Going off of a quick skim, this module looks like a quick and clean way to introduce Sparr and Lancer in general! The writing feels lean and professional; no words feel wasted. Adapting a modular hex crawl approach with random encounters gives the players agency over the fights they pick while also providing replay value. While some of the font choices are hard to read in the PDF, the presence of Markdown and HTML formats keeps the adventure accessible. On top of everything, the PDF layout just POPS- it's fun to read!
I did have one question: One of the random encounter sitreps is named "Deescalate"; is this a codified sitrep or simply a turn of phrase? If it's a codified sitrep, where can I find the rules for it?
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Hey, so glad you like the adventure, do you mind letting me know which fonts you find hard to read? It'll be useful for me when laying out the next 2 chapters.
De-escalate as a sitrep isn't codified in the book, but it's there to indicate the most desirable outcome is to calm down the situation so that nobody gets permanently hurt. I thought it would be fairly clear from context in the table (encounter tables have v limited space) but do you think it needs clarification somewhere? I will be publishing an updated version in a couple weeks to fix whatever typos people have caught.
Hello! The hardest font to read was the font used under Clans of Sparr. I think that it works fine for titles & headings, but it was a little hard on the eyes to read it as a paragraph. Some of its capital letters are difficult to parse, which made some of the fictional names harder to parse since I didn't have a clear expectation of spelling (e.g. "Beware" and "Clans" were fine, but "Yuga", "Hrolf", and "Hrankfel" gave me a double-take). The other fonts used felt much clearer to read.
I figured that "Deescalate" was a context-sensitive description of the encounter, but I think it was the "Sitrep" in front that threw me for a loop. In terms of alternatives, if the intent is a narrative-focused scene, maybe use "Narrative" instead of "Sitrep"? Or, if it's intended to be a straight-up fight, maybe just call it "Sitrep: Standard" and briefly indicate that they can be calmed down/incapacitated in the description? Space being at a premium would make the latter option less desirable, though. At the end of the day, I think it's clear enough if you decide to leave it as is.
I think there is an issue with the fact that sitreps in the Core book are extremely specific: they suggest cover placement, enemy force size, deployment zones, reinforcements zones, and most importantly, codify a win condition. More experienced GMs shouldn't have much trouble coming up with a win condition for De-escalate and making a map that's suitable, but if you want this to ease new GMs in as well as new players you should take that burden off of them.