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Message: <blockquote data-quote="DM_Jeff" data-source="post: 2008865" data-attributes="member: 3687">Ships of the Elves is the latest supplement in the Traveler's Tales series by Mongoose Publishing.Ships of the ElvesBy Mike MajorCover art by Anne Stokes$9.95 32-page d20 sourcebookISBN: 1-903980-12-7Introduction: Ships of the Elves is the latest sourcebook in the Traveler's Tales from Mongoose Publishing, specifically offering a closer look at the elves and their ships in regards to it's parent product Ships of the Sea. There are a few different "Ships of" books coming out, first was Ships of the Goblinoids. How does Ships of the Elves fare? Review: Ships of the Elves is a 32-page stapled d20 sourcebook. The cover by Anne Stokes shows a beautiful elven ship on calm waters. Interior is black and white. Borders are fair and text density is good. Artwork is very good. On that note before we get too far I want to complement the image inside the front cover. It shows an elven scout on a giant eagle circling high above a ship with a noticeable "eagle langing roost". This immediately tipped me off that we weren't just going to see a book on humans with pointy ears but a good treatment of elves at sea.The book begins with an introduction about a subject very little, if ever, touched on in D&D games, how the elven peoples view the sea. We all have either visions of elves just sailing off in the sunset in the Return of the King by Tolkien, or some gamers might know of the "mighty elven armada" that protects the Isle of Evermeet in the Forgotten Realms setting. But what about in the average campaign? Mongoose suggests an outlook that would easily fit the interpretations of elves everywhere, masters of their trade. Taking elven stereotypes and views built from years of fantasy they paint a solid image of elven life at sea. Just as an example, elves rarely take prisoners, as they prefer excellent ranged attacks to boarding actions. As is typical we also get little fictional text from various fantasy persona regarding seafaring elves.First up we learn of the three different "kinds" of elven sailors, the Traders, Warrior, and Explorers, each with a full description of their roles, attitude, and missions. Cleverly the author also tells you what these names what might sound like in the elfish tongue, a nice touch!  This section also included the roles of the giant eagles and their relationship with the elves and their ships, as well as how elves employ magic in their shipbuilding. Next is a look at elven crews. Elves by nature build their ships of efficient they need less crewmen in general to man one of a similar size from another race, and while this makes long trips easier, it makes boarding actions not the first thing on a elven captain's mind. Crews are not only discussed, but full stats are given for the various ranks of crewmen as well as full stat blocks, right up to elven ship captains! Up next is a look at elven weaponry. Not satisfied with the more mundane weapons of other races, the elves have made some ingenious improvements to the weapons found in Seas of Blood as well as developed a few of their own. These are detailed to fit right into the Seas of Blood system, and are presented clearly and accurately. The largest Chapter is, naturally, the elven ships themselves. Each ship is presented in its Seas of Blood stat block to easily fit right in. To expand the possibilities of fantasy shipbuilding farther, a large number of new ship subtypes are presented (a concept first started in Seas of Blood). Here we get the Subtypes Elven Ship, Stalwart Hull, Steel Prow, and my favorite Magical Propulsion, that help explain the elves use as well as lend themselves to a DM's own creations when designing new ships. A total of 14 ships are fully detailed in description as well as stats and each gets a full, very clear image of the vessel. These range from simple trading ships to elven explorers and warships. Ships with captured elementals as propulsion, others with Eagle rider landing roosts and others that are literally floating cities (complete with trees) truly showing off the elven side of this profession. And towards the end, as others in this series, we get full grid-scaled deck plans for the ships, to use for scale or to enlarge and game with miniatures. These also give a great overall look at the ship's design.Conclusion: Ships of the Elves fills an obvious niche in any Seafaring campaign or easily any campaign making good use of the Seas of Blood accessory. If you are running elven seafaring characters or building your campaign around on of the mysterious elven islands that are hinted herein, this will be a great addition to your library. In our own Maritime game it's going to see lots of use!-Jeff Ibach</blockquote>

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