Kingdoms of Kalamar Campaign
Setting Sourcebook
The Kingdoms of Kalamar is a big
and ambitious campaign setting that harkens back to the days of AD&D, not
unlike most of Kenzer & Company’s other gaming
lines. The Kingdoms of Kalamar Campaign Setting Sourcebook (KKCSS) covers all the
material from the priot edition of the game plus a
good deal more information.
Does a more ambitious update of the Kingdom’s of Kalamar tied to D20 mean it is good? Press on and see.
The Lands of Tellene
Each of the regions of Tellene has
a chapter, six in total, dedicated to them.
There is a fair amount of flavor text dedicated to the regions in
general. After that the specific nations
are discussed. Finally the
geographical features are covered, usually very briefly. For each Kingdom histories, politics,
religion and other important information is discussed. In each Kingdom a city or two are detailed in
a set format, which is nice as all cities are organized the same way.
There is a lot of good information and ideas in the
KKCSS. In virtually every chapter I
found places that would be a good deal of fun to adventure in or run as a
DM. The problem is while there are
interesting vignettes, there is not really anything linking the various places
together.
Perhaps this is better covered in the other additional
publications for the Kingdoms of Kalamar, but as I
have yet to read them I was disappointed in KKCSS for this very reason. Hypothetically the Kingdom
of Kalamar
is the area that binds everything together.
But beyond The Young Kingdoms (where the old Kingdom expanded into, then
lost), there is little of what should be a major influence. Adventure hooks and ideas for each kingdom or
region would have been nice additions.
The end result is KKCSS slightly disjointed and a little
dry.
Throwbacks and Races
The prior edition of Kingdoms of Kalamar, was very much
attuned to AD&D. One of the things
that was very irritating is the use of awkward and
throwback racial terminology. There are humans, that is fine.
Other races are referred to as demihumans
(elves, dwarves, halflings) and humanoids (orcs, goblins, hobgoblins). There is not much word-smithing
required or page count lost in referring to races individually.
One thing I did like about the races is that KKCSS did set
up a primary antagonist in the book, hobgoblins. Not only are they in largely unorganized
hoards, but also some are civilized and have founded kingdoms of their
own. More importantly they are not necessarily
all bad (to some) as they augment human kingdom’s military. There is also a half hobgoblin racial type,
which adds some opportunities for a different sort of character.
Another item in KKCSS’ races is that humans and the other
friendly races (err demihumans)
do not necessarily get along. The Kingdom
of Kalamar
has usurped dwarves in a region to get at their resources. Other places elves are fighting human
encroaching on their forests and yet in others the Halflings are playing both
sides against the middle. Most of these,
unfortunately, come of as vignettes rather than applying them to an overall
binding plot to this voluminous book.
Religion
One area I think that was generally good was the area of
religion. Each kingdom in the sundry
regions has a distinct and diverse set of religious beliefs. Within each city in particular it is
described very nicely. There are regions
that good characters would fit in quite well…others that same good character
would have a tough time emotionally or physically. Also all the gods are detailed in their own
chapter and are broken down nicely.
There are a lot of them, so it may be a bit much for player’s not
familiar with Tellene.
With the good comes the bad.
For allegedly being tied to the D&D 3rd Edition rules, the clerical
class is virtually ignored! Unless I
missed something, none of the deities had 3rd edition domains, which
is critical for clerics. It could be
estimated easily enough, but with all the data and charts dedicated to deities
an extra column or few words would not have been a stretch. This seems like throwback information that
would have been A-OK for AD&D, but for 3e it is a disappointment.
Presentation
KKCSS is a 272 page hardbound book, with an intermixing of
color and black and white graphics. The
cover is a leather painted look, not unlike the WOTC
books, with a stylized lion in a dull metal sort of color. It is really difficult to describe in vibrant
terms a boring cover.
Included with KKCSS is two very
large maps of the setting, which while colored nicely is devoid of anything but
terrain and cities. So things like roads
and borders of kingdoms are not on them.
It is not a very practical play aid, and more like something you would
hang on a wall and not reference except in the most general of terms.
On of the issue of the world being a bit disjointed from
chapter to chapter, the interior graphics contribute to this. For each chapter covering an area there is a
color map on the first page with slightly more detail than the map set
(borders). Again it would have been nice
to have more detail here and perhaps on the margins of the map how the maps fit
together. There is one world map in the
book, but it is an eye chart and there is not annotation on how the region maps
might fit into it. Also for each kingdom
it would have been good to have further detailed maps of the kingdoms and
cities covered rather than having to guess on the map set of flip back to the
beginning of the chapter.
More maps would have also helped fill out the book. There is a lot of text,
there is not much in the way of pictures.
I think more graphics, maps or art would have helped the appearance of
the KKCSS. The art inside has splashes
of color and is mostly mediocre to good but the fact that there is so little of
it is the problem.
D20 and Sundry
There are snippets of d20 specific things inserted
throughout KKCSS. There are new armor
types, which are a nice addition as well as the above half-hobgoblin. All of which are nicely
explained and put into D20 rules.
Unfortunately things I would have expected, specifically the above
deity’s domains issue. So for being an
officially licenced WOTC product, it is somewhat
surprising that KKCSS is not really plugged into the rules it is supposed to be
used with.
The appendix is very good.
Not only is the location in the book listed, but also a brief
description of what you are looking up is there. If only this kind of organization was applied
to the setting it would have been a much tighter knit book.
Final Thoughts
The Kingdoms of Kalamar Campaign
Setting Sourcebook tries to take great strides for a setting book, but it trips
over itself too much to live up the expectations that it is an “epic world of
heroic adventure.” Improving the lacluster production values could have helped join the
KKCSS setting chapters better.
For some gamers the, who do not mind a bit of a learning
curve, KKCSS has a lot of options that a DM could adopt for their own campaign
or flesh out for a Kalamar based campaign. Its old school feel might be attractive
option for gamers harkening back to the good old days of AD&D.
If you overlook KKCSS’ modest flaws it is an interesting
option for a campaign setting or for lifting into your own game.
