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Blacksand
Port Blacksand. The very name conjures up an image of depravity, evil and crime. The “City of Thieves” has a well deserved reputation for all of these things, but it is also a magnet for adventurers and Heroes of all sorts looking for fame and wealth.
This sourcebook for the Advanced Fighting Fantasy RPG contains new rules for Firepowder weapons, naval sorcery, sailing and random settlement generation. Herein you will also find the ultimate guide to Port Blacksand itself, complete with maps, district by district gazeteer and a guide to life in the big city
This sourcebook for the Advanced Fighting Fantasy RPG contains new rules for Firepowder weapons, naval sorcery, sailing and random settlement generation. Herein you will also find the ultimate guide to Port Blacksand itself, complete with maps, district by district gazeteer and a guide to life in the big city
99 pages, Paperback
First published May 23, 2013
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
August 31, 2020
A source book for Advanced Fighting Fantasy: The Roleplaying Game.
Blacksand is Allansia's den of scum and villainy, founded on the old ruins of Carsepolis.
A melting pot of all the races, there are guilds, merchants, city guard, drinking establishments and all the other associated trades for a large city.
The book starts with extra rules for fighting on and with ships, due to Blacksand's original pirate founders, and most of its goods are still imported in this way, so Adventurers may find themselves needing this.
Then there is a handy section on generating your own random(ish) settlement. This uses the same approach as dungeons in the main rule book - roll some dice on a sheet of paper, and these are your places of interest depending on the result. It then goes into detail about the different types of places that are generated.
The rest of the book is a history of Blacksand, then there are maps and descriptions for each sector along with adventure hooks and descriptions of important NPC characters.
Even without the main rulebook, this would be handy for any Fighting Fantasy completist looking to get an overview of this part of the world, or to use as a starting point / ideas about using it with a different set of rules.
Blacksand is Allansia's den of scum and villainy, founded on the old ruins of Carsepolis.
A melting pot of all the races, there are guilds, merchants, city guard, drinking establishments and all the other associated trades for a large city.
The book starts with extra rules for fighting on and with ships, due to Blacksand's original pirate founders, and most of its goods are still imported in this way, so Adventurers may find themselves needing this.
Then there is a handy section on generating your own random(ish) settlement. This uses the same approach as dungeons in the main rule book - roll some dice on a sheet of paper, and these are your places of interest depending on the result. It then goes into detail about the different types of places that are generated.
The rest of the book is a history of Blacksand, then there are maps and descriptions for each sector along with adventure hooks and descriptions of important NPC characters.
Even without the main rulebook, this would be handy for any Fighting Fantasy completist looking to get an overview of this part of the world, or to use as a starting point / ideas about using it with a different set of rules.
July 31, 2025
Blacksand – Bottley
This book is almost great, but in reality it is a missed opportunity. It's impossible not to compare it unfavourably to the original Blacksand. It's missing the adventure from the original as well as quite a few other odds and ends, such as additional spells and so on. This is counterbalanced by a few new rules about boats and fire powder, but these don't come close to making up for what is missing. It's 99 large pages (with a well spread out text) to the 340 of the original.
What is here, though, is the district by district guide to Blacksand – expanded slightly with a few adventure hooks – and an account of city factions – again slightly added to.
So you do have some new things, but in no way do these make up for what is missing. If you can get it for a reasonable price, then you're far better off buying a copy of the original.
Blacksand is such a vibrant place that there is no end of scope for this book to be expanded and if Bottley had made the most of this opportunity then he would have had a book that would have been a world beater.
This book is almost great, but in reality it is a missed opportunity. It's impossible not to compare it unfavourably to the original Blacksand. It's missing the adventure from the original as well as quite a few other odds and ends, such as additional spells and so on. This is counterbalanced by a few new rules about boats and fire powder, but these don't come close to making up for what is missing. It's 99 large pages (with a well spread out text) to the 340 of the original.
What is here, though, is the district by district guide to Blacksand – expanded slightly with a few adventure hooks – and an account of city factions – again slightly added to.
So you do have some new things, but in no way do these make up for what is missing. If you can get it for a reasonable price, then you're far better off buying a copy of the original.
Blacksand is such a vibrant place that there is no end of scope for this book to be expanded and if Bottley had made the most of this opportunity then he would have had a book that would have been a world beater.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews