Zobeck Gazetteer (OGL) (based on
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Kobold Press
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This introduction to the Free City of Zobeck showcases its clockwork magic, its gearforged PC race, and many highlights of the city, such as the Kobold Ghetto. Includes a beautiful city map and other distinctive elements of the setting.— Clockwork Magic and the kobold ghetto.
Clockwork magic is just what it sounds like: a school of new spells and creatures related to automatons and golems. The gazetteer defines the school with 32 new spells and a discussion of clockwork devices.
The kobold ghetto is a dimly-lit and dangerous place that comes alive by night, and that guards its privileges jealously. Learn who rules and what schemes the kobolds are honing behind the walls of their city-within-a-city.
For good measure, the Gazetteer includes the Gearforged PC race, a set of practical and strange city locales, a little bit of history, and five new clockwork monsters.
As a gazetteer-size treatment of the city, it provides enough that the shared world can truly be shared, without overwhelming a DM who wants to match the city to their own homebrew setting.
48 pages. Cover art by Malcolm McClinton.
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I would say this is worth every penny. From the clockwork magic and gear domain, to the various new kobold traps, this product never falters in its presentation. Wolfgang is a great designer and an aficionado of steampunk. Zobeck is a unique location, and I can't wait to use it in my games.
Disclaimer note: I was a senior patron and I contributed to the Zobeck Gazetteer. Take that for what it’s worth.
Zobeck weighs in at 50 pages, subtitled “an introduction to the free city.” It has some very pretty cover art and then dives into the material—the first half covers an overview of the city’s history, its notable districts and important locations, its guilds, and its gods. Nothing is done to an extreme depth, but there is enough meat here to really get you hungry for Zobeck, and easily provide a mental image of the city with all its exotic trappings. Short summaries provide a general outline of important characters and places, permitting a GM to customize the locales as needed and a lot of adventure hooks means it’s simple to tie into an existing game. On a particular note, the full-page map of the city is gorgeous.
The second half details a new playable race, the Gearforged—more of a soul tied to a construct form, a-la Full Metal Alchemist than the living constructs of a certain lighting-rail setting, or the near-droid Cogs of OGL Steampunk—then continues to give the crunch for clockwork oriented skills, devices, and creatures. I like the artwork for the various creatures, particularly Robert Scott’s almost surreal Watchman and Weaver. Clockwork magic receives a decent share, providing the Gear Domain and 26 new spells from level 1 to 9 for arcane and divine casters
Like all of the Open Design projects, it has a variety of designer’s notes scattered through the sidebars. I always enjoy these notes for the insights they provide and possible tweaks I could utilize later. The layout and art suits the material well, with a heavy gear motif and a lot of classic artwork that helps keep the theme.
Overall, this is a product that has a lot to offer and hints at the potential of future offerings. You won’t go wrong adding this particular clockwork gem to your campaign world.
