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Well, it took nearly 2 years, 3 moves, 4 new jobs, a graduation and numerous mini hiatuses, but we finally finished Jade Regent! We did a small epilogue hinting towards future events a few weeks ago, and now I have a little time to write a final review. Spoilers ahead!
Overall? Very, very fun! I'm glad I chose this AP to run, and it was nice to have a little continuity in the world storyline since we ran this after Runelords. There were a few stumbling blocks here and there (I'll get into those more in the book reviews below), but overall I'd recommend this AP to pretty much any group.
Now, I used a pretty big mix of caravan rules I found on the forums, and it worked out pretty well I think! My players weren't super interested in keeping track of caravan stuff, but were invested just enough so that I didn't hand wave it away. For combat each PC had their own turn, either attacking, defending or assisting, and I would liven up the events by narration. I'd recommend this for DMs, as it made the players feel much more important and useful in caravan combat, as well as making later fights in book 3 actually possible.
The Amatatsu Scions
Ilvaria Duskrin (LG Female Drow Paladin of Iomedae)
Uldar, son of Ulduar (LN Male Aasimar Summoner) and his eidolon Alphonse
Anterbok (CN Male Tiefling Barbarian)
Jinkoro (CG Kitsune cleric of Milani, with just a dash of Acrobat)
Tide of Honor- This was my favorite out of all the books, as it really captured a lot of classic tabletop adventure themes while giving them a Minkaian twist. The book had a great mix of combat, skill based situations, and puzzles. Maybe our group just had fewer stops while playing this one, but Tide of Honor felt like it had a really good pace compared to some of the other books. The NPCs are fun to play and flavorful too. My only big critique is that the chapter on Minkai at the end is quite short. I know there are only so many pages, but I'd like more information on the country please! (Minkai Campaign Setting book Paizo, I'll buy one the second it comes out!) Also, stat blocks for the two big cities the players visit would have been much appreciated.
Things I did change- Only one big change I made for this book, and that was Kaibuninsho. As he was, I saw him getting steamrolled by the party, even with a surprise attack. The group for this whole book was the 4 PCs, Ameiko and Sandru. 6 v 1 is not a good situation for ANY baddie, even a stealthy one. The action economy would just wreck him. My solution? Mythic. I gave him two tiers of Trickster, and it worked out wonderfully. He turned from a guy the party would almost certainly forget to "THAT f***ing ninja". 2 PC kills and a murdered mount before his death. Even with the mythic tiers, he still was down to single digit HP on the first combat, so I think it was still fair if challenging. The party went out of their way to destroy his corpse and spread the ashes out to make sure he wasn't coming back.
I also added two small events to help the party catch up on EXP. They fought a group of elemental based bandits terrorizing a village, as well as destroying a Gashadokuro that arose from Sennaka starving out a village at the Jade Regent's orders. Both were nice ways to get some rep with the common folk as well.
Things I should have changed- I don't recall anything being a problem. Maybe a little more time spent with the ronin, but honestly the book is pretty good the way it is.
Favorite Moment- I'd have to say the ninja council that went down after Kaibuninsho was defeated and the coin was recovered was pretty phenomenal. The summoner (who had an insanely high diplomacy skill) managed to get all 3 clans to work together, but only after a solid hour of realtime role-play. What may become of the coin and the clans after Ameiko's ascendance is yet to be seen, but it was a great character moment and a lot of fun. Not to mention, getting the clans to work together became a huge help in book 6.
Least favorite moment- The mini bosses, though it's not really the books fault for any of them. They all just got super unlucky and went down very easy. The bandit lord failed his reflex save against acid pit and couldn't climb out, Shosaito got hit every time by Anterbok and Ilvaria after casting displacement, and the party chose the correct room to teleport into in Sennaka's bathhouse (they beat him there in travel and had time to invisibly scope the place out), catching him completely unaware. The final boss fight helped make up for it at least, it was pretty tough.
The Brinewall Legacy- A very fun early level adventure, it does a good job establishing the NPCs and getting the group together. Like I said, this group just finished RotRL before playing this, so being back in Sandpoint was good fun. A few of the Runelords PCs even had brief cameos in the first game! The marsh and castle were both creepy and challenging, and unravelling the mystery of the boat in Brinestump was cool. Even if someone wasn't running Jade Regent, I think this book could be a really good starting point for any adventure, with some tweaking of what is to be found in Brinewall's vaults.
