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Author Topic: Review of 100 Kingdoms  (Read 2354 times)

Mcrow

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Review of 100 Kingdoms
« on: September 12, 2006, 10:18:02 PM »
 


Content:

The kingdoms outline in the book range from your stock fantasy kingdom to a kingdom built on the back of giant sea turtle. Each kingdom takes up one page in the book each with an ID# to make finding them easier, mock up title, general description, Ruler, Geography, and story sections that give some adventure seeds.

I can see the use of most of the kingdoms, like Conventia which serves as a stock fantasy kingdom. There are also others that make good big bad guy homes like Land of the Dead, the city or Mortis which was ravaged by the plague and the bordering nations blockaded it. Now Mortis is an undead hive nation that threatens all of its neighbors. Another favorite of mine is “mountains out of mole hills” which is meant to be used as mythic nation sung about by bards, but never really existed. It is the inclusion of kingdoms such as “mountains out of mole hills” that give added value for plot and story building. Need a place for players to hope from one world to the next? Nexus is your door way to any world. 100 Kingdoms has something to suite most every campaign you can think of and then some.

While I can’t find anything terribly wrong with the book as a whole, a few of the kingdoms are a bit too much for me. Aeria, the kingdom of air, is so there but not there that it is nearly useless.  Chelonia is a nation built on the back of a giant sea turtle, which doesn’t do much for the suspension of disbelief. There are a few others like these, but it are mostly an issue of taste, I’m sure there will be plenty of people who will dig these ideas.

Looks and Value:

100 Kingdoms take the route of the minimalist as far as layout and art goes. The covers have some good quality art depicting some adventures making there way among a walled stronghold with statues on the walls. Beyond the covers there is no art included and I consider that a good thing in the case of 100 Kingdoms. The lack of art makes the layout of the book look nice, clean, and the text flows well.

I think that 100 Kingdoms is a good value for a GM who is lacking some ideas when building a game world. You could easily pluck all of the nations for your world from this book. The down side, for those looking for a fleshed-out kingdom to plug into their game, is that the kingdoms are very lightly outlined. You will need to make your own maps, cities, roads, and other filler bits yourself. However, if all you want is an outline and you want to flesh the rest out this product will serve the purpose. My only problem with the game is that I’m not sure anyone could use all the kingdoms provided and considering the price of the PDF, I would prefer maybe fifty for half the price. I think that most people will be left with a good number of kingdoms that don’t suit their games.

Conclusion:

100 Kingdoms is good source for GMs who love world building. Not only does it provide more kingdoms than you will use in many years, but some of the kingdoms provide great history and story building elements in your fantasy game. Overall 100 Kingdoms serves its purpose well and not likely to disappoint you as long as you are not expecting fully developed kingdoms.
 

Mcrow

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100 Kindoms
« Reply #1 on: September 13, 2006, 10:46:29 AM »
I should also point out that 100 Kingdoms is not written with any particular role-playing system in mind.

Zachary The First

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100 Kindoms
« Reply #2 on: September 13, 2006, 07:56:02 PM »
Hey, thanks!  I'd been waiting for this review! :)
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