I hate Julie Dawson. She's evil. She obviously has years of experience as an evil DM, because her new campaign book Neiyar: Land of Heaven and the Abyss is teeming with evil stuff and tricks DMs can use against unsuspecting gamers. But I have to admit, we're enjoying every minute of it.
Neiyar is set on an isolated jungle island that has no regular contact with the rest of the world. That "world" can be whatever you want it to be. In the case of our unsuspecting party, we were on a ship sailing home to Waterdeep when we found ourselves in the middle of a storm from hell than crashed our boat onto the island. The dominate people of the island, the Neiyar, are ruled by female priestesses called Deva. Somewhere in Neiyar mythology, a demon named Nephar waged war against the Neiyar gods, and the gods in turn granted special powers to the people to combat demonic foes. Clerics of the Neiyar gods receive special gifts depending on who their patron is. For example, a cleric of the warrior goddess can cast "awaken" on tigers and receives tiger companions. Clerics of Sophia Kalla get bonuses to their AC. This gives clerics a bit more power in the world, but it makes sense since they are the ones in control.
The Neiyar refer to us as "Outsiders." Anyone not a native of the island is considered an Outsider, and we are generally not trusted by anyone. Apparently there are no known ways off the island, as the Neiyar themselves never mastered the art of making great sailing vessels. The talk of a creature called the Green Death that attacks ships that venture too far into the waters. And attempts by our mage to teleport have all failed.
Not all the natives are human, however. The coolest of the races are the Krakodons. They claim to be the desendents of great dragons that once walked the island. At one time they had a great empire and fought over the island with the Neiyar. But they have degenerated into tribal life, and though they are still honor-bound warriors, they are also lacking in social skills and would sooner kill you than talk to you. The other races include the Mahaulta, cat people who claim to be the offspring of the Tiger Lord and Franscisca Mahault. The Amphikin are a theiving race of lazy frog people, and the Auronnes are a swanlike race. The races are a bit more powerful than the normal races, but not so much that they are unbalancing. And they all seem well suited for the setting.
Besides the obligatory collection of new arcane and divine spells ("exploding coconuts" is great considering the setting), Neiyar has something called Hearth Magic. Hearth Magic are rituals that can be purchased using skill points, and they don't work the same way as regular magics. Anyone can learn Hearth Magic, and the effects can be incredible. But again, though the rituals are powerful, the power is balanced out by the fact that you have to spend precious skill points on them to get them.
There are some crazy new monsters in this world. It seems Dawson did some homework on the real rainforest, then took common animals and plants and turned them into monsters. We almost died a swam of Fleshcutter ants. These oversize ants are a variant of the leafcutter ant, but instead of harvesting leaves, they harvest humanoid flesh. And they spit acid. Not Cool. Everything has the potential of being deadly. Weird molds, freaky diseases, vines with sharpened edges, moss as sharp as needles. Welcome to the jungle, baby.
Now here is where she is evil. One of our party died, so he was allowed to create a new character using the PC races. Dawson added "flaws" to her campaign setting. Flaws allows PCs to get bonus feats (up to three). Most of the flaws seem pretty soft at first, and our poor unsuspecting comrade took two to cheese out his fighter with two extra feats. But once those flaws came into gameplay, he regretted it. Flaws depend on the GM's willingness to be evil. And since all GM's are evil...
The layout of the book is pretty simple. It's not nearly as flashy as a lot of campaign settings. But what artwork there is is very good for an independent RPG. It's also softcover, not hardcover, so I don't know how it will hold up to heavy use. But at only $19.99 for an almost 200 page campaign setting, I can live with a softcover. The preview copy I saw did not have an index and needed some additional editing, but I'll assume that will be resolved in the final copy.
Neiyar is a good debut RPG from a new company and a new designer. Surprisingly good, in fact. The final version, which Dawson says will be released at the end of March, should prove to be a welcome addition to anyone's RPG library. Particularly if you are a GM looking for something new to shake up your unsuspecting party. I almost can't wait to "die" so I can create a new character using the races available. But I won't take any flaws...well, maybe one flaw. Agh, I'm falling into the trap now too.
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