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as a concept this is right up the appendix N alley. feels like i saw an episode of Dexter's Lab about this once. i really like the idea of a tournament full of freaks where you're stymied at every turn by magical nonsense - weapons turning hot after the battle ends is a GREAT "fuck you" for the party to make them seethe. ostensibly system neutral, but the way everything's written feels more aligned with 5e / battlemap combat than typical systemless fare. there are a few bits of odd phrasing (like in rooms 1 and 9) but overall the presentation is crisp and accessible.

high: the downtime procedures are a great idea and the thing that sells the tournament vibe the best. little vignettes between each fight to flesh out the world and socially maneuver is exactly the setup i want. nice touch on how people treat you better as your fame rises. i would've loved to see a list of patrons to pull from - a table full of rich weirdos would've added some great flavor i think!

low: so......... this is just personal preference, but the inclusion of a keyed dungeon was a miss for me!! i think you had a lot more room to turn the screws here. it's not bad, but it doesn't click for a few reasons

- the downtime procedures already give you something interesting to do between fights. a whole ass dungeon on the side pulls this module in a very different direction mechanically and leaves both halves not feeling fully realized, IMO

- if i'm running an appendix N inspired module about a tournament of glory and gore, the two most important qualities to me are Glory and Gore. i'm looking for big characters, big energy, and big violence. i'm not looking to skulk around avoiding guard patrols for an hour lol. i think if you'd spent this space adding more excitement to the actual tournament, you could have ramped up the energy and really left this thing feeling electric.

- i think there's also a world where you marry the map to the downtime procedures rather than using it as an exploration site. my head goes to, like, a note on the Security Wing that says "Scheme once for a new downtime action: steal one player's gear out per night". abstracting exploration out to the mechanics you already made might've given this a more cohesive feel

in-between: i'm curious how you numbered the map. it looked random at first. i think i almost see the vision - is it roughly the order that areas become accessible? the cells take you directly from 1 to 3, so you pass through 7 but can't immediately get there? am i overthinking this??

nice work overall, i hope to see more from you!

glad you dig it, thanks for reading!

conceptually this is very fun! i think you took a solid core conceit and explored it well. feels like a 90s point n click game scenario that would kill me til i ragequit. the bride soaking in the bath not knowing the final discovery is such a sad image. she's so close!

i think i'm not reading the intro text right. it describes the final discovery, then points you to the secrets table, but i'm not sure why - that discovery (understandably) is not one of the listed secrets. what connection am i missing there?

i'll echo some comments below - the way you cut off the letter doesn't quite land. it's like a GM-only joke that doesn't work for players lol. i know my friends are opening that thing minute 1 and i'm gonna have to grit my teeth and bullshit about it getting wet in transit or something. 

high: the soul overlap in the lab animals adds a lot to the eerie tone and seems fun, easy, and effective to play. my favorite detail is the ant-like mice. i would've loved to see you explore that more with something grotesque - a thief who drank an animal's soul and can barely function, a cat with the surgeon's soul cutting open its prey, stuff like that.

low: ditto the person below asking for more contrast - the chaotic folder aesthetic is cool and well-realized, but all the overlap without any depth feels too busy imo. the map is especially rough although i do respect you sticking with the blueprint look for the numbering.

in-between: idk why, but the marination hint on a big dumb post-it note in this otherwise crumbling house felt so out of place and incongruous to me that i googled when tape was invented to see if it even fit the vibe. turns out: 1845! that's crazy. i didn't recognize your game, 19th century surgeons.

hey, thank you so much for spending time with this! i agree with your thoughts here, and i appreciate the care you gave to the module. the note on religious imagery is especially hurtful (complimentary) because i felt the same way before publishing but figured nobody would call me on it lmao

i almost wish there were less opportunities to release burdens to force players to make more difficult decisions with who they unload on, but that's my sadistic gm side talking. 

yeah, this ended up easier than i'd like - originally you got a burden whenever you moved between rooms. i chickened out, overcorrected without cutting any release options, and here we are. should've been meaner 😌

the more i think about it the more i think it's the combination of the two back to back.

i think you've articulated what felt off to me on this room but couldn't quite put my finger on. i kept coming back to it and liking the individual details enough that i didn't change anything. good food for thought.

