The Inside Scoop on Gaming

First of all let me tell you that I like AEGs products. A lot in fact.
I still think that the entire L5R line is brilliant. It may not be shock full on information, but what is there is usually good. The same holds true (at least for me) with 7th Sea. I think the rulebooks are both great works, the nation books are fine and the secret societies are nice for people who like that kind of thing.

Now AEG brought out something new, a city. Free for all and no rules attached, its Freiburg after all ("Free Castle" for those who did not have their 2 weeks of German).. And from the same company that brought us the "City of Lies" boxed city for L5R. I was thrilled. Luckily when I was looking for the Vodacce Nation book there it sat - the freiburg boxed set.

I grabbed the thing, went home and felt like a child at Christmas. And then I got the wrong present.

To the review. The Box contains two books, one booklet and a map.
The map is advertised as "beautiful". Its black and white and looks like any generic fantasy map I have ever seen. No 3D View from above, no colors, just plain black and white icons for houses, temples etc.
Then there is a booklet, like the one in "City of Lies" (the reason I came back to mention that one is, that the layout of the box is exactly modeled like that in the L5R supplement). A handout for players that serves as an introduction to the city. Its well done, shock full of information and even sometimes a good read. A pity my players never bother to read such a lengthy text - which is clearly not the booklets fault.

Next comes a 64 sides strong book, which describes the major buildings in the city. In fact it tries to describe next to any building in the inner city. Sad to say but 3/4 of the pages are about what shop has what in store and stuff like that. The most important building in the city gets 2 sides. You see the center of Freiburg is an ancient Bone Tower, built by a legendary race of dragons. What you learn about it is, that it is roughly 200 feet high, has a portal leading to the top (who made this ? the dragons had no sorcery and a montaigne invasion was not mentioned), a single staircase and in its lower chambers a strange crystal that keeps the tower standing. That's all! All in all I do not like this house to house approach on a city, but for those who like it, it may be a gold mine.

Last in line is a 92 sides thick book about the history, the NPC and with a campaign for the town in it. The history only gets a few sides, mainly mentioning that the dragons build the tower, then nobody dared go near it, one day somebody did, then it was a focal point during the war of the cross and then the current ruler requested it as his fief. History lesson over. The NPC are filling some more sides, but to make this the city for everyone it seems they tried to make sure every nation and every secret society had at least one member in it. Which brings us to a dozen NPC, which are filled up by five head honchos of the city. And then it ends and there are still more than 60 sides left in the book. The NPC are ranging from good to not so good, but the problem here is that half of them are not doing anything for the setting. Mainly the city, which is what the box is supposed to be about. The rest of the book is the campaign. I won't tell you mch about it, but it is giving quite some power to the players, analog to a big ball of bad stuff. Everybody will be out to get it and the players. It most likely ends in a battle of near epic proportions, the makers of the campaign somehow assuming that the status quo will be saved afterwards. Its not bad once you have swallowed the premesis. The main problem here lies in the ending, its hardly believable and the players will have a hard time making an impact. And the "official ending" is the least likely I.M.H.O. As usual for 7th Sea the campaign its presented in hard points and soft points. The latter would make quite some adventures in themselves and as they often do not have any impact on the plot, they might as well be used that way.

In summery what you get is one mediocre map, one nice booklet/handout, one door to door description of the inner city of Freiburg, 30 side of history and NPC, one 30 side campaign and 30 sides full of mini-adventures. The price tag says 35,- $. A little stiff for what is delivered.

Style: 3 (Average)
Substance: 2 (Sparse)

Freiburg City Boxed Set
Author: Rob Vaux Category: game Company/Publisher: AEG Line: 7th Sea Cost: 34.95 Page count: 190 Capsule Review by Andreas on 11/15/00. Genre tags: Fantasy	First of all let me tell you that I like AEGs products. A lot in fact. I still think that the entire L5R line is brilliant. It may not be shock full on information, but what is there is usually good. The same holds true (at least for me) with 7th Sea. I think the rulebooks are both great works, the nation books are fine and the secret societies are nice for people who like that kind of thing. Now AEG brought out something new, a city. Free for all and no rules attached, its Freiburg after all ("Free Castle" for those who did not have their 2 weeks of German).. And from the same company that brought us the "City of Lies" boxed city for L5R. I was thrilled. Luckily when I was looking for the Vodacce Nation book there it sat - the freiburg boxed set. I grabbed the thing, went home and felt like a child at Christmas. And then I got the wrong present. To the review. The Box contains two books, one booklet and a map. The map is advertised as "beautiful". Its black and white and looks like any generic fantasy map I have ever seen. No 3D View from above, no colors, just plain black and white icons for houses, temples etc. Then there is a booklet, like the one in "City of Lies" (the reason I came back to mention that one is, that the layout of the box is exactly modeled like that in the L5R supplement). A handout for players that serves as an introduction to the city. Its well done, shock full of information and even sometimes a good read. A pity my players never bother to read such a lengthy text - which is clearly not the booklets fault. Next comes a 64 sides strong book, which describes the major buildings in the city. In fact it tries to describe next to any building in the inner city. Sad to say but 3/4 of the pages are about what shop has what in store and stuff like that. The most important building in the city gets 2 sides. You see the center of Freiburg is an ancient Bone Tower, built by a legendary race of dragons. What you learn about it is, that it is roughly 200 feet high, has a portal leading to the top (who made this ? the dragons had no sorcery and a montaigne invasion was not mentioned), a single staircase and in its lower chambers a strange crystal that keeps the tower standing. That's all! All in all I do not like this house to house approach on a city, but for those who like it, it may be a gold mine. Last in line is a 92 sides thick book about the history, the NPC and with a campaign for the town in it. The history only gets a few sides, mainly mentioning that the dragons build the tower, then nobody dared go near it, one day somebody did, then it was a focal point during the war of the cross and then the current ruler requested it as his fief. History lesson over. The NPC are filling some more sides, but to make this the city for everyone it seems they tried to make sure every nation and every secret society had at least one member in it. Which brings us to a dozen NPC, which are filled up by five head honchos of the city. And then it ends and there are still more than 60 sides left in the book. The NPC are ranging from good to not so good, but the problem here is that half of them are not doing anything for the setting. Mainly the city, which is what the box is supposed to be about. The rest of the book is the campaign. I won't tell you mch about it, but it is giving quite some power to the players, analog to a big ball of bad stuff. Everybody will be out to get it and the players. It most likely ends in a battle of near epic proportions, the makers of the campaign somehow assuming that the status quo will be saved afterwards. Its not bad once you have swallowed the premesis. The main problem here lies in the ending, its hardly believable and the players will have a hard time making an impact. And the "official ending" is the least likely I.M.H.O. As usual for 7th Sea the campaign its presented in hard points and soft points. The latter would make quite some adventures in themselves and as they often do not have any impact on the plot, they might as well be used that way. In summery what you get is one mediocre map, one nice booklet/handout, one door to door description of the inner city of Freiburg, 30 side of history and NPC, one 30 side campaign and 30 sides full of mini-adventures. The price tag says 35,- $. A little stiff for what is delivered. Style: 3 (Average) Substance: 2 (Sparse)

Freiburg City Boxed Set