Another favorite in this jam! love the twist on the myth, super simple and to the point in the best possible way, and good writing to make the system all work.
Killing it!
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Project Sisyphus (Mothership Module)'s itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| UTILITY — Does complexity inspire game prep? Or Is it very "Pick-up-n-Play"? | #4 | 4.000 | 4.000 |
| LAYOUT — How well does the module get across information? | #5 | 4.043 | 4.043 |
| GAME DESIGN — How good is the game balance or concepts there in? | #7 | 3.783 | 3.783 |
| FAVORABILITY — how much do you personally like the submission? | #11 | 3.609 | 3.609 |
| Overall | #11 | 3.776 | 3.776 |
| THEME — How well is the jam theme used? | #14 | 3.739 | 3.739 |
| WRITING — How does this read? does it emanate with horror, humor, drama...? | #23 | 3.696 | 3.696 |
| ART — How good is the art/graphic design? | #28 | 3.565 | 3.565 |
Ranked from 23 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Comments
- Such clean layout, and great colour choices. The light green on the white is a bit hard to read.
- Excellent guidance on how the events should unfold, and what happens after.
- I can't fault much! As personal preference, I'm missing the spookiness factor, but otherwise a well-executed module!
Submitted
SubarkticI agree about the light green text. It's fine for the headers probably but I may need to change it for the malfunction descriptions. I was trying to stick to a limited palette: there are only five colors there, plus white. I could make that green a little darker but then the NPC boxes would also be darker because they're the same color. Maybe that's not a problem. I'll fiddle a bit and see if I can make it better without adding a sixth color.
Regarding spookiness, my hope is that that comes through in the game with rattling ducts and flickering lights and the sudden wail of a decompression alarm, worms writhing in the shadows as the vacuum of space begins to suck your breath away... it's the players who need to be freaked out, not the Warden, but I agree that it's nice when a module also conveys those vibes to help you get into the spirit. You're the second to mention that, so when I'm doing revisions, I'll see if there are places to inject more vibes without sacrificing too much clarity.
Good looking submission. It seems well thought out. I like the fact that we have an act progression outline that is exactly the type of stuff that I want in a module.
Just spending one panel on the ship layout is good, most similar modules spend two or the full three panels for a map that isn't really relevant for the scenario.
A very minor comment I have is regarding the decompression levels table I would have put the title of the table and the O2 remaining in a header as part of the table itself. Also not sure if the sealed unsealed distinction is necessary, perhaps it could be kept by saying that sealed compartments keeps O2 for ten times as long as unsealed ones.
Thanks for the comments.
Regarding the table, I initially tried it the way you'd like it to be, but the shape of the available space didn't allow me to do that (put the "O2 remaining" labels as part of the header). I tried it with the decompression levels as the rows and as the columns, but either way, there was a space issue with either the labels or the cell contents for the level effects. I could have run it horizontally across two panels, but then I wouldn't have been able to do what I wanted with the map, or I would have had to break the timeline up across two panels.
Sometimes, you just have to abandon standard gridded solutions to use the available space effectively.
Same with the decompression times. I thought about listing one time and then saying "When hatches are unsealed, decompression times for the full ship are 10x those for a single, sealed section." But that actually takes up almost as much room as just listing two numbers for each and I decided it was more user-friendly to just give both.
That was definitely the part of the layout I struggled with the most, because it's a lot of information and an awkward amount of space for it. It's interesting that I've now had one person say it was their favorite aspect of the layout and then you say it's your one complaint. It's definitely the most non-standard, which I guess is why opinions vary.
I love the incorporation of the Sisyphus myth! In general, I love morally gray problems so the alien lifecycle being interrupted was a wonderful turn of the screw. I think the title, layout, design and utility are all fantastic. For me this didn’t “emanate horror”, their description was a bit scientific/clinical, which I liked, but I think that undercut the tension in some ways? I think some art of the aliens would go a long way. The tables were awesome and I intend to use them immediately, especially the decompression table which I loved.
Thanks. I did maybe err on the side of clarity over vibes for the text, because there's a lot going on and I was focused on utility. I could probably rework the "Secret of the Asopids" section to include less clinical language. I do like it when modules evoke creepy vibes, as it helps to get the Warden in the spirit, although at the end of the day, what's most important is that the Warden evokes those vibes for the players. I think and hope there is enough to work with here in that regard... the players are trapped in a tin can where everything is going wrong, worms are burrowing through the hull, and oxygen levels are plummeting. Maybe I should put it in exactly those terms somewhere.
hey, I saw your comment on Discord- not sure if you’re looking for additional feedback, but I think including “the players are trapped in a tin can where everything is going wrong, worms are burrowing through the hull, and oxygen levels are plummeting.” as a tag line on the cover would contextualize the module a lot. A few sensory details for the malfunctions, the smell of ozone, the shrill alarm, etc. would go a long way to make it feel more immediate and immersive.
