Close
Close
Browse Categories
$ to $















Cities of Fantasy 2: Racial Neighborhoods $3.50
Publisher: RPG Objects
pixel_trans.gif
by Shane O. [Featured Reviewer] Date Added: 11/28/2008 13:01:53

It’s all too often a staple of fantasy communities that they all tend to look alike. While some famous NPC may live in this city, or that one’s sewers lead to the Dungeon of Even More Doom, for the most part, they all seem to be copies of each other. This is especially true in regards to their demihuman populations. Sure, elves live in forests, and dwarves live underground, but why is it that when you put these races in a human city, they’re living in houses just like everyone else? Cities of Fantasy 2: Racial Neighborhoods presents demihuman populations as having their own ethnic districts in existing cities, shaping them to be more like their natural homes.

The book is divided up into five sections, one each for elves, dwarves, gnomes, halflings, and orcs. Each section goes over the role the district plays in the larger community, a description of the general appearance and architecture found there, the history of such an area, some of the inhabitants you’d find there (these are described in terms of roles, rather than individuals: e.g. “instructor” rather than a specific NPC), magic (this is just a brief listing of some existing spells and items with one-sentence descriptions of what they’re used for in the community), special rules (the crunch of the book; this has things that grant small bonuses or penalties, new equipment, etc.), and plot hooks. Most pages also have small sidebars covering a related topic in a few sentences.

Overall, the book does a good job of making each district have its own feel, while still making them easily referenced by using the same format for each. Dwarves, for example, tend to create an underground community that often grows into a city in its own right over the centuries, whereas orcs tend to be pushed into the slums, creating a “ghetto” area that’s often the target of harassment from law enforcement.

However, the book isn’t perfect in what it does (and doesn’t do). Many of the mechanical aspects of the book – the “crunch” – felt tacked-on, offering bonuses or penalties seemingly so as to make sure there was enough of that present overall. PCs take a -2 circumstance penalty to “gambling checks” involving mechanical gambling devices built by gnomes? That seems a bit…specific. Also, speaking of mechanics, it would have been nice if there were bookmarks here; weighing in at almost forty pages, something to make navigation easier would have been helpful. I won’t mention the lack of a printer-friendly version, as there is a decent amount of art to be found here.

Despite these little things, however, I found myself liking the book for what it presented as a whole. After all, while cities do tend to be melting pots, they shouldn’t all look so similar, despite the different races living in them. Presenting racial districts that “feel” elven, halfingish, etc. is a great idea, and this book does a nice job in making that apparent in what it presents.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
pixel_trans.gif
pixel_trans.gif Back
You must be logged in to rate this
pixel_trans.gif
Cities of Fantasy 2: Racial Neighborhoods
Click to show product description

Add to DriveThruRPG.com Order

0 items
 Gift Certificates