Thanks very much. I would love to redo my design with inset maps (and fewer words, if I could ever figure out how to edit myself).
Haha, yeah, those citrus colors... Wild. Needless to say, I like your entry's color scheme much better!
Inspiration: Great use of the three games you drew.
Usability: This would be a snap to run, and I like that it's built for speed, like all good Shadowdark adventures should be.
Vibes: The NPC portraits are amazing. And the Stolen Veggies. That cucumber has so much personality! All of the art is great, really. Even the "pixelated" Shadowdark banners. So clever.
Inspiration: Zelda with a ghostly twist. You made the most of your game draws.
Usability: This would be pretty easy to run as is. Keying the boxed info around the maps to specific areas on the map would be helpful, but their inclusion is a great idea.
Vibes: The double-booklet layout (clever!), retro maps, and 8-bit illustrations are fantastic. This is a classic NES video game in TTRPG form.
Inspiration: I see the DNA of Super Contra here, for sure. Shadowdark + firearms with frequent mishaps = CHAOS. Nice.
Usability: A little reorganization would help with usability. I'd suggest moving pages 2 and 3 after the two new class pages. And further differentiating these two new classes from each other would make them more appealing options. The way this adventure is set up, I think it would work especially well for solo play.
Vibes: I love the art. The bearded dwarves, orcs, and drauger with giant heads are awesome.
Inspiration: A seamless combination of the three games you received.
Usability: At first I felt that the lack of specific area descriptions in these huge castle levels was a detriment, but I quickly realized that this is not so. I could easily run this with a (blank) map laid out on the table and the party moving square by square as they encountered NPCs, samurai, and were surprised by ninjas hiding behind corners. The layout is great. One spread for the setup, one for the monsters, and five for the levels.
Vibes: This is hilarious. A truly funny distillation of The Simpsons (via Ghostbusters and Murasame Castle) converted into TTRPG form. The art really helps sell it for me. I enjoyed reading it so much that it makes me want to run it all the more. Nice job.
Inspiration: Drawing a golf game would've stumped me, but you were truly inspired. I'm impressed by the mechanics you developed out of the game's nine-hole survival structure. Especially the crystal arrow traveling mechanic used to traverse each region.
Usability: Once I grokked the concept I think this would be fairly easy to run. The "Quick Tip" boxed text is a nice touch, helping the GM sell the atmosphere of each region to the players.
Vibes: "The sound of rain is an illusion; It is the hiss of a thousand whispered wishes bubbling up to the surface of the lake." I love that. Very evocative.
Inspiration: Nice use of all three games. The Bayou and Gargoyle games really come through in the setting, and the Super Glove Ball makes for a fantastic magic item/items.
Usability: You fit all this into the booklet-size format? *tips hat*
I think this would be pretty easy to run at the table. Easy to read, nice layout, clear map.
Vibes: The Powerball would create absolute mayhem at the table. In other words, it's perfect. And the "Duck Hunt" gun controller's cameo made me laugh out loud. Nice touch.
Inspiration: You nailed it. The three NES games you drew have their DNA all through this adventure.
Usability: The presentation of the material is well thought out and intuitive. Legibility isn't ideal, especially on page 3. But with fewer words or more pages to fill out (not an option for this jam, unfortunately, but maybe after the ratings are done?) I think the general idea of the layout would work really well at the table.
Vibes: This is the very definition of "8-bit" all the way. The premise and the art (including the headers) beautifully reinforce the vibes and would easily telegraph to my players what the expectations are in terms of gameplay. A perfect gonzo adventure.
Inspiration: Especially good use of the Jeopardy! concept in the second encounter. Definitely my favorite part (Lady Query reminds me of Anne Robinson: "You are the weakest link. Goodbye!").
Usability: The speed-run countdown timer is an awesome idea. The players in my gaming group are slow as molasses, so I am sure they would go down with this 60-minute ship every time. But I'm very interested in testing them (and myself) on it.
Vibes: Great concept overall. The first and third encounters read especially "8-bit video game" to me. Nice work!
Ah, a true Nightshade fan! Thanks so much--I'm glad the village section works for you. And I *really* appreciate the design/typeface feedback. I am no designer, so this is truly helpful. I'd never have recognized that visual clash if you hadn't pointed it out. (So, spoiler alert, it wasn't intentional. Good learning opportunity, though!)
Inspiration: This is like the final act of a sixth Indiana Jones film, all ready to go. Eat your heart out, Spielberg. One inspirational nitpick: shouldn't the questions and answers in area 8 be reversed, Jeopardy!-style? (Not actually a nitpick--but it might be funny.)
Usability: Layout is great, I think this would be very easy to use at the table. I'm envious of your ability to fit so much material into a relatively concise word count.
Vibes: Really great puzzles and creative monsters. The map is a beaut.
Inspiration: Uncle Scrooge (who is Scottish) and golf--the perfect combo. Add some characters from Greek myth and we're off! You've taken these three completely different games and meshed them together quite well.
Usability: Like the cherished modules of old, this isn't a "sit down and play it while you read it" kind of adventure. The room descriptions aren't super-lengthy, but they are dense with info and some of it is buried (like the three all-important ferryman's coins). This is the kind of adventure I would need to read a week ahead of time and make notes along the way so I don't get lost while running it. But it's doable. And the overall layout is great: one page for each section--including the map, so there's no flipping back and forth.
Vibes: Some great NPCs in here. MacDuque the caretaker, Par Al Ba-Tros the jovial djinni, the owlbear librarian... Lots of stuff to interact with as well. And it's a bit goofy, just like my favorite 8-bit video games of the '80s. Well done.
The story of Monulesk and his scored atlas reads like an actual myth millennia old. It certainly the kind of hook that would inspire my party to find the atlas. I strongly suspect a PC would adopt one of those adorable, scrawny bone giraffes as an animal companion. And I love the map. At first glance it looks quickly sketched, but it has layers.
I had to force myself to stop admiring the wizard's tower map (awesome details!) so I could read the rest of this great adventure. The cursed coin is a truly nasty (by which I mean inspired) magic item. My favorite part, though, is the skeleton pirates: chaotic hirelings who get drunk on lagoon water. Well done.
Provides a clear goal and plenty of material for the Warden to facilitate any number of approaches by the PCs. With multiple cover story options, the players could even attempt this heist again if they fail the first time (just go back in time and use a different set of PCs, who will probably run into the original PCs, now bumbling NPCs who will no doubt get in the new PCs' way). Great layout, great cover, endless possibilities!
The layout is fantastic, and I adore the "praise/hooks?" bit on the back cover. That's so clever. And the random encounters are great: stalagmicicle, ornery fur trapprs ("a lust for furs makes a man do many things"), a fur seal with a gun (complete with illustration)? Hilarious. My group would love this.
There's a lot to love about this adventure: a roving Big Bad, the Shadow Bleed timer, a creepy event table, a loot table, and clues scattered throughout the rooms. Lots of support for the GM to help keep things interesting for the PCs. Bonus, it's all wrapped up in a really nice design. And that cover is a beauty!
Thanks for the feedback! With your suggestion in mind, would you recommend dropping the possibility that the PCs might turn to stone as well? I was trying to instill some urgency in resolving the situation, but I'm cognizant of the dangers in trying to force a party to stay put. (In my experience, parties prefer to do the opposite of whatever a GM thinks they're going to do...)
This is one of those locations in which a foolish party might take a look around, then leave--only to have a Jade Titan rise up and cause serious havoc a few weeks later. A brash party might not survive. And a clever party might end up with their very own Jade Titan to control! The Gem Polisher is a fantastic monster: like something out of Fred Flintstone's nightmares.