Midgard Campaign Setting (PFRPG/AGE)

After reading several of the reviews here, I went out and bought the MCS and started reading it. I was expecting to be blown away by how good and unique the setting of Midgard was. Unfortunately, this campaign setting book is no different than the Inner Sea World Guide or the 3E Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting in that it is a high level look at the world.

Why do I think the other reviewers are biased? Every one of them that I have seen here, and on enworld.org, were backers of the Open Design process. This means that they have a radically different view of this setting compared to someone like myself that hasn't read one word on it. And when I looked here on Paizo's store, I saw all of the products for Midgard and thought it was logical to start with the campaign setting.

That was a mistake but I don’t know how I could know that.

The MCS came out AFTER more than 450 pages of other setting material had been written and released, not to mention discussed on Open Design. So, for all of the other reviewers, the MCS works to remind them of what they have already read and knew about the world. For someone like me who has not read all of that information, the MCS read like any other high level campaign book. It was not highly detailed, despite what many reviewers say.

For me, a setting is made unique by its details. What do the people wear? What language do they speak? What do they eat? What is their daily life like? What are the names used for the people? Does the name tell you where they are from? Do the various races mingle or are they separate? If they are separate, do they like it? Or are they working toward integration? What about the gods? How present are they? What are the politics like? What are the nobles trying to do? What does the area import or export? What are the relations with their neighbors?

When I started reading the MCS, I expected all of those questions answered and more. I got a few of them answered but not enough, in my opinion, to set it apart from any other campaign setting. And what I did get was confusing. As I read through the chapter on the Crossroads, there was no sense of what the conflict was. There was an obvious bad empire but no talk about what was being done about it, if anything. I’m not even sure if there are the "standard" ruins and dungeons to be explored by adventurers!

For example, the city of Zobeck has a general in charge of its armies to repel invaders. Who invades them? Why is this army needed? That’s not answered. The city also has secret police and I have no idea why a council of five good, five neutral and only two evil members would allow such a thing to exist. Maybe it doesn’t matter, though, because there is no mention of the secret police’s goals.

I understand that campaign settings have to appeal to the widest group they can. I also don’t want everything explained such that as a DM, there is no place to add in my own creations. I do expect some things detailed out as examples of the flavor and then gaps left for me to fill. Going back to the council of Zobeck, it would have been nice if one of the evil council members had been fleshed out with goals and motivations as well as a good member, preferably the one working against the evil one that was fleshed out. This could have served to show how politics happened (Open violence? Words? By the laws? By strength of arms? Assassins? By the gods? By a vote?) in the town and still left me ten members to do with as I pleased. From my perspective, though, I’m left to do all of that.

It was at that point that I realized that the MCS wasn’t what I thought it was. In talking about it in the discussion area, it seems as if I would have liked it if I, too, had had the other 450 pages of material to read and this served to remind me of all that was happening. Unfortunately, that’s not the case. It’s too bad because I get the sense that I would be just as excited as the other reviewers if I had started with Zobeck and watched the world come alive. Instead, my introduction didn’t excite me or pull me into the world. In fact, after all of the enthusiasm from the other reviewers, I was so disappointed that by the time I finished the section on the Crossroads, I glanced at the religion section but then put the book down and have had no motivation to go back and finish it. That’s my loss.

I give this three and a half stars. I rounded down due to bad editing. I found typos or extra spaces on most pages and every reference (“see page $$”) was not filled in. I think in trying to summarize the Midgard setting and not repeat themselves from their other products, they went too far and removed too much information. This still has some good ideas but they missed the mark for me in describing a game world with conflict where adventurers are needed to help resolve that conflict, one way or the other.

This massive pdf is 298 pages long, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial, 1 page patron list, 3 pages ToC, 1 page SRD, 1 page advertisement, 1 page back cover, leaving us with 289 pages of content.

This review is based on both the pdf for formal page-count etc. as well as the GORGEOUS full-color hardcover patron edition of the book – number 26 of 206, if you want to know. Mainly, I’ll base everything on my hard-cover, though – I always print out pdfs prior to reading anyways. Oh, and to avoid any implications of not being neutral: I did not contribute any significant pieces to this particular patronage project due to time-constraints, but I have contributed to the Northlands book and have been a patron of just about every Open Design-project since I found all too late out about them. The only pieces of lore missing from my collection would be Castle Shadowcrag and Steam & Brass – so if any of you gentlemen ever wishes to part from either a print or pdf-copy, drop me a PM.

