Midgard Campaign Setting (PFRPG/AGE)

Good question, and yes, they can wear armor!

There's much more on the Gearforged and Clockwork Magic coming in the Player's Guide to the Crossroads, available Monday.

Yay!

Are the Player's guides like the Northlands book?

Yes, they are like the Northlands book, though a touch smaller! They describe a region in some detail, they provide new spells and feats, classes and races, lootable things for player characters. Plus some surprises for each region.

Cool looking forward to seeing that!

I'm curious, how and when did incantations make a come back? I always thought they were cool and sadden that WotC didn't developpe them further. I'd buy the book just for those.

And what is Kobold Press/Midgard's policy regarding psionics? Any mentions?

I'm curious, how and when did incantations make a come back? I always thought they were cool and sadden that WotC didn't developpe them further. I'd buy the book just for those.

And what is Kobold Press/Midgard's policy regarding psionics? Any mentions?

The Gearforged mention Psionic repair damage, and half-Merfolk in the Bestiary mention Psionics. There is also a Psionic creature in Monsters of Sin: Envy. The Mouse King in Zobeck mentions psionics. So I guess it can exist.

Yep, psionics is not a core part of the Midgard campaign, but we like to leave some hooks around for those who like them.

Incantations have been an important Big Deal in Midgard from the start. It's part of the deep magic approach, with shadow roads, ley lines, wellsprings of magic, rune magic and so forth. So yeah, lots of incantations are available in Midgard, and more coming in future releases.

Yep, psionics is not a core part of the Midgard campaign, but we like to leave some hooks around for those who like them.

Incantations have been an important Big Deal in Midgard from the start. It's part of the deep magic approach, with shadow roads, ley lines, wellsprings of magic, rune magic and so forth. So yeah, lots of incantations are available in Midgard, and more coming in future releases.

Pretty sweet! Any other book/PDF with incantations in them?

Thanks.

Wolfgang Baur wrote:

Yep, psionics is not a core part of the Midgard campaign, but we like to leave some hooks around for those who like them.

Incantations have been an important Big Deal in Midgard from the start. It's part of the deep magic approach, with shadow roads, ley lines, wellsprings of magic, rune magic and so forth. So yeah, lots of incantations are available in Midgard, and more coming in future releases.

Pretty sweet! Any other book/PDF with incantations in them?

Thanks.

Dark Roads, Northlands, Margreve

And also the Zobeck Gazetteer for Pathfinder.

They really should've included at least a couple of spells for the Clockwork and Illumination schools in the book though. Oh well, guess I'll have to get the Zobeck Gazetteer. Any other books that have Clockwork Magic have an eye on?

Good question, and yes, they can wear armor!

There's much more on the Gearforged and Clockwork Magic coming in the Player's Guide to the Crossroads, available Monday.

Thank you.

And the Crossroads is now available at the Kobold Store and DriveThruRPG, and should be available here at Paizo very very soon (web gninjas are standing by).

Also, there's this quote about Midgard from a gamer that I just have to share:

I am so happy that I fought my initial Golarion-pure instincts to pass on this purchase. Possibly the best product ever released by KP/OD.

Since it isn't on here yet... Let me say that Crossroads Player's Guide is awesome. I am a very big fan of the new Sorcerer bloodlines. The Ghoul bloodline is my favorite thing in the book.

And it is available.

Crossroads Player's Guide.

And it is available.

Crossroads Player's Guide.

With Crossroads Feats galore I might add. It's as if my review-wishes have been answered. ;-) I especially love the Kariv riding-themed feats and all of the gearforged specific ones are awesome.

I have a statement to make about Kobold Press and their Customer Service. I was waiting for my copy of the Midgard Campaign Setting and was waiting, and waiting and waiting. Finally I contacted Wolfgang to ask when they were shipped out. He figured the time of delivery and asked for continuous updates to see if it was delayed somehow. After constantly bugging our mail carrier it was determined that my copy had been lost in transit. Wolfgang took me at my word and arranged to have a replacement sent out free of any additional charges. I have had only one similar experience with lost packages and that was with Paizo. Both companies are top notch in my opinion. I have no problem continuing to purchase products from Kobold Press. Thank you to Wolfgang and Shelly. You folks are tops.

Just my 2 cp.

I don't know how many of you remember the above post, but there is an addendum to it. You see on Friday I found a "Final Notice" in my mail box. The package was listed as being from someone named "Kobold". I went to the post office and picked up the package. Wonder of wonders it was the original package with my copy of the Midgard Campaign Setting in it. This one was number 91, the replacement I got was number 142. I contacted Wolfgang to tell him about this predicament. In typical first class fashion he said I could decide what I wanted to do. I am very likely going to pay for the second copy and keep both. He could have very well asked that I send the replacement back to him, but he didn't. I have limited funds available to keep up with all the great material coming from both Paizo and Kobold Press and others, but I will do my best to live up to their standards of responsible gaming.

Just my 2 cp.

Sethvir wrote:

And it is available.

Crossroads Player's Guide.

