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Raiders of the Serpent Sea - Third Party 5E Review
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<blockquote data-quote="Sparky McDibben" data-source="post: 9209056" data-attributes="member: 7041430"><p>True, but to be fair, that's a gender-neutral exchange. The whole thing happens if you have male Hawke under the same circumstances. </p><p></p><p></p><p>Agreed!</p><p></p><p></p><p>Hey Sword, it sounds like you're OK with patching some of the problems I've identified. That doesn't make them not problems, and that doesn't mean I shouldn't point them out. It just means you're OK with doing extra work after you paid money for a product you can play. I think that we've hit the point where we should probably just agree to disagree. If you'd like to do your own review of the product, I wish you well! For the purposes of this review, though, I'll be proceeding without addressing additional critiques.</p><p></p><p>Alright, now on to Chapter 11: The Lost Lands. This is, at its core, a pointcrawl that educates the PCs on the stakes of resisting the Yoten invasion. See, Boda isn't killing off worlds because she's a fan. No, she's killing off worlds to feed Muspell, a plane-devouring entity. It's destroyed the Lost Lands, filling the seas with lava and killing off almost everyone except a hardcore band of resistance fighters.</p><p></p><p style="text-align: center"><img src="https://y.yarn.co/2fcdff5a-3fba-4ac8-b310-28b3412a02df_text.gif" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p> <p style="text-align: center"><em><span style="font-size: 10px">Nope, not that Resistance.</span></em></p> <p style="text-align: center"></p> <p style="text-align: center"><img src="https://media.tenor.com/E-976rGqaRwAAAAM/terminator-resistance.gif" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p> <p style="text-align: center"><em><span style="font-size: 10px">Still wrong.</span></em></p> <p style="text-align: center"></p> <p style="text-align: center"><img src="https://media.tenor.com/vO8zq_233L4AAAAM/well-stand-with-you-fight.gif" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p> <p style="text-align: center"><em><span style="font-size: 10px">Yeah, that's about right.</span></em></p><p></p><p>These guys are basically useless unless you're looking for backup characters or have a desire to play an edgelord. From there, the PCs sail the lava seas on their magical ship, exploring their progenitor's homeland. They discover the home of the Stone Court (and Thonir), a destroyed magical academy, and a wrecked magical city.</p><p></p><p>So, the point the authors are building up is that, "Unless you stop Boda, this is what is in store for Grimnir." It's effectively done, and well-executed, and also communicates that there is nowhere else to go. Unless Muspell is destroyed, the PCs (and the whole world of Grimnir) are boned. Finally, it also sets up (if the PCs go to the right place) the personalities and deeds of the Stone Court and why they are a Big Deal. This has been happening at various points throughout the campaign, but it's usually optional or easily missed, and I've kind of glossed over them. Here, though, it's practically mandatory.</p><p></p><p>Moreover, the PCs can see that there are armies of lava giants entering Grimnir through three maws. These maws conveniently lead back to Grimnir, which is handy because apparently Muspell shuts down all forms of interplanar travel. The number of the maws the PCs can close (either by talking or fighting) reduces the number of giants the PCs have to face at Ragnarok. Unfortunately, at least one has to stay open or the PCs can't get back home.</p><p></p><p>There are still some instances of railroading (the evil lava giant queen Glaur "always escapes," etc.) so they still lose points for that.</p><p></p><p>Otherwise, this section does its job nicely. 6 / 10.</p><p></p><p>The next chapter, friends, is the Final Chapter: Ragnarok!</p><p></p><p>Alright, y'all, here's where the chickens come home to roost! It's the Big Show, the Grand Finale, the Showdown to Throwdown!</p><p></p><p>This chapter is basically a series of engagements the PCs can pick and choose. There's a lot of contingent weirdness that goes on, and the word "if" comes up so much:</p><p></p><p>"If the PCs convinced the frost giants to remain neutral..."</p><p></p><p>"If the PCs rescued Luta from Valhalla..."