Review: Kingdoms of Kalamar Dungeon Master's Shield

by Wolfgang Baur

Publisher: Kenzer & Co
ASIN: 1594590133
16 pages - Card Stock Covers

The Kingdom of Kalamar DM's screen can be a little daunting at first. Four page fold out card stock screen with several extra pages either stapled in or able to fold over revealing even more tables and charts that a harried GM might want when running a Kalamar campaign. Kenzer & Co outdid themselves on this one, and for them that's saying a lot. Just a few selections from each of the 16 pages of this well built folio...

1) Treasure - broken down by level!...
2) Weapons, shields, and armor...
3) Mundane items and XP rewards...
4) Ranged weapons, concealment, and turning undead...
5) Diseases, poisons, and firing patterns...
6) Actions in Combat (Do they provoke an AoO?)...
7) A huge page for skills...
8) Coinage of the realms...
9) Combat basics, maneuverability, and more...
10) Object hardness, Ability mods, and Morale checks...
11) Skill Check mods, alchemical mixes, doors, and walls...
12) Spellcraft, sleight of hand, Bluff, and knowledge...
13) Tellene Deity Names...
14) Carry Capacity, Movement, and mounts...
15&16) A comprehensive look at the deities of Tellene...
And that's not all of the features...
Plus a nice dock scene and player maps for the players to look at.

I'm planning a Kalamar campaign now, and the charts on this GM's screen are sure going to save me a lot of work in looking up the various factors that might come up during a game. There's even a chart for ordering pizza! - A nice very funny touch, which I have come to expect from Kenzer & Co's main product, the Knights of the Dinner Table.

If you're thinking of running a Kalamar campaign now, or you're already running one, and you don't own this product, my suggestion is to grab one of these while it's still available.

Bruce Gray

Review: Secret College of Necromancy

by David 'Zeb' Cook and Wolfgang Baur

Publisher: Green Ronin
ISBN-13: 978-0971438026
ISBN-10: 0971438026
96 pages - Paperback

For sheer horror there's nothing in D&D that quite chills the blood as well as the word Necromancer. And this book provides a fully fleshed out Necromancer class (as well as a Death Knight). The usual bonuses and spells available lists are given, as well as some great ideas on a Necromatic familiar. Several New Feats and dozens of new spells form the bulk of the information, along with new items and new creatures. Then comes the secret college section, including a history of the college that's generic enough to plop down in any large city, the college at work, and a few NPC's for flavor. At the end there's an appendix of tables, an index, and a familiar/mount character sheet.

Now a few words about the classes - yes, they're overpowered - at least until PC's reach a minimum of 10th level. But remember, Necromancers, according to this book, are supposed to be evil - and most evil characters should be NPC's. It should be obvious that both the Necromancer and especially the Death Knight are NPC's. Then there's a whole secret college full of evil things. What a great challenge for player characters - and it should provide fodder for several adventures before the PC's shut it down - if they can!

96 pages of Necromatic evilness - I'd recommend Secret College of Necromancy to any GM looking for an evil organization to harass players with - because it's not just the college - it's the people inside it as well.

Bruce Gray

After three days, my wife is finally out of the hospital.  They thought she might have had a mini-stroke, but they did a bunch of tests and all came back negative.  They let her go late yesterday (Wed, Sept 26).  She still has a major deep sinus infection, which they think might have caused her dizziness and many of her other symptoms.  I'm finally back to what passes for normal here in the circus.  I may try to get another review out before the end of the week...

Fri 14 Sept 2012......

Absolutely nothing to do today except take my wife and daughter to and from work...  maybe I'll finally get to play a computer game or two....

Wednesday, Sept 12, 2012

Going to Dragon's Hoard in Staunton, VA again this Sat (the 15th) for a swap meet and trading session.  WIll have lots of Warhammer 40K, Warhammer FRPG, and many RPG's to sell.  Come and see me there!

Tuesday Sept 11 - Patriot Day,

Yet another trip to Charlottesville, VA from Harrisonburg.  Good lunch at Western Sizzlin' Wood Fire Grill and got to see my friends on their bus back to Oklahoma.  Then back to Harrisonburg thru Staunton, VA to talk to the owner of Dragon's Hoard.  Then finally back to Harrisonburg to take my daughter to work and pick my wife up from work.  More travelling tomorrow as my wife wants to go out........

Although this is being "published" on Tues, it should actually be read as Monday's post.

Had a =very= long trip today from Harrisonburg, VA to Wausaw, VA and back.  About a 3 1/2 hours drive one way.  Saw a Democratic Attorney while there for friends.  Came back thru Fredricksburg, VA (we shopped at a huge mall there) and thru Charlottesville, VA to get back to Harrisonburg.

Never saw so much road reconstruction going on in my whole life.  Many delays and total stoppages.  Although I did get a good new computer program out of it (Neverwinter Complete edition) I also got a tiny chip in my windshield somewhere in all that construction.  Altogether I was on the road about 7 hours.

And more trips tomorrow.............

Hi all!  I'm back now after a longish non-threatning illness.  I'll try to get back to my regular schedule of one post a week as soon as possible.