Razor Coast is a role playing game supplement published by Frog God Games for use with the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game. As such, it is covered by the Open Game License and some parts are considered to be Open Game Content as a result. It is also available in a version for Swords & Wizardry.
The supplement is available as a 546-page PDF from DriveThruRPG for $5.99 but was purchased at a reduced price during a sale. Two pages are the front and rear covers, four pages are the front matter and Open Game License, one page is the Table of Contents and five pages are ads.
Introduction to the Razor Coast has an overview of the different chapters of the book. It explains that it is both a setting and a campaign, with an overview of the design. New terminology and organising concepts are covered; the setting works on a variety of different types of encounters. There are adventure options, plot arcs, incidents, relationships, set pieces, standalone encounters and vignettes. Finally, the GM is advised to read the supplement in its entirety before running it.
Chapter One: Into the Razor starts with a map of the region. The recent history is covered, in which the Tulita fell from their power thanks to newcomers. Port Shaw has the stats for the city, which will be the adventurers’ home base. and overviews of some important factions. There is an overall map and a description of the outer regions.
Dramatis Personae starts with the arch villains, the major foes of the setting. The two primary villains are is the chosen of a shark god and the half-demon offspring of Demogorgon. The two lesser ones are corrupt and powerful humans in Port Shaw. Fallen Heroes is a group of adventurers that faced a foe and lost. There are suggestions as to how each might be recruited to help. Neither Villain Nor Hero has two potential allies, one a pirate, and the minotaur ally of the second. Each have their own reasons why they might help.
Chapter Two: Build an Adventure Path starts with a glossary of what the various terms in the chapter mean. Introduction: How this Works explains what is in the supplement and how this can be put together into an adventure path. There are four primary flavours of a Razor Coast campaign. Powers that Be are the self-interested and evil; the main foes. The Former Heroes and their Friends are the Wave Riders who have fallen on hard times. The Tulita are the locals. The Individualists are those who are unconcerned with the bigger picture. There are notes on arranging the encounters by level into a path.
The two major plot arcs, each connected to one of the two major foes, are covered next, with goals and objectives, the various acts for each plot arc and the events as they will unfold. Whispers and Rumours are things that players can overhear and find out. Relationship Subplots are next, which cover the different NPCs. Each is associated with one of the flavours of the campaign and there are locations where they can be found. Detailed are how the NPC will fall if the characters don’t intervene – all come to a bad and frequently fatal end – what they can do to help, obstacles in their way and what actions will offend the NPC. In some cases, dealing with one NPC will make it difficult dealing with another. Finally, there are suggestions as to how a befriended NPC could help in the climax and sidebars on using the NPCs.
Next up is running the campaign. There are notes on the structure, explanations of the toolbox items, which include worksheets and NPC trackers and a sidebar on using Razor Coast in an existing campaign. This is followed by prepping for the various game sessions. There are details for level 5, in two sessions, levels 6-7, 7-8, 8-9 and 9-10. Each of these follows the same format, though the first one also has hooks to get the characters to Port Shaw. Prepping involves removing used adventure options, picking inciting incidents, choosing adventure options and reviewing whispers and rumours. Adventure options can remain present for several levels, and there are notes in each section as to how appropriate they are for each, from potential TPK to curb-stomping the opponents.
Once the characters have completed levels 9-10, Night of the Shark, the first of the two major plot arcs, takes place. There are details of this and how characters’ previous actions could affect what happens. Following this is The Kraken Strikes, which takes characters out of Port Shaw and amongst the islands, until they finally return just as the Kraken’s forces attack.
Chapter Three: Port Shaw has details on arrivals and a sidebar on new items that can be purchased. A map of Dockside has locations for various Inciting Incidents. There are Vignettes, some of which can happen anywhere in the city, others are tied to specific area. These are essentially scenes characters can see, which may then lead into Inciting Incidents later on. The Inciting Incidents, various different encounters, are covered next, followed by several Stand-Alone Encounters. Various locations are described next, starting with some shops, inns and taverns. The locations of these are not set, other than, say, the district, until the characters use one. There are some other important locations, including a fort whose location is fixed.
Chapter Four: Beneath and Near Port Shaw starts with some standalone encounters and set pieces in the vicinity of Port Shaw before moving onto the sewers. The sewers are divided into several different sections, each of which is its own set piece. Some of these are part of the main plots; one in particular is completely unrelated.
Chapter Five: To Sail the Razor starts with a number of ships that can be bought by the characters. There is only one ship map and a sidebar suggests using it for every ship used, with tweaks. Next are details of weather on the Razor and the effects of storms. A number of stand-alone small encounters are then followed by a number of set-pieces. Two of these tie into the two main plot arcs and the third is a treasure hunt.
Chapter Six: Night of the Shark deals with the conclusion to the first plot arc. It starts with the prologue, which has two encounters. Following this are five set-up encounters and a single inciting incident. Next are five encounters from the night itself, which then concludes with the final battle in which the characters will have to save a number of NPCs and defeat the arc’s primary foe.
