Hello Unfathomable team,
Having read through this adventure I have to say that the scope and breadth that you put into one pamphlet is impressive. It seems like this could be a 3-5 session adventure and all contained in a pamphlet is amazing. And just finishing an impressive pamphlet like this is a feat in itself so congrats on that.
Here are the ratings and explanations that I had for each one:
Polish: 4/5
I really like the overall look of the module and it is clear that a lot of time and effort went into the layout and design because there is so much but you were able to fit everything in, and it is all for the most part very legible. I really like the cover image, it does a great job of foreshadowing the insanity of the adventure. It is a very dense adventure and I found my attention sliding off of it at times, there are also a few inconsistencies in the locations; for medusa there are little sidebars that give a little overview of the location but it doesn't seem like the other two have this style. I would have also liked some more description on some of the enemies, especially the Ephyra, I'm guessing they're some kind of bug people made by the Gorgon's Head, but it is definitely not clear. Overall very nice looking but some inconsistent writing.
Favorability: 2/5
As this is the most subjective category this is just my personal taste. I found many parts of the adventure to be under-explained and overly complicated. I like how crazy it can get but I could not see myself running this personally. I also find depth crawls to not personally be my favorite way to play an adventure. All of the scenes, locations, and events are interesting but not as fleshed out as I would like for my table, and some of them are so conceptual that it seems hard to explain them to my players in a way that would be actionable in game. So overall this is just not my favorite kind of adventure but I find it all very creative and interesting.
Usibility: 1/5
Unfortunately as I have previously stated this adventure seems like a beast to run. The mechanics for the depth crawl are not very well explained and I found myself having to go back and re-read sections 3-4 times to finally understand how to run it, and there were still parts that are confusing for me. For example when does a warden roll for an encounter and when do they roll for an event. It seems like these two tables can be interchangeable at time. Also there are no instructions, other than at a few locations, to roll an event, and on the event table there is an option that says roll an encounter. So it feels a little confused how exactly a warden rolls up a location/encounter/details. There also doesn't seem to be much guidance for the PCs. It was only after reading the entire adventure did I realize that the PCs can assault the Gorgon's Head at any time and that going into the different locations and destroying the pylon in each one just makes the Gorgon weaker. It is unclear how the PCs are supposed to know to do anything that the adventure wants. It also seems to me somewhat unwieldy with all of the different events and encounters but also the different factions and secret agendas, another thing that is somewhat unclear. Overall while I admire the scope and scale of this project it would definitely take some doing by the warden to get this adventure on the table.
Theme: 2/5
I like that the ziggurat and Gorgon's Head is beneath the sands in a desert and that it is uncovered in an asteroid impact, and the way the adventure itself is a depth crawl so you are going down below the surface. Other than those two factors though I didn't really see much more playing off the theme of "Just Below the Surface". Maybe if the adventure had been a little more focused, like with one depth crawl instead of three, the theme could have been explored more.
Overall I think this is an ambitious and great looking pamphlet that maybe fumbles the execution in some places, but I'm excited to see what else this team puts out.
Great Job!