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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Simon Collins" data-source="post: 2009131" data-attributes="member: 9860">This is not a playtest review.Bluffside: City On The Edge, is a city sourcebook introducing the metropolis of Bluffside, a coastal city lying at the top of some very high cliffs and surrounded by high mountains on its landward side.At $22.95 for 144 pages, this is slightly less than standard pricing for a book of its size and type, and makes good use of space with small margins, and a compact font size in a three-column page layout. In line with the number of artists used, the art is varied, ranging from poor to superb, though mainly average. The front cover shows a useful visual of Bluffside from the air. Maps are average with some having scale and no compass direction whilst others have compass direction and no scale. I was less than impressed by the look of the pull-out city map in the back which is a two-tone brown with no more information on it than the visual on the front cover. It does make it a map that can be given to players without fear of giving away any information about the city. The writing quality is pretty average whilst editing is mediocre, with regular minor mistakes.After a brief introduction, there is a short 4-page history of Bluffside. Essentially, Bluffside was once the centre of an ancient civilisation. Some sort of cataclysm destroyed the civilisation. It is thought that protective magics managed to allow many of the buildings to partially survive the cataclysm. The ruined city was discovered thousands of years later by archaeologists. Adamantine was also discovered and a boom town developed alongside the archaeological work. An underground complex beneath the city, two new races (the winged Sixams and the tinkering Steam Gnomes), and organised goblinoids in the surrounding high mountains all had an impact on the development of the new settlement as it expanded. As trade grew more important, the inhabitants developed a floating port at the bottom of the high cliffs with access to Bluffside (at the top of the cliffs) through a series of caves and tunnels winding up through the cliffs. These caves and tunnels eventually became places to live in and of themselves - thus was born Bluffside's Undercity. The settlement continued to expand as adamantine mining became more important until Bluffside became a city and then a metropolis. Now, the adamantine has nearly run out, horrific creatures have begun to emerge from underground, and the secrets of the ancient ruins that form the basis of Bluffside are close to being unlocked.After a brief timeline and some information on the population of Bluffside, there are a couple of pages devoted to the power structure of Bluffside. Five 'houses' rule Bluffside (known as "The Five"), each vying with the other for control of the dwindling adamantine, which holds the key to power in the city. The importance of the Wizards Council, the temples of Bluffside, the Vault (an organisation which wields law on the floating port), and the Adventurers Guild are also discussed in elation to the balance of power.The next 62 pages are devoted to a gazetteer of Bluffside, actually split into eight districts:* Old City - site of the original Bluffside settlement, archaeological hub, and somewhat decadent centre where the homes of The Five are located.* New City - standing at the entrance to the underground complex, New City is the hub of trade and adventuring.* Mining District - centre for adamantine mining-related industrial organisations.* Temple District - all the temples of Bluffside's deities plus areas where philosophical disagreements between priests can be fought out - literally.* Military District - farming, shops and barracks.  * Wizard District - centred around a mysterious tower from the ancient civilisation that came before Bluffside, the tower repulses sorcerers but wizards are fascinated by it and dedicate their time to unlocking its secrets.* Undercity - tunnels, catacombs, warehouses and sewers leading down to the base of the cliffs where trade goods are brought up to Bluffside via Sordadon. Also includes shops, an illegal fighting arena, dwarven halls and some inns - including the high-class establishment called "Mr.Rat" with their speciality - Rat On A Stick (a bargain at only 5 copper).