Simon Collins
Explorer
Beware! This review contains major spoilers.
This is not a playtest review.
Price: $24.95
Page Count: 176
Price per page: About 14 cents per page, fairly average for the size and type comparative to other publishers.
Format: Hardcover
External Artwork: In the style of the Core Rulebooks, with ship diagrams and a ships wheel in the centre.
Additional Page Use: The first four pages contain credits, contents, an overview and OGC information. The last three pages contain the OGL and ads.
Internal Artwork: The internal black and white artwork is all of good quality.
Maps: There are a few diagrams of ships which are neatly drawn in 3D, with grid and key.
Layout: Margins are average, text density is slightly larger than normal, there are a few chunks of white space but not many. On the whole, much better use of space than Traps & Treachery.
Style: Its concise where it needs to be (with rules information) and keeps the interest in the subject matter elsewhere very well. Editing is good.
Whats Inside:
Chapter 1: Seafaring Adventures offers up three new races - merfolk, half-merrow and aquatic elves for use as PCs, including a Prestige Class, the Reef Warrior, for Coral Elves. There follows a discussion of standard skill use underwater, and a new skill variant - Underwater Alchemy. Existing feats are also discussed in terms of underwater use, and 32 new feats are introduced and include underwater feats for landlubbers, land feats for seadwellers, swashbuckling feats, and sailing-orientated feats. Various underwater and sailing equipment are also offered up. Various spells (27) and magic items (19 + a new special ability - waterbane) to do with the sea are introduced, as well as a new 'Undersea' domain. Perhaps most importantly, underwater combat rules are introduced, which include rules for movement, pressure, hypothermia, underwater perception, combat manoeuvring in a 3D world, and buoyancy. Finally, there is a short section dealing with rules for aquatic creatures on land.
Chapter 2: Seafaring Campaigns discusses the elements of sea adventure, coast and islands, ships at sea (trade, war, piracy, exploration), weather, and hazards (icebergs, waterspouts, whirlpools). The crew of a vessel is then covered, including specialists and commanders. Motive power (sails and oars) are discussed, the design of the ship related to its purpose, and underwater vessels. Ports are then covered in depth, including information on trade, politics, cultures and an extended example of a port which covers details such as the waterfront, markets, temples, noble sector plus stats for the port and a few major NPCs.
Chapter 3: Undersea Adventures first focuses on the realm of Underwave. Subjects covered are terrain, environments (kelp forests, coral reefs, hydrothermal vents, thermal currents, undersea dungeons (shipwrecks and lost cities)), and aquatic civilisations. Next up is the realm of Underdeep (think Underdark oceans) which focuses on conditions, and adventure locations (sunken mountain, bloodcoral passages, drowning pit, realm of the deep drow, and an underdeep port called Silentdark). Finally, an Aquatic monster template is given followed by four new monsters (hippocampus, abyssal shark, coral golem, and drowned dead).
Chapter 4: Ship Construction looks briefly at different types of vessels before breaking the parts of a ship down to discuss (and give rules and prices for) hull, propulsion, castles (quarters), weapons, and crew, and there is also a section on ship qualities such as Built To Last, and Improved Buoyancy - sort of 'feats for ships'.
Chapter 5: Ship Designs gives stats and descriptions for a variety of vessels (floating palace, assault barge, longship, blade-sail fast trader, cog, troop transport, druid lairship, dwarf ironback, deep crawler and iron whale (submarines), keelboat, lawbringer, sahuagin corsair, salvage vessel, slave ship, triton chariot, war galley, warship, wizards towership, and ghost ship).
Chapter 6: Ship Combat deals with ship-to-ship combat, with a new rules system for dealing with this. Topics covered include manoeuvring, weapons, damage, fire, ramming and broadsiding, boarding, and swashbuckling. Varying sea conditions modify these rules.
There is an index at the end.
The High Points: This book seems to cover all the bases as far as seafaring goes, and gives a very rounded approach to the whole issue of the ocean, though its best features seem to revolve around underwater adventure rather than 'on the water'. Still, there are rules to cover things missing from the Core Rules such as underwater combat and ship-to-ship combat which add significantly to its value.
The Low Points: As has been noted elsewhere, some of the rules in the book could be abused and are just not well thought out enough. I also felt that by trying to cover all the bases, the book lacked flavour and panache at times - there were certainly areas that needed a little more thought and a little more space.
Conclusion: For me, the benefits of the book (mainly the rules for underwater combat, ship-to-ship combat, and the various ships presented) outweighed the weaknesses (feats, spells, and the swashbuckling rules) and I would use it as a standard reference book for underwater adventures. Having not read Seas of Blood, I can't compare Seafarers Handbook but by ignoring some of the less well thought out parts and using some of the crucial rules additions, I will definitely have good use out of this book in the future.
