# Pathfinder Review: Overview & Jade Regent Player's Guide



## Steel_Wind (Sep 26, 2011)

*PATHFINDER REVIEW: Overview & Jade Regent Adventure Path Player’s Guide
*
*Author’s Note:* As part of my continuing coverage of the Paizo/Pathfinder line of products, I will be covering each new release of _Pathfinder Adventure Path_ every month in this column as they are released.  Given that the _Player’s Guide_ to the _Jade Regent Adventure Path_ and the first volume of the _Jade Regent Adventure Path_ released at the beginning of August and the second volume of the _Jade Regent AP_ released earlier this month, I already have some serious catching up to do.  As such, this article provides an overview of the _Jade Regent Adventure Path_ and the _Jade Regent Player’s Guide. _Later this week, I will review_ Pathfinder #48, Jade Regent Vol. 1: The Brinewall Legacy,_ and _Pathfinder #49,_ _Jade Regent Vol. 2: Night of Frozen Shadows._ 

*Overview: The Jade Regent Adventure Path – Four Years + in the Making*

 Paizo Publishing LLC.’s Creative Director, James Jacobs is a fan of Eastern flavoured RPGs, anime and wuxia fiction.  His idea for an Eastern flavoured Adventure Path has been around since even before the days that Paizo transitioned from being a publisher of magazines to a company that publishes books and the _Pathfinder Adventure Path_.  Indeed, the seeds for the _Jade Regent Adventure Path_ were carefully planted within Paizo’s _Pathfinder Adventure Path_ #1 _Burnt Offerings _with the introduction of Ameiko Kaijitsu, an ally of the party and proprietor of the _Rusty Dragon _tavern in Sandpoint.  The very first edition of _Pathfinder Adventure Path_ explains how Ameiko’s family was exiled from Tian Xia and made their way north across the polar ice at the Crown of the World and down to Varisia, ultimately settling in Sandpoint.
 
The role that Ameiko’s family had in Tian Xia is not directly disclosed within _Burnt Offerings_ or the rest of the _Rise of the Runelords; _suffice to say that Ameiko’s role and destiny lies at the heart of the _Jade Regent Adventure Path_. 
 
Initially, _Jade Regent_ was pitched as the second Adventure Path – a sequel to _Rise of the Runelords_. 

“When Jacobs first pitched _Jade Regent_ to me, it was proposed as our second Adventure Path.  We had just started the world setting and I wasn’t sure that people were ready to jump into Asia-land at the time,” Erik Mona, publisher at Paizo Publishing LLC explains.  Realistically, Paizo had a number of things it needed to do and there were competing priorities within the various product lines.  Despite Jacobs’ best intentions, the delay in returning to Jade was pushed further back into Paizo’s release schedule as the years passed.  

 Jacobs explains that there was a real intention to publish _Jade Regent_ as the fourth Adventure Path, but by that time the development of the _Pathfinder RPG_ was in full swing and _Jade_ was put off again.  In June 2009, _Jade Regent_ was thought viable for release at Gencon 2010 and it was even announced at Paizocon that year.  Indeed, James Jacobs ran a party of players through part of an earlier draft of the main dungeon in _The Brinewall Legacy_ at Paizocon II in 2009.  However, it soon became clear that the rest of the support books necessary to do Tian Xia simply could not be made ready for August 2010. At Gencon in 2009, _Jade Regent_ was “unannounced” and quickly exchanged for _Serpent’s Skull._ Later, the schedule for _Jade_ flip-flopped again, and _Carrion Crown _edged ahead of it in the release cycle.

 Competing priorities were part of the explanation, but it was more complicated than that.  The main reason for delaying the release of _Jade Regent _ was tied into the release of _Pathfinder RPG_ and the rest of Golarion.  Erik Mona and James Jacobs both realized that in order to set a story in an Eastern themed fantasy setting would require additional both rules and supplement support to enable Paizo to tell the story it wanted to present in _Jade Regent_.  An Eastern flavoured AP would need rules for ninjas and samurai as well as more rules and feats for eastern-flavoured martial arts.  Weapons and combat should have rules for katanas, wakizashis, and a whole host of other eastern-styled weapons.  Add to this mix a need for Eastern themed monsters and the necessity of expanding Paizo’s world setting, Golarion, to include material for areas analogous to feudal China and Japan -- and the entire endeavour became far more intensive than any six-volume Adventure Path could ever hope to manage on its own.  