With Crossroads Feats galore I might add. It's as if my review-wishes have been answered. ;-) I especially love the Kariv riding-themed feats and all of the gearforged specific ones are awesome.

The feats are awesome, but I did have to contact Wolfgang to ask about the feat that says in the fluff that Gearforged get racial traits from their previous race, but in the benefits only lists human....

The feats are awesome, but I did have to contact Wolfgang to ask about the feat that says in the fluff that Gearforged get racial traits from their previous race, but in the benefits only lists human....

What was the official ruling? Only-human, or allowing other racial feats (Minotaur Gearforged anyone?) :)

Where are the spell lists for the clockwork and illmination schools? I can't seem to find them.

Excellent book, by the way.

Mead Gregorisson wrote:

The feats are awesome, but I did have to contact Wolfgang to ask about the feat that says in the fluff that Gearforged get racial traits from their previous race, but in the benefits only lists human....

What was the official ruling? Only-human, or allowing other racial feats (Minotaur Gearforged anyone?) :)

Haven't heard, but I doubt using the feat as the fluff is rather than as the raw says would be overpowered.

If I was a GM and the player wanted that Gearforged with a Kobold soul to use that feat to have the Kobold traits... I'd let him.

Hardcover back in stock!

Also, this related PDF for the Dragon Empire has gotten three 5-star reviews. Not bad.

Nerd Trek has put the Midgard Campaign Setting (as well as the Pathfinder Beginners Box and Rise of the Drow) on their 2012 Top Ten Gifts for Geeks list! Yay!

http://nerdtrek.com/what-should-i-buy-a-nerd/

I'm just curious but are hardcover/softcover interior pages color or black/white?

I have the hardcover and the interior pictures are in color. In the forum on koboldquarterly.com is a topic that covers the errata for the Campaign Setting.

I have the hardcover and the interior pictures are in color.

That's the case with the softcover as well.

All color: check the "Additional Product Images" at the top of this thread to see 4 sample pages.

Also, awesome that it made the NerdTrek list! I think that makes 3 holiday recommended lists now: WIRED Games Geekdad, the Iron Tavern, and NerdTrek.

Part II of my review:

Now I mentioned the Mharoti Empire and it is an interesting place: Governed by a Sultana, the empire serves the ambitions and hungers of a conglomerate of dragon lords that demand tribute. Superbly powerful, the empire has a huge military machinery that constantly reaches out to expand and serve the will of its draconic masters. The empire is also a place where, true to the service of dragons, humans are second-class citizens: Koboldi (the local term for the race) and dragonkin are valued much more and actually constitute not the majority of the almost 50-million-people nation, which actually gets its own, very detailed map as does the imperial capital of Harkesh. Marrying Al-Qadimesque oriental flair with labyrinthine politics, the feeling of an empire of culture and wealth still expanding and draconic ambition and egos and we have a truly intriguing hodge-podge that is even enticing to people like yours truly who avoid using dragons very much and when they do, player characters tend to die. Short paragraphs and provinces are also covered. If you think the aggressive attempts of expansion of the Mharoti might make them villains, you would be right as well as wrong, for the other nations around are not necessarily better:
Take the Despotate of the Ruby Sea, where slavers rule and continuously scourge the Rothenian Plain or the seas to feed their flesh markets. Or Nuria Natal, a nation that has repelled the Mharoti time and again, but paid a dire price: The Egyptian-influenced nation has resorted to resurrecting its god-kings and their armies to repel the Mharoti time and again and the resulting influx of extremely powerful god-kings and queens refusing to get back to eternal sleep puts a strain on politics, essentially hamstrings the current King Thutmoses and may well result in an unpleasant segregation. There is light and hope here, though: While the nation has been crushed by the Mharoti, Ishadia still exists – while a shadow of its former glory, the nation touched by the heavens with its array of aasimar might one day reclaim its former glory. Finally, there is Siwal, home-base of the famous traders and their sand-ships and original setting of the “6 Arabian Nights” close patronage project. Siwal is perhaps the best-suited for traditional 1001 Nights-style playing in the region.

There also are rules for purchasing exotic Mharoti animals, dry goods, several magic carpets and other curios but mundane and magical as well as a total of 12 spells that can be found in the dragon empire and its surrounding regions.

