I'm an absolute sucker for swashbuckling fantasy. I love it. It strikes a chord for me that medieval games never com anywhere close to. I'm drawn to games of musketeers and piracy on the high seas. And I've been feeling the urge to pick up something new lately. So I was browsing around on the Frog God Games website and came across their Razor Coast campaign setting. So, I have a few questions, and I hope the fine folks here can help me out:

First, does Razor Coast make a good entry point into The Lost Lands, or is it assumed the player is familiar with the setting already?

Does the book offer any classes that reinforce the swashbuckling themes (I'm looking at the Swords and Wizardry edition)?

Are there any game mechanics that support swashbuckling duels, pistols, ship rules, etc? Basically, how does the game support swashbuckling action, mechanically?

What are your overall impressions of it as a game? Have you run it? Played it? If so, how'd it go? I'd love to know anything you can offer!

I honestly couldn't tell you if they've attempted to retcon Razor Coast into The Lost Lands, but I can tell you, Razor Coast was a project that FGG (and others) rescued when Nic Logue went AWOL, after taking tons of pre-orders for it.

As such, it certainly didn't start as part of The Lost Lands, and I seem to recall it finally getting released well before The Lost Lands stuff saw print.

Here's a thread from FGG with some official weigh-ins on the subject:

https://www.froggodgames.com/library/?q=forum/razor-coast-lost-lands

Seems to confirm that it's retcon'd in as part of TLL, but not really formally part of it.

It's been a while since I've looked at Razor Coast, but I'll try to answer your questions.

Quote from: SavageSchemer;1086302First, does Razor Coast make a good entry point into The Lost Lands, or is it assumed the player is familiar with the setting already?

No it does not.  Neither the campaign nor the reference guide make more than a passing reference to the Lost Lands.   The upcoming Lost Lands setting is supposed to bring Razor Coast into the setting more, but if you're just looking at Razor Coast there is really no reason that it needs to be in the Lost Lands.

Quote from: SavageSchemer;1086302Does the book offer any classes that reinforce the swashbuckling themes (I'm looking at the Swords and Wizardry edition)?

Nope, nothing.

Quote from: SavageSchemer;1086302Are there any game mechanics that support swashbuckling duels, pistols, ship rules, etc? Basically, how does the game support swashbuckling action, mechanically?

Not much here.  There is some new equipment, some nautical themed spells, a weather table.  It does sort of have rules for dueling, but they aren't new rules, they're in setting rules: fought with rapiers, unarmored, typically to the first blood.  The mechanics are the same.

Quote from: SavageSchemer;1086302What are your overall impressions of it as a game? Have you run it? Played it? If so, how'd it go? I'd love to know anything you can offer!

I'm a fan of Frog God Games and the Lost Lands setting, but Razor Coast is pretty close to the bottom of their output in my opinion.  It was written for Pathfinder and it definitely shows, being more a collection of encounters than a toolbox of piracy stuff to use in your OSR game.  There's a lot of setting material that may or may not be useful to you, but it's not organized in a way that's easy to mine it, most of the material being written for the scene that is intended to be played out.

I would definitely recommend Night Own Workshop's Freebooters white box game if you're just looking for some piracy stuff.

Quote from: under_score;1086311I'm a fan of Frog God Games and the Lost Lands setting, but Razor Coast is pretty close to the bottom of their output in my opinion.  It was written for Pathfinder and it definitely shows, being more a collection of encounters than a toolbox of piracy stuff to use in your OSR game.  There's a lot of setting material that may or may not be useful to you, but it's not organized in a way that's easy to mine it, most of the material being written for the scene that is intended to be played out.

I would definitely recommend Night Own Workshop's Freebooters white box game if you're just looking for some piracy stuff.

That's a bit disheartening, but that's why I ask! I'm a fan of the Night Owl Workshop games (I have Warriors of the Red Planet and Guardians), so Freebooters is certainly a no-brainer for my buy list. Much, much cheaper, too. Thanks for reminding me of it.

There's also Buccaneers and Bilge Rats.

Quote from: 3rik;1086317There's also Buccaneers and Bilge Rats.

Spahn puts out a lot of solid stuff.  I'd completely missed this one

Quote from: under_score;1086319Spahn puts out a lot of solid stuff.  I'd completely missed this one

So did I. Freebooters I knew about, but this one is a surprise.

There's YARR! The Pirate RPG.
It's on sale now. For $7 gets you the softcover & the PDF. I'm in the (very late) Kickstarter waiting for the Deluxe hardcover.
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/119069/Yarr-The-Rules-Light-Pirate-RPG

And for more importantly, there is CRIMSON CUTLASS! (the greatest pirate RPG ever)
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/249447/Crimson-Cutlass-Omnibus

Quote from: under_score;1086319Spahn puts out a lot of solid stuff.  I'd completely missed this one

Unfortunately it's not available in print (yet).

Quote from: under_score;1086311I'm a fan of Frog God Games and the Lost Lands setting, but Razor Coast is pretty close to the bottom of their output in my opinion.  It was written for Pathfinder and it definitely shows,

Almost everything by Frog God is either written for Pathfinder/3e or 5e and then half assed converted to S&W, and it all shows.

Quote from: under_score;1086311It was written for Pathfinder and it definitely shows

Written for 3.5, then never delivered until FGG rescued it, converted it/finished it for PF.

Quote from: JeremyR;1086459Almost everything by Frog God is either written for Pathfinder/3e or 5e and then half assed converted to S&W, and it all shows.

I didn't know that. So is S&W not well supported, then? Seems to me they'd write for their own game to bolster support - and, therefore - the draw for it.

More PF buyers than S&W buyers.  Makes perfect sense to me.

That's not really the question though. I totally get that there are more PF products because they sell well. The question is, how well does FGG support their S&W game system above and beyond that? If everything is essentially a regurgitated PF product, I'd personally answer that as "not very well".

I can't argue that, but, specifically, for Razor Coast, it was a 3.5/PF product first and foremost.

Necromancer/FGG got their start writing for 3E/3.5, so it's not surprising that a lot of their stuff was PF first, since I'm pretty sure they started supporting PF before they decided to compile/release S&W, so there was a LOT of their own material that was already written that all they needed to do was a PF-to-S&W conversion to print/release.

That should cease, though, as I don't see them supporting PF much longer - it looks like 5E and S&W are what they'll be doing, going forward.  They might do some PF2E if PF2E proves to be worth it.

So, hey, maybe you'll get 5E-to-S&W hacks instead.