I would recommend to anyone reading this review who is unfamiliar with AGONE to first read my review of the main rulebook – just use the RPGnet review database to find the review.
The King of Spring is the first official “drama” for the AGONE roleplaying game. While the book is laid out to be simply one adventure, it works more effectively as a campaign – interspersed with side quests and other adventures.
Starting with the PCs being asked to aid the Baron of a neighboring domain this game eventually leads to the characters having to protect their own domain from an invasion while also uncovering a sinister plot for revenge. The story is told in three acts – each of which are also self-contained adventures that build on the events of the previous act.
Presentation
Like all AGONE products the general presentation of
The King of Spring is very attractive. From the evocative cover art to the sparse but attractive interior art; visually this is a beautiful book to read. While a majority of the contents is text, the layout is easy on the eye and logically spaced out. Each page has the standard AGONE framing; attractive Celtic knots carved on stone line the edges while a floral embossing covers the top of each page. These are extraneous, but nonetheless attractive to look at.
On a cold Winter’s night…
After a simple two-page synopsis of the plot and its aims, Act One opens with the PCs being asked to aid Baron Tharon of Melif – yes, I laughed at the name too – who is concerned about a seven hundred year old curse. Upon her thirtieth birthday the Baron’s wife will die mysteriously. Tharon hopes that the PCs, being Inspired, will be able to break the curse.
After uncovering the secret of the curse and subsequently dispatching with the problem, the PCs return home. It is at this point that things begin to go awry, as their domain becomes the target of not one, nor two, but three key antagonists.
While the game aims at being one continuous adventure I could help but feel that it works better as an overarching campaign within which the EG can run other adventures between the acts. Act One helps provide the set up for the main story, as well as a great hidden antagonist who can dog the PCs footsteps. Act Two is a great plot developer that then opens up the opportunity for several more subquests before the PCs are ready to move on to the final act which ties up all the loose ends.
In general the writing within this game is great – Paul Nevin’s translation is far better than the original rulebook, which suffered from some odd grammatical constructions - The King of Spring has only a few typos which often are only noticeable on a second or third read through.
The adventure itself is a great example of how an AGONE game differs from traditional fantasy games. Combat is somewhat minimal; a majority of the game is about social interaction and political intrigue – which the authors (and translator) manage to show with a minimum of trouble. Great stuff. Yet there are also some great set pieces for the more viscerally inclined, including dramatic battle within the Baron’s Manor near the end of the story.
Following the adventure is a handy appendix that provides a new threat from the Masque – Sinister Knights; a new domain to use; advice on how to alter the adventure for other locations; handouts; and a useful table of Seasonling demographics across the Twilight Realms. This is a bit of grab bag of items added at the end, the advice segment being somewhat shorter than I would have liked personally. Yet it does have some helpful comments about integrating the adventure with a standing campaign.
Summary
Overall this is a great example of adventure writing. Each act is flexible, guiding rather than leading the PCs through the story. There are rarely any points where the players or the EG are railroaded into a circumstance – even the set-up for the drama involves reasoning with the PCs to get them involved rather than just forcing them.
The plot itself is engaging and suitably dark and foreboding. I had only one little problem with some events in Act Three that I personally felt made Act One a little pointless – but then I hated the end to Twelve Monkeys, so that’s really a personal gripe and not an inherent fault of the book itself.
Unfortunately due to time constraints I was unable to playtest the game – which I had been hoping to. However I am still intending to run this game in the near future and if enough interest is shown I’ll run a “playtest” thread on the RPGnet forum covering any additional thoughts I have while running the game. (Now who can say I don’t care about you.)
Go to forum!
(Due to spamming, old forum discussions are no linked.)