Things I changed- Since our fourth player didn't join until later, I played as Ameiko for the entirety of Brinestump Marsh. Honestly, I think it kind of worked out for the better! It helped form more of a relationship with Ameiko to the PCs, and gave them more of a reason to accompany her to Brinewall. The impetus for everyone coming together was Niska Mvashti's funeral, and that also gave Koya a reason to join the caravan as well. There were a few encounters on the way to Brinewall (some ogres, axe beaks, a mud elemental if I remember correctly), though the most important was a run in with some pretty vicious rimerunner's guild members in Roderic's Cove. They didn't name drop the guild, but I did emphasize the guild symbol and tried to show the group's spreading influence. Also, I had Sandru be possessed by the kami since I knew Ameiko was (probably) getting kidnapped in the next book and I didn't want her turning into a damsel in distress.
Things I should have changed- Not any real issues to change here. There's plenty of info on Varisia out there, so filling in the journey with adventure ideas isn't needed for this book.
Favorite Moment- Old Megus' shack wound up being a hilarious encounter. Lots of good rolls, bad rolls, stuck doors and giant eidolons punching ratmen. By the end of it, both the shack and the small building next to it were piles of moldy rubble. Unexpectedly memorable.
Least favorite moment- …I don't think I really had a bad moment in this book looking back on it. Just a fun, easy to run book with good npcs and encounters. Great way to start off the campaign.
The Hungry Storm- I actually wrote a review for this book already, you can check it out on the page for the book if you'd like. The more I look back on it, the more I enjoy it. Also, when I asked my players which book was their favorite, half of them said this one, so something went right!
Things I changed- I already stated how I changed the caravan combat, which was very important for this book. I also ran two modules in this one, The Baleful Coven when they were crossing the land bridge from Avistan to the Crown, and Under Frozen Stars after they defeated Katiyana. Both were superb and I'd highly recommend using them. The storm tower was moved from its location in the book to the Nameless Spires at the pole. Some big changes, but all were for the better I believe.
Things I should have changed- I have mixed feelings about this one. Before we ran this, I rolled out a weather table for every day of 6 months, to get a better idea of what the weather would be like when they crossed. It was very flavorful, but at the same time I think I spent too much time describing the weather. I do like that it hammered home how difficult this journey was, but at the same time I think there were times when it slowed the game down too much and bored the players. So, positives and negatives with that approach. Also, as written the journey is VERY front heavy. A lot of stuff going on between the Rimethirst Mountains and the High Ice, not so much between the High Ice and the Wall of Heaven. I know it's for EXP purposes, but it feels unbalanced.
Favorite Moment- Despite the flaws this book has, it has a good chunk of really memorable set pieces. The Storm Tower, The Uqtaal Necropolis, and the battle with Vegsundvaag were all excellent to name a few. Ultimately, I have to say the yeti boss fight sticks out the most. It was hard as nails, and my players are still talking about it to this day.
Least Favorite Moment- The battle with Tunuak in his bore wound up being more annoying than fun.
The Empty Throne- The finale! Overall it's a good ending with a solid final boss fight. The paranoia in the city is fun to play up, and the Imperial Shrine is very cool and flavorful. The Kasai article is great, as well as the post campaign story ideas presented. However, the pacing in this book feels a little too fast. I understand the reasons behind it, but the PCs don't have a lot of time to get things together. Also, it's a really combat heavy book, so be prepared for that. Despite those flaws, it's a fun ending and altogether solid.
Things I changed- I played up the ninjas a lot in this book, though their help really isn't mentioned outside of some rebellion points. Since all 3 clans were cooperating, I essentially had them as help for getting around the city unnoticed. They also showed up when the PCs stormed the castle, holding off guards in the city from coming to assist.
At the beginning of the book, I also gave a short tale of how the rebel army and the PCs made it to Akafuto, and after a long siege they took the city and established it as a base. That was the event that drew out the Imperial Army from Kasai, and allowed the PCs to have a chance at taking the castle. I think this plan is mentioned in book 5, but I don't recall if it's in book 6.
And one last thing, I made The Jade Regent stronger while making Anamurumon weaker. I know that Anamurumon is the mastermind behind it all, but having the AP named after The Jade Regent, and spending most of the campaign talking him up as the villain, it felt kinda cheap to me to have him not be the strongest baddie the party faces. So he got an extra level of samurai and Anamurumon was saddled with the young template. It was still a tough fight regardless.
Things I should have changed- I think I changed everything I wanted to ahead of time…the only in moment thing I remember being an issue was when they fought a ton of guards all at once, and that combat took AGES. Should have staggered the guards coming in I suppose.