Now if you’d rather tell a story of war, political intrigue or any combination thereof, I’d suggest you take a look at chapter 6, which details the seven cities – 7 cities (two of which are mapped in the lavish quality of the book) that have sprung up in the aftermath of the eleven retreat and ever since been at war with each other. Now if you’re familiar with the codes of conduct of warfare and conquest in the medieval ages, it should come as refreshing that the warfare between these nations also follows a kind of seasonal etiquette as well the rules of economy: While plundering, rapes and the less savory aspects of warfare cannot be wholly prevented, the war-god-Mavros-worshipping cities mainly wage relatively civil campaigns versus each other not to destroy, but to humiliate, to extract ransoms, to gain territory etc. War is a means to an end, a motor of a war machinery and a whole intricate web of war economies dependent on not campaigns of annihilation, but of almost ritualized conflict. As such, there also are 5 classic pretenses accepted for war that are displayed in the chapter and political as well as economic reasons galore for them to go to war. Beyond these, we also get detailed pieces of information regarding e.g. the special breeds of horses cultivated in the republic of Trombei, the armies that the respective cities can muster and hooks galore beyond the obvious warfare and political backstabbing. If you want to play a “Song of Fire and Ice”-style intrigue-laden campaign, this region’s instabilities and feuds should provide you with fodder for years to come. Before I forget it, the region is also home of the seafaring nation of Kyprion, homeland of the minotaurs and for now owing fealty to the republic of Triolo: Here, the Minotaur queen reigns supreme and both friends and enemies are invited to her palace. As the screams at night attest, only her friends tend to leave… I’m not going to get into more details here, but rest assured that the chapter is indeed intricate in the variety of options to develop and play.
Chapter 7 holds an especially dear place in my heart, for this region, called “The Wasted West” utilizes and imagery I am all too familiar with and enjoy: It is here that the setting takes a short bow to Lovecraft and the Dark Tapestry. Serving as a grisly reminder of the other side of warfare, these wasted plains were once the home of grand magocracies. Emphasis on “were”. It is here that magic was used to wage total war, escalating further and further and culminating in a terrible series of rituals that called down the Great Old Ones. Now we’re not talking about Cthulhu, Nyarly and co, but rather a series of immortal, mountainous abominations that destroyed one another and crushed city upon city. When the escalation got worse and worse, the ley lines torn, magic unstable and vast titans waging unholy war, the Great Slumber was conceived – a titanic invocation that did not slay these beings, rather slowing them to a very crawl or halting time almost completely for them. Thus, these alien entities now shamble across blasted plains, trudging eldritch symbols into the scarred earth, fighting in erosion speed amongst one another or staring at the sun until their eyes had been scorched out. These grand abominations are actually large enough to serve as their very own ecologies, serving as both gods and locales to house whole tribes of goblins, cities on heads or have wizard’s towers strapped to their bellies – and woe to Midgard should they ever awaken from their slowed somnambulist trance, for just the Magocracy of Allain remains of the cities of old. Beyond the dust goblins worshiping the weird creatures and roaming the plains, we are also introduced to the Duchy of Bourgund, resting in the shadow of the only Great Old One felled by mortal magic and steel, the city actually constitutes a very lawful, strictly regulate society, including a flourishing black market and famed armor-bonded mages who can’t all stand up to their illustrious legacy as abomination-slayers – complacency and magic-reliance might one day prove to be the undoing of the duchy, for beneath the surface, it simmers.. They are also known for their perfumeries, while Bemmea, capital of the Magocracy is known for its magic and the glyph-shaped streets shown on the beautiful map made me come up with some interesting ideas – think Perdido Street Station meets Fall of Utopia. *muahaha* Speaking of evil laughter: A massive table of potion side-effects and mishaps should also prove to be an interesting surprise for the PCs, should they deem to visit the bottle market. Beyond these, there also is the haunted land where giants rule, the small human barony of Trenorra and the Gardens of Carnessa, where intelligent plants now rule – whether commanded by a Mu Spore, an old one or some other inscrutable force, these once wondrous verdant places now should test the mettle of even the most hardened of adventurers.

Since Midgard is flat, there is Barsella, the city at the end of the world, but I’ll go more into detail about this place and the isle of morphoi in my upcoming review of “Journeys to the West”. The chapter concludes with a grimoire called the Black Spire Codex that contains 8 new spells, a new incantation (yeah!) and a simple template to represent the warping effects of the magical fall-out land that is the Wasted West. After these rather bleak expanses, let’s turn to the Northeast of the crossroads and take a look at the nations found there: In stark contrast to most regions in Midgard, the elven retreat has not plunged these reaches into chaos, though their absence and the resulting chaos has touched the region as well. The main source of the relative stability of the region can be found in a certain continuity – led by a legendary elven queen for over 500 years, the region is guided by perhaps the last living being to remember the retreat and her wise counsel has led the areas and countless baronies into a relative stable era. The thing is, the imperatrix is old, even for elven standards and shows first signs of losing her wits – a tragedy not only on a personal level, but also since her rulership has been such a guiding factor, her bloodline a uniting tie between the countless baronies and duchies, which have with their entangled territories and numerous sub-territories driven allegedly more than one cartographer insane.

Another interesting component about Dornig and its surrounding areas would be the fact that the land contains two vast forests, which, while not the Margreve, remain deadly, dense woodlands that conceal ancient secrets and dread foes. I mentioned the 7 cities-region as a prime example for “Song of Fire and Ice”-style gameplay regarding the warfare and shifting political boundaries. If you want to go a step further and play a campaign of courtly intrigue, I may instead suggest this region: Not only are the numerous ancient families looking for new blood, there’s unexplored territory in the forests aplenty and we also get a new incantation-ceremony to take the mantle of rulership and concise rules for getting one’s own barony! Plus, you can always combine this area with ventures towards the frozen reaches as there actually is a former northlander Viking fiefdom serving as both an economic gateway and as a place to start immersion into the final cultural region detailed herein: The Northlands.

