D&D 5E Grande Temple of Jing - anyone have opinions on it?

[Eyes of Nine]

I saw that Grande Temple of Jing is going to be delivered via retail channel (ie, FLGS's).

Considering buying. I am just such a huge sucker for megadungeons. Also, I have ordered many many years ago (2001?) some custom gaming tokens from Hammerdog games.
Wonder if anyone has thoughts? Ideally folks who actually purchased the product, either in its 5e or PF versions.

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Review of The Grande Temple Of Jing - RPGnet RPG Game Index

The Grande Temple of Jing V1 - For 5th Edition (and others)

The DUNGEONCRAWL THAT RULES THEM ALL - Now updated for 5th Edition. And with exclusive miniatures!

www.kickstarter.com

[edit to add content warning: that the RPGNet review has reference to a movie that in turn references slang for genitalia]

 

[Eyes of Nine]

I will probably buy the player guide and the GM and Player aids.

 

[Tyler Do'Urden]

[edit to add content warning: that the RPGNet review has reference to a movie that in turn references slang for genitalia]

Sorry man, I can't even see "Grand Temple of Jing" without seeing "精"... which means semen.

 

[Eyes of Nine]

Sorry man, I can't even see "Grand Temple of Jing" without seeing "精"... which means semen.

Oh crap, really? Wow. Ok. Sounds like either they got a cultural consultant, and ignored them (and which I doubt); or just used "Jing" without thought, which I guess could have been excusable in the early 10's; but now...?

That said, "Jing" in this module is the Trickster God, so a third possibility is that the name is 100% intentional and there is 100% understanding of its Chinese meaning.

 

[Tyler Do'Urden]

"jing" has a number of meanings in Chinese, including "capital" (as in "Beijing") - but as slang, "jing" alone... just means splooge.

 

[Urriak Uruk]

I looked at a copy of it... it is in that zone of definitely not as professional as an official WotC or Paizo, but also has some quality art, and tons of content.

It's 500 pages, so there should be something in there you like. Definitely a mega-dungeon, and has some additional strange mechanics like phasing blocks and things.

Anyway, if you like mega-dungeons and less-than-perfect editing/layout doesn't bother you, I would get it.

 

[Urriak Uruk]

If you have specific questions I'll try to answer them.

 

[Eyes of Nine]

If you have specific questions I'll try to answer them.

Tell me more about the less than perfect layout, because that does bother me.
Also, the RPGNet review said index is lacking, and in a 500 page book, I know that will bother me too.

 

[Urriak Uruk]

Tell me more about the less than perfect layout, because that does bother me.
Also, the RPGNet review said index is lacking, and in a 500 page book, I know that will bother me too.

So I have not read this back to front, so am not sure how whether this actually has impact (the book may make perfect sense if you read it from the beginning), but if I compare it to an official mega-dungeon like Dungeon of the Mad Mage, it is very hard to just jump in.

In Mad Mage, if you jump to a level, it starts with a very crisp map of the level, a short primer on the important elements of that floor, and then does it's room-by-room description.

Jing doesn't really do that; instead, it cuts the floor map into several pieces and puts the smaller maps of the room next to that room's description. I understand the intent here (so you don't flip back and forth from map to description) but it just makes you confused as how the rooms connect is not very clear. In addition, each floor's introduction assumes you read the beginning 40 pages of the book; I haven't done that, so I was left largely confused.

Overall, if you're looking for a mega-dungeon where you can pick out floors or rooms to use, this seems like a bad choice. If you plan to run groups through the whole thing (or at least a chunk of it for many weeks), then I would. It seems designed to be run through entirely, not picked apart.

 

[Voadam]

I had not seen this at all and it looks like the Pathfinder version has been out since 2016. Thanks for pointing it out.