Favorite Moment- I had an extra character added in the campaign, a Nogitsune witch that tied into the Kitsune cleric's backstory. She was essentially just the worst, and responsible for some of the most awful moments of that character's life. She had popped into the story from time to time, more to taunt and torture the heroes than actually battle. Hell, she would have stolen the Amatatsu Seal had it not been for the "Doesn't teleport" caveat it carries. I replaced one of the ogre mage fights with her, and it was a very tough but ultimately satisfying fight. The players were glad to see her get what was coming to her.
Also, riding celestial orcas back to Kasai from the Imperial Shrine is a phenomenal mental image.
Least Favorite Moment- Just a few too many fights with guards. It makes total sense that they're all there, but they are just tough enough to slow things down more than I would have liked.
Night of Frozen Shadows- I feel weird putting this book this low, because honestly I think it's quite good. It was just that the party I ran this for was not built for it, at all. Skill checks and mystery solving are important for this, two things I found out this team was not stellar at. I'm pretty sure they still have no idea what happened to Snorri Stone Eye, despite the fact they killed his draugr. There were plenty of "Well, now what?" moments that I had to work around. Having said that, this book has very good atmosphere, fun battles, a great dungeon, and a superb city write up. Also, excellent bestiary. And my players really enjoyed this book, so that counts for points!
Things I changed- Quite a bit, though most of it was additions. I'd read the Land of the Linnorm Kings book (highly recommended) and wanted to add as much as I could while they travelled the land. So the party did battle with a Shadow Satyr in his tree of night outside of Solskinn, visited some cities along the way, arm wrestled with enlarged gnomes, and battled a Hala demon destroying the town of one of the PCs.
Things I should have changed- Just some of the skill checks to find clues or piece things together. It worked out eventually, but it took some fudging to get there.
Favorite Moment- The battle with Wodes wound up being quite entertaining. He was down to very low health, so he tried to flee. Anterbok spent a hero point to attack Wodes…and botched with his door plank (long story short, he liked the door plank when they broke in so he made it his weapon). The plank then broke. Ilvaria then had to spend one of her hero points to stop the raven's escape and did. So after 2 hero points there was a dead bird and a broken door plank. Fun times!
Least Favorite Moment- I'd say just the downtime when the PCs were trying to figure out what to do.
The Forest of Spirits- This book starts out SO good, but that dungeon just became a grind. Too many of the same enemies over and over, with what doesn't feel like a great payoff. I do wish I'd done more to change the dungeon, or just scrapped it altogether. It was a bore to me and my players, with only a few good moments. Unrelated to the book, but this was also my first time running anything above the mid levels consistently, so there were some rules arguments about spells and stuff that just bogged the game down. The forest itself is okay, not too bad but not super memorable either.
Things I changed- Not much, though by the end of the dungeon I was switching out hobgoblins for pretty much anything else.
Things I should have changed- The dungeon.
Favorite Moment- Everything in Ordu-Aganhei. Man, this part of the book is GREAT. We all had a blast playing it. I'd bust out my George Takei impersonation for Batsaikhar, which is a fun voice fit for him. It was very refreshing to do an RP heavy section after the NPC barren Crown.
Also, first entering the House of Withered Blossoms was amusing. To quote one of my players "Why are all the spiders WIZARDS?!".
Least Favorite Moment- I think you can guess if you've read this far.
Best Boss Fights
1. Possessed Bormurg and his yeti tribe
2. The Jade Regent and allies
3. Katiyana in the Storm Tower
4. The Oni ambush at the Fortress
5. Chief Gutwad
The most dangerous enemy
You'd think it would be Kaibuninsho, or one of the bosses, but no. There was a terror present throughout the game that the party just could not handle, and nearly cost them their lives many times. That threat? Water. Yep, this party was horrendous at dealing with water. Nearly drowned in Brinestump, nearly drowned when kayaking, nearly drowned in black slush, nearly drowned when capsized by dragon turtles, and nearly drowned when fighting the Omoxes in the Well of Demons (which, by the way, REALLY hard fight). I don't think anyone put ranks in swim at any point, so the only one who was tolerable at swimming was Anterbok because his strength was so high.
Best NPCs
1. Prince Batsaikhar
2. "Nana" Koya Mvashti
3. Amatatsu Ameiko
4. Shayle Andosana
5. Sugimatu Nobinoru
Well, if I think of anything more to say I will, but that's it for now! I have some home-brew Minkai stuff I plan to post sometime in the future, we'll see when I have the time to work on it more. All the info on these forums was super helpful for running this campaign! Thanks for reading along!
Glad to hear you liked Tide of Honor. It's up next for us.
