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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Selvarin" data-source="post: 2010873" data-attributes="member: 6102">Hmm, should I or shouldn't I? That was the question I asked myself after reading the first thorough review of Sheoloth (John beat me to it, drat!), both whether to keep Sheoloth on order as well as whether to post a review of it myself in the event I'd get it. Surprise, Amazon.com kept telling me it was on hold or something even as the package arrived on my doorstep. So much for indecision. Since then, the more I read and re-read the book the more I found my own angle on this and just feel like posting my own thoughts on the subject. This will be a shorter review, hopefully--it would be redundant and boring if I went through every detail when someone else has already done a good job of it. However, maybe it'll be helpful to bring up a few other points. Sheoloth: City of the Drow is a 256-page hardcover from Mongoose Publishing detailing--what else?--a drow city. When I first got it I was somewhat impressed with the thickness (most gamebooks I get are tighter and lighter, as they say). Then again the paper used is a little thicker than I normally find in the gamebooks I purchase. No big deal, really, just something I noticed. So far the spine seems to be holding up to regular usage, which is important since I can't stand to have a book fall apart on me. The size of the type font used in the book seems to be 10-point, which may not matter to some but when I compare it to books with smaller type I can't help but feel that Mongoose would've had enough room (and then some) in Sheoloth for an index just by dropping the font size down a notch. Am I being too nitpicky here? I probably look like it, but in this day and age where book prices keep going up I can't afford not to. Other than that, the layout is pretty good. The interior artwork ranges from good to "do we really need to use up needed space with this?". A number of artists can take the credit (or blame, as the case may be). I must say I like Alejandro Villen's work, which captures drow in all their dark majesty. Then there's the boxed art that can be seen on pages 33, 37, 90, and elsewhere. They don't look much like drow and they don't add to the feel or the flavor of the material, either. The cover, of course, is fantastic. The purple and gold is reminiscent of the Menzoberranzen boxed set of years gone by, but what really strikes me is the cover art itself. Chris Quilliams' piece is beautiful, and it makes me wish that it was available as a lithograph or poster. As for the mapwork, it's decent and does the job. I've seen the best and the worst, this is in the middle and it fits in with the rest of the interior. A scale for figuring out the size and distance on each map (or even just one of the maps) would've been helpful, though.Now, onto the substance of the book. I have to agree that Sam Witt did a good job overall. Even if I wasn't going to use Sheoloth as a whole within my own campaign world, it's chock full of bits that can be snipped and used elsewhere. Part of what initially got my attention concerning this product (aside from the drow aspect) was seeing the maps in the preview PDF that was made available at the Mongoose Publishing website. It wasn't a drow city crammed within a 'bubble' in the rock, it was a series of interconnected caverns that made up the city, with the 'Falling Road' (essentially a long shaft leading to hot magma below) right in the center. This is how I imagine many drow cities would be laid out, among several large caverns. Great idea. In addition, there are several NPCs listed and detailed in each ward, something that I can appreciate even if there are discrepancies in a few. What does puzzle me is why there weren't any solid stats for the Faceless Watch (law enforcers controlled by the Church of the Dark Mother) and the Eight-Eyed Masks (who act more as detectives and are in the employ of the nobles). They're likely to be encountered sometime during a party's stay, it makes sense (and would've been helpful) to have a typical member's stats, what a patrol or strike force of them is comprised of, their encounter level (as a group), and so on. For a good example of a general (EL) outline of this nature, try page 31 of Lords of Darkness, a WotC product. As much as I'd like to see full stats, even sample groups listed according to EL would've been a boon. (It pays to look at what the competition does right.)When it comes to fluff (setting, history, etc.) and crunch (prestige classes, feats, spells, etc.), this is most definitely a fluff product in the good sense of the term. Despite my gripe about the lack of full stats for law enforcment individuals in the Overview section, I was more than pleased by the detail of how the city functions as well as by the details on the churches and nobility in the Powers of Sheoloth section. There are a few new crunchy bits, that is true, but in reality Sheoloth's crunch lies within The Quintessential Drow accessory, also by Mongoose. Some material from that book is mentioned in Sheoloth, although not always saying that X can be found in QD. This is a bit of a no-no in my opinion. Regardless, while it's fair to say that QD may be needed to fully utilize all the magical crafts mentioned in Sheoloth it's also fair to say that references to QD material can be easily ignored and replaced with something else. Of the 'crunch that stands on its own in Sheoloth I found that the concept of the necromantic domination ritual was intriguing--a bit too wasteful and in need of tweaking, but intriguing nonetheless. The bit on fleshbuilding was, well, you know. It isn't a good concept. Buildings made from crushed or 'grown' bone, that's one thing. A room or building made of a creature's bloated body, still alive...No. A few other magical concepts are also discussed in the book, some of which don't fly right either, but that's okay. They aren't critical, as far as I'm concerned.ConclusonWhen all is said and done, Sheoloth: City of the drow is a book with a lot to offer. It provides a setting that can be dropped into virtually any campaign setting, the politics are dealt with in detail (which I appreciated) and I loved the layout of the city itself. The history, the way the city functions, etc...Yet it still gets a 3. There were a few things that could've been better executed. Besides the typos and the lack of an index (which is damn-near essential in this case, and which a smaller font size would've helped made room for), it could've used more stats for certain groups (and a few sample encounter tables) in order to take more of a load off of the DM. It's a bunch of little things that, when taken together, collectively drag down the rating a bit. The Quintessential Drow tie-in doesn't factor into this much at all, in fact if they didn't make use of (or reference) QD material I would've been scratching my head wondering why they didn't bother to include some of it. It's all the other little things. When you're paying $34.95 for a game accesory you want your money's worth. A big thing for me is DM utility, at least in this instance. Tables and stats aren't the be-all and end-all, but(!) they do help. Some are perfectly happy to do it themselves, others are beginners or don't have the time. Sheoloth is a grand city setting, even with its quirks. If you plan on doing something drow or Underdark-themed, give it a try. It does do a lot of the DM's work when it comes to painting the picture of a drow city. If it did a little bit more (and with fewer typos) it could rate a 4.Which reminds me...Why in the Nine Hells would the drow of Sheoloth--indeed, any drow-- be trading water to deep gnomes? The mushroom wine they sell to the drow in return must be mighty good.</blockquote>

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