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DAWNFORGE exists to scratch that itch as it relates to D&D. It acts almost as a "prequel" to the standard D&D setting, showing a world where old rivalries are just starting, where Immortals wander the land hoping to become the first true gods, and where new races are just starting to fulfill their potential. Originally an entry in Wizards of the Coast's "setting search" (where it made it to the semi-finals), it has now been published by Fantasy Flight Games (who already are planning at least one supplement.) The book bears the d20 logo and is compatible with the updated material in 3.5.
The world of Dawnforge is comprised of three major continents: Ambria in the northeast, Zangala to the south, and Tamerland to the west. Most of the familiar races and major civilizations live on Ambria. Zangala is a more exotic land dominated by the yuan-ti, while Tamerland is an unexplored and untamed land inhabited mostly by lizardfolk and dinosaurs. The book's introduction gives an illustrated overview of the setting, as well as an excellent map which I've referenced frequently. A series of sidebars compose the observation of Fiadan the Sage, a storyteller in "modern" D&D times telling the story of the lost First Age.
There are seventeen playable races and sub-races in the setting, and all are derived from standard D&D races and creatures. A character's race defines him more in this setting than others; as he gains levels, he gains access to "racial talents" and "racial transformations" which do everything from changing the character physically (Orcs can gain damage reduction, Elves can halt the aging process) to granting ability bonuses, to giving him additional skill bonuses and feats. This set of rules adds a nice, mythic touch- and it also makes characters in Dawnforge a bit more powerful by level. At the end of the "Races" chapter, there's a table showing Effective Level Adjustments for the purpose of balancing encounters.
Dopplegangers are a mysterious race with no true homeland, infiltrating various cultures and attempting to blend in. They start knowing only one "alternate form", but can learn others. They cannot, however, learn to read any language. Dwarves live in the Stormfell mountains near the west coast of Ambria, occasionally battling goblinoids and fire giants. They can learn to identify and craft magic weapons and armor as racial talents. There are two kinds of elf: the Dawn Elves, your standard D&D type, and the Night Elves, black-skinned precursors to the Drow. The Night Elves, treated as second-class citizens by the Dawn variety, have begun worshipping a mysterious immortal called Lathail, a lover of predators and nocturnal beasts. Civil war has already broken out over this new religion, and it remains to be seen whether the two races can be reconciled. Gnomes hail from the same mysterious plane as the Elves, and have a deeper connection to the fey world; they can learn to fade in and out of existence and gain innate spellcasting ability. Halflings are also known as the Faring Folk, and they travel over Ambria in caravans. To my disappointment, they're once again more like Kender than Hobbits- one would figure that with the popularity of them there Rings movies we'd finally see Halflings that are closer to what they were intended to rip off in the first place, but I'm not going to fault DAWNFORGE's designers for staying with the D&D take on them.
Humans are divided into three types: Highlanders, who live in, well, the Highlands; Lowlanders, the most common type, who live in the kingdom of Anderland and most nearby human realms, and are pretty close to standard D&D humans (though they take a +2 bonus and -2 penalty on any two ability scores), and the Saltbloods, olive-skinned seafarers who live mostly on the Dreaming Islands to the west of Ambria. There are also the Trueborn, humans with Celestial blood who live and rule in the Kingsmarch, a loose coalition of warrior kingdoms on the west coast of Ambria. Your Aragorn-types are going to come from there, mostly. Lizardfolk live mostly in Tamerland and have just recently met the other races of the world, and are not sure where they stand. Minotaurs were once slaves of the giants, who rebelled and suffered many casualties as a result. The survivors are scattered across Ambria and mostly live alone. Ogres still work for the giants, but some have escaped, live wild or are even freed if they prove their worth to the more benevolent giants of the land. Orcs are perhaps the most interesting of the "monster races"- they are the least populous of all the goblinoids, and live in the brutal wilds of the north. They wish to emulate and live among the more civilized peoples of the world, but at the same time know they are unwelcome and rarely venture beyond their borders. Currently they're debating among themselves whether to continue to work to become a proper civilization, or to join with the evil frost giants and become the city-pillaging bastards we all know and love. If that's not a story hook I don't know what is. (It's worth noting that, unlike in regular D&D, here the Minotaurs and Ogres are balanced with the other races and require no ECL.)
The Tieflings are, for the most part, the major "bad guys" of the setting. Very in-touch with their fiendish ancestors, they regularly enslave other races and summon infernal creatures to do some of the heavy work. They mostly live on the volcanic island of Valhedar just south of Ambria, but have begun to push both into that continent and into Zangala to the south. The Yuan-Ti of Zangala are mostly not playable as PCs, but their "Thinblood" emissaries are. Discriminated against in their own land for not being snakey enough, the Thinblood usually travel north to try and gain power in cultures where they're considered slightly less inferior. Thinblood PCs can gain psionic powers and manifest more snake-like attributes.
