exceptional art in it that got it an ENnie nomination and the art in the Campaign Guide is equally as good.  Paul Davidson, John Gravato, Ted Pendergraft, Adrian Smith, and Jonathon Standing all have some great works in this black and white book.  Many of these pieces are works that I can see hanging on walls.  The layout and organization of the book is well done.    After getting and reviewing the Players Guide I have to admit I have been waiting to really get a chance to go through the Campaign Guide.  This is the book with the setting and the details I thought were missing from the Players Guide.  This is the book that really presents in full force the sheer scope of the setting and the fun little details that I so thoroughly enjoy.  Like for instance the calendar of events presented in the first chapter.  The time line starts with the Earth coming out of the abyss and is says that either the information on the years before is lost or has been intentionally obfuscated.  Just that simple idea presents the many possibilities of who is hiding the info and the all important why.  No hints on this are given, but it is easily enough for a good DM to really get the imagination ruling and present different and interesting plots and conspiracies to the players.        The first chapter is more then just a time line and brief history of the world.  It starts with a good calendar and gets into ecology, diseases, mega cities, and a lot of really nice setting information.  It really presents and allows one tom imagine how the world in a small part can work especially for the more common peoples.  It has some good information on culture, quality of life, and making a living.  I love how it presents that the Mega cities are terrible places to live but are still almost infinitely better then the rural places.  This is not a fun and joyous setting.      The next two chapters really bring the setting to live covering the geography and the organizations.  In other words places and people and that is always paramount to a game.  There is a nice mix of plenty of detail to give a DM a few dozen ideas and at the same time not micro managing the setting in such a way that makes it difficult for DMs to insert their own ideas and go beyond the word and descriptions presented here.  These are really the core parts of the book in setting and material.  The art really reinforces the writing her presenting great pictures that show just how dark and grim the setting can be.  The art is like the perfect punctuation to get across the exact feel of the setting and it is rare that art and words go together so well.      The next part of the book is the mechanics section or what are more widely called Prestige Classes.  The book does a fantastic job of everything really reinforcing the setting.  It starts with the Avatar.  This is a priest or mage who evolves and some may call it degrades into a hybrid of demon and themselves.  Over the ten levels of this class the character metamorphosis’s into something quite unnatural and powerful.  It works as a great example of what the setting can do, a nicely balanced class with interesting and different abilities, and a fantastic basis for role playing a character down this potentially dark path.  It is rare to have class meet that trifecta of those so well.      The other real mechanic section that brilliantly fits into the setting is the Items of Power section.  In the Players Guide I found the magic section to be one of the strongest parts of that book and again I find the magic section here to be one of the best parts in terms of not just what it can do but also in the great flavor of the section.  There are holy items and there are demonic items here.  Or more precisely there are rules for creating them.  These items do not just have powers but they can have side effects.  These can include extreme cold, thinning of the air, and even causing such things as mass hysteria.  There are a lot of options to allow a creative DM to really get some awesome items in existence with interesting prices for the power.      The last section covers creatures and adventures.  It starts out though with low magic consideration in other words things the DM might want to think about when he is planning combat for the player characters.  There are things like raising the encounter level for out numbering the party and to do the same if the party happens to have characters that are non combative.  It has a minor change to damage reduction and cautions on using ability and energy drain as that become a lot more powerful here.  The adventure section is another highlight in the book.  It is more of adventure ideas but has some very creative options.  My favorite is Prisoner 17.  It offers some interesting possibilities for bringing in some different organizations and allowing the party plenty of action and role playing options in the course of this simple idea that can be made so very complex.  Dark Legacies Campaign Guide is the book I wanted and was expecting when I read through the Players Guide.  It is filled with great imagery and brings this dark setting alive.  It is a rare book that everything does a fantastic job of supporting the core setting and feel of the campaign world.</blockquote>

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