''The Adventure of the Jade Jaguar'' is an adventure published by Flying Buffalo in 1983 for the modern-day role-playing game '' Mercenaries, Spies and Private Eyes''.

Publication history

Flying Buffalo's original plan for ''Mercenaries, Spies and Private Eyes'' (''MSPE'') was to publish it as a boxed set that would include a rulebook for the role-playing game setting, and a separate short teaching supplement, ''The Adventure of the Jade Jaguar''. However, they eventually decided to release the ''MPSE'' rulebook on its own as a single unboxed book. Although ''The Adventure of the Jade Jaguar'' was very short, having been written merely as a teaching adventure, it was released as the first ''MPSE'' adventure.

Plot summary

''The Adventure of the Jade Jaguar'' is a solitaire adventure where a single

player character A player character (also known as a playable character or PC) is a fictional character in a video game or tabletop role-playing game whose actions are controlled by a player rather than the rules of the game. The characters that are not control ...

must foil the villainous Jade Jaguar, who has formed a fighting force from the natives, and taken explorer Professor Jackson as a prisoner along with her colleagues.

Reception

Nick Davison reviewed ''Jade Jaguar'' for '' Imagine'' magazine, and stated that "This is a very shallow module, which cannot be enjoyed for much longer than an hour." In the May 1984 edition of '' White Dwarf'' (Issue #49), Jon Sutherland was very critical of both the adventure and the ''MPSE'' system, giving the adventure a very poor overall rating of 3 out of 10, and stating that it "Sounds a bit like a second rate Tarzan script, read on if you can stifle the yawns. A poor introduction to a dull RPG." In the February 1985 edition of ''

Dragon A dragon is a reptilian legendary creature that appears in the folklore of many cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but dragons in western cultures since the High Middle Ages have often been depicted as ...

'' (Issue #94), Arlen Walker pointed out that if players new to the ''MPSE'' system used it "As a teaching tool, it succeeds because it demonstrates the use of many of the rules and also allows you to try both violent and problem-solving approaches to the game." But as a stand-alone adventure, Walker found "it isn't that absorbing", and that it was far too short: "The first time I played this adventure, I was in and out successfully in a matter of ten minutes or less. While some subsequent runs lasted much longer, ten minutes proved to be about the average time for any adventure." In conclusion, he did not recommend this adventure for players already familiar with the ''MPSE'' system, "however, if you’re just now buying the game 'MPSE'' the extra $4.95 to acquire this teaching tool would be well spent."

Reviews

*''

Fantasy Gamer ''The Space Gamer'' was a magazine dedicated to the subject of science fiction and fantasy board games and tabletop role-playing games. It quickly grew in importance and was an important and influential magazine in its subject matter from the la ...

'' #2 (Oct./Nov., 1983)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Adventure of the Jade Jaguar Mercenaries, Spies and Private Eyes Role-playing game adventures Role-playing game supplements introduced in 1983