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Retribution Collector's Edition

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Average Rating:4.8 / 5
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Retribution Collector's Edition
Publisher: Raging Swan Press
by William B. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 07/15/2020 01:48:38

This is really just a fantastic read. I've read through this a few times, and it looks like I will FINALLY get to run it in my SWADE Beasts & Barbarians campaign with a few modifications. Raging Swan, and Creighton Bloodhurst in particular write some really great stuff. I wish they would start writing stuff for SWADE. I really see Retribution being a great fit in any fantasy game system though. It seems great care was taken to make everything in the module clear enough so that converting it is very easy.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Creator Reply:
Thank you William! Your review made my morning. Good luck with running Retribution!
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Retribution Collector's Edition
Publisher: Raging Swan Press
by Megan R. [Featured Reviewer]
Date Added: 04/08/2016 08:38:31

This is a massive adventure which should allow successful first-level characters to make their mark... or find an early and chilly grave! The default setting is The Lonely Coast, a sparsely-populated frontier region just crying out for adventurers to explore it, which is available for free from Raging Swan Press, but it could just as easily be put in a suitable remote corner of your own campaign world.

To start off there's the customary masterclass in the anatomy of an encounter - if this is your first Raging Swan adventure, make sure to read it - followed by a brief introduction, complete with map, to the Lonely Coast. This introductory section also contains the background to the adventure, a synopsis of what ought to happen and notes on religion, for religious belief and betrayal lie at the very heart of this adventure. Two new faiths are presented here, but it is relatively trivial to substitute similar ones from your campaign or to just claim them as local to this particular area. Of particular note is how one cult, the Unalterable Way, takes the nice, fluffy, warm lawful good worship of Darlen and turns it into something grim and strict.

The adventure itself follows, falling into three sections. The first part, Sanctuary, involves actually getting to the Priory of Cymer, where the rest of the action is centred. It's no easy task as the weather has turned bad and is getting worse. Usefully, there are notes on how to deal with those parties who decide that the prudent thing is not to continue with the journey: the objective is to end with them trapped in the Priory as storms rage outside!

Once there, part two of the adventure is one of increasing isolation and fear as a dreadful plot is revealed, and part three leads the characters on a challenging delve deep below the Priory to put a stop to it. Throughout, detailed encounters replete with those little features that make the whole thing come alive are presented, complete with all the rules information you need to run them and plenty of hints and tips - everything from role-playing suggestions to troubleshooting unexpected party responses. Parts one and two of the adventure present mainly physical challenges, whilst part three is one of investigation, interaction and role-play. Thus there is plenty of opportunity for everyone to shine, whatever their preferences and talents.

The whole thing hangs together beautifully, a compelling dark tale to play out against rising winds and gusting snow. It's atmospheric with a real sense of danger, yet should the party prove successful they can bask in a real glow of satisfaction at having removed some evil from the world. You don't often get THAT at first level!



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Retribution Collector's Edition
Publisher: Raging Swan Press
by Ismael A. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 12/06/2015 17:12:58

I was lucky enough to receive this adventure as a review copy.

Retribution is an adventure for 1st level characters. At 71 pages, the adventure is actually relatively short, but enjoyably so. The adventure takes place in a monastery during a snowstorm. Without giving much more away, the players are expected to meet the inhabitants, and then move quickly through exciting encounters. While this can be done in a relatively short amount of time, the playthrough is enjoyable, and the adventure provides notes that can make the locale an interesting spot to explore and revisit.

As always, I am amazed by the stunning attention to detail by Raging Swan, as each stat block and character entry contains a plethora of useful information, such as situational statistics for surprise attacks, or minor notes for contingencies and circumstance that might arise. These little additions were invaluable to me, and served me well in running the adventure.

Let me also say that this product was timely. I was able to incorporate it into my campaign, and it was an enjoyable time saver. Now, I did have to alter a few things, but only due to the mood of my campaign being more given to whimsy and lightheartedness. That having been said, it perfectly fit the religious context of my setting, as well as the player group's situation.

I also have a group that is slightly higher level, but the provided notes were more than adequate for my needs, letting me scale up the encounters perfectly for the group.

