Kingbeast's Lair

Date At Start Of Game: 2/8/207

[Author’s Note: This is the log for the 30th session. Note that the order of the events in this record may not be in the exact order that they occurred during play.]

Vesh’s Last Mission

The adventure opens on the night of the Dragon Festival. Vesh has setup a mission and has asked Bilby to accompany him. The PC have also learned that Yotsu has hired Vesh to look for weaknesses in the palace defenses. When Bilby meets with the Rat Kin assassin Po is watching from a nearby building and Cillian is listening from under the street. Cillian hears Vesh tell Bilby that their target is the palace. Bilby follows Vesh to the palace walls as the rest of the PC wait in the palace.

Vesh leads Bilby to the palace walls then waits. A merchant with pans moves along the street getting his wheel caught in a rut. In the commotion it allows him to shoot a magical grappel across the gap and scale the walls. At this point Vesh and Bilby sneak into the palace and move up to the 5th floor. To reach an external window Vesh distracts a guard, touches some moonlight that is escaping from the window, then teleports outside! Once outside Vesh motions for Bilby to follow. Bilby sneaks out of a different window to join him.

The pair then reaches a balcony to a sitting room. Vesh says that he can see a trap on the door and asks Bilby for help. Bilby had scouted out the doors in the past and suggest cutting loose one of the window panes. Vesh uses his claws to cut the glass. Just before entering the room Vesh pauses. He tells Bilby that something is wrong. Bilby convinces him to wait for a bit then the other PC have Yotsu enter the room. Once Yotsu enters the room Vesh enters with a flourish. The two talk about the mission and Yotsu pays Vesh. At that point Yotsu asks Vesh about spying for him. Vesh agrees. As Vesh is ready to leave the rest of the PC enter the room. Sensing danger Vesh turns to flee out the balcony. From the shadows Bilby deftly grabs Vesh crushing him under his mighty arms! Vesh tells Bilby that the assassination they worked on has made him “soft”. With that Oren also grabs Vesh then Po drains away his luck. The PC then tie Vesh to a chair while Po drains him.

At this point the PC speak with Vesh. Oren takes the lead telling Vesh that he better give them some good information of he will be killed. Vesh says he knows a lot about their enemies and can relay that information to them. Oren thinks this is not enough and suggests executing him. After some conversation amoung themselves the PC decide that they must tell Empress Nokidara. First Cillin speaks with the Empress. He tells her that Vesh killed her husband and son. Cillian also explains that Vesh may also know about why he was spared. The Empress says that the reason for his being saved is not as important as killing the man who assassinated her husband and son. They are together now. When Cillian offers to “handle the situation” the Empress gets a bit nervous and asks to speak with Oren. The trio then decide that Vesh should be executed immediately.

The PC then retrieve Captain Ibara and deliver Vesh for execution. After Cillian rubs it in a bit with Capatain Ibara the PC make the delivery. The PC then escort Vesh to the chopping block. A few minutes later Vesh is beheaded. The PC ponder the meaning of the execution in their own way.

The Entry Chambers

At this point the PC prepare for their trip to the Racers Edge Mountains and the Vault Of The Dragon Kings. First they gather information from Meiji who is the only one who knows about the Vault and Dragons. He explains that many years ago the Dragon Kin were beset by a terrible “plague”. Leaders of each Dragon clan (i.e. fire, water, earth, air) became “kings”. As Dragons began to fall they decided to create the Vault as a way to preserve their race. Meiji believes that Cragspine may be a defender of the Vault but he is not sure. Meiji then gives a rough map of where he believes the entrance is to the PC. After gathering their gear the PC head to the Vault Of The Dragon Kings.

The Racers Edge range is treacherous but the PC manage to make it into the area. Once in the locale mentioned on the map Cillian spots a huge cavern at the top of a large sheet of ice. Sticking out of the cavern mouth is a massive stone Dragon sculpture. Cillian climbs up using the magical grappling hook then turns to raise up Bilby. As Bilby closes the head turn and breathes fire! Bilby jumps off the rope and avoids the attack. Once Bilby is away from the status it stops moving. With some careful digging by Oren the PC skirt the statue and move to a set of doors behind the statue.

The massive doorway has four levers with verbiage in Dragon Kin. After discussing the verbiage the PC pull some levers to see what happens. By carefully watching how the levers respond they solve the puzzle and the doors open.

The next room is a massive foyer. It is flanked by a stone guardhouse and watchtower. When Cillian enters the room he spots skeletal archers in the watchtower who are preparing to fire! He quickly dashes into the room dodging shots! The rest of the PC quickly follow. As they get to the base of the watchtower another door opens and a mummy that looks kind of like a Velociraptor Kin emerges with two clubs! As he nears Po cuts loose with his new Dead Can Dance spell. At first the mummy starts to dance but he quickly escapes. Using the skeleton finger necklace and massive force of will Po cuts loose again. This time the power of the spell is too much for the mummy and he starts to dance again…this time he is right in front of the other PC. Oren pounds on him. Cillian jumps over and using his fire hand sets the mummy into a pyre of flame! When the mummy falls the PC examine their situation to decide how to proceed…

Date At End Of Game: 2/18/207

While cleaning up some binders and such at home I unearthed some CD-ROMs that contain backups of the Checkered Demon BBS! By doing some poking around I was also able to construct a file list and recover many of the files that were posted as downloads in the RPG section. If you go to the Other downloads page on my site you can find this very list. 🙂

If you would like to have copies of some of these files available for download on Kingbeast’s Lair please shoot me an email and I will see what I can do. Note that SOME of these files appear to be corrupted. 🙁 I can only offer to do my best to recover them.

