I think this is a great adventure with real potential and a likelihood of being extremely memorable due to the roleplaying sections. There are some problems involving the art and design, so I will address those first.
Problems
The cover characters and some of the pictures within, are not high on detail. I like the backgrounds, those are good, everyone likes creepy temples in the moonlight; but not all characters pictures look fantastic. The other design problem is the yellow text on green background choice. That isn’t the easiest thing to read. Dark red or black on white is easy to read, yellow and greens are less distinct. The yellow script and green background paragraphs are intended to be read to the players, or presented to them. This is clear, but the colours were obviously a design choice. The product certainly looks different to other adventure paths, but this was a problem for me (I prefer dark text on pale backgrounds).
The Adventure
Now on to the adventure itself. The first paragraph sells the adventure extremely well. Moving from the setting, to enemies, to curses and encounters. The game is meant to fit into the Jade Oath setting, but is notably adaptable across settings and into Asian themed regions, with the note the central city must remain for the adventure to work. The writing is good straight off the bat, and a dm/gm could use parts of this to lure players in for good times—there will be rebels, dancing lions, faen pirates, a kidnapped thief and a cursed city. It makes it sound very attractive.
The first paragraph for the players once they arrive in this unusual city is also quite strong and evocative. Continuing on, there are multiple reasons and adventure hooks given for the players to be in the region when the adventure starts. I especially liked the pirate crew and disciples of the one school here to win the martial arts tournament ideas. The rumours and what can be revealed via knowledge checks are well thought out; this rapidly creates a political and cultural setting for the game, so this will want to be shared with the players.
In the arena, the dragon-lion dance combat could lead to many memorable matches. The players must work together or they lose. They must also, quite hilariously, hold on to the dragon-lion costume (1 hand) and stay adjacent to one another. A lot of thought went into this, and there are variant martial arts rules for the competition.
The dating dragon ritual is not something I have seen before in gaming. It will require real thinking and overcoming awkwardness to pull off and woo a spirit attendant. There are plots afoot and a few things thrown in to make sure the pcs are involved and don’t just ignore it with a blush in their cheeks. I quite liked how this was explained and how it could go.
That is enough! I cannot give it all away. There is a further chase scene, the pirates emerge and battles take place at the moon temple. I have looked this over and I can say, this becomes a more typical adventure later with plenty of combat. Although its starts and develops in a truly original direction. It isn’t all combat or a hack and slash dungeon, there is a high call for skill checks and roleplaying for most of the adventure, which I personally appreciate.
A fine product and an adventure with a difference. It may take 2 to 3 sessions to run, but could be longer if the players spent a lot of time with the courtships. Infernal Romance at Moon Temple deserves 4/5 stars, leaning close to 5.5. It is also quite affordable given the amount of work that clearly went into it.
