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A jam submission

Lover God of the Ohm-64 MinesView project page

Downloadable TTRPG Adventure Module
Submitted by I am piloted by my hats — 2 days, 3 hours before the deadline

Play TTRPG module

Lover God of the Ohm-64 Mines's itch.io page

Results

CriteriaRankScore*Raw Score
UTILITY — Does complexity inspire game prep? Or Is it very "Pick-up-n-Play"?#353.1363.136
LAYOUT — How well does the module get across information?#403.0913.091
ART — How good is the art/graphic design?#412.8642.864
THEME — How well is the jam theme used?#422.8642.864
Overall#452.8382.838
GAME DESIGN — How good is the game balance or concepts there in?#462.6822.682
FAVORABILITY — how much do you personally like the submission?#472.5002.500
WRITING — How does this read? does it emanate with horror, humor, drama...?#472.7272.727

Ranked from 22 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.

Judge feedback

Judge feedback is anonymous.

  • A perfectly middle-of-the-road module! The grammar and syntax is what needs the most attention as confusing phrasing can make parts of the module hard to parse, but otherwise it's perfectly serviceable and the art does its job. Ultimately, a touch too much is revealed too early that will very quickly give away the idea that mind-controlling insects are the core horror of the module, and it lacks a satisfactory conclusion beyond wandering into the mines, going "wow that's spooky", and running back out.

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Comments

Submitted (2 edits)

Art: Probably needs a bit more art or at least a bigger and more polished map and a little more graphic design flair, as it's currently pleasing but not particularly exciting. That said, it's nice and clean, easy to read, and the use of color is good. The only thing I would say color-wise is that instead of pure black for the text, I would use a very dark color that harmonizes with the rest of the palette, e.g. the same hue as your aqua color but much darker, or even a deep purple.

Writing: I'm giving high marks because I think the story-telling and imagination here is good, even if there are some issues on a technical level. I really like that you included red herrings in terms of a supposed shrine and potential sabotage. One of the problems I see with a lot of modules is that the players will infer what's going on quite quickly, so I love that you're keeping them guessing. Some spelling mistakes, like shrinzophrenia/schizophrenia and dopamin(e). "Lunatic" is considered a slur these days, so I'd suggest replacing that with another word.

Game Design: Decent effort overall. The NPCs could be more fleshed out... think beyond just what their role is in the plot. Consider how interactions with them could be interesting in their own right. Mechanically, my main complaint is that I'm not sure the standard combat rules are the best way to handle an insect swarm. I know a lot of games just do the "one bug/rat/whatever per wound" thing, but when it's the only enemy in a scenario, it feels to me like the solution to dealing with a swarm should be more interesting and realistic than just firing a gun into it until it disperses.

Theme: High marks for creativity, and I like that the miners have created their own myth to justify abandoning the work and enjoying buggy sexy times. But there's nothing "ancient" here and the myth isn't fleshed out beyond just saying "they claim there's a shrine." To be clear, I like it, but it feels more adjacent to the theme than really following it.

Layout: Solid overall. Map needs to be better. As with the tip about text color, there are a lot of little details that would take this from a solid amateur effort to giving pro vibes, like not using hyphens as bullets in your lists, thinking a little more carefully about alignment and indenting instead of relying on word processor defaults, etc. But the basics are here in terms of having an information hierarchy, letting the text breathe, etc. 

Utility: Seems easy enough to run. I'd want to make the NPCs more memorable, but I could improvise that on the fly. Full marks.

Favorability: I quite like this. I don't think it would make my top ten, but certainly above-average for the jam.


Developer

Thanks for the comment! Glad you liked the bit about keeping the players guessing, that's one of my main intentions in writing this :)

Submitted

This looks slick! The front page illustration is great, the map could however use a little cleanup to make it come across more deliberately scribbly as the bug.

As to the content I agree that it could use some proof reading. Also I am not super fond of the bug mechanics, seems a little unrealistic. But on the other hand it does subvert your expectations.

Developer

Thanks for the comment! For some trivia, bug mechanics are somewhat based on the Baphomet Moth and the Broadclub Cuttlefish. I do agree that balancing spectacle and realism is definitely something I can benefit from considering tho :)

Submitted

This is very cool. At first, I was not very enthusiastic, but the more I read, the more I see the chaos this scenario will sow amongst my players.

I'd recommend giving it a little more time in the oven and tidying up the art and the spelling/grammar/editing, but it's pretty close. As is, it reads and looks like a rough final draft.

