paizo.com Recent Reviews of Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Isles of the Shackles (PFRPG)paizo.com Recent Reviews of Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Isles of the Shackles (PFRPG)2023-06-06T19:00:12Z2023-06-06T19:00:12ZPathfinder Campaign Setting: Isles of the Shackles (PFRPG): Ring Side Report- A review of Isles of the Shackles (5 stars)fine_young_misanthropehttps://paizo.com/products/btpy8qzx?Pathfinder-Campaign-Setting-Isles-of-the-Shackles2014-01-28T18:04:29Z<p><b>Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Isles of the Shackles (PFRPG)</b></p><p>Originally Posted on www.throatpunchgames.com, a new idea everyday!</p>
<p><b>Product</b>- Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Isles of the Shackles
<br />
<b>System</b>-Pathfinder
<br />
<b>Price</b>-~$15
<br />
<b>TL;DR</b>- An amazing textbook of the Shackles 97%</p>
<p><b>Basics</b>- It's time to set sail in the most lawless island of all Golarion! This book discusses the different major populated islands of the Shackles, the pirate islands of the Inner Sea of Golarion. The first part of the book give a major island by island run down of each isles people, towns, races, languages, religions, and what you can plunder from the towns there. Each island gets its own story seeds for your game. After the islands, the book shows different random encounter tables as well as new Shackles specific monsters for you to throw in your home game ranging from a CR 1/2 pirate to the CR23 Blood Queen.</p>
<p><b>Mechanics</b>- This book is only about 1/4 mechanics with new monsters and random encounter tables. I the monsters and well done and most of them are flavored for high seas battles. Don't read this book expecting new crazy rules, but what's presented is done well. 5/5</p>
<p><b>Theme</b>- Most of this book is stories of fantasy places. It does read like a geology and history text book, which can get a little boring even at the best of times. What's there is great and the seeds that are set in the book do give you a lot of places to run with if you want to run a Shackles campaign. I'd have liked a section on the Isle of Empty Eyes since that's where the players end up in the Skull and Shackles adventure path. 4.5/5</p>
<p><b>Execution</b>- The book is well put together as you would expect from Paizo. I'll admit I did take a few breaks to read this as it is primarily a history textbook of a fantasy place. Don't get me wrong, this is an amazing textbook of a fake place and its well written with a nice layout so I can read it easily. But, it does get a bit long as you march from one island to the next. 5/5</p>
<p><b>Summary</b>- If you want to play in the Shackles, this is the book for you. I liked this one a lot. It will take a bit to march through, but if you can pull through you will enjoy what you fine. Most likely though, this is a GM only book. 97%</p><p><b>Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Isles of the Shackles (PFRPG)</b></p><p>Originally Posted on www.throatpunchgames.com, a new idea everyday!</p>
<p><b>Product</b>- Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Isles of the Shackles
<br />
<b>System</b>-Pathfinder
<br />
<b>Price</b>-~$15
<br />
<b>TL;DR</b>- An amazing textbook of the Shackles 97%</p>
<p><b>Basics</b>- It's time to set sail in the most lawless island of all Golarion! This book discusses the different major populated islands of the Shackles, the pirate islands of the Inner Sea of Golarion. The first part of the book give a major island by island run down of each isles people, towns, races, languages, religions, and what you can plunder from the towns there. Each island gets its own story seeds for your game. After the islands, the book shows different random encounter tables as well as new Shackles specific monsters for you to throw in your home game ranging from a CR 1/2 pirate to the CR23 Blood Queen.</p>
<p><b>Mechanics</b>- This book is only about 1/4 mechanics with new monsters and random encounter tables. I the monsters and well done and most of them are flavored for high seas battles. Don't read this book expecting new crazy rules, but what's presented is done well. 5/5</p>
<p><b>Theme</b>- Most of this book is stories of fantasy places. It does read like a geology and history text book, which can get a little boring even at the best of times. What's there is great and the seeds that are set in the book do give you a lot of places to run with if you want to run a Shackles campaign. I'd have liked a section on the Isle of Empty Eyes since that's where the players end up in the Skull and Shackles adventure path. 4.5/5</p>
<p><b>Execution</b>- The book is well put together as you would expect from Paizo. I'll admit I did take a few breaks to read this as it is primarily a history textbook of a fantasy place. Don't get me wrong, this is an amazing textbook of a fake place and its well written with a nice layout so I can read it easily. But, it does get a bit long as you march from one island to the next. 5/5</p>
<p><b>Summary</b>- If you want to play in the Shackles, this is the book for you. I liked this one a lot. It will take a bit to march through, but if you can pull through you will enjoy what you fine. Most likely though, this is a GM only book. 97%</p>fine_young_misanthrope2014-01-28T18:04:29ZPathfinder Campaign Setting: Isles of the Shackles (PFRPG): An Amazing Amount of Material for so Limited a Space (4 stars)Feroshttps://paizo.com/products/btpy8qzx?Pathfinder-Campaign-Setting-Isles-of-the-Shackles2013-06-04T23:57:54Z<p><b>Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Isles of the Shackles (PFRPG)</b></p><p>For an explanation of how I use the five star review method, see my entry on <i>So What's the Riddle Like Anyway?</i> <a href="http://paizo.com/products/btpy8uz5?So-Whats-The-Riddle-Like-Anyway" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">HERE</a>. </p>
<p>The <i>Isles of the Shackles</i> supplement for the <i>Pathfinder</i> Campaign Setting covers the archipelago south of the Eye of Abendego in the world of Golarion. It is a mix of Caribbean and African style culture all centered around piracy. If you were to take the Caribbean in the 17th and 18th centuries and put them in a fantasy setting, this would be pretty close. The Shackles are a loose pirate led confederacy ruled by a pirate council out of the capital city of Port Peril. This supplement tries to do what should be impossible: cover an area roughly 80,000 square miles with hundreds of islands in decent detail. The author trying this Olympian task is Mike Shel, an experienced writer with a solid background, so he might pull it off.</p>
