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Birthright Campaign Setting (2e) $9.99
Average Rating:4.5 / 5
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Birthright Campaign Setting (2e)
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Birthright Campaign Setting (2e)
Publisher: Wizards of the Coast
by Stephen C. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 08/09/2020 19:21:30

I did not buy this when it was initially published in the 90s, because the art looked bleh and the idea of starting off with a domain and not having to earn one turned me off. Years later, I see the value of jumping right into domain play and not having to build up PCs to get there, so I gave this another shot. When I cracked the pdf covers, the art was still bad. Part of what drew me to Planescape was the evocative art direction that suffused the setting. Part of what drove me away from Birthright is the muddy, uninspired generic fantasy art it featured. Also, the lackluster art eats up a significant amount of each page, so I wonder if the grass and trees on nearly every page were there to pad page count. Also, the domain system just doesn't seem like the most elegant way to accomplish what it sets out to do. I didn't see a problem with the Basic D&D approach to domain management and found it generally easier to understand than this one, although neither are wonderful. The Bloodlines aspect was interesting and the way the setting accounts for the races differently than most settings do. It is a mixed bag.



Rating:
[3 of 5 Stars!]
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Birthright Campaign Setting (2e)
Publisher: Wizards of the Coast
by Andrew B. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 10/24/2018 15:28:46

Although I had been gaming for a while, this was the first box set I ever bought. I have never regretted that decision, as it a very unique world with a lot of potential for players to change the world, and holds up great to this day. Although a number of games have since opted to provide such rules, this was the first time (that I have heard of) that a system had rules for not only characters being rulers, but for running a kingdom. In addition, it used the standard magic system with more. In addition to bloodline magic (and the resulting capacity for bloodtheft [think: the quickening from the Highlander films]), the land was riddled with ley lines that a powerful mage might bend to their will. This set covers a large portion of the continent (others are hinted at and partially shown, but not covered in detail), with four other sets covering the rest (and easily available through this site). In addition, TSR had begun releasing modules that would cover a specific realm in great detail, and provide much more information for running that domain. Unfortunately, TSR was bought by WotC before all could be created (two domains were completed but not published, and were among some of the materials WotC released for free on their website in the early 2000's). Another great flavor to this campaign was the Shadow World, a dark mirror world where dark forces held sway.

The only downside to the pdf is that the mass combat system utilizes cards and a battle mat. And while these are included in the pdf, would require excellent print resources to fully appreciate.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Birthright Campaign Setting (2e)
Publisher: Wizards of the Coast
by Sean P M. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 04/27/2018 17:00:34

Found out about the game recently and have started incorporating it into my RPGs to handle the macro side of things. It seems to have a pretty good balance for the politics and economics of a world.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Birthright Campaign Setting (2e)
Publisher: Wizards of the Coast
by Amy M. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 03/02/2018 13:03:16

A solid system of rules for any game about kingdoms or dynasties, even after all these years. Birthright is an essential source of inspiration for anyone who wants to write rules for kingdom-level play in RPGs.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Birthright Campaign Setting (2e)
Publisher: Wizards of the Coast
by A customer [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 05/03/2017 07:13:12

Everything you need to incorporate Domain rules & Bloodlines into a game

Interested in rules that help you administrate at the nation level? Keen to explore Bloodtheft and see if it's right for your own game? This is all you need.

The product line for the Birthright setting is robust and gives a lot of depth to the setting and world - but if you are only looking at this because you need domain management rules or a funky new mechanic to explore this is the only purchase from the set you need.

Note: You will need to tweak things to incorporate it into any edition outside of 2nd. It's not hard, but it's also designed to mesh deeply into Birthright as a setting feature.

The Setting as a Home for Adventure

I loved this setting when it was released. It was at a time when there was a huge glut of products from TSR and each of them were interesting and unique - but most of them were bloated and piled more on top. Birthright pared things back. Yes, there are five human subraces, but most of what made the setting interesting, after Regency and Bloodlines, was the tightly focused path of options for characters: Humans, Halflings, Half-Elves, Dwarves, and Elves.

The same goes for classes. What made Birthright click was the identification of what the seting was and wasn't vs. other TSR worlds. Add in cultures that felt real and distinct, a few fun mechanics, fantastic maps, and whatnot and you've got a great home for adventure.

