I continue to preface this review by stating that I have only read the Jade Regent adventure path as research for my China RPG endeavor. I have NOT played through the adventure path as a DM or as a player. If you’re interested in playing Jade Regent yourself, I will probably be giving some spoilers for the modules but nothing extreme. I’d say its fine to read this and still play through the adventures.
Part 2: Night of Frozen Shadows
Night of Frozen Shadows details the party’s plans for getting to Tian Xia before the trip actually begins. Jade Regent has the party traveling in a caravan owned by one of their NPC friends. The caravan provides a disguise for the party so that they can sneak into Minkai without raising the suspicions of the evil oni that have taken over the Empire. These oni would kill Ameiko if they got the chance. The land route for trade from fantasy Europe to fantasy Japan leads through fantasy Scandanavia, over the arctic circle, through fantasy Mongolia, and finally into fantasy Japan. Traveling over the arctic circle is obviously difficult so the caravan needs to supply, gear up, and find a guide.
Finding a guide for the arctic circle is the most difficult part. To prevent the return of the rightful heir to Minkai, the oni have bribed all the guides to only work for those they approve. The one guide who refused was kidnapped by the oni. So the PCs must figure out who this guide is and rescue him from the vikings, ninja, and oni that are holding him captive.
The adventure seems to be set up as a mystery that the players are trying to solve while the evil oni and their minions get closer to discovering who Ameiko is and attempting to assassinate her. The players are meant to get an impression that there are lots of options open to them and they can go in any direction to find leads to the oni’s secret fortress. Unfortunately, that’s just a facsimile of what’s happening behind the screen. In fact the adventure is extremely linear and has a lot of supposedly time-sensitive components that are stretched to make sense. For example, the players are meant to raid the vikings’ home where the vikings are having a drinking party before a funeral the next day. If the players don’t go to the funeral the next day, bad weather delays the viking funeral until the players finally do decide to go to the funeral. What clues do they discover at the funeral? Nothing, its a forced red herring filler until the one NPC who knows where the guide is tells the PCs.
Night of Frozen Shadows is also the first adventure where the caravan plays a major role. The caravan is an interesting system within the game, but ultimately a bad one. There are extensive rules for equipping it, upgrading it, and staffing it. All of that entails a ton of bookkeeping. If none of your players enjoy that bookkeeping, then its just a chore. The rules for trade are absolutely terrible. It’s difficult for caravans to turn a profit, even if they aren’t attacked. With all the monsters and bandits that exist within D&D, it must be impossible for trade to exist in any appreciable fashion if Jade Regent is any indication of the larger world. Finally, caravan combat and skill challenges remove player agency. As written, the players are unable to meaningfully participate in either conflict. The PCs provide small bonuses to what the caravan is doing as a whole, but on d20 rolls, small bonuses usually don’t feel consequential. The result is a sloppy system that many people who run the Jade Regent adventure path have chosen to ignore or heavily modify.
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