The Inside Scoop on Gaming

Overview

Skullport was first detailed as an area in the Ruins of Undermountain boxed set, which detailed the great labyrinthine dungeon created by the "Mad Archmage Halaster". It was revisited with minor additions in the City of Splendors box, which ostensibly gathered all published material on the city of Waterdeep and relevant environs into one updated set.

This 96-page standalone expansion is dedicated solely to Skullport. The expansion consists of several sections: History, Getting There, Overview, detailed descriptions of the city proper, Rumors, and personalities of Skullport. The description of the city structures and locations comprises the bulk of this expansion, the next largest chunk is devoted to the "Rogue's Gallery" section.

The city of Skullport is an underworld city, both literally and figuratively and is a place to find and see things one will find nowhere else.

The Good

As stated previously, the bulk of this work (46 pages), goes into describing the roughly 150 different locations of Skullport detailed. The cosmopolitan and seedy character of this city is convincingly portrayed and detailed in the many fascinating and bizarre characters seen and services offered. For example:

"The Deepfires is most readily located by the roars of the Raging Bull, a local landmark that hangs just outside the doors of the inn. The Raging Bull is a minotaur who has been imprisoned high above the street in a nigh-unbreakable cage for over two decades since he was abandoned by some long forgotten slave trader. Kept alive by a ring of sustenance, ensuring that he is starved of nourishment for seven days every other seven days, and the depraved ministrations of Quinan Varnaed, who views the beast's extended torture as an offering to his goddess, the Raging Bull's roars echo throughout Skullport with disturbing regularity. After years of deprivation, the minotaur is consumed with madness. He attacks anyone who dares to approach his cage…Nyk and Nok, a pair of enterprising goblin twins, grow mushrooms in dungpiles beneath the Raging Bull, and for a copper they spin a tale or two about fools who have attempted to free the beast from its cage. (p 48)"

Now that's a seedy underworld city!

Or how about this:

"The Dizzy Drake tavern has seen better days: most of its regular clients avoid the place, and rumors are spreading about patrons who have disappeared in the vicinity after slaking their thirst at the tavern. The proprietor, Choren Lendoren, has recently taken to drinking with his patrons, an unprofessional practice he never used to follow. He has been forgetting orders and even arguing with his customers. For those patrons who do still come, the drinks and bar snacks are tasty and the prices have recently been slashed.

Choren finds himself in the unenviable position of watching his life's work fail and being powerless to save it, for he knows the source of his problems:…[a] lich is hiding in the tunnels beneath his cellars…The undead creature terrifies Choren, and he does the thing's bidding-luring unsuspecting patrons down into the cellars for [the thing's] amusement-purely out of fear. He has considered hauling up stakes and fleeing…but…is afraid [it] would track him down and…destroy him in some…gruesomely inventive fashion. (p 44)"

Good Stuff for a bad place.

The location descriptions are very full and given lavish detail. It is an excellent sourcebook for any world or frpg campaign on this basis alone. There are a ton of bizarre, unique establishments that could be readily transplanted into any world. There are almost too many…it starts to feel like some kind of freak show after a while. A couple of the more strange ones could be dropped from the city with no harm done to the setting-the gunpowder selling Giff called the Brigadier would be first on my list.

The second standout is the cast of characters that populate the city. The neutrals, choatics, and evils here are not 2-D cardboard cutout guys; they are given coherent, logical, and insightful backgrounds, which explain WHY they are who they are. In short they are true personalities, and easily lend themselves to role-playing, should the need arise. I would have liked a little more statistical detail here, but a GM can easily supply that.

Also pleasing…this thing veritably bristles with hooks. Between the Rumors section, the areas and personalities descriptions', and the basic chaos of this place, if your players can be bored playing in Skullport, there is no place in existence that will interest them. Never a dull moment here.