The one thing that it didn't do well: Tractless wilderness. The entire continent for the game is mapped out, cut into domains and provinces, and detailed with rulers. Perfect for a Game of Thrones style campaign, but not as perfect for a What's over that hill there? setup.

All in all, as a purchase this set is great for someone who's interested in new rules and/or exploring for a new land to base their games out of. With the very low probability that WotC will ever republish a detail of this setting, it's also a great product to grab and make your own with far less fear that you'll have to retcon after a product release. I still strongly recommend this setting and am glad to have it again as a PDF.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Birthright Campaign Setting (2e)
Publisher: Wizards of the Coast
by Nicholas M. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 01/11/2014 01:01:26

This a great scan of a product I missed back in the day, and which sells for stupid money in print. Especially great care was taken with the maps, which are in one complete page rather than split into different pages -- great for those of us with large format printers, and easily printed in pieces through Acrobat for those who don't. Finally, kudos for WotC and DTRPG for listening to their customers and adding the war cards, which were missing from the download when first posted! I'm looking forward



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Birthright Campaign Setting (2e)
Publisher: Wizards of the Coast
by robert h. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 01/10/2014 19:57:33

As promised, I've updated my rating to 5 stars now that the warcards have been added to the download. Nice scan of one of my favorite campaign settings. I'm looking forward to seeing the rest of the series being released in PDF as well.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Birthright Campaign Setting (2e)
Publisher: Wizards of the Coast
by Christopher K. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 02/22/2009 20:22:36

I have all of the original books, but I wanted an electronic version of the maps and cards. This product has everything that came in the original box, soup to nuts. Maps, battle cards, domain sheets, battle map, everything. Best investment of $5 I've ever made -- I've saved myself so much scanning. And if you've never owned this product, you're not missing anything by getting the electronic version.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Birthright Campaign Setting (2e)
Publisher: Wizards of the Coast
by Michael S. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 12/08/2007 13:49:40

This was alwasy one of my favorite 2nd edition products. The ability to be a regent and rule a kingdom was a lot of fun. The combat mechanics aren't perfect - but it's well worth the price.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
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Birthright Campaign Setting (2e)
Publisher: Wizards of the Coast
by Stewart W. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 06/13/2004 00:00:00

I am having major problems downloading this product. My server keeps cutting me off, and with a 4hour download time, I am not very happy about this, especially as there seems to be no memory of half of the file being downloaded already. Any suggestions? What extra cost would you charge me to have the files put on CD and post it to Australia? I have PayPal and am happy to do this if it is now possible. Thanks for looking into this for me. Sincerely, PWeeks/Stewart Wochen



Rating:
[3 of 5 Stars!]
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Birthright Campaign Setting (2e)
Publisher: Wizards of the Coast
by Clemens S. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 03/15/2004 00:00:00

At last the outstanding Birthright Campaign setting is available again. This is not your mother's AD&D, it is something more serious, wider in scope and more challenging.

The PDF makes it harder to use the Card Battle system or I would have given this product 5 stars.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
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Birthright Campaign Setting (2e)
Publisher: Wizards of the Coast
by Matthew T. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 03/06/2004 00:00:00

I have the boxed set, and believed I had every Birthright item. But I found out I had lost the "Ruins of Empire" booklet from the set which had synopsis of the nations and major personalities of the setting.

RPGNow saved the day by making a download of the contents of the Birthright Settting available. In addition, I am able to look at the information using my computer (at home and at work). I am very pleased!

Right now, I am looking for other "golden oldies" that are hard to find. Sometimes finding printed books can either be costly or less than satisfactory (such as when they are missing pages, yellowed, or marked in). RPGNow saves the day!



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Birthright Campaign Setting (2e)
Publisher: Wizards of the Coast
by Brad R. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 01/14/2004 00:00:00

One of the best things D&D ever did, I love this world and love the production quality of the books.

Unfortunatly, boxed sets suffer when translated to .pdf, and Birthright is no exception. Add to that the need to convert Birthright to a more recent system (if you sold your AD&D 2nd books -- which I did) and you have a work that is still spectacular, but not as perfect as it could be.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
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Birthright Campaign Setting (2e)
Publisher: Wizards of the Coast
by David H. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 11/05/2003 00:00:00

This is a wonderful way to pick up out of print material!



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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