Dang, that was a long chapter summary.
All the base D&D classes are available in Dawnforge except for the Cleric and the Druid. There are no true gods yet in the world, but there are immortals; Disciples have a more intimate connection with these beings, being able to call for direct Intercessions as well as cast spells. In Dawnforge the term "Druid" refers to a member of the Panthic Order, a usually-benevolent society of spellcasters who helped establish the kingdom of Anderland. The replacement nature-based spellcaster is the Shaman, who has some of the Druid's abilities as well as access to rituals of power, which draw magical energy directly from the land. Some of the differences between the classes are a bit subtle, and it's hard to tell how balanced they are. Shapers are spontaneous divine spellcasters, who like Sorcerers use Charisma as their "magical" attribute. A Spirit Adept uses magical power to augment his or her natural abilities- becoming stronger, faster, more alert, etc.
The Legendary Classes require a bit of explanation. They're basically Prestige Classes, but each requires some advancement in legendary paths, which are a kind of progression heaped on top of leveling. By completing certain quests, a character can gain Legend Points, which can be turned in to attain the first or second or nth "circle" in one of the six paths. Each path corresponds to one of the six ability scores, and in addition to LPs, the paths require that the character have a certain natural score in that ability, as well as be at a certain level. (Getting to the fifth circle of any path requires a score of 26, without any bonus from magic items.) Attaining a circle in a path gets you a bonus to the relevant score, a once-per-day +20 bonus to any relevant check, and the ability to substitute the relevant ability bonus for another on a certain skill. The classes themselves- the Dawn Archer, the Fleetwind, the Epic General, the Icon, the Master Arcanist and the Unsuffering- are surprisingly somewhat generic, simulating legendary ability more than membership in orders or connection to specific setting elements. All this is a bit daunting, and it's intended to be used sparingly as a kind of story award. It's nice to have an extra layer of epic-ness in this game, but did it have to be so damn hard for me to describe?
There are three new feats, one making the character proficient with Exotic Shields (naturally there are a couple) and the other two relating to spellcasting in the world. There's a selection of "racial equipment", mostly weapons and armor, that helps make the races more distinct. Arcane magic is modified, so that spellcasters focus on one of four "aspects"- Life, Entropy, Dreams and Dominion- each of which encompasses different (often overlapping) schools. Wizards must bond to one of the four aspects, gaining him bonuses with spells in the corresponding schools, but making it harder to learn and impossible to master spells from outside the aspect. It's broader than being a wizard specialist, and reflects the fact that magic isn't as broken-down and codified yet. There are rules for Eldritch Wells, places of power which give spellcasters a power boost on certain spells depending on their nature. (For example, it's way too easy to summon demons on Mount Valdehar.) Many of the known immortals are both described and statted-out. There's Alharra Dawn-Bearer, a benevolent warrior woman who looks after the Kingsmarch, Athig Stonedweller, an ancient dwarf who was trapped in the earth battling giants and now is at one with the stone, Lolt- I mean, Lathail, Mordrin, considered the father of the dwarves, the Storm King, ruler of the storm and cloud giants, the Winter Wyrm, and old and powerful white dragon, and Zalaph, ruler of the yuan-ti.
The History section is appropriately brief- the really important stuff hasn't happened yet. It does set up most of the major story hooks in the setting- the Tiefling invasion of Ambria, the discovery of Tamerland, the uneasy peace between the dwarves and the Storm King, and the elven civil war.
The next six chapters detail the various realms of the world: their geography, history and peoples. Anderland is the largest human kingdom, dominated by seven great cities, with Ebernath, city of the druids, sitting on an island in its central bay. Most of the other races pass through this realm too, and it's good "neutral territory" from which to launch most campaigns. The Kingsmarch, as mentioned before, is a group of clans ruled by warrior-chiefs, who are currently somewhat at peace with each other because of the Tiefling invasion to the southeast. Five major kingdoms dominate the area, and there's plenty of room for tension and intrigue. The Durning Highlands are home to a more primitive group of humans, who live mostly as hunter-gatherers and have one of the oldest surviving cultures on the continent. The mountain kingdoms of the dwarves and giants are detailed; the dwarves are busy producing fine metalwork for the rest of Ambria and delving deeper into the earth to find the metal they need to stay rich. They haven't yet "delved too greedily and too deeply", but they're getting there, and the fire giants are a pain. To the north, the Storm King rules a kingdom of Storm and Cloud giants that sits atop the mountains. Still further north, on the Icehammer Front, the cruel frost giants rule over the goblins, hobgoblins and bugbears of the area, planning raids into the south. There's another neat story hook here; Anlar Icefang, the half-giant, half-dragon offspring of the Winter Wyrm, recently ate his father's heart and absorbed his soul. Now more powerful than ever, the giant has his sights fixed on the Storm King's realm, and any smaller folk who get in his way.
