Turakian Age Review:
Note: While writing this review it was announced that Turakian Age won the Ennie for best non d20 setting
When you pick up a setting you tend to want something that you can jump into fairly quickly and play. You want it to inspire you with a full on list of fun ideas and keep you going for the length of a campaign (something which naturally varies for everyone). And you want it to not 'jar you out' of the genre or the game or whatever at any point. So that sets our standard by which to judge.
The Turakian Age works to meet these goals for Fantasy Hero and is, for now at least, the game's official setting. Right off the bat the first thing one might notice is that the general flavor of the setting is familiar. You have Orcs, Elves, Dwarves, Gnomes, Halflings, divine and arcane magic as separate, Dark Elves, turning undead, and a number of other 'familiar entries'.
This setting is emulating DnD fantasy, trying to beat DnD at its own game. So right away we have one more question, does it succeed? Will DnD be more enjoyable played through Fantasy Hero and the Turakian Age than with DnD's rule set in some d20 published world. There potential counter to that is that it might also seem that this setting could be used for a DnD-rule set game, so I'll come back to that possibility later. There's also the question of whether or not it really is what it appears to be, is it a DnD setting for non DnD games?
The general setup of Turakian Age is that it takes place in the distant past of Earth when magic was still strong and the usual suspects abounded. Hero system has a preference for linking all it's genres and settings together into the same meta-world, so this forms the ancient past of the same world used for Champions and Star Hero. Personally, that's a negative point for me - much as I like chocolate peanut butter cups, I'm the one who sits there and says "hey, you got science fiction in my fantasy." But it seems to works for many of Heros fans, and is quite easy to ignore for the rest of us, since it really isn't mentioned much beyond a few sidebars. It's not like its a population statistic or some other element tightly woven into the setting that is hard to suspend disbelief if you do or don't tamper with it.
History:
The first chapter splits into two sections that cover the history of the setting in a first and second epoch. The first epoch starts with an origin of man story, and a few counter theories from the other races - any one of which if true would violate the idea that this world is the past of the modern day settings of the Hero Universe which has its own origin story. The origin here however works well if you keep it as is in just a fantasy nature. IN short, it's the semi-biblical sort of thing wherein the gods created a family, but the divider for this family comes from an external threat - a race of reptile men invade and drive the humans out, spreading them across the world. Those reptiles are still present in the 'present era' of the setting btw, as one of the PC races.
This epoch goes through the rise of the first kingdoms, and the rise of the Drakine (those lizard guys) who eventually try to make a run on the greatest of the human kingdoms and after nearly winning are routed - forever shattered and changed from the terror in men's hearts to harmless traders in a gradual decline which we learn later in the book may eventually spell their extinction. They're followed with a golden age, which itself is followed by the rise and fall of an evil overlord.
The demise of that evil figure sends us into the second epoch, starting with a dark age where kingdoms slowly reform, and moving into the birth and slow rise of the present day mega-villain with a global eclipse in the year 3333 (present day date is set conveniently at 5000 - where this villain is still alive). This history wraps up with the mega-villain (named Kal-Turak so you can get in those 'k' syllables bad guys always have) creating a massive arctic wall and making a 'dark land' in the north, complete with super-sized tower and all. And so now, in 5000 SE, the world waits for his next move while bandits, monsters, and evil doers rise up to take advantage of the growing tensions.
Jumping forward a bit, the book has near the end a section on the future history, where we get a somewhat pre-scripted meta-plot showing how this guy will eventually conquer the world, be killed, rise again as a lich, conquer the world, and be put down once more.
So the setting has a metaplot, making it something of a story rather than a setting, but at least it's all there in the one book and not something given to us in supplement creep. Disturbing in this future history though, is that it only gives you ten years of play before the timeline takes over in a massive way. Without supplement creep you are of course, free to ignore it, but in 5010 the bad guy starts conquering the world.
