Kobold Press / Midgard Campaign Setting / Campaign Setting & Gazetteers

Imperial Gazetteer (PFRPG)

Kobold Press

(based on 2 ratings)

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Vampires and spectral knights long ago claimed the country of Morgau & Doresh as their own, leaving the ghouls their empire deep beneath the earth. Both realms are fully detailed in this volume by award-winning Open Designers Wolfgang Baur and Scott Gable.

Travel deep within the palatial crypts of deep realms of undeath and learn the secrets of the vampire-princes and the ghoul emperor. This gazetteer provides rich new Pathfinder RPG material including:

A history of the undead nations above and below the earth.
A giant cast of undying antagonists and allies.
A new undead race of necropolitan ghouls for PCs to join the unliving.
The subterranean realms of the Emperor of the Ghouls.
Undead-themed gods and magical items.
More original, inventive undead than you can shake a stake at.

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Any fan of gothic horror must own this;Gold for Ravenloft and Carrion Crown-DMs

Endzeitgeist — Aug 24, 2011, 08:03 am

I only own the dead-tree version for this book, thus I can't comment on bookmarks and the like. The dead-tree copy is soft-bound, has 1 page front cover, 1 page back cover, 1 page blank inside the front cover, 1 page blank inside the back cover, 2 pages of advertisements, 1 page SRD, 2 pages of editorial, 2 pages ToC and kicks off with a short introduction to the topic at hand by Wolfgang Baur himself before going on to provide 68 pages of information on the undead lands.

As you should know if you've read my review of Liber Vampyr, I have very distinct opinions about how/what vampires should be like and subsequently, I was rather skeptical about the principalities of Morgau and Doresh, to which the first half of this gazetteer is devoted. Loosely inspired by classic Transylvanian cliché of Dracula and his lands, the principalities are ruled by the undead - but not as some all life eradicating tyrants, but as "realistic" rulers, i.e. creatures, who, though they might demand a price in blood and dead flesh, still are the leaders of their countries and not some cutboard evil psychopaths. The mixture of religion, tradition and everyday life serves to provide an interesting glimpse at a society that might be a dark place to live, but still remains a place to live rather than be undead or meat.

Meat is a good prompt, as it's the true currency of the next chapter - the subterranean ghoulish empire led by the high ghouls (called Darakhul, template provided) and comes, as does the Principality, with a nice 1-page map of its expanse. In contrast to e.g. the principality, we get more information on the goods, strange structure etc. of the empire and its feeding laws, allies and enemies, military organization and even some new items, spells, etc. Darakhan, white city and capital of the empire gets its own section, albeit no map of its own.

The gazetteer closes with a massive bestiary-section containing e.g. bone-collectives (undead swarms that can form humanoids, the ghoul's war beetle-steeds, a smattering of ghouls and vampires with class-levels, lich hounds, bone-powder ghouls (which are both deadly and cool - Ghouls that have existed so long/starved/been ground to pieces so that they become strange, deadly piles of dust - until they rise), deadly Mycolids and the Gynosphinx. Many of the creatures get their own, stunning b/w-artworks.

Conclusion:
Layout adheres to the two-column standard, is clear and straightforward, the b/w-artwork is nice. Editing is top-notch, I didn't notice a single glitch or mistake and the same holds true for formatting. I was quite skeptical whether the vampiric principalities would appeal to me, but let me say so much: Wolfgang Baur and Scott Gable did an awesome job of making this gazetteer appealing to fans of Ravenloft, classic vampires and just about anyone who likes the idea of INTELLIGENT, sophisticated yet decadent and evil creatures.

The chapter on the Ghoul Empire is absolute gold, too - the subterranean dread lurking below the surface is simply disturbing in its commoditization of human flesh, military relentlessness and prowess as well as its capability to assimilate their enemies into their ever devouring ranks make for a more than disturbing nation to test the wits of PCs -for brute force will get them killed. I gather that one of the early, limited ODs I missed alongside Castle Shadowcrag was about this empire and thus don't know how much material has been recycled/updated to PFRPG and whether this section is interesting to people who own the OD, but I gather the update itself should be worth it. Apart from that, we get several stat-blocks and cool critters, imaginative magic and alchemical items and all of that for a relatively low price - as you can see, I have nothing to field as a complaint apart from wishing the book was about 150 pages longer - thus, the Imperial Gazetteer gets full 5 stars and the Endzeitgeist seal of approval for being an outstanding product. If you haven't checked it out and even remotely like undead, give it a try. You won't be disappointed.

Endzeitgeist out.

Product Discussion (35)

Search Thread

Wolfgang Baur Kobold Press

Apr 15, 2010, 12:16 pm

People asked for a Pathfinder version of this popular title, and whaddya know, here it is. The original OGL stats are revised and expanded, and there's new material well beyond the Empire of the Ghouls sourcebook as well.

Print edition will hit in about 10 days.

Mairkurion {tm}

Apr 15, 2010, 12:20 pm

So, for those of us who missed out on Empire of the Ghouls, all of that is here and more?