The Northlands-book was my number 1 roleplaying book of 2011 – that should tell you everything right in a nutshell. A book that BELONGS into any PFRPG-library and perhaps one of the coolest sourcebooks (pardon the pun) ever devised. This chapter sums up some of the components in the book and serves as a gazetteer-like introduction to these gloriously detailed, wild, untamed and oh so brilliant and beautiful wilds, where Vikings set sail, were-bears have a honey-producing kingdom, people are hard and honest and Hyperborea’s fabled lands loom somewhere hidden in the eternal ice. Have I mentioned that you may actually set sail to “Holmgard and beyond”? If putting in the Turisas-song while manning your longboat to these reaches doesn’t get you pumped, I don’t know what will. A great chapter, but I highly recommend you get the full sourcebook with its rune-magic and grudge magic, with its variant rules, equipment and much more details than this chapter can ever hope to cover.

The final chapter then details the gods and how Midgard handles them is much more in line with my own DM-approach: First of all, gods are not shoe-horned into an alignment, but rather given a tendency like chaotic or lawful – after all gods are inscrutable and beyond the moralities of petty mortals, their words and holy texts open to interpretation and thus also conflicting visions of doing one’s god’s bidding. Furthermore, the gods of Midgard wear masks – this means that one god may go by multiple names and aspects, perhaps with conflicting ideologies or seemingly contradictory agendas. This makes them stand out more and also changes the way, clerics should be played – after all, they are no arcanists with different spell-lists, but agents of inscrutable higher beings. Hence, we don’t get write-ups of gods per se, but rather of religions: Whether Perun of the Crossroads and Thor are the same god is up for debate and some even claim that there is but one god. Over all, this concept makes the religious landscape much more fluid and the gods come off as something completely different from the set of abilities and domains one chooses to best complement one’s abilities. A great approach and even pantheist priests are covered. The gods per se are hence also covered entries by region, organizing them in a logical and concise fashion. Better yet, the vast majority of them are actually interesting and put new twists on classic myths of earth, with Æsir and Baal finding a place as well as Bastet and others, but sans making it feel like a hodge-podge rip-off of real-world mythologies. Familiar and foreign, all entwined in compelling write-ups.

Now if you’re playing the AGE-sytsem, you’ll have 25 new backgrounds to look forward to, allowing you to play zobeck kobolds, gearforged etc. We also get a total of 7 new specializations (including the harem assassin!) as well as a whopping 40 new spells and 3 new talents. The pdf concludes with an appendix of regional encounter tables as well as a list of recommended further reading and something that is NOT optional in my opinion, at least not in books of this size: The detailed, 4-page index makes finding information and actually using the city much easier.

Conclusion:
The Midgard Campaign Setting, if the length of my review was not ample clue, is a massive TOME of rpg-goodness and it shows – but it is not perfect. Editing and formatting indeed have suffered from some neglect that I hope will be rectified in future printings: While I noticed some minor letter-mixup-typos and glitches like “veven[sic!]” there is one particular glitch that bugged me to no end while reading my hardcover: The “See Page XX”-brackets are UNIVERSALLY broken. They ALL show $$ instead of the correct page numbers, which actually makes handling the book less comfortable than it should be, so that is a major thing for me. On the more positive side of major things for me would be the GORGEOUS full-color layout by Calle Winters ranks among the finest I’ve seen in any Rpg-product out there. The full-color artworks are also on par with this top-notch production-values and aesthetic appeal, though you might know several of them from e.g. Kobold Press-product covers or from older Open Designs, they nevertheless manage to maintain a unified look of premium quality.
Now I really suggest you get this getting in print, preferably in hardcover, for the book is stitch-bound, beautiful and solid and full-color – printing out the pdf would extol a brutal drain on your printer and the lack of a printer-friendly version means you won’t have the option of printing out a barebones b/w-version.

Now, perhaps my hope is in vain, but there are certain reviews of mine into which I pour my heart’s blood, usually for books that show the same level of commitment and passion. And once in a while, I get my hands on a book that keeps me afloat. Reviewing bad books tends to frustrate me as it’s a thankless, dreary task. Mediocre books are even worse, but that’s another story. What’s relevant and what’ve tried to convey to you, dear readers, over the last pages, was that this book is neither bad, nor mediocre – it is quite the opposite. It took me forever to write this review because it took me forever to digest all the possibilities in this book, all those glorious ideas, all those awesome references and concepts. This book was my go-to book when reviewer’s frustration set in for about half a year. It’s that good. The wealth of information, the sense of ancient wonder, of a setting that is truly wondrous brought me back to the days when I as a wide-eyed child read the “flora & fauna”-AD&D-bestiary. It brought back the sense of wonder I felt when I first read about the Forgotten Realms, before that setting was drowned in factoids and epic level blacksmiths. It even managed to recall the sense of true excitement I had when I first read Planescape, when I parted the mists to Ravenloft. Midgard has the spark of genius that made me like these settings, the spark that makes it stand out.

