Thoughts on Kalamar

[ChristianW]

What are people's thoughts on this setting?

My Kalamar experience comes from the boxed set, which is not specific to any set of role-playing rules.

Pro: Thorough, well done pantheon.

Con:I find that many of the names for cities and kingdoms do not, um, roll off the tongue lightly.

 

[Nyeshet]

Personally, I liked the Kalamar series. Very well thought out and put together. Consistent and realistic. It does come across as a bit dry in some places - in part because many of the details are purposely left to the DM, in part because of its focus on realism. All in all, though, it is a solid setting that has enough detail to make things easier for the DM while also having minimal detail in many areas so as to allow for alterations due to DM preferrences and quests.

One thing to beware of tho. There are something like 52 common dieties included with the setting. Thats ALOT for the DM to keep track of and even more so for the players, especially if they don't have easy access to the material. So be careful when involving religions, or else use a different pantheon.

Um, you are aware that the Forgotten Realms has 30-40 deities in its primary pantheon and an additional 5-10 in each of about a half-dozen racial pantheons, not including the Mulhorand pantheon, various monster deities, and a few deific or quasi-deific beings such as that sun-eatting serpent down south, right? That is, what, around 80 deities? Far more than Kalamar.

 

[Talic]

Actually I had no idea there were that many. That's nuts.

But even so, I think its definately a challenge to be aware of. Especially since there's not nearly as much source material as FR for the players to draw their knowledge from. Even tho I've never played FR, I know about a dozen or so of the dieties from FR just because of the Baldur's Gate and Neverwinter Nights computer games. There is no equivalent with Kalamar.

 

[Elf Witch]

Actually I had no idea there were that many. That's nuts.

But even so, I think its definately a challenge to be aware of. Especially since there's not nearly as much source material as FR for the players to draw their knowledge from. Even tho I've never played FR, I know about a dozen or so of the dieties from FR just because of the Baldur's Gate and Neverwinter Nights computer games. There is no equivalent with Kalamar.

I don't think that lack of a diety book hinders or makes the world harder to DM. The section in the campaign setting on the Gods is pretty straight forward and gives enough detail to play a cleric of one of the gods.

Also if you find the pantheon to big I would just pick and choose which gods are active in your Kalamar setting.

 

[Sammael]

There is a total of about 120 FR deities in 3.x (not counting strictly-monster deities and archfiends). There were more in 2nd edition, and even more before the Time of Troubles.

 

[Glyfair]

Sorry, but I fell asleep trying to read the book. Looks nice, but zzzzzzzzzzzz....

it is well thought out and very realistic, however it is really boring.

I've seen comments like this a lot, and I think they are somewhat off-the-mark (at least in an overall sense, clearly it was boring to them).

I think the weakness of the setting is that it isn't sexy.

Most game worlds since Greyhawk have had some sort of hook or hooks to grab people's interest. Kalamar just seems to really lack that hook (or at least they aren't well publicized).

Forgotten Realms had Elminster, who was introduced in The Dragon before we really had a Forgotten Realms to play in.

Al-Qadim had the Arabian Nights mystery.

Dark Sun had that apocalyptic fantasy world feel.

Planescape had that otherworldy punkish feel.

Ravenloft had a horror vibe.

Scarred Lands had the "gods fought over the earth and the effects are still felt" vibe.

Eberron has the pulp adventure vibe.

Kalamar just lacks the quick hook that defines the setting. I think if it had that (or if one that exists was grabbed and marketed) it would be a lot more successful than it is.

 

[Azgulor]

Kalamar just lacks any of the quick hook that defines the setting. I think if it had that (or if one that exists was grabbed and marketed) it would be a lot more successful than it is.

Actually, this isn't entirely accurate. Kalamar doesn't have just a single hook. It has multiple hooks to support a variety of play styles. Much like our own world or REH Hyboria, it is made up of different cultures that bring their own perspectives and conflicts - and it sets the world apart from Greyhawk, FR, etc. From a flip-through-the-pages skimming of the book, it doesn't reveal itself. But if you apply the open-to-a-random-page/kingdom-and-start-reading approach, the campaign ideas jump out at you. Sample styles of play supported by Kalamar:

Classic D&D style adventuring
Political intrigue
Pirate/nautical campaigns
Freedom fighters
Inter-species bigotry/conflicts
Inter-racial bigotry/conflicts
Earth-style Middle Ages Feudal politics - ala Pendragon, Harn, etc.
Roman-style empire building / decline (depending on how you want to run it - the Kalamaran Empire is trying to reassert its dominance, but given the number of threats along multiple borders may just be a house of cards)
Fantasy horror
Lost cities


As an earlier poster did, I too replaced the pantheon with the one from the Book of the Righteous. The Kalamar pantheon is very good, BotR was just too good not to use.

Azgulor

 

[Azgulor]

Thinking about the "if the hook were marketed better" angle, if Kalamar embraced the low-magic, grittier style as a setting that can support swords-n-sorcery style play rather than your typical D&D high fantasy, it might have a better "first glance" buzz. It could easily support a Hyboria meets Middle Earth style of campaign. (Gritty swords-n-sorcery with D&D races and monsters)

Azgulor

 

[Crothian]

I think the weakness of the setting is that it isn't sexy.

I agree. THere is nothing that catches the attention of the ADD gamer and holds it.

 

[Oryan77]

If Kalamar is as good as people here are saying it is, then you guys need to buy up my Kalamar books that I have listed for sale in my sig! I've been trying to sell them for over a year