I've watched RPG's evolve since the first boxed set of Basic D&D. It's become a hobby not just playing the games, but I found myself collecting games just for their story value and how they sparked my imagination. Ever since the background story of Twillight 2000, the East Germans quietly staying in their barracks, I've loved reading the story behind a game. Over the years that craft has been fine tuned by Companies such as White Wolf and FASA. The attention to detail and continuity have been found in a new comer to the field, Pardigm Concepts.
The back story to the world of Arcanis, the continent of Onara, it's Coryani Empire,surrounding kingdoms and lands is well fleshed out, giving vivid detail in first person accounts which the reader is warned in the introduction are biased. So not only do you get hard cold data about say the Kingdom of Milandir, but you also get a feel for just how different they are from members of the Theocracy of Canceri. The cement that binds all this together is how Team Paradigm has taken a new spin on religion and the RPG.
The Codex begins with an introduction to the Pantheon of Man and just how the current god's came to power, as it were. It's a pantheon of 12, modeled loosely on Greco/Roman dieties, which is appropriate given the Roman model the Coryani Empire is based on. Where the spin is different is as emphisied in the bold print, "Alingment is determined by the religious institution not the God itself." At last, a realistic version of fantasy worship. I've never been a big fan of alingment for this very reason. But what Paradigm Conepts have done here is to very cleverly made playing in Arcanis a way to promote playing the good hero without being restricted to what diety a character worships. every diety has an aspect that can be perverted into evil (how chillingly true that is) Sarish, who is not only the Binder of Demons and Devils, the Blood God, but is also the Oath Maker and Patron of Sorcerers and Magi. None of these aspects are implicitely evil or good, but given the proper dogma and a charasmatic enough leader Sarish is also part of a repressive Theocracy of Canceri as part of the Church of the Dark Triumvirate. I applaud the versitility of the Pantheon of Man.
Why else should you buy this book besides the great reading? It also gives amazing story hooks to get your campaign going. Where as not every aspect is new or impressive, non-human races are handled the best I've come across, period. Say bye-bye to half-elves and halflings, but you'll never think of dwarves the same. Ever wonder why the build their underground cities with such high vaulted ceilings? Dwarves and elves are so interesting in Arcanis that you'll never miss what you're missing.
Alas... Not everything is perefect in what is a note worthy entrance into the d20 ring. In all honesty though, all my problems are technical editing stuff. Minor details that a new editor will easily fix. I'm also not as impressed with the map that comes in the book. Internal borders are difficult to picture at times, especially provinces within the Coryani Empire. On the plus side of the technical detail stuff... A great cover with the focal point of the art being a spell caster of color. A break in the color barrier of what is tradtionally a white male hobby. Kudos on that, I'm just waiting for a more Aztec/Mayan flavor to come given the location of Team Paradigm (Miami).
I know a few members of Team Paradigm and I think they have filled a much needed void in the gaming community of South Florida. And the greatest part is that I'm so inspired by what I've read I'm going to take a stab at helping them bring this vivid and vibrant gaming world to you all.
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(Due to spamming, old forum discussions are no linked.)