Well, Golarion also has this spark, but there’s a huge difference: While both worlds are glorious and fun to play in, they both cater to a vast array of different playstyles and Golarion’s patchwork nature has always, not on a conscious, but on a subconscious level, bugged me – Ravenloft could pull the patchwork concept due to the limiting factor of mists, whereas Golarion has no true reason why e.g. psionics, gunpowder etc. have not found a more wide-spread resonance and revolutionized the world more apart from the metagame-reason that some people don’t like them. Also, regarding local politics, fiefdoms, liege lords and allegiances, Golarion is as per the writing of this review not sufficiently detailed to imho properly cater to court-intrigue/all-out warfare gaming. Midgard, in direct comparison, feels less like a patchwork and more like a unified world – one with vastly different regions, yes, but it feels more concise to me. Ironically, while the setting's detailed history is much more sketchy and less detailed, it also feels like the older setting, like a setting that lives and breathes our myths and history. Midgard is the more conservative world and at the same time, the one that lends itself extremely well to uncommon playstyles like court-intrigue just as well as to traditional adventuring. I won’t say that Midgard is the better setting, since you can’t really compare the two, in spite of what I just tried, but let it be known that even if you opt to not play in the setting, this book is so rife with ideas, with innovation, with passion and genius, that you won’t be able to help yourself being swept away, being inspired. For that word is what describes this setting best: Inspiring. This is not only a glorious setting, it is an excellent read and should be considered a must-purchase for any DM out there. Do yourself a favor and bring some wonder back to the fantasy genre and blow those dusty cobwebs away. This book brings back the wonder, and thus, in spite of the annoying glitches, I’ll settle for a final verdict of 5 stars + seal of approval.

Reviewed here, on DTRPG, posted on Lou Agresta's RPGaggression about it, submitted it to NERDTREK and GMS magazine.

Thanks for everyone who reads my reviews, puts his/her trust in me, drops me a line, clicks on my banners or otherwise makes reviewing a worthwhile task. I bow to you, ladies and gentlemen!

Endzeitgeist out.

What a great review, Endzeitgeist!

Thanks, Christina! better late than never, as they say! Journeys is my current to-read-book, by the way! So more next Midgard-reviews in the immediate future. :)

Btw.: Thanks to the Kobold-crew for quoting my reviews in the courier! :)

I really enjoyed reading your review, Endzeitgeit !

As one player/GM who was swept away by the brilliance, depth and sheer joy-inspiring coolness of the Midgard setting, it's heart-warming to see others partake of the same excitement.

Your review would probably have made me purchase the Midgard setting, if I had not already done so ^_^.

Thank you for the time and effort you put into exploring, relating and rewieving RPG books - it's much appreciated.

I look forward to your next reviews of the Midgard RPG line.

Btw.: Thanks to the Kobold-crew for quoting my reviews in the courier! :)

You are very quotable! I hope Journeys meets your approval. It was a very fun project to work on.

I simply had no time to read anything with the thoroughness a good review requires. So, though I love to post a review on this product, I won't be able to.

That said, I absolutely love what I have seen. Love it!

I agree with Mike, though my tendency lies to the Necromancer/Frog God Games world rather than Golarion.

Still, if you are hunting for something truely unique and engaging, with plenty of room for whatever shenanigans your characters have in mind, you won't go wrong with Midgard.

P.S. Christina: Journeys into the West absolutely rocks too! But as a person who pledged on that product I feel funny writing a review. I knew it would rock. That is just it, anything that has come from Kobold Press/Open Design is a cut above in quality.

It is a great setting book and part of an overall awesome campaign world

Congrats to EXG for doing #1000 reviews! They are great and informative reads, all the more impressive in that you do 3 readings (Slumbering Tsar OMG!)

Thanks everyone and Mach 1.9pants - if you want to know - Rappan Athuk was actually worse to review than ST - 3 readings ON SCREEN (didn't have my hardcover yet) and then compare it with Rappan Athuk Reloaded, which I had to read again as well. That review was a pain. The Midgard CS was also quite a hand full...

Cheers and thanks!

On a normal monitor (not iPad or similar device)? You, Sir, have the fortitude of an Iron Golem!

Still RA was worth it IMO, as is Midgard :D

Yes, on a normal monitor. The only thing that made it palpable was the fact that RA is great and not a crunch-mechanics book. I hate reading these on screen since they require more concentration and that is often already a depleting resource after my day-job.

And yes, Totally worth it! :D

Question: Elves exist in the setting and players can play elf-marked who have less than half-elven blood but have the game mechanics of half-elves from the CRB if I read correctly. Orcs, though failing as a race, exist but apparently half-orcs don't. Why is this? Especially considering that every other race from the CRB and several from other books are included.

Okay, after reading the reviews here, including and especially Endzeitgeist's, I am feeling this need to be the DA here. I'm doing this reply for someone who wants to read through these and get a different perspective here as I think most of the reviewers are backers of the project. I'm not and so I have a different perspective on this.

