PUBLISHER: Paradigm Concepts, Inc.
TYPE: Fantasy, Roleplaying, Historical Fantasy, World Settings/Locations, Campaign World Settings, Locations, True20
PRICE: $19.95
REVIEWER: Andrew Branstad

Tales of the Caliphate Nights represents a bold ambition. The authors have attempted to create a fantasy roleplaying campaign set in a pseudo-historic version of earth during the height of the Islamic empire. In this endeavor, they've included many elements both factual and cinematic. In addition, one can see the influence of the Thousand Nights, the classic collection of Arabian fairy tales in both the rules and setting details of the book. In fact, stories and story-telling are a big part of Caliphate Nights. That they've succeeded in their somewhat difficult task speaks well for Paradigm Concepts, Inc. The PDF is positively huge, weighing in at 258 pages including the front and back covers, plus legal information. The majority of the art throughout is full color and very setting appropriate. The layout is typical for a product of this type, with well-organized rules and thorough bookmarking. While the book looks great on a laptop, its length and frequent use of color art and page borders make printing it a bit out of the question for most people. The game uses Green Ronin's True20 system, which is a kind of streamlined d20. When I first read the True20 rules, my immediate thought was that the system would be ideal for roleplaying campaigns based on novels. As such, the adventure stories of the Arabian Nights are well supported by the game rules. The damage system, while cinematic, feels more gritty than the hit points of d20. Characters can still overcome impossible odds and dangerous foes, but they are more...mortal...than their typical fantasy counterparts. Tales of the Caliphate Nights expands on the existing True20 rules in innovative ways. There are two means by which players can spend conviction points to temporarily take over the narration of the story, making them something like temporary GMs. This gives the players themselves some control over their character's fates, and it adds an interesting roleplaying mechanic to the rules for spending conviction. This is also where we first see the idea of storytelling introduced as something of a metagame concept in the rules. While all roleplaying game characters are part of a story, Tales of the Caliphate Nights gives mechanics to back that idea up and, at the same time, encourage the kind of stories that inspired the setting. Its wonderfully innovative and a welcome addition to the open gaming landscape. There are a number of new rules in this work as well. In addition to obvious things like new feats and magic, the book contains a simple system of chases, rules for handling debates, and storytelling contests. Other, existing rules are expanded and altered to fit the campaign's theme. Language, for example, is expanded in some detail. There is also advice on running the game without dice for story-driven episodes where the narration is more important than the rules. Finally, the book is positively full of advice. Most of this is aimed at the Narrator, and covers both GMing tips and setting-specific points that might not be obvious to the typical western gamer. The Arabic world is covered in detail. The lands, peoples, and beliefs of the setting are all described. While any single work based on a real-world culture can only hope to scratch the surface of a people's society, the book does a good job covering what needs to be covered in order to facilitate the game. I must point out that Caliphate Nights does contain strong religious elements. The religion here isn't a fictious one, it is the real-world faith of Islam. While it is beyond my duties as a reviewer to advocate or condone religion (or even discuss it, really), I feel it is important to make sure prospective buyers are aware of the game's religious content. To the author's credit, they have done a good job presenting Islam in a fairly neutral light. I understand how important religion was during the historic period that inspired this book, so I see why the authors give it the attention it receives in Caliphate Nights. Still, if you have strong feelings one way or the other, you should at least be aware that the religious elements are here, as fair and neutral as they are.

LIKED: Tales of the Caliphate Nights is an interesting campaign setting that simultaneously combines elements of a historic setting with the stories it has inspired. I really like the way the system mechanics are made to support the roleplaying aspects of the setting. True20 seems a perfect fit for this setting, and the authors have done a great job adapting it to work even better for their ends. There is some real innovation going on in this PDF, and you can see why it was selected as one of the winners in Green Ronin's True20 setting search.

DISLIKED: There really isn't much to say about this book in the way of negatives. Roleplaying in a historic setting, even one that's based more on the stories and myths of an era, may not be everyone's cup of tea. Tales of the Caliphate Nights does a good job keeping things fantastic, but the real-world overtones may turn off some players. Other than that, this book is well written, well designed, and wonderfully put together.

QUALITY: Excellent

VALUE: Very Satisfied