GoCorral

I’ll preface this review by stating that I have only read the Ruby Phoenix adventure path as research for my China RPG endeavor. I have NOT played through the campaign as a DM or as a player. If you’re interested in playing Ruby Phoenix yourself, I will be giving some spoilers for the campaign. The more notable spoilers are hidden, so if you’d like to stay spoiler-free, avoid those sections.

Part 2: Ready? Fight!

I love the title for this adventure. Classic reference to Mortal Kombat and other fighting games. Every bout opens with the big bass voice of the announcer, “Round 1, Fight!” Or Round 2 or Final Round depending on which bout it was in the match. The Ready? Fight! adventure is also split into three parts. First, the PCs must secure a sponsor for their team in the Ruby Phoenix Tournament. Second, the eight team tournament and all the exhibition matches they have to take part in. Third, a bit of a surprise that leads into the final adventure in the adventure path.

The sponsorship section has a lot of fun dynamics to it. The challenge isn’t the typical “kill all the monsters” thing of fantasy RPGs, but is instead a sort of political play between five different sponsors and a competition with the four other teams that don’t have sponsors yet. There’s lots of interesting encounters that combine into a protracted skill challenge to gain the best sponsor before the end of the week. It’s a nice change of pace from the action packed days in the jungle on Danger Island. I do feel like this section is a bit out of place in the plot though. Wouldn’t the PCs have secured a sponsorship before entering the tournament, not after they get to the quarterfinals?

The tournament is a return to the iconic combats of the Ruby Phoenix adventure path. There’s a fair amount of vanilla fights in a featureless rectangle where the foes are the main wrinkle. There’s also plenty of exotic setups that mess with the traditional thinking of how combat works. Of particular note was a Donkey Kong-like cylindrical tower with ramps, ladders, and traps. Two teams fight on the outside of the tower and most avoid getting knocked off by the other team. The tournament is double elimination with a loser’s bracket, so even if the PCs lose a fight they can remain in the mix. If all goes well, they make it to the final round and secure victory for themselves! And you could end the campaign there if you wanted to…

There’s an additional event at the end of Ready? Fight! that I feel is a significant spoiler. Read on if you’re okay with that!