At this point, I have read through the first three chapters and I don't find this to be any different than the Inner Sea World Guide. All of the information contained within is still at a high level. At the very least, I was hoping the districts of Zobeck to have the standard Settlement stat block for each one. No such luck. And while I can't argue that there are lots of ideas in there, there are also a lot of confusing things as well.

For example, the city of Zobeck is a free city and ruled by a council, a council which isn't very old. I know prior to this, it was ruled by a single family. And that apparently the noble families that revolted are now the council members. I think that it would have been better to go with that idea and expand on the families listed to get an idea of the various families and what they are doing. Instead, in a later section, another family is listed (Kappa). I get the idea that they didn't list out every little family due to the space limitations and to allow the PCs or DM to step in or for their own creations. But I do think more was needed than was presented here.

Another thing is that this is not a Points of Light campaign, although that was used more in 4E than PF/3.5 but I think it's a relevant idea here. As such, I get the idea reading through this that every square mile is accounted for in some way by the kingdoms listed. There is trade listed and it's said that bandits are a problem. How? That's not really clear when everything is accounted for. Are these privateers, hired by rivals or other kingdoms? Or are they independent? It doesn't say. My point is that at some point one DM's idea of allowing them a lot of creativity to do what they want has become my idea of the designers not doing enough. I need those next two steps done because all I am reading is that I have a lot of work to flesh out these details before I would use it.

For the Crossroads area, the "bad guys" seem to be the Empire of Ghouls. Obvious candidate, really. I don't see that in the information presented. I have no idea what the goals of the Empire are. Domination? Take over another kingdom? What do the mortal, non undead slaves do? And who the heck is Gnawbone trading with, as well as the rest of the country? Do the other countries tolerate the Empire and have embassies in the capitol? I don't know and it's not listed here that I could find. If the Empire is trading with Morgau and Doresh, it's not stated. And, again, are the other kingdoms okay with Morgau and Doresh? I don't know.

As for the dwarven Cantons, it is stated that, "[each canton] is a nation within its own valleys, with its own customs, rulers and traditions." And then each canton is give as few as one paragraph for all of that? Even the long ones only get three paragraphs!

At this point, in my limited reading, I would give the physical book a 3.5 star rating, rounded down to three due to the editing errors in the book. It does have some good ideas and there are some things I like a lot. I know that I have my own wants and needs in a world. I keep reading how the advice is not to do more than needed when designing a world. That, to me, suggests a bottom up approach to the world. Yet here we have another top down approach. If the whole book had been devoted to the Crossroads region, this would have been a better take on the world. Start with a sourcebook on an area and build on it from there.

As for Endzeitgeist and his reviews, they really came off as someone who was involved very heavily in the open design aspect of it, or at least discussions of it on message boards. Nothing wrong with that other than it did make me think I was going to get something different than I did. EZG keeps making it seem like it would be very different than the Inner Sea World Guide and to someone who hasn't read anything about it except for this page, it looks more similar to the Inner Sea World Guide than is given credit.

I was satisfied with reviews here, and felt the need to briefly contradict Jon, being a customer myself. Reading the whole thing will specify a good deal of these tidbits out (why review it before finishing?). It would take a careful reading to assimilate it all in one go, as mentioned, it is a tome of ideas nicely tied together.

Ultimately, I'm trying to say that this book deserves a careful look and not a brief skim. The content is rich. I would agree with his other points, however, but would none the less recommend this one as strongly as Pathfinder itself.

Jon, a campaign setting book by its very nature is an overview of the world; it can't detail everything about the settings within it. Thus, this book is like the Inner Sea book, in that regard. There are separate Kobold Press books (gazetteers) that expand on several of the areas described in the book, such as a PF book on Zobeck itself--which includes a city stat block (not one for each neighborhood, however). Still, it's not Kobold Press' goal to spell out everything for a GM; one of the design goals was to leave enough space for a GM to add in what he or she wants.

As to bandits, they are usually thugs who've decided to obstruct trading routes. They aren't generally that organized. Just put together any group of fighters or rangers or thieves, and you've got some bandits. Give them a mage to act as artillery. No big deal there.

If you prefer everything spelled out, you might want to look at some older settings like Forgotten Realms, for your game. Midgard is all about evoking a specific flavor and letting the GM and players build on that.

Also, to add to what others have so perfectly said, there are a number of Midgard Player's Guides detailing the various areas (Crossroads, Dragon Empires etc) which do indeed go into greater detail.

I think it would be well worth your while to take some time and really, seriously read through the entire book (as opposed to just a "limited reading") before making such an overall assessment.

Six 5-star ratings must say something, after all! :)

Dear Jon,

first of all: Thank you for trusting my reviews!

To answer some of the points you brought up:
As others have pointed out, and as I tried to show in my review, there are many other books, especially regarding Zobeck, that go into the minute level of details you seem to seek - reproducing them in the Campaign Setting would probably have bloated the book.

