[KOK} Products Useful?

[BV210]

I appreciate everybody's input. Man, I love this message board. Campaign Setting is now a must purchase, as is the DM screen. Guess I'll be dropping by my FLGS (today is 10% discount day for military). Thanks again for everyone's help.

 

[shoplifter]

IF the Hackmaster character book is anything to go by, the KoK book is wonderful. It includes spell planning sheets, sheets for your followers/sidekicks, a full-body equipment sheet, and a last will and testament

 

[KB9JMQ]

I dont know about the KoK character things but the Green Ronin ones rock.
I have bought about a dozen for my players for various games. Everyone loves them.

The only bad part is if you go to the trouble of filling one out and the character gets knocked off before you feel you got all your use out of it

Darrin

 

[GrimJesta]

Erm, not to add MORE Kalamar to ya list, but the Fury in the Wastelands book can be (like the Players guide) used for ANY setting. What is it?

An Orc book!

But not just another un of the mill Orc book. Nor is it so original that the Orcs arent Monster Manual Orcs anymore. No! FitW lets you play Orcs of 5 different kinds (basically Common, snow, underdark, desert, and a blatantly Uruk-Hai bad boy), goes heavily into their social struture, modes of warfare, has new feats, spells, and PrCs for Orcs, 3 adventures (and the adventures are simple and straightforward: Orcs bash things), and a freakin unbelievable wealth of information.

Best part: fits all 3e worlds, not just KoK.

So yea the Campaign Setting is awesome, but unless you plan on playing Kalamar (which Id suggest, but Im biased) Id go with the Orc book, the Villain Design Handbook (way better than the BoVD), and the Players Guide.

The Campaign Setting, the Atlas, and Geanavue are only really important if you play the world, as I said already.

I havent bought the record booklets yet, but thats because of two factors: 1) Im the DM and my players are po' (or cheap; dunno which yet). 2) Ive been spending all my cash on Hackmaster books

-=grim=-

 

[Sayburr]

But I was wondering about the Character Record Folio. What is your impression of this?

It just so happens that I have an extra copy of this book. Kenzer sent me a couple of copies of the book because I helped playtest it. But since I DM I will not be needing it. If you write a review of it and post it in the reviews section I will send you my copy.

e-mail me your address - click@tricon.net

Sorry, I only have one extra so, please, only BV210 e-mail me.

 

[BV210]

Sayburr,

I sent you an e-mail just a moment ago. Thanks a ton!!

 

[Nikchick]

I dont know about the KoK character things but the Green Ronin ones rock.
I have bought about a dozen for my players for various games. Everyone loves them.

We sell a ton of them, we're on our fourth printing and I get lots of comments by e-mail who love them, but I've noticed that no one has rated or reviewed them on the d20reviews.com (hint, hint).

Share the love!

Nicole

 

[Regdar]

Bah the Players Guide is all you need if you don't run KoK.

 

[bloodymage]

Two fan reviews off the Kenzer boards concerning the character booklet (stolen without permission):

Ktulu
Knight



Reged: 10/10/02
Posts: 308
Loc: Yakima, Washington; USA
Re: KoK buzz [re: Dristram]
01/09/03 10:53 PM Edit Reply



Speaketh The name and he who is called Ktulu shall awaken!

A review for the character record sheets.

In one word. B-I-G

In more words. Really really big.

I'll start with the front.

On the front, it looks pretty much like any other sheet at first glance...then you realize that the skills aren't there! In place is a much larger weapons area. Large enough for descriptions of the weapon, and easier writing. The saves chart was moved over near the old ac chart, the ac chart dropped down. You still get the same old chart for ac, but they added this really nice section on the front page dealing with EVERY type of armor bonus you can get starting with Dex, shield, armor, luck, sacred, profane, haste, size....and so on. it also allows for a complete table for adding up bonus' armor check, and spell failure. MUCH NICER THAN THE COMPETITION.
The spot for class and experience is also larger, and more centered. Easy to find. very nice. Of course the regular information of name/race/region ect is still there.


Ok. back of page 1.

First is the weight charts of heavy load light load stuff (please disregard the level of skill, I'm heading for bed after too many hours awake, and I've been drooling on sylvia for a while....for those of you out of the know I named my Atlas Sylvia. Because it's pretty)
You also get travel time tables there. Mucho's nice'o when trying to find out how far you can go at a hustle pace. Next is the gear. THREE FRICKIN TABLES OF GEAR!!!!

