This AP looks very intriguing. Anyone played the first book yet? How did it go?
It's been released for a couple weeks now...
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
I can't give you a full review as of yet, as my party is only three moderate duration sessions into it yet, but I can give you my and their first impressions. I'm going to assume you're asking from a DM standpoint, but in case you're hoping for a more light player-perspective, I'ma opt to spoiler my heavy in-depth insights in case otherwise. Short version? It's spooky, it's got a lot of interesting characters, and has a cohesive direction that makes everything feel like in sync- The plot, the atmosphere, and the encounters.
My players are loving the spooky atmosphere, as am I. While I'm a big fan of Paizo's classic spooky Haunt manners, having a village-wide horror atmosphere is a refreshing take, as it keeps the party guessing when and where the next spooky omen might manifest. The talking animals, the mischievous Jinkins, ghostly apparitions, and creepy-crawly swarms hunting for them all work well. In some APs, it can feel like you're throwing random creatures at the party just to somewhat diversify your encounters, but with Kugaptee's curse influencing everything, there's a sense of cohesive menace even towards the lesser non-important threats, at least to me. It gives players plenty of time to breath, recover, and think out their next moves, without every losing the sense of lingering anxiety- The fog and blood moon in particular do alot to color things.
This is definitely a game wherein NPCs matter- And the AP makes the right choice by giving you a bunch of sub objectives that encourage you to meet and learn the various locations in the village. Helping out say, Doc Dami at the clinic isn't just a fetch quest that has some immediate rewards to help you defeat the buso, but an opportunity for you to build relationships with the primary source of elixirs and drugs going forward. With the AP emphasizing him being the only doctor, rescuing him feels essential for keeping your village healthy in the long-run, even if one of your party happens to be a healer. I feel like in general the AP does a good job of having meaningful interactions with NPCs, both from a story and gameplay side with the regular item rewards. I assume this'll only expand later when influence properly comes into play. If you don't like having to play a bunch of NPCs that'll persist throughout the AP, this might not be a game for you to DM. If you love getting to play a wide variety of personalities for whom you can develop proper relationships beyond quest givers or momentarily villagers-in-distress, I highly recommend.
Another aspect I hear from alot of earlier APs is that they weren't the best balanaced for low-level characters, with alot of the early foes too strong or deadly. My party hasn't experienced this- Outside of stupid or reckless decisions, they've been able to handle most of the enemies, even the phantoms which can be relatively tanky- And they're not super optimal team, with one of the players barely knowing their spells and the rest opting more for flavor choices than power gaming.
That's all I can really say at the moment until they delve deeper into things, but I haven't felt so excited to DM an AP since Hell's Rebels. Hopefully this helps those on the fence!