The Blood Sea brings to life the area in, around, and under the Blood Sea. Divided into five chapters, the book brings utility and funny sounding names to further any SL GM’s desire to have pirates or pirate hunters even as they deal with the horror of the titan Kadum’s blood has had on the sea.
Chapter one, the Scarlet Deeps, starts off with numerous letters and pieces of history. It’s a section I’m not too thrilled with as these bits of information come to us in a hand written style font which makes it take up a huge amount of space. This style is not needed. Take the section right under “Before the Sea Was Blood.” This is a quick little poem but written in standard size and type, just with an italic look to separate it from the main body of the text.
The historical information does provide a look at what the sea was like before, during the tainting and after. Some of the details involve mutation from the blood sea as it drives the undersea folk mad, some of it shows the dangers of crossing the new red waters as a dangerous undersea race, the Pisceans attack passing ships. Random monster encounters are divided by where you’re at in the blood sea. Are you on the coast, the deep, or in the islands? Each one has an average CR and uses % dice to determine what you face if an encounter is called for.
Numerous tables help the GM round out any trip. You can see what sea hunting and foraging gets you, what type of contaminated food you pull out, what the weather is like, and what damage a ship can suffer from a storm. The map showing the trade route between Ghelspad and Termana shows a vast amount of miles between the two, as well as the polar ice caps, and shows an archipelago in between them. Other weaknesses common to SL books are found here. References are made to just about every other book in the series. Looking at these encounter tables, you’ll need both Creature Collection Revised and Creature Collection. Looking at spell lists, you’ll need Relics & Rituals I and II.
For those who want more than just surface information, chapter two, Beneath the Crimson Waves, provides details on the various ecologies and empires that rule beneath the waves. Those seeking to escape hazards found above are in for a surprise as the Pisceans have their own empire and the map of the Western Empire, shows the four areas of main control they wield. Those looking for even more challenges can look at the Abyss and the gore trenches within, where the titan’s blood is in massive concentrations.
One thing that the book provides is a setting on the Blood Sea. Unfortunately, it, like much of the book, tends to rely on the whole blood theme too much. Heartsblood Archipelago, and Bloodport? Surely someone could’ve thought of different names? Anyway, these places are excellent for players to take refuge and supply themselves for the journey ahead. Other locations include Haven, a chain of three islands where monks study the issues of the Blood Sea and attempt to cull the various pirate threats.
GMs looking for a way to throw more adversary a their players will enjoy the Heartseekers of Kadum, a group of titan worshippers that seek to restore the titan’s heart, torn out by the goddess of murder. It’s a small group but one that battles with a deep fervor for the cause as each member has successfully ingested the blood of the titan.
Chapter Four, Pirates of the Blood Sea, almost seems out of place here, as its almost more a look at pirates than it is pirates of the Blood Sea. Still, the details should provide useful for those who don’t have any information on pirates as it covers a wide range of rules and regulations, as well as numerous organizations and campaign styles.
GMs wondering what to do with all of this information can flip to the fifth chapter, Adventures on the Blood Sea, which had a few general ideas as well as some brief adventure outlines. It’s okay material, but providing the other areas with more details, like common lizard folk make up, would’ve allowed the GM to do much of the work here and allow the book to provide more details.
The appendix starts off with some quick mundane definitions like league, knot and dead reckoning, while ties of blood provides some examples of what can be done by the titan tainted individuals. This is probably a case where I would’ve borrowed material from Legend of the Five Rings as they have a nice set of rules for blood magic and their taint rules could be a good method of showing growing levels of corruption.
Other things help round out the section. Need some new magic items? We’ve got weapons with the stormcaller property, allowing them to use the gust of wind spell effect or even new magic tattoos like Behemoths’ Maw, turning the sailor’s mouth into a dangerous weapon. Need new feats? How about Sea Legs where you gain a bonus not only to Balance checks, but also to reflex saving throws, while made aboard ship.
The bad names continue with new monsters like Blood Sea Mutant, different mind you, than the Blood Tainted individuals. More impressive are the various golems, rot, (flesh golem tainted), and rust (iron golem tainted). New spells continue the tradition of Relics and Rituals with background information in the description and game effects under Spell Effect. These range from the vital Clarify Water spell to the visually appealing Burning Sails, giving a sailing ship sails of fire that are fearful to gaze upon and also propel the ship without wind.
The prestige classes are an odd lot. For example, perhaps because it was so recent, the Blood Sea pirate is not detailed here. One of the original SL PrCs though, the Sea Witch, is. Looking at the original Sea Witch from Relics & Rituals, all I can say is that back then, when they were first starting out, Prestige Classes were heavily condensed. Almost the exact same text in Relics and Rituals took under a page and in this book, that text sprawls all over the place. One thing that changed mechanically is that the spellcasting ability has been removed, making these casters much more people of the sea as opposed to spellcasters of the sea.
Overall these PrCs are best suited for naval campaigns or those that involve the Blood Sea in some way. Take the Beastmaker for example, a master of turning standard creatures into true terrors. Not a bad little PrC, but we’ve already got a book by Mongoose, Crossbreeding, and more details in Path of the Magi by Troll Lord Games. The Seaborn on the other hand, is an individual blessed by the god Manawe that allow them to serve the goddess above and below the waves.
The maps of the various ships are well done and include war hulk, coastal trader, pirate hunter, and galleon. They seem a little ad hoc though as they have no deep details like oh, say weapons on the pirate hunter or hit points, hardness or other goods.
The book provides the reader with some ideas on what to do with the Blood Sea but could be better. For example, it mentions House Asuras as being a victim of pirate attacks and provides the reader with the pirates. What about the other side? What trade routes do they follow? Have they discovered any other lands or is Termana the extend of it? What happens at the Polar Ice Cap where the Blood Sea intrudes? Why no adventure seeds on freeing the trapped Titan? Echoes of the Past provided numerous ideas and even a timeline for the Slarecian’s return.
What about playing as one of the undersea folk? No maps of their cities. The whole focus on pirates seems a little misplaced as it doesn’t even reconcile the information here with that of Mitrhil source book, where they have their own pirate troubles with the Toe Islands, not indicated on the trade map.
The use of white space is fair in most cases, but the stories are told in huge fonts. The three pages of advertising are, as Cartman from South Park would say, “Weak.”
What the book does well is provide more reasons to avoid the Blood Sea. The various diseases, monsters, and dangerous weather, show that those who travel upon it must be of great resolve and great ability.
