Swashbuckling and Sorcery
Piracy and Exploration
Espionage and Intrigue
Welcome to the New World

7th Sea is a game of action and high adventure in a world of musketeers, pirates, secret societies and political intrigue. Players take the roles of heroes bent on thwarting the plots of knaves and villains, exploring ancient ruins and plundering the treasure fleets of tyrants. Everything a player needs is included in the pages of this book.

Easy to get started: The book opens with a Quick-Start Guide so you can start playing within minutes.
A Complete New World: Players will find almost one hundred pages devoted to Théah, the world of 7th Sea.

Flexible rules: 7th Sea uses a unique bidding system, giving players and Game Masters control over the mechanics of the game.

Advice for Novice and Experienced Players: If you've never played a roleplaying game before, or if you're an "old school" veteran, you'll find tons of hints and advice to help you act and interact within the world of 7th Sea.

The indispensible guide for players of the 7th Sea Roleplaying Game.

- From the 7th Sea Player's Guide -

The 7th Sea Players Guide contains most of the rules you’ll need to run the game as well as loads of background, but you’ll probably want the GM’s guide as well before you start playing. First lets get one thing straight, this is not the pirate game you may think it is. Although 7th Sea gives you the ability to play pirates, you’ll probably get more out of it if you surrender to the games true style of adventure, exploration and intrigue.

7th Sea is set in a land called Theah, which is much like Europe. It is set in a time when swordplay and quick wits are the order of the day. It’s about a golden age of exploration and discovery, where wealth is there for the taking if you have skills, courage and a little luck.

Not everything is marvellous though. Religious wars have ravaged several of the countries and the process of rebuilding always takes time and hard work. The turmoil of recent years has also affected the populations of many nations, which has led to each faction developing it’s own mixed views and opinions of the other kingdoms.

Chapter one is the Primer. It gives you a quick rundown of Theah and gives you a bit of information on what the game is about. This chapter also gives you a rather nifty set of quick start rules. These are expanded on in the later sections, but still do a good job of letting you get a feel for the game. This is a good example of a well-made crash course guide to a game. It’s quick enough for the players to glance through before playing and informative enough to give anyone a good idea of the setting they’re in.

At the end of this chapter (in a weird chapter limbo) there is a glossy colour section with a picture and some flavour text for each of the seven nations. This is great for giving players a quick taste of each nation without making them read loads. Also, does the Castillian King look like a certain “Titanic” film character or is it just me? The Cardinal looks a bit like Fox Mulder as well, but I’m not going to argue this point.

The second chapter has, among other things, a section on Syrne ruins. These are the ruins of an ancient civilisation and are a source of great interest to scholars and explorers, who still know very little about their origin. In game terms though, they give you a great excuse to go and do some Indiana Jones style exploring.

The third chapter is about creating your character. This is relatively easy and you just have to follow steps they've laid out for you. It is done by dividing up points among things like skills, advantages, backgrounds and knacks. Your character will also have the option to be a swordsman or a magic user if you want. The swordsman characters will have been trained at a school at some point in their life and will more than likely have access to some cool moves when they get into a fight.

Skills in 7th Sea have been broken down a bit and when you buy a skill you also get several knacks (sub-skills) with it. The skill athlete for instance will get you four knacks, which are climbing, footwork, sprinting and throwing. This works well in the game and gives your character a wider range of skills to draw from.

Chapter four is where the quick rules you were give earlier are built on. Details on damage have been expanded in this section and you will find that although your characters are not invincible they are pretty tough. This game has after all been designed to encourage a heroic style of play and killing heroes is bad form. Skills are tested by rolling over a target number, which player’s can increase if they want that to achieve a more impressive level of success.

All in all if you want a good swashbuckling game then this is for you. It has a rich setting that just screams out for courageous heroes to do battle evil villains and their minions. The fact that it allows this to be done in a courtly intrigue style or as furious race helps to keep the game fresh. The film-like style of play is very appealing as well. Especially if you’ve been wading through games that require you to make agility rolls every time you want to do anything above jogging. After all, it’s good to slide down sails and swing from chandeliers every so often.

So, if you’re ready to show the unknown what your made of and find lot’s of treasure on the way, then 7th Sea is the game for you.

Reviewed By Jon Simpson