Chapter Seven: The Kraken Strikes is the conclusion to the second plot arc. Each plot arc has three acts; with the Krakenfiend arc, two of the acts are in this chapter. The characters set off looking for a missing ship and arrive back at Port Shaw to find it under attack. There is an inciting incident and four set pieces in the second act then various narrated pieces, situations and major encounters in the third act. Finally, possible further adventures are briefly mentioned.
The rest of the book is the Appendices, which are substantial.
Appendix One: Everything New Except Monsters isn’t quite what it says it is. It has new material mostly collected in one place. There’s a new disease, new drugs, new magic items, new rules, mostly on black powder, simplified options and a new spell. The reason why it’s “mostly” collected in one place is that there are still quite a lot of things in other parts of the book that aren’t covered here.
Appendix Two: Recurring NPCs has stat blocks for various standard NPCs.
Appendix Three: Bestiary has new monsters – there’s are a couple of magic items associated with monsters that are only here and not in Appendix One – and new templates. One of the templates is a new lycanthrope template that is different to the Pathfinder version; this is one of the changes necessitated on the conversion from 3.5.
Appendix Four: Gazetteer of the Razor Coast gives descriptions of various points of interest in the area.
Appendix Five: The Book of Indulgences starts with essentially a set of essays written by different authors. It starts with Chapter 1: Campaigning which begins with the shark god, Dajobas. Dajobas’ history, portfolio and cleric abilities are covered, along with a new monster, new feats, associated magic items, a new class and an NPC. Death Beneath the Waves is an essay on underwater adventuring and how to make it interesting, together with new spells, mapping underwater and a new monster, which comes with an example series of encounters with such. Sahuagin of the Razor Sea is on the sahuagin of the area, their society, history, culture, mutants and weapons.
Chapter 2: Player Options starts with Art of the Duel which has new feats and new weapons related to duelling. The Warrior’s Way has some details on the Tulita, including magical tattoos, the Warrior’s Way, weapons, new combat feats and new archetypes.
Chapter 3: Adventures has some additional adventures that can be used in a Razor Coast campaign. Blood Waters is a 7th level adventure in which the characters venture below the waters to the remnants of the Coral Kingdom. Mysteries of the Razor Sea is a 1st level adventure in which the characters encounter what is essentially a ghost ship. Other Mysteries of the Razor has eleven small encounters. Shrine of Frenzy is a 7th level adventure in which the characters explore a shrine to Dajobas that is being used again. Still Waters is an adventure for 6th level characters that has them looking into various disappearances connected to a cursed swamp. Finally, there are two new monsters and a new template with an example.
Appendix Six: Deep Waters is a longer adventure, this one for 4-6 characters of 8th-9th level in which the characters go on a hunt for various items requested by a loa. They will be given a useful artefact to do this.
Appendix Seven: Handouts has several handouts for the players.
Appendix Eight: Adventure Options has lists of the various plots and encounters of the campaign arcs, together with worksheets to keep track of them. These are referred to extensively in Chapter Two.
Razor Coast in Review
The PDF is bookmarked but these do not go to a great deal of depth. The Table of Contents only covers the major sections, although it is hyperlinked. Navigation, given the size of the book, is poor. The text maintains a two-column colour format and quite a few minor errors were noticed. There are a lot of colour illustrations and maps, all custom by the looks of it, up to about half a page in size. Presentation is good.
The organisation of the book is, to put it mildly, rather odd. Chapter Two references a lot of material that, at that point, has not been read and therefore doesn’t mean as much as it could on the first read through. The Book of Indulgences feels like a separate book that has been tacked onto the end. Deep Waters is an appendix that contains an adventure that isn’t with the rest of them. Appendix One: Everything New Except Monsters isn’t everything except new monsters; there are many options tagged on in parts of The Book of Indulgences and Deep Waters. Even the internal organisation of The Book of Indulgences is strange. All told, this makes the book rather hard to navigate.
There are references to Fire as She Bears, which has rules on ships, Heart of the Razor, which has several more adventures that can be used to flesh out the campaign, and Freebooter’s Guide to the Razor Coast, which has further options. These may not outright be needed, but Fire as She Bears will enhance the ship part of the campaign, and this is pretty substantial, and Heart of the Razor can be used to add more adventures.
Razor Coast is complicated and definitely not for novice GMs. The supplement looks like it will need two read throughs just to understand what is going on; once the first is finished, it will make more sense the second time around. Better organisation could have helped here. The campaign will require a lot of planning, both before and during. Before, to get an overall grip of things as well as the adventures not related to the plot arcs. During, because what players do has an effect on what parts of the adventure to run.
This is considered to be an adventure path. Adventure paths are rather known for their tendency to be a railroad. This tries to get rid of that; it’s a sort of adventure path/sandbox campaign cross. There are two overarching plot arcs but the way in which these play out can vary a lot. They can even vary a lot over different plays of the campaign; the adventure can easily play through in a different way each time. For a GM who is able to handle running the adventure, and for a group that is capable of playing it, this could be a rather impressive adventure. If either the GM or the players struggle, it could be a disaster. However, the supplement could also be dismantled for parts; there is quite a lot of material that could be adapted to other settings. This alone makes it worthwhile getting, as the Pathfinder version has dropped substantially in price. Razor Coast is a complex, yet potentially enjoyable, campaign and it can be found by clicking here.
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