This, admittedly selfish disclaimer out of the way, you’ll probably wonder why it took me so long to get to this review. Well, the answer is surprisingly complex and will be answered over the course of this review, so bear with me. Without further ado:

What makes Midgard distinct? Well, it is a campaign-setting that includes the most famous clockwork city in fantasy, where two ennie-award-winning anthologies are set. But Midgard is more: It is a world unlike the ones you’d expect: In contrast to most campaign worlds, Midgard draws HEAVY influence from Germanic and Slavic traditions and legends and it shows even in the shape of the world – unlike most places, Midgard is actually flat and most people believe it resides in the coils of the grand world-serpent Jörmungandr – it is a world not of straight, contextless popular culture fantasy, but of the mythic, of the archetypical not in the PFRPG-rules-context, but in the Jungian sense of the word, a resonance of myths and legends through a lense and a world where the magic that makes them possible is a very real force.
If you’ve been following open design releases (and if you haven’t, remedy that NOW), you’ll recall e.g. the fall of Ankeshel from Sunken Empires, you’ll know about the alien Shadow Fey and the existence of ley lines throughout the land. If you’re lucky and have the glorious “Halls of the Mountain King”-mega-module (which is not available to the public, alas), you’ll also recall the lavish detail in which dwarven culture is detailed and you may have read hints here and there about the golden age the elves brought on before starting their retreat. If you’ve read the best Planes-book since the Planescape-setting of old, “Dark Roads & Golden Hells”, you’ll already have a distinct knowledge of what to expect planes-wise and thus I won’t go into that much detail regarding the planar set-up of Midgard and only mention that t is at once distinct and easily modifiable via plug-and-play. If you’re familiar with Norse myth, you’ll see the nods and obvious inspirations, but that’s by far not all – the months, days and planets of the system also get a quick glimpse in the run-up on this component of the setting. Now where the book gets crunchy in this chapter is with its depiction of ley lines – 8 feats are provided to tap into the power of those global arcane conduits and we get 3 distinct tables for effects of different ley line strengths as well as a table of ley line backlashes, but more on ley lines later. After the general history and cosmology have been addressed, we are introduced to the heroes of Midgard and the interaction of races in the setting. One final word o the history of Midgard – while resonating with legends like sunken empires, the grand schemes of Baba Yaga and similar cataclysmic events, the history leaves by design much more free room for DM-modification and details than similar settings I’ve read – whether they be Faerûn, Mystara or Golarion, focusing more on high concepts than details. A decision, which I actually encourage.

With Wolfgang’s words from the introduction: Onwards! The chapter on heroes covers the dominant races of Midgard: Humans get paragraphs for their respective ethnicities, which is nice, but in this regard, the setting falls behind Paizo’s Golarion: There, we actually got full fluff-entries for the respective ethnicities, something I would have loved to see here as well, but oh well. The first new and distinct race introduced is a concept by now almost cliché: The Dragonkin. I get their appeal and I understand how people can enjoy the race, but personally – I don’t like them. Not due to some rules-gripes, for +2 Str and Cha, -2 dex, darkvision 60 ft., DR 2 versus a chosen energy, +1 natural armor, fly as a class skill and +2 to intimidate and diplomacy don’t feel overpowered at all. My dislike stems probably still from an oversaturation with half-dragons, dragonkin and the like in the 3.5 days of old. Speaking of dragons, one thing I really love about the dragons of Midgard is the fact that they are not into gold or color-coded by alignment: Dragons are elemental forces and greedy for power more than gold, which for me feels more in line with the ideal of consummate, hyper-intelligent schemers, so kudos for that. In this context the dragonkin-race has its role cut out in the world and feels like it belongs, though I still can’t really warm to it.

Now dwarves in Midgard are interesting in that they are the makers of the first signs of an industrial revolution, a proud race of craftsmen and reavers, pioneers of gunpowder and airships and more in line with my personal vision of the race. Elves in Midgard take a distinct bow to the Tolkienesque tradition of retreating from the earthly affairs, leaving at what in retrospect may feel like a golden age and subsequently they and the elfmarked (a feat that lets you count as elven) still enjoy a higher status than most races in Midgard. Status? YES! Beyond reputations in a given organization, an interesting component of the Midgard setting is the class- and race-dependant status-score that denotes your place in society and should make depicting believable world much easier: After all, as history-buffs can attest, status tends to have been of utmost importance in almost every culture and having a pointer towards one’s place in a given social environment is helpful indeed.

