GoCorral

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 5: Tide of Honor

Tide of Honor is where the good stuff starts happening in Jade Regent. After many months of traveling the party has finally reached Minkai! They can say goodbye to the bad caravan system and start planning a revolution against the evil Jade Regent who has taken over the Empire. See? We finally discover why the adventure path is called Jade Regent!

Tide of Honor centers around the PCs connecting with existing rebel forces and building a coalition to take down the Jade Regent in the next conclusive module to the adventure path, The Empty Throne. The players must defeat some bandits to secure a base for the rebellion. They have to gain the assistance of the ninja clans by defeating the most powerful ninja assassin in Minkai. The geisha of Minkai have connections across the country to the noble and merchant classes, so the players must win their aid as well. Northern Minkai is under the rule of an evil daimyo who must be dethroned so that his good younger brother can step in to assist the true heir to the imperial throne. Finally, after doing all this, the players must defend against an oni attack on their previously bandit occupied stronghold.

I feel like this adventure actually holds together really well with a few limited exceptions. The bandit base clear out is a trivial challenge for a group of 12th level adventurers. The rebels that want the base are the interesting part though, an honorable ronin who is allied to only the true emperor, not the Jade Regent, and a soothsaying, gambling addict, archer. These two are the main NPC guides for Tide of Honor and they are put together well with lots of notes for how they react at various parts of the adventure.

The ninja assassination is the most parasitic part of Tide of Honor. The powerful assassin is intended to strike the players while they follow the other parts of the adventure path. Thus he doesn’t really have a section of his own. There are lots of example disguises given for how the ninja gets close to the party though. It becomes a single encounter that could last days as the ninja plays cat and mouse with the players while they travel between the other leads. Not mechanically complex, but narratively so.

Winning the aid of the geisha is the most “out-there” quest. There is one up-and-coming geisha that has been kidnapped. If she is rescued then all the geisha of Minkai will assist the players with anything they need. The circumstances of her kidnapping are a bit ridiculous to justify her captors being a challenge for 12th level PCs, but that’s what D&D is about isn’t it?

The evil daimyo is a simple challenge on the face of it. The complexity of this encounter isn’t the combat, but the interplay between the evil older brother and his good younger brother. The good younger brother must also act honorably, which means he cannot participate in an assassination attempt on a relative. But he has to participate to make this same assassination attempt possible. Honor demands he take control of his clan from his evil brother, but honor also commands that he obey his elder. I think playing into that dynamic really strengthens the adventure’s eventual outcome. If you capture the older brother instead of killing him there are some fascinating notes for the GM on how that scene plays out.

The final bit of the adventure is the oni attack. The attack is less of a real challenge as the party has now gained so many allies. Instead it signals the start of the war. The oni are saying, “We know who you are. We know where you are. It’s time to fight.”

I liked Tide of Honor. Like I said, it felt like we had finally arrived at the Japanese inspired adventure I’d been promised by the adventure path. Ronin, ninjas, geisha, daimyos, and oni all wrapped together in a satisfying package. Great stuff! I’d be tempted to just start the adventure path on Tide of Honor and skip the previous four. The poorly written caravan stuff is dropped at this adventure as well, so you can skip all those bad mechanics at the same time. Two birds with one stone!