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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Psion" data-source="post: 2008200" data-attributes="member: 172">This thick but expensive volume details Kenzer & Co.'s Kalamar game setting. Those not too familiar with Kenzer & Co. may only know them through their Knights of the Dinner Table RPG oriented humor comic. However, Kalamar has been around for a while and was an "unoficcial" setting in the days of AD&D 2nd edition. Well now they are official and have put out this monster of a book -- licensed with the D&D moniker, no less -- to launch their campaign setting in the D&D 3e era.The book is sorted into chapters and appendices.The first chapter details the human ethnicities of Tellene (the continent on with the Kalamar campaign is set.)  major human cultural/ethnic variations: Brandobian, Kalamaran, Fhokki, Dejy, Reanaarian, and Svimohz. Noticably lacking is any information of the nature of nonhuman races in the setting. This is a significant omission, since the chapters describing nations make out elves, dwarves, and hobgoblins as being pretty major players in events of the world.Chapters 2 through 7 describe 6 regions of the continent of Tellene. These regions roughly but not exactly correspond to the 6 human races (for example, one of the human races is scattered and has scattered presence in most regions). The regions are Brandobia, Kalamar, the Young Kingdoms, the Wild Lands, Renaaria Bay, and Svimohzia.Each chapters describes the nations of each region, major cities, and topology. The city and details touch on a lot of potential plot material that any DM who runs this world setting should take advantage of.Chapter 8 describes independant organizations. Many of these organizations are not to over the top and may not serve much of a role in a typical campaign. But others may serve as movers and shakers that provide impetus for adventure, and the remainder can at the very least provide some unusual background.Chapter 9 is about languages and is probably the most in depth detailed section of the book. It provides common names and alphabets for several major languages of the setting.Chapter 10 describes the creation myth, deities, and religion of Tellene. The treatment of deities is different in KoK than in most other campaign settings. Instead of different pantheons for each culture and race, each deity is universal. The deities are given different names by different people, but the deities themselves cross all racial and cultural barriers. Noticable ommisions from this chapter are that only the details for the sects of human cultures are given in the text, despite the fact that the text makes it clear that all races revere the same body of deities.Appendix I contains an enumaration of celestial bodies and constellations in the night sky of Tellene, as well as the calander of the world.Appendix II is a breif listing containing pertinent details of the cities listed in the book.Appendix III contains a basic outline of the laws as they exist in most regions of Tellene.Appendix IV contains a listing of troop strengths and personalities involved with the major armies of TelleneAppendix V-VII are various other charts. Appendix V is an enumeration of the various nations of Tellene. Appendix VI breaks down the cultures and regions of the setting, including plurals and adjective uses of the various cultural and ethnic backgrounds. Appendix VII is a chart that lists the basic statistics of many (but not all) NPCs mentioned in the book. Only basic details (race, class, level) and references are given in the index; it is left to the DM to come up with details.The last section is an integrated glossary and index. Though superficially useful, it is not complete, missing several obvious entries.One of the most glaring flaws of Kalamar is the omission of commentary of the cultures and activities on nonhuman races in the first chapter and the chapter on religion. Though humans are an important central element int he campaign, there are still places where you can tell that the details will be missed.Whether Kalamar is useful to a given DM is a highly personal determination. There is very little in the way of rules material in the book. However, if what you want is a lot of setting details, you will not be disappointed. The book is thoroughly detailed. However, a more summarized look of several aspects of the setting (underlying conflicts, major NPCs, etc.) would have made some of that detail more digestable. As it stands, uncovering the sectrets of Kalamar may be a long dry read by a patient DM.Some DMs may dislike the approach of Kalamar and may prefer a more open ended setting that leaves a little more latitude.</blockquote>

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