Now the other two major races of Midgard might come as a surprise to those not yet familiar with the world’s lore: Of course small but fierce kobolds join the fray of playable races with -4 Str, +4 Dex, -2 Con, small size, darkvision, +1 natural armor, +2 to Craft (trapmaking), Profession (Miner) and Perception. They always treat Craft (Trapmaking) and Stealth as class skills and get light sensitivity. The final new race detailed with crunch would be the Minotaurs, a noble race that gets +4 Str, -4 Dex, +2 Con, -2 Int, -4 Cha, 60 ft. darkvision, are never flat-footed, gain +2 to Perception, Profession (Sailor) and Survival and always treat the latter as class skill. They also get a natural attack with their horns for 1d4 damage.

There also are 7 minor races, though each only gets a short paragraph: Centaurs, Gnolls, Goblins, Tieflings and Halflings play minor roles in the world, with haflings being more a Tolkienesque stay-at-home-race. Gnomes in Midgard are interesting as well: As a race, they have been cursed by Baba Yaga and are still haunted by the legendary crone’s predations. Worse, as a race, they have entered a covenant with the 11 hells, making dealing with gnomes in Midgard a harrowing experience – after all, you never know whether Grandmother or some infernal master is after the gnome you’re just talking to. MY favorite race among the minor ones, though, would be the Huginn – essentially Tengu, these raven-headed humanoids fits surprisingly seamlessly with the Germanic mythology, as one of their names implies.
Abrakadabra – everyone knows these words of magic. But did you know that they are probably derived from Arabic and roughly translate to the act of creating by uttering? Languages define not only our perception, their descriptions carry the power of categorization and an inherent word-view, a vast array of classifications that slowly is subverted the more languages you truly master. Hence, languages in Midgard (and 26 common and archaic ones are provided on a single page) allow those who learn and master them actually some tangible benefits beyond communication. As one who has banished any form of common from all of his settings, I welcome this great idea to provide an additional incentive for player characters to learn more languages.

In order to not bloat this review up to over 5o pages and one day get it done, I won’t go step by step through the vast array of regional traits and feat that conclude this chapter and which are organized according to region. Now speaking of regions: Let’s take a look at the first major region of Midgard, the so-called Crossroads!

Now we get customs and festivals for the whole region before we kick off with perhaps the so-far best-known region of Midgard: The Clockwork city of Zobeck, lavishly detailed in the Zobeck Gazetter, setting for the two ennie-award-winning anthologies “Tales of Zobeck” and “Streets of Zobeck”, home of Rava’s faith, the kobold miners, gearforged clockwork magic, the illumination school and infinitely more, one of the most distinct fantasy cities comes with its excellent 2-page map.

Speaking of maps: Each region of Midgard gets a GORGEOUS, lavishly illustrated full-color map and it is my true pity that, as per the writing of this review, there’s no physical map-pack of these glorious maps: An oversight I hope that will be remedied sometime in the future. The crossroads have more to offer than Zobeck, though: Trade with the shadow fey via Zobeck is just one of the potential past-times for brave adventurers here – if you’re more of the righteous crusader type, there are two nations that should keep you interested: Detailed more in-depth in the excellent Imperial Gazetteer, the Empire of Ghouls, a subterranean empire of intelligent ghouls forever scouring the lands for flesh to feed their ravenous hunger (first explored in the closed patronage project of epic length) and the principalities of Morgau and Doresh, led by their vampiric aristocracy that is in line with the gothic ideal of vampires as sophisticated foes, should make for worthwhile, albeit deadly playing grounds. If you’re more for ancient wildernesses, the Margreve (featured in the superb Tales of the Old Margreve) and the Cloudwall mountains where Baba Yaga’s hut wanders should have you covered as well. On the more bright, but not necessarily harmless side, Perunalia, a nation of amazons led by Perun’s (supposedly at least) demigod daughter might be not evil, but it’s inversion of gender roles and the general disregard and belittling of men should make for some interesting roleplaying experiences, as should excursions to the dwarven Ironcrag cantons, which back in the 3.5 days also got a gazetteer that accompanied the now alas no longer available, stellar mega-module I already mentioned.

