Just so the review isn't taken out of context, and since I suspect I am the person Marcelo believes unjustly did them wrong, here is the text of the entire review I did.
Black Flag: Piracy in the Caribbean
Welcome to The Critic's Corner. This review is for Black Flag: Piracy in the Caribbean by Avalanche Press. This is a 64-page supplement that uses historical material and references to give players a high seas flavor that is designed to be more historically accurate than other d20 seafaring books available. It retails for $16.95.
The first three chapters give a historical accounting of life in 18th century Caribbean waters. From discussions of the economy of gold and silver, to the cultural issues of slavery, to the prevalent attitudes towards religion, you get a fairly reasonable understanding of what really went on during this time (and it certainly wasn’t Errol Flynn style swashbuckling). A basic course in sailing and shipboard life is also covered fairly effectively.
Much ado has been made about Avalanche’s choice of covers for this particular book. While they are consistent with their presentation style (primarily fantasy women with exposed skin), this particular cover does symbolize the historical elements of the period. Fact: High leather boots were worn by some ship captains. Fact: Sailors often wore their clothes until they were nothing more than rags since they did tend to own only a single set of clothes. Fact: Sailors often wore few clothes when sailing on the open seas, preferring to go shirtless and barefoot. Fact: The choice of weapons was indeed musket pistol and rapier. Fact: Although extremely rare, there are records of women becoming pirates, even captains, and were sometimes more bloodthirsty than their male counterparts. When all of this information is considered, the controversial cover should be seen in a new light. However, I do agree with one criticism; I sincerely doubt the female pirate captains of the 18th century were a size 2 with 36-38D’s who wore four-inch heels. Perhaps growing up admiring the fantasy art of Frank Frazetta, Boris Vallejo, Michael Whelan, and others give me a jaded perspective, but I’ve never really felt that this particular style of art was ever intentionally meant to be offensive to women. Rather, it stems from the fantasy and science fiction stories of the 30’s through the 60’s that ingrained the images of the damsel in distress or the Amazon warrior who could wage war better than any man. The art emphasizes the “fantasy” aspect of the story. As a final word on this subject, I have to wonder if there would be as much criticism and outcry if the model on the cover of Black Flags were male instead.
The last three chapters (4-6) delve into the fantasy gaming aspects and mechanics. All of the information in these chapters has been declared Open Content and present a more realistic slant to seafaring. For starters, the only acceptable standard character class from the Player’s Handbook is the rogue. New classes that fill the voids are: Merchant, Noble, Priest, Sailor, and Soldier (who are treated like fighters). In addition, Class Templates have been developed to add more flavor to your character. These are: Escaped Slave, Carpenter, Cook, and Officer. Four new prestige classes round thing s out with Captain, Cardinal, Navigator, and Physician.
The ever-tricky question of alignment is redefined for this setting. Avalanche’s first suggestion is to drop it all together. Having said that, their second suggestion is to keep it but remember that character class and profession are not tied to alignment. It’s the character’s actions that determine what his alignment may be. Nine new feats, three new skills and a revised equipment list finish out everything needed to create a character for this setting.
The final chapter addresses new rules for the period setting. Rules on grievous body harm, gangrene, firearms, cannons, and ship AC/damage resistance are laid out. While this chapter is by far the weakest in the book, it does have a new method of adding flair and swashbuckling (ala Hollywood pirate movies) to the setting through a system called panache. Every character gains the panache ability at first level and builds this up as they progress in levels. Attempts at performing a wild stunt use panache to determine its success. All in all, rather interesting.
In conclusion, Black Flag: Piracy in the Caribbean is a decent resource if you are running a very low or no magic campaign and want to add a naval flavor. However, you will need an additional sourcebook for naval ship rules since they are pretty much non-existent here. This book has some useful information, but I wouldn’t pay full price unless you really wanted it. Wait for a clearance or shop for it online if you can.
The Critic's Rating: (maximum 5 pts for each category)
Amount of Open Game Content: 3.5
d20 Compliance: 4.0 (Several class abilities should be skills instead)
Originality: 4.5
Playability: 3.0 (Low magic or no magic world)
Value for the dollar: 3.0
Overall Rating: 3.60 (Decent but not outstanding)
As you can see, the "facts" as they are represented in Marcelo's letter of apology do not bear out the facts of the review. Again, assuming I am the one he is referring to...
