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Every role-playing game ever made has devoted some space to 'How to be a Good GM'. There's always the comparisons to Cops and Robbers, the 'Be Fair but Tough' ideal, and the 'How to Write Adventures for this Game System' section. I personally feel tha if you've seen one of those sections, you've seen them all and that space could probably be put to use with other neater things. White-Wolf, innovator of the field in so many things, included such things with their GM Screens, justifying the cost of a piece of shiny cardboard just a little bit.

However, I must say I was impressed by 7th Sea's Game Master Guide and the interesting techniques and ideas contained in their GM Tutorial. For thefirst time in my career as a GM, I saw something in one of those sections and thought "I gotta try this!" So, when I saw the Villain's Kit on the shelf of the local book store, I plunked down some of my hard-earned money from shilling Pokemon cards to kids at an unnamed toy store chain.

The book looks a bit slight at 64 pages for $24.95. However, the back of the book contains a form for membership into the 7th Sea GM Secret Society and buying the book gets you in the door. This is apparently the same book you'd get if you just mailed in the form in the back of the GM's Guide so if you did that, skip this purchase. I haven't gotten my supplies from the club yet (I smell another review) but you apparently get four 7th Sea newsletters, four adventures available only to Club members, four No Quarter cards, a membersip card, discounts on buying stuff directly from AEG, dirt on all the other secret societies, and a shiny lapel pin prclaiming you part of the Novus Ordum Mundi. Little Orphan Annie decoder ring sold sepreately.

(Novus Ordem Mundi, incidentally, translates into New World Order. I emailed AEG and asked if being a member also got us a tape of the funky entrance theme music and discounts on steel chair and cans of spray paint. I haven't gotten a response.)

So what do you phyiscally get for your money? The book starts of with a quick who's who of the secret societies of Theah. This includes the Daughters of Sofia, a society not mentioned in the main book. The Daughters are a matriarchal secret society bent on controlling the strings through the prodigious use of feminine wiles. They also have in possession an elixir that makes women immortal and kills men, deending on who ingests it. This summary really clears up a lot of the secret scoieties in Theah and allows GM's to more accurately summarize what each one does and the differences in each. For example, the Invisible College is a different entity from the Explorer's Society but not by much.

The next section is a short adventure meant to introduce players to the world of 7th Sea. It's a classic pirate treasure map affair. I prefer building my own first adventure instead of chucking the players together and saying "Work, damn you!" but I can see how this would be a good adventure for a one shot or the beginning of a campaign. Though, I do wonder if they should have included this advemture withthe GM's Screen then and put thefirst part of the Erebus Cross trilogy here. There is a questionaire in the back of the book that GMs are supposed to fill out saying who did what and such which will supposedly contribute to the interactive world of 7th Sea. I assume this means of x amount of letters come in and say this guy died and this country got a hold of of the treasure then it will be written into the continuity. I have mixed feelings on this. On the one hand, I applaud AEG's attempts in the past and present for keeping the game world fluid and allowing events in the CCG and the RPG to influence each other. It lets people feel like what they doin the game really matter instead of just comparing notes after a dungeon crawl. On the other hand, writing what goes on in adventures into the main continuity will create problems for thosegroups thatdidn't do the adventure the way that 'canon' says it does. I hate dealing with continutiy bumps and retro-fitting things, and something like this could lead to that.

The next segment details The Powder Keg, a bar that 7th Sea GMs can use anywhere in Theah. This is an interesting concept in detailing the denizens and staff of such a place in detail so the next time the PCs go to the bar, there might actually be people there. Each charatcer seems to be bursting with story hooks, something which a GM aid should be doing.

The next section is a collection of small optional rules for distinguishing Brutes. Brutes, in 7th Sea, are the requisite Redshirts/Stormtroopers/Jabroni types the Heroic PCs mow through to get to the real bad guys. The rules are suggestions for the different way each country grows Brutes and are kind of helpful to give thugs the props they are due. My two favorite parts of this book are back to back. There is a section on faking foreign languages, which in a multi-national culture such asTheah is essential. It even includes neat sounding phrases that the GM can use to confound players that didn't take that language (and might illicit chuckles from players who did. One of my players snickered when the Villainous Eisen hissed "That is not my napkin" before striking one f the other players down.) Then, John Wick talks about building a Perfect Villain and put down in writing stuff I've felt for years. It's not just good and evil, it's many subtle levels. If copyright laws weren't so strict, I'd photo copy this section and hand it out to ever person who ever asked me advice on GMing. The rest of the book are charts, sheets, generic NPC pics that you can use, and other flashy things for the GM.

The Villain's Kit, while not essential, is helpful for the 7th Sea GM. The adventure is okay and the setting stuff is excellent. The real value of this supplement will be proven when I get my Secret Society membership in the mail. Until then, I'm happy with what I got even if 25 bucks is a bit steep for it.

