By Nash J. DeVita, Staff Reviewer

Initiative Round
Caravel is an 18 page PDF supplement for Uresia: Grave of Heaven (for both BESM and BESM d20) and is from S. John Ross and his company, (author of the original Uresia titles) and Cumberland Games. S. John Ross also did all of the cartography and incidentals within. Chun provided the anime- esque character illustrations. Caravel retails for $7.95.

Uresia is set on a chain of islands. What makes sense to detail beyond some of those islands? Ships of course! That is what Caravel covers, sort of. Actually, this PDF covers one ship, the Poison Pepper and her motley crew. A caravel is one specific type of sailing vessel and the Poison Pepper is one of them. This particular ship has had quite a long history and a different name to go along with most chapters in that history.

The present is all we are really concerned with, though. Captain Auriga Buckler is the current owner / operator of this craft. At any given time, he has an additional dozen or so crew or passengers. He was a backstabbing man in his past, but 'every sailor is a man of secrets' and the captain is welcome to his. Even those that do know who he was respect him for who he is.

Captain Buckler is far from the only odd one on board, mind you. The sail tender of the Poison Pepper is an Aracor, a bird- man, a race that is unlikely to be at sea, in general. The chief mate is a swarming bandit slime (AKA black slime), and the bosun is a metal golem. One can't forget the ships only female crew member, a magic maid.

The Poison Pepper is set up just like most other caravels. IT is a fairly small ship that consists of a (comparably) large hold as the lower most deck, a cabin underneath of the tiller (poop) deck, and the maid's locker under the foredeck. It also has three masts. Unlike most caravels, this one sails with triangular sails instead of square ones. This leads to a faster ship but a bumpier ride. Of course, the captain is always one for a little bit of trouble.

The captain is first and foremost an adventurer. This means that the crew can be found almost anywhere doing almost anything. This means that even though the captain prefers to stay in the southern waters, the ability to integrate this ship / crew into a game is great and the options for it are even greater.

Critical Hits
Chun did an excellent job on the character illustrations. They fit in quite well with those in Uresia: d20 from Niko Geyer.

S. John Ross has shown here that not only is he an excellent, descriptive author but al excellent artist as well. The cartography pieces and incidental art work pieces are all top notch!

This is a nice PDF beyond the art. The writing is easily on par with that from the original setting book(s).

Critical Misses
It is too short. I would liked to have seen more - crew stats, hard vessel stats, fiction such as stories of the ship and current crew and their adventures, etc. The stats could easily be printed in duel stat format. I would actually consider paying for a print copy if this was 45+ pages at $10 or $15 if these things were included.

Coup de Grace
I highly recommend this title to any fan of Uresia whether it is played as d20 or tri stat. This was an enjoyable read if not too one that went by too quickly. At roughly $8, this is a pretty good buy.

Review Scores

Overall Total (Does not include Game Mechanics or OGL): 98 (88%)
Final Grade: A-