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(2 edits)

First up: I'd run this, and like chipsandsolstice said, I could probably comfortably run it now, having read it only a couple of times.

Cool, clear premise.

Small but varied locations, sufficient detail, good roll tables, easy to transmit story to players, good building horror.

Gorgeous cover art, dead creepy. Slick overall look.

Theme is central to the what/why, but very much in the background.

Picky crits:

I'm always a fan of including a summary for the GM of what/how/why happened, even though it's not strictly necessary here.

Page numbers would make it more parse-able digitally.

A handful of typos/omissions: HANDHELD CONSOLE (vital exposition?) is not bolded in the location description text. Power room desc ending cut off? Marking which rooms hold Hazardous Complications (not only which have Corpses) would be a helpful clarifier/reminder.

How many Androids? 1 crew listed on Manifest marked Disabled, but a heap in Cryo, more in Sub Bay... Are the cargo?  [Yes, they are cargo, it actually is clearly stated in the text.]

Is it necessary/helpful to have randomly-located corpses?  Seems like some 'should' be in specific rooms.

Thank you so much for the read up and recommendations. I've fixed up the item highlight and repaired the readability of the Power room entry in an above comment, but will make the fixes to the project once it is editable again. For the hazardous environments it is meant to be assumed that basically anywhere without a "scripted" event like finding the monster or a body there is always a chance of something happening. Do you think it is a little too vague with just the Hazardous Environment Warden note paired with the chart?

(+1)

It boils down to a preference thing, but if there are two 'classes' of rooms in about equal number, I'd mark both rather than only one. If every time I look at a map, it reminds me of one case, but not the other, then at a glance mid-game I'm as likely to see "nothing happens here" as I am to remember that "nothing = HazEnv event."

(3 edits)

I can see what you mean. I'll play with it a bit, could add a little balance to the second page if every room title has a symbol on both sides.

I forgot to mention the randomized corpses in rooms, but the intention is to add some slight replayability and an extra opportunity for the monster to appear even if the players never interact with the  smaller cargo room that acts something like a lair. I think corpses appearing in places that feel weird gives people more to wonder about, like why is somebody else stuffed in Conrad's cabin? Maybe the monster was hiding a body, maybe somebody got cornered frantically trying to hide, maybe the dice line up and put Conrad in there so it just makes sense. I can see how it could make for some awkward interactions though, like finding two sets of spare keys in the cabins or the first aid key sitting right next to the locked box, but I'm not sure how to remedy that without assigning every body to a room and doing away with the mix-up entirely. I guess that might just have to be left to a Warden's discretion to fudge some things for their own game, which I don't love, but I'm certainly open to ideas on changes to the topic.

(+1)

Re: corpse locations: as soon as I hit post, I remembered these are people being hunted through a claustrophobic ship by a crazy monster, and they all probably have access to every room in the place. "Flee to wherever you can reach" is logically going to give you some 'illogical' hidey holes and randomly scattered items. Weird feeling is right. I don't think duplicated items is a big problem - the captain could plausibly have back-ups of any card/key, which scatters in the melee.

The replayability and sense of strange are totally sensible out-of-universe justifications too.