I dove into this and while reading had the same impression of dismal reads in the early 3.0 era. The book strives to raise few bars.
The font is gigantic. The classes are cobbled together from mechanics already in other classes in the PFRPG. 60 pages of the book are for chases and morale; I don't know who would use such overkill for their game. Lots of PFRPG text is simply cut and paste into this book.
There are references to rules that don't exist, very poorly worded powers and abilities and an overall feeling that little true care was used in putting it together.
Character Flaws and Occupations are good, so it's obvious there is some worth, but overall I was very disappointed.
I picked this up a while back from the Paizo store at the recommendation of a friend.
Keep on the Borderlands, Thunder Rift, Night Below, The Vaut of Larin Karr, Shattered Gates of Slaughterstone. Each of these had something in common. Apart from the themed adventures set there, the product itself gave no small attention to the setting where they were located, creating a mini-campaign area to explore and develop.
Well, Point of Light takes that idea and runs with it. It’s inspired by the Point of Light campaign ideal of D&D 4E (no large nations, just small outposts between monster-haunted wilderness). To that end, it maps out four lands, and gives basic, creative description of the geography, civilization, and political skullduggery between the inhabitants and denizens. There are no actual full "adventures" included.
Each section has a one-page overland map, text describing the different hexes where lairs, towns, keeps or ruins might appear with a description of each written to jump-start the imaginative juices. Each area also has a mini encounter table and a rumor table. Some towns and settlements are given mini-maps in the text.
It reads very old-school and has the appearance of the same. Maps are black and white, simply clear and functional line art with a number hex grid imposed over top. Writing obviously shows a D&D 3rd Edition mindset, with mention of specific spells, magic items, and the like that all appear in that edition of the game. Apart from these vague references, there is literally no crunch. A NPC might be described as (Ftr 5) and a great wolf as (2HD) and that’s it. Really it could be used in any fantasy game world with ease.
The first land is a wild land: Different groups of civilized races and humanoids are surviving in their little area following the destruction of a grand empire.
The second area borrows from the idea that characters of sufficiently high level will want to own land: clearing it of monsters, building the keep and holding the land. The place is littered with little details for characters of this mindset to take advantage (and be wary) of.
The third area is a rough, frontier borderland between two warring nations where the soldiers loyal to their sides, and not monsters, are the real threat.
The fourth location is set in the outer planes, the home of an evil god where his faithful go and take tests to rise in rank in his church.
The first three were super to read. The last section, the outer planar entry wasn’t as fulfilling as the first three and didn’t evoke a cool sense of exploration like the others. The writing isn’t heavy, and not so detailed that you feel constrained. Just the opposite, the entries get you thinking about how you’d like to drop the adventures in here, shake it up and watch how they explore and handle themselves.
It’s also a good aid for a GM who hasn’t completely mapped out his homebrew world yet, or has lots of undeveloped space.