<p>The book is in two parts. The first is the <b>Shackles Gazetteer</b>. This makes up more than two-thirds of the material in the supplement. It starts with a quick introduction to the Shackles and the nature of their government—such as it is—and their source of "trade": piracy. We then move on and get a description of the six "civilized" centers of the Shackles—Port Peril & the Mainland, Bag Island (Halfling anti-slavery community), Devil's Arches (Ruins of the ancient cyclops empire of Ghol-Gan now held by Chelaxian ex-pats), Motaku Isle (A pirate haven run freely by a popular half-elf pirate lord), Shark Island (Sahuagin infested land rules by a werewolf), and Tempest Cay (an island constantly battered by the eternal hurricane to the north and ruled by a powerful druid). Each gets two full pages and a piece of art the goes with the island in question. The detail here is really great, with many plot hooks and adventure ideas built in. From tentacled horrors lurking in Methoth Lake on the Devil' Arches to the lover's rift threatening Oyster Cay, almost every form of adventure imaginable has been placed just within these six regions. This is classic gazetteer style, with simple outlines and community descriptions for a GM to build adventures upon. </p>
<p>But where are the maps? There is a small scale map of the Shackles on the inside front cover, but this doesn't show most of the locations described in the various entries. This makes it hard to understand the relative distances and the like when constructing adventures. One of the things that I have always loved about fantasy campaign settings was when I could locate an entry on the map provided. Being unable to do that really limits the functionality and enjoyment of this work. A free web supplement with what may very well be one of the best maps for a fantasy campaign setting ever was added after the fact, which sadly means the print version has no reference to it. You have to download the map with all the detail you could want off the website. Not an issue for me, but it does leave those with just the book with limited usability. Remember what I said about this being impossible to do? This is where we have come up against it. Still the info in the gazetteer is phenomenal, so with the download I can forgive a lot of this.</p>
<p>The next part of the gazetteer covers an island a page, and there are a lot of them! Twenty-two islands in all, each with its own history, lore, and adventure hooks. The variety is amazing, from cannibal tribesmen and ancient ruins, to an Asiatic port of call where a daimyo rules, to elven supremacists, to raging volcanoes, it's all here in loving detail. You could run multiple campaigns in the region without ever duplicating yourself. This is great stuff, and all with just enough detail for a GM to run with it. This is exactly what a gazetteer needs to be. The final pages of the gazetteer give a brief overview of eighteen islets, rocks and atolls of the Shackles. All in all, a very thorough accounting of the archipelago. </p>
<p>The second part is a <b>Bestiary</b> for use with the Shackles. It starts with wandering monster tables, an essential ingredient to any sandbox style campaign. This bestiary is huge for a supplement this size! It has twenty-three entries, not counting variants ranging from CR 1/2 to CR 23. Add the variants in and you have another five adversaries. Some of the entries are NPCs written up specifically for the Shackles (mainly pirates) and the undead pirate entry has three direct variants plus a description of ghost ships and haunts. It's all great pirate themed material, with a certain ridiculous movie monster made over into a true terror of the deep (the lusca is a three-headed gargantuan sharktopus. I'm not sure if that is cool or really ridiculous. I'm going with cool!).</p>
<p><b>Final Thoughts</b>: All in all, this is an amazing piece of work. Mike Shel pulls off a minor miracle, packing this thing from cover to cover with absolutely astounding material. Whole campaigns can be made out of any four or five pages of material here, and the gazetteer covers a full thirty-eight pages. The bestiary is massive and offers threats for any level of campaign. This is a near perfect supplement with a significant flaw: because of the size of the campaign setting books, there was not enough room to include maps. This is offset by the gorgeous downloadable map, but not having that ready to go at printing and a reference to it in the printed version was a glaring oversight. The download does reduce the usability of this supplement a bit as well. So I will have to drop a star from what I consider one of the best campaign setting source books ever written. Four out of Five Stars.</p><p><b>Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Isles of the Shackles (PFRPG)</b></p><p>For an explanation of how I use the five star review method, see my entry on <i>So What's the Riddle Like Anyway?</i> <a href="http://paizo.com/products/btpy8uz5?So-Whats-The-Riddle-Like-Anyway" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">HERE</a>. </p>
<p>The <i>Isles of the Shackles</i> supplement for the <i>Pathfinder</i> Campaign Setting covers the archipelago south of the Eye of Abendego in the world of Golarion. It is a mix of Caribbean and African style culture all centered around piracy. If you were to take the Caribbean in the 17th and 18th centuries and put them in a fantasy setting, this would be pretty close. The Shackles are a loose pirate led confederacy ruled by a pirate council out of the capital city of Port Peril. This supplement tries to do what should be impossible: cover an area roughly 80,000 square miles with hundreds of islands in decent detail. The author trying this Olympian task is Mike Shel, an experienced writer with a solid background, so he might pull it off.</p>
<p>The book is in two parts. The first is the <b>Shackles Gazetteer</b>. This makes up more than two-thirds of the material in the supplement. It starts with a quick introduction to the Shackles and the nature of their government—such as it is—and their source of "trade": piracy. We then move on and get a description of the six "civilized" centers of the Shackles—Port Peril & the Mainland, Bag Island (Halfling anti-slavery community), Devil's Arches (Ruins of the ancient cyclops empire of Ghol-Gan now held by Chelaxian ex-pats), Motaku Isle (A pirate haven run freely by a popular half-elf pirate lord), Shark Island (Sahuagin infested land rules by a werewolf), and Tempest Cay (an island constantly battered by the eternal hurricane to the north and ruled by a powerful druid). Each gets two full pages and a piece of art the goes with the island in question. The detail here is really great, with many plot hooks and adventure ideas built in. From tentacled horrors lurking in Methoth Lake on the Devil' Arches to the lover's rift threatening Oyster Cay, almost every form of adventure imaginable has been placed just within these six regions. This is classic gazetteer style, with simple outlines and community descriptions for a GM to build adventures upon. </p>
