The writing does a good job presenting what you need to know to play or run these areas: people, cultural details, what’s going on now, etc. Each kingdom feels unique and interesting with some exceptions I could easily imagine PCs from those places. S7S does a little of that, but for the most part stakes out its own territory. 7th Sea did a good job of converting European pseudo-cultures into a new fantasy world. These have quite divergent approaches- and don’t simply echo classical western tropes. The tone here is light and deft- this isn’t a grim and gritty world and the mythic is presented as a kind of legendary background, with it mostly appearing as lore and superstitions in the minds of the inhabitants.Īfter two dozen pages of geography and background, the author takes us through the various kingdoms of the world. His treatment presents the physical features, flora and fauna of each well. I found myself making notes as I read through- ideas for adventures in each one. Chad Underkoffler provides enough detail, for example, about each of the Skies to make them feel distinct and interesting. If you’re just looking for inspiration, you’ll find a great deal here. If you’re looking for an existing sky-borne setting to play in, this one holds together. The book spends the first 130 pages setting up the background, environment, peoples, and cultures. So, along with the blazing Sky of Fire in the center, you get seven.
The six are The Mists, The Sky of Frost, The Ghost Sky, The Sky of Stones, The Sky of Thunder, and The Jungle Sky. Navigators of the flying fleets learn the best passages and routes through these skies. Each has a distinct character, so they serve as "seasons" for the fixed floating islands and locations around the world. These remain set in relation to one another, but cycle counter-clockwise around. More importantly, the dome is sectioned into six further skies, slices running from top to bottom. Between those levels, the sky is broken into layers, with winds moving in different directions within the layers. The apex of the dome is unreachable, while the bottom of the sphere is a sea of roiling "Blue," like azure tar. At the center of the dome stands the Sky of Fire, like the core of an apple reaching from the top to the bottom. Swashbucklers takes place in a domed world, a fantastic land encased by the borders of the celestial sphere. S7S avoids my pet peeve in book design and sticks to no more than three fonts, with one of those reserved for really special moments. Even those sections with a greyed background remain highly legible. Readers can breeze through the text thanks to the excellent and clean layout. The art throughout is simple and clean- some original pieces, some clipart, some nice Dover choices, and a rich set of symbol graphics associated with the magic of the game. The color cover has a nice iconic illustration, with a classical map tone background. That’s "7" skies and not "Seven" if you’re doing a search on it.
Swashbucklers of the 7 Skies comes in a slightly oversized trade format, clocking in at about 328 pages (including adverts and such). Sundered Skies is a high fantasy rpg with flying ships. S7S is a pirate rpg with flying ships and some light fantasy.
I also bought Sundered Skies at the same time and I think a useful comparison can be drawn between them. I picked up S7S as source material for my own fantasy, flying ships, Battlestar Galactica homage ( see here). Atomic Sock Monkey also uses PDQ for the well-praised Truth and Justice Monkey, Ninja, Pirate, Robot: the RPG and Dead Inside.
ZoZ takes the lightest possible approach to those rules, while S7S has a little bit more crunch added to it. Last week I reviewed Zorcerer of Zo (ZoZ), which uses the same PDQ (Prose Descriptive Qualities) system. As a little bit of a cheat (we call it efficiency) I’ve decided to review Swashbucklers of the 7 Skies ( S7S).
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