(PR MEG) Pre-Release review of Urban Blight

[SkeletonKey Ed]

Doug -

Short answer - No.

Long Answer - No, a lot of the maps I did for you required new icons that I did not build in color or at a large scale. The cost involved in producing magnetic tiles as we currently do would be prohibitive as well.

That said, the little project I am putting together that we discussed on the phone earlier today is something I plan to overlap with the settings and OGC of a number of other publishers. But this probably isn't the place to discuss that

Now, back to those Dragonstar deckplans.

Ed

 

[Fianna]

The sample preview of Urban Blight looks cool! MEG has fresh and original ideas. Keep up the great work!

 

[AtFantasyReviewGuru]

Doug-

What level ranges are covered in Urban Blight, e.g. Of Places Most Foul was 4-10 IIRC, what about Urban Blight?

 

[SkeletonKey Ed]

The draft I read had Encounter Levels between 3 & 17 spread over almost 20 locales. One of them has an EL that is variable in a very unique way. Some of the ELs may have been altered since it wasn't a final draft that I read.

Cheers - Ed

 

[Mystic Eye]

Well, Each locale has an EL and they range from 3 all the way up to...uhm 17, I believe. BUT....and this is a big but, the ELs are only listed in the event of a violent encounter.

Many of the locales might be visited often by PCs of a wide variety of levels and the EL of the locale may not be an issue. For instance, one locale is a very large gambling house, many of the games characters can play are described (cards, dice, <grrr...male chicken...hehe>>>fights, and other stuff folks can gamble on but I don't want to give too much away) and a ton of role playing might go on there. Several plots of the gambling house may lead to violent and non-violent encounters. Some of the gambling house patrons are fairly high level so the EL of the locale is fairly high as well. The GM, knowing the EL of this locale and others may choose not to introduce the PCs to one of the adventure plots that might lead to a fight with the patrons but there is so much more that can go on there.

Unlike Of Places Most Foul, Urban Blight are city locales that are highly detailed (similar to the barber/dentist in OPMF) but more re-usable. There is a reasonable list of plot hooks and activities that PCs can look into for each locale.
Heck, the Gambling house might be a place the PCs go to every time they visit town for months or years of game time and then when the GM feels the time is right he or she can spring one of the major locale plot devices on them.

There are a few that will be good for a one off encounter and maybe never revisited but these are few and tend to be the lower EL locales.

Did that help?

 

[AtFantasyReviewGuru]

Yep, that helped, thanks, Doug. Yeah, I read the mortality review so I know the ELs are only for violent encounters, but I tend to always assume my players will get in fights (though in reality they rarely do) so I try to keep them out of places they'll get slaughtered . I'll probably do a review eventually anyway, but not anytime soon since I'm on vacation now. Look forward to it.

 

[Mystic Eye]

It is still at the printers and will not see daylight for a couple of weeks yet so by the time it gets shipped to anywhere you will be coming back from vacation.

On a side note, the ELs of the locales represent the entire locale. There are circumstance where the plot hooks (if used) are only dealing with a portion of the locale itself so the actual EL of the specific encounter may vary a bit in each location depending on how it is used. I think one of the great things about the majority of the locales is the flexibility they have within a campaign.

 

[Mystic Eye]

Hi all,

I approved the blue line (proofs) today for Urban Blight and shipped it off with the CD containing Giant Monster Rampage for print.

I must say, I got giddy looking at Urban Blight. I think you will all love this series and I am certain it will be an asset to any d20 campaign.
seeing Ed's maps in print, all I can say is, WOW he did a great job. All the artists, Marcio Fiorito, Eric Lofgren, Scott Purdy, and Hunter Fredrick McFalls, out did themselves on this book.

Look for it on the shelves soon!