Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.
Enchanted Trinkets Complete--a hardcover book containing over 500 magic items for your D&D games!

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Crothian" data-source="post: 2886477" data-attributes="member: 232">The Land of ArgyleThe Land of Argyle    In the world of PDFs there is a lot of variety.  There are PDS of lots of print books and PDFs that seem to be more gaming pamphlets then books.  One interesting aspect of PDFs is that it seems a lot more new companies are showing up in the market through PDFs.  So, it is a good way to see new people and the ideas they have.  This PDF is the first by a new company.  And like few before them they show they have a lot of ideas and can produce a good campaign book.      The Land of Argyle is a campaign setting by Silver Oak Studios.  The PDF is one hundred and sixty pages, well organized, good book marks, nicely laid out, and some really nice art.  The writing is mostly done by Mike Huck and Brad lead with help from John Mayhew, Dan Gwarthney, Don Gallihue, Kenneth Delie, and Scott Baerst.  The book also comes with what is becoming an endangered species in RPG books; an index!!      The book has a lot of good things going for it.  It starts with a nice little story that shows some of the differences between races in how it all got started.  It is a nice take and has some lively characters in it.  It then goes on into a nice creation list and a very complete three and a half page time line.  The book has the details to run the campaign that is for sure.      The races are familiar and brought to the world.  There are elves and dwarves and gnomes and halfings and humans.  And there sub races for gnomes dwarves, and halfings.  I prefer unique races rather then sub races but these are nicely detailed and can be fun.  There are also half races present here.  All the races are details first.  The mechanics are few and at the end placing an emphasis on the written word and not the rules.  I like that approach a lot and in a game like D&D that seems to have the rules ruling the day it is a pleasant surprise to see it is not always the case.  There are no unique races aside from the sub races present here.    The classes’ chapter presents something that is pretty much unseen in this day and age of d20.  It has no new classes in it.  There are a few new prestige classes in another section, but the Classes Chapter does the great job of showing the reader how the classes from the Players Handbook fit and are viewed in this world.  If that was not enough the book also gives motivations and thoughts of the races on each class.  This might be the first setting that I can honestly have a clear picture of how each class fits in and works into the setting.  And then I can have each player know how the races feel on them and the reasons a race would be a certain class.  The book makes things easy on the DM with these kinds of information and will make players understand the world and the roles of classes a lot better.      The Prestige Classes actually issues forth my first disappointment with the book.  Though it truth it is not much of one.  After reading about all the classes from the Players hand book and how they can be used I was hoping to see the prestige classes from the Dungeon Master’s Guide given the same treatment.  Alas they were not.  There is a single prestige class presented in here and it is called the Shroudwalker.  It is a classed aimed at eradicating all undead.  It seems like a fairly balanced class with a number of good abilities though some like the turn undead ability they get will be a bit weak if the character did not have it before.  There is also a sample NPC of this class presented.    I am not sure if it is a good thing or a bad thing that I can not summaries what the campaign setting is about easily.  There is a lot here and it feels more like a world that is flowing and living.  It seems many campaign settings have a twist or central theme to them.  Argyle is a fantasy setting with rich history and lots of things going on.  It seems to be able to support a lot of different styles but traditional fantasy will be its forte.  Wizards are not well liked and the elves are very militant.  Everyone does not get along and there is much possibility for adventure.  As such it might be a little overwhelming for new DM’s.  I like that it is complicated and not easy.  It seems to a rare trait in books these days.      The meat of the book is the setting.  It presents the gods and their religions.  This chapter is about the gods but does not stat the gods.  It has dogmas and portfolios.  To put it simple it is for worshiping the gods and not fighting them.  There is first the Creator, Ko.  He created the Four who are referred to as Scions and then there are the Ascended, mortals who become basically gods.  The chapter also gives the reader the afterlife.  This is another area that other settings fail to present.     In the end Argyle is a living setting.  The book is well written and interesting.  There are many side bars for the DM to on such things as currency.  The calendar is fully presented and there is a glossary of terms.  And in the end it is a greatly detailed setting.</blockquote>

Verification