*Overview: A Convergence in all of Paizo’s Product Lines was Necessary*

 The entire undertaking required such a large amount of cross-product support from within Paizo that it required the substantial focus and efforts of all of the company’s product lines to converge in order to permit the _Jade Regent Adventure Path_ to be published.  Jacobs was candid “We usually have reserved the Adventure Path released at Gencon for traditional swords and sorcery stories and leave the more experimental stuff for February’s Adventure Path release.  With _Jade Regent_ and _Carrion Crown,_ they flip-flopped in order.  That’s mostly because of the requirements [for Jade Regent] that involves something requiring Tian Xia.  We can’t really do something like this without giving people rules for ninjas and samurai and stuff like that and expanding martial arts rules and all these other elements. So it just made sense to release something like that at Gencon when we could get a lot of these books out at the same time and get a lot of people excited about it.”

 Accordingly, this past Gencon saw the release of _Ultimate Combat_, with rules for the Ninja and Samurai classes, increased martial arts options for monks, and rules for Eastern themed weapons.  David Gross’ new novel, _Master of Devils_, which also focuses on a journey to Tian Xia, was released at Gencon 2011 as well.  This month saw the release of a new flip-mat, _Monastery_, an eastern themed Monastic site that would not look out of place as a set in a Shaolin monk film.     
Even still, all of the material for Tian Xia itself has yet to be released and will not be until later this year.  In November 2011, a campaign supplement intended for GMs, _Dragon Empire Gazetteer_ will ship, followed in December with the _Dragon Empires Primer_, a 32-page guide intended for player use.  Similarly, in early November, _Bestiary _3, which will also feature a number of Eastern themed monsters and NPC races, will be released.  For that matter, a campaign supplement detailing the _Lands of the Linnorm Kings_, useful for GMs running _Jade Regent Vol. 2: Night of Frozen Shadows_, releases next month.
 
As it turns out, the release of Tian Xia campaign setting material will be delivered just when it is needed for those running the _Jade Regent Adventure Path. _Despite the strong Eastern theme and the continent of Tian Xia as the PCs ultimate destination, _Jade Regent _begins in a swamp outside of a decidedly Western European inspired traditional fantasy town, Sandpoint.  

 “We wanted to do an adventure set in an analog to feudal Japan, but we also wanted to allow players who were a lot more comfortable playing traditional fighters and wizards to be able to just do that”, Mona explains.  Because some players aren’t ready to jump into “Asia-land” with both feet, the _Jade Regent Adventure Path_ is designed so that players and GMs don’t have to if they don’t want to. 

*Hai Toranaga-Sama, Hai!*

 The solution to this dilemma of “cultural preference” that Paizo seized upon was to tear a page out of one of the most successful novels and TV mini-series of all time, James Clavell’s _Shogun_.  Originally televised on NBC as a ten-hour miniseries in 1980, _Shogun_ introduced American television viewers to feudal Japan in an adaptation of Clavell’s epic novel to the small screen.  The central plot device used in _Shogun_ was to show feudal Japan ca. 1600 through the eyes of a Western visitor to Japan, John Blackthorne, (named _Anjin-san_ by his Japanese hosts).  Blackthorne, as a classic fish-out-of-water, permitted readers to be introduced to feudal Japan through the eyes of an English sailor.  Clavell’s tale therefore had a foot in Elizabethan England at the same time as it took place almost entirely within Japan during the Shogunate period.

 This same fish-out-of-water design of the _Jade Regent Adventure Path_ is very deliberate, channelling the same perspective of Golarion’s Minkai (Paizo’s analog to feudal Japan) as Clavell used in _Shogun.  _In the result, players can continue to play Western themed “Swords and Sorcery” character classes without having to go all-in on Eastern themed classes for their PCs.  This aspect of the _Jade Regent’s_ overall plot trajectory is, in my opinion, one of its greatest strengths and presents a perfect solution to the problem of those gamers who just can’t buy into playing an Eastern themed PC, while still permitting those players who do want to play an Eastern themed character to do so.

 Moreover, the arrival of the _Dragon Empires Gazetteer_ in November is well timed, as it will not be until Vol. 4 of the _Jade Regent Adventure Path_ is released that the PCs actually reach Golarion’s Far East.  For the first three volumes of the Adventure Path, the plot centres upon the discovery of Ameiko’s destiny, the travel of the PCs northwards, through the Land of the Linnorm Kings, across the polar Ice cap at the Crown of the World, and south again until the players reach the lands of Tian Xia.

*Jade Regent Player’s Guide: New Rules and Fresh Approaches*

 All _Pathfinder Adventure Paths_ published by Paizo have been accompanied by a free 16 page _Player’s Guide_.  In very broad terms, each _Player’s Guide_ usually sets out the parameters of the campaign for the player so that he or she can use that information when creating and planning their character. Races are discussed and appropriate race selections are suggested. In terms of classes, a _Player’s Guide_ provides advice to players in terms of what skills and archetypes might be especially appropriate for each class during the course of the campaign. If a class may be inappropriate, the player is warned up front of that fact.

