Shadow_in_the_Mist
2017-08-04, 04:47 AM
If you followed the link to get here, I'm 99% certain you did so with the words "what's Jakandor?" on your metaphorical lips. Well, Jakandor was one of the last Dungeons & Dragons campaign settings - if not the very last - to be published by TSR before they went under and D&D was bought up by Wizards of the Coast. Released under the "Odyssey" line, Jakandor was a mini-setting - a setting you could run on its own, but which would also seamlessly integrate into your own homebrew world - that centered on a massive island-nation called Jakandor, the source of a raging war between two very different human cultures: the magocratic Charonti and the anarchic Knorr. Centering itself on this theme of cultural war and Moral Grayness, Jakandor tried to be something unique and different to the more black & white-leaning settings of the time.
Did it work...? Well, in a word, no. There are two main reviews for Jakandor out there on the web that I've seen, and they don't strictly agree, but both do paint some flaws in common.
http://vaultsofnagoh.blogspot.com.au/2009/06/jakandor-last-sandbox.html
http://tower-of-infinite-evil.blogspot.com.au/2013/07/jakandor-forgotten-setting.html
The first review is very scathing of the mechanical effort put into the book, arguing that the new kits in general tend to be weak, clumsy or just generally not make sense. It also is very critical of the writing language used, arguing that it actually managed to make the Charonti in particular boring. Which, as they say, is quite a feat given we're talking about a magocracy of non-evil necromancers who inhabit the haunted ruins of their ancient cities, using their own ancestors as advisers, warriors and labourers and honoring them for their sacrifice all the while, all in service to a cultural mandate of pursuing the greater good. Seriously, how do you mess that up?
Both reviews agree that the Knorr are far, far less interesting in comparison, being a fairly by-the-numbers mashup of Native American and Viking stereotypes. Even the fact that they're supposed to create giant mecha-esque golem servitors to stride into battle as war-totems fails to save them from being so utterly, utterly bland. In many cases, where it tries to be unique, their culture makes no sense, like literally believing that vengeance is holy because the constant, endless cycle of feuding is what keeps the multiverse in balance - to the point the last time they united as a people in living memory was to bump off the guy trying to get them to be more organized!
To this, I'll add my own observation that I feel the setting fails to achieve its goal of moral grayness, because I find the Charonti vastly more sympathetic than the Knorr.
The Knorr's own corebook explains that the Knorrmen are bloodthirsty traditionalists who started a civil war in the face of cultural changes being induced by their trading partners. These Knorr were on the losing end of a naval battle when a mighty storm engulfed them. When it was over, they were far out to sea - or, as their priests claimed, the War Mother had destroyed the old world but left them alive in recognition of their staying true to the Old Ways. Sailing on, they eventually stumbled across Jakandor - and when they found it was already inhabited, their priests declared that it was a sign from the War Mother; if they massacred these alien people, the "last remnants of the old world's evil", than the War Mother would give them a pure new world to inhabit.
This'd be a little morally dismaying to begin with, because I don't see a particularly sympathetic backstory in it to begin with... but I read the Charonti corebook. Now, I won't deny that the Charonti were no saints themselves; they were an ethnocentric conquering empire in the past. Thing is, their empire was completely wiped out more than five thousand years ago - the current population of Jakandor may be all that's left. All they care about is rediscovering the lore their ancestors lost and trying to survive - hells, they're even described as a pacifist people, to the point that their official policy for dealing with the Knorr is to avoid them at all costs and fight only when they absolutely must. They paid for their crimes, and all they want is to be left in peace now. Peace that the Knorr won't give them.
Or, in short, the Knorr are warlike raiders who were kicked out of their own home, came to the Charonti's home, and started massacring them and destroying their culture, all while dressing the slaughter up as "holy".
In what way are the Knorr supposed sympathetic?!
Still... despite its many faults, I think Jakandor has a lot of potential. So, I thought it couldn't hurt to come here and ask: how do you think we could set about addressing the setting's fatal flaws and making it stronger?
