Iron Kingdoms...worth the wait?

[Mythtify]

The Iron Kingdoms Character Guide is finaly here. It looks fantastic. I just started reading through this long waited for book.

I was wanting to pass it by. In the time that I have waited for this setting, Arcana Unearthed came out, as well as the surprisingly good Eberron.

All the time waiting for this setting almost made me turn my back on it. it's almost as bad as waiting for a new issue of the comic Kabuki.

Anyhow, now that it is out, does the book meet the expectations of thoose of you who have been waiting for so long?

 

[Crothian]

I passed on it. I had one in my hands at Orgins and spent a good deal of time looking through jit. But in the end there just has been so many other things I've gotten it has lost its appeal to me. Plus the primer locak and load they put out last year just didn't grab me that much. Love the Monsternomicon but it just wasn't enough to make me buy.

 

[Mythtify]

Yeah, I almost passed too. Though I was able to trade in my 3rd edtion splat books. The trade in lowerd the price enough for me to go ahead and get it.

 

[conanb]

Picked it up

I haven't waited as long as most fans out there, but I was excited to get my hands on the book. I love the Monsternomicon, and really got into this book. Now it's not your typical world. Some things I really like are the fact that there is no common language across countries, so you really will have Ambassadors and Translators between nations.
You have some pretty sensible religions in my opinion. I like the way magic and tech sort of blends together in this. I won't say much, except once you read through it you see that the 3.0 and 3.5 feats do make sense in making magic powered devices possible.
Overall, I was quite pleased with the book. I thought it might not have enough flavor stuff, since they're also putting out a separate world book, but it does have a nice amount of fluff included as well.
Just my 2 cents.
-Alex

 

[AdmundfortGeographer]

I just picked up the Iron Kingdoms Full Metal Fantasy Vol. I, "Character Guide". I hadn't been waiting for it, but I was looking forward to it nonetheless. I have wanted a really good fantasy implementation of the level of tech that Iron Kingdoms has done. While it tilts towards steampunk, it is very muted in comparison to the accentuation on magic. I wanted a fantasy setting with some steampunk, not a steampunk setting.

That said, Iron Kingdoms had a wonderful package compared to what else has been on the D20 market.

If I could change something, I would have preferred that Privateer Press took the angle that RPG Objects did with Darwin's World Second Edition. That is, had a generic "steam-fantasy" rules section and a Iron Kingdom's specific addendum, as Darwin's World 2nd Ed. has generic post-apoc rules chapters followed by setting specific Darwin World rules.

Right now, the Iron Kingdoms setting doesn't pull me in as much as the rules. Maybe I'll change my mind when when the Iron Kingdom's Full Metal Fantasy Vol. II, "World Guide", comes out... but right now I just wanted to loot the book for rules and mechanics for my own home-brew setting. The setting flavor is very interspersed into rules, making it harder to pull out what I want. *shrug*


Regards,
Eric Anondson