First is gear worn. Then is gear carried. Then finally gear stored i.e. horse/house/temple whatever. A nice chart giving money weights is a great addition as well. also the magical items worn section's nice. that way you always know what ring you're wearing, and on what hand!

page 2. on page two

SKILLZ!!! this is pretty much the skills/feats page.
First is the skills, (we all know what it looks like) Then is the description part name/height/weight/eyes/origin/special notes. always a must
down below that is the languages. This is the only part I was dissapointed with . I was hoping for this to be more like a skills piece following the kok players guide variant language system. It's just the same old language bar. Nothing to really whine about, though. It's big enough for me to put all 8 languages and more (my character really likes to converse with people...too bad she's mute)

Afterwards is the special abilities/feats section. it's the special abilities/feats section. Nothing to complain or congratulate on that. it's needed, and it's there.

BACK OF PAGE 2

This is the coolest page, in my opinion.

First off is a spot for logging the names/races/class of each player in the group. really nice for trying to keep in character when talking to Aaro...I mean Rinsipla.

Next is a 17 line log of important NPC's. We all remember the time we wrote that name down on a piece of scratch paper...and lost it before the next game. This happens no more!!!! (damn I sound like a lame infomercialist dude....well, if so, at least it's for Kalamar!!!!)

There's a spot for a character sketch. (i like to doodle. good place for it.)

Next is the experience log. You can log the amount of experience gained each session and the total current xp you have. also what session it was, and when it was played. pretty cool I think.

Finally is the additional weapons/armor slots, for those fighters who just don't have enough weapons. this allows for 4 more of each to be recorded. also nice for expecting armor changes frequently due to those nasty dm'ses. we hateses the dm'ses.

Finally for the character sheet part.

the final page: a double sided spell record sheet. No, this is not as cool as the one in the kokpg, however, it's large enough to hold more spells than any character could need, and is built nicely just in case you have a multiclassed caster. Me likes (almost have 3 different caster classes, 2 multi, and 1 prestige. what a pain!)

They give a few copies for you (always great) as I seem to lose mine when making copies, and often players grab the wrong ones. I split them up about my house in locked safe boxes. No one shal ever get my original copies!!!

The other sheet is a Sheet for the dm. It's a page divided in 4ths allowing for the dm to have the information of every player in the group OR have a quick reference guide to an NPC he created. I may have missed something, as I don't have the sheet with me right now. (they're in the safe boxes)


All in all to give a rating I'd have to give the Character Record accessory a

out of

cuz kenzer always improves on their prior products, I could never give something perfect. (ok, so I think I may be marrying my atlas next week, does that make me a hippogri...I mean hippocrit?)


Ktulu


"Death greets me warm, now I will just say goodbye..."

wsclark
Moderator



Reged: 05/02/02
Posts: 500
Loc: Byram Twsp., NJ
Re: KoK buzz [re: lord_irial]
01/10/03 08:11 AM Edit Reply



Actually, it contains six sets of character sheets and two other sets. It really is not apparent until you bend back the staples and remove them from the cover. You end up with six, four page character sheets. The sheets are actually 11"x17" folded in half so that each page is 8.5"x11".

The front page contains:

Basic Information - Character Name, Campaign, Player Name, Race, Sub-Race, Gender, Size, Alightment, Deity

Character Level Box

Experience Points Box

Class and Level Record Box

Ability Scores and Modifiers

Saving Throws

Initiative

HP's

AC Calculation Chart and Final Results

Base Attack Bonus

Melee and Ranged Attack Bonus Calculation and Final Result

Weapon List and Data

Ammunition Tracking

The inside left page contains:

Basic Information - Character Name, Campaign, Player Name

Encumbrance and Movement Box

And taking up most of the page - Equipment, broken into three columns
1) Emquipment Worn/Wielded and Magical Equipment Worn, including Total Weight Worn/Wielded
2) Equipment Carried (including Coinage), including Total Weight Carried
3) Equipment Stored (including Coinage)

The inside right page contains:

Basic Information - Character Name, Campaign, Player Name

Box for a Character Sketch

A Party Membership Box, with 10 rows for information

An Important NPC's Box, with 18 rows for information (17 rows are numbers, the top line isn't probably so you can write in header information)

An XP Log Box

An Additional Weapons Box with 4 lines

An Additional Armor Box with 4 lines

The back page contains:

Basic Information - Character Name, Campaign, Player Name

Two Columns
1) Skills Column broken into two parts of about equal size
a) Untrained skills listing skills by name
b) Trained Only skills listing knowledge (with 7 slots for areas), Profession (with 3 slots for areas) and 20 blank slots
2) Broken into 3 Boxes
a) Character Decription Data - Name, Age, Height, Weight, Eye Color, Hair Color, General Description, Place of Origin and Notes (this box is about 1/5 the height of the column)
b) Languages with 10 lines in two columns of 5 (this box is about 1/6 the height of the column)
c) Special Abilities / Feats with two columns of 28 lines.

