Fair Disclosure: I love, Love, LOVE giant monsters. And Return to Monster Island is itself a love note to Kaiju movies, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Ray Harryhausen's movies, and more. Add this to the fascinating Day after Ragnarok setting and you've got a product that scratches nearly all my itches.
Now, before I get into it... maybe it's me -- I'm definitely more accustomed to full-book setpieces that are either complete adventures, complete settings, or complete environments that tend to run upwards of $20. This book isn't trying to do that, and in some ways it confuses me. Now, I admit that I run a little bit grognard, so take my confusion with a grain of salt.
In many ways, Return to Monster Island (and for that matter, all of the Serpent Scales product line) is the tabletop equivalent of video game downloadable content that adds on to DAR: affordable bits and pieces that game masters can use to enhance their game. Most other similar products I've seen are geared towards players, i.e. the Wimps Guide to Complete Badassery; The Tome Arcanos of Mighty Power, and other such books that I roll my eyes at when a player produces their new idea for character powers or gear.
The only apparent downside to Return to Monster Island is that it ends up feeling a little bit disconnected. In much the same way a book full of character options often feels like it has no specific relation to the game at hand, Return to Monster Island can feel a little bit messy (see my grognardism two paragraphs back). That said, it's not meant to be an adventure; it's not meant to be a complete setting. It's an add-on, and it fully succeeds at that.
If you're looking to bring a little bit of Kaiju to your Day After Ragnarok game, it's a very solid entry; but I still wanted a little bit more cohesion overall. Four Stars.
- These are meant to be made-up products to support a point. I'm fairly certain they don't actually exist.
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