The Land is actually a great big island. A brief history discusses some strange folks who originally mined with hi-tech stuff, then left the Land and abandoned their stuff. Aeons pass, some cat has map of hidden gold, and eventually colonies start. The land is rules be one family until some old crown sporting cat who can't make a decision on succession so he splits up the Land among his 4 sons...then trouble ensues. Now the Land is split into four counties: Darok, Muipoco, Dihad, and Soukor. Welcome to the Land pilgrim.
What is interesting in reading this is how epic the plans were for this series of sandbox supplements. Each county was to be given a book, then specific capitol cities were to have add-on books. From reading the line summary, it would appear the 4 country books were all written as they were due to release in the same year in pairs (Darko/Dihad first then Muipoco/Soukor). Pity they did not and one must wonder if the manuscripts for Muipoco and Soukor lie in a file in someone's office somewhere.
After the history and intro comes the "using this book" section. One of the issues with having a heavy skill system are the stat blocks. While the ones in Darok are nowhere near 43...or even 3e in length, for the time they were more involved then D&D"
Name and Stats (ST, IQ, DX, MA)
Weapons (type, damage)
Armor (type, protection)
Talents (Skills-listed)
Spells (Type-listed)
Special Possessions (listed)
Then came the Treasure Factor (could be a Fox reality show?) description table. In shorthand it shows how much in total value (coins/goods) the person or building may have as well as the possibility of finding significant treasures. The table also shows if the person or building will have guards or traps. It's simple in presentation, but a bit klunky I think in practice.
That summarizes the basics for the Land Beyond the Mountain series set up...next we enter Darok proper...
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