Goto [ Index ]

I was very excited about this book when I heard about it because I had just come off of designing a world for the Fantasy Setting Search and had been irritated and how much time it had taken me to do the research I felt was necessary to flesh out the world. Just trying to figure out what sort of things people ate given the local flora and fauna was tedious as I compiled lists from both references books and internet sources. All in all, it just took more time than I had intended. This book, however, promised to be exactly what I had needed, a reference of basic information for fleshing out a setting.

When I got it, I admit to some disappointment. I felt that the book spent too much space detailing things which either received plenty of good treatment elsewhere (arms and armor) or which I just didn't need in the detail provided (massively detailed herbalism charts and tables with random buttock descriptors). On the other hand, often is skimped in the lists, just giving raw names of things without any sort of description. For some of the fauna charts and few occuptional charts (like types of entertainers), this forced me to pull out other reference books, which was what I was trying to avoid by buying this.

Another disappointment was that it focused entirely on the traditional pseudo-medieval setting. There's very little to support an oriental or arabian-style setting. Further, the information that is general could have used better organizing for use. For example, the trees are split into charts by biome, which is wonderful. However, fauna charts are by animal type, instead. Similarly, there is a list of grains with no information on what sort of environment they thrive in or what sort of uses they are put to. The food charts are just raw lists of ingrediants. This is in contrast to the pages on herbs which even tells what sort of soil they prefer. As most PCs are going to experience the food of a region more than its healing herbs, I don't understand the focus. Also, more illustration would have helped. While it doesn't need color or much detail, simple line drawings, like exist for the arms and armor, would have been useful for flora, clothing, and a number of other sections.

This is not to say that there isn't some damn useful stuff in here. The aforementioned tree charts are fantastic. There are sections on clothing which give excellent descriptions as well as a chart of furs giving regional availability and rarity. The geographic descriptor section is quite useful. There is a wonderful chart giving the flow rates of springs, streams, and other water sources (how many waterskins can you fill an hour? now you know). There really is a wealth of information here and a lot of time to be saved navigating the imperfect web or digging through reference books. It is easy to overlook the Gygaxian indulgences (random trait charts, anyone?) when the meat of the product is considered.

Now, who do I recommend this book to? Anal retentive GMs who care what the regional cuisine is like in that city-state across the desert. Detail-oriented world-builders who want to know the occupations of every person living in the building they are creating. Or even just folks who lack for descriptives after hours of working on a project and need a little brainstorming. However, if you aren't a fan of detail and have no patience for tables, you probably want to give it a pass. Also, if you want advice or guidance on how to use this sort of material, don't expect to find it here. This is a reference book, nothing more.