DriveThruRPG.com
Narrow Results
$ to $















Back
pixel_trans.gif
Freeport Companion: Pathfinder RPG Edition $14.95
Average Rating:4.8 / 5
Ratings Reviews Total
5 4
2 0
0 0
0 0
0 0
Freeport Companion: Pathfinder RPG Edition
Click to view
You must be logged in to rate this
pixel_trans.gif
Freeport Companion: Pathfinder RPG Edition
Publisher: Green Ronin Publishing
by William W. [Featured Reviewer]
Date Added: 02/07/2012 22:45:00

A Pathfinder treatment of the classic Freeport fantasy setting, allowing you to use all of your Freeport books with the Pathfinder rules. This includes new races, classes, prestige classes, skills, feats, spells, magic, and monsters, plus an adventure to get your characters started. All of this is presented in Green Ronin's excellent quality and style.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
pixel_trans.gif
Freeport Companion: Pathfinder RPG Edition
Publisher: Green Ronin Publishing
by Adrian S. [Featured Reviewer]
Date Added: 09/06/2010 03:14:03

Freeport has had a rich production values from the very beginning and as such is a perfect addition to the Pathfinder setting. Whilst you can clearly see that it’s release ‘coincides’ with the new Adventure Path offering pirates and nautical adventure galore; you can’t fault the quality of the product. It offers new races, equipment (especially the integration of firearms into your game) and a whole new setting for you to explore. The book is very heavily geared to offering a range of NPCs and this section does take up what I would consider to be an overly large portion of the book. That said, there are plenty of adventure hooks to be had from this section.

I’d highly recommend this for anyone wanting to set an adventure (or even a portion of one) on a coastal area and include seafaring and pirates of any description. The fact that is now compatible with one of the best role-playing games on the market is just a sweetener.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
pixel_trans.gif
Freeport Companion: Pathfinder RPG Edition
Publisher: Green Ronin Publishing
by Will H. [Featured Reviewer]
Date Added: 09/06/2010 00:19:33

The Freeport Companion: Pathfinder RPG Edition (affiliate link) does a great job of translating Green Ronin's classic setting into the Pathfinder RPG system. I also have the Savage Worlds version of the book, and somewhat prefer the Pathfinder implementation.

The first chapter of the PDF discusses race in Freeport. In addition to the standard races, there is a gnome variant and the azhar, a race descended from the efreet. The azhar may best be described as proud and loud, but they are also loyal, if not terribly far-sighted. The azhar are much like the fire genasi from my D&D 3.0 Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting, in fact. I like the PFRPG azhar somewhat better than the Savage Worlds azhar, and they seem to fit well with the tone of the setting.

The second chapter of the Pathfinder Freeport Companion is about classes in Freeport. The writers went to great lengths to offer some customized classes especially fitted to adventures in Freeport. This is one section that I think is better done in the Savage Worlds edition, since the book offers archetypes, rather than statted-out classes. I don't have any real objection to the new classes (in fact, I love new classes), but for the most part they feel like slightly reskinned base classes.

Despite the fact that most of the new classes feel somewhat superfluous, each does have at least one unique class ability that makes it worth considering. The assassin, for example, has been done many times for many different campaign settings. The Freeport Companion's assassin is done better than most, and I especially enjoy the system for handling assassinations away from the table. The would-be assassin can make a roll to determine the success or failure of his assassination attempt when such an action would distract from the overall narrative or is a regular part of every session. Some outcomes result in success and an improved reputation, while others involve failure and even death.

My final word on classes is that if I were going to use new classes, the first place I'd look would be the Genius Guides. The ever-popular shadow assassin in particular would be well suited to life in Freeport.

Chapter three covers additional rules, like skills and feats, in Freeport. The skills require little adaption, but the few changes made are well-placed. There are also some new languages, which always add fun and depth to a game (says the psycholinguist). The feats are, for the most part, excellent. With so many new options it would be hard to get them perfect every time, but the writers of this particular game get pretty close. It's all about flavor, my friends.

Adventuring is a nasty business, and it often involves brushes with Things Man Was Not Mean To Know. As such, I'm glad that the writers included an insanity mechanic in the Freeport Companion. There are even tables of symptoms that you can choose from or roll on to create fun and nutty PCs and NPCs. You could also use Scott Gable's insanity mechanic from issue 11 of Kobold Quarterly, but I think the Freeport Companion will work just fine.