The
next chapter focuses on the 'people' of the setting, starting with descriptions and illustrations of the different humans - well, only illustrations for four of the ethnic groups. They all look caucasian in the drawings, but in the text two are brown and one copper. Mark it up to an issue of the artist not using any shading. That said the pictures are very well done despite this issue.
This is the world of Pangea, probably just after continental split. They don't go below the equator by much though, and they do say there is a little room left on the north side for another piece of land if you want it. Yeah, technically they shouldn't be there since humans haven't been around that long, and of course if they were they all ought to be African since that's all we had until about 30-40k years ago. It's just easier to say it isn't Earth. Unlike most modern fantasy settings, since this one is supposed to be Earth, it is entirely appropriate for us to look at the humans and try to figure out who on Earth they are.
Of course fans of some older fantasy settings like Conan, Middle Earth, or even a few newer ones like Shannara (which if I recall right, is a far future rather than far past) will not have any of my concerns, as accepting this world as ancient Earth is no different than what you must do in those works.
Among the humans we do get eight groups with different histories, fashions, and appearances. Some of them quite different, some of them fairly similar if in close proximity.
After the humans we move on to the Drakine, who are described as a race in decline - with their women on average only having one child in a lifetime, and usually dying in childbirth. The reasons for this are not explained and have become much discussed on the Hero boards, where you can find all sorts of ideas if you wish to make a plot out of it. Of interest is that the Drakine are described as being thought of as cruel by humans, but only because the two have such a long history of competing over the same land - that they are in fact much like humans.
After that we get the usual fair for the DnD-genre; Dwarves and Elves differ almost none from their DnD archetypes, even the dark elves have a history that could have been pulled from the Monster Manual. In Turakian Age, Dwarven women do not have beards (insert flame war here). Orcs are green skinned, showing inspiration from the Warhammer and video game model rather than DnD/Tolkien - beyond that if you've played an RPG before you've already read the entry for them.
We get Lesser Races after that, starting with a race of dog-men which largely live in wolf like packs, or among other races. Then we get gnomes who at least have an interesting origin here - they're actually a half race, a mix of dwarf and Halfling. Following them are goblins and then Halflings - both of whom stick to archetypes. The Halflings look a little more like DnD3E's variety, but act more like the old ADnD variety, with not so much Kender in them and a fondness for staying home and eating good food. Four more races remain; a lion-centaur race, a race of cat people, a second lizard man race, and trolls. Other than the trolls they are all social pact like creatures. The lizard race here is more like the swampish lizardmen of DnD. The Trolls here are not at all like the DnD variety, but are rather a race of 'almost giant craftsmen' with tusks and a preference for hills and mountains.
Chapter Three:
We get to geography and the lay of the land. This is the big chapter and it takes the different regions and gives us a zoomed in map, then details on the area. For each region after the map we get entries on countries within. Each country starts with a list of key stats and then has text on history, present day status, land features, society, and key NPCs. The stats cover government type, ruler, capital, population (in percentages of races rather than hard numbers - a real feature of the book as it lets you make the numbers make sense), languages, coinage/economy system, key resources, religion, military (in percentages again - of troop types, and coat of arms.
I really like that the populations are not explicitly stated - having been burned so many times in past by game designers who had no understanding of demographics or it's importance to gamers who find genre and setting simulation important. This time, we get an author willing to respect us, by leaving the numbers out and merely giving percentages so we can make something that fits for the described civilization. To those of us who care about numbers this has been a game stopper with many other settings, and the level of disrespect other game designers have had (going as far as openly mocking people who care about statistics) for our tastes has left me feeling VERY bitter in past. For the people who don't care, you could just leave out the info altogether and they still wouldn't care. To the people who do care, I really liked this approach, because what it did was give me the respect of handing me the tools to make it a number I could live with.
