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Message: <blockquote data-quote="gambler1650" data-source="post: 2010078" data-attributes="member: 11033">Greetings all. As I am new to this site, I'll give a quick introduction. I've played AD&D before, but not Third Edition. I originally dove back into the D20 products as a way to gain ideas for Neverwinter Nights computer modules. In my usual fashion I soon accrued a huge amount of material. I've been reading through this site to not only find out about things that I might still want, or gems I've missed, but to compare reviews here with my own feelings on things I've already purchased. Kingdoms of Kalamar was one of my first major campaigns I spent my money on, and as such is the one I actually have the most reviews already done on Amazon.com. In my reviews I rarely give 1's, just as I rarely give 5's.  While production qualities matter, the content is what determines a final rating. Good pictures or unique ideas won't save a product from a poor review, but it might push a good one slightly higher. Functionality first, then the flash if you please. Price is also generally taken into consideration. A quick summary of my personal ratings: 1 - Lazy, incomplete, shoddy effort. So disgusted I'm likely only to open it again to review it. 2 - Below average. Not completely unhappy I bought it since it probably has some good ideas. 3 - Average/Good. I got approximately what I expected in terms of content and quality. No major flaws and useful. 4 - Very Good. I got more than I expected. Inspired me enough to think about using it down the road. 5 - Excellent. The cream of the industry. I immediately want to use it somewhere. Excellent production values. PRODUCTION QUALITY: The production quality of this sourcebook is generally high.  The colors for the book are somewhat unusual, brown, purple and grey.  The back is pretty sparse compared to many RPG books.  There are some gorgeously colored maps of the world in vibrant blues, greens and yellows.  These maps are reproduced in a muted, 'age-worn' style with a reddish parchment tint on the inside covers.  While nice looking, the interior maps are less useful since some of the smaller font place names are hard to read.  This isn't an issue since those won't be the maps used by the DM.  The illustrations throughout the book are generally nice, but I personally don't like the mix of color and black and white illustrations, it detracts from a consistent feel to the sourcebook.  I'd much prefer everything be in color, since those seem to be the best pictures overall.  Another area of inconsistecy is that some pages have colored borders, others have black and white.  While all the starting pages of a section have the colored border, there are other pages within the book that have colored borders, seemingly for no reason.  It's a little thing, but it is noticeable.  White space is generally used well in the book.CONTENT: This is a book about human nations.  If you want information on the other AD&D PC races, you'll generally have to go to the Kingdoms of Kalamar Player's Guide.  Fittingly enough the first chapter describes how the human races migrated to the continent of Tellene, including a small scale reproduction of the whole map and migration patterns.  Chapters two through seven are descriptions of major areas of Tellene, again focusing on the human kingdoms.  Within each section, the major kingdoms are described, giving a brief idea of government, economy, military, religion, the underworld, any interesting sites, special magic users, etc.  There are relatively few adventuring sites described which somewhat detracts from the feel of humans taking over a continent once controlled by dwarves, elves and hobgoblins.  Most of the interesting sites are within a city, and special notes often reference groups of creatures rather than adventure sites.  While the book attempts to be realistic in describing how humans became the dominant power, overlooking the old elven, dwarven and hobgoblin cities and sites actually has the reverse effect.Chapter 8 details the independent organizations.  Two of the six pages describe pirates, and the other four pages cover nine groups in fairly skimpy synopsis detail.  It'll be up to the DM how to flesh out these groups.  I would have preferred that the 12 pages in Chapter 9 which covers languages including the alphabets, naming conventions, etc, have been used to flesh out these organizations.  Oddly, this section is the only part that focuses on the other races of Tellene to any great extent (except hobgoblins which are found in decent numbers in certain parts of Tellene).  It would have been nice if even this amount had been devoted to more information about the races themselves.  The amount of space used to show each and every alphabet's letter style could have been used more efficiently too, since I'm not sure what use the DM is expected to make of it, unless he wants to make codes (which of course isn't the same as translating a language).Chapter 10 is one of the best parts of the book besides the description of the kingdoms.   The gods of Tellene are written about, along with things like the holy days, sacrifices, titles and colors of garment based on the hierarchy, how to advance within the heirarchy, and a general description of the average clerics in the group.   A couple of things are missing.  The clerical domains are missing, although this was quickly rectified with a website addition.  A description of the god or goddess would be nice too, beyond simple appearance.  Things like history and personality would be great.  Instead you just get a quick blurb on what they look like.  The number of English names given for each deity (at least three usually, often more) along with the different name given for each human race makes it somewhat confusing.  I'd prefer one general name, especially since the same general name isn't used throughout the book.  Usually a deity is referenced by the name of the Church which is a bit different than usual.  White space is not used well in this section.   The Appendixes cover the constellations and moons, a chronological record of events and the five different calendars in use.  A section on cities is included, and has the effect of making the campaign world seem even more generic by descriibing a generic city.  A chart including all the cities including where they are in  the book is welcome.  Further sections on the Code of Law and the Armies of Tellene are included along with a master NPC chart and a comprehensive index/glossary.CONCLUSION:  From the above information, it would seem that the Kalamar setting delivers what it promises.  A low magic world that attempts to be more realistic than most settings.  The setting appears suited for those players who wish a more political campaign.  Still... I find myself underwhelmed.  In some parts, the emphasis on realism seems misplaced (the focus on languages and giving all the possible names to a deity that could be used), while other areas could really use some fleshing out (like a description of some of the major areas that the different independent organizations are operating in along with a few immediate plans and some adventure hooks).  I really think there should at least have been one chapter describing each race other than the humans, their goals, their motivations, ancient sites, adventure hooks, etc.  One of the huge problems I had with the book were inconsistencies found throughout. In many cases poor grammar is used.  The writing comes across as quite simple in some places, and the style never really draws me in.  The location names are terrible in my opinion.  I agree with people on RPGnet that it looks like they just made a random name generator. The worst offenders though are that sometimes NPCs don't seem to be referenced in the back or information isn't complete. For example, there's a reference to a bastard son of a king.  At least I assume this, but all it says about the NPC is that he plans to make a name for himself and then force the king to acknowledge his lineage or pay him off.  The book doesn't actually _say_ what his relationship to the king is.  It's only because this appears immediately after the section detailing which son will take over the kingdom that I could make the inference. Also, there's one case of a Necromancy spell of particularly nasty effects being attributed to a good aligned wizard. While there can be good Necromancers, this seemed a bit over the top.  Finally, quality control seems a bit lax in the Kalamar setting. One of their modules takes place in a town. In the sourcebook, the town is shown as being under the protection of one city, and in the module it's under the protection of a different city.Another problem is that the world seems kind of 'static'.  Sure you have all these human nations, and descriptions of how they feel towards each other would seem to provide a complex web of interaction, but for the most part there are simply mentions of threats, insults and past animosity, but very little current open conflict.  It's as if you're given a world that is finely balanced, and the DM has to decide where to unbalance things to get it moving.  I suppose this is fine, but once I was done with the book, I had no real place jump out as one where I wanted to play in.  All in all, I think it was a mistake for me to jump feet first into the setting by buying a large number of books and modules.  It just doesn't excite me.  I find the concept laudable, but the feel is too generic.  I gave it three stars anyways since it does more or less deliver what it promised.  The production quality is high, and the maps are beautiful.  The world does hang together pretty well in spite of the blandness, and the DM will merely have to work a bit harder if he wants to add adventuring sites, old civilizations, etc.  For those who want politically based campaigns, the setting will probably work quite nicely once a fair amount of work is put into it.</blockquote>

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