JoeGKushner
Adventurer
Treasures of Freeport is a 47 page color PDF. One page is taken up by the impressive cover, two pages by the table of contents and another for the SRD license. Most of the color is reserved for the top border and the illustrations within. The book has a color theme going on and the color for the product is mostly a sea-green hue. The book is laid out in portrait format for easy on screen reading. My copy did not come with an easy printing option with no illustrations. In terms of bookmarks, the file is covered as well as the table of contents. Considering the table of contents is two pages long, it’s well covered.
This is a collection of items, both mundane and magical, that’s broken up by section. A quick glance at the table of contents shows unusual material, Treasures of the Valossan Empire, Fish Men, Sea Devils, Merfolk, Docks, Drac’s End, Eastern District, Merchant Distrcit, Old City, Scurytown, Temple District, and Underside.
I was a little disappointed starting in. The Freeport setting book did some interesting things with various types of coral where a spellcaster would expend less experience points if he used certain types of coral for certain types of magic items. Instead, these are various mundane materials like Whale Sinew and Sharkskin. The good news is that value, hardness, hit points, uses, special rules, Freeport rules and notes are all included. The bad news is that really helpful information, like say how much sharkskin you can get from your average shark, is not included. Trust me, at 5 gold pieces a pound, players will be hunting those dire sharks in no time!
When looking at the items, the True Gifts of Yig, or the Treasures of the Valossan Empire, struck me as being perfect for someone using Wizards of the Coast’s Serpent Kingdoms. We have mundane items like Snakeskin Boots and magic items like the Snake Bracelet, providing a +4 resistance bonus to saving throws against snake venom. Like previous products of this line, the value is broken down by material, workmanship and when magical, creation cost. This allows a GM to tweak items values by deciding how much materials may be worth or if a specific expert worker has died, increasing the value of the product.
One thing that captured my attention, is the section Treasures of the Yellow Sign. This section isn’t the only one to give more than a passing nod to the great Mythos stories. While we have the priceless Yellow Robe capable of dispensing insanity to those who don it, more impressively, we have books like That Which Cannot Be Conceived, a tome made of human skin and scribed by a member of the Esoteric Order of Starry Wisdom. Good stuff overall.
Christopher Shy is an amazing artist. His cover for Treasures of Freeport could easily be the movie poster for a Pirates of the Caribbean Movie. His work on Ronin Art’s Possessor’s really lends that book a fantastic presence. His work here is no less impressive in it’s skill. That doesn’t mean it matches the product however. Almost every illustration here is that of a person, either a head shot or half shot. This isn’t the personalities of Freeport (which would be a good supplement I’m sure), but the Treasures of Freeport. Many of these items should be illustrated plainly in black and white so that the reader has a sound idea of what they area.
In terms of utility, the book has a lot but could use a little more. For example, since everything is broken down in the table of contents, how about going the extra mile? What do I mean? How about a page that lists all of the magic items and shows the caster level, caster cost in gold and experience points?
Treasures of Freeport also suffers a little bit of an identity crisis. This isn’t a bad thing because the suffering is one of many items of general, all-purpose utility that could be used in any campaign are shoved into this product. Take for example rules on clipping coins or rare chocolate blocks? How about the values for coffee beans, fruit and tea by the pound? It may not always match your home campaign, but it’s nice to see it noted. Some of these notes do tie directly into Freeport, like the Bankers section, showing how to use letters of credit and showing which organizations use them.
It isn’t a resource on magic items and spells though. In that aspect, I thought this a strange product. Wouldn’t it be easy to provide unique magic items and weapons that belong to various pirates and privateers and perhaps have a section, Treasures of the Pirates? I know that many people on the boards are always looking for more weapons and items suitable for a Swashbuckler style campaign and Pirates often match that idea. (Unless they’re being hunted by their nemesis, the Ninja!). Hopefully we’ll see Magic of Freeport.
Treasures of Freeport is great for a time pressed GM looking to add little touches to his Freeport campaign.
This is a collection of items, both mundane and magical, that’s broken up by section. A quick glance at the table of contents shows unusual material, Treasures of the Valossan Empire, Fish Men, Sea Devils, Merfolk, Docks, Drac’s End, Eastern District, Merchant Distrcit, Old City, Scurytown, Temple District, and Underside.
I was a little disappointed starting in. The Freeport setting book did some interesting things with various types of coral where a spellcaster would expend less experience points if he used certain types of coral for certain types of magic items. Instead, these are various mundane materials like Whale Sinew and Sharkskin. The good news is that value, hardness, hit points, uses, special rules, Freeport rules and notes are all included. The bad news is that really helpful information, like say how much sharkskin you can get from your average shark, is not included. Trust me, at 5 gold pieces a pound, players will be hunting those dire sharks in no time!
When looking at the items, the True Gifts of Yig, or the Treasures of the Valossan Empire, struck me as being perfect for someone using Wizards of the Coast’s Serpent Kingdoms. We have mundane items like Snakeskin Boots and magic items like the Snake Bracelet, providing a +4 resistance bonus to saving throws against snake venom. Like previous products of this line, the value is broken down by material, workmanship and when magical, creation cost. This allows a GM to tweak items values by deciding how much materials may be worth or if a specific expert worker has died, increasing the value of the product.
One thing that captured my attention, is the section Treasures of the Yellow Sign. This section isn’t the only one to give more than a passing nod to the great Mythos stories. While we have the priceless Yellow Robe capable of dispensing insanity to those who don it, more impressively, we have books like That Which Cannot Be Conceived, a tome made of human skin and scribed by a member of the Esoteric Order of Starry Wisdom. Good stuff overall.
Christopher Shy is an amazing artist. His cover for Treasures of Freeport could easily be the movie poster for a Pirates of the Caribbean Movie. His work on Ronin Art’s Possessor’s really lends that book a fantastic presence. His work here is no less impressive in it’s skill. That doesn’t mean it matches the product however. Almost every illustration here is that of a person, either a head shot or half shot. This isn’t the personalities of Freeport (which would be a good supplement I’m sure), but the Treasures of Freeport. Many of these items should be illustrated plainly in black and white so that the reader has a sound idea of what they area.
In terms of utility, the book has a lot but could use a little more. For example, since everything is broken down in the table of contents, how about going the extra mile? What do I mean? How about a page that lists all of the magic items and shows the caster level, caster cost in gold and experience points?
Treasures of Freeport also suffers a little bit of an identity crisis. This isn’t a bad thing because the suffering is one of many items of general, all-purpose utility that could be used in any campaign are shoved into this product. Take for example rules on clipping coins or rare chocolate blocks? How about the values for coffee beans, fruit and tea by the pound? It may not always match your home campaign, but it’s nice to see it noted. Some of these notes do tie directly into Freeport, like the Bankers section, showing how to use letters of credit and showing which organizations use them.
It isn’t a resource on magic items and spells though. In that aspect, I thought this a strange product. Wouldn’t it be easy to provide unique magic items and weapons that belong to various pirates and privateers and perhaps have a section, Treasures of the Pirates? I know that many people on the boards are always looking for more weapons and items suitable for a Swashbuckler style campaign and Pirates often match that idea. (Unless they’re being hunted by their nemesis, the Ninja!). Hopefully we’ll see Magic of Freeport.
Treasures of Freeport is great for a time pressed GM looking to add little touches to his Freeport campaign.