<p>But where are the maps? There is a small scale map of the Shackles on the inside front cover, but this doesn't show most of the locations described in the various entries. This makes it hard to understand the relative distances and the like when constructing adventures. One of the things that I have always loved about fantasy campaign settings was when I could locate an entry on the map provided. Being unable to do that really limits the functionality and enjoyment of this work. A free web supplement with what may very well be one of the best maps for a fantasy campaign setting ever was added after the fact, which sadly means the print version has no reference to it. You have to download the map with all the detail you could want off the website. Not an issue for me, but it does leave those with just the book with limited usability. Remember what I said about this being impossible to do? This is where we have come up against it. Still the info in the gazetteer is phenomenal, so with the download I can forgive a lot of this.</p>
<p>The next part of the gazetteer covers an island a page, and there are a lot of them! Twenty-two islands in all, each with its own history, lore, and adventure hooks. The variety is amazing, from cannibal tribesmen and ancient ruins, to an Asiatic port of call where a daimyo rules, to elven supremacists, to raging volcanoes, it's all here in loving detail. You could run multiple campaigns in the region without ever duplicating yourself. This is great stuff, and all with just enough detail for a GM to run with it. This is exactly what a gazetteer needs to be. The final pages of the gazetteer give a brief overview of eighteen islets, rocks and atolls of the Shackles. All in all, a very thorough accounting of the archipelago. </p>
<p>The second part is a <b>Bestiary</b> for use with the Shackles. It starts with wandering monster tables, an essential ingredient to any sandbox style campaign. This bestiary is huge for a supplement this size! It has twenty-three entries, not counting variants ranging from CR 1/2 to CR 23. Add the variants in and you have another five adversaries. Some of the entries are NPCs written up specifically for the Shackles (mainly pirates) and the undead pirate entry has three direct variants plus a description of ghost ships and haunts. It's all great pirate themed material, with a certain ridiculous movie monster made over into a true terror of the deep (the lusca is a three-headed gargantuan sharktopus. I'm not sure if that is cool or really ridiculous. I'm going with cool!).</p>
<p><b>Final Thoughts</b>: All in all, this is an amazing piece of work. Mike Shel pulls off a minor miracle, packing this thing from cover to cover with absolutely astounding material. Whole campaigns can be made out of any four or five pages of material here, and the gazetteer covers a full thirty-eight pages. The bestiary is massive and offers threats for any level of campaign. This is a near perfect supplement with a significant flaw: because of the size of the campaign setting books, there was not enough room to include maps. This is offset by the gorgeous downloadable map, but not having that ready to go at printing and a reference to it in the printed version was a glaring oversight. The download does reduce the usability of this supplement a bit as well. So I will have to drop a star from what I consider one of the best campaign setting source books ever written. Four out of Five Stars.</p>Feros2013-06-04T23:57:54ZPathfinder Campaign Setting: Isles of the Shackles (PFRPG): Great Writing - Lack of Maps (3 stars)Warranthttps://paizo.com/products/btpy8qzx?Pathfinder-Campaign-Setting-Isles-of-the-Shackles2013-02-07T19:16:13Z<p><b>Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Isles of the Shackles (PFRPG)</b></p><p>I purchased this to help flesh out the individual isles in the Skull and Shackles Adventure path. I was happy that the writing encompassed the isles, but unfortunately there are NO maps of the isles in the gazetteer. A gazetteer without some maps is like a pirate ship without a crew. The Inner Sea World Guide is how each campaign setting supplement should be written. Yes, making maps of the isles and of the major ports of call is tedious; however once the work is accomplished, it is done forever and the world gets more detailed and more fleshed out. If it is too difficult to map from scratch, use Google maps to overlay existing locales on Earth like the Marshall Islands, and illustrate the overlay into a map for the guide.</p>
<p>I really don't need more monsters. Between the Bestiaries, the AP's and the campaign settings, we are being overwhelmed by monsters. Save those monsters for the AP's or for campaign specific bestiaries and flesh out the campaign resources with more MAPS.</p><p><b>Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Isles of the Shackles (PFRPG)</b></p><p>I purchased this to help flesh out the individual isles in the Skull and Shackles Adventure path. I was happy that the writing encompassed the isles, but unfortunately there are NO maps of the isles in the gazetteer. A gazetteer without some maps is like a pirate ship without a crew. The Inner Sea World Guide is how each campaign setting supplement should be written. Yes, making maps of the isles and of the major ports of call is tedious; however once the work is accomplished, it is done forever and the world gets more detailed and more fleshed out. If it is too difficult to map from scratch, use Google maps to overlay existing locales on Earth like the Marshall Islands, and illustrate the overlay into a map for the guide.</p>
<p>I really don't need more monsters. Between the Bestiaries, the AP's and the campaign settings, we are being overwhelmed by monsters. Save those monsters for the AP's or for campaign specific bestiaries and flesh out the campaign resources with more MAPS.</p>Warrant2013-02-07T19:16:13ZPathfinder Campaign Setting: Isles of the Shackles (PFRPG): Great Writing, Format hurts (5 stars)Red-Assassinhttps://paizo.com/products/btpy8qzx?Pathfinder-Campaign-Setting-Isles-of-the-Shackles2012-11-21T17:53:57Z<p><b>Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Isles of the Shackles (PFRPG)</b></p><p>Most of my problems were lay-out of this product.</p>
<p>+1 Great Job, Mr. Shel</p>
<p>-1 Table of Contents </p>
<p>2 entries
<br />
Shackles Gazetter
<br />
page 2
<br />
Threats of the shackles
<br />
page 40</p>
<p>It would of been great to have.</p>
<p>Shackles Gazetter
<br />
page 2
<br />
Port Peril and the Mainland 4
<br />
Bag Island 6
<br />
Devils Arches 8
<br />
Motuko Island 10
<br />
ETC...
