Wow. I am extremely happy with this. I purchased the Hardcover/PDF combo and feel that the product is well worth the price that I paid.

Back in the D20 days I purchased the Nyambe: African adventures game, and enjoyed reading it. It was a labor of love for the author and really felt like a African inspired place - but I never ran/played in it. i could never figure out what to DO with it to make it exciting. Great setting, but missing something - maybe it was the hook, or the advice I needed to come up with awesome adventures.

Lately I have been purchasing OSR materials - life is to busy, and rules are simple and easy (which works great with kids). After great reviews, I decided to take a $40 risk on Spears of Dawn. Man am I glad I did, as it is everything I had hoped it would be.

It is an african-themed rpg, complete with rules for play, that is oozing with flavor and potential. It is a 178 page tome, that is packed with everything you need to play. While I was initially concerned about the number of pages - I needn't have been. it has everything you need - rarely have I seen so much value packed into a smaller book.

The system is apparently based on the company's "Stars without Number" system (which I am now seriously contemplating purchasing!) ruleset - simple OSR type game with classes that fit the setting, simple skill system, and a magic system tailored to the setting. If you have played other OSR games, then it is all very familiar - plus a page on easy conversion to your favorite OSR setting if you prefer to use S&W, OSRIC, AKCS, or LL. Nice. This takes up over a 1/3 of the book.

The next third of the book is devoted to setting. This section is really awesome. The setting gives you multiple cultures, and a very cool reason to be out adventuring. It describes itself as a sandbox setting, but I did not feel limited to that at all - you could run a grand african inspired campaign (ala War of the Lance) - it is all there laid out and ready for you. brimming with story hooks - ideas were pounding in my head as I read.

The final third of the book is really the GM section. It has good notes on adventures in these lands, a bestiary (with rules for creating new creatures), and tons of charts and sections on everything from locations, encounters, NPCs (with quick generation), magic items, names, cults, etc.

Lastly it has a two page adventure that could easily fill up a 4 hour session. It is a simple "tomb crawl" that could be expanded into something more.

The art is typical of OSR type games - flavorful, yet simple. Some really good, some not as good, but all evocative of the setting.

I gave this five out of five, because I did not skim one page of this book - it is packed, useful, and I really want to run something on it. Do yourself the favor, take the risk, and check it out!