The CS is indeed somewhat similar to the Inner See Guide - it is a campiagn setting book, after all. Forgotten Realms, e.g. only got the minute level of detail via multiple books à la "Shining South" and "Unapproachable East" and Midgard's Gazetteers provide ample spotlights for regions: Whether it is the Northlands, Zobeck, the Imperial Gazetteer (for the Empire & Morgau/Doresh you mentioned) or the player's guides. The cantons also have their own guide. So further details and pieces of information are there for the picking and personally, I applaud Kobold press for not just recycling information that is already out there and for which people have paid.

Perhaps, you could see the fact that exactly the nature of the bandits you mentioned is not spelled out for you not as a detrimental factor, but rather as a chance to work your creativity?

One more thing I'd like you to consider, though, would be the fact that any campaign setting needs to cater to the desires of a vast multitude of GMs and playstyles and spelling too much out makes a system rigid. I DMed the realms during 2nd edition and partially in 3rd as well and the amount of prescribed information made at some point, at least for me, running the setting not a joy, but a chore since the amount of even minute details rendered DM-ideas uncanonical. Midgard's strength imho is that it is not that prescriptive.

For me personally, Midgard is VERY different in flavor from Golarion ad I don't think that both worlds could be easily compared. Yes, both worlds are fantasy (though Midgard is imho more "dark fantasy" than Golarion). Yes, both books use the same mechanics and are, as types of books, campaign settings. But at least for me, that's where the similarities end. I'm sorry you don't (yet) feel that way and hope you'll enjoy reading the rest of the book.

Cheers and all the best,
Endzeitgeist

Unfortunately, I had to finish my post quickly because another pass by myself and I might have answered some of the questions that have come up.

I did not post this as a review to the product itself but am bringing up my points in the discussion. I thought that was the place to talk about things that I had found rather than post a review of something I hadn't finished reading.

As for why I hadn't finished reading it? It lost me. EZG's review, and the others, made the setting sounds like it would be very different from anything I had read before and I would be pulled into it. I enjoyed chapter one and liked what I read in chapter two but reading on the setting specific material in chapter three lost me. It wasn't different to me. It didn't stand out.

I get that books must cater to the most people they can. The problem is that most high level source books look the same **TO ME**. The FRCS, Eberron's CS, Inner Sea, Ravenloft, Greyhawk, and Dragonlance all have in their books things that make those settings different at the high level. However, when I sit down to plan out an adventure, there is very little to distinguish them apart. I still had to write up a lot of information.

When I picked up Midgard based on the reviews that I had read, I was expecting to be blown away. I was expecting something different than all of the other campaign setting books that I have read before. I was thinking that I wouldn't have to write up one extra thing for an adventure or to show my players the flavor of the setting. My expectations were so high based on everyone's enthusiasm for the book that I was disappointed.

I posted this to show a different opinion, which is all this is. I think it is worth it for others to see this, which is why I posted it. I think the book is good but I think expectations need to be managed or others might be disappointed as well.

Thanks for the discussion!

I think it is worth it for others to see this, which is why I posted it.

It certainly is and your posts serve to illustrate that no publisher can win the hearts of every gamer out there. What I would suggest you do is write up a formal review on the product as you read it. Your posts might drown here in the discussion thread whereas an actual review would serve as an excellent counterpoint to the existing reviews and it would be easy to find.

I'm one of those who find the Midgard setting very evocative and fascinating and who was blown away by the campaign setting, but it's always important to get all view points up on the table. :)

No problem, Jon. This is a place for discussion, and if the book's not your cup of tea, then it's not--it won't appeal to everyone. Thanks for your post.

@Jon:
Thank you for posting your perspective - I get where you're going. It is unfortunate the setting has as of yet not caught on, but if you're still willing to read the rest, I suggest you check out how Midgard handles gods as well as the Wasted West: I have never before read a world where Great Old One-style beasts is slow-motion wander a wasteland of unstable magic, with degenerate creatures living partially on them - among many, many other things.

As a world, at least to me, Midgard stands out. I understand, though, if the CS doesn't catch on for you and that you don't seem to enjoy the type of book this is. I absolutely acknowledge that the Midgard CS is, type-wise, a campaign setting-book with all the strengths and weaknesses in entails.

I try in my reviews to offer a point of view that takes as many types of gamers into account and try to mention issues for certain groups when I see them. I'm sorry my review failed you this time around.

I still hope your disappointment will abate and that you'll find some components in the book you enjoy and can use.

That being said, I'd love to read your review of the book to broaden my horizon what gamers like you want, since it will make it easier for me to point out such characteristics in future reviews. While I can't take every opinion/focus on what gamers want into account, I definitely can try to do so!

Again, thank you for your perspective and civility and if you like, feel free to PM me if you want to discuss any particular component/suggestions. :)

Cheers!

Question: Elves exist in the setting and players can play elf-marked who have less than half-elven blood but have the game mechanics of half-elves from the CRB if I read correctly. Orcs, though failing as a race, exist but apparently half-orcs don't. Why is this? Especially considering that every other race from the CRB and several from other books are included.

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Question: Elves exist in the setting and players can play elf-marked who have less than half-elven blood but have the game mechanics of half-elves from the CRB if I read correctly. Orcs, though failing as a race, exist but apparently half-orcs don't. Why is this? Especially considering that every other race from the CRB and several from other books are included.

