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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Sundragon2012" data-source="post: 2010746" data-attributes="member: 7624">I have been gaming (DMing actually) for 18 years and have run games on the Forgotten Realms, Krynn (one of the only DMs I know who actually ran all DL modules in AD&D1), Athas (Dark Sun), and Ravenloft. In purchasing the Midnight setting by Fantasy Flight Games I stepped out of my normal patterns of purchasing only TSR/WoTC "official" worlds. Well, that's because I am an old hand at running 1E and 2E AD&D campaigns but I am a "newby" at running a 3E game and just beginning to go to D&D 3.5. I am a campaigner/storyteller DM and for me setting, atmosphere and backstory trump mechanics bucause in my opinion it's easier to tweak mechanics to one's liking than to rewrite portions of a setting. My review will reflect this.To begin with, Midnight is a very attractive. It is a very professionally done hardcover with excellent artwork throughout. This includes both both the color and black and white drawings. I am particularly fond of the racial drawings which depict the various human and non-human races very well and rather realistically. In my opinion the orcs are particularly well done because they aren't the silly pig-faced comic relief that many D&D orcs are represented as. These orcs look fierce. And because they are one of the primary foes a group of Midnight PCs will face, I only think that this is appropriate.The backstory of the Midnight campaign is particularly compelling and is strongly divergent from traditional lighter, brighter fantasy settings. Midnight is dark. The continent of Eredane is largely under the boot of Izrador (the fallen evil god, nemesis of the setting) and his minions the dreaded Night Kings (once heroes corrupted by darkness). All of the human lands are occupied by various degrees by the armies of Izrador with the North being under a crushing domination while the South suffers under a seemingly more "livable" domination of human puppet princes.The non-human lands from the continent-sized elven forest of Erethor in the west and the dwarven strongholds in the Kaladrun Mountains in the east are under brutal assault by the armies of Izrador. The dwarves seem to be in a more hopeless straight than the elves due to the presence of the mighty elfqueen Aradil, the 8,000+ year old leader of the elven peoples who has been able to slow the approach of Izrador's armies into the elven homelands due to her powerful magic and great wisdom. The ancient history of the world is interesting as well and details the time of the Elder Fey ( the antecedents of the current races of elves, dwarves, halflings, gnomes and orcs) which is Eredane's paradisical period to The Sundering (the fall of Izrador) after which the fey races are born into a world without gods. History really begins after The Sundering in which the elven and dwarven people establish there dominions. Then after thousands of years of the fey alone ruling Eredane, the humans come. First come the Dorns with their northman influence driven from the continent of Pelluria by those who would later come, the Sarcosans. In my opinion the Sarcosan culture has some real potential and seems to reflect a mixture of arabic and east indian influences.  With the Dorns (northmen) in the North and the Sarcosans in the South there is a lot of room for DMs to add some "culture shock" elements to their game.And something I didn't mention yet. The continent of Eredane is HUGE with a capital H and in my book this is a plus. Epics just seem bigger and more romantic in a setting that can actually support great armies and multiple epic sagas. Eredane certainly can. From east to west Eredane is approximately 3,000 miles in length. North to south, Eredane stretches an even greater distance. In other words there is nearly endless space for a DM to place his stories whether they are localized tales or world-shaking sagas.This size does come with a price however. The DM will have to make sure that just because a given region may be Dornish, Sarcosan or Erenlander (mixed group with the blood of both stock) it doesn't become overly homogenized. In my opinion, there should be regional cultural differences within each subgroup of human culture. This might take a little work/research from the DM but I believe it will be well worth it. I do feel that the size and scope of Eredane begs for it to be more deeply detailed with regional source material. Hint, Hint, Hint.....Fantasy Flight Games.In the Midnight setting survival alone and the fulfillment achieved from striking against Izrador is sometimes the only reward one will receive. Midnight PCs do not become the walking magical-item galleries they seem to become in many D&D games. I am thankful for this because I see this trend as a very negative one and reflects the "video-gaming" of D&D. There are no....GODS forbid!...magic shops with +3 swords, +2 armor, bracers of defence, and cloaks of protection for sale. Nope, not a one! Though magical items are rare and very valuable one can encounter covenant items which are scalable and increase in power as the user gains level. Now don't expect a +1 covenant item to become a +4, vorpal, flaming, demonslayer by the time you reach 15th level, that isn't the real purpose of covenant items. These items add some mystery, personality and usefulness in a setting where magic items hunted down and their users converted to the cause of Izrador or killed. Having one covenant item that does multiple things is far more beneficial than having multiple magic items.In Midnight what is dead usually stays dead...or well at least undead. When your character dies, if he or she does he is likely down for the count. There are no local temples with High Priests just standing around waiting for you to pay them for a raise dead or resurrection spell.  This just doesn't happen. More likely, unless your companions decapitate or burn your corpse you will rise as one of the Fallen. A Midnight specific type of undead that retains much of its wits and abilities from life but hungers desperately for living flesh. A huge battle may see the rise of hundreds of these creatures on a battlefield. I love it.For characters in Midnight death is the mystery it is in real life. Individual cultures may have their own particular views on the subject but there is nothing definitive described as an afterlife. What is the fate of the spirits who do not rise as undead or hang around their graves? Who knows. I believe that this uncertainty laced with fear and finality makes the setting far, far more heroic than those that allow for rapid resurrections. It's easy to be a "hero" when you can't die. Great epics contain tragedy and the finality of the death of noble heroes is appropriately tragic.Midnight is a setting greatly influenced by Middle Earth and in my opinion that is great. D&D has always appropriated Tolkien's concepts so why not base a setting somewhat on his influences as well? That is what we have here with enough new concepts to be unique and vital all on its own. Except in this setting the One Ring didn't get tossed into Mount Doom. In this setting Gandalf, Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli have been corrupted by Sauron and Frodo has been put to the sword and Samwise has been eaten by orcs. The PCs in Midnight are true heroes (this is reflected in the unique concept of Heroic Paths) and will have to face great odds to even maintain the status quo let alone reverse the tide of evil dominating Eredane. All in all, the Midnight setting is of course each individual DMs setting. Some DMs will prefer a more Ravenloftian or Cthulhuesque setting of hopelessness and dark horror while others will prefer to allow for the hope that Izrador's armies can be turned back.....eventually.....maybe...if the heroes are truly, truly lucky, skilled or both. I like a game that is a mixture of both and the Midnight setting supports both styles admirably.As a DM who has always wanted to create is own world of "gritty" yet heroic and epic fantasy, a world where magic is rare and wonderful and the PCs aren't just "normal" folks tossed into abnormal circumstances but are heroes truly born, I find Midnight to be a great setting, the kind of setting I would have liked to have created. Great work!As a plus, Midnight is heavily supported by an online community (http://www.againsttheshadow.org) where one can find alternate rules, discussion forums and an abundance of information regarding the setting. It is an invaluable DM and player resource.</blockquote>

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