Product Review

This was the first sourcebook for Eberron and it wasn’t a let down.

This city of over two hundred thousand people is well presented, well organized and very well illustrated (something I have now come to expect as standard for all the Eberron books).

To give you a quick overview, encase you haven’t read the Eberron Campaign Setting… Sharn is a city that rather than expand outwards, went upwards, so now in places the towers reach up to a mile in the air. While the dominant race is human, it is possible to meet anyone of any race here and as in any city there are rich people, poor people and good and bad people. All in all it is a major city and a great setting for your adventures.

The book is comprised of eight chapters. The first two are about the city and its districts, then we move on to a view of the major power groups in the next three, and the last three chapters concentrate on how the players fit into this complex environment. As a DM I must say that this really is a book for DM eyes only, if you are only going to play - don’t read it. Or if you want a quick look stay out of areas your DM forbids you from, it’s not worth spoiling a good story with a foreknowledge of twists.

Chapter One: A visitors guide, I think this is one the best chapters in the book as it discusses the city in very broad terms. It also covers reasons why players may be in the city and includes examples of where to find services players will want. Without this section you would have to go flicking through chapter two, which could be a little like looking for a needle in a haystack.

There are some demographics for the people who like that kind of things but basically all you need to know is that Sharn’s population is 50% human with rest made up of the other races. One very nice portion of this chapter is a set of festivals and holidays to add a little color to any visit and they can also prove very useful for story ideas. For example one holiday The Hunt allows people being sent to capture some creatures, so the players could either take part or it could be back drop to some other event like a kidnapping or robbery.

Chapter two is a description of city by ward and district. Unfortunately these can go on a little bit too much. Some of the regions are very interesting and could have perhaps been given more space at the expense of some more common ones. Also, the map showing the relationships between districts on each level are spread out in this chapter so you have to keep flicking backwards and forwards when trying to find which join together. This could and in fact should, have been easily sorted with a fold out map.

Chapter three is where we start to get the information on the various powerful groups within the city. We are given information on the ruling council and some of its internal politics and we are also provided with information on the influence of other nations and the Dragonhouses with power here. As you read this you will come across many nice story hooks and there are a veritable army of potential sponsors.

Next we move onto Chapter four which has information on Law & Order, and how to run it so players don’t feel cheated of there role. Also we see a copy of the Galifar Code of Justice, as used by most of the Five nations. We also get some stats for the various groups that make up the Law. From the lowly City Watch up to the Redcloak Battalion, who are there to deal with major menaces, a convenient group who like deputizing heroes when needs be. The other organizations such as Crime Families, adventurers and mages guilds are also covered here and again have some very nice potential sponsors or even opponents.

Then we get the chapter that most players will want to be looking through. Here we have new feats and prestige classes. I would have preferred this chapter to have been earlier in the book so you could tell the players who want to look at it, not to go past it and risk gazing upon the storylines that I may want to use. The feats are mostly Sharn specific and don’t work well outside of the city so are generally not that useful to take. There are three new Prestige classes: the Cannith Wand Adept, who focus on the use and creation of wands. The Citadel Elite a combined Spy, Warrior and Inquisitive whose main task is service to the Breland Throne. The last class is the Sharn Sky Mage, a mage class that improves flight based abilities and spells, but only in Sharn so it’s of very limited use. There are also a few spells and magic items, but nothing too amazing.

At the back we have the Monster section, which combines new monsters with a nice Sharn feel to them and examples on how to use some creatures from previous books. Finally we have some advice on how best to use this book and how to work Sharn into a campaign. For me it is the best home base for the group to set out from and a great setting for full blown adventures as well.

Another high quality offering for the Eberron setting and as far as city sourcebooks go this one is well above average.

Reviewed By Martin Dye