If you're new to the Hero system, that is so often what it is all about, giving -you- the tools to shape the game, rather than forcing half baked ideas down your throat. But, doing in a way that is complete and easy to quickly jump in and start play with. If you're new to Hero and just reading this review out of random curiosity, this is where I would tell you to stop and go out and look at something like Sidekick and see what you think of the 'toolbox' this RPG hands you. If the last two paragraphs have struck a chord with you on some sense, even if you don't care about the numbers like me, if just the idea of having the tools under your gaming group's control appeals, you won't be disappointed.
Moving forward...
A number of sidebars dot this chapter, giving you specific plot ideas, Inn descriptions, notes on the wildlands between borders, special locations or organizations (with tips on making characters that belong to them), and even artifacts of legends or in one case, a thieve's guild's mantra on the things you need to know to be a success.
While many of the kingdoms fall into typical fantasy archetypes, they still abound with internal and external political conflicts largely built on more morally grey issues of tribal control, taxes, personal conflicts, and other reasons people resent or revolt against their kings. In other words, the setting is rich in detailed politics driven by political concerns rather than 'they good, us evil, we smash' like you usually see in DnD fantasy.
There are seven basic regions they split the setting into, plus a note on Underearth and the planes beyond. I'll try to sum up each region below:
- The Westerlands
The west, so naturally where the bulk of the good guys are. You have the ancient Elven homeland, the noble lords awaiting the return of the one true king (but with feuding noble houses and princes who defy tradition), and of course, the big free city every setting needs (actually one of several) - and the only city to get its own map. Nearby said city is also the ancient ruined city that ghosts do battle in to this day, and adventurers plunder when they can - putting two major archetypes side by side and possibly serving to lure GMs to the spot.
The Westerlands also hold both the one Troll kingdom, the last Drakine Kingdoms, and a city in the 'league of city-states' ruled by a just-hearted dragon - making it even more so the potential hotbed for many GMs.
Finally, on the east end of the west, lies a kingdom of dark souled people, cause you always need a few of these. It makes for the usual closed border, iron fisted, tortuous sort of place.
- Mhorecia
Directly east of the westerlands and making up the central part of the main continent is Mhorecia- named after a large inland sea in its core. The section starts itself by noting the region as built around the conflict of three large competing states and another eight smaller kingdoms living in their shadow.
The first conflict we see for this region lies between the Sirrenic Empire - followers of the 'High Church' and vassal states of Vashkor (in Khoria to the south east who follow the 'Hargeshite' religion. That divide comes out of a religious scism - different interpretations on how to devote oneself to the pantheon that operates in the Turakian Age and grants divine magic. Since this setting is Earth, these same divine agent are in theory responsible for the world of Champions, but I don't see cults getting power from them there...
So far, up to this point, almost everyone covered has been under the High Church. Mhorecia has two minor kingdoms under the Hargeshites, and from here on it gets complicated - though most of the regions under Hargeshite influence are also in some way under the sway of the Vashkor empire.
As for Mhorecia, most of its northwest is under the sway of the Sirrenics, which while large and imposing, faces threats from multiple sides, for it also borders on it's north end the lands under the sway of the campaign mega-villain. My only complaint with this empire is that while the society entry of most parts of the settings tells you a little of what it is like to live there, this one only mentions the royal family and then ends.
This region also gets another free city full of diversity, a harsh kingdom possibly waiting to attack its neighbors, a matriarchy, a magocracy, a senate ruled empire, a vast jungle along the southern shores, a nod to Robert Jordan in a town named Two Rivers, and a series of feudal kingdoms with matching political intrigue.
- Khoria
Dominated by Vashkhor which, as mentioned above, follows the Hargeshite church, Khoria makes up the southeast end of the main continent as it flows down and then ends just before the land moves into a backwards 'L' peninsula.
Vashkhor is the single largest political entity in the known world, but it is not exactly PC friendly. The empire is a monarchy upheld by a patriarchal somewhat monastic priesthood. The faith is the only allowed faith, on penalty of death, and non humans and women are often persecuted. Foreigners must have an escort when they travel, and all travel requires a written pass from one's liege.
