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The Book also includes several supplemental chapters featuring feats, spells, variant classes, prestige classes, and magic items. Some of these relate to the new rules systems featured in the first half of the book, and some instead provide color for the titular "River Nations".
(However, the background on the setting is sufficiently minimalistic, that you can't get any feel of it from the book. JBE's intent probably was to provide a cognate for the "River Kingdoms" which are the setting of the Kingmaker adventure path.)
The Kingdom-building Rules
The first three chapters cover an integrated some of rules systems: exploration, kingdom-building, and mass combat. Together they comprise a bit more than half a book. Each expands upon OGL Pathfinder mechanics. They were previously presented in Pathfinder #31, Pathfinder #32, and Pathfinder #35.
Exploration: The exploration rules are quite minimalistic. Their main features are: a standard unit of size for wilderness land, a 12-mile hex; time tables for both traveling through and exploring those hexes; general categories for what might be in a hex; and experience awards for exploring hexes. I generally found the rules adequate as originally written by Paizo, and they remain adequate here. They're a solid framework for exploration, but beyond that the system is bare bones.
In revising the Paizo exploration rules, JBE has added a slight bit of polish. For example, there's now a nice "order of exploration" chart that reminds you of what to do when you enter a new hex, while wandering monster rules that had (somewhat annoyingly) appeared in the middle of the adventure in the original Pathfinder book instead appear with the rest of the exploration rules here.
Kingdom Building: This is the heart of the book, where everything else either succeeds or fails. As originally presented by Paizo, the kingdom building rules offered up a somewhat complex system whereby you can expand a kingdom on a month-by-month basis. It connects tightly with the exploration system (and the mass combat system which I'll be covering next).
You kick off a kingdom by picking PCs and NPCs to fill 11 roles in the kingdom, from the ruler to the warden. Then, on a monthly basis: you claim hexes to expand your kingdom; you build farms or cities in those hexes; and you expand your cities building by building. This generates Stability, Economy, and Loyalty values for your kingdom which act as "saving throws" for some monthly rolls and for some unpredictable events.
As it stood in Pathfinder #32 the writeup of the kingdom-building rules was very confusing and took a few reads to understand. However, once you figured everything out, they worked well (absent a few errors which snuck into building descriptions), giving players lots of tactical decisions to make concerning the expansion of their kingdom. Monthly event rolls helped these rules to form an excellent backdrop for a campaign.
Book of the River Nations notably improves upon Paizo's original rules. Perhaps most importantly it better organizes the rules, presenting copious cross references and also a helpful "Order of Phases in a Kingdom's Turn"--a synopsis that I was about to write up myself after playing through Paizo's original system for a week.
It also provides a fair amount of expansion. To start with, there are some new buildings for the city--such as the aviary, the baker, and the butcher--which addd more color to the game. More notably, JBE's new rules expand the idea of farms into "open spaces". There are now 11 different things you can build in your open hexes, from apiaries to wineries. Finally, Book of the River Nations expands the event count for the kingdom-building system from 17 to 40. On whole, the expansions seem well-considered and balanced.
Generally, I feel like JBE has done an excellent job with the kingdom-building rules. The clarification (and inclusion of errata) is all helpful, but the expansion should allow for considerable individualization of a kingdom and add lots of color over the course of a campaign. My own players were quite interested when I offered up the new options of the Book of the River Nations and immediately opted to set aside the spreadsheet they were using for the Paizo rules in exchange for the new opportunities that Book allowed. I also saw a lot more discussion of options during the second session, using the JBE rules, than the first which had used the Paizo rules. (Mind you, some of this was doubtless due to increasing comfort with the rules, but much of the discussion did touch upon unique areas from the JBE expansion, particularly the open space rules.)
Mass Combat: The third major rule system from Kingmaker is its mass-combat rules. My players are still months (years?) away from using these, so I can't comment on them from an AP basis, as I have with the earlier systems.
