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It's part complete setting. Yes, there is a whole campaign in this book. It's not terribly detailed but has enough material to keep a campaign going for months at a time. There are elves under siege by the Yuan Ti, a separate demi-plane for those vile serpent folk known as Coil, and other lands to explore and plunder. This is a small, 21 page section.
It's part modular setting with Manifest, the main city, boasting many details at an even 40 pages. It includes it's own gods with all of the standard information, how the living and the dead get along, how the standard races thrive and work in Manifest, as well as a full color mpa of the city and it's different wards. Those looking for organizations, encounter locations and details on how to use the undercity get covered. With some work, this whole thing could be lifted whole cloth and put into just about any fantasy setting, d20 or non-d20. Of course some of the background issues may be more difficult to deal with as the book rules set up the scenario for the dead and the living.
It's part player resource with two new core classes and four new PrCs. The two core classes are the Eidolon and the Eidoloncer, ghost classes that are full twenty level classes that allow the player to stay in the game. The PrCs range from those who kill ghosts to those who draw power from the undead. Player focus continues with new uses for old skills, especially how a ghost uses those skills. How about some new spells or feats? The book's got you covered there. A new type of feat, for, yes, you guessed it, the ghost is present. These are [Ghost] descriptor feats that work on augmenting and expanding a ghost's innate abilities. One thing I thought WoTC did well was not to forget the PrCs with the new spells. Spells are first summarized, listed by class, level and then alphabetized, and include the blackguard. Those looking for new domains get Ghost, Repose, Scalykind, and Undeath to follow.
Lastly, for players, is new equipment. While the Bola Flail and the Thurkasian breastplate aren't going to make or break a campaign, the addition of new special and superior items focused on the rules, like raw ectoplam and ghost disguise kits, are going to be useful to anyone. Of course, there are also new magic items including new figurines of wondrous power, as well as cursed candy that inflicts light wounds when taken. Perhaps most impressive and something that all fighters will seek is Starfire, a longsword of elf origins whose powers in melee are hard to overcome.
Now what about the poor GM? Well, the adventures listed in the section the Ghostwalk Campaign can be adapted to other setting with work ranging from very little to extensive but the true benefit is in the new monsters and mapped out locations and material in the adventures chapter.
The production values in this book are high. The full color artwork is fantastic and the whitespace use is good. The hardcover has seen some serious flipping through at my table and the book is in good shape still. One thing I think they flubbed on is lack of an index. While there is an appendix and the table of contents is pretty good, I always like my index.
The real question is the book any good? That depends. The idea of a player coming back to game as a ghost sits wrong with some people and for them, this isn't the game. The rules for being a ghost are minimized in terms of screwing the player. For example, if they become a ghost and latter are raised, they can swap out their ghost levels for regular levels. The change of pace is interesting. For those who want a more standard type of campaign, there is that option as well with the various yuan-ti factions and the elves on the defensive.
If you're looking for something a bit different for your next D&D campaign or want to add some strange and exotic elements to your current D&D game, than Ghostwalk is for you.
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