The Kingdoms of Kalamar is a

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy literature and d ...

campaign setting A campaign setting is usually a fictional world which serves as a setting for a role-playing game or wargame campaign. A '' campaign'' is a series of individual adventures, and a ''campaign setting'' is the world in which such adventures and c ...

created by Kenzer and Company, originally released in 1994. In 2000, shortly after

Wizards of the Coast Wizards of the Coast LLC (often referred to as WotC or simply Wizards) is an American publisher of games, primarily based on fantasy and science fiction themes, and formerly an operator of retail stores for games. It is currently a subsidia ...

announced the 3rd edition of ''

Dungeons & Dragons ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (commonly abbreviated as ''D&D'' or ''DnD'') is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game (RPG) originally designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. The game was first published in 1974 by Tactical Studies Rules, Inc. (TS ...

'', Wizards and Kenzer jointly announced that Kenzer had acquired a rights to produce the Kalamar setting as a ''

'' official licensed product. The setting has a loyal following and has received praise for its consistency and realism. Kenzer and Company has also made the Kingdoms of Kalamar the official setting of its own role-playing fantasy game, ''

HackMaster HackMaster is a fantasy role-playing game produced by Kenzer & Company. It began as a fictional game, a parody of ''Dungeons & Dragons'' played by the characters of the ''Knights of the Dinner Table'' comic strip by Jolly R. Blackburn. The ...

''.

History

1990s

The original ''

The Kingdoms of Kalamar ''The Kingdoms of Kalamar'' is a fantasy role-playing game campaign setting published by Kenzer & Company in 1994 that is compatible with the second edition of ''Advanced Dungeons & Dragons'' published by TSR. Contents ''The Kingdoms of Kalama ...

'' material was clearly intended for use with ''

'', while carefully avoiding any direct trademark or copyright infringement. The setting appeared in two books, "''Kingdoms of Kalamar, Vol 1: Sourcebook of the Sovereign Lands''", and "''Vol 2: Mythos of the Divine and Worldly''", both in 1994. While distribution was not widespread, fans of the setting continued to support it. ''Vol 1: Sourcebook of the Sovereign Lands'' detailed the people and places of Tellene, the campaign's continent (and world). It broke the continent down into six regions and examined each one on a large scale. ''Vol 2: Mythos of the Divine and Worldly'' detailed the setting's 43 gods. It also described the setting's secret societies, astrology and calendar. These products were available individually or together in a box set with a two-part map.

Dungeons & Dragons 3rd edition

On November 1, 2000,

announced via press release that ''Kingdoms of Kalamar'' would become an official ''Dungeons & Dragons'' world. The ''Sourcebook of the Sovereign Lands'' and the ''Mythos of the Divine and Worldly'' were combined with nearly 100,000 words of new material for the ''Kingdoms of Kalamar Campaign Setting'', which was nominated for the

Origins Award The Origins Awards are American awards for outstanding work in the game industry. They are presented by the Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts and Design at the Origins Game Fair on an annual basis for the previous year, so (for example) the 1979 a ...

for Best

Roleplaying Game A role-playing game (sometimes spelled roleplaying game, RPG) is a game in which players assume the roles of characters in a fictional setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within a narrative, either through literal ac ...

in 2001. Over 30 different products have been released to support it. The reviewer from ''

Pyramid A pyramid (from el, πυραμίς ') is a structure whose outer surfaces are triangular and converge to a single step at the top, making the shape roughly a pyramid in the geometric sense. The base of a pyramid can be trilateral, quadrilat ...

'' found that while the Kingdoms of Kalamar originally had numerous game stats relating to 2nd edition ''Dungeons & Dragons'', once the Kingdoms were made an official ''Dungeons & Dragons'' setting in third edition, it had very few ''D&D'' specific references. While most of the books have been released with the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' logo, newer books (starting with ''Svimohzia: the Ancient Isle'') and pdf re-releases have been without it. On July 11, 2007, Kenzer & Company announced that their license with Wizards of the Coast would expire in August of that year.

Hackmaster

On July 6, 2006, Kenzer & Company announced that ''Kingdoms of Kalamar'' would be the official setting of the second version of their ''

'' roleplaying game.

Dungeons and Dragons 4th edition

On July 8, 2008, Kenzer & Company released a compilation of the ''Campaign Setting'' and ''Atlas'' as a new PDF updated to ''Dungeons & Dragons'' 4th edition. Notable about this release was that it did not use the

Game System License The Game System License is a license that allows third-party publishers to create products compatible with and using the intellectual property from the 4th edition of ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (''D&D''). It was released to the public by Wizards of th ...

and was the first 3rd-party release compatible with 4th edition not under the ''GSL''.

Setting

The

continent A continent is any of several large landmasses. Generally identified by convention rather than any strict criteria, up to seven geographical regions In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas t ...

of Tellene is the focus of the ''Kingdoms of Kalamar'' setting. Inhabitants of Tellene believe it the entirety of the world, although the source-material hint at lands beyond the edges of the map. Due to this, the world is also generally referred to as Tellene. Tellene is generally divided into several subregions. These include Brandobia, the Young Kingdoms, the Wild Lands, Reanaaria Bay and the isle of Svimohzia. The southernmost tip of Tellene lies at roughly 20°

latitude In geography, latitude is a coordinate that specifies the north– south position of a point on the surface of the Earth or another celestial body. Latitude is given as an angle that ranges from –90° at the south pole to 90° at the north pol ...

, while the northernmost explored areas rest at about 54°

. The climate ranges from

temperate In geography, the temperate climates of Earth occur in the middle latitudes (23.5° to 66.5° N/S of Equator), which span between the tropics and the polar regions of Earth. These zones generally have wider temperature ranges throughout ...

sub-tropical The subtropical zones or subtropics are geographical and climate zones to the north and south of the tropics. Geographically part of the temperate zones of both hemispheres, they cover the middle latitudes from to approximately 35° north a ...

. Tellene has three

moons A natural satellite is, in the most common usage, an astronomical body that orbits a planet, dwarf planet, or small Solar System body (or sometimes another natural satellite). Natural satellites are often colloquially referred to as ''moons'' ...

; Diadolai, Pelselond and Veshemo. These orbit Tellene with an 80, 34 and 28 day

Orbital period The orbital period (also revolution period) is the amount of time a given astronomical object takes to complete one orbit around another object. In astronomy, it usually applies to planets or asteroids orbiting the Sun, moons orbiting planets ...

respectively. Most of Tellene uses a

lunar calendar A lunar calendar is a calendar based on the monthly cycles of the Moon's phases ( synodic months, lunations), in contrast to solar calendars, whose annual cycles are based only directly on the solar year. The most commonly used calendar, t ...

, based around the 28-day orbit of Veshemo. The year consists of 13 months, each divided into four 7-day weeks. The year starts on the first day of spring.

External links

Kenzer & Company
Kingdoms of Kalamar product list
Review
in

Shadis ''Shadis'' is an independent gaming magazine that was published in 1990–1998 by Alderac Entertainment Group (AEG). It initially focused on role-playing games. Publication history Shadis was conceived and started by Jolly Blackburn as an indepe ...

References

{{D&D topics Dungeons & Dragons campaign settings