A classic good kingdom to stem the tide and serve as a backdrop for both glorious tourneys and disheartening war-campaigns versus the other forces of Midgard can be found in the Magda Kingdom, with the kingdom’s order of the undying sun and military getting special mentioning. Not as democratic as Andoran, though also deemed rather revolutionary would be the electoral kingdom of Krakova, whose fluff also hearkens to some of the more romanticized aspects of Nibelungen-lore.

Beyond the crossroads, one may find the Rothenian Plain, vast steppe that also serves as a roaming ground of Baba Yaga and her daughters. Guarding the Northlands, we can find the silver mountain kingdom of Domovgorod, where a world-tree can be found who branches into other realism – whether a sapling or semblance of legendary Yggdrasil, it offers paths to many a strange place and the local Halfling populace actually makes for fierce winter warriors. The endless tundra and steppes that spread throughout Midgard is also the home of the Khanate of Khazzaki, a place inspired by the Mongolian warlords as well as probably the Dothraki and sports no permanent towns, though that does not mean that the Khanate is peaceful or a force to be trifled with – after all, they managed to repel even the forces of the Mharoti, but more on them later. The Rothenian plane is also the home of the Demon Mountain and its mystic, legendary master: A mysterious entity with distinct appetites that has spawned various tieflings and who actually receives visitors ranging from troll kings, shadow fey dignitaries, barons to even archdevils. In the northwest, nestled at the Nieder Straits, lie the nine cities of Neimheim, home to the crafty and disturbing devil-worshipping race of gnomes under the command of their supreme ruler Redbeard, still as a race haunted by Grandmother’s vengeance and the need to escape the doom of an eternity in hell to which all gnomes are born.

Of course, the Khanate is not alone in claiming their own swath of territory in the plains: The Rothenian Plains are also the home of numerous tribes of centaurs roaming the vast sea of grass, raiding and counting their wealth in goats and sheep as well as to the wanderlust-inflicted Kariv, Midgard’s very distinct ethnicity of gypsies that is really set apart to the point where they are as interesting to me as the Vistana of Ravenloft and if you know that this setting is still my first true love setting-wise, the amplitude of this complement should become apparent. A variety of Great Kariv families are covered and recalling the cool and very distinct social customs pioneered by various KQ-articles and other books, I can’t wait to one day see a full-blown sourcebook on them. The final nomadic people laying claim to the plains would be the totemic, dark-skinned windrunner elves with their own windrunner kites and complete rules for flying these contraptions – rather cool and fortunately relatively bereft of the clichés I expected to read in their entry. The final nation of note here would be Vidim, the kingdom of ravens, where the tsar and the huginn maintain an alliance: The raven-headed folk make up the supreme spies and best soldiers of this interesting nation, another region I can’t wait to read more about.

Part II of my review in the product discussion. See you hopefully there!

I am not generally one to write online reviews, I usually feel like what needs to be said has been said already by others, but this book makes me excited enough that I can't help myself.

In short---Wow. This is a fantastic campaign setting. I love the old-world European feel combined with a sort of folksy, phantasmagoric mashup of sooo many wonderful things: Lovecraftian elements, viking mythology, faerie (the weird and creepy kind that smacks of Lord Dunsany and the Grimm tales), dark and forested Transylvanian hills... I could go on. This book is oozing with adventure ideas and campaign arcs, and the crazy thing is it all seems to fit and work well together. Instead of listing a bunch of things, I'll just break down my favorite things about the Midgard Campaign Setting.

Zobeck and the Crossroads Region
To be honest, I've been looking forward to the Midgard Campaign Setting ever since I got my hands on the Zobeck Gazetteer and the adventure anthology Streets of Zobeck almost a year ago. My group and I have thoroughly enjoyed the dark, gritty, Bohemian feel of the city with it's twisted politics, infernal gangs, and corrupt law officers. It has a really nice old-world European feel that reminds me of Budapest (where I'm from), and I've been looking forward to more material like it ever since. This book does not disappoint, and in fact makes the city of Zobeck and the region surrounding it the "heart" of the entire realm. I have the same feelings about adventuring here as when I first cracked the AD&D Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting grey box and discovered the Dalelands and Candlekeep. It stokes the fires of imagination and makes me excited to write adventures.

