What to Buy?
Posted: Sat Nov 13, 2010 10:24 amOver on Revenants (http://www.revenants7thsea.aimoo.com) we get some variant of the "which books should I buy first" every couple of months. The answer is, of course, all of them or as many as you can afford. However, while that will give you some great reading (I personally read all the original books in just over 2 weeks) that won't really help you in the Heroes of Altamira. Certainly it may after several sessions of HoA when you want to learn all you can about Theah and 7th Sea, but for right now you probably just need the basics for your character. So if you are looking for stuff on ebay or buying the pdf's off RPGNow (or whichever download site is your favorite), you should focus on the following...
1. Player's Guide - Character creation information, general overview of the world and the nations of Theah, and a thorough description of how all dice rolls work. But most imporantly, it is the book that best describes the flavor of Heroic Swasbuckling action, which is the heart of 7th Sea. The MUST HAVE book.
2. 1, Nation Book - Once you've figured out which nationality you want for your character, you'll want to know more than just the general overview that was in the PG. As a nice bonus, it'll have some extra backgrounds/advantages/swordsman schools/magic for heroes of your nationality that weren't in the PG (although they're all in the Base Handbook over at Crystal Keep). A warning, however, there is a GMs only section in the back of every book which reveals secret agendas for various NPCs/organizations. Reading that may spoil some of the fun of discovery (but probably not for HoA).
3. (Optional) 1, Secret Society Book - If your character already belongs to a secret society, or plans on joining one over the course of the campaign, you might want to read more about what the society represents. However, just as with the nations books, most of the secret societies have secrets they don't want getting out (not even to their own members), so read at your own risk.
4. Everything Else - At this point, you're probably hooked. With just those three books you've heard some of the secrets and realize there's a lot more going on then first described. Feel free to read up on the other nations, secret societies, timeline, etc. Same warning as above, plus once you read the other nations, you might start re-considering your choice of nationality, very dangerous stuff.
Hope that helps.
Mark
1. Player's Guide - Character creation information, general overview of the world and the nations of Theah, and a thorough description of how all dice rolls work. But most imporantly, it is the book that best describes the flavor of Heroic Swasbuckling action, which is the heart of 7th Sea. The MUST HAVE book.
2. 1, Nation Book - Once you've figured out which nationality you want for your character, you'll want to know more than just the general overview that was in the PG. As a nice bonus, it'll have some extra backgrounds/advantages/swordsman schools/magic for heroes of your nationality that weren't in the PG (although they're all in the Base Handbook over at Crystal Keep). A warning, however, there is a GMs only section in the back of every book which reveals secret agendas for various NPCs/organizations. Reading that may spoil some of the fun of discovery (but probably not for HoA).
3. (Optional) 1, Secret Society Book - If your character already belongs to a secret society, or plans on joining one over the course of the campaign, you might want to read more about what the society represents. However, just as with the nations books, most of the secret societies have secrets they don't want getting out (not even to their own members), so read at your own risk.
4. Everything Else - At this point, you're probably hooked. With just those three books you've heard some of the secrets and realize there's a lot more going on then first described. Feel free to read up on the other nations, secret societies, timeline, etc. Same warning as above, plus once you read the other nations, you might start re-considering your choice of nationality, very dangerous stuff.
Hope that helps.
Mark