Mark Plemmons
Explorer
Reviewed By Andrew Wayne Franklin (posted by Mark Plemmons)
No pay, prize, or compensation was received for this review. The comments are entirely the work of AWF and not an official statement of any organization.
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First off, this review is intended to discuss the general contents of Goods and Gear so as to provide an insight into the author's work. It will not discuss every little detail of the book, but does discuss chapter topics, layout, theme, and tone. Also note that all reviews are biased-so here's the up-front on the bias load of this reviewer: considers Kingdoms of Kalamar an excellent setting, is a Hackmaster fan though sees through the parody, and knows sometimes there are some good d20 and some bad d20 products.
Overview: Goods and Gear is a dual-statted hardback book of 270 pages, of which 12 are the index. The base cultural milieu is that of Tellene, the main continent in the Kingdoms of Kalamar setting. This cultural filtering is just like Aurora's Whole Realms Catalog, an earlier gear book for AD&D which presumed everything took place in the Forgotten Realms setting. The base system for the book is Dungeons and Dragons 3.5. The other stats are for Hackmaster. Since Kalamar is the base setting, modifications for Garweeze Wurld, the main wurld for Hackmaster are handled in three ways: parenthetical reference in the text, italic sections following the item, and boxed text. D20 and Hackmaster statistics are clearly differentiated in each table-all Hackmaster material has an H or HM in the table title and d20 statistics have no special notation or a D in the table. Textual descriptions are succinct and set for d20. They apply well to Hackmaster and d20 unless otherwise noted; a katana is a katana even if the inhabitants of Tellene can't spell it right so you will have little difficulty using standard material from d20 or Hackmaster. The artwork is black and white line from a variety of artists in the Kenzer and Company stable; the artwork displays the goods or services available for sale and in some cases, paints a scene of that good or service. Personal favorites are an illustration of a wagon going through a forest inhabited by elves done by the brothers Fraim and Mitch Foust's illustration of a scholarly sage. The art is well chosen and helps make the text more clear-especially for weapons.
Introduction: This short chapter explains the book's chapters and how to use the book for Kingdoms of Kalamar (hereafter known as KOK), other d20 campaign settings, and Hackmaster. It is standard fare for an introduction, but the short cultural descriptions of the various human races found on Tellene show that the authors were considering this book suitable for a wider audience. Here are two racial descriptions to give you an idea of what cultures in Kalamar are referenced: "Kalamarans are proud and militaristic with a love of grandeur" (page 4) and "Dejy are diverse, nomadic, and tribal, but are also skilled craftsmen." (page 4). Other races are the Brandobians, Fhokki, Reanaarians, and Svimohz-all humans but with some subtle differences. Most of the non-human races are per the System Reference Document save for those which are a little different and which are mentioned in the Kingdoms of Kalamar Player's Guide, which isn't needed to read this book.
Chapter 1: In the Marketplace. New rules for bartering are introduced for d20 and Hackmaster, explaining how long people barter and how to move the price up or down. The bulk of the chapter is on the coinage of Tellene, an interesting section which details the various coins of each culture and which is nicely summarized in a table. For Hackmaster fans or d20 GMs who don't play Kingdoms of Kalamar, the coinage section is of limited utility, but the coin descriptions and discussion of reverse and obverse could help you with your own coins. Degrees of craftsmanship is mainly a d20 section-though a few notes on quality for Hackmaster are provided. Degrees of craftsmanship lists five standards of quality in descending order: the familiar masterwork, sovereign, standard, inferior, and shoddy. DCs to craft various items at each quality level and the impact of varying quality on equipment are discussed in detail-crafter PCs will enjoy this section. Inflation, taxation, trade, merchant's guilds, and the various marketplace scams use examples from KOK but easily fit into Hackmaster or your d20 campaign. In fact, there is italic text for one of the scams so you can run it right in Hackmaster. The chapter succeeds at reminding the reader of larger marketplace issues.
