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