</p><p></p><p style="text-align: center"><img src="https://y.yarn.co/64eeada0-f2eb-4649-82e0-83851b885b0b_text.gif" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p><p></p><p>Hope you took good notes, hoss. Though on that note, the text does provide various trackers and other play aids to make keeping track of this information easier. So props to them on that.</p><p></p><p>Look, obviously I prefer a more organic approach, but for DMs who aren't comfortable with that, this works. It's a stylistic difference, with minimal railroading of the PCs. There are a lot of consequences that show up, which I applaud the devs for. Most importantly of all, it lays out what happens if the PCs fail!</p><p></p><p>That's important, considering the final boss has half a page of legendary actions.</p><p></p><p>Basically, Grimnir winds up very similar to the Lost Lands, with lava seas and whatnot. But now the PCs are the next generation, determined to finish what the last bunch started.</p><p></p><p>But hey, if they win, the PCs get to become basically gods, presumably with a doormat that says, "Roll for Initiative" and matching T-shirts that say, "We Run This Place Now."</p><p></p><p>(I'm being literal about the gods bit, though - you can be gifted one of four "divine sparks" - which begs the question: What happens if you have more than 4 PCs?)</p><p></p><p>There are a few things I don't like - Boda at the end has a Crystal Shell around her that gives her 1,000 (yes, you read that right) additional hp, and makes her "immune to bludgeoning, slashing, or piercing damage from non-magical weapons." She also has "resistance to all damage, except lightning. While in the shell Boða is immune to all conditions that would prevent her from taking actions. Even if the shell is destroyed, Boða will continue to perform the ritual until her Point of No Return saga action is triggered."</p><p></p><p>That...just seems dickish? Like, damn, devs, let the PCs try something crazy. Not everything needs to be resolved like a JRPG boss. On the other hand, it's not actively railroading the PCs. So I'm not docking them points on this.</p><p></p><p>So, yeah, not a bad ending. Not great, mind you, but not bad. 7 / 10.</p><p></p><p>Overall grade: 5 / 10</p><p></p><p>Who should buy it: Anyone who has a deep love of Norse-themed action/adventure stories (not the actual myths), or people who love them some BioWare-style design.</p><p></p><p>Who should wait for the price to come down: N / A.</p><p></p><p>Who shouldn't buy it: Anyone not interested in running this very specific iteration of a Norse-themed world. This adventure is deeply idiosyncratic, so if you're expecting it to be "historically grounded" please think again.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Sparky McDibben, post: 9209056, member: 7041430"] True, but to be fair, that's a gender-neutral exchange. The whole thing happens if you have male Hawke under the same circumstances. Agreed! Hey Sword, it sounds like you're OK with patching some of the problems I've identified. That doesn't make them not problems, and that doesn't mean I shouldn't point them out. It just means you're OK with doing extra work after you paid money for a product you can play. I think that we've hit the point where we should probably just agree to disagree. If you'd like to do your own review of the product, I wish you well! For the purposes of this review, though, I'll be proceeding without addressing additional critiques. Alright, now on to Chapter 11: The Lost Lands. This is, at its core, a pointcrawl that educates the PCs on the stakes of resisting the Yoten invasion. See, Boda isn't killing off worlds because she's a fan. No, she's killing off worlds to feed Muspell, a plane-devouring entity. It's destroyed the Lost Lands, filling the seas with lava and killing off almost everyone except a hardcore band of resistance fighters. [CENTER][IMG]https://y.yarn.co/2fcdff5a-3fba-4ac8-b310-28b3412a02df_text.gif[/IMG] [I][SIZE=2]Nope, not that Resistance.[/SIZE][/I] [IMG]https://media.tenor.com/E-976rGqaRwAAAAM/terminator-resistance.gif[/IMG] [I][SIZE=2]Still wrong.[/SIZE][/I] [IMG]https://media.tenor.com/vO8zq_233L4AAAAM/well-stand-with-you-fight.gif[/IMG] [I][SIZE=2]Yeah, that's about right.