Chapter 2: Weaponry. This is the largest chapter in the book - the back cover advertises over 600 weapons. Weapons are organized by type for d20 and Hackmaster, appearing on extensive separate tables. The d20 weapons tables have damages for size small and size medium versions of each weapon, the critical range, the range for missile weapons, weight, damage type, and the traditional organization of weapons by type. More importantly, the culture on Tellene that made each weapon appears in the table, so if you don't play Kingdoms of Kalamar, you can give the weapon to an appropriate culture in your campaign wurld. The Hackmaster weapons tables are updated for the new weapons and all follow the Combatant's Guide format for damage listing-the Hackmaster tables are essentially in one section at the end of the chapter so you could easily scan through to find your weapon. Both the d20 and the Hackmaster tables are divided by weapon category, which given the strange-sounding names of weapons in the KOK setting, is helpful. Descriptions of hafted weapons, hilts, and parts of a sword are accompanied by illustrations-making it clear what a weapon which is not illustrated might appear like. Weapons are described textually, artistically, and on the weapon tables-though not all weapons were illustrated. An inset box informs Hackmaster players of how some of the weird weapons work-but most weapons are just various cultural versions of the axe, club, sword, spear, etc. Maintenance rules are added for d20 and maintenance material costs are listed for Hackmaster. The weapon maintenance rules for d20 are straightforward and add realism to your game-though you may ignore them if you feel having to buy maintenance oil and tools and have the characters spend time in game isn't worth the effort. Sadly, no Hackmaster rules on scabbard prices nor weapon materials other than steel appear-this is one that should be rectified in the Hackjournal and I've already suggested it to a fellow Hacker who was working on alternate weapon and armor materials. D20 fans have choices of leather, wooden, wrapped, and metal scabbards plus curved scabbards for the scimitar-wielders and ornamentation costs. Finally, giant-sized weapons appear for Hackmaster in a book other than Annihilate the Giants and now you know what a half-ogre would have to pay for them. d20 gamers could easily convert these items to d20 with the other tables in the book as a guideline. While the actual speed and damage for weapons will always be up for debate amongst gamers, the general layout of the chapter and the excellent textual and visual descriptions of weapons make the largest chapter in the book a worthwhile endeavor.
Chapter 3: Armor, Shields and Barding. This chapter adds new varieties of armor to both the d20 and Hackmaster system. The illustrations and textual descriptions help make it clear what the various armor pieces look like-doing a job almost as good as the Palladium Compendiums and Tunnels & Trolls in describing the armor available. Mount-related gear is added for both systems, so now you can buy a military saddle in Hackmaster and armored reins. Hackmaster armor rules regarding sleeping in armor and other miscellany are repeated in a full-page box; sadly the box is littered with typos due to an obvious mistake by the printer. This is the most glaring error in the book, and even it is one you can read through. The Hackmaster armor tables have now been expanded with bone, cord, bezainted, and half-plate armor. Hackmaster characters can now buy partial armor: the chain shirt, front and back plates, jacks, and helmets. The addition of the various alternative metals for making armor and full charts on armor AC, hit points, and modifications to maintenance intervals mean a player will have no trouble buying what they need for their character-provided gold and availability. One of my players was even considering buying adamantine full plate, a product he had never considered before, but the 3 million gold piece cost drove him away! For d20 players a variety of new shields, including spiked shields, are available. D20 players who like custom armor should enjoy the list of adamantine, mithril, darkwood, llorannion (a sacred wooden armor made by elves), and dragonhide armor now available to their characters. There is also a table of monsterhide armor and rules to make them. This chapter will help keep your character protected and lets you know what armor is what-a good endeavor.
Chapter 4: Clothing. Besides adding new clothing (sans swimwear), this chapter adds a new system called style points. Clothing makes the man they say, and wearing stylish clothing appropriate to one's station can give a character a charisma bonus. You can pay more for fine-looking, more stylish clothing, or pay less for clothing which makes you look impoverished. The GM will control whether the character is properly styled or not for the occasion-wearing finery at a beggar's march is a fashion faux pas! The charisma modifier for wearing finery only applies to intelligent humans and humanoids-you may wear a fine cloak but your cat won't care and neither will bulettes. Typical styles of Tellene are depicted, and most of the chapter just lists clothing options, though there is a small section describing various designs and materials that would also apply to medieval-period games of all sorts. The chapter concludes with clerical rainment for the religions of Tellene-and definitely shows the difference between d20 and Hackmaster. Synodal vestments are day-to-day wear for clergy in both KOK and Hackmaster and the synodal vestments of the KOK pantheon are described at length. The difference is in how liturgical vestments function-in d20 clerics get turning bonuses and cast spells a level higher for wearing their god's liturgical vestments. In Hackmaster, clerics just get a reaction bonus-a cleric in the religion's finery should be impressing the faithful but gains no other bonuses.
Chapter 5: Games and Entertainment. Masks for actors and jesters, puppets, juggling equipment, and cards and dice make up this chapter along with a few odd items like horns and stilts. Statistics are basically the same for both systems, but in Hackmaster vigilantes are taking out folks who buy mime masks-to stop the spread of this evil menace. A few card and dice games are provided at the end-fortunately none are Texas Hold-Em, which seems to be replacing all other poker games. Dwarven Downs and Barrier sound like fun games to try with cards and dice in an RPG. The chapter succeeds in discussing some diversions and providing a few ways to cheat at card and dice games.