In Sildanyr, the vast forest realm of the Elves, war has already broken out between the Dawn and Night Elves. (There are also references to Wood Elves and Ghost Elves, but these races aren't defined well in the book. At one point the latter are referred to as "Mist Elves" instead. I'm not sure if this was an accidental oversight or if they didn't have room for still more PC races.) Valhedar and Zangala comprise the two more exotic civilizations in the setting. The Tieflings dominate the former, though most of the population is actually human. Similarly, the yuan-ti have enslaved most of the other beings in Zangala, often using them for ritual sacrifices as well as more mundane work. The last such chapter details the Dreaming Isles and the primeval realm of Tamerland.
Chapter Eleven is a brief monster listing. Most D&D monsters should fit in the setting easily, but there's some advice on integrating certain types. (Outsiders are more common, dragons are very rare, and so on.) There are four "Unique Creatures"- the Basilisk, the Chimera, the Hydra, and the Medusa- who are the familiar legendary versions of the creatures, more powerful than their offspring (i.e., the ones in the Monster Manual.) The premise obviously fits with Dawnforge's mythic bent, and it also reminded me of the "Creature of Legend" that appeared in one of PLANESCAPE's Monstrous Compendiums. There are a few new non-unique creatures as well: the Atzaran, who live in the Zangalan desert; the Genshok, intelligent undead used by the Yuan-ti as spies; Lavoriss, larger undead used as manual labor by our serpentine friends; Stone Trolls, and viper swarms.
The last chapter is a "Legend Quest", an extended high-level adventure dealing with the growing tension between the Storm King and Anlar Icefang. To put it simply, the two giants are working on a treaty, which would leave the rest of Ambria vulnerable to Icefang's attacks, so the PCs have to prevent that from happening by destroying the frost giant's legendary sword with the Storm King's equally legendary hammer. (All of this is laid out in the early exposition, so I'm not spoiling anything.) Despite my flip summary, it's actually a pretty cool scenario.
This book is pretty; really, really pretty. When I saw the cover, I was halfway to giving FFG my credit card number. The color illustrations in the first 16 pages are excellent, and there are some nice, atmospheric drawings in the rest of the book as well (I particularly like the picture of the Druid city, and Anlar Icefang sitting in his hall is another good piece.) A few pieces have a dark, blurry look for no good reason, but even some of those work. The writing is generally quite solid; it's basically impossible for the authors to maintain an epic tone when talking about the daily life of Ambrian traders and the other mundane things you need to have a workable setting, but some passages do have a nice Tolkien-esque whiff. I do have to deduct some style-points, though. The index is rather brief and doesn't cover all the major points. The way information has been distributed throughout the book is also a bit spotty, as if the editor were trying to avoid redundancy; orcs, for example, get virtually no mention outside their listing in the "Races" chapter, which makes working out their place in the setting a bit harder. There are some glitches; starting wealth is not listed for the new classes, and there's the aforementioned Ghost Elves/Mist Elves confusion. My copy has a bit of a binding problem where the glue between the "credits" page and a white facing page wore out, but I realize I'm getting into nitpicky mode.
I also had some content issues. Not enough information is given on the Druids and their order; I would've expected at least a prestige class. What information there is, is a bit scattered, and it took me a while to realize the Druids and the Panthic Order were the same thing. I would've appreciated a bit of advice on running this particular breed of campaign; making things truly epic takes a bit of work on the part of the DM, and advice on issues like handing out Legend Points and deciding what level to start characters at would be nice. Fantasy Flight does plan to support the setting, with one supplement already in the works, so my hope is that bugaboos like this can be settled quickly.
DAWNFORGE has the potential to be the best D&D setting out there. With very few changes to the rules, it brings the game closer to a familiar kind of epic, heroic fantasy. It will need support down the line to truly live up to this potential, but even now a somewhat talented DM can get a lot of mileage out of just this book. And it's pretty enticing from a player perspective, too; fresh views of familiar D&D tropes combine with new opportunities for power and advancement, so you can explore story and character while powergaming simultaneously. In short, this thing is neat. I want more of it.
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