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Message: <blockquote data-quote="trancejeremy" data-source="post: 2008498" data-attributes="member: 924">The Sovereign Stone Campaign book is an adapation of the Sovereign Stone game to d20. The basic concept of the world was apparently created by the relatively famous RPG artist Larry Elmore, and fleshed out by the fairly famous authors Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman. The game was also designed by several people who have worked at TSR, or have freelanced for them, (Jim Ward, Jeff Grubb, Lester Smith), as well as some other famous game designers (Greg Porter, Don Perrin).Physically, it's a fairly impressive book. It's about 224 pages, hard cover, and retails for $30.00, which is not a bad price. The paper seems to be fairly thick, and the whole book seems extremely sturdy. The margins are fairly small. There is a lot of artwork, but most of it is fairly small. The artwork is extremely high quality, with much by Larry Elmore (but not that sleazy), as well as art by one of the early TSR artists, Jim Holloway. (His style is easily recognizable if you played D&D in the early 80s).The setting is a somewhat typical fantasy world, although with many twists. Rather than living underground, Dwarves are sort of a combination of Mongols and American Indians. Elves are still nature loving, but their culture resembles the Japanese. They are also somewhat reclusive and dislike magic. Orcs, or Orks as they are spelled in Sovereign Stone, are a sea-faring race, apparently descended from Orcas (Killer Whales).  And while still big and ugly, Orks are relatively peaceful, civilized, and bright. Instead of Halflings or Gnomes, there is a race called the Pecwae. They're sort of creepy looking little dog-like things (but not reptilian like Kobolds), who are very primitive.There are also a number of human cultures, most of which resemble cultures from real world Earth. One resembles England, one resembles cave-men, a couple are based on the middle east, and a couple seem African. In addition to the setting, there appears to be a metaplot - the world has begun to be invaded by an evil dude, with a army of evil critters. But this is really only hinted at in the book. Presumably this will be the focus of future products/novels.Getting to the game itself, there are 8 new classes.  Because the world of Sovereign Stone is relatively low powered when it comes to magic, and Sovereign Stone uses a completely different magic system than D&D, most the classes are combat orientated physically, rather than magically. The new classes include the Archer, Elemental Mage, Mounted Warrior, Noble (sort of an improved version of the Aristocrat NPC class), Sailor (fleshed out version of the Sailor from Dragon Lords of Melnibone), Soldier, Stalker (sort of an alternate Ranger), and Void Mage. 3 classes from the PHB have been reprinted here. There are also a large number of new feats, although those involving magic probably won't be useful with the regular D&D magic system.Probably the biggest addition is the magic system. Rather than the fire & forget system from D&D, or a spell point system (like in Deadlands d20), Sovereign Stone uses a system that treats spell casting more like a skill than anything else. Spells can be cast often, but get increasingly difficult, and failed skill rolls cause the caster damage.  None of the spells are particularly powerful, however.  And it's seemingly impossible to retrofit D&D or d20 spells for use with the Sovereign Stone magic system. So, the Sovereign Stone magic system is probably not usuable in a regular D&D game, with regular D&D spells. It does however fit the Sovereign Stone gameworld. So it's not a bad thing. There are also a large number of monsters, most of which are pretty gruesome. There is also a short introductory adventure. No index.All in all, an excellent product.  It might not be hugely useful to those not looking for a campaign setting, but most will find some of the classes useful. And the magic system is well done. But if you're just looking for a magic system, there will be a large book totally devoted to it in the near future (and it will apparently be stand-alone, not needing the Sovereign Stone Campaign book to use).</blockquote>

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