<br />
Threats of the shackles
<br />
page 40</p>
<p>I like the fine folks of Paizo, but really should we need to know ALL these credits.. But we have 25 names listed, and only 2 table of content entries. While the first name sells it for me as a consumer, Mike Shel.</p>
<p>-1 Game Mastery settlement info modifier's, totally lacking. This I think is another major fault of this product. </p>
<p>I am currently running Skulls and Shackles. Another source book I have been using is Heart of the Jungle. </p>
<p>So I will be comparing the two products. I find as a GM, Heart of the Jungle is much better suited as a GM aid. As a sample compare the Bloodcove section to that of Port Peril in this book, I have as a GM sailed my players into Blood Cove with-in about 20 minutes. I can generate treasure and such for players to buy. Figure out quickly what plot hook I can use. So while I own the complete AP line, I am still forced to carry most of these books around just to reference city's, such as Port Peril, which is included as a source setting for this book.</p>
<p>-1 general formatting, after comparing this book with the Heart of the Jungle it is clear, that this book has 2 formats to use. A 1-page and a 2-page layout for each section. This is a terrible choice compared to a book like Heart of the Jungle. Pictures, there are allot, some seem just to be page filler. Compare to pictures or maps that would help a GM.</p>
<p>+1 Random encounters </p>
<p>+1 Bestiary, allot of good material here for all gm's, still allot of big pictures.</p><p><b>Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Isles of the Shackles (PFRPG)</b></p><p>Most of my problems were lay-out of this product.</p>
<p>+1 Great Job, Mr. Shel</p>
<p>-1 Table of Contents </p>
<p>2 entries
<br />
Shackles Gazetter
<br />
page 2
<br />
Threats of the shackles
<br />
page 40</p>
<p>It would of been great to have.</p>
<p>Shackles Gazetter
<br />
page 2
<br />
Port Peril and the Mainland 4
<br />
Bag Island 6
<br />
Devils Arches 8
<br />
Motuko Island 10
<br />
ETC...
<br />
Threats of the shackles
<br />
page 40</p>
<p>I like the fine folks of Paizo, but really should we need to know ALL these credits.. But we have 25 names listed, and only 2 table of content entries. While the first name sells it for me as a consumer, Mike Shel.</p>
<p>-1 Game Mastery settlement info modifier's, totally lacking. This I think is another major fault of this product. </p>
<p>I am currently running Skulls and Shackles. Another source book I have been using is Heart of the Jungle. </p>
<p>So I will be comparing the two products. I find as a GM, Heart of the Jungle is much better suited as a GM aid. As a sample compare the Bloodcove section to that of Port Peril in this book, I have as a GM sailed my players into Blood Cove with-in about 20 minutes. I can generate treasure and such for players to buy. Figure out quickly what plot hook I can use. So while I own the complete AP line, I am still forced to carry most of these books around just to reference city's, such as Port Peril, which is included as a source setting for this book.</p>
<p>-1 general formatting, after comparing this book with the Heart of the Jungle it is clear, that this book has 2 formats to use. A 1-page and a 2-page layout for each section. This is a terrible choice compared to a book like Heart of the Jungle. Pictures, there are allot, some seem just to be page filler. Compare to pictures or maps that would help a GM.</p>
<p>+1 Random encounters </p>
<p>+1 Bestiary, allot of good material here for all gm's, still allot of big pictures.</p>Red-Assassin2012-11-21T17:53:57ZPathfinder Campaign Setting: Isles of the Shackles (PFRPG): Game Master's Review (5 stars)Afro DMhttps://paizo.com/products/btpy8qzx?Pathfinder-Campaign-Setting-Isles-of-the-Shackles2012-11-20T23:07:34Z<p><b>Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Isles of the Shackles (PFRPG)</b></p><p>Being a GM making my own campaign in the Shackles, I found this book to be invaluable. The random encounter tables were perfect and the bestiary has several important monsters that I plan to use immediately. The detailed descriptions of the islands and places were like those of the inner sea guide. They contained plot ideas and good description. Great resource for game masters</p><p><b>Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Isles of the Shackles (PFRPG)</b></p><p>Being a GM making my own campaign in the Shackles, I found this book to be invaluable. The random encounter tables were perfect and the bestiary has several important monsters that I plan to use immediately. The detailed descriptions of the islands and places were like those of the inner sea guide. They contained plot ideas and good description. Great resource for game masters</p>Afro DM2012-11-20T23:07:34ZPathfinder Campaign Setting: Isles of the Shackles (PFRPG): Same quality as many beloved gazetteers (5 stars)Jim Groveshttps://paizo.com/products/btpy8qzx?Pathfinder-Campaign-Setting-Isles-of-the-Shackles2012-05-24T00:19:21Z<p><b>Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Isles of the Shackles (PFRPG)</b></p><p>Disclaimer: I am a contracted employee for Paizo. I had no affiliation with this product whatsoever. As far as Mike Shel? I've never met the guy or even spoken to him before. No one whatsoever suggested, encouraged, or prompted me to write this. Nevertheless, we work for the same company so I'm making it quite clear. If the reader thinks that poses a conflict of interest, I understand and respect their point of view and I won't be offended if they disregard this review.</p>
<p><b>Overview of the main islands</b>: Personally I found them interesting and flavorful and the writing sharp and professional. It didn't feel dry to me, <i>but it felt like a gazetteer</i>- much in the fine tradition of such books dating back to Greyhawk when I was in junior high in 1979. That's okay! I expected a gazetteer and Mr. Shel provided me one. Specifically each entry told me why the island was important and what was interesting about it. The entries suggested some typical creatures to be encountered, as well as an extraordinary plot hook entailing something above and beyond what monsters live there. Each individual island received a full page, two column text entry- allowing for some quarter page art on some entries. Really this compares well to the <i>Inner Sea Guide</i> and other gazetteers when you consider that each page is for one single island. As for being 'textbook-like', I like that Mike Shel actually uses his word count to tell me something useful and informative, instead of spending paragraphs telling me-</p>
<p>"Scholars can only speculate about-"
<br />
"Only the gods know and they remain cryptically silent, blah blah.."
