Thoughts on Kalamar

[Guntherfuzz8]

I hear the "I don't like the names" argument every so often among gamers that have glanced at the setting, but I just can't agree with it. Let's think about Earth. Unless you're already familiar with the language, do you expect African, Chinese, Russian, etc. names to be easily pronouncable by non-native speakers? Of course not. But you can look at most of these names and tell solely where the name originates by the way the word looks and sounds. The same is true for the Kingdoms of Kalamar setting. Each culture has its own defined alphabet, language and grammar rules.

Just another example of the "built from the ground up" mechanics of the Kalamar setting that makes it feel like you are in a real world instead of a gaint town where everyone speaks the same langauge, has the same customs and looks exactly the same. I've been playing Kalamar for nearly six years and I still can't pronounce most of the names from Svimohzia without spraining my tounge. I simply butcher it to the best of my ability and the players know that it isn't the "real" name but as close as I can get it as a ignorant foreigner .

 

[qstor]

I just open the Campaign Setting and viola. Ideas start jumping out.

I never really understood why people find the CS boring but that's just me!

I love the setting. I think its detailed and has plenty of good adventures to support it. I think the main setting book is nicely done. And the players book has plenty of stuff too. Its one of my top *favorite* settings after Greyhawk and the Forgotten Realms.

Someone mentioned Erde, I think Kalamar is a lot better than Erde for the amount of material for it. I think the Erde book is ok but not as good as the Kalamar book. The index in the Erde book isnt that good and the material just isn't there. It seems like Troll Lord Games kinda dropped the ball with it.

I play a lot of the RPGA Living Kalamar adventures too, thats how I've gotten involved in the setting.

Mike

 

[Mark Plemmons]

I love the setting. I think its detailed and has plenty of good adventures to support it. I think the main setting book is nicely done. And the players book has plenty of stuff too. Its one of my top *favorite* settings after Greyhawk and the Forgotten Realms.

Someone mentioned Erde, I think Kalamar is a lot better than Erde for the amount of material for it. I think the Erde book is ok but not as good as the Kalamar book. The index in the Erde book isnt that good and the material just isn't there. It seems like Troll Lord Games kinda dropped the ball with it.

I play a lot of the RPGA Living Kalamar adventures too, thats how I've gotten involved in the setting.

Mike

Nice to hear! I believe the Living Kalamar events at Origins this weekend were at about 150% capacity, with lots of new players, so that always makes me happy too!

 

[Numion]

I really have not found it to be that boring, although I think the FR is one of the most boring settings I have come across.

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.

The main problem with Kalamar in my opinion is the constant need of some people (in every Kalamar thread I've seen, anyway) to point out how it's "not Forgotten Realms". If that's the main thing a setting has going for it .. that's weak, in my humble opinion :\

Why is there a need to define a setting, that is supposed to be complete, by it's relation to another setting? If a setting can't stand on it's own merits, there is a problem.

That's also the problem with some fantasy RPGs. Instead of promoting them on their own merits, people just point out how it's "not D&D".

EDIT: The same goes for other comparisons:

Person 1: "Um .. Kalamar IMHO has too many deities."
Person 2: "Whoah?!?! Are u crazy? FR has 543 deities!"
Person 1: "Okay then, that makes Kalamars number of deities just right for me."

I mean, man what?

 

[Elf Witch]

The main problem with Kalamar in my opinion is the constant need of some people (in every Kalamar thread I've seen, anyway) to point out how it's "not Forgotten Realms". If that's the main thing a setting has going for it .. that's weak, in my humble opinion :\

Why is there a need to define a setting, that is supposed to be complete, by it's relation to another setting? If a setting can't stand on it's own merits, there is a problem.

That's also the problem with some fantasy RPGs. Instead of promoting them on their own merits, people just point out how it's "not D&D".

EDIT: The same goes for other comparisons:

Person 1: "Um .. Kalamar IMHO has too many deities."
Person 2: "Whoah?!?! Are u crazy? FR has 543 deities!"
Person 1: "Okay then, that makes Kalamars number of deities just right for me."

I mean, man what?

I think the reason you see a lot of Kalamar is not Forgotten Realms is because they are opposite of each other. FR is a high magic world with a lot of powerful NPCs Kalamar on the other hand is low magic with very few powerful NPCs. FR has a huge pantheon actually make that many pantheons of gods while Kalamar does not.

So I think a lot of people use the comparison to illustrate why you might like one over the other. Or if you are simply looking for something different.

 

[Numion]

So I think a lot of people use the comparison to illustrate why you might like one over the other.

Nope, it quite often is more like this (and this is the first instance FR was mentioned on this thread, IIRC):

I really have not found it to be that boring, although I think the FR is one of the most boring settings I have come across.

Just throwing FR in there out of the blue, for whatever reason.

 

[Turjan]

... but what has always gotten my goat about the setting is the firk ding blasting names! Half of them are nigh-unpronounceable and the other half look as though the Kenzer guys just hit up a random name generator for like 50 different names.

This seems to be a problem in the US; I can only guess that it's the unfamiliarity with foreign languages, although all the native American names in use make this somehow difficult to understand. But when I see that 90% of people I meet don't have the slightest idea how to pronounce my last name, although it's a three syllable combination of a common English adjective where only the vowel is shifted and the pretty similar equivalent of a common English first name ("Eh... do you mind if I call you Sam?").

Even if I don't understand it, it seems to be a real problem. There's probably not much that can be done about it.

As far as Kalamar goes, I like it for inspiration. I don't have anything but the setting book and one of the adventures (which is a really good example of how to make useful handouts), but the setting book alone is good for plundering. I don't use the setting, because there is only so many settings you can use (if everything goes right, it's one and the same setting for years ), but it definitely left its marks on my homebrew.

 

[Turjan]

Just throwing FR in there out of the blue, for whatever reason.

FR bashing is cool, for whatever reason. Mention Elminster for bonus points .

 

[reanjr]

It's absolutely fabulous. Best example of a traditional Western European fantasy setting I've seen.

The campaign is great, and leaves nothing to be desired. It covers everything you need and something about the organization of the book makes it easy to look up things by flipping through during play, so there's always an answer waiting at the tip of your fingers for any questions you have about the setting.

The Player book (can't recall the name), on top of having some neat core classes and other standard mechanical fare, has all sorts of great little additions. The dogma of the churches, different abilities for clerics, etc. are all phenomenal.

The monster book is one of the best I've seen, going in depth in describing the monster's place in the world and even inset little maps showing the areas the monster can be found.

The Atlas is absolutely astounding and probably the most useful book for Kalamar after the setting book. Just seeing the entire continental map at that level of detail can give you ideas for running adventures.

There really can't be enough good said for this setting.

 

[reanjr]

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

It's not made to read, it's made to reference. Best approach is to read the brief overviews and figure out where you want to start and just read that. As the players move to new areas, read about those.

As an aside, if the players don't know anything about the setting, getting the Player's Primer might be beneficial. It does a good job of determining and presenting what the PCs know of the various lands and peoples.