Chapter 6: Musical Instruments. This chapter has two tables - one each for Hackmaster and KOK musical instruments and the tables concentrate on price, weight and availability. Musical instruments are described alphabetically with the powers described for both systems after the textual description of the item. Hackmaster descriptions are in italics, and are pretty similar to the d20 descriptions, though each item is converted to Garweeze Wurld if it was too culturally-specific. Bards in Hackmaster finally gain some power-Ben String-Plucker can now be properly simulated long enough for the other party-members to get the to-hit bonuses to off the hippie-tree hugger! Bards can even gain honor by playing certain complicated instruments. In d20, just as in Hackmaster, some items give specific bonus to bardic musical effects. Bardic performance can be enhanced by some items, some items allow a bard to maintain multiple bard supernatural effects at once, and other items alter morale and combat statistics of the bard and his allies or enemies. Note that in d20, all bardic effects are supernatural and sonic-so hearing is believing. Sadly, the chapter lacks artwork, which would have helped folks better understand some of the odder instruments.
Chapter 7: Tools, Gear, and Equipment. Academic and commerce equipment, healing gear, containers, illumination (as in lights, not joining the conspiracy), religious items, tools, and talismans appear in this chapter. The chapter brings back memories of Aurora's Whole Realms Catalog, but is a substantial addition to Hackmaster. Book costs for various book types, standard map costs, magnifying glasses (including a typical Hackmaster joke about stupid PCs), and spell pouch cases and scroll straps have been added. The tools are useful, though the religious items and grifter's items are reprinted from other Hackmaster books. D20 fans will find plenty of new items and the statistical bonuses each grants-an Arcane Lab gives +2 on Spellcraft checks when doing spell research, for example and an Astrolabe improves Navigation checks. Those fans of rogues will find plenty of useful gear ranging from acid to funnels and listening cones. A completely new section on how to make talismans to control outer planes denizens is a nice addition-just be careful when trying to control Nefarians (outsiders for you d20 players), buddy!
Chapter 8: Food and Drink. One should not read this chapter on an empty stomach, for the hunger pains will start setting in. Basic culinary traditions and dining etiquette for various regions in KOK lead off the chapter-these are not immediately applicable to Hackmaster or other d20 worlds, but savvy GMs will be able to use these descriptions to make dining a more role-playing experience than "we order food at the inn." Foodstuffs are described by type-in less detail for some than Aurora's Whole Realms Catalog, but in sufficient detail for use in most games. The chapter is fairly statistic-free, save for the drinks section; the drinks section uses italics for the Hackmaster statistics and also converts back into the Garweeze Wurld milleu. D20 players will find the special rules for drinks in the main text. For most players, this chapter will seem like fluff-but GMs who want to show culture can savor the fine flavors of pastries and other dishes.
Chapter 9: Concoctions. This chapter contains alchemical mixtures, herbal remedies, poisons, and drugs. Most of the items work about the same in Hackmaster as they do in KOK, so if there are any changes they are handled in parentheses or by italics. Craft DCs are listed for each item, so you d20 players can go wild with alchemy and herbs! There are a few interesting orc healing potions, and numerous scent-affecting concoctions in the alchemical section. Herbal mixtures are quasi-magical, and most have some interesting uses. Earsplitter is interesting-anyone with a nagging female character in the party should try some and Second Wind could be a boon to adventurers who must kill everything right now. Herbal remedies sadly give Hackmaster players an idea of how to cure some nasty diseases but there are some horrifying poisons in the chapter to balance that out. Unlike the d20 rules which allow significant modifications of poison (and details how this would be done), in Hackmaster all you can really do is to make an analogue and dilute or purify a poison. So, you can't make new poison or change the delivery method in Hackmaster. The drugs are really an afterthought in the chapter, though The Silver Sand would be useful to those Hackmaster characters on a visionquest. This chapter will improve your game if you like making potions or using herbs.
Chapter 10: Personal Goods and Services. This covers cosmetics, hirelings, mercenaries, and those you would hire to perform a short-term service. The bulk of the chapter concerns which services are available and d20 and Hackmaster statistics for the various hireling types are provided. Now if you need a barber or a cartographer, there's a sample character ready for you with only a minimum of customization needed. D20 players now have access to the Sage class-illustrating that they don't just define the sage by his job. The base hirelings are humans, but any savvy GM or player should know what hiring a demi-human/humanoid brings to the table. For some professions like blacksmith, the d20 system differences are spelled out. The sample characters have full d20 statistic blocks and are customizable, so your NPCs are ready to go! There is indeed a discussion of brothels on page 225, all in d20 statistics. However, the numbers could be easily modified for Hackmaster if your game really needs it and the dancing girls don't suffice. Really, this is just so the GM knows what to charge-don't have brothels in your game if you don't want them but in the realistic Kingdoms of Kalamar there are brothels so knowing how much to pay is important. The chapter ends with prices for slaves in KOK-a reprint from the Kalamar Player's Guide, but again something a d20 or Hackmaster GM or player can use an inspiration. Slavery is an evil, but it plays an important role in the Kingdoms of Kalamar-for there is even a city of a slavelord. There are a few good illustrations of professionals at work in the chapter-both of my favorites appear here.