and the refuse pit.

shoutout my editor for convincing me not to cut the poop room in my darkest hour

thank you again for reading! 🙂

i was taken off guard by how much i liked the atmosphere on this one. the climb up the mountain is abundant with intense vignettes that build up tension as you go. i love the description of phasing - it's grotesque. and, i think, interestingly placed in a game about climbing. the image of alternate versions of these townsfolk tumbling down the mountain and then snapping back to flat ground is compelling. 

for the routes, are the modifiers (soft plants, rushing water) like, details that players can use to their advantage, or flavor text for you to bring in after they make a route assessment? i checked out the mountain resonance rules (which are very cool), but still wasn't able to get a good feel on using these

high: the constant attention paid to the fact that fireworks are always bursting overhead, starting from the very first segment. what a striking image! very cool detail to anchor my narration when GMing.

low: the melody source table - i don't mind that the ways to resist it are random, but i'm cold on the actual source not being defined. it's a major detail, but the lack of definition makes it feel disconnected from the rest of the town, especially notable since the text otherwise feels tightly woven. i think in my ideal version of this, you pin down one source for the melody and hint at it throughout some other segments/events to elevate the whole package.

great work on the cover design too!

thanks for reading! i know they started off at 8pt, but as the backgrounds came together we shuffled some text around in aseprite to match the framing. so, they may have shrunk in the wash 😌

you nailed the atmosphere. great, descriptive language that feels vivid but more importantly, fun. i want to see this place in action, i want take people to the blooming garden and endless archives just to see what happens! and the art's stellar too, i adore the chrome soldier. it all just comes to life so well!

high: the flesh pools, my fav imagery of the whole thing. the unfinished half's line is a small detail but gave me goosebumps on first read

low: i'm not familiar with shadowdark so i may be missing something, but this feels toothless. the locals read polite, unbothered, or otherwise static until bothered by the players. there's nothing wrong with an exploration heavy module, but... i think, especially with the listed inspirations, that i'd like to see more stuff that's a threat not because of aggressive posturing but because it's alien and incompatible with you. the encounter roll that can forcibly "upgrade" you is in line with what i was looking for - would've loved to see more like that!

thanks for reading! i'd love to make a non-jam version of this with saner text size, but for now i'll just thank God for PDF zoom features

thank you for the thoughtful feedback! this was my first time cutting bullet points and trying a prose-ier key - i think that lent itself to more atmospheric text, but i felt clumsier when it comes to ease of use. so, i don't think the parseability is a you issue lmao. i'm still figuring out layout myself, so i appreciate your thoughts there. in hindsight, i think i should've crammed burdens/encounters/signs/environ onto the same page and moved the rest to the back 🤔 the former are all tied to cairn 2e's dungeon roll procedure, which is triggered by elevation change (like stairs), so they should all have been together near the map lol. 

glad you enjoyed it and thanks for reading!

it's hard to pin down unfortunately lol, the short of it is that you defer to the logic of the world before deferring to rules or system. the idea is kind of like, if you understand the world and you understand what the players are capable of, you can usually make a reasonable decision about how their actions play out without needing randomness. some FKR tables don't have any player-facing mechanics. for the long of it, here's a great megapost! 

not my preferred style (i like improvising around random results). but in this case, a magic gun that makes you a better shot when you're nasty is a Very cool piece of world logic to work with, and i don't need a rulebook to say what happens when you take a bullet in the desert. since the world is otherwise grounded, there's some appeal for me in stripping away the rules and just playing the space!

oh i do love a good western. thank you for committing to the written voice throughout - it works without being cheesy. i especially like it in the location text. feels like narration you'd hear over a montage in a pulpy movie. love the art, especially my man Jack

high: the guns! terse, great flavor, cool mechanics. if this document was just four pages of those i'd still dig it tbh

low: mechanically this is barebones, but in a way that generally is flavorful and gives a good feel for how to play it. the only whiff for me is the location of the rabbit's eye mineshaft, which is just kinda "idk, put it wherever". i would've liked that to be bespoke, or have a little more sauce in the text to inspire me when putting these pieces together

in-between: the gun rules feel too specific to slot into any old system, but, tbh, very close to just being playable as-is. i don't know if i'd even adapt this - probably i'd just label everything by how many bullets they can take and run it closer to an FKR-style game.

