City of Chains by Darren Pearce is a role playing game supplement published by Schwalb Entertainment for use with Shadow of the Demon Lord. This is an entry in the Land in Shadow series that further details parts of the official Urth setting.
This is a 12 page PDF that is available from RPGNow for $2.49 but was purchased at the reduced price of $1.72 during a sale. Half of the first page is an illustration and a quarter is the Credits; the rest is content.
There are the standard few paragraphs introducing the supplement; Dis, the City of Chains, is part of the Confederacy of Nine Cities.
Chains of History explains how this is another city that was founded by the Witch-King and how he created it as both a port for his war fleets and a slaving hub. Despite slavery being illegal in most of the Empire, Dis was allowed to continue as such after the Empire incorporated it – to the disappointment of the slaves expecting freedom – thanks to a bargain made, regarding the percentage of income that would come from slaving, one which the slavers of Dis probably didn’t keep to.
Intonious, the Great And Powerful is on the current autarch of the city, how he came to power and how he maintains his throne. Intonious is also not the fat and ugly slaver that is usually depicted, instead being fit, attractive and courteous. Apart from being a slaver.
The Guilds of Dis are the members of the Guild Council, although they don’t act against the autarch, for such can be, not fatal as live people are worth money as slaves, but a bad idea.
The Manacles are the new city guard that Intonious formed after disbanding the previous corrupt organisation. The Manacles are not corrupt, but they are not nice and they get a commission from those they arrest who are sold as slaves. There are stats on a typical Manacle as well as their leader, Captain Bastard.
Other organisations are the 300 Chains, slave soldiers who guard the city, and the Bronze Elite, Intonious’ personal guard. Stats are given on both and a sidebar is given on the elixir that Intonious uses to ensure the loyalty of the Bronze Elite.
A Cowed Populace explains how the citizens of the city are always polite; in fact, they behave very similarly to those of the City of Death, and for a similar reason – fear.
Flesh and Gold discusses the slave-based economy of Dis, how markets open and close, the problems with slave revolts and the Freedom Games, supposedly a way for some slaves to win their freedom but largely a way of killing off those with little value for the entertainment of the crowd. There is also a sidebar on buying slaves. There are also details on other, non-slave, areas of the economy that are expanding.
Faith in Chains briefly explains how most faiths don’t achieve much in Dis; the inhabitants believe in gods, they simply don’t think they care.
A Great and Powerful City has a map of Dis, a d20 table of sites and descriptions of the various wards and areas, with some points of interest.
Adventure Ideas has some adventure hooks for the city and Character Backgrounds has a new background table.
Finally, Bounty Hunter is a new Expert path.
City of Chains in Review
The PDF lacks bookmarks and, although it is comparatively short, they would have been appreciated. Navigation is poor. The text maintains a two column full colour format and appeared to be free of errors. There are a number of colour illustrations, including the map, all of which appear to be custom. Presentation is very good.
As with the rest of the Lands in Shadow series of supplements, this basically provides an overview that a GM will need to flesh out in more detail. Enough information is given on the city, its culture and inhabitants, as well as some NPCs, to give a start and a feel for the place, but more will need to be done. This is also quite an unpleasant city in many ways, and characters could easily get tangled up in the slave trade, and probably not in a good way. City of Chains can be found by clicking here.
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