Only two other kingdoms exist in Khoria, one in a state of anarchy after trying to break free from the empire, the other a vassal state noted in the text for its possible desire to attempt to break free.
- Vornakkia
This is the peninsula south of Khoria, and the coast east of it (the two separated by a mountain chain). The land is described as isolated from the mainland and full of strange cultures. The north end is filled by three kingdoms - one ruled by a mysterious council, another by seven evil sorcerers, and between them a peaceful kingdom of craftsmen fearful for its future. The south end is filled with city states sprinkled between mountains and jungles. These cities vary in tone to give you a lot of adventure possibilities. From a city that worships the cat goddess, to a huge oddly inland trading center (a mecca only for its unusual goods), a city of all faiths, a magocracy, a theocracy, and a 'merchant state' - you get a full picture and an entire campaign could work around simply traveling between these spots.
- Thun
That strange southern isle full of strange men who worship stranger gods. Thun is a mysterious land few travel to. The people of Thun have closed themselves off and limited foreigner traders to only a few of their ports. The land is ruled by priests, who hold it in an iron grip of unusual civility. There isn't too much detail here, and while you could visit for an adventure, its one of those places on the corners of the map for a campaign setting that are difficult to use a base location.
- Kumasia
South of the westerlands and west of Thun lies a second continent, and it is split into two sections which are divided by a vast jungle, swamp, and mountain chain between them. Kumasia is the eastern of those two. It contains three monarchies, one of which is an Orcish kingdom. The northern of these is something of a melting pot, where people from many other lands have come to settle and create a peaceful society. South of it lies a dark kingdom ruled by evil men and the peasant who toil under them. The last and southernmost is a land of civilized Orcs whose merchant fleets sail the world trading and generally being a bunch of upstanding lads with a growing reputation as skilled shipwrights. Makes you want to make an Orc swashbuckling hero with a big dashing grin.
- Mitharia
The western end of that southern continent, Mitharia in it's north is like the Westerlands, but in its south is composed of a Drakine empire and new race of men - the Indusharans. These people are a lot like the people of India - even possessing a caste system.
Southern Mitharia is host to a few Indusharan feudal kingdoms, which are largely focused on their efforts to deal with the Drakine Empire in their midst. There is also a mountain kingdom suspiciously like Tibet, and the only source in the Turakian Age of an unarmed martial arts system - if you can get into its closed borders to learn it. The Drakine empire is just coming out of a long age of internal squabbles and looking at its human neighbors with thoughts of expansion.
Central Mitharia is host to a number of lands that mix the Indusharan and Westerland cultures. Most of them give you the same variety found elsewhere. There is one vampire ruled kingdom to throw in a toss, a racist Elven kingdom, and a land trying to rebuild itself after dealing with the ravages of a band of powerful adventurers. There is quite a bit of politics to delve into here.
Northern Mitharia is dominated by the Westerland cultures, though is also a large overland non mountainous Dwarven kingdom. There's possible adventure here to anyone who might find the now long abandoned Dwarven holds. There's also fun to be hand with a kingdom ruled by a former stableboy - son of a chambermaid who just happened to be only child of the old king who died in 4999 choking on a bone at dinner... None of the nobles respect their new king, but none are yet willing to test a bid for the throne due to the strength and odd loyalty of the royal guard. Toss PCs into that mix on any one of a number of factions and you have a campaign. For real fun, there's also a kingdom ruled by a fair and noble lich - for the past thousand years, though it is said he's beginning to finally fall into madness. The section finishes off with our second Orc kingdom, though this one is a land of stryfe risking the safety of all around it.
- The Far North
This is where the mega-villain lives. There is one kingdom up here, and he's got it, and he's created a massive cliff and a magical tower to control his lands and keep anyone else out. Fans of Greyhawk will recognize this villain - they've got one a lot like him, a mad wizard bent on being proclaimed a deity and possessing the kind of power no PC can challenge. He gathers armies, hordes, and all sorts of monster preparing for the day he will leap forth. Unfortunately in a later chapter they give the date for that attack, and then tell you the results... which sort of takes some of the control out of a GM's hands...
