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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Graf" data-source="post: 2008515" data-attributes="member: 3087">As I was paging through this site I realized that most every supplement has someone who loves it (see my review of Oriental Adventures) but that people would probably be better served by hearing a bit about some supplements they could  do without. A quick glance over my bookshelf revealed one book in particular which should probably have a few warnings attached to it.This is that book. I should say that I was looking forward to a quality low-magic detailed world and arranged for a friend to pick this book up for me when he was back in the states. All the glowing reviews about the setting made me feel confident that my money was going to the right place. Oops. Some key points:1. The book is poorly organized.... Its not that the layout is bad so much as they forgot to tell people about the setting. I've read the book cover to cover and skimmed and re-skimmed parts of it and its just a haphazard collection of facts, myths and story ideas spread out over a whole continent. It doesn't hang together, have a narrative or have much in it that's compelling or interesting.2. Its dryly written. Kind of like a history textbook, there are lots of "and then the king died falling off his horse and his son took the throne and ruled for a number of years. And then...." Its got detail alright. But the interesting details are all missing, and the writing style doesn't help.3. Its really not a D&D product like those produced by the wizards of the coast.... It continues to be a generic setting with bits of D&D shoehorned in to fill up space. As just about every reviewer has mentioned there are no domains for the gods in the book (though massive fan complaint has caused them to put out something on the internet) nor is there any discussion of non-human races (except for a good bit about the Hobgoblins, which unfortunately, is only a few pages long). Rules just don't make an appearance.... there are no stats, levels or rules discussions of anything. The few exceptions to this are sidebars with magic items which break the rules (in boring ways, kina imbalanced like making a ring of invisibility that functions just like a wand of invisibility) and the utterly unusable "master NPC reference chart". This "reference" chart deserves special mention. Instead of actually including information on the characters in the setting material there is a confusing chart in the back which has some names and levels. The names are connected to "Location names" which, with a significant amount of effort, allow you to figure out where the NPCs description is located (if you already have a fantastic working knowledge of the setting then seeing 'Thygasha' or 'Unvolen' might help you leap correctly to the right page, but its just a pain in the ass for someone who hasn't already spent years with the setting). I can only presume that the book is set up like this because either the setting writers either didn't understand the D&D system or because the writing was cut and pasted in from other books. At any rate the chart has character level and that's it. To my mind seeing "sorcerer 8" is just about the same as seeing "sorcerer of moderate skill" in the text. It still means the NPC has to be created from scratch by the DM. Most NPCs don't make it to the chart anyway.Though the book clearly states that magic items and magic in general is supposed to be less common than in D&D core worlds like Greyhawk or the Forgotten Realms (yes I know that FR isn't the "Official" core world, but its the most supported...) there is no discussion of how treasure tables should be modified (or if they don't like treasure tables some other system would be just fine....)The few good bits that save it from being rated a 1: its been spell checked and uses complete sentences, unlike other D20 productsThe mages & sages section of each city, bafflingly, is actually extremely good. The character bits are interesting, brief and filled with plot hooks. I actually realized I didn't like the book when I discovered that the only think keeping me reading was getting to the next nifty little character.ConclusionIf you really love Kalamar or have a lot of money and want a big brown book then this is probably a good buy. Otherwise you probably won't find much of use while I understand that this setting has captured the imagination of a few people you would probably be better off buying whichever original Kalamar book it was that was so well received.... since there are no new rules or D&D related material in this book you're better off just getting a setting book (which I can only presume is better written or presented).</blockquote>

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