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Rasputin Must Die! or Rasputin Must Die! Is one of the craziest pen-and-paper adventures I’ve ever heard of. Pathfinder is actually a conventional fantasy system. Characters fight their way through orcs, elves and dwarves with magical swords or bow and arrow. The adventure Rasputin Must Die! however transports the party to Russia in 1918 during World War I. Here the party must deal with more modern enemies and problems. So players fight their way through no man’s land and trenches full of barbed wire, formed infantry, the fire of cannons, Gatling guns and tanks, to kill Rasputin. Rasputin must Die! however mixes all this with magic and monsters, creating a refreshingly new, exciting setting.
Rasputin Must Die!: The Content
Rasputin Must Die! is an adventure for the second edition of Pathfinder. The module is the fifth part of the Pathfinder Adventure Path Reign of Winter. A Pathfinder Adventure Path is a longer campaign that extends across multiple books and worlds. Player characters in Reign of Winter are taken from Level 1 to Level 17. The six books of Reign of Winter are roughly about finding Baba Yaga again and ending a curse of eternal ice.
Rasputin Must Die! was published in 2013 and was written by Brandon Hodge. The adventure is 96 pages thick. Characters start at Level 13 and finish the adventure at Level 15. The PDF of Rasputin Must Die! currently costs $19.99. It’s available here.
The content is about rescuing Baba Yaga from her estranged son Grigori Rasputin. The Dancing Hut teleports the party to Siberia during World War I. The heroes must kill the “mad monk” named Rasputin, who has already escaped death once, to end the war and the icy curse on their home world.
The book contains new rules for weapons and equipment from the World War I era and several new locations, NPCs, items and monsters for the Pathfinder bestiary. There’s also exciting lore information for the Reign of Winter universe.
Rasputin Must Die!: Fantasy TTRPG Refreshingly Different
The appeal of Rasputin Must Die! clearly comes from the fresh setting and the new exciting enemies. As soon as I read that you fight possessed tanks and headless Cossacks, I wanted to learn more about the book. Instead of fighting against hordes of goblins, you fight against well-formed infantry squads, Gatling gun fire and animated poison gas. That’s something new, fresh for D&D veterans like me. I also find it exciting that there are rules for WWI firearms. I can very well imagine a paladin with a holy shotgun!
The adventure also offers interesting information about Russia at that time and the mystical figure Rasputin. Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin actually existed. He’s still considered today as the “mad monk” or as the “holy devil” and he was indeed attributed with dark, magical powers and he survived several assassination attempts. So he became a scapegoat of Russian society at that time. Author Brandon Hodge emphasizes that he wrote nothing in his book that contradicts confirmed historical facts. This means that the events of Rasputin Must Die! could have really happened that way.
Rasputin Must Die!: Conclusion
At this point I must confess that I haven’t been able to play Rasputin Must Die! myself yet. I’ve only looked at the PDF and reviews from other players online. Many of the reviews were positive. Rasputin Must Die! seems to deliver what it promises: to be a Pathfinder adventure in an unexplored setting and to make sensible changes to the familiar fantasy TTRPG format.
While reading, however, my fingers are itching to also throw my players onto the frozen battlefields of World War I. I hope in the near future to be able to add a complete experience report of Rasputin Must Die! to this impression. I would be very happy about already existing experience from the readership!
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