<br />
"Sailors whisper rumors about some strange bizzaro conjecture based on nothing but its filling my word count, so hey..."</p>
<p>Ladies and gentlemen, that's the stuff that makes ME cringe. </p>
<p>When I read these entries and I can learn specifics about (very short spoiler)..
<br />
[Spoiler omitted]
<br />
These are not fully developed encounters by any stretch, but it’s the cool stuff I expect in a gazetteer- and really this is not any different than many of the fine ones I have read.</p>
<p><b>Bestiary</b>: This is a meaty bestiary that really rounds out the regional monsters I need in order to design professionally in this area, or just run a homebrew campaign. That is, I need a range of CRs and different types of creatures (i.e. magical beasts, oozes, undead, fey, plants, constructs, you know- a little of everything). To me, none of these guys are filler. Not even the sea snake. I need basic creatures in my toolkit right along with the exotic monsters. Variety is key, and this book has provided it handily. Plus I got some nice handy Pirate NPCs here that I can plug and play into an encounter. Saving me work with kick ass monsters is what I expect, and I wasn't disappointed.</p>
<p><b>Art</b>: Standard high Paizo quality, my kudos to Sarah Robinson and her Department.</p>
<p><b>Maps</b>: The one provided is pretty good. The major islands are identified along with the major locations on those islands. Could there be more maps? Yes- yes there could. ::shrug:: I am respectfully dubious of how much they would be used without being part of a module, scenario, or adventure path. Again, I point out the tension between what is expected of an overview of the area, and an actual adventure or set of actual encounters. If the lack of maps is preventing this book from being useful, then respectfully I think an Adventure Path or a Module is more in keeping with what the reader is looking for. A gazetteer is fuel for the GM, and this book fulfills that function. I would expect to have to extrapolate some information in finer detail. More maps would be nice, but I know there is a lot of considerations that go along with that. Less content and a possible higher price point.</p>
<p>I can compare this book to <i>Distant Worlds</i> which has more maps, but to no more affect and I can't quite reconcile some of the criticism. And I <b>loved</b> <i>Distant Worlds</i> (I really did, J.S.) <i>But that's my point</i>. I don't feel THIS book did me any disservice or lacked in any significant comparison. The two authors are different, have their own styles, and the topics interest me on different levels; but in terms of the product line there is patently not so great a difference that this book needs or should be judged harshly. That’s my opinion. This is good stuff.</p>
<p>Well done Mike.</p><p><b>Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Isles of the Shackles (PFRPG)</b></p><p>Disclaimer: I am a contracted employee for Paizo. I had no affiliation with this product whatsoever. As far as Mike Shel? I've never met the guy or even spoken to him before. No one whatsoever suggested, encouraged, or prompted me to write this. Nevertheless, we work for the same company so I'm making it quite clear. If the reader thinks that poses a conflict of interest, I understand and respect their point of view and I won't be offended if they disregard this review.</p>
<p><b>Overview of the main islands</b>: Personally I found them interesting and flavorful and the writing sharp and professional. It didn't feel dry to me, <i>but it felt like a gazetteer</i>- much in the fine tradition of such books dating back to Greyhawk when I was in junior high in 1979. That's okay! I expected a gazetteer and Mr. Shel provided me one. Specifically each entry told me why the island was important and what was interesting about it. The entries suggested some typical creatures to be encountered, as well as an extraordinary plot hook entailing something above and beyond what monsters live there. Each individual island received a full page, two column text entry- allowing for some quarter page art on some entries. Really this compares well to the <i>Inner Sea Guide</i> and other gazetteers when you consider that each page is for one single island. As for being 'textbook-like', I like that Mike Shel actually uses his word count to tell me something useful and informative, instead of spending paragraphs telling me-</p>
<p>"Scholars can only speculate about-"
<br />
"Only the gods know and they remain cryptically silent, blah blah.."
<br />
"Sailors whisper rumors about some strange bizzaro conjecture based on nothing but its filling my word count, so hey..."</p>
<p>Ladies and gentlemen, that's the stuff that makes ME cringe. </p>
<p>When I read these entries and I can learn specifics about (very short spoiler)..