The Bad

Probably the single worst aspect of this supplement is its many barriers to ready and easy use in play. First, the location descriptions are not designed for in-play use, they read more like stories; while this facilitates reading for the Dungeon Master in off-play time, it is remarkably unhandy when trying to actively run something in Skullport in play. Aggravating this is the coding system used to designate locations within the city. The city has three layers and four sections. The locations are specified with codes such as CP15, which means Central Port building 15. After using the system for a while, it will be natural and learned, but until then, the DM will flounder around trying to figure out where everything is. It would also be nice if there were a separate map which the GM could look at while reading the various descriptions. The flip-back-and-forth-between-map-and-description thing hasn't cut it in past and never will. I recommend making photocopies of the maps for personal use.

I really didn't like the history offered for the place generally. But this is more an issue of personal taste, most will probably be satisfied.

The Ugly

Shameless product plug on page 6 for Undermountain: The Lost Level…

The cover's wallpaper-like background is definitely unattractive, and in need of removal.

But these complaints are petty and pedantic next to what follows.

Particularly loathsome was the Thugmaster Dungeonmaster attitude that reared its hideous countenance on several occasions. This is nothing new to AD&D, but that doesn't make it any less ugly. The most sickening offender is the Skulls.

The Skulls are given as the force of stability in this city of chaos. What they amount to is an instrument of the bluntest kind. They are an utterly unkillable, indestructible force which have the spell resources of a 36th level wizard, and summons troupes of shades with spellcasting ability starting at 11th level. Coincidentally, these creatures order people to do things for their own "inscrutable" purposes, especially "those of particularly self-righteous or arrogant demeanors (p 15)." Here is a list of some demands imposed:

"Go to the lower port [the crudest section of the seedy town] and personally apologize to every goblin.

Sell your every possession, including weapons, armor, and magical items, to a passerby for 1 sp. (p 15)"

I don't think I could have expressed the thuggish attitude better myself. This sort of mentality rears its head in at least several other places, including in a teamster Ogre leader called Haffa (if you can believe it…Jimmy Hoffa) virtually everytime he is mentioned.

But enough of this. This seems to be part of a corporate culture TSR has cultivated and have not yet rid themselves of, even after the WOTC takeover.

Artwork

I was somewhat disappointed with the art, both the cover and interior art. The cover art is acceptable, but considering the artists WOTC/TSR has on staff, I expect better on its covers. Of course, if the choice were between this new cover art and the recycling of old art which TSR has become infamous for, I would choose the new cover art without hesitation.

The interior art likewise disappointed me for the most part. Oh, it was competent enough, very nice actually, but it failed to really bring the city to life, to convey the sense of a living, pulsating, multitiered city built in/on/into a vast cavern. For the most part, the interior illustrations could have been from any surface city, with a few stalactites added to the upper portion of the illustration as an after thought. C'mon!, this is a city built into a cavernous expanse bounded above by a looming stone vault! It should feel like it. One of the most critical functions of interior art is to deliver a tangible sense of the environments being described primarily with words. With the exception of a nice piece on page 25, the illustrations failed to distinguish the subterrain city Skullport from any surface city.

The interior illustrations depicting Skullport's notable denizens were well done, conveying the personalities and character of these persons convincingly.

Diagrams, Maps and Tables

Initially I was pleased with the maps that I saw. The first few maps are clear, pleasing, accessible, though the print was just a tad difficult to read. The maps of the middle and upper parts of the city, however, were disappointing. Yes, they were as clear as the map of the ground level, exactly as clear, in fact. Except for the overlay of plank tracks (walkways) over open streets, the maps of the suspended or clinging areas of the city looked the same as the ground level maps. These precarious strata are depicted as static planar levels. Once again I found myself disappointed by the missed opportunity to add true distinctiveness, uniqueness and originality to this product.

I realize that generating some sort of 3D isometric map of these portions of the city would be difficult and laborious, but I think that a city as interesting as Skullport is deserving. Ahh, well.

Conclusion: Excellent

Despite some shortcomings and some irritating aspects, this supplement is very good. It succeeds admirably and impressively at what it attempts: the detailing of a sinister, bustling underworld city. Even if the GM doesn't use the Forgotten Realms or even AD&D, this supplement is of considerable value to any who wish to populate a world with underworld figures and strange/exotic merchants. Look for a module or series of modules to follow. This supplement demands it.

Style: 4 (Classy and well done)
Substance: 5 (Excellent!)