This is not a playtest review.
Price: $24.95
Page Count: 176
Price per page: About 14 cents per page, fairly average for the size and type comparative to other publishers.
Format: Hardcover
External Artwork: In the style of the Core Rulebooks, with ship diagrams and a ships wheel in the centre.
Additional Page Use: The first four pages contain credits, contents, an overview and OGC information. The last three pages contain the OGL and ads.
Internal Artwork: The internal black and white artwork is all of good quality.
Maps: There are a few diagrams of ships which are neatly drawn in 3D, with grid and key.
Layout: Margins are average, text density is slightly larger than normal, there are a few chunks of white space but not many. On the whole, much better use of space than Traps & Treachery.
Style: Its concise where it needs to be (with rules information) and keeps the interest in the subject matter elsewhere very well. Editing is good.
Whats Inside:
Chapter 1: Seafaring Adventures offers up three new races - merfolk, half-merrow and aquatic elves for use as PCs, including a Prestige Class, the Reef Warrior, for Coral Elves. There follows a discussion of standard skill use underwater, and a new skill variant - Underwater Alchemy. Existing feats are also discussed in terms of underwater use, and 32 new feats are introduced and include underwater feats for landlubbers, land feats for seadwellers, swashbuckling feats, and sailing-orientated feats. Various underwater and sailing equipment are also offered up. Various spells (27) and magic items (19 + a new special ability - waterbane) to do with the sea are introduced, as well as a new 'Undersea' domain. Perhaps most importantly, underwater combat rules are introduced, which include rules for movement, pressure, hypothermia, underwater perception, combat manoeuvring in a 3D world, and buoyancy. Finally, there is a short section dealing with rules for aquatic creatures on land.
Chapter 2: Seafaring Campaigns discusses the elements of sea adventure, coast and islands, ships at sea (trade, war, piracy, exploration), weather, and hazards (icebergs, waterspouts, whirlpools). The crew of a vessel is then covered, including specialists and commanders. Motive power (sails and oars) are discussed, the design of the ship related to its purpose, and underwater vessels. Ports are then covered in depth, including information on trade, politics, cultures and an extended example of a port which covers details such as the waterfront, markets, temples, noble sector plus stats for the port and a few major NPCs.
Chapter 3: Undersea Adventures first focuses on the realm of Underwave. Subjects covered are terrain, environments (kelp forests, coral reefs, hydrothermal vents, thermal currents, undersea dungeons (shipwrecks and lost cities)), and aquatic civilisations. Next up is the realm of Underdeep (think Underdark oceans) which focuses on conditions, and adventure locations (sunken mountain, bloodcoral passages, drowning pit, realm of the deep drow, and an underdeep port called Silentdark). Finally, an Aquatic monster template is given followed by four new monsters (hippocampus, abyssal shark, coral golem, and drowned dead).
Chapter 4: Ship Construction looks briefly at different types of vessels before breaking the parts of a ship down to discuss (and give rules and prices for) hull, propulsion, castles (quarters), weapons, and crew, and there is also a section on ship qualities such as Built To Last, and Improved Buoyancy - sort of 'feats for ships'.
Chapter 5: Ship Designs gives stats and descriptions for a variety of vessels (floating palace, assault barge, longship, blade-sail fast trader, cog, troop transport, druid lairship, dwarf ironback, deep crawler and iron whale (submarines), keelboat, lawbringer, sahuagin corsair, salvage vessel, slave ship, triton chariot, war galley, warship, wizards towership, and ghost ship).
Chapter 6: Ship Combat deals with ship-to-ship combat, with a new rules system for dealing with this. Topics covered include manoeuvring, weapons, damage, fire, ramming and broadsiding, boarding, and swashbuckling. Varying sea conditions modify these rules.
There is an index at the end.
The High Points: This book seems to cover all the bases as far as seafaring goes, and gives a very rounded approach to the whole issue of the ocean, though its best features seem to revolve around underwater adventure rather than 'on the water'. Still, there are rules to cover things missing from the Core Rules such as underwater combat and ship-to-ship combat which add significantly to its value.
The Low Points: As has been noted elsewhere, some of the rules in the book could be abused and are just not well thought out enough. I also felt that by trying to cover all the bases, the book lacked flavour and panache at times - there were certainly areas that needed a little more thought and a little more space.
Conclusion: For me, the benefits of the book (mainly the rules for underwater combat, ship-to-ship combat, and the various ships presented) outweighed the weaknesses (feats, spells, and the swashbuckling rules) and I would use it as a standard reference book for underwater adventures. Having not read Seas of Blood, I can't compare Seafarers Handbook but by ignoring some of the less well thought out parts and using some of the crucial rules additions, I will definitely have good use out of this book in the future.
