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I have had the fortunate oppurtunity to own many different Game Masters' Guides throughout my decade of playing and for the most part they are very useful and filled with interesting information that no GM could go without, but with the influx of the one book game system they have become optional not mandatory. AEG has decided to bring back the mandatory GM Guide to present the world of Theah and the secrets behind it in detail. Unfortunately, the 7th Sea GM Guide fails on many levels and succeeds on few.

In the Players' Guide to 7th Sea it only gives you a rough draft of the world of Theah and you are expected to buy the GM Guide to find out what is really going on. The problem is the GM Guide also appears as a rough draft of the world with little material to use. There is about ten pages on each country which helps define customs, the economy, clothing, and culture. Now, that I actually thought was nicely done; the thing that I didn't like was there was little information about cities, sites, and all those good things that makes a country special. They drop us hints, but we all have to wait for future products which is really makes the game very incomplete.

Why did they decide to hold so much information back? I thought this was the GM Guide and I was expecting for them to throw me a bone. The information that is present could've been condensed into a two page format with all the important information. Also, the quarter page maps that are included with each country should've been full page with more detail on the landscape. I love photocopying maps to use as props in my games.

Not all the countries are explored and they decided not to give information on the Empire of the Crescent Moon and Cathay. I know they are holding these areas back for future products, but can you give us something to work with? Just one paragraph would've been nice; this is the GM Guide. The next area is the Vaticine Church which they actually give you some details on the structure and philosophies of the institution. That is followed by the Secret Societies which they almost give you nothing to work with; they did a good job of keeping them secret from even the GM.

The next section of the book is devoted to optional rules and a small section on monsters. The optional rules include an indepth look at certain skills and knacks, different ways to handle character creation, poisons, mass combat, naval battles, chases, and the use of reputation in the game. Most of the material is well done and I especially liked the detailed information they presented for the skills and knacks. Having optional systems and charts for gambling, appraising, etc. is a nice touch. Probably the best part of the book is the section on using villains in your game. They give you the villains arcana(this helps define your major NPCs)system which helps in making the group's enemies unique.

We then move onto the monster section which is an absolute snore. The monsters include the basic canines, bears, cats, and your typical zombie with a twist, ghouls, griffon, ghost, etc. Reading this section you get the feeling that Theah is missing their Oni or those unique creatures that makes a fantasy world special. Yes, 7th Sea stresses the conflict between hero vs. pirate, noble, and rivalry between swordsman, but having some interesting critters running around is also important and the GM Guide doesn't deliver.

The last section of the book is information on running a campaign. Nothing too ground breaking is presented here and is your usually rundown of how to handle certain situations and getting your game off the ground.

You get the feeling that AEG was stretching the material for 7th Sea to fill two books. It felt like they didn't want to reveal anything about the campaign setting since everything has the potential to be a future product. What you have is two expensive books on the market with enough informatin to be in one book. White Wolf's Sorcerers Crusade is one book and has more information then both 7th Sea books combined and probably a larger word count. Will I continue to support 7th Sea? I have faith in AEG even if 7th has been disappointing and I will likely check out the next few products before deciding to remove 7th Sea from my buying list.

Style: 2 (Needs Work)
Substance: 2 (Sparse)

7th Sea Game Masters' Guide
Author: Jennifer Wick, John Wick Category: game Company/Publisher: Alderac Entertainment Group Line: 7th Sea Cost: 29.95 Page count: 256 Capsule Review by Steven M. Marella on 06/25/99. Genre tags: Fantasy	I have had the fortunate oppurtunity to own many different Game Masters' Guides throughout my decade of playing and for the most part they are very useful and filled with interesting information that no GM could go without, but with the influx of the one book game system they have become optional not mandatory. AEG has decided to bring back the mandatory GM Guide to present the world of Theah and the secrets behind it in detail. Unfortunately, the 7th Sea GM Guide fails on many levels and succeeds on few. In the Players' Guide to 7th Sea it only gives you a rough draft of the world of Theah and you are expected to buy the GM Guide to find out what is really going on. The problem is the GM Guide also appears as a rough draft of the world with little material to use. There is about ten pages on each country which helps define customs, the economy, clothing, and culture. Now, that I actually thought was nicely done; the thing that I didn't like was there was little information about cities, sites, and all those good things that makes a country special. They drop us hints, but we all have to wait for future products which is really makes the game very incomplete. Why did they decide to hold so much information back? I thought this was the GM Guide and I was expecting for them to throw me a bone. The information that is present could've been condensed into a two page format with all the important information. Also, the quarter page maps that are included with each country should've been full page with more detail on the landscape. I love photocopying maps to use as props in my games. Not all the countries are explored and they decided not to give information on the Empire of the Crescent Moon and Cathay. I know they are holding these areas back for future products, but can you give us something to work with? Just one paragraph would've been nice; this is the GM Guide. The next area is the Vaticine Church which they actually give you some details on the structure and philosophies of the institution. That is followed by the Secret Societies which they almost give you nothing to work with; they did a good job of keeping them secret from even the GM. The next section of the book is devoted to optional rules and a small section on monsters. The optional rules include an indepth look at certain skills and knacks, different ways to handle character creation, poisons, mass combat, naval battles, chases, and the use of reputation in the game. Most of the material is well done and I especially liked the detailed information they presented for the skills and knacks. Having optional systems and charts for gambling, appraising, etc. is a nice touch. Probably the best part of the book is the section on using villains in your game. They give you the villains arcana(this helps define your major NPCs)system which helps in making the group's enemies unique. We then move onto the monster section which is an absolute snore. The monsters include the basic canines, bears, cats, and your typical zombie with a twist, ghouls, griffon, ghost, etc. Reading this section you get the feeling that Theah is missing their Oni or those unique creatures that makes a fantasy world special. Yes, 7th Sea stresses the conflict between hero vs. pirate, noble, and rivalry between swordsman, but having some interesting critters running around is also important and the GM Guide doesn't deliver. The last section of the book is information on running a campaign. Nothing too ground breaking is presented here and is your usually rundown of how to handle certain situations and getting your game off the ground. You get the feeling that AEG was stretching the material for 7th Sea to fill two books. It felt like they didn't want to reveal anything about the campaign setting since everything has the potential to be a future product. What you have is two expensive books on the market with enough informatin to be in one book. White Wolf's Sorcerers Crusade is one book and has more information then both 7th Sea books combined and probably a larger word count. Will I continue to support 7th Sea? I have faith in AEG even if 7th has been disappointing and I will likely check out the next few products before deciding to remove 7th Sea from my buying list. Style: 2 (Needs Work) Substance: 2 (Sparse)

7th Sea Game Masters' Guide