Skullport
Author: Joseph C. Wolf Category: game Company/Publisher: TSR Line: Forgotten Realms Page count: 96 SKU: TSR 11348 Capsule Review by Michael McKenzie on 12/06/99. Genre tags: Fantasy	Overview Skullport was first detailed as an area in the Ruins of Undermountain boxed set, which detailed the great labyrinthine dungeon created by the "Mad Archmage Halaster". It was revisited with minor additions in the City of Splendors box, which ostensibly gathered all published material on the city of Waterdeep and relevant environs into one updated set. This 96-page standalone expansion is dedicated solely to Skullport. The expansion consists of several sections: History, Getting There, Overview, detailed descriptions of the city proper, Rumors, and personalities of Skullport. The description of the city structures and locations comprises the bulk of this expansion, the next largest chunk is devoted to the "Rogue's Gallery" section. The city of Skullport is an underworld city, both literally and figuratively and is a place to find and see things one will find nowhere else. The Good As stated previously, the bulk of this work (46 pages), goes into describing the roughly 150 different locations of Skullport detailed. The cosmopolitan and seedy character of this city is convincingly portrayed and detailed in the many fascinating and bizarre characters seen and services offered. For example: "The Deepfires is most readily located by the roars of the Raging Bull, a local landmark that hangs just outside the doors of the inn. The Raging Bull is a minotaur who has been imprisoned high above the street in a nigh-unbreakable cage for over two decades since he was abandoned by some long forgotten slave trader. Kept alive by a ring of sustenance, ensuring that he is starved of nourishment for seven days every other seven days, and the depraved ministrations of Quinan Varnaed, who views the beast's extended torture as an offering to his goddess, the Raging Bull's roars echo throughout Skullport with disturbing regularity. After years of deprivation, the minotaur is consumed with madness. He attacks anyone who dares to approach his cage…Nyk and Nok, a pair of enterprising goblin twins, grow mushrooms in dungpiles beneath the Raging Bull, and for a copper they spin a tale or two about fools who have attempted to free the beast from its cage. (p 48)" Now that's a seedy underworld city! Or how about this: "The Dizzy Drake tavern has seen better days: most of its regular clients avoid the place, and rumors are spreading about patrons who have disappeared in the vicinity after slaking their thirst at the tavern. The proprietor, Choren Lendoren, has recently taken to drinking with his patrons, an unprofessional practice he never used to follow. He has been forgetting orders and even arguing with his customers. For those patrons who do still come, the drinks and bar snacks are tasty and the prices have recently been slashed. Choren finds himself in the unenviable position of watching his life's work fail and being powerless to save it, for he knows the source of his problems:…[a] lich is hiding in the tunnels beneath his cellars…The undead creature terrifies Choren, and he does the thing's bidding-luring unsuspecting patrons down into the cellars for [the thing's] amusement-purely out of fear. He has considered hauling up stakes and fleeing…but…is afraid [it] would track him down and…destroy him in some…gruesomely inventive fashion. (p 44)" Good Stuff for a bad place. The location descriptions are very full and given lavish detail. It is an excellent sourcebook for any world or frpg campaign on this basis alone. There are a ton of bizarre, unique establishments that could be readily transplanted into any world. There are almost too many…it starts to feel like some kind of freak show after a while. A couple of the more strange ones could be dropped from the city with no harm done to the setting-the gunpowder selling Giff called the Brigadier would be first on my list. The second standout is the cast of characters that populate the city. The neutrals, choatics, and evils here are not 2-D cardboard cutout guys; they are given coherent, logical, and insightful backgrounds, which explain WHY they are who they are. In short they are true personalities, and easily lend themselves to role-playing, should the need arise. I would have liked a little more statistical detail here, but a GM can easily supply that. Also pleasing…this thing veritably bristles with hooks. Between the Rumors section, the areas and personalities descriptions', and the basic chaos of this place, if your players can be bored playing in Skullport, there is no place in existence that will interest them. Never a dull moment here. The Bad Probably the single worst aspect of this supplement is its many barriers to ready and easy use in play. First, the location descriptions are not designed for in-play use, they read more like stories; while this facilitates reading for the Dungeon Master in off-play time, it is remarkably unhandy when trying to actively run something in Skullport in play. Aggravating this is the coding system used to designate