Now, I'm aware that currently, the only Jakandor books WoTC has released on DM's Guild are Isle of Destiny (Charonti sourcebook) as a PDF and Land of Legend (DM's book & adventures) as a PDF/physical copy, but I also know where the PDFs can be found online. I won't post the links straight here, in case that's against the rules, but I can point folks to them if their own GoogleFu fails to find them.
Did it work...? Well, in a word, no. There are two main reviews for Jakandor out there on the web that I've seen, and they don't strictly agree, but both do paint some flaws in common.
http://vaultsofnagoh.blogspot.com.au/2009/06/jakandor-last-sandbox.html
http://tower-of-infinite-evil.blogspot.com.au/2013/07/jakandor-forgotten-setting.html
The first review is very scathing of the mechanical effort put into the book, arguing that the new kits in general tend to be weak, clumsy or just generally not make sense. It also is very critical of the writing language used, arguing that it actually managed to make the Charonti in particular boring. Which, as they say, is quite a feat given we're talking about a magocracy of non-evil necromancers who inhabit the haunted ruins of their ancient cities, using their own ancestors as advisers, warriors and labourers and honoring them for their sacrifice all the while, all in service to a cultural mandate of pursuing the greater good. Seriously, how do you mess that up?
Both reviews agree that the Knorr are far, far less interesting in comparison, being a fairly by-the-numbers mashup of Native American and Viking stereotypes. Even the fact that they're supposed to create giant mecha-esque golem servitors to stride into battle as war-totems fails to save them from being so utterly, utterly bland. In many cases, where it tries to be unique, their culture makes no sense, like literally believing that vengeance is holy because the constant, endless cycle of feuding is what keeps the multiverse in balance - to the point the last time they united as a people in living memory was to bump off the guy trying to get them to be more organized!
To this, I'll add my own observation that I feel the setting fails to achieve its goal of moral grayness, because I find the Charonti vastly more sympathetic than the Knorr.
The Knorr's own corebook explains that the Knorrmen are bloodthirsty traditionalists who started a civil war in the face of cultural changes being induced by their trading partners. These Knorr were on the losing end of a naval battle when a mighty storm engulfed them. When it was over, they were far out to sea - or, as their priests claimed, the War Mother had destroyed the old world but left them alive in recognition of their staying true to the Old Ways. Sailing on, they eventually stumbled across Jakandor - and when they found it was already inhabited, their priests declared that it was a sign from the War Mother; if they massacred these alien people, the "last remnants of the old world's evil", than the War Mother would give them a pure new world to inhabit.
This'd be a little morally dismaying to begin with, because I don't see a particularly sympathetic backstory in it to begin with... but I read the Charonti corebook. Now, I won't deny that the Charonti were no saints themselves; they were an ethnocentric conquering empire in the past. Thing is, their empire was completely wiped out more than five thousand years ago - the current population of Jakandor may be all that's left. All they care about is rediscovering the lore their ancestors lost and trying to survive - hells, they're even described as a pacifist people, to the point that their official policy for dealing with the Knorr is to avoid them at all costs and fight only when they absolutely must. They paid for their crimes, and all they want is to be left in peace now. Peace that the Knorr won't give them.
Or, in short, the Knorr are warlike raiders who were kicked out of their own home, came to the Charonti's home, and started massacring them and destroying their culture, all while dressing the slaughter up as "holy".
In what way are the Knorr supposed sympathetic?!
Still... despite its many faults, I think Jakandor has a lot of potential. So, I thought it couldn't hurt to come here and ask: how do you think we could set about addressing the setting's fatal flaws and making it stronger?
Now, I'm aware that currently, the only Jakandor books WoTC has released on DM's Guild are Isle of Destiny (Charonti sourcebook) as a PDF and Land of Legend (DM's book & adventures) as a PDF/physical copy, but I also know where the PDFs can be found online. I won't post the links straight here, in case that's against the rules, but I can point folks to them if their own GoogleFu fails to find them.