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Stars That Bite Back's itch.io pageResults
Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
Favorability - how much do you personally like the submission? | #30 | 3.092 | 3.188 |
Polish - How is the overall look/vibes/writing & design? | #32 | 2.789 | 2.875 |
Usability - How "pick up & play" is this for a Warden? | #34 | 2.607 | 2.688 |
Theme - How well does it match the Jam's Theme? | #37 | 2.607 | 2.688 |
Overall | #37 | 2.774 | 2.859 |
Ranked from 16 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Judge feedback
Judge feedback is anonymous.
- I am a new warden, so my feedback is based on what I had questions about after reading, and what made me feel particularly excited about the module/like I could run it. ? How fast does the monster move from place to place? ? How long does it take players to get to the relay station in their vaccsuits? ? How do players repair breached rooms? + Very cool monster, its abilities sound really interesting + I like that this really gets into oxygen mechanics
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Comments
What I like from this one!
Places I feel it could be improved:
All told I do like a lot of the elements in this module! I feel it meanders a bit and could use a bit of developmental editing to clarify/tighten up the procedures from running the horror, but it's absolutely solid bones to springboard off of! Well done!
Okay, so I like making space itself a villain, but way in which you've implemented that leaves me with questions. Specifically, whether this is a basically organic creature that just lives in space and uses camouflage, or whether it's some sort of metaphysical embodiment of space itself, like a "vacuum elemental."
You seem to be trying to have it both ways, because you said it was a patch of space that became sentient, but then describe its attacks in a corporeal way. Specifically, "crushing mass" sounds like the opposite of space, since "space" is specifically the absence of matter.
By the same token, I want to know more about how it interacts with oxygen and how the oxygen is harmful to it, because that's something that would need to be described to the players. Oxygen can in fact be a deadly gas to organic things, and was an atmospheric poison to life on Earth at one stage of evolution, before most things came to depend on it instead. On the other hand, if it's more of a "living vacuum," then presumably it can't help but suck up the oxygen but becomes "less of a vacuum" in the process... maybe sucking up air and other things makes it smaller until it can "regenerate the vacuum".
The map and location descriptions are fine, the monster is cool despite needing to be more fleshed out, but the whole thing left me feeling a bit flat. It took a while to realize what it is, but I feel like this is almost more like a single, elaborate encounter than a full module. There's no complexity to the plot, no "transgression" (to use the TOMBS model) that provoked the monster's violence, nothing to explore, no real mystery to solve other than that the monster can possess people, no variability in the possible outcomes other than defeating it, dying, or running away. You just kinda show up on a mission, fight a monster, and go home (or not).
So if you were going to do more work on this, those are the avenues I'd suggest... flesh out the exact nature of the monster a bit more, and put it into a more interesting context with more moving parts.
Hiya! Here are some stray thoughts I wrote down while reading this!
immediately in love with the visuals for this creature. black ooze with white specks. predator in its natural habitat. very cool.
oh lord this thing is gonna have a BODY COUNT. very strong (but thoughtful weaknesses balance it out)
map feels good, i wouldn't have minded some numbering in addition to the indicators just to have something easy to distibute to players (we usually do this at our table by taking and carefully cropping a photo and sending it to the group chat -- this is a minor gripe tho, easy enough to add numbers after taking the photo)
i like the intruder red herring, and the luring a player outside for a snack.
could easily see how the drama and horror would escalate here! nice work!
Really cool and unique monster. Looks great and laid out well but could use some minor TLC to increase clarity of writing. Only major note is that absent some more concrete tables or timelines regarding monster attacks/events, it's a bit open-ended, but a creative DM looking for a "players vs the DM" scenario will really enjoy that. Would also be nice to see some more discoverable exposition for the monster because I can see players missing out on a lot of the cool details. Great adventure!
I really like the Erymanthian
BoarOoze, such a cool monster! Here is my feedback+ Clear and readable layout, things delineated and sectioned clearly!
+ Great guidance on how to run the monster and how it works in a warden-focused, gameable way.
- Adding some concrete mechanical bonuses to the cargo transport suit would be nice; there are a few ways it can be interpreted currently.
- Cryosleepers probably don't need to be mentioned as NPCs directly since they aren't characters per se.
- Location descriptions are a bit verbose; some trimming and editing will make them easier to parse.
- The map is slightly hard to read with the transparent effects; a simpler rendering of the map would make things a bit clearer.
Very cool UCR style horror with lots of details to either plant it in an ongoing game or run with the given scenario.
+ Very natural game setup that justifies players finding themselves in this scenario
+ Lots of tools for the horror to utilize while giving players avenues to fight back
+ Fun weakness that acts as a safe space for players and a hazard that the horror creates by looking to room it from their ship
If you're looking feedback, let me know and I can expand further.
Hey HorizontalSpaceman, I just got a word from TKG letting me know they haven’t received a submission for 3rd party licensing approval. Make sure you send your module as well as your contract in to 3pp@tuesdayknightgames.com
Thanks!
Yep, sorry! Couldn't do a meeting for it until today. Got it all signed and just sent the email!
So I got a response from TKG. They want me to update the monster statblock to use 1E rules (I must've done 0E) and asked for some mechanic specification in the monster abilities. Should I upload the new file with the changes? Or leave it as-is for now. I don't want to cheat or anything since the submission date has already passed.
I think leave things as they are for right now and update to 1E after the Jam is completed (its only a few more days of Judging anyways). Also no worries on that one, I did the exact same thing when I made Children of Eden, and I had a 0E stat block on my Horror. fixed it post Jam.
Awesome, will do. Thanks for the quick reply!
Oh hey Horizontal Spaceman, my apologies I just realized you still have your pending approval version still up! were you saying that TKG wants you to update to a 1E stat block to give you final approval? if yes go ahead and do that, i’ll call that change on them not on you trying to futz with your design. DM me on discord when you want to upload the licensed file!