* Sordadon - the floating port at the base of the cliffs of Bluffside proper. Built on the top of half-sunken wrecks stuck on the coral reefs beneath, the port is dissected by canals allowing boats access throughout the area. The area is the main location for criminal organisations.Each location is defined by type (e.g. shop/private estate/inn/recreation, etc.), there is a description of the establishment, brief stats and description on the owner or prominent resident, and there are a couple of adventure hooks for the location.The sourcebook goes on to outline the guilds and secret societies of Bluffside, including the Society of Explorers and Adventurers, the Archaeological Guild, the two main criminal organisations (the Hammers & the Golden Sabres) that vie with each other for control of Bluffsides underworld, as well as a standard Thieves Guild.Five pages are dedicated to areas outside Bluffside. These include the outlying farmlands, the mountain ranges that surround Bluffside on three sides, important rivers, and the nearby Coldwind Forest. There is also a brief section of areas further afield, such as the Sea of Ishmark, the Dragon Sands (a desert area far to the south of Bluffside) and the Steam Gnome civilisations far beneath Bluffside.A 3-page section on religion in Bluffside covers the domains, weapons, symbols and portfolio of the main deities of Bluffside, along with a description of the gods' interests and influences.Appendix 1: NPCs, gives full stats on all the NPCs mentioned in the previous gazetteer section and covers 30 pages. Appendix 2: Creatures, offers seven new monsters. Appendix 3: Guards, gives stats for guards relevant to various locations in Bluffside. Appendix 4: Races, introduces five new races:* Dragori - reptilian race of the Dragon Sands with three sub-types* Nevae - half-drow, half-surface elf* Sel'varahn - aquatic humanoids who employ a special ritual that allows them to breathe air for extended periods* Sixam Ieuna - winged humanoids with severe claustrophobia* Steam Gnomes - industrialised serious gnomesAppendix 5: Prestige Classes, covers the Bluffside Mountain Ranger, Cat Burglar, Explorer, and Tunnel Fighter prestige classes. Appendix 6: Spells, gives over 20 new spells including such Bluffside-orientated spells as date item, detect precious ore, and perpetual motion, as well as more generalised spells such as plague and summon shadows. Appendix 7: Equipment, offers a few pieces of equipment original to the setting such as Dragori tail spikes, Nevae glasses (to protect their eyes from glare), and miner's helmet. Appendix 8: Magical Items, gives seven new magical items (including a more powerful version of nevae glasses and a Sixam Sky-Charm, which helps Sixam to temporarily resist the effects of their clautrophobia). Appendix 9: Feats, gives 6 new feats including aerial combat and swim-by attack. Appendix 10: Domains, lists 15 new domains - affliction, combat, emotion, entropy, flight, history, ice, invention, mining, nature, peace, shadow, skullduggery, undeath, and weather. There is also an index.Thunderhead Games extras on the website currently include all district maps, ten undercity location maps, religious symbols of Bluffside deities, and more. These can be accessed in the Vault section of the website by entering the password and Login ID from your copy of the book. The Bluffside (fan-based) netbook has a few new Places Of Interest in development with the promise of more to come.Conclusion: This is an unusual city setting, with some interesting premises behind the layout that should provide the basis for some great adventure development. The back of the book outlines the major web support planned for the book, with areas where fans can develop their own characters, trade routes and adventures for Bluffside, as well as downloadable maps and extras from Thunderhead Games. One of the things I liked about Bluffside was that there was not so much information in here that it became overwhelming - there is certainly room for development along the lines that Thunderhead are proposing, yet there is enough in the sourcebook to use when running adventures based in the city. The adventure hooks for each location provided more than enough possible ideas to begin to develop an adventure or two located in Bluffside. The Appendices rounded out the information provided in the gazetteer.I was a bit disappointed with the quality of writing and the somewhat anachronistic feel to some of the locations. Though NPCs had a full physical description and stats in the appendix, there was a lack of roleplaying information for many, probably due to space restrictions. I was also a little disappointed that there were not more adventure ideas linked to the sections on guilds and secret societies - indeed, that there was not more in these sections (though I'm sure that we'll see these areas developed in the netbook being proposed by Thunderhead).As has been noted by Psion, the maps, editing and missing information in the book leave a lot to be desired but overall the adventure ideas, the feel of the city, and the copious NPC information raise this product above the average. The downloads and (proposed) errata on Thunderheads website help to balance out the negatives mentioned above.</blockquote>

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