Overall, this product was excellent, and I heartily recommend it. Whether you need an adventure on the fly, or you want to flesh out your campaign with a well thought out location and encounters, this adventure will do that and more.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Retribution Collector's Edition
Publisher: Raging Swan Press
by Paul Q. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 08/19/2015 16:36:31

Summary: This is a great and detailed adventure! Even the slightest details are included and the thoroughness makes this a guaranteed fun, challenging, and interesting adventure for your players. It is well worth the price delivering an unique plot and pace.

Opening thoughts: I have been a longtime fan of Raging Swan’s work as a GM. They publish a number of helpful resources that have shaped and spurred my creativity as I work up my campaign, encounters, etc. With that said, I should also acknowledge that I have never used one of their modules preferring to create my own scenarios. I am an experienced GM of over 30 years and generally prefer to do things myself.

Full disclosure: Because I am a fan of their resources, I am a Patron for them on Patreon.com. Also, I did receive a free PDF version of Retribution: Collector’s Edition to provide my review of the material. I will try to be as unbiased as I can in my review, but it is fair to you to let you know that up front.

Review: If you are a fan of the Old School Gaming mindset being commingled with the advanced and stable mechanics of the Pathfinder ruleset, you will be very pleased with Retribution. Raging Swan is really dialed into the balance of the Three Pillars of Adventure: Combat, Social Interaction, and Exploration. To avoid spoilers I am going to focus on what I think makes this a superior product without going into specifics about the adventure.

One of the things that stands out is the deliberate structure that shapes the module. You get 61 pages of direct content relevant to the adventure and a few additional pages on how to read a stat block, table of contents, etc. It is very clear and readable and appropriately titled and sectioned. That may not sound too exciting, but it really helps you follow things as you read it. There is both an Adventure Background and Adventure Synopsis and both go a long way toward getting you excited to read more. There are notes on how to leverage this module in your campaign, including some alternatives to help make it fit and the good news is you could drop Retribution into any fantasy campaign.

You get a starting location for your PCs which, while maybe not Village of Hommlet detailed, gives you plenty to run NPC interactions and where PCs can stock up. The detail seems appropriate as the PCs should leave the village in Act 1. Almost immediately into the adventure we get an encounter that is connected to the main plot without being initially obvious, so your players will be engaged from the very start. The author helpfully includes (with every encounter) how to scale the encounter to make things appropriately challenging. Encounters have interesting and detailed treasures to claim, clear stat blocks, and even Designer’s Notes to help the GM understand any nuances specific to the encounter. An immediate sense of urgency is created with the weather becoming a major player throughout the adventure.

Once the PCs make the Priory (the main site of the adventure) some excellent NPC interaction and fact-finding begins. Everything is clearly detailed including a helpful Timeline of Events and even possible explanations from the villain in the story should the PCs inadvertently catch him in the act too early. I was truly impressed by that, never having seen it before in other modules. The NPCs are very detailed, including some of their personality traits and secret motivations, making the middle section a very fun and interesting part to play while not swinging swords. When the main plot kicks into action, though, the sense of urgency returns and there are plenty of opportunities to swing swords.

Another positive surprise included by the designer is a Troubleshooting section in the final act of the adventure offering options to the TPK if things go a little sideways. The events that lead to the action, the change in setting, and the encounters themselves all appeal to the thinking players as well as the dice-rollers. This is a very well-rounded adventure that I can see appealing to all sorts of players.

Final Thoughts: This is a great module and worth picking up. What I think I liked most about it was how well it overcomes not being “your module.” It’s sometimes a challenge to understand what the designer was thinking and to remember all the relevant parts and I think the structure of the adventure really helps with that. I’m actually beginning a new campaign and made the decision to drop what I was planning to use Retribution. I will definitely be buying more of Raging Swan’s modules. I hope this (lengthy, my apologies for those inclined to TL:DR) review was helpful and you have as much fun with Retribution as I will.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Retribution Collector's Edition
Publisher: Raging Swan Press
by Benjamin N. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 07/22/2015 15:17:24

Having played through this adventure, I can say I enjoyed it thoroughly. I like how Raging Swan Press products are laid out and organized, with relevant information all co-located. Flipping back and forth is minimized, which saves a lot of time and preserves the flow of the unfolding events.

The encounters are meaningful and, most importantly, the story just makes sense. There is never the sense that it is a hackfest.

Every named NPC's backstory and personality is thoughtfully fleshed out, detailed and believable. As I conversed with and got to know everyone in the priory; they became alive and made me care. Well, some of them anyway. Granted, a good GM can extemporize but this module makes it easy for a even a beginner to bring the roleplaying to life.