Wolfgang Baur Kobold Press

Apr 15, 2010, 12:26 pm

Not exactly. This is a full 79 pages covering the setting, monsters, and magic of Empire, plus the vampire princes of Morgau and Doresh. Plus new material.

But it's NOT the Empire adventure. That was a separate project; this is a worldbook, undead society, and bestiary.

Mairkurion {tm}

Apr 15, 2010, 12:28 pm

Thanks, WB. You've made another future sale, anyway.

Mactaka

Apr 15, 2010, 01:37 pm

Adventure Path Charter Subscriber

I have the 4E version. How different is this one?

DragonBelow

Apr 15, 2010, 01:47 pm

Wolfgang Baur wrote:

Not exactly. This is a full 79 pages covering the setting, monsters, and magic of Empire, plus the vampire princes of Morgau and Doresh. Plus new material.

So, when are we getting the Empire PFRPG version? :D

Urizen

Apr 15, 2010, 03:00 pm

Is there a PDF + paperback pre-order special combo?

Wolfgang Baur Kobold Press

Apr 15, 2010, 03:17 pm

@Mactaka, the stats are different. Other than that, not wildly different.

@DragonBelow, not gonna happen, too busy doing new PFRPG patron projects like Tim Connors Tales of the Old Margreve.

@Urizen, my understanding is that Paizo only does those for Pathfinder AP, Chronicles, and core books.

Urizen

Apr 15, 2010, 04:38 pm

Wolfgang Baur wrote:

@Urizen, my understanding is that Paizo only does those for Pathfinder AP, Chronicles, and core books.

I wasn't sure if you were pitching something like that to purchase from YOUR website. ;)

Andrew Eakett

Apr 20, 2010, 05:46 pm

Will Paizo be carrying the hard-copy of this at any point?

Wolfgang Baur Kobold Press

Apr 22, 2010, 09:52 am

Hard copy will arrive at Paizo in May.

drkfathr1

Apr 22, 2010, 11:52 am

Let me just say...this was full of awesome. It has good solid mechanics, and lots of evocative background. Reminds me of some old-school style campaign setting sourcebooks. (In a good way)

And I finally broke down and subscibed to Kobold Quarterly.

Stereofm

Apr 22, 2010, 12:33 pm

Wolfgang Baur wrote:

Hard copy will arrive at Paizo in May.

Good !

Means I won't have to print the .pdf !
Rocks !

terraleon

May 3, 2010, 01:03 pm

And we have print-sign! We have print-sign!

The print is available here. I don't see a Paizo link yet, but since my link appears to be hours old, that's unsurprising. :D

-Ben.

Vic Wertz Chief Technical Officer

May 3, 2010, 03:27 pm

terraleon wrote:

And we have print-sign! We have print-sign!

The print is available here. I don't see a Paizo link yet, but since my link appears to be hours old, that's unsurprising. :D

-Ben.

The print version has arrived in our warehouse!

terraleon

May 8, 2010, 01:16 am

I got my print edition today! Huzzah! :D

-Ben.

Endzeitgeist

Aug 24, 2011, 08:06 am

Reviewed here and sent to GMS magazine. Cheers!

Dark_Mistress

Aug 24, 2011, 09:39 am

Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber

Nice review End. This has been in my saved list for awhile. It has moved up in the rankings of my to buy when I can list.

Endzeitgeist

Aug 24, 2011, 09:53 am

D_M, I GUARANTEE you will like this one. Twisted, sinister, yet sophisticated and elegant - it's just plain awesome and worth every dime.

Dark_Mistress

Aug 24, 2011, 09:56 am

Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber

Endzeitgeist wrote:

D_M, I GUARANTEE you will like this one. Twisted, sinister, yet sophisticated and elegant - it's just plain awesome and worth every dime.

Man i feel dumb. I actually have this one. For some reason I was thinking I still hadn't bought it yet.

Endzeitgeist

Aug 24, 2011, 10:15 am

I recently double purchased Advanced Feats - Inquisitor's Edge. -.-

It can happen to the best of us...

Dark_Mistress

Aug 24, 2011, 10:28 am

Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber

Endzeitgeist wrote:

I recently double purchased Advanced Feats - Inquisitor's Edge. -.-

It can happen to the best of us...

I blame it on my youth. When I was young, my hair was so blonde it was almost white. Then around puberty for some reason my hair changed color and now is dark brown nearly black. I still on occasion feel blonde though and I think that's why. :)

Endzeitgeist

Aug 24, 2011, 11:27 am

Funnily enough, I'm almost platin-blonde myself (I blame it on the Scandinavian parts of my family) and always hoped for a darkening of my natural hair with puberty to get rid of the angelic look. Unfortunately, that never happened, which is why I resort to dyeing my hair. Most people only know me with black hair. XD

Oh vanity...

Dark_Mistress

Aug 24, 2011, 03:41 pm

Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber

Yeah, half my family is from northern Germany in the not very distant past. I would imagine more than a bit of scandinavian blood was mixed in, do to those crazy vikings of years ago. :)

Pretty sure that's where my blonde hair came from, just for me it turned darker as I got older. Dirty blonde in my early teens, to light brown by my late teens, to a dark brown nearly black by my early 20's.