One book, two book three book, four...

In putting together the Kazarim Campaign Setting, I’ve accumulated about 400 pages of world-building, flavor text, and game mechanics. Once art and design have been applied to those 400 pages, that is going to be a pretty full book, even with changes to fonts, etc. I have another document with 200 pages or so of additional playable species, additional classes (including options for the classes from the Advanced Class Guide), and a dozen new deities. I’ll probably get around to incorporating this material into a later book.

I’ve also been writing adventure paths. My goal is to start with three adventure paths alongside the core setting book. Each of these three adventure paths focuses on an important corner of the Thousand Winds trade network, with one set in Hiyominaru, one in Euashollor, and one in Akalamrajul. It’s important to have these three released together because I do not want to emphasize any one cultural motif in the setting over another. All too often, the “Asian adventures” book or the “Arabian Nights” theme book comes out as an after thought, without any real integration of the cultures presented therein with the rest of the world’s setting. Nothing exists in a vacuum, especially not cultures that trade and enter into conflicts with each other.

So I’m working on the first of these adventure paths right now: Love of a Fallen Empire. Set on the shores of Penan, it explores the re-colonization efforts of the mainland by Hiyominaru, who are trying to expand their influence into areas of the continent left fallow after the defeat of the Last Emperor. The PCs’ kazarim circle will be involved in these efforts, and can either directly aid the government, act as freelancers, or side with one of the prominent factions within Hiyominaru’s political scene, depending on who they side with (if at all). This is an adventure path about bringing order out of chaos, overcoming the remnants of magical warfare, and reclaiming lost heritage. If the players and the GM want, there will be some support for a more political game as well, as factions vie for influence in the new territories, even establishing them as overlords of the principle hub location, the village of Meiwan. I’m about halfway done with this adventure path, and hope to start playtesting it next year.

The other adventure paths are nebulous at this point. The one in Akalamrajul will be about the conflict between the Generals of Flame and the tribal warlords who oppose them, among other things, and I imagine it to be a heavily political, mostly urban campaign. The Euasholloran adventure path will involve a pirate king and his seven daughters, each captains of their own ships. Other than that, it’s too early to say exactly where they’ll go.