Humblewood Campaign Setting by Christopher Pinch
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
So I've had my eye on this for a while and saw Hit Point Press had an "imperfect" version on their website for ten bucks plus abnormally high shipping so I finally grabbed it. I haven't run a campaign in a couple decades at this point and since three of my prospective players grew up on Disney and the other is a furry, this seemed like a resource that would get some use.
First off, some of the character races are adorable. Just check out the Strig knight on the cover! The Birdfolk and their Humblefolk neighbors don't seem overpowered compared to the standard 5e races aside from the Vulpin's charm person ability. The Mapach seems inspired by Rocket Raccoon from Guardians of the Galaxy but who the hell cares, honestly? That's probably how I'd want to play them. No complaints on the new PC races. I would have no qualms about including the races in this book in a Planescape or Spelljammer campaign to flesh out those settings.
I like the background of the world but I'd like more detail on that. The campaign area isn't that large and a lot of the book is devoted to a series of adventures rather than fleshing out the setting a bit. Alderheart, the main city of the setting, doesn't get as much detail as I'm accustomed though not ever city needs to be detailed as much as The Rock of Bral or City of Greyhawk, I guess.
The presentation is up to 5e standards for the most part. Some of the art is iconic. I have the imperfect version and it's pretty damn good.
So who would most like this? I think if you're group is into stuff like The Labyrinth and The Dark Crystal, Disney's Robin Hood, Redwall, and/or Mouseguard, you'd probably get a kick out of this. Who hasn't wanted to run Sir Didymus from the Labyrinth? I think if you'd want to run a campaign just based on what's here, you'd have some work on your hands.
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