NOW LIVE! Today's the day you meet your new best friend. You don’t have to leave Wolfy behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' your companions level up with you!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Libertad" data-source="post: 8285002" data-attributes="member: 6750502"><img src="https://i.imgur.com/eFQH3r4.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" /> Chapter X: Starter Adventure: The Island with No NameThis adventure is meant to introduce players to the Seas of Vodari, suitable for 4 1st level PCs. A classic treasure hunt with a dangerous island temple, the backstory is that fifty years ago a pirate captain known as Blackheart decided to hide his ill-gotten wealth on a deserted island. As said land was home to a set of ancient ruins in the middle of a jungle, it was deemed a suitable spot. Unfortunately the ruins were once a temple dedicated to Morto, god of necromancy and secrets. The deity’s dread influence wormed its way into Captain Blackheart’s mind which caused the crew to fall to betrayal and infighting. Voyce Fayette, the sole survivor, sailed away on a longboat, his former companions now animated skeletons forced to guard the island for eternity.Voyce Fayette comes into contact with the PCs via some other appropriate adventure hook (he’s part of the PC’s crew, the PCs find him in a tavern looking to put together a group, etc) and learn about the island’s location and its treasure via his map and journal. The only captain of note willing to sail to such a location is Magnolia “Mags” Montrésor, who accepts the job for either 500 GP* or a share of recovered treasure. She has a crew of nine who all have referenced stat blocks (Scout, Sailor, Pirate, etc), including an Awakened parrot by the name of Polly, and the captain herself is a CR 1 character with low-level Rogue abilities (Sneak Attack, Uncanny Dodge, Cunning Action). Unfortunately there are others who caught on to Fayette’s knowledge, a disreputable pirate-turned-local-gangster known as Theoban Taggart who sends a group of five thugs to ambush the PCs at the docks. Regardless of how the party handles the encounter (and may even learn about Taggart’s plans as a result) the wily scoundrel will show up later in the adventure.*It’s unlikely 1st level PCs have this kind of money.Once it comes time to leave port (and said port has a small selection of sample shops and NPCs with brief lines of personality for pre-adventure shopping), the party’s next major encounter is a violent storm at sea. It is resolved as a communal skill challenge where for two rounds every PC has to perform a DC 13 task, with the skill/tool/spell attack roll based on what they can justify in keeping the crew and ship safe. Failures cause 4d10 damage to the ship on average rather than the PCs and crew proper, and getting more failures than successes imposes a further 8d10 damage. As Mags’ ship (the Albatross) is a Sloop whose Hull has 250 hit points, it’s unlikely to be completely demolished, but even if it is, the PCs will arrive shipwrecked on the Island with No Name but in need of finding another way off once the adventure’s done.Mags’ crew will set up a camp on the beach while the PCs scout out the jungle, but not before a giant crab attacks; said monster will be trivial to handle, as while the PCs are fragile 1st levelers they have the action economy of allies on their side. The jungle itself has an automatic quicksand hazard and the possibility of a random encounter if the party is unable to make a DC 10 Survival check to avoid getting lost. Said encounters mostly consist of fractional CR animals, although a Carnivorous Plant is a potential option (12 on a d12) and is certainly going to kill at least one PC unless the party runs away.<img src="https://i.imgur.com/rla8UIt.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />The adventure at this point offers the opportunity for rest at a stream and that the PCs should have enough XP for 2nd level, or level them up automatically if using the milestone rules. The next bit of the adventure is a proper dungeon crawl in the Temple of Morto! After dealing with a patrol of pirate skeletons outside, the Temple proper is a 5-6 room dungeon. The entrance is trapped with poisoned spike darts and more pirate skeletons, while the doors further past the entrance are Arcane Locked. A key that can disable said locks is found in a room with a magical fountain that can compel the party to drink from it on a failed Wisdom saving throw. The water bestows a variety of conditions ranging from the positive (heal HP, gain advantage on the next attack/ability/save roll, etc) to the negative (take damage, have a swarm of insects fly out of your mouth, etc). The key to this room is