I would hazard because they have a very limited range-- the White Mountain Marches in Illyria. This is a wild area with a sparse population. There may be some half-orcs in this space, but they are not a sufficiently common race to merit the entry. Tengu and tieflings are more common than half-orcs. That's really just a design choice. In a similar vein, while there are gnomes, they're pretty much infernal and evil. (Which I knew beforehand, but hey, not everyone's from Keoland. ;) )

Elves are very very limited, too. If you look at the populations, there are 50 elves & elfmarked in Friula, 300 elves in Bourgund, 5000 in Hirschberg, 2000 in Reywald, 400 in Bad Solitz, 4000 in Arbonnesse. The windrunner elves are more numerous, but they're not the same sort of elves.

It's part of the world, that's really the best answer I have for you. You're not alone in your dismay. I think there's a couple of diehard "tuskers" on the Kobold boards who want more orc-love. :) Who knew?

-Ben.

Ben is correct. There just aren't enough elves or orcs or halflings in the setting to devote a lot of space to them. They exist, and there's a rationale for them if a player is super-keen on them.

FWIW, there's an orc-centric adventure coming in the Midgard Tales compilation this summer.

I have been thinking about the question "Why did Midgard not impress me?" a lot. Here is what I have come up.

EZG really did have a great review and it really got me pumped for it. However, upon reflection, his review seems to have hints of things that come from knowing the setting and following them on Open Design. For example, he wrote,

"Also, regarding local politics, fiefdoms, liege lords and allegiances, Golarion is as per the writing of this review not sufficiently detailed to imho properly cater to court-intrigue/all-out warfare gaming. Midgard, in direct comparison, feels less like a patchwork and more like a unified world – one with vastly different regions, yes, but it feels more concise to me."

But this is exactly what I say *doesn't* happen in this book because it is still too high level. I'm not arguing that the setup in the Crossroads region doesn't allow for that. What I'm saying is that I still have a LOT of work to figure out the factions, the specific NPC mover and shakers and what their motives are and what they do.

For example, I am looking at the Free City of Zobeck and I don't get a sense of what the dangers are to the town. There are dangers, apparently, because General Jorun Haclav is ready to defend the city in times of war and against a siege. From whom? If it's an internal threat, Lady Fenyll Marack is ready to find them with her secret police. But no "malcontents" are listed elsewhere in the book for her secret police. The council has twelve members, five of whom are G of some kind, five are N of some kind and two are E. How does that council allow secret police? I don't know and there aren't even hints about why.

I don't need all things spelled out for me but it would be nice to have SOME things spelled out for me and I don't know what threatens Zobeck no matter how many times I read it.

In contrast, the opening paragraphs to Varisia in the Inner Sea Guide talk about how the area is a "dangerous wilderness" with many monsters in the said wilderness. Then it talks about how Varisia was once a colony of Cheliax but with Cheliax's civil war, Varisia managed to find freedom. But there are hints that Cheliax, and other nations, look to Varisia the same way Europe looked at the New World. Finally, within Varisia, it is noted that Varisia is a "region of conflict" centered around the three major cities, "any of which could some day soon claim control over the region."

Both of these book are at a high level and all I can say is that the Inner Sea Region just happens to speak to me, the way that Midgard speaks to EZG. I still have to do the same amount of work to get Varisia ready for an adventure, unless I use the APs set there, but there just seems to be more things for me in Varisia. Ancient ruins, stark wilderness, three factions vying for control over all, and hints of external danger. I didn't see that in the Crossroads section of Midgard.

However, despite what I have just done, my intention was not to compare Golarion to Midgard. As I said, Midgard is a fine setting and I'm all for different settings. I plunder them the same as anything else and use them and there is much to plunder in Midgard.

Every design book I have read says that a world designer should only design what they need. Start with the city and the environs needed for the immediate adventure. Perhaps flow out a few other things before the first session. But then wait and see what and where the players go and stay ahead of them.

THAT is what I was expecting of Midgard. I was expecting this whole book to be about the Crossroads region. Each area expanded on and shown to me how its different, in its culture, mores and daily lives as seen through the eyes of an adventurer. Maybe not getting to a "low level" of the area but at least a mid level, where the alliances of the council are spelled out, where the dangers of siege lie, and where the ruins of the past hold ancient magics to help defend or conquer the region. Once that was done, I expected the same thing to be done for each of the other regions. In fact, I expected the other regions to read like different worlds, almost, with different gods, cultures, languages and customs. Then once a few regional guides were out, finally the smaller campaign setting book would be released to tie the regions together. This book would have the currency conversion from the Crossroads to the Seven Cities and the Northlands. It would tell me how to link up the calendars and show me which gods are which between the regions. This book would deal with the gods on their true level and form and what they intend for the world.

With those expectations, is it any wonder that the Midgard Campaign setting let me down? I still rate the book highly and I do see the gems that are talked about. They just don't shine as brightly for me and that is my loss.