Which city supplement should I buy?

Codragon · Apr 11, 2002

I need a drop-in city for my homebrew world. Three fairly large city supplements have recently come out for d20. Which to buy??

Crothian · Apr 11, 2002

So, far through minor readings of both, I've liked Bluffside better then Freeport. I don't have the other one so I can't really comment on it. If you can I recomend both, though.

der_kluge · Apr 11, 2002

Bluffside, of course! It rocks.
Well, ok, I'm a bit biased.
I haven't even seen the other two yet. I'd like to take a look at Freeport. My wife doesn't let me out of the house very often, though.

kenjib · Apr 11, 2002

They are all great cities each with a different focus. Could you tell us more about your homebrew world? Maybe that could help us see what could fit in best. What kind of stories do you want to run in the city or what purpose should the city serve in your world? Do you want a safe haven/home base from which to set out on adventures (and perhaps to corrupt/destroy at a latter point when the players have emotions invested)? A hive of scum and villainy? A high fantasy non-realistic place? A gritty realistic place? Low/mid/high magic? Low/mid/high fantasy? Monster bashing/occult mysteries/exploration of fantastic and strange locales/political intrigue? City based/wilderness trekk based/lost dungeon based adventures? What are some of your preferences.

Personally I like Geanavue. It's very flexible/customizable - and I think that's a very nice asset to have when plugging it in to a homebrew. It also makes for a very nice base of operations for characters to work out of. However, I'm not going to vote until I know some of your preferences more.

GrimJesta · Apr 11, 2002

Dude, Geanavue is hardcore. Its one of te most detailed and realistic city-books Ive had the pleasure of owning. I used to think Lankhmar and the old Greyhawk box was awesome: they pale in comparison to Geanavue. It has everything you could want in a book of this nature, and I guarantee it will be some of the best cash youve dropped into gaming in a long time. It can be nicely fit into any setting, not just Kalamar. Another strong point of this book is that it has very little 3e mechanics in it, except fpr the appendices in the back, so you can use it for any fantasy system.

Im tellin ya, go with Geanavue. You WILL NOT be disappointed.

-=GrimJesta=-

Hand of Evil · Apr 12, 2002

I have all three and I have found Bluffside to be the best for dropping into my game. It has lots of locations, lots of hooks, lots of NPCs and lots of city, really 6 in all. It makes a great home base for adventures.

Geanavue is nice, lots of detail lots of information but it fits more into KoK and would take some work to drop into a completly different world.

Still reading Freeport but from what I read I still fill Bluffside provides more bang for the buck.

Kaptain_Kantrip · Apr 12, 2002

I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say Freiburg from AEG for their 7th Sea game. Freiburg is a box set. It comes with a Player's Guide to the City (full or errors and ommissions to add to the fun, as it is supposed to be a book sponsored by the shops listed therein as a tour guide for PCs to buy), A DM's Guide, An Adventure Book, a Player's Map of the City and a DM's Map of the City. Every building is detailed as to who owns it, how much it costs to rent or buy, what and who's inside and doing what, etc. $34.95 and worth every penny. The most detailed and gorgeous city in years, with a heavy Germanic feel to it. Very nice. The 7th Sea stats will need to be converted to d20, of course, and in some cases, this will be impossible to translate, but its nothing that a good DM can't fix. You really don't need stats for most NPCs, anyway.

Geanavue has a gorgeous dual-sided city/undercity map, rumorquest adventure hook cards to handout, and an amazing level of detail. The problem I had with it was it was so LG/LN bland, safe and boring. I was bored reading it and had to struggle to finish it without nodding off. If you like that kind of "safe" place, then Geanavue is for you. I personally prefer more of a Lankhmar or Zhentil Keep hive of scum and villainy, or a more moderate approach like Freiburg. The good thing about Geanavue is you can start out with a nice, safe place, then mess it up when your villains tear through it or take over. A problem I have with it is it is very Kingdoms of Kalamar-ish, with lots of hard to pronounce, silly sounding names. Another problem is the sleazy port of Loona is not given the amount of detail it needs to be usable. Kenzer wants us to pay for a Loona supplement later this year, which leaves a bad taste in my mouth, as that was the most interesting place in Geanavue.

Heretic Apostate · Apr 12, 2002

Affinity Games' Windhaven (Don't miss this one....)

This one looks good for designing cities.

Aside from that, get 'em all....

Nightfall · Apr 12, 2002

I side with my fellows, Bluffside. The ONLY city that's actually SIX cities in one. Course I have nothing but love for Freeport. Genu...well not my cup of tea but that's just me. (Never been a fan of BIG LG cities with only some harmony...)

CrazyMage · Apr 12, 2002

Heretic Apostate--glad you mentioned Windhaven, because that thing looks awesome. Here's hoping it's as good as it looks.

BTW I really enjoyed Geanavue. Not every city needs to feel like the bad part of town on Riot Day.