 In addition, the _Player’s Guides_ provide new Campaign traits which the player can select for his or her PC that are specially designed for that Adventure Path.  While such traits confer an in-game mechanical benefit, the traits are typically described in a manner which fosters a connection with important key NPCs or other organizations present within the Adventure Path so as to provide a story basis for the character’s involvement in the coming campaign.

 In the case of the _Jade Regent Adventure Path_, the information typically presented to players in such guides for their classes is included along with the caution that the player should not expect to be staying in Sandpoint. Additional hints in the free _Player’s Guide_ make it clear that extensive cold-weather overland travel will be required in the campaign via caravan.

 In other words, the player is told from the outset that they’ll be traveling to Tian Xia and the Minkai Empire over the Crown of the World – but why is not explained to the player in the _Player’s Guide._

 In terms of classes, the _Player’s Guide_ suggests that only one class may be inappropriate: the Gunslinger.  The _Player’s Guide_ explains that there will not be any treasure in _Jade Regent_ that is appropriate for this class (there are no guns or bullets as treasure in the AP by default); consequently, players should discuss the selection of this class with their GM first.

 In terms of campaign traits, players of Paizo’s Adventure Paths will find this _Player’s Guide_ to be somewhat unusual.  The _Jade Regent Player’s Guide_ presents four NPCs to the players in great detail, explaining that these four NPCs will be travelling with the party at some point – while leaving the question as to why an open question. The Campaign traits presented in the _Player’s Guide_ are similarly focused on tying the player characters to one of the four NPCs in some manner. 

 While forging a pre-existing relationship with a particular NPC has long been a typical option in most of the _Player’s Guides_ for the nine Adventure Paths published to date, it is highly unusual for a _Player’s Guide_ to present four NPCs as permanent travelling companions on the players’ campaign long quest.

 The last two sections of the _Player’s Guide_ present two entirely new rule systems for use during the campaign. Indeed, the rules for caravans are quite extensive at twelve pages.  The caravan rules increase the _Player’s Guide_ to the _Jade Regent Adventure Path_ to 28 pages – unprecedented in a Paizo Adventure Path. 

*New Rules: Caravans*

 Apart from the obvious change in where the _Jade Regent Adventure Path_ takes place, “experimental” Adventure Paths that Paizo publish also aim to create new campaign rules and resource management challenges for the PCs. In the immensely successful _Kingmaker Adventure Path_, Paizo introduced players to a sandbox style campaign of “hexploration,” where they would build and manage their own kingdom and fight a war against a neighbouring kingdom.  In _Kingmaker_, the mini-game was all about “kingdom management”.

_Jade Regent_ is a far more story based Adventure Path than _Kingmaker_ and the focus of the tale is not on sandbox style play.  Instead, _Jade Regent’s_ new resource management mini-game focuses upon the caravan that the players will ultimately take northward across the polar cap and down the other side of the globe to reach the Far East.    

 The caravan rules treat the caravan as essentially a character in its own right.  Part ship and part home-base, the caravan levels up along with the player characters.  It gets its own record sheet and stat block and the players can choose new caravan feats for the caravan each time the party levels up. A caravan can also be upgraded along the way by spending money and devoting other resources towards it.

 Like many aspects of the _Kingmaker_ kingdom management rules, there are aspects of the caravan resource managements rules which don’t make complete arithmetical sense and would have benefitted from the sort of play-testing that the limited development time of an Adventure Path does not permit.  For example, it becomes quickly clear that the money a caravan can earn does not make it a very profitable enterprise.  Jacobs readily admits this and has suggested that adding a Trader or Merchant feat to the caravan feat list to allow it to double and triple its income would not be out of place for GMs and players for whom this is an issue. 

I suppose the fact that the caravan, by default, is not a new source of immense wealth is not necessarily A Bad Thing.  Any new campaign mini-game of resource management that potentially adds vast new monetary wealth to the PCs can permit more magic item purchases (or more typically, magic item crafting). Backed by sufficient gold reserves, either approach to magic item acquisition can quickly spiral out of control if a GM is not careful.  Accordingly, while it may be that barely tenable caravans do not make great economic sense as presented in the _Player’s Guide_ – their poor investment potential is highly convenient for preserving game balance.

