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This pdf
clocks in at a massive 37 pages, 1 page front cover, 1 page advertisement, 1
page editorial, 1 page ToC, 1 page statblocks by CR-index, 1 page advice on how
to read statblocks, 1 page SRD, 1 page back cover, leaving us with 30 pages of
content, so let's take a look!
First of
all, this is a kind of full circle for me - when I started reviewing, Raging
Swan Press' free mini-setting The Lonely Coast immediately grabbed my attention
and made me buy Retribution, their first module. Now, hundreds of reviews of
Raging Swan Press-supplements later, this book provides the fully detailed
information on the largest settlement in that remote stretch of land, the town
of Wolverton. Hence, it is only appropriate that we begin this book with a
proper introduction to the stretch of land, including traveling distances,
weather etc.
Now, if you
know the village backdrop-series (and you SHOULD!), you'll be familiar with the
formula used for this town - we receive a full-blown town statblock,
information on what magic items can be bought, town lore, nomenclature,
dressing habits, etc. However, as befitting of a larger settlement, Wolverton
is more than just a village on steroids.
This
becomes readily apparent from the extremely detailed map to the sheer number of
notable places provided. (As always, player friendly maps can be downloaded on
raging Swan Press' homepage.) 28 different notable locations at a glance are
provided, and for conveniences sake and to help navigation, we also have them
grouped by type - see, THAT is considerate! Wolverton is a walled city at the
coast, situated atop some cliffs and the castle of the local pseudo-aristocracy,
the Lochers, situated on a promontory. The town features a quarter separated
from the rest of the town by cliffs (keep the rabble out) and sports a massive
river flowing through it, the Arisum. Hence, the town also features several
bridges that span the river and the town is fortified with solid walls.
So far, so
good - but what is going on in the place? Well, a metric ton of things: let's
begin with whispers and rumors - as opposed to just 6 for a village, we receive
a FULL PAGE of 50 rumors, each of which has the potential to spark a full-blown
adventure! Another example for this pdf going above and beyond would be the inclusion
of information for kingdom-building and using Wolverton in conjunction with
such a campaign. Festivals and traditions like "Wolf's Night" provide
more than just a bit of local color, in the aforementioned example, townsfolk
bake wolf-shaped biscuits and children get to eat fang-shaped sweet bread while
adults in wolf skin walk the streets to scare children. Now if you can't use
this festival to e.g. convert something Halloween/samhain-themed or make a
lycanthrope-plot more interesting, I don't know! Weekly markets and a total of
no less than 50 entries of sights and sounds (think of them as mini-hooks,
dressing, etc.) spanning two-pages further enhance the unique and detailed
perspective one gets of the glorious town.
Of course,
if you prefer hooks to be less subtle, perhaps the 50-entry strong, two-page
spanning table of events might do - from street urchins trying to steal from
the PCs to being recruited for the theatre to pouring rain that renders the
muddy roads difficult terrain, these events not only are interesting, they are,
most of the time, downright inspiring, especially for the brevity with which
they have to work. Oh, and if THAT still is not enough, you'll be happy to know
that properly and fully developed hooks are interspersed throughout the whole
book.
Now the
town itself has plenty of truly interesting locales and places to inspire the
prospective DM - take an inn, " The Hare and the Ass", which has
recently been taken over by a half-orc. Said half-orc was raised by dwarves and
thus knows the recipe of the Thunderhammer clan's famous beer, seeing quite a
few visitors as a result - in spite of the latent xenophobia exhibited towards
the green-skin.
While at no
point obtrusive, fans of Raging Swan press will rejoice at e.g. small Easter-eggs
and tie-ins with Hosford and other locales in and around the Lonely Coast. What this pdf acts like, can be best described
as the massive linchpin that ties the whole of the Lonely Coast and its
peculiarities together, rendering the whole picture more concise - while adding
flourishes to just about every component of the area.
The various
taverns, people controlled by intelligent helmets - we have *a lot* going on
here - including strange experiments, no less than 3(!!!) major smuggling gangs
(including their own conflicts,
moralities, leaders and headquarters), burgeoning sorcerous power among
those that should not e able to exhibit it (and some intrigue there...) - we
have * A LOT* going on in this town - enough to cover a bunch of PC-levels!
Beyond this
extremely detailed town, though, we also receive statblocks of its inhabitants
- from merchants and peasants, reeves and high priests, rulers, veteran
watchmen and a whole slew of smugglers and low-lives can be found herein -
including the signature detailed fluff to supplement all of the named
NPC-statblocks - background story, personality, mannerisms, distinguishing
features and character-specific hooks - anything you ask for, it's here.
Conclusion:
Editing and
formatting are top-notch, I did not notice any significant glitches. Layout
adheres to raging Swan Press' b/w-two-column standard, is printer-friendly and
generally nice to look at. The artworks range from thematically fitting stock
art to pieces I haven't seen before and the cartography is awesome - the town
makes sense and looks rather neat. The pdf comes in two versions, one optimized
for screen-use, one to be printed out, and both come excessively bookmarked.
I can't
comment on the print-edition since I do not own it (yet).
John Bennett
delivers the final missing piece of the puzzle that is The Lonely Coast and
much like many a puzzle, this one piece makes the whole picture seem all the
more enticing. As a hub full of adventuring potential, Wolverton elevates the
other pdfs in and around the Lonely Coast by serving as a plausible, cool town
full of local color, nice customs and adventuring potential. Even when used on
its own, though, the town shines - Wolverton
has taken to heart all the little improvements of the "small" series-
extremely detailed, with rumors, sights and hooks galore, it also provides a
multitude of flavors of adventuring it supports: Wilderness? No problem.
Dungeon? Why not. Coastal caves? Covered. Courtly intrigue? Possible. Shadow
War? Jup, feasible. You name it, this place has the means to provide an
extremely detailed canvas for your brush.
Wolverton
is more than just an oversized village backdrop - it is a full-blown, thriving,
pulsing town rife with adventure potential, a place filled to the brim with details
and local color, expertly crafted to serve as a hub for PCs, to support a
plethora of playing styles...and still retain a unique identity. An impressive
feat indeed and well worth 5 stars + my seal of approval, as well as a
nomination as a candidate for my Top Ten of 2014.
You can get this awesome town here on OBS and here on d20pfsrd.com's shop!
Endzeitgeist
out.
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