<br />
[Spoiler omitted]
<br />
These are not fully developed encounters by any stretch, but it’s the cool stuff I expect in a gazetteer- and really this is not any different than many of the fine ones I have read.</p>
<p><b>Bestiary</b>: This is a meaty bestiary that really rounds out the regional monsters I need in order to design professionally in this area, or just run a homebrew campaign. That is, I need a range of CRs and different types of creatures (i.e. magical beasts, oozes, undead, fey, plants, constructs, you know- a little of everything). To me, none of these guys are filler. Not even the sea snake. I need basic creatures in my toolkit right along with the exotic monsters. Variety is key, and this book has provided it handily. Plus I got some nice handy Pirate NPCs here that I can plug and play into an encounter. Saving me work with kick ass monsters is what I expect, and I wasn't disappointed.</p>
<p><b>Art</b>: Standard high Paizo quality, my kudos to Sarah Robinson and her Department.</p>
<p><b>Maps</b>: The one provided is pretty good. The major islands are identified along with the major locations on those islands. Could there be more maps? Yes- yes there could. ::shrug:: I am respectfully dubious of how much they would be used without being part of a module, scenario, or adventure path. Again, I point out the tension between what is expected of an overview of the area, and an actual adventure or set of actual encounters. If the lack of maps is preventing this book from being useful, then respectfully I think an Adventure Path or a Module is more in keeping with what the reader is looking for. A gazetteer is fuel for the GM, and this book fulfills that function. I would expect to have to extrapolate some information in finer detail. More maps would be nice, but I know there is a lot of considerations that go along with that. Less content and a possible higher price point.</p>
<p>I can compare this book to <i>Distant Worlds</i> which has more maps, but to no more affect and I can't quite reconcile some of the criticism. And I <b>loved</b> <i>Distant Worlds</i> (I really did, J.S.) <i>But that's my point</i>. I don't feel THIS book did me any disservice or lacked in any significant comparison. The two authors are different, have their own styles, and the topics interest me on different levels; but in terms of the product line there is patently not so great a difference that this book needs or should be judged harshly. That’s my opinion. This is good stuff.</p>
<p>Well done Mike.</p>Jim Groves2012-05-24T00:19:21ZPathfinder Campaign Setting: Isles of the Shackles (PFRPG): Some good info, but poor planning (2 stars)Valiancehttps://paizo.com/products/btpy8qzx?Pathfinder-Campaign-Setting-Isles-of-the-Shackles2012-05-03T00:53:18Z<p><b>Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Isles of the Shackles (PFRPG)</b></p><p>I am a bit iffy on this one. Most of the time after I read a regional guide for Golarion, I feel I have a pretty good grasp on the region as a whole. Not so with this one. As many have said, a lot of it reads like a textbook, and the lack of sufficient maps really hurts this one. Normally even several months after reading a PF regional guide I can look at the map(s) and think, "Oh yeah, thats where this or that is." </p>
<p>Most of the bestiary section seems to me to be little more then space fillers, with not much interesting or worthwhile adding to the book or area. Most of those pages would have been much better suited to maps that could have focused more on the areas discussed.</p>
<p>There are a few areas that stick out enough for me to want to give this 3 stars, but the poor planning on the maps draws me more toward 2 stars.</p><p><b>Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Isles of the Shackles (PFRPG)</b></p><p>I am a bit iffy on this one. Most of the time after I read a regional guide for Golarion, I feel I have a pretty good grasp on the region as a whole. Not so with this one. As many have said, a lot of it reads like a textbook, and the lack of sufficient maps really hurts this one. Normally even several months after reading a PF regional guide I can look at the map(s) and think, "Oh yeah, thats where this or that is." </p>
<p>Most of the bestiary section seems to me to be little more then space fillers, with not much interesting or worthwhile adding to the book or area. Most of those pages would have been much better suited to maps that could have focused more on the areas discussed.</p>
<p>There are a few areas that stick out enough for me to want to give this 3 stars, but the poor planning on the maps draws me more toward 2 stars.</p>Valiance2012-05-03T00:53:18ZPathfinder Campaign Setting: Isles of the Shackles (PFRPG): There be treasure here...and monsters! (5 stars)Dragon78https://paizo.com/products/btpy8qzx?Pathfinder-Campaign-Setting-Isles-of-the-Shackles2012-05-02T01:17:58Z<p><b>Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Isles of the Shackles (PFRPG)</b></p><p>The monsters in the book alone make it worth your while as well as the many islands to explore. I always like some fun world building books and this one is no exception. We have pirates, undead pirates, dinosaur islands, dragon islands, sea monsters, killer palmtrees, crazy fey, and much more. The only compaint I have is that wasn't enough room to talk about all the islands and weird places to explore.</p><p><b>Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Isles of the Shackles (PFRPG)</b></p><p>The monsters in the book alone make it worth your while as well as the many islands to explore. I always like some fun world building books and this one is no exception. We have pirates, undead pirates, dinosaur islands, dragon islands, sea monsters, killer palmtrees, crazy fey, and much more. The only compaint I have is that wasn't enough room to talk about all the islands and weird places to explore.</p>Dragon782012-05-02T01:17:58ZPathfinder Campaign Setting: Isles of the Shackles (PFRPG): Arrr Arrr! (5 stars)Gorbaczhttps://paizo.com/products/btpy8qzx?Pathfinder-Campaign-Setting-Isles-of-the-Shackles2012-05-02T01:04:20Z<p><b>Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Isles of the Shackles (PFRPG)</b></p><p>Pros:</p>
<p>- huge bestiary
<br />
- usual stellar writing
<br />
- Kuru
<br />
- great for getting a hang on what Shackles are all about
<br />
- did I mention Kuru?</p>
<p>Cons:</p>
<p>- cartography (FIXED: downloadable Web Enhancement with a super-nifty super-sized map of Shackles)
<br />
- apart from monster art, artwork is meh</p><p><b>Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Isles of the Shackles (PFRPG)</b></p><p>Pros:</p>
<p>- huge bestiary
<br />
- usual stellar writing
<br />
- Kuru
<br />
- great for getting a hang on what Shackles are all about
<br />
- did I mention Kuru?</p>
<p>Cons:</p>
<p>- cartography (FIXED: downloadable Web Enhancement with a super-nifty super-sized map of Shackles)
<br />
