Escape From Skullcano Island Review

I was trying to wait until I had my physical copy of Escape From Skullcano Island to review it, but I got impatient.

If the Isle of Dread dropped LSD with that Island from Lost and then they just sat around all day watching old monster movies and listening to Black Sabbath, you’d get this.

Those aren't my words, but by the gods, they describe this adventure perfectly. So as you can tell from the cover, this is a grindhouse kaiju adventure of epic proportions. 

The book starts out in typical Planet X Games fashion. Levi discusses background and rumors for the adventure. In addition there are two sections that discuss pre-adventure encounters you should include in your campaign. There's also a discussion of how to make this adventure grindhouse and unique. As always, I appreciate this and it's what makes PX adventures the best. 

The adventure itself isn't set up like previous PX adventures and has more in common with the aforementioned Isle of Dread. We get a nice succinct history and overview of the island (including how the island affects magic). This is followed by a discussion of the islands kaiju and their cults. These massive monsters are badass. The kaiju are as follows:

• The Black Doom - a titanic black pudding
• Gallowmaw - a cobra that will bring about destruction and the end times
• Gouge-Eye - a one-eyed t-rex like creature with a devastating eye-beam
• Grulok - a two-headed Kong-like kaiju 
• Kliickittiklack - a gargantuan crab
• Melmoth - a terrifying spider that can shift between dimensions
• Threejaws - a amalgamation of land shark and grabboid (at least that's how I see it).
• Umagung - a terrifying, ravenous 150' worm creature

Each of these kaiju is given a moniker (such as the God-Ape), art of either the kaiju itself or its cultists, current status, physical description, lore, lair, tactics, cult information, and three plot hooks. As you can see that's a lot of kaiju and information. 

The kaiju section is followed by information on the true villains and monsters of the adventures, the Doomsayers of Kraak-Thul. This is a powerful apocalypse cult led by four powerful figures: the Waker, the Shaper, the Beast, and the Fiddler. The seek to using a powerful tool from Hell itself, the Doom Gyre, to control the kaiju and bring about the End Times.

As is the case with most PX releases, the ultra-talented Skullfungus has done some of the maps.

This is followed by the adventure itself. It is presented as a sand box. Instead of linier progression there numerous locations and random encounters. There are all entertaining, horrific, fantastic, or in most cases... all of the above. My favorite is definitely the dungeon that can be found in the remains of Mecha-Kaiju. To make the island come alive, Levi has included a chart with 20 trappings of Skullcano Island. 

After the Island itself, there is a section on the wrapping up the adventure and the aftermath of its events.

The adventure contains several appendices. Appendix A contains 13 new spells to be encountered. Most of them are horrific oblivion related spells used by the Doomsayers, though at least one, Aspect of the Titan, can help players even the odds. Appendix B contains 16 new magical items, including extensive information of the hellish Doom Gyre. Appendix C is a bestiary with 40+ monsters and cultist. You'll find several non-kaiju giant monsters in this section. Of all of them, however, I'm happiest that Skullcano has it's own bread of Axe Beak. I just love those things. Appendix D gives stats to the fearsome kaiju, themselves. These are truly dire threats and range from challenge 26-30. Appendix E is a sketchbook of pieces with commentary. Appendix F is the "Appendix N" of the adventure. It features books, movies, comic books, music, and rpgs that inspired and influenced the adventure. The apendices are followed by two pages of faux ads. If you remember all of the kitschy mail-away novelty ads fondly, you'll love this section. Honestly, these two pages are worth the price of admission just because of how fun they are. Finally, there is a  themed character sheet (which can also be found in Jungle Tomb of the Mummy Bride). 

This adventure fucking rocks. It is chocked full of homages and references to classic geeky and grindhouse glory. 

If you want to send your 5e campaign off in a blaze of glory, this is the adventure for you. You seriously can't get more epic than an island of kaiju and an apocalypse cult. Levi did an amazing job of bringing the island to life and working with some crazy powerful stuff. This type of adventure isn't easy to write, but my homie knocked it out of the park. I can't wait to get my grubby mitts on the hardcover version of the adventure.