City State of the Invincible Overlord -- Is it really that good?

[dagger]

In a game Im playing in, the DM's world has always included the City State, he also uses the Briarwood (80's) version as another city in the campaign world. Briarwood is located far from the evil decadence of the City State though.

That Overlord product (old and new) is the hands down, best product I have ever read and owned. It use to crack me up just reading the rules for the streets. Man the city can be very brutal....we love it.

 

[WampusCat43]

Any suggestions on where to place this baby in the Forgotten Realms (or what city to replace with it)? It's arriving this week, and I'm really looking forward to it.

 

[dagger]

I would replace Westgate with it....that city has a really evil bent to it already.

 

[Arnwyn]

Any suggestions on where to place this baby in the Forgotten Realms (or what city to replace with it)? It's arriving this week, and I'm really looking forward to it.

In my FR game, I placed it in the Shining South. There are a fair number of city-states there, and many are unpleasant. Further, you won't have to ignore any FR material when you add the CSIO - it perfectly integrates with no changes or retconning.

I placed it at the city just east of the Great Rift (as shown in the FR Atlas as well as the FR10 maps). I can't remember the name off-hand (I'm at the office), but it has not been detailed in any sourcebook (and won't be). Ripe for the DM-picking!

Good locations also include anywhere in Thindol, Var the Golden, Estagund, and Durpar.

 

[Akrasia]

Well I went ahead and bought it.

First impression: on balance, positive. I like the vibe of the various NPCs, stores, etc.

The DM map is good....

... But I am annoyed that there is no player map! What was Necro thinking? There is no way I am going to have players 'map' the city as they explore it. That is both tedious and unrealistic. OTOH, the map included gives the players way too much information.

I am really annoyed that Necro didn't put more thought into how important it is to have a player map for a product like this. (Indeed, I am annoyed that most game companies don't think about this.)

I guess that, if I use the city more or less 'as is', I will photocopy the map and blot out much of it with a marker, and then give that altered map to the players. What a pain!

Still, it is quite likely I will just rip parts of it out for various towns/cities in my campaign, and so the map thing may not be such an issue.

Despite that complaint, I think it is a pretty cool product.

 

[MonsterMash]

Yes, I really wanted a player map and did mention that as a negative in my review. If we pester NG enough they might get a players map as a web enhancement.

 

[Melan]

Yeah. Even a PDF of the old players' map would be nice. All that needs is a big scanner and someone with an original.

 

[TheAuldGrump]

Yeah. Even a PDF of the old players' map would be nice. All that needs is a big scanner and someone with an original.

How about this?

The Auld Grump

 

[Treebore]

Suitable. It is so poorly done it actually looks like a beat up old map real adventurers would be carrying around. Of course you still need to print it out in a scale to your liking.

 

[Mystery Man]

Picked this up on the way home tonight. 'Tis sweet!