Reviews represent the opinion of the reviewer only and are intended to reflect upon the specific material reviewed. The reviewer asserts no interest in the sale or performance of the product(s) in question and has no association with the production of the product reviewed.
Here I take products and review them, intending to give the reader the best chance of evaluating whether this particular release is for them.
There is, of course, a scoring system, similar to that used elsewhere, in a 5-star rating, which we have determined as follows:
1 * – Bad
2 * – Mediocre
3 * – Decent
4 * – Good
5 * – Excellent
The following review is an OPINION piece and only reflects the opinion and tastes (because ultimately, all reviews will be based on personal taste) of the reviewer.
*DISCLAIMER: A free version of the PDF for this book was provided, for the purposes of this review.*
That disclaimer out of the way, let’s get on with the show!
This week’s books are for The City of the Steam Sun, both the Book of the Creator and the Book of Mortals.
Publisher: Steam Sun Games
Authors: Gleb “Crazy-Sage” Igumnov and Vitaliy “Barahir Simonov”
Cover Artist: Evgeniy Haruk
System: Savage Worlds
Page count: Book of Creator: 132 (1 page cover, 1 page credits, 129 pages of content); Book of Mortals: 197 (1 page cover, 1 page credits, 129 pages of content)
When I saw the pitch for The City of the Steam Sun, I immediately started thinking about the Sunless Sea/Skies/Unterzee games and Fallen London from Failbetter Games. These latter are a computer game series that is extremely interesting and moody, set in a bizarre steampunk world, that – to me – seems unique, if disjointed. I recommend checking it out – and the pitch for this seemed to be along those lines with the City of the Steam Sun having fallen into Limbo, rather than being raised up through science and rationale.
In this way, the City of the Steam Sun does not disappoint, it is full of setting fluff and a very interesting setting. And it’s certainly an ambitious one, but I have to admit that I kept getting jarred out of the experience when reading it. Quite simply, it’s clear that the authors are not native speakers of English or their editor failed them. There are so many sentences that are missing articles or the odd word that is used, but which wouldn’t be used in that context. A few places would have been fine, but they are present throughout to a degree where it’s rather irritating. I really recommend that Gleb and Vitaliy get a hold of their editors and have them go through it again. (I know that Travis Legge is partially credited with editing for this, and his work is normally stronger – hence why it is so strange). As an example on the first page of the credits where it goes “The events take place in the end of XIX century in the city.” Now maybe that’s just me, but I really want that to read as “The events take place AT the end of the XIXth(?) century in the city.” And there are more examples throughout, such as “Recommendations for Game Master” – I really want that to be “Recommendations for THE Game Master” or “Recommendations for Game Masters.”
The art in the books is incredible however; there is no denying it. The artists did a stellar job of bringing the city to life, and the authors themselves have created a unique setting, one that I’d be very interested in introducing my players to.
The rules are quite light in the Book of Creator, but there’s a bit more nitty-gritty in the Book of Mortals. However, generally speaking, both books are light on rules and heavy on storytelling. It does a good job of introducing new rules where it’s necessary and avoiding it where it isn’t required. But if you’re the kind of person who wants RULESHEAVY stuff, then this is not the book (and likely not the system) for you. Special note has to be made of the rules for steam items though – weapons, and armor in particular. They’re well done, and I love the idea of clanking along in armor that resembles a clock-maker’s worst nightmare. A lot of time is also spent on projects – which are interesting, but I’m not certain I’d have devoted quite as much time to it. I can’t say that I wouldn’t like to have something like the mechanical spider from Wild, Wild, West or the cities from Mortal Engines, but I don’t think I’d have had them in the core books, especially not with so much space devoted to what is essentially just tables and small art pieces of steampunk origin.
All in all, though, both of these books are very good, but I can’t give them a 5-star rating – there are just too many editing issues for it. That said though, this is a solid 4-star rating, and if those issues are fixed, I’ll be happy to revisit them as a 5-star. But, as I mentioned above, if you’re not the kind of person who likes background stories and fluff, I would stick to just the Book of Mortals – the Book of Creator has a lot more fluff than it does rules (both do, but it is particularly clear in the Creator book).
You can find the Book of Mortals here and the Book of Creator here.
Kim Frandsen
Latest posts by Kim Frandsen (see all)
- Finder’s Archive – Crypt of the Eternals - June 2, 2023