And, in the end, the final confrontation made for intense session and the denouement brought it all to a satisfying conclusion.

Since then, we've started playing the other modules established in the free Lonely Coast setting and are having a lot of fun developing it and making it our own, but those are stories for another time (and review).



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Retribution Collector's Edition
Publisher: Raging Swan Press
by Thilo G. [Featured Reviewer]
Date Added: 08/02/2014 05:02:04

An Endzeitgeist.com review

This module clocks in at 71 pages, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial, 1 page advertisement, 1 page ToC, 1 page CR-lists, 1 page advice on reading statblocks and 1 page advice on running the module for novice DMs, 1 page SRD and 1 page back cover, leaving 62 pages of content, so let's take a look!

I will break my own format for reviewing with this module. The original Retribution was the first Raging Swan Press-product to see the light of day and I bought it on a whim back in the day, long before I was a reviewer. I expected it to suck, frankly, and did so out of a morbid curiosity. I was utterly flabbergasted at what I found. Retribution is probably as close to a traditionally gothic (in the "Castle of Ontranto" "Name of the Rose"-style, not the association commonly used for this term...) mystery as you can get in a module. It breathes psychological depth, symbolism, has an unprecedented level of detail for the NPCs in here and to this date remains one of the best 1st level modules I've seen for any iteration of D&D or d20-based systems like Pathfinder.

Retribution is one of those non-optional relics of good gaming I'd consider a must-own for any PFRPG-DM - why? Because it's not over the top, it's not grindy, it is the perfect, absolute incarnation of atmosphere and mood, with diverse challenges, smart and unobtrusive subtext and, better yet, it retains this fascination throughout, evoking a level of grit and desolation that is simply entrancing - both while reading and while playing it.

My players still talk about this one, and it's been more than 4 years since we ran it and it made second place on my first best-of-list.. Now it's back and got a collector's edition - and honestly, I was afraid. I feared something akin to what happened to Star Wars. Almost perfect cult classics don't do face-lifts well in many cases.

This collector's edition kicks off with a n abbreviated primer on the village of Swallowfeld before getting into the meat of the module - which I will NOT SPOIL. Seriously - just think monastery full of eccentric clerics, snowstorm outside, glorious psychological underpinnings, a great (and easy to run!) banquet scene, slowly rising tension - a furious finale. Social skill challenges to bypass certain obstacles, a dungeon now with a small dressing table, improved artwork...generally, organization is perhaps the most significant improvement here - you get the respective content like magic items etc. on the page you'll need them -the collector's edition requires next to no page-flipping.

Conclusion:

Editing and formatting, as almost always in RSP's offerings, is flawless. Layout adheres to a two-column b/w-standard and the pdf comes with two versions - one optimized for screen-use and one to be printed out. The pdf comes with excessive bookmarks. It should be noted that the pdf features improved artworks for many a piece and also features one version for screen-use and one for print-use.

Creighton Broadhurst's master piece "Retribution" didn't have much to gain by this Collector's Edition - it was already one of the best 1st level modules I've ever read. On the other hand, it had a lot to lose - and does something smart. It applies RSP's by now acquired knack of making extremely user-friendly books and applies it to the classic, very cautiously streamlining presentation and adding minor bits and pieces herein that do not stick out like sore thumbs and rather organically fit with the module.

I do have the print version (one great reason to get this, imho!) and it should be considered a steal at the low price. - with paper, spine etc. all being up to my standards.

Now let me get one thing clear - this module can be run by even novice DMs (in spite of a banquet scene!) and offers one of the best playing experiences I had for Pathfinder. Additionally, the further streamlining almost makes it possible to run this module sans preparation - one read should suffice for almost all DMs. Beyond that, the improved streamlining of the layout makes the running of this legendary module even easier. This would be a serious contender for my Top-Ten-list of 2014, but let's face it, the first edition already made such a list and this one is very close to it. Hence, I remain with a final verdict of 5 stars + seal of approval and one general announcement - people, if you don't have the original Retribution, this is your chance; You literally have no reason not to get this gem and having it as a print edition made me feel all fuzzy and warm. This has its place on my shelf of honor and is truly a must-own for any PFRPG-DM's module-library.

Endzeitgeist out.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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