The Inside Scoop on Gaming

Skraag Disclaimer I: I have seen in reviews that the content had "spoiler" ascribed to it. I feel that if you are reading a review, you invite that upon yourself. If you don't want "spoilers," why would you read a review of a product you do not own? I will not use the phrase of "Contains Spoilers" in my reviews, if you want a non-biased review that doesn't reveal content-look elsewhere.

Disclaimer II: The majority of this review is opinion; your actual enjoyment of this product should vary accordingly.

"... The presence of Skraag has made an already wild and dangerous frontier even more so, and the people have no doubt that one day they will have to face the might hordes that spread destruction across the land. They live resigned to this fact, having niether the means nor the will to try to stop this inevitable catastrophe. The time is ripe for a new band of heroes to emerge..." ( p. 60, "Survival in the Wilderness")

WARNING SHOT:

Hmm, orcs. The name simply calls sterotype to the fore. As a friend jests, "Orcs; they're a sickly race." Or, the terms calls up the latest Tolkien envisioned human-in-a-rubber-mask to our mind's eye. It should stand that a book written about their greatest acomplishment would summon more than a grudgingly low amount of respect to what could have been a great supplement.

While the tome isn't as bad as the warning shot leads some to believe, its not a great book either. References to outside works, while to be expected this late in the d20 game, does bring me a bit away from the work. No more than three outside books were referenced (Mongoose Publishing's Necromancy, Demonology and Gladiator) and not really brought into context ("if thoses rules are lacking, do this...") . If the author, or editors, had brought the outside texts into a sort of context, I could say that the references would be good to follow-up on. Wells-oh.

BEGINNING

This is the first of MP's "Cities of Fantasy" series and stands out as an odd choice to begin a series with. A city of orcs ("...they're a sickly race...").

And while I started reading, I was soon turned off to the fact that the city in question wasn't really orcish, just controlled by orcs. I can hear the voices of the gaming gurus--"Orcs can't run their own city, it's not right." So, we don't get to see what could have been a better work--that being a city of orcs, by orcs, for orcs.

Moving past that, I quickly warmed up to the idea of this city, even if it would not exist the way its presented in this sourcebook. Too many creatures living in a small, isolated area. But, beyond that, Skraag shapes up to have some nice ideas lodged in its pages.

MIDDLE

Skraag has an identity crisis of sorts, it can't decide if its a campaign sourcebook or a book filled with character hooks and some monsters (yes, Prestige Classes too, yay). The book would be better invested in as a character hook book more so than a campign supplement. Reading through the text gives great ideas on what hooks to give out players, but not a lot of detail to make them work in an active campaign.

Yes, there's a small section in the back on working Skraag into a campaign, but the set up needs a full adventure more so than three campaign models to plug your characters into.

Even the orc characters seem out-of-place within the idea of a massive orcish city (look more at the art in the book for ideas than the map, the map seems very wrong based on the text).

END

Skraag can easily be added to a campaign, with little work. The idea of an orcish city may seem outlandish in the context of the d20 system's main focus, mainly the character races from the PHB. It seems, though this book was geared at showing an orcish city, it was meant more for a bunch of PCs to hack away at like a faithful recurring villain until the campaign's end.

PERSONALITY

This book has good (city of orcs and well detailed) and bad points (too damn many PrCs and new creatures, even the blasted, unfollowed references), however the good overshadow the bad.

Editing seemed problematic during several sections of the text, calling the orc leader first by his full name than switching between his last and first name at seemingly random was annoying to read.

Skraag: City of Orcs
Skraag: City of Orcs Capsule Review by Alex deMorris on 22/08/02 Style: 4 (Classy and well done) Substance: 4 (Meaty) Not quite the pure orcish accessory one would hope for, but it'll do the job nicely. Product: Skraag: City of Orcs Author: Wil Upchurch Category: RPG Company/Publisher: Mongoose Publishing Line: Cities of Fantasy Cost: 14.95 Page count: 64 Year published: 2002 ISBN: 1-903980-15-1 SKU: MGP 5001 Comp copy?: yes Capsule Review by Alex deMorris on 22/08/02 Genre tags: Fantasy Generic	Disclaimer I: I have seen in reviews that the content had "spoiler" ascribed to it. I feel that if you are reading a review, you invite that upon yourself. If you don't want "spoilers," why would you read a review of a product you do not own? I will not use the phrase of "Contains Spoilers" in my reviews, if you want a non-biased review that doesn't reveal content-look elsewhere. Disclaimer II: The majority of this review is opinion; your actual enjoyment of this product should vary accordingly. "... The presence of Skraag has made an already wild and dangerous frontier even more so, and the people have no doubt that one day they will have to face the might hordes that spread destruction across the land. They live resigned to this fact, having niether the means nor the will to try to stop this inevitable catastrophe. The time is ripe for a new band of heroes to emerge..." ( p. 60, "Survival in the Wilderness") WARNING SHOT: Hmm, orcs. The name simply calls sterotype to the fore. As a friend jests, "Orcs; they're a sickly race." Or, the terms calls up the latest Tolkien envisioned human-in-a-rubber-mask to our mind's eye. It should stand that a book written about their greatest acomplishment would summon more than a grudgingly low amount of respect to what could have been a great supplement. While the tome isn't as bad as the warning shot leads some to believe, its not a great book either. References to outside works, while to be expected this late in the d20 game, does bring me a bit away from the work. No more than three outside books were referenced (Mongoose Publishing's Necromancy, Demonology and Gladiator) and not really brought into context ("if thoses rules are lacking, do this...") . If the author, or editors, had brought the outside texts into a sort of context, I could say that the references would be good to follow-up on. Wells-oh. BEGINNING This is the first of MP's "Cities of Fantasy" series and stands out as an odd choice to begin a series with. A city of orcs ("...they're a sickly race..."). And while I started reading, I was soon turned off to the fact that the city in question wasn't really orcish, just controlled by orcs. I can hear the voices of the gaming gurus--"Orcs can't run their own city, it's not right." So, we don't get to see what could have been a better work--that being a city of orcs, by orcs, for orcs. Moving past that, I quickly warmed up to the idea of this city, even if it would not exist the way its presented in this sourcebook. Too many creatures living in a small, isolated area. But, beyond that, Skraag shapes up to have some nice ideas lodged in its pages. MIDDLE Skraag has an identity crisis of sorts, it can't decide if its a campaign sourcebook or a book filled with character hooks and some monsters (yes, Prestige Classes too, yay). The book would be better invested in as a character hook book more so than a campign supplement. Reading through the text gives great ideas on what hooks to give out players, but not a lot of detail to make them work in an active campaign. Yes, there's a small section in the back on working Skraag into a campaign, but the set up needs a full adventure more so than three campaign models to plug your characters into. Even the orc characters seem out-of-place within the idea of a massive orcish city (look more at the art in the book for ideas than the map, the map seems very wrong based on the text). END Skraag can easily be added to a campaign, with little work. The idea of an orcish city may seem outlandish in the context of the d20 system's main focus, mainly the character races from the PHB. It seems, though this book was geared at showing an orcish city, it was meant more for a bunch of PCs to hack away at like a faithful recurring villain until the campaign's end. PERSONALITY This book has good (city of orcs and well detailed) and bad points (too damn many PrCs and new creatures, even the blasted, unfollowed references), however the good overshadow the bad. Editing seemed problematic during several sections of the text, calling the orc leader first by his full name than switching between his last and first name at seemingly random was annoying to read.

Skraag: City of Orcs