$12.99
The Great City Campaign Setting
[ua001]
Date Added: Wednesday 20 October, 2010
by Dark Mistress
This product is 162 pages long. Cover, credits and ToC. (4 pages) There is far far to much information for me to get into a detailed review, so I will give a overview as best I can.
Forward (1 page)
Introduction (6 pages)
Gives a general overview of the city. Including taxes, politics, and two page map of the city.
History (3 pages)
Gives a brief overview of the history of the city.
City Wards
It breaks the city down into wards. Each section list it's Special Interest, Power Groups, Citizens and Activities, Notable NPC's, Keyed Locations, Wandering NPC's and Adventure Locations. Each section has a map of that ward of the city and several maps of key locations in the ward. A note about the wards. The truth is they are so detailed I could have written a full paged review easy for each one.
Army Ward (15 pages)
Home to the cities military. As well as a guild and some other power groups.
Castle Ward (15 pages)
Seat of the rulers of the city.
Dock Ward (12 pages)
Covering the docks, warehouses, fishermen and taverns and such that serve them.
Residential Ward (15 Pages)
Former nobles district now taken over by the middle class and poor of the city.
Temple Ward (17 pages)
Where most of the temples are located. It also includes information on some of the gods and price of healing magics.
Trade Ward (16 pages)
Mostly shops, while the owners typically live above their shops. Where most things are bought and sold in the city.
The Cost of Freedom (8 pages)
It introductory adventure. A merchant is on trial for murder and the PC's have 3 days to find out what really happened. It does a good job of introducing many aspect of the city. It is fairly short adventure but looks like a fun adventure that will help players want to learn more about the city.
Monsters (6 pages)
There is 5 new creatures in this section will full stats.
Important NPC's (30 pages)
In this section is gives stat blocks for all the NPC's mentioned in the varies ward sections. This section is broken up by ward as well to make finding the NPC you need pretty easy.
It ends with a OGL, 1 page of add, 1 blank page and the back cover. (4 pages)
Closing thoughts. This book is just stuffed with neat locations, groups, NPC's etc. I could have easily done a full 1 page review on each ward alone. There was just no way to give a detail review and actually cover all the good points in this book. There is enough plot hooks with a little work you could set a whole campaign here in the city and never leave. Also when a section touches on something they have done another product about it mentions the name of the other product. So you can find it if you would like more information. It has extensive bookmarks. There was a few spelling errors and grammar errors but honestly with a book this big that is to be expected. The artwork is mostly fair to good.
My only real critic is I would have liked to have seen this book cover the culture of the city a bit more. What do the people dress like, maybe even cover popular foods are drink. Really that is the only thing lacking from being able to really bring this city to life. If you want a in depth city to drop into your campaign or looking for a well done city to center a campaign on, then this is a very good pick up. Even if you don't want to use the city as is, it is still a good pickup. There is plenty of locations, groups and NPC's you can steal for your own stuff. My rating is a 4 star. I liked the book, I think it is a good pickup. But I do think with a dozen more pages it could have been fantastic.
Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
Forward (1 page)
Introduction (6 pages)
Gives a general overview of the city. Including taxes, politics, and two page map of the city.
History (3 pages)
Gives a brief overview of the history of the city.
City Wards
It breaks the city down into wards. Each section list it's Special Interest, Power Groups, Citizens and Activities, Notable NPC's, Keyed Locations, Wandering NPC's and Adventure Locations. Each section has a map of that ward of the city and several maps of key locations in the ward. A note about the wards. The truth is they are so detailed I could have written a full paged review easy for each one.
Army Ward (15 pages)
Home to the cities military. As well as a guild and some other power groups.
Castle Ward (15 pages)
Seat of the rulers of the city.
Dock Ward (12 pages)
Covering the docks, warehouses, fishermen and taverns and such that serve them.
Residential Ward (15 Pages)
Former nobles district now taken over by the middle class and poor of the city.
Temple Ward (17 pages)
Where most of the temples are located. It also includes information on some of the gods and price of healing magics.
Trade Ward (16 pages)
Mostly shops, while the owners typically live above their shops. Where most things are bought and sold in the city.
The Cost of Freedom (8 pages)
It introductory adventure. A merchant is on trial for murder and the PC's have 3 days to find out what really happened. It does a good job of introducing many aspect of the city. It is fairly short adventure but looks like a fun adventure that will help players want to learn more about the city.
Monsters (6 pages)
There is 5 new creatures in this section will full stats.
Important NPC's (30 pages)
In this section is gives stat blocks for all the NPC's mentioned in the varies ward sections. This section is broken up by ward as well to make finding the NPC you need pretty easy.
It ends with a OGL, 1 page of add, 1 blank page and the back cover. (4 pages)
Closing thoughts. This book is just stuffed with neat locations, groups, NPC's etc. I could have easily done a full 1 page review on each ward alone. There was just no way to give a detail review and actually cover all the good points in this book. There is enough plot hooks with a little work you could set a whole campaign here in the city and never leave. Also when a section touches on something they have done another product about it mentions the name of the other product. So you can find it if you would like more information. It has extensive bookmarks. There was a few spelling errors and grammar errors but honestly with a book this big that is to be expected. The artwork is mostly fair to good.
My only real critic is I would have liked to have seen this book cover the culture of the city a bit more. What do the people dress like, maybe even cover popular foods are drink. Really that is the only thing lacking from being able to really bring this city to life. If you want a in depth city to drop into your campaign or looking for a well done city to center a campaign on, then this is a very good pick up. Even if you don't want to use the city as is, it is still a good pickup. There is plenty of locations, groups and NPC's you can steal for your own stuff. My rating is a 4 star. I liked the book, I think it is a good pickup. But I do think with a dozen more pages it could have been fantastic.
Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!] 