Elves, Dwarves, Kobolds, and Gnomes
The take on race in the setting is also great. The elves are very classicly Tolkien-esque (once a great civilization and the rulers of all Midgard, now very uncommon having mostly moved on from the world). The Cantonal Dwarves are neat, very recognizably dwarves, yet with a unique and interesting culture. The Kobolds and Gnomes take the cake though. The kobold as a player race is super fun, and I have to say I'm totally enamored with the concept of infernal, devil-worshiping gnomes.

Gods and Religion
Religion and gods are usually my single biggest beef with any campaign setting. I'm hard to please in this since I almost always find the take on gods (and their inevitable petty wars and silly manipulations) to be cheesy. I'm super happy with Wolfgang's gods of Midgard. He seems to have tread that fine line between giving the gods "personality" and making them silly caricatures and I really appreciate the setting for this. I also like that the different regions of the world have different gods, some of which are likely just different "masks" of the same god, or so the learned clerics say. I'm not personally blown away by the reliance on Egyptian mythology for the Southern Gods, but I'm guessing a lot of people will really dig this. Also, *finally* someone added a Ninkasi analogue to their realm. The Goddess of Beer? Check. A Beer Domain for clerics? Check. Thank you Wolfgang!

Magic
Midgard adds two schools of magic to the Pathfinder system, Clockwork Magic, and Illumination Magic (or stars and shadows magic). They're both quite cool, but I am especially pleased with Clockwork Magic which lends a sort of very light-handed steampunk touch to the setting. Clockwork magic allows for the creation of clockwork construct bodies that your PCs can be reincarnated into, thus adding another entire PC race to the Pathfinder game is well. It feels well thought-out, and I'm hoping one of my players decides to try it out soon. Also, the concept of Ley Lines is very cool (allowing your casters to tap into external sources of magic tied to particular places or dates/times to boost their arcane power) and the shadow roads are neat as well, allowing for quick travel across very large distances by taking roads that cross through the Plane of Shadow. The roads were originally created by the elves in ancient times, but since corrupted, so they don't always work in the ways they were originally meant to.

Artwork, Maps, and Layout
It's been said before, but I'll say it again. The art in this book is gorgeous. It's not nearly as cartoonish as the typical Paizo publication (which is a good thing for me), and feels more folksy and at times downright creepy (page 73 anyone?). The layout and printing is gorgeous as well, and I'm really happy I sprung for the hardcover version. My only beef is that the table references in my hardcover version are not filled in (they all reference "$$" instead of the actual table number in the text). This is not a problem with the PDF version, and I imagine the 2nd printing will fix it as well. And the maps! Oh man. I knew they were going to be good since Jonathan Roberts did them (the cartographer for George R.R. Martin), but they still blew my mind. These are the nicest maps I've ever seen in a campaign setting, and I hope that Kobold Press is going to release a poster-sized map of the entire realm. I want to frame it and put it on my wall.

Honestly, I could go on. This is just the tip of the iceberg. The optional status rules are cool and I'm going to work them into my campaign, the new spells and incantations are great, the regional feats are fun (I just wish there were more Crossroads feats!). The book is also full of interesting NPCs. If you are looking to rekindle your love of world-building, or just on the hunt for campaign ideas, this is a fantastic reference. And if you're like me and looking for a campaign setting to call home, you cannot go wrong with Midgard. In my opinion, it's the best out there.

The Open Design team have really outdid themselves this time with the Midgard Campaign Setting. This book can be used in several ways.

1. As a home campaign. Everything you need to set characters into the flow of a fully-realized detailed world is here. Dragon-ruled empires, Dwarvish mini-nations, diabolical gnomes thirsting for sacrifices. The list goes on and on.

2. As a mine for ideas: Even if you have your own homebrew setting, the ideas that OD explores in this book are a great inspiration. I could think of several adventures I could send characters on just leafing through it. The nations and their history are fascinating and flexible.

3. As an adjunct to a normal game: Perhaps your players are bored with Golarion or your homebrew. One angry wizard with Plane Shift later and they can be exploring the Demon Mountain and its elusive master or riding with the centaurs of the Rothenian Plains.

Besides being a campaign setting it has a wealth of archetypes, creatures, and adventure seeds. Truly this release is worthy to be set beside Greyhawk, Toril, or Golarion on your gaming shelf.

Full Disclosure says that I was a Patron of this project and own the hardback. If you are looking for a European setting that has elements of high fantasy, classic literature, and folk lore beyond the Celtic and Western European elements this is it. There fantastic Norse, Northern and Eastern European elements, as well as great takes on other cultures and fantastic elements.