Well-structured product for the purposes of introducing players to the campaign. Following the general flow of character creation should help most players synchronize the setting material to their characters. Enough time was spent on key areas--race, class, locations, etc.--to give players something to work with while not losing them in too much detail. The treatment of humans was, IMHO, the strongest of the racial treatments; I look forward to seeing similar details on the other races. The class write-ups provide interesting hooks for players, while the regional equipment provides some distinctive flair without being outlandish or overpowered. I really liked the various feats presented, and will definitely allow them as bonus feats as recommended. The artwork throughout is high quality and inspiring.
This product is excellent, but has a few items to address. There are numerous occurrences of obviously inappropriate word usage (i.e. “wanders” instead of “wanderers”) and missing information (i.e. the Varisian name of the spell-like abilities associated with the Varisian Tattoo feat).
I would prefer a player-focused product to provide player-focused maps, and so the map of Sandpoint should not have number labels--a few general area labels perhaps but not 50 numbered areas. As the numbers were provided but with no key or legend, they are actually not useful to a player currently. Finally, I have a personal preference for open gaming content being distinctly identified somehow in the text (with a text box, distinctive font, or some such), as it helps folks like me who oftern snag OGC for use in online games.
Overall, however, this is a very nice product (especially as a free download!) and I highly recommend it for anyone running Rise of the Runelords or any campaign set in Varisia.
EDIT: I bumped my rating to 5 stars for one reason--on hearing about the missing Varisian Tattoo text, James and Wes were immediately on the issue and provided the list!
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