locations within the city. The city has three layers and four sections. The locations are specified with codes such as CP15, which means Central Port building 15. After using the system for a while, it will be natural and learned, but until then, the DM will flounder around trying to figure out where everything is. It would also be nice if there were a separate map which the GM could look at while reading the various descriptions. The flip-back-and-forth-between-map-and-description thing hasn't cut it in past and never will. I recommend making photocopies of the maps for personal use. I really didn't like the history offered for the place generally. But this is more an issue of personal taste, most will probably be satisfied. The Ugly Shameless product plug on page 6 for Undermountain: The Lost Level… The cover's wallpaper-like background is definitely unattractive, and in need of removal. But these complaints are petty and pedantic next to what follows. Particularly loathsome was the Thugmaster Dungeonmaster attitude that reared its hideous countenance on several occasions. This is nothing new to AD&D, but that doesn't make it any less ugly. The most sickening offender is the Skulls. The Skulls are given as the force of stability in this city of chaos. What they amount to is an instrument of the bluntest kind. They are an utterly unkillable, indestructible force which have the spell resources of a 36th level wizard, and summons troupes of shades with spellcasting ability starting at 11th level. Coincidentally, these creatures order people to do things for their own "inscrutable" purposes, especially "those of particularly self-righteous or arrogant demeanors (p 15)." Here is a list of some demands imposed: "Go to the lower port [the crudest section of the seedy town] and personally apologize to every goblin. Sell your every possession, including weapons, armor, and magical items, to a passerby for 1 sp. (p 15)" I don't think I could have expressed the thuggish attitude better myself. This sort of mentality rears its head in at least several other places, including in a teamster Ogre leader called Haffa (if you can believe it…Jimmy Hoffa) virtually everytime he is mentioned. But enough of this. This seems to be part of a corporate culture TSR has cultivated and have not yet rid themselves of, even after the WOTC takeover. Artwork I was somewhat disappointed with the art, both the cover and interior art. The cover art is acceptable, but considering the artists WOTC/TSR has on staff, I expect better on its covers. Of course, if the choice were between this new cover art and the recycling of old art which TSR has become infamous for, I would choose the new cover art without hesitation. The interior art likewise disappointed me for the most part. Oh, it was competent enough, very nice actually, but it failed to really bring the city to life, to convey the sense of a living, pulsating, multitiered city built in/on/into a vast cavern. For the most part, the interior illustrations could have been from any surface city, with a few stalactites added to the upper portion of the illustration as an after thought. C'mon!, this is a city built into a cavernous expanse bounded above by a looming stone vault! It should feel like it. One of the most critical functions of interior art is to deliver a tangible sense of the environments being described primarily with words. With the exception of a nice piece on page 25, the illustrations failed to distinguish the subterrain city Skullport from any surface city. The interior illustrations depicting Skullport's notable denizens were well done, conveying the personalities and character of these persons convincingly. Diagrams, Maps and Tables Initially I was pleased with the maps that I saw. The first few maps are clear, pleasing, accessible, though the print was just a tad difficult to read. The maps of the middle and upper parts of the city, however, were disappointing. Yes, they were as clear as the map of the ground level, exactly as clear, in fact. Except for the overlay of plank tracks (walkways) over open streets, the maps of the suspended or clinging areas of the city looked the same as the ground level maps. These precarious strata are depicted as static planar levels. Once again I found myself disappointed by the missed opportunity to add true distinctiveness, uniqueness and originality to this product. I realize that generating some sort of 3D isometric map of these portions of the city would be difficult and laborious, but I think that a city as interesting as Skullport is deserving. Ahh, well. Conclusion: Excellent Despite some shortcomings and some irritating aspects, this supplement is very good. It succeeds admirably and impressively at what it attempts: the detailing of a sinister, bustling underworld city. Even if the GM doesn't use the Forgotten Realms or even AD&D, this supplement is of considerable value to any who wish to populate a world with underworld figures and strange/exotic merchants. Look for a module or series of modules to follow. This supplement demands it. Style: 4 (Classy and well done) Substance: 5 (Excellent!)