Ghorüm's page

I have a copy of their beta-pre-release version and it is excellent. I would certainly rank it with the Pathfinder Campaign Setting book in quality and informtaion given. They are still a few months away from releasing this though and I totally recommend going to their forum and joining the campaign to convince them to release the beta-version as a pdf if you're allready running campaigns. The data included in this book ir relentlessly awesome and totally helps in a game system like this where backstory, ambience and setting are so crucially focused-on and important to the spirit of the game. get your hands on one of these as soon as you can is my advice

I should admit first-off that I am a core-group playtester for this game and have been involved with it since 1993. But I don't work for Shard Studios or their publisher. I just figured I'd comment here because I know about and really enjoy the game. If you like role-playing as opposed to just rules-lawyering, number crunching, min-maxing and loot & experience tallying, then this is a game tailor made to provide you with what may be the richest role-playing experience you will ever have with a pen & paper game. Their Magic system is ritual-based and has no combat spells that cna be cast during combat however the effect and potential of their magic is greatly enhanced to counteract this. Magicians are re-relegated to that Gandalf and Merlin state where thier power is subtle and deep and can change lives forever and not flashy and
of-the-moment like most games. You will be introduced to a whole new way of approaching being a magic user.
BUT, where this game really shines in MY
opinion is in combat. Since the setting is middle-eastern it relies on Martial Arts and works very hard to accurately depict martial arts combat with the fast handwork combos, rapid-fire kicks and full gamut of throws locks, binds, grapples and so on of any Kung-Fu movie you have ever seen. It is REALLY a good system. You basically say what you intend to do and you do it! For example you might say: "I move in close grab the right wrist and disable the arm, elbow his muzzle to stun him and bring my knee up in a groin attack so I can chop down and try to break the neck when he doubles over..." 5 moves all in one round. That's not to say the opponent isn't defedning and counterattacking possibly but SOME of that is going to get through and hurt a lot. It is a magnificent system for anyone who practices martial arts in real-life as i did.
And of course there's the animal man thing.

As the first Adventure Path I ever purchased from the Pathfainder Game system, I have to say that I was instantly imptressed. It is fully packed with ample background info and gamemastering data and really set my team of mostly new D&D players on the right track to having excellent D&D adventures. All of the Pathfinder game system products I have purchased thus far have been of exceptional design and authoring. I look forward to many years of memorable adventures and can't wait to fully establish my team in the Pathfinder rules when I integrate the newly released core rullebook into our campaign.