That being said, this is cool and very Mothership. I'm excited to run this one!

Developer

Thanks so much for the encouragement! Content delivery in the module format feels much trickier than actually running them as games. I'll update a better cooked version once the rating period is over :)

Submitted(+1)

I think others have said basically what I noticed in my readthrough regarding a bit of a consistency/writing pass to clear up the flow of information! That said, I really enjoy investigative adventures and I think this is an excellent foundation for one! The layout and art are clean and readable with just enough subtle flair to engage the reader, and I think the central conflict between the corpos and the workers is well-staged. The swarm is eerie! Really great elements all throughout that I think can really shine with a punch-up:

  • From a consistency standpoint, I'd recommend changing the formatting of the statblocks to match up with the standard [Creature C:50 2d10 DMG I:50 W:2(20] format.
  • I also think that it's worth considering some additional content warnings for loss of agency and something to do with the lover gods' pheremonal influence.
  • For the detention cells, I'd avoid feeding the players false info on a skill check failure. Changing this to a passive skill trigger for Psychology or something might be more effective!
  • I'd probably also avoid using the specific term schizophrenia as a throwaway. Plenty enough to just say he's traumatized and losing it!
  • Having page/panel references doesn't super work here since the panels aren't numbered. Might be worth changing to reference specific headings instead.

All that to say, I certainly see a lot of room for improvement, but this is a really solid foundation with a good visual direction and lots of creative energy all throughout! Really stoked to see it evolve post-jam if you're keen. Good stuff!

Developer

I'm glad the investigation part went through! The stat block bit is kept as % because this module might be system agnostic. 

Thank you for these super helpful suggestions, I have a much better idea on how to deliver content in module format now :) Always fun to explore new formats, though admittedly I really should have beta-ed the writing beforehand lol 

Submitted (1 edit)

I like the design and concept and that you present two ways to tackle the investigation, though I would like a little more info on each method. The way you handle the swarm mechanically is solid. I think you incorporated skills well and areas have decent interactivity. I also like your art and would like to see more of that, maybe with a little more polish. The red herring of the marks on the walls is fun, but may be mentioned too much, since it's ultimately a dead end.

I think most of the criticisms of the module would be resolved by more proofreading or editing. There are some misspellings and some issues rearranging the text would resolve.

As I was reading, I kept feeling like I was missing pieces of information, though I was able to put the pieces together afterwards. Some examples:

  • The very first sentence says "The Ohm 64 mining site lies near the slums," but I don't know where this is. I see under warden's notes you say it can be set in any location, so maybe this information could be rearranged to avoid confusion.  Since the slums don't seem to come into play at all, you probably don't need that part.
  • Then on panel 2, you say the player can approach the investigation in two ways "discrete or official. Officers have more authority if they go the corporal way." I am assuming that officers are the official way, but do you mean to say "corporate" instead of "corporal?" This could be tightened up to be more clear.

I'm not sure what the end condition of this module is, or how players would know they're done. There doesn't seem to be a final encounter or proof of the cause of the productivity decline that can be taken to the corporation. I can see the players encountering the swarm once and assuming that's enough proof.

Developer

The location aspect and some stray info are admittedly remnants of cut content; the slums part is originally meant as a hint of the area's socioeconomic status. The end condition is discovering the bug problem, though I see how it can be made clearer. Thanks so much for the detailed suggestions!

Submitted(+1)

I like the premise. If I could offer some proof-reading:
- I think you could use a space between 'gutter job' and 'because' on the far right column of the first page, under warden's notes.
- Under Routes, Factions, and NPCs you say 'go the corporal way', when I think you mean to say 'corporate'.
- In the monster statblock, you don't need to the % sign next to combat and instinct.
- Capitalizing things like Sanity Save and Panic Check will help things look more standard.
- Under Detention Cells, you say 'While he don't remember the details of his escape'. Perhaps you mean 'doesn't' or 'won't'?

Other than that, my only critique is that I wish there were more mines! Some twisty tunnels and a cave-in could really make this thing pop.

Developer

I can't thank you enough, god bless the beta readers! I definitely agree more mines will be more fun. I'll look into free maps online and see if I can update the landscape. 

Submitted(+1)

I love the aesthetic, it's bonkers! The concept is really wacky and feels like it would be fun to run. My only real notes are that there is a handful of minor spelling and grammar mistakes that could be fixed to improve clarity.