Chapter 11: Animals. This chapter is bereft of art, but makes up for it by listing a menagerie of domestic animals that will keep even those players who always ask about monkeys and sabre-toothed elephants happy. Hackmaster and d20 stats are provided for each animal, and at least 50 critters have been added to the Hackmaster animal list, including the chicken for those of you with grand mastery in unconscious pixie-fairy. Someone on the staff is serving the feline masters well, as there are a variety of small hunting cats which now have Hackmaster statistics. The entry for deer had me cracking up-their special defense is to freeze in bright light! About my only complaint with this section is calling a hyena a cat-that's like using the term fish to describe the bulk of aquatic vertebrates! A few animal accessories like cages, animal calls, and an animal trainer's kit round out the chapter. As most of these are real-world animals, pictures can be found in other sources to satisfy your need to see them. D20 players get full statistic blocks for new critters, and references for ones which are already in the Monster Manual.
Chapter 12: Lodging. This short chapter covers beds and bedding, furniture, costs for lodging, eating utensils, and typical building costs. The only artwork is of a castle-but it does show the parts nicely. Tents are also covering, and the approximate time it takes to break camp is noted. There's also a good joke about magical tents. This is a workman's chapter, giving you what you need but light on flair.
Chapter 13: Travel and Transportation. This chapter discusses how to get places, mentioning briefly the hazards of travel and then going into a description of various transportation items such as carts and boats. The most useful material for Hackmaster players is the ship accessories section and the brief discussion of hired transportation. While the discussion of hired transportation is in d20 statistics and also includes tariffs and tolls, it nonetheless gives a player and their GM a good idea of how much tolls should cost at base. Just remember, NPCs always jack up the tolls as high as they can get away with in Hackmaster!
For KOK-only players, this is an outstanding book. There is indeed Hackmaster material in the book, but since the descriptions are of Tellene and there are ample KOK statistics, this book is certainly the gear book you've been waiting for all these long months. A few minor issues are the inclusion of samurai weapons and giving them a mispronounced name and the propensity of the authors to focus on the Khydoban and Malava Dejy more than the other tribes. It also seems most new items came from ancient Elos Bay or the ancient Khydoban Desert. I would rate this a 9 out of 10 for KOK players based on the fact that some material is Hackmaster and the few cultural oddities.
For other d20 players, this is still an outstanding book. There is Hackmaster material but it is parsed well enough that you can avoid it if you desire. It is updated to the current rules, has few errors, and thus gives you plenty of material to use. You will have to do some conversions of material for cultural reasons, but that's not very hard with free information on the Kingdoms of Kalamar setting available on the web and the nice folks at the Kenzer forums. I would rate this book an 8 out 10 for d20 players-it is a nice addition to your library unless you already have an awesome gearbook. If you end up liking the culture in the book you should check out further Kingdoms of Kalamar material, for this is an official setting for Dungeons and Dragons and is well-supported by Kenzer and Company.
For Hackmaster players, this book has a great deal of useful material. Yes, the KOK setting is the base and you would have to convert some of the items for other settings, but there is a plethora of material for you to use. Very few additional rules were added-mainly clarifications of existing items and their abilities, so the d20 taint is limited. Due to repetition of some items, those with the various class guides need this less than someone new to Hackmaster. I would rate this an 8 out of 10 for those who need the references and a 7.5 out of 10 for those who already have the class guides. You can live without out this book, but you miss out on a lot of material that could improve your Hackmaster game.
For those who like all things Kenzer, buy this book! There is plenty of material to just enjoy reading and if you play RPGs this book will help you give your wurld verisimilitude.
In conclusion, the authors set out to do what they promised-provide an outstanding gear book based on the Kingdoms of Kalamar for that setting, other d20 settings, and Hackmaster. This book covers weapons and armor as well as the Palladium Compendiums and the Tunnels and Trolls main rulebook, works known for their excellence in depiction of weapons and armor. While not having as many examples of some items as Aurora's Whole Realms Catalog, it easily matches that book in most areas and surpasses it in others. This durable hardcover book should cover the gear needs of most gaming groups for years. The authors were able to keep the Hackmaster and d20 material sufficiently parsed that fans of one system who are willing to spend time looking for their specifics will have no problem avoiding the other system. There may be other gear books, but this one did what it promised and has the quality you come to expect from Kenzer and Company.
Thanks for reading - I hope this gives you a good idea of the contents of Goods & Gear and will help you make an informed purchasing decision.
