Reviewer’s Note: The Zobeck Gazetteer appears for individual sale as well bundled with Tales of Zobeck as part of an Open Design project. This review focuses on the Zobeck Gazetteer as an individual product.
You’ve read bits about Zobeck in Kobold Quarterly or as a patron in the Open Design products, unless your been with Wolfgang from the beginning you may have felt that your are missing the overall picture. The Zobeck Gazetteer by Open Design is a two part product from Wolfgang Baur provides an overview of Zobeck but focuses on the kobold ghetto and the clockworks & magic of the setting.
The Free City of Zobeck is a reborn city, that less than a century ago shook off the rule of its aristocracy and has emerged into a steam and gear-powered port of trade. The portion of the gazetteer is confined to the first 24 pages of this 48 page tome with the remaining section devoted to clockwork creatures and magic. One of the things I enjoyed most is the way in which Wolfgang narrates the gazetteer slipping in bits of casual language and sardonic humor as he provides details about the sites and inhabitants of his world.
I find it actually kind of hard to review the Zobeck Gazetteer, because I’m often dissatisfied with the brevity of gazetteer products. When I look at the front half of the gazetteer, I have backgrounds on the main players represented, key sites detailed and oodles of adventure hooks to kick of a campaign in the clockwork city. My favourite part of the product is the dedicated six pages on the kobold ghetto – particularly the traps and npc overviews. But then I look at the rest of the gazetteer with its ten other districts, rulers and gods only getting about 18 pages between them and I’m left feeling that I only have part of a book. If this had been released as two books “The Kobold Ghettos of Zobeck” and “Clockwork Magic of Zobeck” I think I would have no problems with the either book at all. I enjoyed the rest of the first half of the gazetteer quite a bit but I just want the same detail for every section as there is for the kobold ghettos. Hopefully, when the next Open Design project becomes available a further exploration of Zobeck’s districts can be negotiated, then this could become The Zobeck Gazetteer #1. Of additional note, liked the section on the gods of Zobeck and in particular the “What XXXX Demands” paragraphs that list clearly the expectations of the faith for their followers.
For those looking for gear and steam-based crunch, they should turn to the second half of the product.
Within this last section we have a construct PC race (the gearforged), new clockwork related skills, five clockwork creatures ubiquitous with life in Zobeck and eight pages on the Clockwork Magic of Zobeck
In the clockwork city, the Arcane Collegium recognizes clockwork, divination, elementalism, enchantment, illusion, necromancy, stars and shadows, and summoning as the proper schools of arcane study. This section provides the information on the clockwork field of study with a gear domain for clerics of the gear goddess and about 33 additional spells (depending on how you could spell suites). Of the spells, I think Armoured Shell (big clunky, metal mage armor), lock armor (to mess with knights and party tanks) and winding key (a boost of constructs) are the ones that stand out most to me.
I think the budget gamer may be dissuaded by the sticker price on this release as compared to other products of similar size, but for someone looking for a broader overview of Wolfgang’s Open Design world it’s must have purchase.
