Attention: GMs who are tired of the "same-old, same-old" campaign settings -- looking for a complete campaign setting that's different? That has so much stuff you won’t have to make up ANY of your own if you don't want to? Read on...
The Twin Crowns: Age of Exploration Fantasy campaign setting by Living Imagination is... humungous. At 304 pages, this book is over three quarters of an inch thick. And there’s good reason. It's packed with all sorts of great info, all with a slight twist from the "standard" settings. All this for a much lower price than books with far fewer pages, from certain other companies that will remain unnamed.
First, the races. Many remain similar to the races presented in the Core Rules books, but have distinct nuances that set them apart. There are also aquatic and feline races for your PCs who want concrete rules for those characters.
New prestige classes can be found here as well, including intriguing Arcane and Divine Ritualists (spellcasters capable of enhancing Ritual magic), a Bounty Hunter, a Diplomat, and a Privateer (a must-have to fully exploit the naval rules presented herein).
The 20-page naval adventures section leaves little out, covering everything you need to run naval combat or long voyages. Several new vessels with stats are supplied.
Also included are several new skills (primarily focused on Ritual magic and Naval professions) and a TON of new feats – over 100 ALL NEW and exclusive to this book! Granted, many of the feats are specifically for use with this campaign setting, but that makes the next part even better:
The Wheel of the Gods. A very cool pantheon, with specific relationships between the deities discussed in detail. On its own, this makes for a very solid religious base for the campaign –- however, this would be the most difficult part to adapt into an existing campaign. So, I guess you'll just have to scrap your existing one and use this! It's great!
And with new gods come new domains (13) and spells (82!), as well as Ritual magic. Rituals add a whole new aspect to spellcasting, for those who want "something more." Many of the rituals are amazing and very powerful, but I personally have a slight problem with them in that they ALL require the same special rare substance (which is very expensive). Aside from that (or including that with some homebrew modification), the rituals are very well done.
And that's all in the first half of the book! The second section includes all of the information about the campaign world, Ptalmanar. I won’t try to replicate any of it here, but suffice to say it is comprehensive. As I said before, a GM won't need to lift a finger to keyboard or put pencil to paper if using this wondrous tome.
Ratings [1-10]
Content ("Bang for the Buck"): 10
Originality ("Cool new stuff"): 9
Adaptability (into existing setting): 5 (it is a campaign setting itself)
Flexibility (within itself): 8
Overall: 8
Kithmaker