No pay, prize, or compensation was received for this review. The comments are entirely the work of AWF and not an official statement of any organization.
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First off, this review is intended to discuss the general contents of Goods and Gear so as to provide an insight into the author's work. It will not discuss every little detail of the book, but does discuss chapter topics, layout, theme, and tone. Also note that all reviews are biased-so here's the up-front on the bias load of this reviewer: considers Kingdoms of Kalamar an excellent setting, is a Hackmaster fan though sees through the parody, and knows sometimes there are some good d20 and some bad d20 products.
Overview: Goods and Gear is a dual-statted hardback book of 270 pages, of which 12 are the index. The base cultural milieu is that of Tellene, the main continent in the Kingdoms of Kalamar setting. This cultural filtering is just like Aurora's Whole Realms Catalog, an earlier gear book for AD&D which presumed everything took place in the Forgotten Realms setting. The base system for the book is Dungeons and Dragons 3.5. The other stats are for Hackmaster. Since Kalamar is the base setting, modifications for Garweeze Wurld, the main wurld for Hackmaster are handled in three ways: parenthetical reference in the text, italic sections following the item, and boxed text. D20 and Hackmaster statistics are clearly differentiated in each table-all Hackmaster material has an H or HM in the table title and d20 statistics have no special notation or a D in the table. Textual descriptions are succinct and set for d20. They apply well to Hackmaster and d20 unless otherwise noted; a katana is a katana even if the inhabitants of Tellene can't spell it right so you will have little difficulty using standard material from d20 or Hackmaster. The artwork is black and white line from a variety of artists in the Kenzer and Company stable; the artwork displays the goods or services available for sale and in some cases, paints a scene of that good or service. Personal favorites are an illustration of a wagon going through a forest inhabited by elves done by the brothers Fraim and Mitch Foust's illustration of a scholarly sage. The art is well chosen and helps make the text more clear-especially for weapons.
Introduction: This short chapter explains the book's chapters and how to use the book for Kingdoms of Kalamar (hereafter known as KOK), other d20 campaign settings, and Hackmaster. It is standard fare for an introduction, but the short cultural descriptions of the various human races found on Tellene show that the authors were considering this book suitable for a wider audience. Here are two racial descriptions to give you an idea of what cultures in Kalamar are referenced: "Kalamarans are proud and militaristic with a love of grandeur" (page 4) and "Dejy are diverse, nomadic, and tribal, but are also skilled craftsmen." (page 4). Other races are the Brandobians, Fhokki, Reanaarians, and Svimohz-all humans but with some subtle differences. Most of the non-human races are per the System Reference Document save for those which are a little different and which are mentioned in the Kingdoms of Kalamar Player's Guide, which isn't needed to read this book.
Chapter 1: In the Marketplace. New rules for bartering are introduced for d20 and Hackmaster, explaining how long people barter and how to move the price up or down. The bulk of the chapter is on the coinage of Tellene, an interesting section which details the various coins of each culture and which is nicely summarized in a table. For Hackmaster fans or d20 GMs who don't play Kingdoms of Kalamar, the coinage section is of limited utility, but the coin descriptions and discussion of reverse and obverse could help you with your own coins. Degrees of craftsmanship is mainly a d20 section-though a few notes on quality for Hackmaster are provided. Degrees of craftsmanship lists five standards of quality in descending order: the familiar masterwork, sovereign, standard, inferior, and shoddy. DCs to craft various items at each quality level and the impact of varying quality on equipment are discussed in detail-crafter PCs will enjoy this section. Inflation, taxation, trade, merchant's guilds, and the various marketplace scams use examples from KOK but easily fit into Hackmaster or your d20 campaign. In fact, there is italic text for one of the scams so you can run it right in Hackmaster. The chapter succeeds at reminding the reader of larger marketplace issues.