 Moreover, the caravans presented in _Jade Regent_ are not of the same sort that Marco Polo would have taken along the Silk Road for profit.  Instead, the PCs caravan looks a lot more like a caravan of the Roma or other Travelling People of Europe.  This is particularly appropriate, as the Varisian people, the principal settlers in the land where _Jade Regent_ begins, are a cultural analog in Golarion to the Roma.  “These are VARISIAN caravans, for the most part, and that means that they're essentially mobile home bases first and everything else second.  They're not designed to be profitable trade ventures as much as they are tiny little mobile villages,” Jacobs explains.

 For those who are interested in experimenting with the caravan rules without running the _Jade Regent Adventure Path_ itself, you may also choose to seek out modifications and expansions to those rules from third party publishers that have already begun to crop up.

*New Rules: Romance and Relationships*

 As mentioned earlier, the _Jade Regent Adventure Path_ introduces a new campaign spanning addition to Paizo’s Adventure Path line: core NPCs.  While important NPCs have always been present in every Adventure Path, this is the first one that I can recall which presents a core group of four NPCs in the first instalment that are intended to accompany the PCs throughout their journeys of the course of the entire six-volume campaign.  Generally speaking, these four NPCs, Ameiko, Shalelu, Koya and Sandru will spend their time as part of the caravan leading and managing that “home base” as the players depart from the caravan to investigate the adventure sites and pursue plot hooks that present themselves along the way.  Ameiko excepted, for the most part, the NPCs are presented without a preset role other than to be companions on the journey, as Paizo is sensitive to the preferences that individual GMs may have concerning such campaign spanning “GM Characters.”  While the NPCs are initially higher in level than the PCs are, this disparity should soon right itself by the start of the second instalment of _Jade Regent_, and the gap will increase in favour of the PCs as the campaign then unspools. 


 The interesting element that the core recurring NPCs present is instead shifted from being assistant in combat to being objects of affection or, perhaps, competition.  The _Player’s Guide_ presents a new sub-system of “romance” where the PCs can accumulate points during the course of successive adventures to increase their chance to enter into a successful romance with one of the NPCs.

 Clearly, the presence of “romance points” governing some interaction with NPCs was inspired from computer games, especially those produced by BioWare since the days of _Baldur’s Gate_.  For the most part, the entire “Romance Rules” sub-system is presented to the PCs in the _Player’s Guide_, except for the key numerical romance scores and some other situational bonuses that occur along the way, which are known only to the GM and are reserved for the Adventure Path’s six volumes. 

 Like all aspects of interaction with NPCs, I think anything that encourages role-playing in a campaign spanning adventure path is A Good Thing.  A particular “score” does not mandate sexual success; indeed one might be able to “score” before a devoted pair-bond occurs according to the Romance Rules.  Sex is not necessarily love.  For that matter, the possibility of same-sex relationships is not mentioned either and is left entirely within the purview of the individual players and GMs to pursue or ignore, as each group may prefer.  

I’m happy with a subsystem which leaves the “when and where” of such matters up to the GM and the players as it is inappropriate to treat all groups alike or make other assumptions concerning these matters.  Players’ comfort levels with this sort of “mini-game” will obviously vary widely.  

Notably, reaction by players to the Romance Rules sub-system has been almost entirely positive so far.  As a result, I expect that Paizo will continue to add these sorts of aspects to relationships with important NPCs in future Adventure Paths.

 The review of the _Jade Regent Adventure Path_ continues on Wednesday, September 28, 2011 with the review of _Pathfinder #48, Jade Regent Vol 1: The Brinewall Legacy._


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## Mark CMG (Sep 27, 2011)

That Caravan Map Pack (and the one for Campsites) are two of my favorites.


Another great job, Steel_Wind!


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## lmpjr007 (Sep 27, 2011)

We at LPJ Design have build an add-on rules PDF for the Jade Regent caravan rules called *Trade Routes: Expanded Caravan Rules Sourcebook*.


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## Xphile (Sep 28, 2011)

Great job.  Even though I play 4e and Savage World's, the adventure and the side rules seem interesting enough that I might pick this up and just use it in a different system.


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## Alphastream (Oct 3, 2011)

Really nice review. I've really enjoyed Paizo's setting material. The caravan idea is fantastic!

In looking at the free player's guide offering for this, however, I felt like it was pretty thin on Asian feel. The cultural aspects seemed like a thin backdrop rather than something tangible or in which the players (even as gaijin) would immerse themselves. It felt more Forgotten Realms Shou town than Kara-Tur. Having played a lot of Legend of the Five Rings this was a let-down. The art didn't help. While I like the art, it looks less Asian than half-Asian or Asian-touched, if that makes sense.

Did you have this feeling at all? Is the Adventure Path more heavy on culture than the free offering?


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