Shadow of the Demon Lord Freeport Companion by Robert J. Schwalb is a role playing game supplement published by Schwalb Entertainment for use with Shadow of the Demon Lord. This supplement brings Green Ronin‘s Freeport to the Urth setting of Shadow of the Demon Lord.
The supplement is available from DriveThruRPG as a PDF for $12 as a softcover print on demand book for $27.99 or as both PDF and softcover book for $27.99 [CHECK]. The supplement is also available in printed form from sites such as Amazon. The PDF is the version reviewed and it was purchased at the reduced price of $6.72 during a sale. The PDF has 130 pages and comes in two versions, one with page backgrounds and one without. Two pages are the front and rear covers, one is the front matter, two the Table of Contents, four the Index and one an advert for the core book.
The introductory page states that this supplement is intended to be used with The Pirate’s Guide to Freeport or other supplements that describe the city, such as Freeport: The City of Adventure for the Pathfinder game; although this supplement includes some information on the city, it doesn’t have a lot. The author has worked on Freeport in the past and explains that there are both differences and overlap between the setting detail. It also states that some of the spells are found in the Demon Lord’s Companion, others in Terrible Beauty and that more details on gnomes can be found in Children of the Restless Earth.
Chapter 1: Freeport Characters starts with the standard ancestries, plus salamanders from Tombs of the Desolation and a sidebar on half-elves and half-orcs which do not exist on Urth. It’s suggested to simply treat half-elves as humans with fey blood and half-orcs as orcs who look more human than normal. Clockworks, faeries other than elves and goblins, fauns and undead are all rare in Freeport; undead get killed on sight.
Next are some new ancestries, starting with Serpent People. There are references to events in the Freeport Trilogy; the setting book is based after those. Serpent people used to all worship Yig; now some also worship the Unspeakable One. Serpent folk are also mentioned in Beyond the World’s Edge; both that supplement and the Freeport ones incorporate the Yellow Sign into the symbol.
Undines are elementals who live beneath the waves and lack souls. They were created by the genies, before the genies went mad, to protect the world from the encroachment of the Void. For some reason undines have recently started visiting and living amongst the surface-dwellers in greater numbers.
Freeport: A Short Tour gives an overview of the different areas of Freeport. One of these areas was also formed following the events of the Freeport Trilogy.
Freeport Characters has background and other tables for creating a Freeport character, which are a similar nature to others of this type. There is also a sidebar on languages spoken. Religion matches up the gods of Freeport with those of Urth; the sects of Yig are new ones.
Expert Paths has four new paths. The celebrant is a follower of the pirate god One-Eyed Pete, the courtier is what it sounds like, the drowned one is a priest of Oceanus (the rite of passage is drowning) and the mariner is an expert navigator and sailor.
Master Paths has six new paths; monster hunter, musketeer, mystic navigator, pit fighter, sea captain and survivor.
Finally in this chapter, magic has new incantations for a variety of traditions.
Chapter 2: Equipment has a variety of new items. There is a sidebar on Lords, Skulls and Pennies, the Freeport names for gold, silver and copper coins. There are new weapons, weapon enhancements, special substances, services, vessels – greatly expanding on the couple of watercraft in the Demon Lord’s Companion – implements and war machines
Chapter 3: Freeport Adventures is essentially the start of the GM’s section. It starts with Aquatic Adventures, which has rules on swimming, underwater and cold water survival and drowning, as well as diving.
Ships and Sea Voyages starts with stats for the ships that could be purchased in the previous chapter (somewhat amusingly, the ships all have immunities listed – namely afflictions and attacks against Intellect, Will and Perception). Ships requires at least a pilot and larger ones a pilot and a captain. There are rules on nautical movement, seasickness, weather and speed due to wind, travel times, random events and sea voyages.
Ship-to-Ship Combat is for ship combat and includes rules for the war machines from Chapter 2 that can be mounted in ships.
There is a reference to the Continent from The Pirate’s Guide to Freeport. It’s suggested to either replace the Continent with Rûl, or place it somewhere on the map where it can still be used, such as north of Rûl or east of Freeport.
Finally in this chapter are a number of Relics, all with a nautical theme.
Chapter 4: People of Freeport starts with stats for Common Characters, either new ones or suggestions as to which to use from the core rulebook. Next is an extensive section detailing Unique Characters. Each is given a description and stats.
Chapter 5: Freeport Bestiary has new monsters for the Pirate Isles and some from the core book, A Glorious Death and the Demon Lord’s Companion are also recommended. One of the new monsters is a Deep One and there are also a few sidebars on dangerous plants that don’t have complete stats.
Chapter 6: Old Hatreds is an adventure for Novice characters. It is set five years after the events of the Freeport Trilogy and during the time period described in The Pirate’s Guide to Freeport. Many years earlier, a slaver from Dis and member of the Brotherhood of Shadows (a demon cult covered in The Hunger in the Void) lost a relic in Freeport when it was stolen. The thief’s soul ended up inside the relic and wants revenge on those she blames for the death of her children – or, rather, their descendants. A descendant of the slaver wants the relic back to perform a ritual to summon a demon. The characters can be drawn in either being hired by a disreputable individual who wants the relic simply to raise some money for drugs or by the head of the local Wizard’s Guild.
The final page of content is a map of Freeport with districts and some locations labelled.
Shadow of the Demon Lord Freeport Companion in Review
The PDF is bookmarked, but not as well as it could be, with very little depth and Chapters 5 and 6 are completely missing from the bookmarks. The Table of Contents is to a much greater depth and is hyperlinked and the Index is also hyperlinked. Navigation is generally very good, but let down by the poor bookmarking. The text maintains a two column full colour format and appeared to be free of errors. There are a variety of full colour illustrations up to about half a page in size.
One thing that isn’t stated in the promotional material but is stated repeatedly in the text is that to best use this, The Pirate’s Guide to Freeport is really needed. This supplement does not describe the city itself in greater depth than a map and brief paragraphs on the districts. Admittedly, that’s not much different to many of the city supplements for Shadow of the Demon Lord, but Freeport is covered in more depth when it comes to NPCs and there’s a definite feeling that full benefit is not being obtained from the supplement.
The “feel” of Freeport, given that it’s a city designed to be dropped into multiple settings, is a bit different from other supplement for Urth. Creatures such as orcs and hobgoblins, for instance, do not feel as similar to orcs and hobgoblins from the core rulebook. The city also has the feeling of being dominated more by the machinations of the Unmentionable One, the King in Yellow and the Yellow Sign than the Demon Lord. Feeling, because these are never truly gone into in this; more may be covered in the Freeport Trilogy. Shadow of the Demon Lord has always felt as if it could be linked to a more Lovecraftian – or, in this case, pre-Lovecraftian Robert Chambers – vibe.
Freeport Companion has a lot of new rules and material for creating a more maritime campaign, and such a campaign does not have to be based out of Freeport. Some of the Nine Cities and Kingdom of Sails would also work, or for a campaign exploring some of the other lands. That material stands by itself. The material on the city, however, doesn’t feel self-contained. That feels as if it needs the Pirate’s Guide to truly work. Shadow of the Demon Lord Freeport Companion is in the end, as the supplement’s title states, a companion to Freeport not a guide in itself and it can be found by clicking here.
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