- The Sunless Realms
Next we get a page on the Sunless realms. It structures out layers of an Underearth, and is surprisingly DnD like - right down to dark elves, dark dwarves, fungus people, and a race of fishmen.
- The Planes Beyond
This gives us a planar cosmology, which is again shaped like what you see in DnD, although it does refer you to a Champions supplement -Mystic World- for a more in depth look.
Finally we get to the
next chapter. We're really only halfway through the book here. It's been a long read, but I though the above should get some detail. Our next chapter looks at
life in the setting. There's a section on adventurers and adventuring companies - what role they play and where they come from in society. Unlike DnD, Turakian age admits the truism that just because they're PCs or just because they have power does not mean people will like them. It's a pre-modern society, and not a modern semi-merrit based one. You're a stranger, you're not trusted.
From there we get the calendar systems - 10 different methods in all for different human and non human cultures, complete with notes about the names of months in different languages, a zodiac system (in different languages), and holidays and festivals.
After that we have family life, with sections on burial, marriage, children, and the role of women. DnD players might not like this last entry. Actually, a lot of roleplayers will be disappointed, but I'm sure there's also a crowd that will feel 'its about time they got put in their place.' That's the sort of crowd you find on world design mailing lists from my experience - the sort who are only happy when the women are put down, and this section notes that in much of the Turakian age they are second class, and in some societies no more than property. It ends by noting this is worth a social limitation disadvantage if you come from the worst of these places. It does however, note that just as many cultures are not oppressive and that the sexism is largely a human trait not shared by the other species. There are really only five regions in the settings where it gets really bad - chief among Khoria and the followers of the Hargashite faith.
After families, we get social life in general, which discusses governments and laws, magic in society, military life, slavery, technology, and trade. The trade section also has a big chart with all the currencies known in the Turakian age, including listing which cultures just use barter.
Chapter Five deals with character creation. These days it seems a setting is often half a rulebook, and this section hopes to meet the needs of that crowd. The chapter presents a host of package deals - things to put on a character in order to match a certain theme - and notes on the roles of people who fit into those packages in the society. Examples include priests, guild thieves, Ophelite Brotherhood, gladiators, and so on. Package deals are a little like DnD classes in that they give you an archetype, but everything on them is optional and you can just as easily make a character ignoring the entire list or picking and choosing items at will. So all they really are is themed lists to speed up character creation for the people who wonder what to give their characters.
Many of the packages in here are tailored to Turakian age or specific organizations within it - the Brotherhood mentioned above, Ulronai warrior mages, and countless others. These include very well done descriptions of who these people are and how they fit the setting. There's a lot of adventure ideas in here. Other packages are more general and could be ripped by a Fantasy Hero player or GM for use in any setting - entries like the Gladiator, mercenary, druid, and so on fit this bill. They again get long descriptions on who and what they are in the setting.
Annoyingly enough, one of the packages if for paladins - showing true to the DnD genre again, complete with a list of paladin powers bought in Fantasy Hero game terminology.
After this we get
game elements, a section that shows how the skills, martial arts, languages, and so on integrate with the setting. There's a handy chart for high society skill roll penalties based on what race or culture is dealing with what other race or culture. I remember something like that in my ADnD 1E player's handbook. The languages section gives a language chart - showing how closely interrelated or distant every language in the setting is from every other language. That allows you to use the optional language familiarity rules in Hero - which add a lot of flavor.
The perks section gives us the social ranks of peerage (nobility) and priesthood, split out by culture. and after that we have a short note on ages by race and use of the social limitation disadvantage.
Next up is
Equipment, starting with a price list - in case you need to buy slaves or silk or some of the new weapons like an Ophelite sun axe.
