The Sovereign Stone Campaign book is an adapation of the Sovereign Stone game to d20. The basic concept of the world was apparently created by the relatively famous RPG artist Larry Elmore, and fleshed out by the fairly famous authors Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman. The game was also designed by several people who have worked at TSR, or have freelanced for them, (Jim Ward, Jeff Grubb, Lester Smith), as well as some other famous game designers (Greg Porter, Don Perrin).
Physically, it's a fairly impressive book. It's about 224 pages, hard cover, and retails for $30.00, which is not a bad price. The paper seems to be fairly thick (and seems to have a texture to it), and the whole book seems extremely sturdy. I've had it for about a year, and it's still in excellent shape despite fairly heavy use (creaks a bit, though, when opened). The margins are fairly small. There is a lot of artwork, but most of it is fairly small. The artwork is extremely high quality, with much by Larry Elmore (but not that sleazy), as well as art by one of the early TSR artists, Jim Holloway. (His style is easily recognizable if you played D&D in the early 80s). Oddly enough, the only 'cheesecake' pictures of females in the book are of female orks (only 2, and neither by Elmore).
The setting is a somewhat typical fantasy world, although with many twists. Rather than living underground, Dwarves are sort of a combination of Mongols and American Indians. Elves are still nature loving, but their culture resembles the Japanese. They are also somewhat reclusive and dislike magic. Orcs, or Orks as they are spelled in Sovereign Stone, are a sea-faring race, apparently descended from Orcas (Killer Whales). And while still big and tusky, Orks are relatively peaceful, civilized, and bright. They're also surprisingly attractive. Instead of Halflings or Gnomes, there is a race called the Pecwae. They're sort of creepy looking little dog-like things (but not reptilian like Kobolds), who are very primitive. They're kinda like hippies, only better smelling and less annoying.
There are also a number of human cultures, most of which resemble cultures from real world Earth. One resembles late medieval England, one resembles cave-men, a couple are based on the middle east, and a couple seem African. The setting is given quite a bit of detail, but it never really came alive for me until I actually read the first two novels. So, kind of dry.
In addition to the setting, there appears to be a metaplot - the world has begun to be invaded by an evil dude, with a army of evil critters, the Taan. (This is apparently really covered in the novels. So far, there are only two novels out. The first deals with the history of the evil guy, and the 2nd starts the invasion, and is presumably contemporay with this book). This is perhaps a bit cliched, but if you read the first two novels, the bad guy has a pretty complex personality, and his followers are also very well realized. If really really evil.
Getting to the game itself, there are 8 new core classes. This is because the Sovereign Stone setting does not use the standard D&D magic system, but it's own. Because of that, most of the classes from the PHB don't work in the setting. Not just the wizard, cleric, druid, and sorcerer, but also the ranger, bard, and fighter. Pretty much everything but Rogue, Fighter, and Barbarian (plus the NPC classes, Warrior, Expert, Commoner, and Aristocrat).
Besides the new magic using class, Elmental mage (and the Void mage, which is identical in almost everything but name), there's the Archer, the Mounted Warrior, the Noble (sort of an improved version of the Aristocrat NPC class), the Sailor, the Soldier, and the Stalker (sort of an alternate Ranger). They also rerinted the 3 classes I mentioned from the PHB (Rogue, Fighter, Barbarian).
Some (many, it seems) complain that they shouldn't have included all these new core classes, and everyone should just play a fighter, and pick feats to differentiate them. Well, you can do that, but I think it's boring. Plus, many of the new classes have special abilities, slightly powerful than feats. After extensive use, all the new classes are also pretty well balanced with regard to the PHB classes.
Take the Archer, for instance. At every level, the Archer is better at archery (with a specific type of bow) than a Fighter. But not by much. For instance, an 6th level archers base attack bonus with his favorite bow is 7. That's better than a Fighters base attack bonus of 6. But not using his favorite bow, the Archer's base attack bonus is only 4. Some say the Archer is too specialized, and maybe so. But I think it's a nice choice to have.
There are also a large number of new feats, although those involving magic probably won't be useful with the regular D&D magic system.
Probably the biggest addition is the magic system. Rather than the fire & forget system from D&D, or a spell point system (like in Deadlands d20), Sovereign Stone uses a system that treats spell casting more like a skill than anything else. Spells can be cast often, but get increasingly difficult, and failed skill rolls cause the caster damage.
Each spell has a number called a 'Casting Threshold', or CT for short. It roughly indicates how powerful it is. Every round the mage casts the spell, the player rolls a d20. The result is added to his spellcasting bonus. If that is equal to, or higher to the CT of the spell, then the spell is cast. If not, then next round, you roll again, keeping a running total. And so on, until the CT is reached.
Every round after the first a mage is casting a spell, the player must make a fortitude save. If it's not made, the mage takes 1d4 subdual damage. The DC for the save starts at either 8, 10, or 12, depending on which sort of magic is being cast, and what race. And it increases for every round the spell is being cast.
Mages know a certain number of spells from memory (or rather, x amount of CT per level), with more spells known as 'quick reference'. This allows mages to be very flexible, being able to cast a wide variety of spells, if they have the books for them, and to cast powerful spells if they want to risk it. But it's difficult for them.
This system definitely works, and works pretty well, but it does have some problems or quirks to it. For one, you have to be able to handle some basic math. Many, many, many people have trouble with the D6 system from West End Games because they cannot add up the dice easily. Besides knowing how to do basic addition, you have to do some paperwork, keeping track of the casting roll total from round to round, and the DC for the save. And you have to do a lot of die rolling. Some find it too complicated.
The system can also be abused a bit. Because some spells are extremely easy to cast, they can be cast over and over and over by higher level characters. The Gentle Touch spell, for instance. It's got a CT of 12, and heals 1d4 damage. So a mage could cast it all day, healing characters 1d4 at a time.
While there aren't rules for designing your own spells in this book, they do exist in another book, the Codex Mysterium (which is also pretty good, but also big and expensive).
There are also 25 new monsters, many of which are fairly gruesome. Many are derived from folklore/legend, and so are similar in theme and name to existing D&D/d20 monsters. Despite that, they're still fairly distinct, and well done. More monsters are apparently on the way in a monster book.
There is also a short introductory adventure. No index. There are a few typos in my book, which is apparently a first printing, but they've apparently been fixed in later editions.
All in all, an excellent product, especially now that it has several supporting products out on the market. It might not be hugely useful to those not looking for a campaign setting, but most will find some of the classes useful. And the magic system is well done, at least if you are willing to put up with rolling dice and some paperwork.
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