That describes the basic character sheet and as I said, there are 6 sets of them.

The other two 4 page sheets are different.

The first one contains

On the front page:

Basic Information - Character Name, Campaign, Player Name

Spell lists slots for 0 through 9th level spells including five check boxes next to each blank line to indicate how many are memorized

Base Spell Data - Spell Save, Spells per Day (there is a typo here, the second Spell Save DC column really should be Total Spells per Day)

The inside left page contains:

Basic Information - Character Name, Campaign, Player Name

Base Spell Data - Spell Save, Spells per Day (there is a typo here, the second Spell Save DC column really should be Total Spells per Day)

Psionics Information Box - Number of Powers Known, Attacn and Defense Modes, Power Points and a Modifiers Chart

Clerical Abilities Box - Turn/Rebuke Attempts Times Per Day, Turning Check Modifier, Number of HD Turned, Turning Check Chart, and Two areas to record a Domain selected including the name, granted power and spell list with a single check box next to each spell name to record which one is memorized.

Spell lists slots for 0 through 9th level spells/powers (no check boxes for memorization are here)

The inside right page contains the same as the front page.

The back page contains:

Basic Information - Character Name, Campaign, Player Name

4 indentical boxes for recording information about familiars or steeds, etc.
They contain: Name, Alignment, Relationship, Armor, Ac, Speed, Race, Class, Level, HD, HP, Wounds, Ability Scores, Initiative, Melee, Ranged, Fortitude, Reflex, Will, Damage, Special Abilities and Skills/Feats

The Second one contains

On the front page:

Basic Information - Character Name, Campaign, Player Name

Spell lists slots for 0 through 9th level spells including five check boxes next to each blank line to indicate how many are memorized

Base Spell Data - Spell Save, Spells per Day (there is a typo here, the second Spell Save DC column really should be Total Spells per Day)

The inside left page contains:

Basic Information - Character Name, Campaign, Player Name

Base Spell Data - Spell Save, Spells per Day (there is a typo here, the second Spell Save DC column really should be Total Spells per Day)

Psionics Information Box - Number of Powers Known, Attacn and Defense Modes, Power Points and a Modifiers Chart

Clerical Abilities Box - Turn/Rebuke Attempts Times Per Day, Turning Check Modifier, Number of HD Turned, Turning Check Chart, and Two areas to record a Domain selected including the name, granted power and spell list with a single check box next to each spell name to record which one is memorized.

Spell lists slots for 0 through 9th level spells/powers (no check boxes for memorization are here)

The inside right page contains:

Basic Information - Character Name, Campaign, Player Name

4 indentical boxes for recording information about familiars or steeds, etc.
They contain: Name, Alignment, Relationship, Armor, Ac, Speed, Race, Class, Level, HD, HP, Wounds, Ability Scores, Initiative, Melee, Ranged, Fortitude, Reflex, Will, Damage, Special Abilities and Skills/Feats

The back page contains:
An adventure log area with four identical boxes to record: Date, Adventure, Session No., Companions, Summary, Pending Issues and Notes.

----------------------------------------

The inside front cover contains the Skills page and the inside back cover contains a list of actions and attack of opportunity as well as a notes section.

The only thing I find missing is a place to record level advancement. Other than that, they are very nicely done. Hope this helps.

Bill Clark
Story Hour
"Let's see now - Ho, Ha, Guard, Turn, Parry, Dodge, Spin, Ha, Thrust <THWAK!> - Got it!"
Daffy Duck, a walking, breathing Attack Of Opportunity.

 

[Fenes 2]

I'll second the KoK Player's Guide. It has some nice feats and spells, but the classes are interesting as well, and the prestige classes make for interesting NPCs at the least (Slaver and Merchant, f.e.). It has, imho, more useful details on many points than the PHB.
Some feats and spells are, however, imho overpowered.

The Villain Design Handbook is very good. If you want to build a memorable villain and are stuck on ideas, buy it. It has every type of villain in it, with examples both flavor and stats, from the Lawful good villain even lawful good PCs will have to oppose to the chaotic evil villain with all kinds of twists.

The atalas and the CS I'd only recommend if you are either a packrat(collector, or playing the setting.