- apart from monster art, artwork is meh</p>Gorbacz2012-05-02T01:04:20ZPathfinder Campaign Setting: Isles of the Shackles (PFRPG): Excellent product (5 stars)Kevin Mackhttps://paizo.com/products/btpy8qzx?Pathfinder-Campaign-Setting-Isles-of-the-Shackles2012-05-02T00:31:40Z<p><b>Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Isles of the Shackles (PFRPG)</b></p><p>My group are currently running Skull and Shackles and we are finding the product to be immensly helpfull in padding out the Ap and for providing ideas.</p><p><b>Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Isles of the Shackles (PFRPG)</b></p><p>My group are currently running Skull and Shackles and we are finding the product to be immensly helpfull in padding out the Ap and for providing ideas.</p>Kevin Mack2012-05-02T00:31:40ZPathfinder Campaign Setting: Isles of the Shackles (PFRPG): Fantastically Inspiring! (5 stars)Joseph Wilsonhttps://paizo.com/products/btpy8qzx?Pathfinder-Campaign-Setting-Isles-of-the-Shackles2012-05-02T00:03:34Z<p><b>Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Isles of the Shackles (PFRPG)</b></p><p>As the subject reads, I found myself truly inspired by this book. As someone participating in the Skull & Shackles Adventure Path, the knowledge of the Shackles region found in this 64-page tome is indispensable. From fleshed out information on ports such as Port Peril and Quent, to amazing adventure backdrops such as Besmara's Throne and the Cannibal Isles.</p>
<p>An enormous bestiary rounds out the book, adding fearsome creatures such as the mighty lusca and the horrific Blood Queen. It also contains some great sea-dwelling undead options, seafaring NPCs, and a disturbing new 0-HD race, the kuru.</p>
<p>If you've got an adventure coming up on the high seas, look no further for some inspiration than this book. Highly recommended!</p><p><b>Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Isles of the Shackles (PFRPG)</b></p><p>As the subject reads, I found myself truly inspired by this book. As someone participating in the Skull & Shackles Adventure Path, the knowledge of the Shackles region found in this 64-page tome is indispensable. From fleshed out information on ports such as Port Peril and Quent, to amazing adventure backdrops such as Besmara's Throne and the Cannibal Isles.</p>
<p>An enormous bestiary rounds out the book, adding fearsome creatures such as the mighty lusca and the horrific Blood Queen. It also contains some great sea-dwelling undead options, seafaring NPCs, and a disturbing new 0-HD race, the kuru.</p>
<p>If you've got an adventure coming up on the high seas, look no further for some inspiration than this book. Highly recommended!</p>Joseph Wilson2012-05-02T00:03:34ZPathfinder Campaign Setting: Isles of the Shackles (PFRPG): an acquired taste, but wonderful nonetheless. (5 stars)captain yesterdayhttps://paizo.com/products/btpy8qzx?Pathfinder-Campaign-Setting-Isles-of-the-Shackles2012-05-01T23:07:04Z<p><b>Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Isles of the Shackles (PFRPG)</b></p><p>First off i owe paizo and mike shel an apology, my first review was unnecessarily harsh. after my initial go through i was disappointed, however after subsequent read throughs i was quite impressed with the writing and found most of the art great (i still don't care for a couple of art but thats okay). the monsters are also quite useful and well done.
<br />
the first time i read the book of fiends 1: princes of darkness, it didn't really excite me, however as time passes it is now one of my favorite rpg books of all time, so my recommendation is if at first it's not your cup of tea, let it age and it'll grow on you. kudos to mike shell and the team at paizo, a wonderful book worth owning for any campaign or just fun to read on a rainy day.</p><p><b>Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Isles of the Shackles (PFRPG)</b></p><p>First off i owe paizo and mike shel an apology, my first review was unnecessarily harsh. after my initial go through i was disappointed, however after subsequent read throughs i was quite impressed with the writing and found most of the art great (i still don't care for a couple of art but thats okay). the monsters are also quite useful and well done.
<br />
the first time i read the book of fiends 1: princes of darkness, it didn't really excite me, however as time passes it is now one of my favorite rpg books of all time, so my recommendation is if at first it's not your cup of tea, let it age and it'll grow on you. kudos to mike shell and the team at paizo, a wonderful book worth owning for any campaign or just fun to read on a rainy day.</p>captain yesterday2012-05-01T23:07:04ZPathfinder Campaign Setting: Isles of the Shackles (PFRPG): Goods not as advertised (1 star)Kryptonian Scionhttps://paizo.com/products/btpy8qzx?Pathfinder-Campaign-Setting-Isles-of-the-Shackles2012-05-01T21:43:01Z<p><b>Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Isles of the Shackles (PFRPG)</b></p><p>This guide reads like a textbook — the boring kind of textbook that Mr. Von York made you read in 10th grade world history, not a fun and interesting textbook. Maybe it's primarily meant as a supplement to the Skulls & Shackles adventure path, but that's not what I had gathered from the product page.</p>
<p>I run a nautical campaign. I wanted some original and inspiring ideas for islands that my players could visit, adventure seeds for a nautical campaign, and interesting character and encounter ideas. I got very little of any of these.</p>
<p>"Detailed entries on more than 20 of the Shackles’ most dangerous and mysterious islands and islets, each with numerous plot hooks, helpful or treacherous NPCs, and unique locations for brave adventurers to discover and explore."</p>
<p>This is where the majority of the bait and switch comes in. Every single plot hook, NPC and interesting location is mentioned in passing, with one to two sentences dedicated to it. If you're looking for more than the tiniest inkling of seeds, look elsewhere.</p>
<p>"Stat blocks for each island, detailing the region’s notable settlements and denizens, as well as possible plunder and resources, such as hidden harbors and shipwrecks."</p>
<p>Not particularly useful. Plunder and resources are simply short lists of good types, such as 'Furs, gems, gold, baby teeth.' There's no trade routes, suggestions on how such goods can be plundered, etc.</p>
<p>"A huge bestiary of new monsters and villains that roam the islands of the Shackles and the high seas around them, including the three-headed lusca, undead pirates and ghost captains, and the degenerate kuru cannibals of the Blood Queen."</p>
<p>Maybe it's because I'm not a fan of the flumph or ridiculous monsters, but the bestiary entries didn't do much for me. I will use the duppy, pirate and draugr blocks and the rest will never see the light of day — especially the three-headed shark.</p>
<p>"Stat blocks for a wide range of seafaring NPCs, from humble deckhands and smugglers to pirate captains and shipboard sorcerers."</p>