solid work! imo the layout + flow of information shine here. the whole thing is clean, easy to read, and sells the old book feel nicely. well put-together, especially for a first module.

high: the observatorium read-out text. great setpiece. it's a spike of energy that shifts the mood in an otherwise subdued dungeon. i also think it's cosmically funny that the thaumaturge gets the reputation of "keeper of the ledger of fates" but actually his statue does the keeping while he hangs out in his hot tub of ecstasy and terror.

low: the constellation list is cool, but i don't love making the puzzle elements random. it's a missed opportunity IMO. little details like being specific about the thaumaturge's birthsign add depth of flavor that piques my interest as reader and GM. so, i would've liked to see that!

in-between: the vault statue can easily kill people with its evil gas. but the corpse next to it seems to be both desiccated and bludgeoned. why did the statue do that. what's its deal.

wow, you have fleshed out this space so well! every location is (or was) [or still is, technically] full of life. i love all the little tangible details to poke and prod. the crew relationships and interpersonal nuance fill it with heart in a way i dig. great cover art too!

high: you actually managed to cram in some stuff for the cairn 2e dungeon roll! and they're solid entries too despite the space constraints. i also love that the PCs are required to wear campy classic bubble helmets lol

low: lots of typos 😬 also, i think the 2.2 dome is mislabeled as an extra 2.3 in the research base map!

in-between: naming all the crew members. it takes up a LOT of real estate for info that's mostly insignificant. i don't know if you're crazy (positive) or crazy (negative) for it. but i can't help but think that the players looking at a corpse and me being able to immediately rattle off its nametag is a great (and very sci-fi) detail, so i'll lean positive

for me, it's a solid setup that doesn't quite come to life. i think there's a gap between the stated tone and what the text is selling. the big missing piece IMO is the Kept, who feel out of focus and understated despite being the emotional core of the module. what are the locals in each area feeling? how fast is word spreading about the breach? how are they reacting to the bear??? even the apocalypse clock undersells them - the world crumbles and all that brings out is graffiti and whispers!

a few rooms (the Archive and especially the Procession) shine because they show off the deep-rooted melancholy i was looking for - the ritual mourning for a dead world that is itself turned rote and hollow. if that same emotion were injected into the other room descriptions, i think this would really sing!

thanks for your time!

thanks for reading! unfortunately we could not resist the siren call of 8 pt font lmao maybe next year i'll go up a font size as a treat

great minds think alike put religious guys into a Situation

gorgeous across the board. all the wreckage and grime is delicious. reminds me of the game Labyrinth of the Demon King. this combat system feels crazy lmao i really want to try it out just to see it all happen. i dig how tightly woven the mechanics are through the whole text.

high: all the writing is killer but the hall text especially i just wanted to sink my teeth into. i also love the emphasis on silence, especially in the players, mixed with explosive violence

low: i'm not sure how the six day timer works with the minimum of two yeren - if i'm reading right, you'd only roll four Halls (one Dishonor and one Disgrace / character for two characters). i guess you could just pick something for the remaining days, but it loses the connection to chargen. the spirits also feel so unique i'd hate to re-use one, but with memories being random, repeats seem likely

one of my favs overall!

great take on the title! the time loop is such a great way to inject some emotion into the space. i'm impressed you were able to fit three tonally different descriptions into each area while keeping the flow of things comprehensible. it tickles my brain in a good way that the rowboat the players come in on only exists at night in that location.

high: the fog!! wow. the image of walking through this sea of mist only for the time and atmosphere to be radically changed when you emerge is killer.

low: the lack of clear solution is very cool, but it makes the (understandable) lack of clear reward a little limp and uninspiring. something bespoke from a few possible parties would add some extra flavor to their character and elevate this, imo. i'm iffy on some of the blank spaces in the loop itself, like the details of the sabotage - i don't mind figuring that out on my own, but i think specificity would be more fun!

in-between: i straight up thought the astrarium image was a kitschy sci-fi pull until i googled it and saw it was just like. a real thing. wild.

