O fato de ser um produto pago tira 50% da utilidade do livro já que o mestre não pode legalmente distribuir uma cópia entre seus jogadores e eles não podem baixar gratuitamente do site (ainda bem que eles voltam atrás e retiram os player´s guide da linha Companion tornando-os gratuitos novamente a partir de Council of Thieves). Fora isso o livro é muito util aos jogadores de Second Darkness (não é obrigatório) pelas opções e informações contidas neles. Tecnicamente tambem ele é o único livro em papel com uma versão da regra básica dos character traits para o D&D 3.5E sem ser a versão do Pathfinder RPG (existe uma página dificil de ser encontrada do site da paizo que tem essa regra para download gratuito). Para quem não quer jogar Second Darkness existem alguns itens e talentos interessantes (eu adoro os feats dos Cyphermages), mas nada que justifique muito a compra.

The first part of this work is in effect the Player's Guide for Second Darkness, and contains what you'd expect. The campaign starts in Riddleport (of which more later) and so we discover which races are most prevalent therein, as residents or visitors, and what people of the various classes might be doing - all to help you create a character suitable for the campaign. It also brings to the fore traits, which enable characters to have advantages and edges specific to the campaign without needing to know what they face - if it's here as a campaign trait, it will be useful somewhere along the line. They also help in building background and fleshing out the character, and so as well as campaign-specific traits there are more general ones to choose from as well.

The next part of the book serves as an introduction to the city of Riddleport. Third largest in Varisia, it's a den of thieves and tricksters and organised crime is rife. Starting as a pirate haven, it is now a true frontier town with all the opportunities and lawlessness that usually entails. There's an overview of the way the city is governed, and of its appearance and layout, the sort of thing that an observant person could pick up in a few days and which would, of course, be well-known to a native. This rounds off with some common slang and a couple of unusual poisons.

The remainder of the book has a few useful things like the Liberator prestige class, whose role is to free the wrongfully imprisoned. As they consider slavery to be wrong, there's the potential of conflict with practitioners of that trade, as well as kidnappers and other such lowlifes. Those of a religious bent might be interested in Cayden Cailean, a deity who is patron of both bravery and beer! Mages will be interested in the 'cyphermages' which flourish in Riddleport, and can learn a few new spells, while there are some usful items magical and mundane for those who like delving underground in caves. Finally there's an NPC called Lavender Lil.

Overall an intriguing and useful collection, especially if you'll be visiting Riddleport!

If your Curse of the Crimson Throne players are chafing at the Lawful nature of Korvosa, and are wishing they could hang in a looser, more swinging town...

...they should be careful what they wish for.

This is a Player's Guide to Riddleport and the Second Darkness, expanded to 32 pages. The production values are top-notch. Riddleport is a great place to adventure, or run afoul of the thieves. The prestige classes and spells are cool.

The traits, sadly, are incomplete, but the text promises there'll be other traits, in another product, soon.

The sad thing: this will never get used as a Player's Guide. My players loved the $2 book introducing Ptolus. They loved the 16-page guide which introduced the Savage Tide, and the Curse of the Crimson Throne. I plunked down $10 and got five copies, to hand around the table for my players to keep.

This is a $10 item. There's no way I could pay $50 to hand it out to my players. I'd have to make 5 copies of the PDF and hand them out.

So the affordable 16-page player introductions to the campaigns are a thing of the past. Here's hoping that they'll become a thing of the future, too.