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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Simon Collins" data-source="post: 2009398" data-attributes="member: 9860">This is not a playtest review.Nyambe is Atlas Games' take on an African-influenced campaign setting.Nyambe is a 256-page hardcover book, and at $37.95 this is fairly standard pricing for its size and type. The first chapter is done in full colour, in a similar style to the Dragonstar sourcebook. Font size, margins and white space are all reasonable, and generally good use of space is made. Artwork ranges from poor to superb, with most being good. Writing and editing are also good.Chapter 1: Land of the Overpower, begins with an in-character overview of the campaign setting. The setting is designed to be integrated into a larger campaign world and there are references to Middle East-, Far East-, European- and Egyptian-type cultures. There are twelve human sub-races, but the setting also includes non-human races - variants of halflings, gnomes, half-orcs, dwarves and elves, plus a sorcerous reptilian race descended from dragons. Various savage races are also described such as half-lions, a race descended from were-hyaenas, and yuan-ti. Animals, plants and monsters are discussed in relation to the setting. The religion of the setting centres on a belief in immortal spirits, called orisha (who grant spells), whilst Nyambe (the only god as such, but also the name of the land) does not grant spells. Orisha can be celestial, fiendish, natural, elemental, and ancestral. The cosmology of the setting allows for the material world, the shadow world (a grim mixture of the ethereal, astral and shadow planes) and the spirit world (the home of the orisha). Most magic is divine, relying on the orisha, though there are a couple of outlawed arcane spellcaster types - necromancers who sell their souls to fiendish orisha for power, and sorcerers who gain their power direct from Nyambe due to their dragon blood. The chapter ends with a discussion of technology levels, and some insights into the importance of family and social life.Chapter 2: Mythology And History, tells the story of the continent from creation myth to the prophecies of the future. The current time frame sees an influx of foreign influences previously unknown to the continent, including orc slave traders from the north, wildlife hunters/traders from the Far East, and Yuan-ti.Chapter 3: Races And Cultures, begins with information and statistical changes to the twelve human variants from the Azzazza to the Zamara. The different cultures tend to reflect their different environments where appropriate, from deserts to jungle to plains. Each culture has information on such aspects as art and food, as well as the more traditional information. The same is done for the non-human races. Interestingly, the halfling variants are furred, clawed warriors and the elven variants have prehensile tails. Chapter 4: Core Classes, begins by discussing the standard D&D classes in a Nyamban campaign - all these classes are deemed to be foreigners and there are limitations to language, feat and weapon proficiencies for these characters. Five new classes are introduced instead, native to the setting - they are esentially variant classes of the fighter, wizard, rogue, cleric, and sorcerer. Of note is that the wizard variant has a definite necromantic bent, the cleric variant has a druidic sub-variant for those who worship nature or elemental orisha, and the sorcerer variant has different class features dependent on what type of dragon blood runs through their veins.Chapter 5: Prestige Classes, gives 11 new prestige classes:* Dembe - ranger variant, monster hunters* Engolo - masters of unarmed combat* Inyanga Yensimbi - 5-level masters of iron* Leopard Cultist - 5-level wereleopards and cultists devoted to opposing trade with Far Easterners* Magic Eater - wizard slayers* Mask Maker - 5-level creators of enchanted masks* Mganga - witchdoctor specialised in fighting evil magic* Ngoma - bard variant, skilled in drumming and dancing magic* Nibomay Amazon - female warrior* Soroka - divines by analyzing death throes of poisoned animal* Zombi Cultist - evil necromancers who work with fiendish orisha of serpents and the undeadChapter 6: Skills, Feats And Combat, gives a new skill table for the new Nyamban classes. Alchemy is replaced by the Natural Medicine skill, which creates the same effects as Alchemy but using more naturalistic methods. The Scry skill can be used for reading omens, and there is expanded information on languages under the Speak Language section. 