Chapter 2: Weaponry. This is the largest chapter in the book - the back cover advertises over 600 weapons. Weapons are organized by type for d20 and Hackmaster, appearing on extensive separate tables. The d20 weapons tables have damages for size small and size medium versions of each weapon, the critical range, the range for missile weapons, weight, damage type, and the traditional organization of weapons by type. More importantly, the culture on Tellene that made each weapon appears in the table, so if you don't play Kingdoms of Kalamar, you can give the weapon to an appropriate culture in your campaign wurld. The Hackmaster weapons tables are updated for the new weapons and all follow the Combatant's Guide format for damage listing-the Hackmaster tables are essentially in one section at the end of the chapter so you could easily scan through to find your weapon. Both the d20 and the Hackmaster tables are divided by weapon category, which given the strange-sounding names of weapons in the KOK setting, is helpful. Descriptions of hafted weapons, hilts, and parts of a sword are accompanied by illustrations-making it clear what a weapon which is not illustrated might appear like. Weapons are described textually, artistically, and on the weapon tables-though not all weapons were illustrated. An inset box informs Hackmaster players of how some of the weird weapons work-but most weapons are just various cultural versions of the axe, club, sword, spear, etc. Maintenance rules are added for d20 and maintenance material costs are listed for Hackmaster. The weapon maintenance rules for d20 are straightforward and add realism to your game-though you may ignore them if you feel having to buy maintenance oil and tools and have the characters spend time in game isn't worth the effort. Sadly, no Hackmaster rules on scabbard prices nor weapon materials other than steel appear-this is one that should be rectified in the Hackjournal and I've already suggested it to a fellow Hacker who was working on alternate weapon and armor materials. D20 fans have choices of leather, wooden, wrapped, and metal scabbards plus curved scabbards for the scimitar-wielders and ornamentation costs. Finally, giant-sized weapons appear for Hackmaster in a book other than Annihilate the Giants and now you know what a half-ogre would have to pay for them. d20 gamers could easily convert these items to d20 with the other tables in the book as a guideline. While the actual speed and damage for weapons will always be up for debate amongst gamers, the general layout of the chapter and the excellent textual and visual descriptions of weapons make the largest chapter in the book a worthwhile endeavor.
Chapter 3: Armor, Shields and Barding. This chapter adds new varieties of armor to both the d20 and Hackmaster system. The illustrations and textual descriptions help make it clear what the various armor pieces look like-doing a job almost as good as the Palladium Compendiums and Tunnels & Trolls in describing the armor available. Mount-related gear is added for both systems, so now you can buy a military saddle in Hackmaster and armored reins. Hackmaster armor rules regarding sleeping in armor and other miscellany are repeated in a full-page box; sadly the box is littered with typos due to an obvious mistake by the printer. This is the most glaring error in the book, and even it is one you can read through. The Hackmaster armor tables have now been expanded with bone, cord, bezainted, and half-plate armor. Hackmaster characters can now buy partial armor: the chain shirt, front and back plates, jacks, and helmets. The addition of the various alternative metals for making armor and full charts on armor AC, hit points, and modifications to maintenance intervals mean a player will have no trouble buying what they need for their character-provided gold and availability. One of my players was even considering buying adamantine full plate, a product he had never considered before, but the 3 million gold piece cost drove him away! For d20 players a variety of new shields, including spiked shields, are available. D20 players who like custom armor should enjoy the list of adamantine, mithril, darkwood, llorannion (a sacred wooden armor made by elves), and dragonhide armor now available to their characters. There is also a table of monsterhide armor and rules to make them. This chapter will help keep your character protected and lets you know what armor is what-a good endeavor.
Chapter 4: Clothing. Besides adding new clothing (sans swimwear), this chapter adds a new system called style points. Clothing makes the man they say, and wearing stylish clothing appropriate to one's station can give a character a charisma bonus. You can pay more for fine-looking, more stylish clothing, or pay less for clothing which makes you look impoverished. The GM will control whether the character is properly styled or not for the occasion-wearing finery at a beggar's march is a fashion faux pas! The charisma modifier for wearing finery only applies to intelligent humans and humanoids-you may wear a fine cloak but your cat won't care and neither will bulettes. Typical styles of Tellene are depicted, and most of the chapter just lists clothing options, though there is a small section describing various designs and materials that would also apply to medieval-period games of all sorts. The chapter concludes with clerical rainment for the religions of Tellene-and definitely shows the difference between d20 and Hackmaster. Synodal vestments are day-to-day wear for clergy in both KOK and Hackmaster and the synodal vestments of the KOK pantheon are described at length. The difference is in how liturgical vestments function-in d20 clerics get turning bonuses and cast spells a level higher for wearing their god's liturgical vestments. In Hackmaster, clerics just get a reaction bonus-a cleric in the religion's finery should be impressing the faithful but gains no other bonuses.
Chapter 5: Games and Entertainment. Masks for actors and jesters, puppets, juggling equipment, and cards and dice make up this chapter along with a few odd items like horns and stilts. Statistics are basically the same for both systems, but in Hackmaster vigilantes are taking out folks who buy mime masks-to stop the spread of this evil menace. A few card and dice games are provided at the end-fortunately none are Texas Hold-Em, which seems to be replacing all other poker games. Dwarven Downs and Barrier sound like fun games to try with cards and dice in an RPG. The chapter succeeds in discussing some diversions and providing a few ways to cheat at card and dice games.
