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A jam submission

ECHOES OF MNEMOSYNEView project page

A compact ship-crawl mystery.
Submitted by Cat Skull Press — 1 day, 11 hours before the deadline
Rated by 11 people so far

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ECHOES OF MNEMOSYNE's itch.io page

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Comments

Submitted(+1)

Art: Gorgeous! Love the ship and the overall look of everything.

Writing: Technically solid. It's a bit of a Mothership cliché at this point that the person you're going to meet/rescue turns out to be bad, as is the "found alien artifact, everyone died" setup. But I like the digitally uploaded consciousness twist. I would have liked to see some explanation of what the artifact is, or at least what it looks like.

Game Design: I like the fact that we're not just going room to room fighting monsters, and the two-stage structure of establishing ambiance on the way in and threat on the way out is effective. That said, I find it disappointing that the threat always consists of rolling on a table that tells you what other rolls to make and... that's basically it. Although a good group of players will find room to play their characters regardless, the scenario doesn't really ask many choices of them, except for the one binary decision at the end.  Even the die-rolling is relatively low-stakes as Mothership die-rolling goes, with the worst cases being a 30% chance of taking a fairly trivial amount of damage that is preventable by a saving throw. I'd rather see players given a potentially life-threatening problem to roleplay their way out of.

Theme: The artifact is "tied to an ancient myth" but there's zero explanation of what that myth is. I can't say you didn't do the jam theme, but it feels like you did the minimum.

Layout: Like the art, this is really beautiful. I'm giving full marks because it makes a better impression than most other things this jam, however, I do have one small criticism about the typography. There is a lot of space between the words (due to justification across a narrow column and no hyphenation), and the line spacing (leading) is tight. When the words are closer to the words below and above than to the words next to them in their own line, it's hard for the eye to scan a line of text.  You keep jumping up and down and losing your place.

Utility: This is pretty usable as long as you're willing to do some ad-libbing to make the journey in and out more interesting. Some work is also required for the Warden to figure out what exactly the artifact is and what the lore is, as the players will want to know that.

Favorability: It's a really cool ship, and scenarios that emphasize mood over combat are up my alley. If I was going to run it I would rejig it to make the escape more interesting and less of an exercise in die-rolling. I'd probably also com up with a challenge even if they vent the Vault, since it'll be disappointing if they're never in any actual danger.

Developer(+1)

Cheers! Yeah, there was a lot I wanted to do with the project, but by the end I realised I was trying to fit quite a substantial module into a trifold format. Space was definitely the biggest challenge, and most ideas had to be stripped back heavily just to fit.

From the beginning, the intention was for this to be a very bare bones concept that the Warden could build upon themselves. I wanted it to feel more like an ad libbing style trifold that encouraged improvisation at the table, and in hindsight I think I could have pushed that aspect further. That especially applied to the logs, where I tried to leave room for interpretation, although I still somehow ended up writing those sections in more detail than intended!

I do plan to revisit and redevelop this as a zine instead, where I can properly flesh out the ship, expand the systems, and include a stronger subplot. This was only my second time handling the writing side of a trifold, and the first time I have really tried incorporating more structured rules into one, so it has been a valuable learning experience.

With the artefact, my intention from the start was to lean into a “what’s in the briefcase?” style mystery similar to Pulp Fiction. I removed some of the artefact artwork to make more room for text, although looking back I probably did not use that extra space as effectively as I could have.

I also agree that the theme ended up fairly minimal. I had originally hoped the connected system would settle on a stronger shared mythology or legend, but as that never fully developed, I chose to keep my contribution more open so it would not contradict other entries. One of the biggest challenges was also the danger mechanics. I had ideas for a more evolved narrative progression throughout the trifold, but realistically I felt there was only room for either the hazard table or a more complex mechanic, not both. After showing versions to several Wardens, opinion seemed split, so I followed my instincts and kept the hazard table.

Overall, it has definitely been a learning curve. I think a lot of us found ourselves stronger in certain sections and weaker in others, which speaks to how difficult the trifold format can be. If anything, I have realised I am probably more confident with the visual and structural side than the written aspect, though I will absolutely be taking all of your feedback into future projects. Thank you again, I really appreciate the feedback and the time taken to go through it.

Submitted(+1)

What I've noticed some people do effectively in this kind of format is to kind of gesture in a direction where they think the Warden could fill in detail. E.g. instead of just saying it's an artifact with mythology, you could say something like "a decorative warhelm believed by xenotheologians to be the one mentioned in the Rydoshian doomscrolls" which gives the Warden something to riff on rather than a completely blank canvas.

Developer(+1)

I shall take this as a strong note for when I redevelop this, and I will be certain to mention my "glowing briefcase" mindset and reference Pulp Fiction!

Submitted(+1)

I really, really love the art/design/layout of this! Even just as a ship manual its great, let alone the adventure attached to it. The mechanics and ideas for that portion are also really cool and thought out - love the writing too, engaging and easy to read. (Personal preference, not a criticism - Would love to see the theme/flavour of Mnemosyne leaned into harder in the ways the artefact messes with the minds of the crew/potential players!)

Developer

THANK YOU!

Submitted(+1)

Very good all around.

Developer

thank you

Also I just realised you’re behind Eternal Ruins, I was broke at the time when the kickstarter happened but sooooooooo coool

Submitted

Sorry, that's actually someone else. 

I based A Wanderer's Journal off the Eternal Ruins setting as a fan game (with the creator's permission), before the official Eternal Ruins RPG was announced. The kickstarter is actually a completely different game, dev team, etc.

Developer

OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH my bad ahaha

Submitted(+1)

Genuinely looks like some kind of technical document at first glance. Really striking in aesthetic above all else and easily the reason why I read further. 

Submitted(+1)

The visual design and layout is so well integrated into both the "space ship industry" aesthetic *and* the established MOTHERSHIP style.