found after at least half the party has drunk from the fountain and five minutes have passed; the first person to take a drink vomits up the key.This is bad design. There’s no other indication of obtaining the key, and a party may very well have made their saves or restrained their fellows to not drink the water. And given that 2nd-level PCs don’t really have adequate ways of getting past an Arcane Locked door made of stone, this can very well cause a <a href="https://gaming.stackexchange.com/questions/357095/what-exactly-is-a-softlock" target="_blank">softlock</a> without GM Fiat.One other room in the dungeon contains an animated bearskin rug with the stats of a Brown Bear, and the final room contains the skeleton of Captain Blackheart (Pirate Captain Skeleton stats) who fights the PCs after briefly telling them about the curse and treasure. The fight’s difficulty alternates based on how well the party is doing: Persuasion checks can be made to confuse Blackheart and force him to take the Dodge action instead of more offensive options for 1 round. If a party manages to deal 32 or more damage in a single round to him (half his HP) then 2 Pirate Skeletons join the battle.The treasure hoard consists of ~1,400 GP worth of coins and fancy objects: a pouch full of small gems indicates that they’re worth 50 GP each, but the exact number is not given. There’s also a spyglass and compass, 2 Potions of Healing, and a Ship in a Bottle. I like the magical item placement; they’re clearly meant to help a party who suffered a bad run earlier on. Not only can they heal themselves up, they also get either a new ship to escape or a cool magical back-up one to use in emergencies.Unfortunately Captain Blackheart’s a <a href="https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/LoadBearingBoss" target="_blank">load-bearing boss:</a> Morto’s displeased at the loss of his guardians and begins to collapse the temple, forcing a Dexterity save each minute as rocks fall from tremors. Beyond that, the adventure suggests the possibility of more pirate skeletons and/or Taggart’s crew waylaying the party as they get back to the beach depending on their overall strength and resources.The adventure ends with a set of open-ended suggestions: the PCs take to the seas to wherever the winds of Aerako blow them, mounting a rescue attempt of Mags’ crew taken hostage by Taggart, or even Mags betraying the party and teaming up with Taggart to take the treasure for themselves!Our book ends with two Appendices, the first organizing the new monsters and NPCs by type, challenge rating, and location, while the second is a list of common nautical terms.Thoughts So Far: The adventure hits many thematic notes for Seas of Vodari by mixing them up with typical D&D tropes. The pre-jungle parts of the adventure are ‘low-lethality’ while still having some stakes: Taggart’s thugs on the docks won’t kill the PCs but squeeze information out of them on a loss, while the storm at sea robs the PCs of a ship rather than a TPK if there are too many bad die rolls. Things don’t get real dangerous until the jungle trek and temple, which is good for first-time players getting a feel for the system.Concluding Thoughts: I feel conflicted-to-positive on Seas of Vodari, and it is a stellar book for a company’s first big project. A lot of the material can be adapted towards other campaigns of a nautical nature, and much of its mechanical options do a great job in supporting character concepts and adventures centering around a traveling ship’s crew. The art style is an acquired taste but it makes the book stand out more, the sample setting has plenty of adventure opportunities, and I’m pleasantly surprised at seeing Renaissance firearm rules that I’d actually want to use in D&D.That being said, there are many smaller concerns I have with the book. While individually none of them are enough to make the product a nonsell, they add up to the point that gaming groups would need to change and/or add things to make certain aspects workable. Most notably the lack of a dedicated naval combat system and the varying degree of quality in the new PC options, as well as some half-measures which make things feel incomplete. The threadbare rules on dueling and handling ship combat vs sea monsters as particular standouts. At 270 pages I by no means feel cheated, as the book has a little bit of everything, but I still would have liked more in certain areas.As usual I thank everyone who read this far. I am currently debating whether to review Sprawlrunners, a Shadowrun with the serial numbers filed off for Savage Worlds, or Koryo Hall of Adventures, a 5e/PF/OSR setting based on Korean fantasy and history.</blockquote>

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