Review of GURPS Hot Spots: Renaissance Venice

The latest volume in the series this book covers the city of canals during the renaissance period.
The GURPS Hot Spots series cover a section of earth history by focusing on a city, nation, or geographical region. They include historical data and timelines as well as information useful for adventures.
Related to this is the GURPS Locations series which focus on specific buildings that are designed to be generic and ready to use for an adventure.
Currently there are 4 Hot Spot and 5 Locations supplements in print for GURPS Fourth Edition.
This latest volume by Matt Riggsby, a rather prolific GURPS author  covers the city of Venice.
Venice is built on a set of small islands and provides a very different kind of geography than most cities. During this time period it was also a central trade and diplomatic city and that also is useful fodder for many games.

Chapter 1 Geography and Land Use

4 pages, including maps of geography and related tidbits. I did not know they were doing landfills back then to build up the islands.

Chapter 2 History

3 pages of detail on the history that brought the city to prominence,

Chapter 3 The Apparatus of Power

9 pages of information and ideas concerning the political and economic powers. By far my favorite chapter it gives useful information for a political intrigue campaign.  Also good info on the economic and policing side.  Kind of reminded me of Lankhmar in some ways.

Chapter 4 Daily Life

9 pages of stuff related to living and visiting the city. Includes house maps and stuff about art, clothing, religion, and entertainment. Another fairly portable chapter to most fantasy settings.

Chapter 5 Campaigns

2 pages on ideas for porting this to various settings and campaigns.

Summary

If your game is in the Renaissance period this latest volume will be a welcome addition. As usual Matt Riggsby does great work and presents a lot of detail without boring the reader.

Be sure to check out other volumes as this time period is well supported.
For my use I find a city built on small interconnected islands to be intriguing and portable to a fantasy setting, It has a nice map that can be easily adjusted and good ideas for a swashbuckler or diplomat/spy campaign.