Very nice little product with great art. It's not a complete campaign...links to other products not published yet. But it's darn fine.

This is a beginning book (or rather a booklet) for the area of and around the city of Black Water. It's not bad, especially for the current price of 1$. Unfortunately it is only the description of a beginning. There are numerous references to stuff yet to come, but AFAIK there is no such stuff out there. So you end up with some nice ideas and a new race (the Elan, with the possibility to play Half-Elan characters), but nothing more. To actually play this stuff, you have to prepare almost everything yourself. If you are looking for some ideas for your own creations you probably won't regret the money if you buy it. On the other hand, if you are looking for a book with a redy to play setting/campaign, find another one.

This is a good campaign-kicker product, one that you can use to immediately get a good starting locale with lots of interesting things for PCs to do. However, just be aware that you are still going to have to do a fair bit of work!

There are no NPC stats included and all the d20 material presented in the product is for 3.0 rules - not 3.5! There is also a fair number of very bad typographical errors. Constant notes are also made about other books to expand the Blackwater setting but none have been forthcoming. So, if you like Blackwater, be prepared to support it on your own.

Still, an interesting book and one that I don't regret buying despite the fact that I'll probably never actually use the material.

Not bad... Ronin's a solid company and the town will fit into my world nicely.

BANG FOR BUCK Not good value for the low page count and verbosity of the introduction. The art is not especially suitable for illustrating during a session.

RULES Hard to say, there aren't many. The setting doesn't really come to life in the low number of pages either so one is left wondering what the fuss is about. There is no new feat or class that really stands out other than a very imitative rehash of the old Town Guard kit from second edition.

SUMMARY This should be a free download on a website with a substantial book taking its place here.

Jonathan Nolan PISCES ALL MEDIA (Chief Game Designer)