My only hesitation about that is I worry about players seeing the module lying around, or while browsing TKG's table at a con or whatever. I've been trying to keep spoilers off the front (though keeping them off the back seems too hard, as that's always my place for NPC/monster stats and such).
I think there's a lot of things you could do that would make a module more fun to read in the context of the jam that might make it less useful at the actual table.
That's said, I might replace the initial paragraphs about how to run Project Sisyphus at the top of the timeline with something along those lines... less tips for running it, more "here's the vibes you should be aiming for."
I really enjoyed reading through this! Strong writing, fun hook, the layout is clean, and colors contrast well throughout. In particular I like how you handled labeling Time to Critical O2 Level table and worms-with-plasma bursts. Cool work!
Submitted
The Ikkari IncidentThanks for the kind words, and I'm particularly delighted to hear that you like what I did with the O2 levels. That table was a real sticking point for me... I tried it as a normal grid both ways (with levels as rows or as columns) and it couldn't work in the space available either way... either the content wouldn't fit or the labels wouldn't. So that was the solution I eventually came up with and was quite pleased with, so I'm glad someone else noticed.
Thanks!
I learned a lot from the previous jam and partially relied on solutions I'd found for that... same typefaces, basically the same logical structure for which info goes on which panel, roughly the same amount of text overall, etc. Just not having to reinvent the wheel on some of that really fundamental stuff helped with the time constraints and allowed me to focus on the details.
First off, this is great design. The colors work well. I love the map and the asteroid as a text box. What did you use to make the map?
The concept is fantastic. I love the boring 9-5 nature of it. The world-building is excellent and well thought out. Are the character nicknames their call signs?
Really good hooks, guidance, and thought-provoking ideas for continuation.
I liked the sudden and classic body horror. Keep players on their toes.
The major and minor malfunction tables work well. Lots of good ideas for complications. Does the Lighting failure major malfunction mean that the only lighting comes from the hatch markers?
I like the map, but I feel like the map and the room descriptions, while perfectly functional, descriptive, and well-done, could focus more on interactivity, provide options to more clearly serve the gameplay, or be more flavorful. I can see the explanations of the spaces not figuring into the session much.
I think this is really solid and well designed.
Submitted
The Apotheosis EngineI use Adobe products. The map and asteroid shape are Illustrator, the portraits and logo are Photoshop, and everything else is InDesign.
Re: body horror, I'm obviously riffing on Alien, but my thinking is it's always the biologicals who are horrified and the androids who are immune to stuff, so what if I made something particularly horrifying to androids?
Yes, the idea of the lighting failure is that it's pitch black except that you can at least see the hatches to get from room to room. There is surely something in storage that could generate light if you can find it, or you could find a cable to short out and make some sparks, or make a torch out of oily rags in the kitchen, etc.
Which brings us to your feedback re: the room descriptions. My intent was kind of that instead of doing a bunch of explicit Thing A solves Problem B, that if the players think of a solution to a problem, the thing they need is probably somewhere, with Storage being the default if it doesn't logically belong somewhere else. But that fetching the thing and getting it to work is usually going to take time, while more worms appear and eat more holes in the ship.
So that's why I didn't explicitly list useful items per area and instead used the limited available space to establish the physical environment. However, it's useful to know that's not quite working for you. Maybe for post-jam revision, I'll list one item per area and then make the Storage more explicitly a game mechanic, like "Can't find what you're looking for in another area? It's here somewhere, but will take 1D5 rounds to locate and might be broken."
Thanks so much for the kind words and the suggestion about the room descriptions.
Oh, and regarding nicknames, I guess they also function as callsigns. My thinking was more that everyone is vaguely embarrassed to be stuck in this job and doesn't really want to talk about themselves or how they ended up here. So, going by or giving each other nicknames is a way to kind of disassociate themselves from who they are outside the Vódi and establish some false camaraderie while carefully avoiding any actual closeness.
A very immediately playable entry. Love the usocial robot angle.
Submitted
Seven Stars Remembered
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