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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Sayburr" data-source="post: 2008874" data-attributes="member: 92">I don't really want to spend alot of time on this review since I am the 15th person to review the product.  So this will be a quick one.The Kingdoms of Kalamar is a setting guide and is touted as an official Dungeons and Dragons supplement.  Official 3e setting would be Forgotten Realms, Greyhawk, and Kalamar.  The Kingdoms of Kalamar is an 8 1/2 x 11 inch hardbound burst bound product with a suggested price of $34.95 US..  The type is medium sized, written in two 3 1/8 inch columns, and there are 54 lines per page.  This is quite a bit less than the PHB with two 3 3/16 inch columns and 67 lines per page, while Relics and Rituals has two 2 7/8 inch columns and 64 lines per page.  So, the type is less dense than either of those two products.  It contains two large and beautiful maps that are glued into the book.  The maps fold out to form a large map of the continent, the same size as the FR and Greyhawk maps.The setting guide is human centric.  It speaks of all of the other races existing in Tellene, but it does not go into great detail on any of them.  I know for some people this would be bad, but for me it was actually a positive since I was wanting to run a human centric campaign.I found, as I read through the book, every page had plot hook after plot hook for me to make a campaign from.  The countries, Brandobia, Kalamar, Young Kingdoms, Wild Lands, Reanaaria Bay and Svimohzia are different enough for a DM to run a campaign in each area without having it feel like the same world.  To me this was a very large positive.  Greyhawk and Forgotten Realms "feels" the same throughout the whole setting.  Not so with Kalamar.  You can run a elitist campaign in Brandobia full of intrigue where the Brandobian don't trust any other race, including other humans.   You can run a roman type campaign in Kalamar.  You can run a swashbuckling campaign in the Reanaaria Bay area.  African type in Svimohzia.There are too many gods for my taste, with a total of 54 plus the creator, but I know many people actually like numerous gods.  Overall, the book has a dry history book feel to it, but it is full of information and I love the political settings.  I have heard a lot of people say they do not like this book because it lacks "the crunchy bits" but they are scheduled to be released later in a "Players Guide" which to me is another PLUS.  Now the DM can have his book and the players can have theirs.  The DM can run the world and can introduce it to the players a little at a time, helping make the world fantastic.  Anyway, I have been playing a Kalamar campaign since June 2001 and me and my players have enjoyed it greatly.</blockquote>

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