59 new feats are offered, including several under the new feat type 'Racial' which limits feats to certain races. Feats include variants of Uncanny Dodge, Evasion, and Improved Evasion, as well as more setting-centric feats such as Create Gris-Gris, Drum Dancer, Ritual Cannibalism, and Prehensile Tail. A mixed bunch - some good, some bad. The combat section deals with setting brush fires as a tactic in warfare, ritual warfare using blunted weapons, cattle raids, nuba matches (a type of wrestling), and engolo duels (nuba match to the death, with weapons).Chapter 7: Nyamban Equipment, gives a table of costs for trade items and a stat table for Nyamaban weapons before a more thorough description of these weapons. New weapons include throwing club, blowgun, barbed spear, returning club, and bola. The same is done for armour - no heavy armours due to heat, but such items as beaded armour, wooden plate and a wider selection of shields increase choice. A full page table of new equipment (or variants of standard equipment) including adventuring gear, class tools and kits, nyamban clothing, food, drink and lodging, and mounts and related gear (featuring stuff for camels and elephants). This equipment is then described. A section on superior and special items includes healing salve and marsh water (a protection against malaise (malaria)). The chapter ends with a good selection of Nyamban poisons, including a range of animal venoms, raw sewage and spoiled food.Chapter 8: Spirits Of Nyambe, gives a listing of the Orisha, with their alignment, domains, favored weapon, typical followers, and times for prayer. The Orisha act much as deities do in a standard campaign. I would have liked to see more information on the spirit world in this section and the role of Orisha in society. Its a little short.Chapter 9: Nyamban Magic, begins with some minor alternate magic rules regarding summoning spells (limited to dragons and elementals), resurrection and reincarnation (limited circumstances), armor spells (require gems as spell components), and mojo bags (a spellcasters equivalent to a spellbook). 16 new domains are given - birds, confusion, dance, darkness, exile, fertility, fish, flesh, greed, hunting, iron, lightning, love, plague, serpents, and wisdom. Most of these use some of the 40 new spells found in the remainder of the chapter, including nine spell levels of summon dragon and summon elemental.Chapter 10: Lands, Nations And Societies, begins by breaking wilderness areas down into different environments, providing comprehensive random encounter tables for each major area. After a brief discussion of weather, mainly centered around heat exhaustion, sixteen nations are discussed - each has small paragraphs or sentences on government, trade, population, military, languages, religions, allies & enemies, history, and conflicts & intrigues, plus a general overview. The final section on Nyamban societies discusses craft societies, fertility cults, fiendish cults, magical societies, mask-making societies, temples and shrines, thieves' guilds, and warrior societies, with a couple of paragraphs dedictaed to each.Chapter 11: Adventures In Nyambe, begins with some advanced disease rules, defining the method of exposure, and discussing treatment and recovery. Twelve new diseases with stats including CR's, prevention methods, and races affected, are given, along with random exposure tables for different environments. A section entitled Secrets Of Nyambe expands the information in the conflicts & intrigues for the nations in Chapter 10 by giving further plot hooks and adventure seeds for the different lands. A final section on Nyamban treasure discusses art objects, gems and beads, mundane items, and magic items, with accompanying random generation tables.Chapter 12: Magic Items, deals with magic armour and shields (armor of cowries, shield of arcane warding), magic weapons (death cult dagger (death knell effect), spear of heart-piercing), potions (plague powder, zombi powder), rings (fertility, scent), rods (darts, rust), staves (of domain use), and wondrous items (including masks). There is also a section on the gris-gris (Nyamban equivalent of a spellbook). The chapter ends with further examples of cursed items, minor artifacts, and major artifacts.Chapter 12: Monsters Of Nyambe, takes up nearly 60 pages of the book. After a discussion of the use of standard D&D creatures in Nyamban adventures. There are over 50 new monsters suitable for the setting, ranging from CR 1/6 to CR 17 (though most are in the range CR 1-7), and from most of the monster categories (with a prevalence of animals, beasts, and magical beasts). Monster sections follow on one from another - none is dedicated its own page. There are also several templates, including wereanimals such as werelions, wereleopards and werehyaenas, and also a type of vampire appearing as a skinless human.The book ends with an index broken down by category.Conclusion:If you're after a well-developed African-influenced setting, Nyambe is highly recommended. It plays quite heavily with the standard D&D rules, particularly in terms of race, class and religion, but these areas seem to work fairly well. The skills and feats section I found a bit weak whilst the sections on disease and poisons were particularly good.</blockquote>

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