Chapter 6: Musical Instruments. This chapter has two tables - one each for Hackmaster and KOK musical instruments and the tables concentrate on price, weight and availability. Musical instruments are described alphabetically with the powers described for both systems after the textual description of the item. Hackmaster descriptions are in italics, and are pretty similar to the d20 descriptions, though each item is converted to Garweeze Wurld if it was too culturally-specific. Bards in Hackmaster finally gain some power-Ben String-Plucker can now be properly simulated long enough for the other party-members to get the to-hit bonuses to off the hippie-tree hugger! Bards can even gain honor by playing certain complicated instruments. In d20, just as in Hackmaster, some items give specific bonus to bardic musical effects. Bardic performance can be enhanced by some items, some items allow a bard to maintain multiple bard supernatural effects at once, and other items alter morale and combat statistics of the bard and his allies or enemies. Note that in d20, all bardic effects are supernatural and sonic-so hearing is believing. Sadly, the chapter lacks artwork, which would have helped folks better understand some of the odder instruments.
Chapter 7: Tools, Gear, and Equipment. Academic and commerce equipment, healing gear, containers, illumination (as in lights, not joining the conspiracy), religious items, tools, and talismans appear in this chapter. The chapter brings back memories of Aurora's Whole Realms Catalog, but is a substantial addition to Hackmaster. Book costs for various book types, standard map costs, magnifying glasses (including a typical Hackmaster joke about stupid PCs), and spell pouch cases and scroll straps have been added. The tools are useful, though the religious items and grifter's items are reprinted from other Hackmaster books. D20 fans will find plenty of new items and the statistical bonuses each grants-an Arcane Lab gives +2 on Spellcraft checks when doing spell research, for example and an Astrolabe improves Navigation checks. Those fans of rogues will find plenty of useful gear ranging from acid to funnels and listening cones. A completely new section on how to make talismans to control outer planes denizens is a nice addition-just be careful when trying to control Nefarians (outsiders for you d20 players), buddy!
Chapter 8: Food and Drink. One should not read this chapter on an empty stomach, for the hunger pains will start setting in. Basic culinary traditions and dining etiquette for various regions in KOK lead off the chapter-these are not immediately applicable to Hackmaster or other d20 worlds, but savvy GMs will be able to use these descriptions to make dining a more role-playing experience than "we order food at the inn." Foodstuffs are described by type-in less detail for some than Aurora's Whole Realms Catalog, but in sufficient detail for use in most games. The chapter is fairly statistic-free, save for the drinks section; the drinks section uses italics for the Hackmaster statistics and also converts back into the Garweeze Wurld milleu. D20 players will find the special rules for drinks in the main text. For most players, this chapter will seem like fluff-but GMs who want to show culture can savor the fine flavors of pastries and other dishes.
Chapter 9: Concoctions. This chapter contains alchemical mixtures, herbal remedies, poisons, and drugs. Most of the items work about the same in Hackmaster as they do in KOK, so if there are any changes they are handled in parentheses or by italics. Craft DCs are listed for each item, so you d20 players can go wild with alchemy and herbs! There are a few interesting orc healing potions, and numerous scent-affecting concoctions in the alchemical section. Herbal mixtures are quasi-magical, and most have some interesting uses. Earsplitter is interesting-anyone with a nagging female character in the party should try some and Second Wind could be a boon to adventurers who must kill everything right now. Herbal remedies sadly give Hackmaster players an idea of how to cure some nasty diseases but there are some horrifying poisons in the chapter to balance that out. Unlike the d20 rules which allow significant modifications of poison (and details how this would be done), in Hackmaster all you can really do is to make an analogue and dilute or purify a poison. So, you can't make new poison or change the delivery method in Hackmaster. The drugs are really an afterthought in the chapter, though The Silver Sand would be useful to those Hackmaster characters on a visionquest. This chapter will improve your game if you like making potions or using herbs.
Chapter 10: Personal Goods and Services. This covers cosmetics, hirelings, mercenaries, and those you would hire to perform a short-term service. The bulk of the chapter concerns which services are available and d20 and Hackmaster statistics for the various hireling types are provided. Now if you need a barber or a cartographer, there's a sample character ready for you with only a minimum of customization needed. D20 players now have access to the Sage class-illustrating that they don't just define the sage by his job. The base hirelings are humans, but any savvy GM or player should know what hiring a demi-human/humanoid brings to the table. For some professions like blacksmith, the d20 system differences are spelled out. The sample characters have full d20 statistic blocks and are customizable, so your NPCs are ready to go! There is indeed a discussion of brothels on page 225, all in d20 statistics. However, the numbers could be easily modified for Hackmaster if your game really needs it and the dancing girls don't suffice. Really, this is just so the GM knows what to charge-don't have brothels in your game if you don't want them but in the realistic Kingdoms of Kalamar there are brothels so knowing how much to pay is important. The chapter ends with prices for slaves in KOK-a reprint from the Kalamar Player's Guide, but again something a d20 or Hackmaster GM or player can use an inspiration. Slavery is an evil, but it plays an important role in the Kingdoms of Kalamar-for there is even a city of a slavelord. There are a few good illustrations of professionals at work in the chapter-both of my favorites appear here.
