[4e] Kingdoms of Kalamar

**Matthew** · 2008-07-10, 07:02 AM (ISO 8601)

Kingdoms of Kalamar Fantasy Campaign Setting

Well now, here is an interesting development. Kenzer & Company are producing material for Kalamar compatable with 4e, but they are not using the GSL. Some of you may remember that prior to 2000 Kalamar was compatable with AD&D without a license agreement, so this is hardly unprecedented, still it should be interesting to see what happens next.

**Tormsskull** · 2008-07-10, 07:29 AM (ISO 8601)

Cool. I particularly found it interesting that they pushed Dragonborn and Tieflings away from being main races, and made Hobgoblins and 1/2 Hobgoblins as player races. Probably trying to cater to the group of people who picked the 4e PHB up and thought "Dragonborn? Are you ******* serious?"

**Myshlaevsky** · 2008-07-10, 07:45 AM (ISO 8601)

Kingdoms of Kalamar has always had those as player races, I think. As it's a 3e setting, it's understandable that they're not incorporating the new player races too much.

Looks interesting, anyway - thanks for posting it.

**Meat Shield** · 2008-07-10, 08:00 AM (ISO 8601)

Kalamar is what we use in our home game. I could have sworn they were not going to upgrade though. Interesting.

Doesn't mean we are changing from 3.5 yet, but....

**Thinker** · 2008-07-10, 08:05 AM (ISO 8601)

I'll support it when it is released. I dislike the new GSL as compared to 3E's OGL and would like to see it's authority eroded. I might enjoy the campaign setting, too.

**kjones** · 2008-07-10, 09:11 AM (ISO 8601)

All right! I've always wanted to try Kalamar - maybe now I'll pick it up.

**Matthew** · 2008-07-10, 12:54 PM (ISO 8601)

Originally Posted by Sharikov

Kingdoms of Kalamar has always had those as player races, I think. As it's a 3e setting, it's understandable that they're not incorporating the new player races too much.

It was actually originally released in 1994 as an AD&D compatable setting, but you are right that they aren't edging out any of their standard set up for Dragoborn or Tieflings (at least, as far as I can tell).

**hamlet** · 2008-07-10, 02:06 PM (ISO 8601)

Originally Posted by Matthew

It was actually originally released in 1994 as an AD&D compatable setting, but you are right that they aren't edging out any of their standard set up for Dragoborn or Tieflings (at least, as far as I can tell).

This is a technical and pedantic point, but when it comes down to it, Kalamar is completely system neutral, especially after the printing of the hard cover books.

The game can be and has successfully been run with AD&D, Hackmaster, D&D 3.x, Heroes, GURPS, Warhammer, Runequest, and any number of other systems. The best reports have come out of using AD&D/Hackmaster and Heroes really. Personally, I'm trying to throw it over into the new arduin stuff: Arduin Eternal.

The greatest strength of Kalamar is that it supports just about anything you care to do to it.

**JaxGaret** · 2008-07-10, 02:53 PM (ISO 8601)

I totally forgot about 3rd-party companies releasing material for 4e, since the GSL is so restrictive.

The preview PDF looks pretty cool, I really like the maps. This looks like it might be a very nice pickup.

**Tengu** · 2008-07-10, 03:12 PM (ISO 8601)

You know what the name Kalamar reminds me of?

Spoiler

Show

I probably won't buy these books as I play in homebrew settings anyway, but... nice illustrations. They have a very old school feeling to them.

**Dan_Hemmens** · 2008-07-10, 04:40 PM (ISO 8601)

Much as I respect WotC's right to phrase the GSL however they damned well please, I'm really glad a major-ish company has gone ahead with a non-GSL, 4E-compatible product line. They have a right to make people jump through hoops for the rubber stamp, other people have the right to say "we don't need the label, thanks".

**Meat Shield** · 2008-07-10, 09:44 PM (ISO 8601)

I will have to say I LOVE Kalamar as a setting. As has been noted, it is system-neutral. Personally, I don't think they had to go to 4th edition at all. Any mechanics system will work.

Which is not to say it is all fluff. 3rd Ed Kalamar has new classes and many new feats and spells. But that is not why you get the setting.

What you get when you buy Kalamar is something that literally oozes with character and tone and intrigue and plotlines.

Come for the maps, stay for the fluff, people.

**Glawackus** · 2008-07-10, 10:10 PM (ISO 8601)

Question: what's the big draw of Kalamar? As in, someone pitch it to me in a few sentences. I'm really curious (especially since I saw a picture of the 3.5 book that had CORE BOOK IV on it--that raised some eyebrowage over here).

**Meat Shield** · 2008-07-10, 10:57 PM (ISO 8601)

Kalamar is a lower than normal* magic setting that uses many different forms of intrigue, politics, rivalries, and strife to create tension within the game. No Elminster's running around here, fixing all the world's problems. You have realistic situations that require realistic solutions. It's gritty, tense, deep, detailed, and wonderful.

* Mages above 12th are rare, vorpal swords are artifact level, etc. You can still have your magic longsword, but it's not like other settings where it seems everyone has Glamdring or Durandal

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