Welcome adventurers, to mighty Rel-Draxa! Standing proudly upon the western shore, she is the most powerful city in the region and arguably the world.
For almost a thousand years, Rel-Draxa has been a beacon for those seeking to make a profit among the city's ruthless merchants and nefarious dealmakers. Trading within the walls of Rel-Draxa is not for the faint hearted, however. Only the most courageous or foolhardy will emerge from such deals unscathed.
Despite this, merchant vessels from across the world jostle for the opportunity to offload their cargo and be away with their fortunes upon the rising tide. Under the watchful eyes of the Knights-Mariner and the Freebooter Armada, sly traders hawk these wares to those that can afford them. From the shadows of the ancient ruins dotting the city, vagabonds watch nobles carouse in Rel-Draxa's many taverns. These ruins harbor their own secrets, which only the bravest would dare to discover. From her humble beginnings as a buccaneer's lair, to the uneasy rule of the new pirate queen, Rel-Draxa has opened its gates to all races and buckled the political contours of this great land.
It is said that powerful eyes now watch this dark city with envy; Rel-Draxa is indeed a fruit ripe for the picking…
Rel-Draxa is a game accessory compatible with all levels of play, containing two 11” x 17” maps of the city. Accompanying this is an 8-page gazetteer detailing Rel-Draxa's history, laws and the city's geography, making Rel-Draxa easy to place within any campaign setting.
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This pdf clocks in at 14 pages, 1 page front cover, 1 page back cover, 1 page credits, 1 page ad and one third page OGL, leaving about 10 and two thirds of a page for gaming material.
The cover artwork is nice, the interior b/w-art is also ok (albeit not as good as e.g. in the Raging Swan books).
I found only 2 minor glitches in the format and no glaring typos or mistakes.
To the content: Rel-Draxa is a supplement about a city, and an interesting one at that. The city is presented as having a turbulent, troubled past that lend themselves towards intrigue and could be described as a "Dark trade-hub built on ancient ruins with a swashbuckler-gone-paladin-mariner-queen and several unique and flavorful bits and pieces that serve to make the city unique, e.g. that 'Sair, abbreviated from corsair, is an honorific in the city.
The city features enough ideas and unique places to stand on its own, even when compared to other hubs like Freeport and Sasserine, which is not that easy. Rel-Draxa manages this via cultural bits and pieces, a slightly horror-themed nudge here and there and its rich history, as well as the 2 maps.
I love the maps. They are of a surprisingly high quality and very detailed, something I did not expect to get for 2 bucks. Each map takes up one 1 page, 1 showing only the village without quarter or street names, the other one including street names (Something I personally look for in any city supplement!), quarter names and the like. The bane of my existence as a DM, letters and numbers in my maps (I HATE THEM!), have been thankfully omitted, leading to beautiful maps you can hand out to any player.
The pdf also features some really cool ideas on how to make Rel-Draxa a planar hub.
Conclusion:
Rel-Draxa is a beautiful pdf, especially for such a small publisher. It's expertly done, has an evocative flair and succeeds in the make-it-or-break-it-quality of any such supplement: Has it made me want to implement the town in my campaign and find ways to use it? The answer is yes. While the artwork could be a bit better, I won't complain about it, as the maps are superbly detailed. The prose and history of the city are engaging and deliver abundant hooks to draw in your PCs, including a tale of an artifact and an ancient evil.
However, if you're looking for some serious crunch, this is not the place to look for. If you're really into that, detract one star from the score, as the pdf doesn't really offer anything beside the city's stats.
If you need a hub-city to plug into your campaign, check this one out. It's well worth the two bucks. I'm definitely looking forward to the next Sagaworks adventure.
Content: 4 Stars As a setting-only product, I didn't have high hopes. Usually setting stuff that's intended to be used piecemeal gets used peicemeal, meaning that I only use parts of what is presented. But Rel-Draxa is a cohesive city that I *want* to use as a whole. The descriptions of the city's districts are a solid framework for conveying a living city. I would have liked to see some more specific info about a location or two within each district. I would have also liked to see some tiny bits of crunch: a few traits or regional feats perhaps, but these are small concerns against a great showing of setting development.
Presentation: 3 stars Each page is clean and readable, and the text is formatted in the best possible way for ease-of-reading. The art inside is sketchbooky, but not in a bad way. Some color would have been nice, but I print b/w anyway so not a big deal. The maps are top-notch in design, but presented in b/w it becomes just a collection of lines and names. Color here is a must.
Grammar: 4 stars There's far less to complain about here than in most other small press releases. (There are a few mistakes, naturally, which is why no 5 stars.)
Thanks!
If you need a nice little trade-hub city, it's worth the two bucks. Plus:
One of the planar ideas involves seas of ash, which appealed to me. :D
Edit: Check out the free adventure by Sagaworks if you haven't already. It's worth reading and has this nice old-school feeling.
(based on 2 ratings)
