Pirate's Guide to Freeport -- Impressions?

[DM_Jeff]

I have every Freeport book published up till now.

Can anyone tell give me a few good reasons to get this? Does it replace/outdate all the stuff in the Freeport Hardcover and the Denizens books...info-wise at least?

-DM Jeff

 

[Kristian Serrano]

From what I understand, it advances the timeline.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I believe it's set five years after Crisis in Freeport, in which the succession crisis finally ends with the appointment of a new Sea Lord. There's a new district in the city, which came out of a natural disaster. So while it's possible to use the book with the trilogy era (which I'll be doing), it probably would be best to hold onto City of Adventure for reference, at least.

 

[The Grumpy Celt]

Anyway, the current response to PGtF is positive?

Hopefully, with less sodomy in future supplements.

Well, I can’t say I… ah… missed out on Black Sails. I never played the adventure and while you’ve outlined the role gorilla’s played in the adventure, I am curious.

Sodomy? Really?

Run him through! Wear his guts for garters! Keelhaul him!

Parley?

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Parley?

You must be a pirate for the Pirate's Code to apply, and you're not. And secondly, the Code is more what you'd call "guidelines" than actual rules.

 

[CaptainChaos]

Anyway, the current response to PGtF is positive?

Oh yeah, it's a great book. There's a lot to it too. You can't digest it all in one sitting.

 

[Patrick O'Duffy]

Can anyone tell give me a few good reasons to get this? Does it replace/outdate all the stuff in the Freeport Hardcover and the Denizens books...info-wise at least?

To a large extent, yes. It advances the timeline of the setting by five years, changing many of the elements of City and Denizens as appropriate, and adding a lot of new material as well. There's overlap among the three books, sure, but not very much; almost no-one and nothing made it through those five years without being changed (or in some cases getting killed off/demolished).

 

[Nightfall]

Patrick,

Any favorite parts to this Guide that stand out for you? Chris and Rob, how about you guys?

 

[The Grumpy Celt]

You must be a pirate for the Pirate's Code to apply, and you're not.

Well, you've got me there. I'm more of a monster-man who cut out his heart and put it in box after a bad prom date.

Anyway, what are some highlights of the PGtF?

 

[Patrick O'Duffy]

Patrick,

Any favorite parts to this Guide that stand out for you?

Well, obviously every section I wrote is solid Ennie-deserving gold.

More generally, I like the way that there's a real emphasis on character and personality in the NPCs. Because the mechanical abilities of the characters aren't spelt out, they're not based around what they do but why they do it. It's an emphasis that probably wouldn't be there in a system-specific book, and it's really cool.

I also like the way the different approach of Rob, Chris and myself has resulted in different but compatible flavours of fantasy in the book. A Freeport campaign can be high fantasy, or low fantasy, or horror, or sword and sorcery, or grimly humourous, just by a GM focusing on a specific set of NPCs and plot hooks. And those different sets of tones and styles exist quite naturally alongside each other, rather than being artificially separated, and that's fundamentally due to have three different sets of aesthetics and attitudes working from the same set of ideas.