Style: 4 (Classy and well done)
Substance: 3 (Average)

7th Sea Villain's Kit
Author: John Wick Category: game Company/Publisher: AEG Line: 7th Sea Cost: $24.95 Page count: 64 Capsule Review by Rob Wieland on 01/10/00. Genre tags: Fantasy	Every role-playing game ever made has devoted some space to 'How to be a Good GM'. There's always the comparisons to Cops and Robbers, the 'Be Fair but Tough' ideal, and the 'How to Write Adventures for this Game System' section. I personally feel tha if you've seen one of those sections, you've seen them all and that space could probably be put to use with other neater things. White-Wolf, innovator of the field in so many things, included such things with their GM Screens, justifying the cost of a piece of shiny cardboard just a little bit. However, I must say I was impressed by 7th Sea's Game Master Guide and the interesting techniques and ideas contained in their GM Tutorial. For thefirst time in my career as a GM, I saw something in one of those sections and thought "I gotta try this!" So, when I saw the Villain's Kit on the shelf of the local book store, I plunked down some of my hard-earned money from shilling Pokemon cards to kids at an unnamed toy store chain. The book looks a bit slight at 64 pages for $24.95. However, the back of the book contains a form for membership into the 7th Sea GM Secret Society and buying the book gets you in the door. This is apparently the same book you'd get if you just mailed in the form in the back of the GM's Guide so if you did that, skip this purchase. I haven't gotten my supplies from the club yet (I smell another review) but you apparently get four 7th Sea newsletters, four adventures available only to Club members, four No Quarter cards, a membersip card, discounts on buying stuff directly from AEG, dirt on all the other secret societies, and a shiny lapel pin prclaiming you part of the Novus Ordum Mundi. Little Orphan Annie decoder ring sold sepreately. (Novus Ordem Mundi, incidentally, translates into New World Order. I emailed AEG and asked if being a member also got us a tape of the funky entrance theme music and discounts on steel chair and cans of spray paint. I haven't gotten a response.) So what do you phyiscally get for your money? The book starts of with a quick who's who of the secret societies of Theah. This includes the Daughters of Sofia, a society not mentioned in the main book. The Daughters are a matriarchal secret society bent on controlling the strings through the prodigious use of feminine wiles. They also have in possession an elixir that makes women immortal and kills men, deending on who ingests it. This summary really clears up a lot of the secret scoieties in Theah and allows GM's to more accurately summarize what each one does and the differences in each. For example, the Invisible College is a different entity from the Explorer's Society but not by much. The next section is a short adventure meant to introduce players to the world of 7th Sea. It's a classic pirate treasure map affair. I prefer building my own first adventure instead of chucking the players together and saying "Work, damn you!" but I can see how this would be a good adventure for a one shot or the beginning of a campaign. Though, I do wonder if they should have included this advemture withthe GM's Screen then and put thefirst part of the Erebus Cross trilogy here. There is a questionaire in the back of the book that GMs are supposed to fill out saying who did what and such which will supposedly contribute to the interactive world of 7th Sea. I assume this means of x amount of letters come in and say this guy died and this country got a hold of of the treasure then it will be written into the continuity. I have mixed feelings on this. On the one hand, I applaud AEG's attempts in the past and present for keeping the game world fluid and allowing events in the CCG and the RPG to influence each other. It lets people feel like what they doin the game really matter instead of just comparing notes after a dungeon crawl. On the other hand, writing what goes on in adventures into the main continuity will create problems for thosegroups thatdidn't do the adventure the way that 'canon' says it does. I hate dealing with continutiy bumps and retro-fitting things, and something like this could lead to that. The next segment details The Powder Keg, a bar that 7th Sea GMs can use anywhere in Theah. This is an interesting concept in detailing the denizens and staff of such a place in detail so the next time the PCs go to the bar, there might actually be people there. Each charatcer seems to be bursting with story hooks, something which a GM aid should be doing. The next section is a collection of small optional rules for distinguishing Brutes. Brutes, in 7th Sea, are the requisite Redshirts/Stormtroopers/Jabroni types the Heroic PCs mow through to get to the real bad guys. The rules are suggestions for the different way each country grows Brutes and are kind of helpful to give thugs the props they are due. My two favorite parts of this book are back to back. There is a section on faking foreign languages, which in a multi-national culture such asTheah is essential. It even includes neat sounding phrases that the GM can use to confound players that didn't take that language (and might illicit chuckles from players who did. One of my players snickered when the Villainous Eisen hissed "That is not my napkin" before striking one f the other players down.) Then, John Wick talks about building a Perfect Villain and put down in writing stuff I've felt for years. It's not just good and evil, it's many subtle levels. If copyright laws weren't so strict, I'd photo copy this section and hand it out to ever person who ever asked me advice on GMing. The rest of the book are charts, sheets, generic NPC pics that you can use, and other flashy things for the GM. The Villain's Kit, while not essential, is helpful for the 7th Sea GM. The adventure is okay and the setting stuff is excellent. The real value of this supplement will be proven when I get my Secret Society membership in the mail. Until then, I'm happy with what I got even if 25 bucks is a bit steep for it. Style: 4 (Classy and well done) Substance: 3 (Average)

7th Sea Villain's Kit