Nov RPG Book Club: City of Brass

[Crothian]

Necromancer Press relased this amazing box set last year at Gen Con. I have no idea how fast it sold out but I imagine they all sold pretty well.

Have you had a chance to see this? If so what did you think? Where you able to use it and if so how?

Necromancer has three great box sets and while this will concentrate on the City of Brass the other two are worth looking into as well. I was sad but understand why there was no box set this year. Hopefully that will change as I'm really looking forward to seeing what more they have to offer.

 

[howandwhy99]

I'm a big fan of this set. I bought it about 3-4 months after it came out. It is very similar to other Necromancer boxsets and that's a good thing. It reminded me more of Rappan Athuk, but as a city. Not Bard's Gate or (unfortunately) Wilderlands, but instead a vast city setting with lots of interesting places to use in a game.

The sad things is Rob Kuntz put out his Hackmaster version as well and it easily was the best product I'd bought in years (until I received Upper Works). I think I'll mix the best of the two and map as needed. Plus there are plenty of other Efreeti outposts and cities to account for in the plane of fire. Any good prep work like this is appreciated.

But I haven't used either in a game. For now Necromancer's great work is just a resource, but definitely worth purchasing.

 

[Psion]

If I say everything there is to say about this set, I'll end up with a review. I haven't played using it yet, but I desperately want to.

If you are a 3e fan undaunted by high level play, it's a stunning boxed set. Even if you aren't in to 3e or prefer lower levels, there is a lot of fluff and background material there you can plug in to.

It's 50% setting, 50% adventure. Lots of sites are statted out that you don't necessarily have to face. And interestingly enough, if the players don't play their cards right, they can get on the bad side of the Efreeti, which is not a good thing.

This is an interesting roleplaying dynamic. At the levels you have to be to play this (12th-20th), the players may be used to have their PCs be absolutely bad-ass, above any sort of law. All of a sudden, the players have to watch their backs, as they will be in a city with very not-nice laws and the power to enforce them.

There are 3 books (+ a map booklet). The first is the setting book, detailing the city and the surrounding region. There are some encounter areas, but most of the ones that are "dungeon" type areas are in the second book.

The second book is a mini-campaign of sorts, that sets the PC about finding the fate of a prophet, drawn from real legends. It's epic, and includes many old school references, including the Codex of Infinite Planes. Assuming the players stay on task, they'll make their way through a variety of exotic locations, including the so-called "Pagoda of Devils", a pyramid devoted to Set, and more.

The final book is mostly opposition--NPC stat blocks and new creatures. The book also has a variety of cool encounter ideas.

The city itself is as fantastic as the reputation suggests. Sure, it's a planar metropolis where you can access anything (for a price). But you may find things are not a given here. To get drinking water, you must entreat priests who require you to sacrifice blood for the privledge, and to even get into the city, you must wait in a miles-long line, the "highway of the damned."

Tired, maybe more tomorrow.

 

[Psion]

The sad things is Rob Kuntz put out his Hackmaster version as well and it easily was the best product I'd bought in years (until I received Upper Works). I think I'll mix the best of the two and map as needed.

Yep, it's pretty good, too. I plan on extracting bits of it and integrating it. I also found the artwork in Sir Rolibar's inspiring.

 

[(un)reason]

Necromancer Press relased this amazing box set last year at Gen Con. I have no idea how fast it sold out but I imagine they all sold pretty well.

Not around here, apparently. Last time I want game shopping a few weeks ago, one of my LGS's had one copy left, while the other had two. It was really rather disconcerting.

Have you had a chance to see this? If so what did you think? Where you able to use it and if so how?

The complete separation of the character descriptions and their game stats was a bit of a pain in the ass. It meant rather more page flipping than I would have liked to get the full picture on a particular area. I also think that having the same cover for all the interior books was a bit sloppy. It felt like it was written as single mammoth book, and then cut into a boxed set at the last minute. Those caveats aside, it was pretty neat. It did a good job of making a place that would continue to present challenges for PC's well into epic levels, while maintaining a decent degree of solidity in terms of feeling like a place that doesn exist purely for the players. You could play it casualy, as just another place to visit between dungeons, or you can make a whole huge campaign arc around the adventures in there.

 

[Psion]

Here's a quote from page 130 in book 2 I found interesting:

"The overall plot of the adventure is designed to encourage PCs towards a plane spanning saga the likes not seen in RPGs for over twenty years,"

What is this intimating at? The GDQ series?

I know Casey's an old school 1e fan, but Planescape's Dead Gods was scarcely over 10 years ago.

Edit: This quote from Casey puts the Demonweb pit allusion more in context:

Portions of the city sit within the plane of fire, portions in the plane of molten skies. The text of the book refers to the plane of molten skies as being more or less the sultan's personal playground a demi plane whereby he gains greater access to conquered or soon to be conquered material planes. At least that was our intent on how it was to be inferred.

So, the Plane of Molten Skies could operate a bit like the Demonweb Pits did in Q1... a front to assault prime worlds.

 

[jdrakeh]

This box set rocked and is one of the few D&D 3x items that I truly hated parting with (the others being World's Largest City and my WotA books).

 

[Treebore]

This is a boxed set that I consider an "instant classic". I own two and hope to get a third eventually.

 

[Varianor Abroad]

I have it. I've read it thoroughly. I used it for inspiration in two games. One got close to the City (and if there's an ENWorld GameDay soon I may run a sequel in the city). The other I pulled some ideas from for an encounter that never happened since the players went a different way.

I thought it boiled over with ideas. I also thought that it needed a bit more editing than it had. Parts of it were...choppy. That however is a small nit. I enjoyed the description of the areas around the City too, as well as the many imaginitive places within.

 

[Crothian]

Does it make for a better adventure or a better setting?