great work fitting in both the dungeon and surrounding travel. i think Into the Odd really shines with small bits of wilderness like that. i also like the local railroads and frontier town. they're a solid grounding touch to the Appendix N of it all. are the tile crawlers an Annihilation reference? i really like them!

high: the first event result with the sudden tempest. such a strong image. the kind of thing i'd open a session of this with because it sets the mood so well. i almost think it should just be part of the module instead of stuck in a random table

low: the sea witch feels undercooked. she's not mentioned in the text for her own lair! for me, she's missing specificity that would inspire me in playing her - what's she doing in the moment the party arrives? what might she offer them?

in-between: from the cover, i was hoping for more coral lol. the imagery here is still cool, but i felt like bleached coral was such a fun angle to ground the world while adding some psychedelic vibes

stellar writing. i think what i really want from this jam is Maximalism and you've got it in spades. there's so much going on that i really had to devote time to sitting with it, but the juice feels worth the squeeze.

fav: the annihilist, great encounter and great POV flavor text

least fav: the tower mood table, feels like the too many'th cook in the kitchen i think. or like instagram filters for a picture that already looks great!

thanks for reading! 

this should be playable in liminal horror with a little extra work - it's meant to slot into a Bastionland pointcrawl, but all that really means is you want some space to breathe between each signal. the ideal feeling is that the city is being taken over and you have to move all over the place to stop it. if you add an encounter between each signal (even something simple like a traffic jam) and lean into the flavor of traveling to different parts of the city, it should probably work out fine.

🥲 thank you so much for reading, i'm really happy this reached you!

wow!! thank you for the review and kind words. i'm honored by the connection to dead astronauts - what a book! i had to struggle through it but it leaves such a strong impression lol. if you end up getting this to the table, i'd love to hear how it goes!

that map has so much character! i wish it were a jigsaw puzzle honestly

sure, just added it in!

the download only contains the title page for me :(

hi, i just came across the article you wrote inspired by this! i don't have a vk account to compliment you there, but i'm honored by the work you put in. i also wish i could read russian because my translator butchered all of your hard work lmao. thank you!

glad you dig it! thanks for reading :)

got this on the schedule as soon as it crossed my feed; we just played it tonight and had a great time! thank you for making it. do you have any guidance for running virtually? we sort of kludged something together with an online whiteboard + playingcards.io, but if there's a more elegant solution for future reference i'd love to hear it 

update: finished my table's full run through of it this month lol we loved it! shout out to the murder mystery mission it was one of my favorite GMing experiences period

evil mode playthrough......

this is a VERY fun collection of freaks. really pointed writing on the champions - they feel firmly drawn to their lanes as people who warp the world around them just by their nature. and the gods are basically all heaters, difficult to pin down, spitting omens from unexpected places. i think my fav champion is Way-wise (love a holy wanderer), fav god is tougher but probably the Mendicant for similar reasons. 

pub domain art is very well selected with eventide being my fav piece. i almost think i'd like to see a collage aspect on them to bring the god's influence into each one. overall: great stuff!

wow, i love the art! the colors are striking and really pop compared to the more muted book tones without feeling out of place. the gameable pieces are both great but i especially dig the omens on the mask and the way you keep stumbling on these scenes of deranged violence without an immediately obvious throughline. i feel like i'd want to hit all of them in pretty quick succession to keep that tension high. really gets my heart racing. great work!

thanks!! yeah barse crushed it on the myths, that format really lets their tight prose sing. you're onto something with the drowned knight change lol idk what i was cooking with 'nothing'. glad you dig it!

God i wish cars were real

ran just the mansion as an intro oneshot for folks who'd never played bastionland before and we had a great time! it was super easy to run. lots of evocative description to springboard off of. big fan!!

awww yeah thank you!! please keep me posted if/when you end up bringing this to the table

any comparison to FL is high praise. thank you! :)

jeez. how tenderhearted. i loved the dreamy atmosphere. it reminded me of anodyne 1 with the way each character's dialogue is simple and sincere and evokes so much of the Feeling of the world around them. probably i would die for lorena. any chance of throwing the OST on something like bandcamp? i'd love to be able to purchase it