Since not enough people seemingly know about this, I'm bringing it up here and doing my little bit to schill for the Kenzer guys. The Kingdoms of Kalamar campaign setting is something that I think should be more popular than it is today. In my view, this is a setting that learned all of the best lessons of Greyhawk and The Forgotten Realms and produced one of the best campaign settings for sale today. And yes, I'm a great fan of it, why do you ask?
Since Dave can say it better than I can, I present you with his own words on the matter.
From my perspective, what draws me the most about it, is simply the campaign setting book. It's a mark of its quality, I think, that I can open the book to just about any page at random and pick out at least a dozen adventure ideas and long term campaign plans. Liberating the dwarf stronghold Karasta, recently conquered by the resurgent Kalamaran Empire of the Vast. Fighting the slavers and priests of the Overlord of Pel Brolenon, a city where more than 75% of the population is in bondage. Exploring the remains of Kolokar's Barrier, a great wall built to hold back the invading barbarians. There's just so much in every page that, frankly, I actually get giddy with ideas for running a game in this world, and that's what it is, a world. It's not just a campaign setting, it's a fully realized world in so many ways.
The greatest aspect is, in my view, that just about any adventure type is supported. Political and cultural adventure types are the setting's forte for sure, but at the same time, it's easy to shove that into the background and just hurl oneself into dungeon crawling and monster slaying. God killing? Yeah, you can do that.
I recommend it to all the Old Schoolers, Middle Schoolers, and New Schoolers out there that the CS is worth a look, even if you only pick up the PDF copy of the campaign setting and Atlas (currently with 4e mechanics in it, but so few you could count the instances on one hand and still have fingers left over), or grab a used copy of the book from Amazon or NobleKnight. It's definately worth your time.
And now, I'll refrain from further shameless displays of fanboyism.
Hamsterish Hoard of Hexes is live!
3 years ago
I actually hadn't ever really considered picking these up, even though their stuff always looks like it's top quality. Now though, you've changed my mind. I'm not saying I'm gonna go buy it tomorrow, but all those adventure ideas are bouncing around in my head now, and I was kind of disappointed by the 4e Forgotten Realms source book.
ReplyDeleteThanks!
Darn - I was intrigued by the Kingdoms of Kalamar stuff when it came out, but never picked up the 3rd edition stuff. Now they're only selling 4th Edition stuff I think.
ReplyDelete1) The amount of rules material in the 4ed stuff is minimal.
ReplyDelete2) If it really chafes, you can grab the 3.x stuff from Amazon, NobleKnight, or just about any place for a song. Or, hell, the 2ed stuff.
Thanks for the recommendation. I have had the 3e campaign setting book on my Amazon Wish for a while (used), but haven't pulled the trigger to purchase it. This may sway me.
ReplyDeleteI loved the 3rd edition setting. It was amazing, and I felt guilty because no matter how much I used it, I knew there was so much more I could do with it.
ReplyDeleteI'm thinking of migrating to 4e soon. It helps knowing that this setting is available in 4e.