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Ahh, I have been looking for something like this since 3E came out. Through my years of playing DnD I have sought out a campaign setting that was low magic and high adventure at the same time. So many of the old TSR worlds just never seemed to fit the bill, well, maybe a Mystara campaign.

I was hesitant to buy this book for several reasons, mostly because I am full swing into a Forgotten Realms campaign that I want to keep going and only putting on Hiatus to do Return to Elemental Evil and I am unable to tie RTTTOEE into the FR campaign. The other reasons were cost, I plunked down forty dollar for the FRCS, and I use it. WIll I use Kalamar though? Oh yeah, defintely.

The layout of the book is a bit boring, alternating between color and B&W, which can sometimes be a bit jarring. The artwork is plain and uninteresting, but better than some D20 publishers. The painted art is excellent though and makes up for some of the flaws in the B&W artwork.

The text though is what makes this book shine like a finely cut diamond. This feels like a real living world, it breathes and the text is just perfect. This is what I would have created if I had the time. SOme have called the style like a history text book, but this adds to the real world feel. WHat is great about this world is that magic is very special and not something you can buy in an auction block or a stall outside Waterdeep, but something you have to search for or make.

The deities are simply outstanding, this is like a living pantheon. As opposed to being subjective beings, they are more like forces that have taken on a life of their own, and a cult of a good god could easily get transitioned into the cult of a horriby evil god and still recieve spells, essentiallly manifesting a new deity over time. This is not something taken from the text, but a feeling I get when going over the descriptions etc.

As a summary, should you buy this book? If you want a realistic living breathing world for your PCs to slay goblin etc in, Yes, most definetly.

Kingdoms of Kalamar
Kingdoms of Kalamar Capsule Review by Teitan on 29/03/02 Style: 3 (Average) Substance: 5 (Excellent!) A diamond in the rough just waiting to be found. Product: Kingdoms of Kalamar Author: Kenzer staff Category: RPG Company/Publisher: Kenzer & COmpany Line: Kingdoms of Kalamar Cost: 34.95 Page count: 280 Year published: 2001 ISBN: SKU: Comp copy?: no Capsule Review by Teitan on 29/03/02 Genre tags: Fantasy	Ahh, I have been looking for something like this since 3E came out. Through my years of playing DnD I have sought out a campaign setting that was low magic and high adventure at the same time. So many of the old TSR worlds just never seemed to fit the bill, well, maybe a Mystara campaign. I was hesitant to buy this book for several reasons, mostly because I am full swing into a Forgotten Realms campaign that I want to keep going and only putting on Hiatus to do Return to Elemental Evil and I am unable to tie RTTTOEE into the FR campaign. The other reasons were cost, I plunked down forty dollar for the FRCS, and I use it. WIll I use Kalamar though? Oh yeah, defintely. The layout of the book is a bit boring, alternating between color and B&W, which can sometimes be a bit jarring. The artwork is plain and uninteresting, but better than some D20 publishers. The painted art is excellent though and makes up for some of the flaws in the B&W artwork. The text though is what makes this book shine like a finely cut diamond. This feels like a real living world, it breathes and the text is just perfect. This is what I would have created if I had the time. SOme have called the style like a history text book, but this adds to the real world feel. WHat is great about this world is that magic is very special and not something you can buy in an auction block or a stall outside Waterdeep, but something you have to search for or make. The deities are simply outstanding, this is like a living pantheon. As opposed to being subjective beings, they are more like forces that have taken on a life of their own, and a cult of a good god could easily get transitioned into the cult of a horriby evil god and still recieve spells, essentiallly manifesting a new deity over time. This is not something taken from the text, but a feeling I get when going over the descriptions etc. As a summary, should you buy this book? If you want a realistic living breathing world for your PCs to slay goblin etc in, Yes, most definetly.

Kingdoms of Kalamar