[/SIZE][/I][/CENTER] These guys are basically useless unless you're looking for backup characters or have a desire to play an edgelord. From there, the PCs sail the lava seas on their magical ship, exploring their progenitor's homeland. They discover the home of the Stone Court (and Thonir), a destroyed magical academy, and a wrecked magical city. So, the point the authors are building up is that, "Unless you stop Boda, this is what is in store for Grimnir." It's effectively done, and well-executed, and also communicates that there is nowhere else to go. Unless Muspell is destroyed, the PCs (and the whole world of Grimnir) are boned. Finally, it also sets up (if the PCs go to the right place) the personalities and deeds of the Stone Court and why they are a Big Deal. This has been happening at various points throughout the campaign, but it's usually optional or easily missed, and I've kind of glossed over them. Here, though, it's practically mandatory. Moreover, the PCs can see that there are armies of lava giants entering Grimnir through three maws. These maws conveniently lead back to Grimnir, which is handy because apparently Muspell shuts down all forms of interplanar travel. The number of the maws the PCs can close (either by talking or fighting) reduces the number of giants the PCs have to face at Ragnarok. Unfortunately, at least one has to stay open or the PCs can't get back home. There are still some instances of railroading (the evil lava giant queen Glaur "always escapes," etc.) so they still lose points for that. Otherwise, this section does its job nicely. 6 / 10. The next chapter, friends, is the Final Chapter: Ragnarok! Alright, y'all, here's where the chickens come home to roost! It's the Big Show, the Grand Finale, the Showdown to Throwdown! This chapter is basically a series of engagements the PCs can pick and choose. There's a lot of contingent weirdness that goes on, and the word "if" comes up so much: "If the PCs convinced the frost giants to remain neutral..." "If the PCs rescued Luta from Valhalla..." [CENTER][IMG]https://y.yarn.co/64eeada0-f2eb-4649-82e0-83851b885b0b_text.gif[/IMG][/CENTER] Hope you took good notes, hoss. Though on that note, the text does provide various trackers and other play aids to make keeping track of this information easier. So props to them on that. Look, obviously I prefer a more organic approach, but for DMs who aren't comfortable with that, this works. It's a stylistic difference, with minimal railroading of the PCs. There are a lot of consequences that show up, which I applaud the devs for. Most importantly of all, it lays out what happens if the PCs fail! That's important, considering the final boss has half a page of legendary actions. Basically, Grimnir winds up very similar to the Lost Lands, with lava seas and whatnot. But now the PCs are the next generation, determined to finish what the last bunch started. But hey, if they win, the PCs get to become basically gods, presumably with a doormat that says, "Roll for Initiative" and matching T-shirts that say, "We Run This Place Now." (I'm being literal about the gods bit, though - you can be gifted one of four "divine sparks" - which begs the question: What happens if you have more than 4 PCs?) There are a few things I don't like - Boda at the end has a Crystal Shell around her that gives her 1,000 (yes, you read that right) additional hp, and makes her "immune to bludgeoning, slashing, or piercing damage from non-magical weapons." She also has "resistance to all damage, except lightning. While in the shell Boða is immune to all conditions that would prevent her from taking actions. Even if the shell is destroyed, Boða will continue to perform the ritual until her Point of No Return saga action is triggered." That...just seems dickish? Like, damn, devs, let the PCs try something crazy. Not everything needs to be resolved like a JRPG boss. On the other hand, it's not actively railroading the PCs. So I'm not docking them points on this. So, yeah, not a bad ending. Not great, mind you, but not bad. 7 / 10. Overall grade: 5 / 10 Who should buy it: Anyone who has a deep love of Norse-themed action/adventure stories (not the actual myths), or people who love them some BioWare-style design. Who should wait for the price to come down: N / A. Who shouldn't buy it: Anyone not interested in running this very specific iteration of a Norse-themed world. This adventure is deeply idiosyncratic, so if you're expecting it to be "historically grounded" please think again. [/QUOTE]
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