I had been looking for a .pdf version of this book for years. I own a physical copy, but that was really hard to come by. I was SO very happy to get this in a Bundle!
The book presents a 18 different locations for a seedy medieval city. The concentration is on low magic, and while there is plenty of suggestions of how to put things into any given system, it is totally system-agnostic. Each location had at least two colorful NPCs that really breathe life into them.
There is an element of humor to these - one of the fighters is actually named Hakon Slash, and there is a time traveler! But there are also a number of deep meta-plots - Faustian bargains pin several together, and there are elements of touching romance in at least three locations. The grim notion of the Steel Man assassins and the nomadic Shadow Riders are so striking that I have used them in one form or another repeatedly in every medieval campaign I have run since the 90s.
Note also that there is a metaplot - maybe I should say there are several, but they interplay. If you have the patience to stat out the NPCs for your system (the generic descriptions and narrative would lend themselves SO well to FATE or FAE!) this assuredly constitutes a year-long city campaign. But if you aren't up for that, grabbing any of the locations and dropping it into your campaign will breathe a little bit of new life and interest for your players.
If I haven't communicated it enough, let me be explicit: this is my favorite roleplaying supplement of all time. Seriously.
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