Chapter 11: Animals. This chapter is bereft of art, but makes up for it by listing a menagerie of domestic animals that will keep even those players who always ask about monkeys and sabre-toothed elephants happy. Hackmaster and d20 stats are provided for each animal, and at least 50 critters have been added to the Hackmaster animal list, including the chicken for those of you with grand mastery in unconscious pixie-fairy. Someone on the staff is serving the feline masters well, as there are a variety of small hunting cats which now have Hackmaster statistics. The entry for deer had me cracking up-their special defense is to freeze in bright light! About my only complaint with this section is calling a hyena a cat-that's like using the term fish to describe the bulk of aquatic vertebrates! A few animal accessories like cages, animal calls, and an animal trainer's kit round out the chapter. As most of these are real-world animals, pictures can be found in other sources to satisfy your need to see them. D20 players get full statistic blocks for new critters, and references for ones which are already in the Monster Manual.
Chapter 12: Lodging. This short chapter covers beds and bedding, furniture, costs for lodging, eating utensils, and typical building costs. The only artwork is of a castle-but it does show the parts nicely. Tents are also covering, and the approximate time it takes to break camp is noted. There's also a good joke about magical tents. This is a workman's chapter, giving you what you need but light on flair.
Chapter 13: Travel and Transportation. This chapter discusses how to get places, mentioning briefly the hazards of travel and then going into a description of various transportation items such as carts and boats. The most useful material for Hackmaster players is the ship accessories section and the brief discussion of hired transportation. While the discussion of hired transportation is in d20 statistics and also includes tariffs and tolls, it nonetheless gives a player and their GM a good idea of how much tolls should cost at base. Just remember, NPCs always jack up the tolls as high as they can get away with in Hackmaster!
For KOK-only players, this is an outstanding book. There is indeed Hackmaster material in the book, but since the descriptions are of Tellene and there are ample KOK statistics, this book is certainly the gear book you've been waiting for all these long months. A few minor issues are the inclusion of samurai weapons and giving them a mispronounced name and the propensity of the authors to focus on the Khydoban and Malava Dejy more than the other tribes. It also seems most new items came from ancient Elos Bay or the ancient Khydoban Desert. I would rate this a 9 out of 10 for KOK players based on the fact that some material is Hackmaster and the few cultural oddities.
For other d20 players, this is still an outstanding book. There is Hackmaster material but it is parsed well enough that you can avoid it if you desire. It is updated to the current rules, has few errors, and thus gives you plenty of material to use. You will have to do some conversions of material for cultural reasons, but that's not very hard with free information on the Kingdoms of Kalamar setting available on the web and the nice folks at the Kenzer forums. I would rate this book an 8 out 10 for d20 players-it is a nice addition to your library unless you already have an awesome gearbook. If you end up liking the culture in the book you should check out further Kingdoms of Kalamar material, for this is an official setting for Dungeons and Dragons and is well-supported by Kenzer and Company.
For Hackmaster players, this book has a great deal of useful material. Yes, the KOK setting is the base and you would have to convert some of the items for other settings, but there is a plethora of material for you to use. Very few additional rules were added-mainly clarifications of existing items and their abilities, so the d20 taint is limited. Due to repetition of some items, those with the various class guides need this less than someone new to Hackmaster. I would rate this an 8 out of 10 for those who need the references and a 7.5 out of 10 for those who already have the class guides. You can live without out this book, but you miss out on a lot of material that could improve your Hackmaster game.
For those who like all things Kenzer, buy this book! There is plenty of material to just enjoy reading and if you play RPGs this book will help you give your wurld verisimilitude.
In conclusion, the authors set out to do what they promised-provide an outstanding gear book based on the Kingdoms of Kalamar for that setting, other d20 settings, and Hackmaster. This book covers weapons and armor as well as the Palladium Compendiums and the Tunnels and Trolls main rulebook, works known for their excellence in depiction of weapons and armor. While not having as many examples of some items as Aurora's Whole Realms Catalog, it easily matches that book in most areas and surpasses it in others. This durable hardcover book should cover the gear needs of most gaming groups for years. The authors were able to keep the Hackmaster and d20 material sufficiently parsed that fans of one system who are willing to spend time looking for their specifics will have no problem avoiding the other system. There may be other gear books, but this one did what it promised and has the quality you come to expect from Kenzer and Company.
Thanks for reading - I hope this gives you a good idea of the contents of Goods & Gear and will help you make an informed purchasing decision.
