The Inside Scoop on Gaming

I have to confess, I was really looking forward to this system. I've been trying to run a decent historical swashbuckling game now using a variety of inappropriate systems.

Not any more. If you are looking to run any kind of game in the pirate / buccaneer / intrigue genre, you will not be disappointed with the system. It's fast and it seems fair.

You may however be a little bit let down by this book.

Firstly, the good things.

The book opens with a description of the countries that go to make up Theah. These are a fair bit more in-depth than the Players' book. There are plot hooks literally leaping out of the page at you from each and every page. So much so, that I can't decide where I want my campaign to start!

The major NPCs are, in the main, interesting, and each has their own agenda. Unfortunately, not all of these agendas are as detailed as they could be, but there's certainly enough to work with and / or inspire.

The next section gives rules for all the kind of situations you'd expect in a game master's guide... Swimming, Falling damage, explosions, chases, sea battles and so on. These are a bit of a mixed bag. The chase rules sound well paced and hilarious, the sea battles are a bit wishy-washy, but the rest are pretty much what you would expect.

Also within this section is a suggestion for plot hooks based on the virtues and flaws that players have chosen for their characters. I really liked most of the ideas presented in this section, and will probably find it the most useful of the entire book.

The last part of the book is the obligatory GM advice section. This is a purely personal thing, but I almost always feel that this section is a little bit extraneous. Nearly every GM book I own has advice on how to be a good GM, and they all say broadly the same thing.

I guess the advice section in this particular book has a different enough slant to justify it's inclusion. The advice is solid enough.

Now the bad points.

The editing in this book is poor. For it to bother me, it must have been poor.

There are spelling mistakes, missing words, and the occasional accidental reference by name to the underlying European lands this setting is unashamedly based on. If this sort of thing worries you, I suggest you wait for the second (and hopefully corrected) printing.

There is a lovely explanation about how the vast majority of people who hail from Eisen have three names, and then each of the Eisen NPCs has only two.

An awful lot of the place names and people names in this setting are difficult to pronounce. Most have pronunciation guides in brackets afer they are first mentioned. Maddeningly, a fair few are missing.

There are no stats for the NPCs presented in the book.

There is a major plot hook involving a number of NPCs in the book, but you have to wait for an as yet unnamed future product to learn who they are. I can see why they kept details of the plot hidden, but they could have let us know who they were.

Overall - I like this book. If you can put up with the flaws, you will like this book too. The second printing will hopefully be a classic.

Style: 3 (Average)
Substance: 5 (Excellent!)

7th Sea Game Masters Guide
Author: Too many to mention Category: game Company/Publisher: Alderac Entertainment Group Line: 7th Sea Cost: £19.95 Page count: 256 ISBN: N/A Capsule Review by Martin Bailey on 08/24/99. Genre tags: Fantasy	I have to confess, I was really looking forward to this system. I've been trying to run a decent historical swashbuckling game now using a variety of inappropriate systems. Not any more. If you are looking to run any kind of game in the pirate / buccaneer / intrigue genre, you will not be disappointed with the system. It's fast and it seems fair. You may however be a little bit let down by this book. Firstly, the good things. The book opens with a description of the countries that go to make up Theah. These are a fair bit more in-depth than the Players' book. There are plot hooks literally leaping out of the page at you from each and every page. So much so, that I can't decide where I want my campaign to start! The major NPCs are, in the main, interesting, and each has their own agenda. Unfortunately, not all of these agendas are as detailed as they could be, but there's certainly enough to work with and / or inspire. The next section gives rules for all the kind of situations you'd expect in a game master's guide... Swimming, Falling damage, explosions, chases, sea battles and so on. These are a bit of a mixed bag. The chase rules sound well paced and hilarious, the sea battles are a bit wishy-washy, but the rest are pretty much what you would expect. Also within this section is a suggestion for plot hooks based on the virtues and flaws that players have chosen for their characters. I really liked most of the ideas presented in this section, and will probably find it the most useful of the entire book. The last part of the book is the obligatory GM advice section. This is a purely personal thing, but I almost always feel that this section is a little bit extraneous. Nearly every GM book I own has advice on how to be a good GM, and they all say broadly the same thing. I guess the advice section in this particular book has a different enough slant to justify it's inclusion. The advice is solid enough. Now the bad points. The editing in this book is poor. For it to bother me, it must have been poor. There are spelling mistakes, missing words, and the occasional accidental reference by name to the underlying European lands this setting is unashamedly based on. If this sort of thing worries you, I suggest you wait for the second (and hopefully corrected) printing. There is a lovely explanation about how the vast majority of people who hail from Eisen have three names, and then each of the Eisen NPCs has only two. An awful lot of the place names and people names in this setting are difficult to pronounce. Most have pronunciation guides in brackets afer they are first mentioned. Maddeningly, a fair few are missing. There are no stats for the NPCs presented in the book. There is a major plot hook involving a number of NPCs in the book, but you have to wait for an as yet unnamed future product to learn who they are. I can see why they kept details of the plot hidden, but they could have let us know who they were. Overall - I like this book. If you can put up with the flaws, you will like this book too. The second printing will hopefully be a classic. Style: 3 (Average) Substance: 5 (Excellent!)

7th Sea Game Masters Guide