<p>Seven. There are seven in this wide range.</p>
<p>The saving grace of this book is the half-page about ghost ships of the inner sea. It's great, but not so much that I don't regret spending $14 on the PDF.</p>
<p>Also important: There is ONE MAP in this product, depicting (poorly) all of the islands in the Shackles. If you are looking for excellent maps of individual islands, this book is not for you.</p><p><b>Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Isles of the Shackles (PFRPG)</b></p><p>This guide reads like a textbook — the boring kind of textbook that Mr. Von York made you read in 10th grade world history, not a fun and interesting textbook. Maybe it's primarily meant as a supplement to the Skulls & Shackles adventure path, but that's not what I had gathered from the product page.</p>
<p>I run a nautical campaign. I wanted some original and inspiring ideas for islands that my players could visit, adventure seeds for a nautical campaign, and interesting character and encounter ideas. I got very little of any of these.</p>
<p>"Detailed entries on more than 20 of the Shackles’ most dangerous and mysterious islands and islets, each with numerous plot hooks, helpful or treacherous NPCs, and unique locations for brave adventurers to discover and explore."</p>
<p>This is where the majority of the bait and switch comes in. Every single plot hook, NPC and interesting location is mentioned in passing, with one to two sentences dedicated to it. If you're looking for more than the tiniest inkling of seeds, look elsewhere.</p>
<p>"Stat blocks for each island, detailing the region’s notable settlements and denizens, as well as possible plunder and resources, such as hidden harbors and shipwrecks."</p>
<p>Not particularly useful. Plunder and resources are simply short lists of good types, such as 'Furs, gems, gold, baby teeth.' There's no trade routes, suggestions on how such goods can be plundered, etc.</p>
<p>"A huge bestiary of new monsters and villains that roam the islands of the Shackles and the high seas around them, including the three-headed lusca, undead pirates and ghost captains, and the degenerate kuru cannibals of the Blood Queen."</p>
<p>Maybe it's because I'm not a fan of the flumph or ridiculous monsters, but the bestiary entries didn't do much for me. I will use the duppy, pirate and draugr blocks and the rest will never see the light of day — especially the three-headed shark.</p>
<p>"Stat blocks for a wide range of seafaring NPCs, from humble deckhands and smugglers to pirate captains and shipboard sorcerers."</p>
<p>Seven. There are seven in this wide range.</p>
<p>The saving grace of this book is the half-page about ghost ships of the inner sea. It's great, but not so much that I don't regret spending $14 on the PDF.</p>
<p>Also important: There is ONE MAP in this product, depicting (poorly) all of the islands in the Shackles. If you are looking for excellent maps of individual islands, this book is not for you.</p>Kryptonian Scion2012-05-01T21:43:01ZPathfinder Campaign Setting: Isles of the Shackles (PFRPG): Isles of the Shackles Superb info on the region (5 stars)DM Jeffhttps://paizo.com/products/btpy8qzx?Pathfinder-Campaign-Setting-Isles-of-the-Shackles2012-05-01T18:50:42Z<p><b>Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Isles of the Shackles (PFRPG)</b></p><p>I’ll explain in plain words why you’d want to look into this book. If you are running a Skull & Shackles game, it’s a vital resource for expanding the region and filling in details. If you are running any maritime campaign like a homebrew or Freeport, it’s still a great for mining ideas from. So what does it do? It gives each of the interesting and important islands in the Shackles its own page write-up. While a page is not a lot of space it does the important job: sets up the island’s distinct flavor and background, gives broad strokes of themes and plots to expand on, entices your imagination to develop each for your game, and then tops it off with a lot of specific NPC names, ship names, port names, taverns & inns, etc. Any monsters you’ll find are called out and what they’re up to. The best part is they’re all really Golarion flavored, using the best of the world to fill in the lore. This is the first 40 pages.</p>
<p>The next section is threats, and finishes out the next 25 pages. First it gives wandering monster tables for the different areas, and then opens up the bestiary section with a combination of new unique monsters and generic NPC stats. The best part is these monsters are cool, not filler. They’re a great way to further make an island unique by using one with a plot. They run the gamut from CR ½ to CR 23. And they’re specifically written for the Shackles locations. There’s a section on undead pirates with various stat blocks and vignettes on some of the infamous ghost ships of the region. There are generic pirate stats to crew a ship.</p>
<p>The free supplemental map in the link above contains ALL the areas discussed in the book and is a great resource.</p>
<p>In short I can’t wait to use this in my Skull & Shackles game. It’ll help a GM out a ton.</p><p><b>Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Isles of the Shackles (PFRPG)</b></p><p>I’ll explain in plain words why you’d want to look into this book. If you are running a Skull & Shackles game, it’s a vital resource for expanding the region and filling in details. If you are running any maritime campaign like a homebrew or Freeport, it’s still a great for mining ideas from. So what does it do? It gives each of the interesting and important islands in the Shackles its own page write-up. While a page is not a lot of space it does the important job: sets up the island’s distinct flavor and background, gives broad strokes of themes and plots to expand on, entices your imagination to develop each for your game, and then tops it off with a lot of specific NPC names, ship names, port names, taverns & inns, etc. Any monsters you’ll find are called out and what they’re up to. The best part is they’re all really Golarion flavored, using the best of the world to fill in the lore. This is the first 40 pages.</p>
<p>The next section is threats, and finishes out the next 25 pages. First it gives wandering monster tables for the different areas, and then opens up the bestiary section with a combination of new unique monsters and generic NPC stats. The best part is these monsters are cool, not filler. They’re a great way to further make an island unique by using one with a plot. They run the gamut from CR ½ to CR 23. And they’re specifically written for the Shackles locations. There’s a section on undead pirates with various stat blocks and vignettes on some of the infamous ghost ships of the region. There are generic pirate stats to crew a ship.</p>
<p>The free supplemental map in the link above contains ALL the areas discussed in the book and is a great resource.</p>
<p>In short I can’t wait to use this in my Skull & Shackles game. It’ll help a GM out a ton.</p>DM Jeff2012-05-01T18:50:42Z