The equipment section of the book is another fine addition to the Freeport Companion. The firearms are done well, and I especially love the bit on drug addictions. Once again, adventuring is a nasty business and all kinds of peril to life and limb can result. The drugs and poisons offered here will give depth to pretty much any character, though I caution against relying on narrative crutches. When used well, these items will cause - ooh, butterflies!

The spells and magic items of Freeport are equally important. There are few new spells, but the hoard of magic items on offer just make my mouth water. The Reaverbane will make any corsair or privateer tremble with fear, while Ring of the Boar will turn even the most lily-livered tripe into a fine fighting specimen!

The rest of the book is filled with prestige classes, sample NPCs, specific NPCs, a bestiary, and an adventure to start you off in Freeport. The prestige classes fight the general context well without being too specific. You could drop them in just about any nautical fantasy setting or region and it would work just fine. The NPCs and creatures of the bestiary are similar. These are resources that can be used in almost any campaign, but when brought together they make Freeport pop right off the page.

The introductory adventure, Fury in Freeport, is a great way to get started with your new Pathfinder campaign. It's a good introduction to the people and places of Freeport, though it's by no means comprehensive. That brings me to my one quibble with this book. In order to get the full benefit, you have to have the core book. While that's not a huge hardship, it seems silly to require two books to get things going. It does have the advantage of allowing the core setting to remain system neutral, though, so I won't complain too much.

On the whole, an excellent production from Green Ronin. If you're thinking about running an Eberron game in the Lhazar Principalities or just want to try Freeport, you can't go wrong with the Pathfinder Freeport Companion (affiliate link). I give it 5 out of 5 stars. I would dock a few tenths of a star for a couple of minor issues noted above, but in general I recommend this book for purchase! Green Ronin also has a nice print/PDF deal, so I recommend taking advantage of that.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
pixel_trans.gif
Freeport Companion: Pathfinder RPG Edition
Publisher: Green Ronin Publishing
by Ben G. [Featured Reviewer]
Date Added: 08/24/2010 10:50:58

Green Ronin has produced a superb Pathfinder expansion to their system agnostic A Pirate's Guide to Freeport.

I always like to look at the layout of a book as I'm looking at the content. I feel that RPG books should be something of a standing work of art in their own right. The artwork in this book ranges from good to outstanding, with the front cover being an excellent example of what you will find (although all work inside is black and white).

The layout itself is clean, easy to read, well set up for finding what you need and bookmarked throughout, which I always find extremely handy.

What you'll find inside the Freeport Companion is everything you'll need to launch a Freeport campaign in the Pathfinder RPG system. This includes descriptions of all of the Pathfinder core races and how they fit into the world of Freeport, and Azhar, a new race of outsiders who travel the waters around Freeport. The Azhar as PCs are akin to the Efreet and carry a number of abilities appropriate to these races.

The Freeport Companion also boasts a number of new character classes. The Assassin, Corsair, Monster Hunter, Noble and Survivor are all available as player characters. The Cultist is a new NPC class. Along with these classes come a number of new skills, feats spells and prestige classes.

With mentioning the Cultist NPCs, we get in to the aspect of Freeport that makes it very interesting. This campaign comes with two things not normally found in the Pathfinder system - guns and a huge nod to Lovecraftian horrors, complete with it's own madness system.

The introduction of firearms is handled very well. They're treated as something new to the world and as such are expensive and unreliable, but can be very effective. Think muzzle loaded pistols, rifles and small canon in your favorite swashbuckling movie and you've got a good idea as to how firearms are used here.

The horror aspect is also very well implemented and gives Freeport a nice edge on other, less gritty aspects of the Pathfinder universe. Your characters can deal with some pretty scary things, and eventually go insane doing so. Of course, being a high magic world, there are cures for this.

What Green Ronin have done best is allow the GM and players to decide how much of each aspect introduced in Freeport they wish to include in their game. You can emphasize buckling swashes, or the horror of unearthing ancient gods, or none of the above and simply use the setting as a standard Pathfinder campaign. Brilliant!

Freeport Companion is full of interesting NPCs to throw directly into your game, another big bonus. And when you've finished reading through the book, there's a good 1st level adventure included in the Appendix for you to launch your campaign with and get a real feel for Freeport.

Clocking in at 172 usable pages (a page of licensing and a blank page are also included) you will not be disappointed with the Freeport Companion.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
pixel_trans.gif
Displaying 1 to 4 (of 4 reviews) Result Pages:  1 
pixel_trans.gif
pixel_trans.gif Back pixel_trans.gif
0 items
 Gift Certificates