There are some other benefits of this discovery. I will soon be posting EVERY issue of a newsletter that I published long ago called Mad Merc’s Gaming Gazette. These newsletter contain lots of RPG goodness and are a glimpse back into the early days of Hero. Watch for these to start appearing on this blog soon. 😀

-== What is it? ==-

Jadeclaw is an anthropomorphic fantasy role-playing game set in a mystic land with a heavy Asian flavor. It was written by Chuan Lin and published by Sanguine Productions Limited. The Revised Edition of Jadeclaw that I am reviewing was released in June 2006.

Jadeclaw has a color cover and an interior that is a mix of black and white text with colored and black and white artwork. The book is 8.5” x 11” and is 352 pages in length. I am reviewing a hardcover print copy that I bought from my local FLGS. I have not played the game I have only read the book.

-== What I Like ==-

The cover and internal art for Jadeclaw are exceptional. The bright wrap around cover was done by Chris Goodwin and really attracts the eye from across the room. It also imparts the strong Asian theme in the product. The internal artwork was done was done by several different artists and is very well executed. Between each major section are full color comic pages depicting a scene that is relevant in that next section. These comic panels really make the artwork in Jadeclaw move to a new level. Other individual black and white and color pieces in the product do not disappoint. I particularly like Chris Goodwin’s artwork in the Races section. In fact it is difficult to find a piece in the entire book that I think is only marginal.

Jadeclaw has a very Interesting dice mechanic. Players combine dice from applicable skills, stats, or race and rolls them. The dice are not added but instead the highest value on any single dice is taken as the result. For example, my character has a D12 and D10 related to climbing. The GM says the tree is difficulty 2d6. I roll a 3 and 7. The GM rolls 3 and 4. My 7 is higher than the 4 so I climb the tree. Modifiers, or Bonuses as they are called in Jadeclaw, raise the type of dice instead of adding directly to the roll. So if I have a D8 and a D6 these raise to D10 and D8. If you beat a roll by 5 it is called an Overwhelming Success. If you lose a roll by 5 it is called an Overwhelming Failure. If you roll all natural 1’s on your dice it is called a Botch. Combat compares the dice to determine a hit and the effect.

The History section in the book is well done. It fills Jadeclaw with tons of rich hooks that are ripe for GMs and players to utilize. I also really enjoyed the way that they strengthen the mystical Asian fantasy feel that the author is trying to achieve.

Jadeclaw presents a setting called Zhongguo. I liked the fact that coverage of the realm does NOT include tons of detail. There is enough detail on each land to convey the setting but not enough to interfere with any stories that the GM may want to tell. That is a good thing in my book. The cartography is also nicely done. I especially like the Maijing city map.

Appendix 3 of Jadeclaw has a summary of Abnormal Status that is really needed but not all of the entries have page references. It would have been nice if every entry had a page reference.

-== What I Don’t Like ==-

As you might guess by my simplification of the dice mechanic Jadeclaw has LOTS of fiddly bits and charts. Almost all of the Tests (i.e. Ambush, Bribery, etc.) have unique outcomes for Botch, Overwhelming Failure, Failure, Success, and Overwhelming Success. During a session the GM would have to either have the book handy or have a set of charts to keep track of what happens on each result.

The wound system in Jadeclaw feels brutal. After only a couple of hits characters have to start rolls to even stay conscious. This is a system where combat can be quick and deadly.

Overall I really wanted combats in Jadeclaw to have more of a fast wuxia feel instead of a slow paced deadly feel. Combat rules are a bit tough even at the basic level and the Advanced Combat options seem like they would REALLY slow things down. I think with an experienced Jadeclaw GM keeping the flow really moving it might not be such of an issue. Coming from a cold read of the product the combat rules seems cumbersome at best.

The book could use some reorganization. I read the entire book from cover to cover and found it quite difficult at times. I would have also appreciated more summary tables at the end of book to prevent constantly looking for tables within the main text. Jadeclaw could also use some usability layout techniques like those found in the Hero System 6th Edition books. Those have printed tabs on the page edges that allow one to easily jump to the section they want to reference. Since Jadeclaw has a lot of color they could even be color coded by section.

The magic system in Jadeclaw is full of tables. You start getting spells on one table. Once you have enough you move to the next table. From there you go to more tables. See where this is going? :} The spell list In Jadeclaw is quite vast as it covers several different types of magic. It is clear that the designer wanted everyone to be able to do cool unique things but I think it goes too far.

The section on the relatively strict social hierarchy in Zhongguo is well written but it could use information on potential roles that the PC may take in the setting. I really think it is critical for a setting to convey the roles a PC can take and their implications. That information was not present.

The provided adventure in Jadeclaw is mediocre. Something that evokes the setting a bit more or hits on crucial points of the social hierarchy might have been better.

The layout used in the book is not bad but the font is small and not real clear. At times I would have to look away and return due to the small size of the font and the difficulty in reading it. Fine…I’m old and wear glasses but so are a lot of my friends. 😉

-== Summary ==-

Even though I mentioned several things that I don’t like about Jadeclaw I think that this is a fun setting that may appeal to some gamers. Many of the same themes used in Jadeclaw are present in my current Spirit Storm campaign. This fact instigated my purchase of the product. If you want anthropomorphic fantasy action and are not afraid of old school crunch you should give Jadeclaw a look.

There is a new version of Ironclaw, a predecessor/sister to Jadeclaw, on DriveThruRPG at this URL that appears to have several rule changes but I do not own a copy of that product. I took a look at the Ironclaw: Preview at this URL and it looks like they may have streamlined the system and used more color coding. Awesome! 😀

You can purchase a copy of Jadeclaw Revised Edition at Noble Knight Games for $34.95 at this URL. They also have original editions at a much cheaper price. Amazon has it here for $39.95.

I give it 5 out of 10 paws.