Minireview: Forest of Spirits (Pathfinder #52)

Forest of Spirits starts the second half of Jade Regent, and also switches gears a bit from the first half, with the PCs finally arriving in Minkai. There is initial potential here, but unfortunately I have to say that this module has problems and consists mostly of wasted potential.

The beginning isn’t that bad. The PCs arrive in a strange little autocratic kingdom, and quickly become guests of the ruler. There is room for social maneuvering here, but the the whole segment is a bit disjointed. The ruler is in many regards a monster, executing people just for fun and ruling by pure whimsy. However, the who segment is more concerned with making him a somewhat humorous figure, which is a total waste here. Little-to-no mention is made of any local resentment against the ruler, one assumes they are fine with him executing people left and right on a whim.

After that part, we get a (kitsune) escort, who takes the PCs to the mysterious titular “Forest of Spirits” – a forest haunted with ancient spirits, which try to take over travelers and cause various sorts of mischief. And sure, some light use of this is made in the module… until it’s quickly dumped for what is essentially a dungeon crawl. Two factions have been going at each other for 60 years (if I recall), and the PCs are thrust in the middle of the conflict. Two problems: one, who continues a stalemate battle for a specific site for 60 years? Even though some of the inhabitants are supernatural, that’s still a stupidly long time to be stuck in a stalemate. Second, and more important: why disregard the whole interesting “forest full of ancient spirits” concept, and fill most of the module with a combat fest dungeon crawl (“temple crawl” more exactly)? It’s boring, adds little to the story except some needless underlining of how “evil” the oni are (yes, yes, we get it already). There’s too much combat and too little anything else.

So… if you’re the type who plays D&D for the combat encounters – and to be fair, lots of people seem to be in that category – you’ll probably like this. I thought it was largely a waste of otherwise interesting scenery, and would have much preferred something which actually used the “forest of spirits” environment in some real fashion. Meh.

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