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Message: <blockquote data-quote="JoeGKushner" data-source="post: 2010369" data-attributes="member: 1129">Tales of Freeport is part adventure collection, part setting and part crunch. All of this makes the book a valuable reference for the GM who doesn't want his Freeport nights to end.The adventures all take place after the trilogy of modules and Hell in Freeport. In some ways this is too bad as these adventures would be perfect for getting the characters closer to the levels required for play in Hell, as opposed to the original starter trilogy. Wise GMs may decide to ignore that part about Hell in Freeport and use this immediately after the trilogy.The book starts off with The Soul of the Serpent, a lengthy investigation on the disappearance of a merchant's daughter. Through diligent research, players discover that this isn't an isolated incident and have to go below where they'll learn that the old religious structure of Yig wasn't all about further education but instead, had many different branches, some of which call for sacrifice. The adventure is open and allows the players a lot of leeway in their efforts, doing a good job of involving the characters in the lives of many of Freeport's denizens from the law abiding to the law breaking. It's a nice contrast to some of the dungeon crawls currently on the market.Those looking for a much different experience will enjoy a night at the Last Resort. Here, the author has woven numerous plot threads together as events happen with a rapid fire pace. It's an interesting twist to see the eight different story lines listed out on a time table, relying on the GM to keep track of who's who and what's what. Make notes on this if you want to run it as there is a lot of potential for confusion. The potential payout though, is worth it.Cut Throat's Gold is more of an old fashioned treasure quest that has some sinister origins behind it's seemingly innocent start. Once the players get hold of a map and book passage to a swamp far away from civilization, they'll learn about the relationship between the lizard men and the serpent men. It's one of servant and master where the servants now worship the old serpents as gods. A nice layer to add to the background of the serpents. Even this though, isn't the whole story as there are other elements on the island trying to enforce their will upon the landscape and as the players will learn, they've been duped into coming here to do this entity's will.Fair Salvage is a little too vague for my taste. It introduces the 'Strangers', a race of beings who've come back for their technology, that of the siege cannons defending Freeport. While they're nice and strange, unique and enigmatic, the adventure is so open ended that the GM basically has to write the ending for himself. That's fine for fleshing out an idea, but it's like the author went as fair as he wanted and didn't want to challenge the continuity of the setting, which is unlike previous modules which assume a certain path was taken and incorporates that into the Freeport setting proper.The material in Plots & Places gives the reader some quick plot hooks to throw into his campaign like a missing merman and a situation involving an artists and a stone statue that looks a little too much like it's subject. It's a good section that'll get the brain juices flowing but isn't much more than, “This is something cool. Work it out for yourself.” With the sheer number of plots though, most GMs should have no problem adding the elements necessary to flesh out the ideas.The places though, well, they disappointed me. Falthar's Curios and Salon De Masque are both from the web site and while they both have uses, they seem underwritten as there isn't a lot, if any, new detail and there are no maps for them.Under Rules you Can Use, there's one new skill, Shadowing, the art of following someone without being seen. Not really a necessary skill but it might add something to those campaigns that want a specific skill instead of using Move Silently and Hide in Shadows with modifiers. More impressive are the prestige classes: Freeport Merchant, Ship's Captain, and Gambler. Each one has a nice role to fill in a city like Freeport and can translate over easily to almost any city. Finally, for those who just can't stand it any longer, a page of errata for the 1st printing of Freeport is provided.The book has many strengths. It caters to a wide range of playing styles and doesn't force the GM into a “This Way Only” mentality. It takes into account special abilities and spells that the party may have access to, as well as what the rest of the world may do in reaction to events that the party sets off.Layout is standard two column. Interior covers aren't used. A single page is used for the OGL, another for an ad for the upcoming psionic material. Another for the table of contents, another for the credits. Art in the book is great. David Griffith does an excellent job with the full page transition pieces between chapters while the other artists, including Christ Keefe, Mario Fiorito, Drew Baker, Britt Martin and Tom Baxa, all add their touch to the city of Freeport. Maps are on a good scale, easy to read and understand. Those who want another city map of Freeport get it with all of the locations in this adventure mapped out for ease of use while handouts are in the back and ready for copying.Tales of Freeport is another winner from Green Ronin that could've used just a bit more shine and polish on the places and plots but is otherwise a solid buy for the dollar. The material is open enough to be used in any pirate city and can be modified with little difficulty. If you're looking to continue the Freeport tradition, then Tales of Freeport is for you.http://www.greenronin.com/freeportfocus.shtml</blockquote>

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