After that we move on the
Chapter six: the gods of Ambrethel. This section starts with the pantheon worshipped by most humans, giving their names in different languages. Each is named, given it's area of influence, and then a short descriptive entry. Pretty standard stuff, with each of these mentioning a little about who might worship them and how. The section ends with a genealogy of the gods.
After that we get the gods of Vornakkia - a people so long isolated they have developed a separate belief system - in fact, different parts of this region of the world have different pantheons.
From there we get a pantheon for the people of Thun - and it is noted that the names of these gods are feared in other lands. From there a few minor pantheons for barbarian groups of the isolated 'Tibet like' nation are covered, and then we get the non human pantheons.
The non humans is mostly the Drakine pantheon, and then short subsections for a number of other races that don't worship the same gods as humans. Most of the 'traditional DnD' PC races worship the same core pantheon, if it fits where they live in the world.
With the pantheon out of the way, the book covers religion. You get ceremonies, prayers, priesthood, holy books, afterlife beliefs, temples, and a system for classifying the gods as blue (good), scarlet (evil), or grey (neutral). This section also discusses the difference between the High Church and the Hargeshite Faith - both of whom worship the same deities, but see them and see faith very differently. Sort of like a Christian / Islam split.
Chapter Seven gives us Magic. It starts with a note on the different arcana used in the setting. Each arcana represents a different magic skill a character must take in order to cast spells of that type. Divine magic only requires one skill. After that we get perceptions of magic - which talks about learning the stuff, its use as a commodity (or lack thereof in regions), enchanted items, buying and casting spells (in a character points manner, not money manner), and a note on the spell list - which recommends the spells in the Fantasy Hero Grimoires.
Buying magic in Turakian age is done by paying points for the individual spells, but only paying a third of the normal real cost of the power.
The next section gives new spells, and there are quite a few with much lower active point costs than I found in Grimoire II. They start by giving some for the new arcana of this book - Theurgy and Ulronai magic. After that we get some spells unique to certain cultures, and then spells unique to divine magic.
After this we have a section on
Enchanted Items. Missing from this section are notes on the spells used to make the devices and as far as I could tell, notes on which method of magic item creation discussed in Fantasy Hero is the default for Turakian Age. The section covers a number of 'regular' magic items, and then moves on to some of the artifacts of the setting - most of which were mentioned somewhere under the geography chapter.
Chapter Eight talks about Gamemastering the setting. This chapter opens with the stuff on the future of the setting - the big meta plot, but presented all at once as a complete package. While an interesting read, I'm one of those GMs who wants a present day, and then to NEVER have the timeline moved forward by the publisher and given no clue about what happens next so that it becomes something entirely of my gaming group's design with even feeling any outside pressure or any knowledge of where things 'ought to be'. For me, this chapter is -almost- a game stopper. The rest of the book really stands up high though, so I can skip this section. For those who want it, it does go out all the way to the final end of the mega-villain and the destruction of the world as they all know it - leading to the end of the Turakian age when new continents form in the aftermath.
After that section comes a section which by contrast I find very handy -
Turakian Campaigning talks about a number of different ideas one could take and run with. Each idea is presented in a few paragraphs and then given three plot seeds to get you going. Take one of them and you will have an instant campaign. If you're like me and you add lib a lot you could literally take one of these, get yourself a stack of players with newly made PCs and sit down to start running the game with no prep work. If not, there's so much information in this book that I think even you preparation hounds could be up and running pretty quickly.
Next comes the section that many GMs will want to 'black pen' out of the books of most of their players. Me, I don't care so much if the players know all the secrets in the
GM's Vault as long as their characters don't know them as well.
It presents several entries that take a short look paragraph long look at something said on a specified page number elsewhere in the book, and reveals what is really going on. There's quite a lot of it too. Some 12 pages worth, with each page having about 10 secrets.
