Kobold Avenger said:
There is lots of advice. 33 or so pages (Chapter 1) is all about managing the game - table rules, dealing with differences in play style, dealing with disruptive players, preparation time, and so on.
Chapter 2 (35 or so pages) is about Adventures... advice on designing, pacing, adapting from published sources, stringing them together, and so on.
Chapter 3 (35 or so pages) is about Campaigns - 10 pages cover picking a structure, a concept, deciding what races and/or classes are appropriate or inappropriate, and deciding when to house rule and when not to house rule things.
The "Continuity" structure is the one mostly about linked adventures in an overall arc. There is little advice in the area on structure, more like listing your options , what sort of player is most likely to enjoy that style of campaign, and how things are likely to progress (NOT advice on how to keep them going that way, or how to manange, say, the multiple parallel plots).
The remaining 25 or so pages cover fleshing out a world - adding medieval flavor, creating/describing/naming bars and taverns, shops, and NPCs, Laws & Legal systems, adding some details to cities. The last part is about "magical events" - events/circumstances that must be prevented, or must be caused to happen, as seeds for the adventures.
None of the magical locations look like a fountain or youth to me. Most confer a magical ability usable a limited number of times or within a limited amount of time, in response to doing something at the site. Generally, the more long-lasting and desirable the ability, the more dangerous the site is and the more involved the task required to gain the ability.
These are very much like the Touchstone sites of the Planar Handbook and Sandstorm, with lesser abilities and less investment (no special Feat required).
The section labeled Unique Abilities is about unique traits for NPCs that make them distinctive and give them an advantage: Magical heritage that gives some extra spellcasting abilities, a guardian spirit that works to keep the character safe, extreme ugliness that frightens other creatures, and so on.
There are a couple of different rituals. The Bonding Rituals require you to perform a Task with an item of high quality (Masterwork) or magical nature, after which you can perform a ritual to gain a benefit with the item. One example is to use a weapon to deal the killing blow to an Energy Draining foe with a CR 2 higher than your character level. Thereafter, you can perform the ritual, and you gain a +2 on Fort saves to remove negative levels. Each also has a greater ability that becomes available, but you do not gain the benefit of it until you take the True Bonding feat. In the example case, you can ignore the penalties of one negative level (no loss of hp, no penalty to attacks, or saves, no loss of spells), but you still have to roll to get rid of it after 24 hours.
The Teamwork Benefits are interesting. There are some that are like Heroes if Battle, mostly mundane bonuses from familiarity with your comrades. A new type is the summoning of a spirit that can store and use magical energy to help the team.
There are unique NPCs, about a dozen, each fully described at a specific level. A Cultist, for example, at CR6, being a Cleric 3/Rogue 3. These NPCs are all in the Sample Complex NPCs section, and are multi-classed and/or use a Prestige Class as well as a base class. There are 2 versions of a Martial Artist, for example, a Monk 5/Fighter 5 and a Monk 5/Rogue 5. Each is laid out on a full page or pair of pages; None were set up half one one side and half on the other. The CR 18 Master Wizard fills just about all of his 2-page spread, including art, for example, but the Cultist gets a whole page to herself and needs only 3/4 or so (so there is empty space), and the next begins at the top of the next page.
Someone must be a _real_ newbie to need help to use miniatures. What is it like? "First, open the box with care, be careful not to break it because you might need it later to store the minis between games! Then carefully plan what you are going to use as a support for them, the best choice is a table..."