The mass combat rules codify armies as stat blocks. They have hit points, defensive values, and offensive modifiers--much like characters do. During combat an army will select a tactic from a small set associated with the army (e.g., sniper support, tactic, cavalry experts). Then, following one round of ranged combat, armies will duke it out in melee. As damage occurs, leaders may need to make morale roles to keep their armies together.
In their version of the mass-combat rules, JBE has added a bit of variety to everything. There are more tactics, more army resources, more army special abilities, and more sample armies than found in Paizo's original set of rules.
Overall, the rules look like they should play well, but ask me in 2012 for an AP of how they went.
Conclusion: Generally, the exploration, kingdom-building, and mass-combat rules of Book of the River Nations should be appealing to anyone considering these gameplay elements in a Pathfinder game (or a d20 game for that matter). JBE definitely brings something to the table; their expansion and cleanup of the rulesets is a real value. I think anyone playing a Kingmaker game should want to pick this new book up as a result. However, the appeal of the rules isn't limited to Kingmaker players. If you want to play with kingdom-building in any other d20 game, this should be your goto resource.
(Another benefit slightly that's less obvious is that if you get the Book, you'll now have a standalone work that you can hand to your players, rather than having to constantly swap out the Kingmaker adventures that you're probably running from.)
Feats, Spells, Class, and Magic Items
The rest of the book contains a sundry of crunchy bits: new feats, spells, variant classes, prestige classes, and magic items. The content of these chapters is somewhat varied.
Though you'll find bits of crunch specifically designed for use with the Book's core three game systems, there are also a number of others that don't touch upon those systems and instead fit into the "River Nations" setting. Some of them, like the "Swimmer" and "Train Animals" feats will fit well with any wilderness campaign (like Kingmaker). Others, like the "Wall of Tentacles" spell, seem much more haphazard.
The feats are generally OK. I like the existence of both mass combat feats and kingdom feats. I have some balance issues with "Inspiring Ruler" which would seem to add a +20 bonus to a kingdom's stats, but the rest seem fine. Generally, however, the feats aren't that imaginative.
The spells are similarly utilitarian, with piles of spells that summon armies and a few other bits and bobs.
The classes section is somewhat poorly laid out because it doesn't clearly state which two are variant classes and which two are prestige classes, but it's not hard to figure out. I found some of these classes more colorful and evocative than the crunchy bits found in previous sections. The "King's Eye", a spy/rogue prestige class, has already entered my game, while the "Monks of the Green Leaf" variant class is likely to enter my game soon.
The magic items section, which ends the boo,k is the best of the crunch sections. It's two pages of things that rulers will want for themselves and their kingdoms--and those things are evocative and fun, such as the "ring of the respected king" which people have to kiss to give the wearer a Bluff/Diplomacy bonus. The chapter thus looks to me like plot hooks just waiting to happen. I'm certain I'll offer one or more of these items in the future via quests.
The Style & Substance of The Book
I've already talked extensively about the Substance of the Book. The kingdom-building rules are really the heart of the book and they're a good system, well presented. The complementary exploration and mass-combat systems integrate into a very nice whole. The crunchy bits for players are much more hit and miss, but they're nonetheless nice additions and I'd rather have them than not.
Overall, Book of the River Nations offers Grade-A meatiness and I've thus given it a "5" out of "5" for Substance.
Moving on to Style, I've already talked about the fact that JBE has done a good job of reorganizing and referencing all of the rules from Paizo. Their black-and-white layouts, unfortunately, can't hold up to Paizo's full-color designs. The actual layout is pretty simplistic. The art varies. Some black & white art is so-so, while some grayscale art is pretty good.
Putting that all together, Book of the River Nations gets a high "3" out of "5" for Style: slightly above average.
Final Notes
I said it before, but I'll say it again: any Kingmaker GM should have this book. Other GMs interested in adding a growing kingdom to their campaign will want it as well.
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