A Review of the Role Playing Game Supplement Location Guides: The Pirate Haven of Blackrock

Location Guides: The Pirate Haven of Blackrock by Darren W. Pearce and Gillian M. Pearce is a role playing game supplement published by Rogue Genius Games for use with the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game. As such, it is covered by the Open Game License and some parts are considered to be Open Game Content as a result.

The supplement is available as a 30-page PDF from DriveThruRPG for $3.99 but was purchased at a reduced price during a sale. One page is the front cover and two the Open Game License and Credits.

What is this Supplement? explains that this is the first (and, as it happens, the only and last) in the Location Guide series which are intended to be locations that can be used for parts or dropped into a setting.

The supplement starts with a stat block for the town, included notable locations which are described later.

Blackrock’s History explains that Korte Island used to be home to monsters called Vasha that preyed on travellers. Though they had no interest in treasure, they amassed a lot. One captain wasn’t killed like the previous ones and brought more ships that destroyed the Vasha. However, the ships then fell to infighting over the treasure, and the few survivors established a settlement which grew in size, becoming a town that is home to pirates and others.

What Does Blackrock Look Like? gives a description of the place.

The Areas of Blackrock is a gazetteer of the town, which is divided into three areas. The town is mapped and various places of interest are described, with brief stats for some NPCs. Scattered through this are various adventure hooks, each of which takes an entire sidebar and is quite extensive.

Following this is a look at what the town exports and imports, what living there is like, clothing and style, crime and punishment – rather lacking unless someone really causes problems – food and drink and government.

Cassandra Blackthorne describes the current pirate queen of the island, including history and stats.

Ruins has a number of ruins of the Vasha given a brief overview and Secrets has some of those.

Finally, the Appendix has stats for common encounters and there is a full colour map of the town.

Location Guides: The Pirate Haven of Blackrock in Review

The PDF is well-bookmarked with major and minor sections linked. Navigation is good. The text maintains a two-column format and appeared to be free of error. There are a number of colour illustrations, including a colour map, as well as a black and white version of the map, the majority of which appeared to be custom. Presentation is good.

The supplement describes something that isn’t just a pirate settlement – in fact, the piracy part of it seems to be overlooked – in a decent amount of detail. There are quite a few adventure hooks given in detail, plus more possibilities for adventures. The island itself could be expanded quite a bit with the Vashan ruins, though the island itself is not mapped. With this being a small settlement, not associated with a country, on an island, it should be easy enough to drop into a setting with comparatively minor changes. Location Guides: The Pirate Haven of Blackrock is a nice, and pretty inexpensive, supplement covering a town in a decent amount of detail and it can be found by clicking here.