After that we get the
Plot Seeds section. At this point I'm thinking -wait, I just read a stack of plot seeds-. But here's more of them. Each of these looks like a one paragraph adventure idea. Just in case you're still stumped, or it's Tuesday and the other game got cancelled and the players all turn to you and say 'hey, why don't we do a side adventure in your game' you won't sit there with a blank look on your face... It's only two pages, but they cram 28 different adventure ideas into it.
Chapter Nine gives you some key NPCs in game statistic terms. Each is done as a standard Hero system character writeup - complete with background personality, tactics, and campaign use ideas. Oh and no, you don't get the stats on the mega-villain anymore than Greyhawk gives you the stats for Iuz. He's not beatable, he has to live a few thousand more years after all...
The chapter ends with a few new monsters. Three to be precise.
After that you get a short index which is, well, too short. Unusual for Hero - it had almost none of the things I wanted to look up for cross referencing during writing this review.
Is this DnD?:
So... is this setting just another DnD genre setting? In many ways yes. They insist on calling it 'High Fantasy' but that's like buying a 'flying disc' and insisting it's not a Frisbee even though it's round, curved, and plastic - just because the maker wasn't Mattel. Brand names aside, we all know better. All the elements that define the DnD genre are there - a difference between arcane and divine magic, dwarves, elves, gnomes, Halflings, paladins, orcs, and so on. It is full of DnDisms.
It does however, have a number of new features - the prominence of the Drakine as -the- major non human race, and when you look at the populations, the extreme dominance of humans (over 90% in most places). The cultures are a lot richer than the usual DnD fair, and the struggles are rarely about 'us good, you bad'.
The magic system won't play like DnD - that's just the way it in in Fantasy Hero. You'll have a lot more use of your spells, and your mages will be a lot better balanced into the game. But that's game mechanics, and not so much genre. I still, in the final analysis, find this setting to be largely in the DnD genre.
You could convert DnD modules over to Hero system stats and run them in this setting without anyone noticing.
Could you use it for a DnD game? You probably could, although you'd have to figure out the stats of the Drakine and one or two other items, the setting would slot into a DnD without losing any of its flavor. The DnD rules would probably support everything in the setting with little complication.
Visual Appeal:
The cover is acceptable, though not so much in my personal tastes it works. The interior art is really nice. I particularly like the way the races were drawn. Even though the humans all lack shading to denote what is actually severely different skin tones, they still have a lot of mood. The maps are great, but I would have liked a larger map of the world as a whole.
You can get one online here however - which by the way, looks really nice. The layout is standard Hero, which makes it functional and not at all decorative. The book will stand out for not having as much art as most gaming books. Long sections of the book have none, and other than maps the entire chapter on regions is lacking any art.
Summing it all up:
It is an amazing book to be sure. It has a lot of very rich detail, without reading as bland in any way. When you look at any one portion of it you will quickly find ideas for doing a game there, and often without needing all that much work to pull off.
If the genre is fine with you, if you left DnD not over its flavor but over the game engine, then this setting is perfect for you. It probably does do DnD better than DnD does... If the flavor of DnD is why you left, then you might have problems, unless your main issue was the simplistic approach to moral questions in DnD - because that is the one thing about DnD that is not carried over in Turakian Age.
Style and Substance:
The relatively low art count and everyday design would cause me to rate lower, but the art that is there is really nice, and the maps are just great, so I'm giving a 4 out of 5 on style.
For substance, while the DnD flavor is not what I want to see, it is done so well and without the moral simplicity of DnD that I can't hold it against the setting. The level of detail, and constant attention to making it gameable are really, really nice. The only draw back I see is the presence of a mega-villain, the link to Earth, and a pre scripted timeline. Those factors are problematic for me, but that is a personal preference. For what they are, they are done very well. If I had to have a pre scripted timeline, I would want it all at once after all. So I'm going to hedge my bets here and give a 5 in substance.
I don't think you will be disappointed with the book, or my recommending it that strongly.
