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Avalon is the second book on the nations of Theah written for the 7th Sea game. Avalon is a confederation of three small islands each with it's own nobility, history, and goals. It is split into four parts with one of those parts split in half.

The book starts with a story like all the 7th Sea products do. It is well written, and sets the stage for what is going on in Avalon.

After the story you reach the first section of the book that details the country's history and the political goals and important locations of the three kingdoms that make up the nation of Avalon. Also contained in the first chapter is a brief overview of the Sidhe. Embedded throughout this chapter are numerous plot hooks that a GM can develop into adventures. The biggest complaint that I have heard about this book is that there is a lack of maps for each of these islands. In fact the only maps I have seen of Theah are in the Players and GM's guides.

The next section gives descriptions of the major players in Avalon. The players can read all of these descriptions, because they don't give any of the secrets of these characters that aren't already known to the common people of Avalon.

The third section covers the new information on creating a character from one of the islands of Avalon. This information includes a new swordsman school, a new school for bows, and a new school for pugilism. It also contains new backgrounds, advantages, skills and a new sorcery-like school for Druidism. For the most part it covers everything that you need to play a native of this nation, while making them unique to all other nations. My favorite advantage that is in the book is the Sidhe blood, which the players can build to suit their characters. Also this section adds ten new knacks or spells for the glamour mages of Avalon. The spells correct the problem with the school of sorcery as it was depicted in the Players Guide.

The last section is split into two parts. The first part contains optional rules for the players to take the role of a fallen Sidhe. With everything that is told in the books about the Sidhe and their powers, the first thought is these characters would be very unbalancing in a game. Instead you find the Sidhe characters have a great number of restrictions placed on them in the name of game balance. Unfortunately there are some uncertainties in the restrictions, and not all of the restrictions make sense story wise especially those that deal with what skills these characters can and can't learn. The second part of this section returns to the import NPC's in the country giving out their stats and the secrets that the players should only find out about through play if ever.

Over all this was a really good book the only complaints that I had with it were the lack of maps, and that they introduce characters with skills that are only found in other sourcebooks. This tends to make it necessary to purchase all of the books even if you have no interest in that particular aspect of the game.

Style: 4 (Classy and well done)
Substance: 4 (Meaty)

Avalon
Author: Rob Vaux and John Wick Category: game Company/Publisher: AEG Line: 7th Sea Cost: 19.95 Page count: 128 ISBN: 729220730039 SKU: 7303 Capsule Review by Robert James on 02/20/00. Genre tags: Fantasy	Avalon is the second book on the nations of Theah written for the 7th Sea game. Avalon is a confederation of three small islands each with it's own nobility, history, and goals. It is split into four parts with one of those parts split in half. The book starts with a story like all the 7th Sea products do. It is well written, and sets the stage for what is going on in Avalon. After the story you reach the first section of the book that details the country's history and the political goals and important locations of the three kingdoms that make up the nation of Avalon. Also contained in the first chapter is a brief overview of the Sidhe. Embedded throughout this chapter are numerous plot hooks that a GM can develop into adventures. The biggest complaint that I have heard about this book is that there is a lack of maps for each of these islands. In fact the only maps I have seen of Theah are in the Players and GM's guides. The next section gives descriptions of the major players in Avalon. The players can read all of these descriptions, because they don't give any of the secrets of these characters that aren't already known to the common people of Avalon. The third section covers the new information on creating a character from one of the islands of Avalon. This information includes a new swordsman school, a new school for bows, and a new school for pugilism. It also contains new backgrounds, advantages, skills and a new sorcery-like school for Druidism. For the most part it covers everything that you need to play a native of this nation, while making them unique to all other nations. My favorite advantage that is in the book is the Sidhe blood, which the players can build to suit their characters. Also this section adds ten new knacks or spells for the glamour mages of Avalon. The spells correct the problem with the school of sorcery as it was depicted in the Players Guide. The last section is split into two parts. The first part contains optional rules for the players to take the role of a fallen Sidhe. With everything that is told in the books about the Sidhe and their powers, the first thought is these characters would be very unbalancing in a game. Instead you find the Sidhe characters have a great number of restrictions placed on them in the name of game balance. Unfortunately there are some uncertainties in the restrictions, and not all of the restrictions make sense story wise especially those that deal with what skills these characters can and can't learn. The second part of this section returns to the import NPC's in the country giving out their stats and the secrets that the players should only find out about through play if ever. Over all this was a really good book the only complaints that I had with it were the lack of maps, and that they introduce characters with skills that are only found in other sourcebooks. This tends to make it necessary to purchase all of the books even if you have no interest in that particular aspect of the game. Style: 4 (Classy and well done) Substance: 4 (Meaty)