itch.io

I appreciate the kind words. It was a fun project, and something that I felt could be unique for a trifold.

Ruin Engine notes:

• I originally had another diagram that showed the die results that set the hallways, but I was getting cramped for space. I'll see what I can shift around to try to include something thine like that post judging. That's a good call
• Using a 10x10 grid provides 100 spaces that the the stairwell could be, so using a d100 to determine where the stairs fall felt intuitive. There again, space for an example would likely help for clarity.
• Depth crawls typically don't have any objective other than go as far as you can and try to find your way out. But I thought with this context there should be a way to procedurally set the location of the objective within the map that the Warden has made. This doesn't affect the players actions at all, but is more of a prep tool for the Warden to determine how many floors down will the objective be located. The way it works:
  • Warden decides how difficult they want the crawl to be
  • Then procedurally builds the floor
  • Lastly, rolls to see if the objective is on the floor they just built. Lower than the target percentage + level and the objective is on that floor. If not, repeat the process
• Roadside Picnic is GOATed, such a good book. The mange were the areas of intense gravity that would crush someone that accidentally walked in. It's what stalkers would be checking for when they would toss nuts and bolts as they explored the Zone. I felt like those would be Easter Eggs for people that were in the know, but provided the source material for a quick google search. I'm a big fan of Stephen King's Dark Tower series, and it's full of cross over references that are just so unexpected and exciting when you read them. To me, allowing for literary overlap in the game design opens a door (Dark Tower pun intended) to let other influences spill in to a Warden's prep.

These are all solid critiques, and food for thought for how I might edit before public release. I really appreciate your thoughtful responses.