This book is a refreshing change of pace and scenery.
The Good
- Players get to see firsthand the devastation of the Black Vault.
- Get to interact with new monsters and learn some very interesting lore.
- I enjoyed delving into some survival mechanics as there is no food/water to be had in this irradiated wasteland and the players are traveling for a loooooong time.
The Bad
- As written, Shraen is just a reputation time sink. It doesn't have to be that way, however. There's a gazeteer, and it's on the GM to make spicy NPCs and events to fill the city. It's a massive city of evil and undeath - go wild. It can be a great time, but you have to work to make it that way.
- The players still don't really know the stakes of this AP. Thus far, there still isn't any hint of what Sarvel is actually doing.
The Ugly
Unless you give players some way to travel incredibly fast, they’ll be down in the Black Desert for a long time. They have to travel around 1,010 miles. With a basic 30 ft. movement speed, that's 24 miles in a day so it will take about 42 days to walk everywhere. And that's IF you use the basic speed and don't knock it lower because it's not clear, flat terrain they're traveling.
Crystal Halls to Ruined Outpost - 50 miles
Ruined Outpost to Spear Hill - 50 miles
Spear Hill to Cradle of Worms - 145 miles
Cradle of Worms to Shraen - 315 miles
Shraen to Crystal Halls - 450 miles
A solid book (especially after the sheer boredom of the last one).
The Good
- Being in a singular town for an entire book opens up more possibilities of creating ties to interesting NPCs.
- The Bokrug subplot tied in with nightmares for this town was interesting and well-done.
- Fortune's Hall was a good time. The PCs were quite sympathetic to desperation leading to devastation.
- The table enjoyed Helg and thought that aspect of the book was very interesting.
The Bad
- The threat continues to be just generic xulgath. There are still no leads as to the evil machinations of the xulgath's leader. The PCs only know there's some vague danger by some distant xulgath. This is a great time to make it more personal, at least. Have Sarvel lead the charge against the circus and have some NPCs die. Gives a logical and an emotional reason for wanting to end Sarvel.
The Ugly
….Why are all the NPCs women? Mayor? Woman. Priestess? Woman. Proprietor of the inn? Woman. Dockmaster? Woman. Shopkeep? Woman. Medic? Woman. Blacksmith? Woman. …I really wish I was exaggerating, but I'm not. It's absolutely bizarre. The only men outlined for Willowside are a gay couple, the annoying Banyan boys that are written to be loathed, and a guy destined to be cannon fodder for a later fight. It's baffling.
This book is terribly boring. So boring and repetitive.
The Good
The Thesseka boss fight was a good time. She laid quite the wallop down and threw someone off the tower.
The Bad
There is a subplot in this book with Vandy and the ultimate fiend behind it is a night hag. Ugh. I'm so sick of hags, I could puke. Feels like every single AP has one. The worst part is they made perfect monsters to substitute in: the bogeyman! I ended up changing it to a group of bogeys terrorizing the hillside.
The Ugly
This entire book is so repetitive and boring. Small town with nothing interesting happening. Go to the aeon tower. Next small town. Nothing happening. Go to the aeon tower. Next town…. It would take a lot of GM love, work, and time to make these locales interesting. I ended up writing in a day spent at the log festival just so something fun would happen in this book.
Overall, this is a great book. Interesting locales, engaging NPCs, fascinating lore, a peek at the actual plot, and sweet, sweet revenge.
The Good
- Being in a city where the PCs can better equip themselves is always a good time.
- The Moonstall Hall is a fantastic dungeon. There were interesting fights, amazing artwork, and the lore learned was fantastic. It's also a great place to show visions of the xulgath leadership and a bit about their personalities so the BBEGs of future books don't feel so random and detached.
- Including the Celestial Menagerie and getting the better of a hated NPC is always fantastic. Having a conclusion to that looming dark was quite satisfactory.
The Bad
- There are a few too many fights in Moonstall Hall; it gets tedious. Better to cut a few that are only there to be XP nuggets. (like the faceless stalkers, the redcaps, and the wraiths).
The Ugly
I hated the layout of the Celestial Menagerie. The players can easily skip so many things and the massive battle with the hated foe…is in a teeny little room. One caster against an entire party in a tiny room. It's so awful. This is fixable, however. I made my own map with a better layout - essentially rearranged what was given to me. Then I had the showdown with Ms. Dusklight happen in waves in the big tent. She is a show-off, after all, and what a show it turned out to be.
First things first: If you're running or playing this game, you need to understand that this is NOT a circus AP. The circus is just the vehicle to start things off and IF it shows up in later books, it only does so because the players want it to. I honestly feel players are better off not being a part of the circus at all. Be someone else just traveling with the circus; be a character investigating the decline of the isles; be a character researching the aeon orbs and towers; be a character interested in the history of Aroden. Any of those choices will be *so* much more fulfilling than a circus entertainer thrust into a xulgath plot. I really cannot emphasize this enough.
The Good
- I greatly enjoy the idea of the circus as a way to give the PCs a home with NPCs they care about. The circus provides PCs with an anchor. Some of the best RP at my table had was centered around those NPCs.
- The Hermitage and the aeon tower were both hits at my table. They were solid dungeons with interesting interactions and planted some breadcrumbs of things to come.
The Bad
- Some of the early encounters are absolutely brutal. I scaled a few things back so I didn't murder the PCs right out of the gate.
- It really makes no sense that the xulgath have all of these dinosaurs. Dinosaurs don't have darkvision; how are they coping with being in the Darklands?
The Ugly
The book starts the PCs off in the thick of a murder plot and the pressure of suddenly needing to run the circus NOW. The glaring issue with this set up is that the PCs have had no time to form bonds with any of these NPCs so they're not going to care someone was murdered. It's not personal, and it should be. Instead of opening up the book this way, I highly recommend starting at another town - let them meet the ringleader, meet some NPCs. Do this in theater of the mind and set up scenes for them before traveling to Abberton and having plot happen.
I did write an in-depth review, but when I hit save changes I got a "You've backtracked too far error" and lost it all.
So I'll just sum up: great atmosphere and great research mechanics. The fights are pretty tough, but it's usually fine to retreat if you need to. Best adventure I've ever played.
The internet has eaten 2 reviews (long, glowing reviews...) so this is going to be very short.
The articles have great depth and variety so no entry reads the same as another. The personal touches of letters, journal pages, etc. are delightful. This book broadens Golarion by making connections between the movers and shakers of Golarion without reading like a political treatise.
I'm very glad there are no statblocks in this book. I do not want these powerful NPCs locked into something that may need changing in the future.
The artwork is phenomenal. I stared at so many pictures just soaking up the details before actually reading the corresponding articles.
