D&D General Kingdoms of Kalamar vs Greyhawk? And any good modules?

[earthsea_wizard]

My interest has peaked again for this setting after many years. I remember it being hailed as an alternative to Greyhawk at a time when GH had somewhat recently lost support from WotC, and I know David Kenzer often said that GH was his favorite setting and inspiration for Kalamar.

Beyond the annoying naming conventions (and, really, are they that bad beyond the few obvious ones?), how is the setting for someone who still plays 3e? How would you compare it to Greyhawk as far as flavor and playability?

I seem to recall some saying it was close to real world angalogues, some saying it wasn't. Cultures that are not based on real world ones are more interesting to me, perhaps I like my fantasy a bit more fantastic.

And I've read that many of the adventures were good. Do any specific low level ones come to mind?

Thanks!

 

[bergec]

I was quite fond of the setting back in the day before I moved on from 3e and they went all in on Hackmaster and using Kalamar as its default setting. The human ethnicities aren't too spot on for real world analogues, though the influences are certainly there. I found it to be a very coherent and well thought-out setting with a lot of interesting hooks. I'd definitely recommend it to anyone who likes Greyhawk.

Also, the supplements were top notch. Goods and Gear is my favorite equipment book every published for a fantasy setting and Dangerous Denizens may be my favorite monster book. Both add a lot to the setting rather than just being generic expansions. The latter has a lot of world-building included with the monsters and their variations.

Oddly, I never actually ran any of the published adventures, so I can't help you there.

 

[SableWyvern]

I haven't played in either recently, but I found Kalamar more interesting than Greyhawk generally. Frandor's Keep (for Hackmaster) is an excellent starting location with vague similarities to Keep on the Borderlands. Kalamar feels like a cohesive whole to me, whereas Greyhawk feel a bit like a random hodge-podge of locations when you zoom out.

I really like the Kalamar pantheon, although IMO it works best if you're not using alignment, allowing the gods to be multifaceted and display more nuance instead of being objectively good, evil, etc.

I don't recall the specific details of Kalamar cultures, but I'm pretty sure they are going to fall much closer to "at least vaguely analogous to real world cultures" rather than, "unique and fantastic". Although there is the hobgoblin empire, at least, that stands out as different from many settings.

 

[earthsea_wizard]

Also, the supplements were top notch. Goods and Gear is my favorite equipment book every published for a fantasy setting and Dangerous Denizens may be my favorite monster book. Both add a lot to the setting rather than just being generic expansions. The latter has a lot of world-building included with the monsters and their variations.

The villains book was awesome. Is goods and gear a 3e book? I don't recall that one.

 

[Rune]

I always liked the 3e setting. The book read like a textbook, but world felt like a powderkeg just waiting for a spark to set it all aflame. Never did get a chance to do much gaming in it, though.

 

[Alzrius]

Kalamar's equipment book, Goods and Gear: The Ultimate Adventurer's Guide (affiliate link), was a truly excellent resource. I'd say it was the best such book in the whole of the 3.X market. Not only did it cover weapons and armor, but it showcased a lot of mundane items that fleshed out the setting, ranging from food and drink to coinage, all of which helped to showcase different regions of the Kalamar setting in small ways that made them feel fleshed out and alive.

 

[earthsea_wizard]

Kalamar's equipment book, Goods and Gear: The Ultimate Adventurer's Guide (affiliate link), was a truly excellent resource. I'd say it was the best such book in the whole of the 3.X market. Not only did it cover weapons and armor, but it showcased a lot of mundane items that fleshed out the setting, ranging from food and drink to coinage, all of which helped to showcase different regions of the Kalamar setting in small ways that made them feel fleshed out and alive.

I love the cover, I'll have to get this whether I dip into the setting or not. I like a good equipment book.

 

[Remathilis]

My memory of it from 3e was the sourcebooks were great but the modules were boring. I even won a free one on this site decades ago and found it so dense and uninspiring that I never bothered to run it or even harvest it for parts.

 

[Voadam]

In 2002 I did a review on here of the Kalamar mini adventure anthology Harvest of Darkness.

2002

 

[earthsea_wizard]

In 2002 I did a review on here of the Kalamar mini adventure anthology Harvest of Darkness.

2002

Thanks, a very nice review. The others are positive as well. I will have to look at this. Is it one of the more celebrated of the bunch? They have quite a few adventures. I'd be looking for something starting at level 1.