itch.io

Maybe it's because I don't know SHIV, but this feels a little light for a 2 hour session. I like the pillars becoming the labors the PCs must undertake in a community that are a part of. PCs fighting for something that matters to them always hits for me.

The potion is diabolical and a great twist the players should see coming. The spider and rat men encounters feel tilted towards combat which makes sense, but I wonder what else the sewers hold. I like the old school sensibilities and layout. Good work.

This is one of the most unhinged RPGs I've ever read. Taking "Tannin" and running with this is a double stroke of brilliance and madness. And I kind of love it. I barely understand the rules, but it's got tons of faction play possibilities with the added challenge of engaging in fights without disrespecting the sanctity of the dinner table. The maillard faction is especially funny.

This seems like a combat encounter where the PCs have to find and fight a demon, but it's a much more compelling and interesting mystery and social encounter. I like all the different approaches and how each solution offers distinct pros and cons. There's lots of clues that if left uncovered could come back to bite the PCs, which is always fun.

The table could use some clarity. I thought it was 10 items but it's really describing 5 bas-reliefs and their meaning. Overall, with some polishing plus a font rework, and you've got yourself a banger of an adventure to drop into an ongoing campaign or get players pulled into a god-demon war.

Absolutely incredible. It reads like Lovecraft (or Poe), making it extremely thematic. The layout and obscured journal set the right mood. I do wonder how another system and oracle would interact, but that hardly feels necessary with this as it can be seen as a complete journaling game. Love the introspection and close-ended questions that really open the door for more questions. Well done.

Clear, straightforward, and fun! Reminds me of the Majora's Mask alien sidequest at the ranch. I appreciate how it implicitly asks the DM to come up with a way to describe the stereotypical UFO and gray aliens in a way a medieval person might see them. Good work.

This has strong science-fantasy vibes throughout, from the feathered rats to the mana to the NPCs to the Roaming Grove. Using WoD allows you to be economical, yet evocative in your language and you used it well. I wonder if 9 locations would get too samey of you're only getting 3 different types of crypts and encounters and then rolling on the same table for crypts 6 times. Despite that, this is the first procedural submission I've read for this jam and it makes me want go make my own. I really dug this. Great work.

Solid mine crawl with dangerous, avoidable, and funny encounters. I like the ecological theme. I wish I knew more about the town since the river spirit feels more like a victim to me and I'd want the town to get some comeuppance, but I'm not sure you have the space for it. Nice map drawing, though I wish it wasn't so far from the keying since I had to do lots of scrolling. The basilisk, earth elemental, and molemen make me wonder how this town was able to mine at all! Good work.

Once judging is done, take a look at your affinity file, you might be able to resize it to A5 so you don't have all that white space.

I could hear screechy static in my ears while reading this. The layout, fonts, colors, and graphics scream 90s horror video game and the descriptions reinforce that. It's all so gruesome. Excellent work.

It's got an evil Mother Goose quality to it. Hickory dickory dock the party went up the clock and found an evil doll possessed by a charming prince. The aspects feel a little disconnected, I wish there was more connective tissue between the different enemies, the storm, and how to resolve everything. Good work overall, very moody.

There's so much cool stuff here: the mini-mafia game, the angel trying to correct an exorcism accounting error, gingivitis demon, unexpected character death. I particularly like the corpse that resembles a player and the modification to Orc-lore. You're not born one, you become one. There's a lot of clever and unique mish-mash of various concepts and tropes. It's a Survivor-Cage Match-Mafia-Dungeon Crawl.

i think this is a creative use of the title and a solid premise. Eaten by a giant monster/being inside larger creature is a time-honored trope that gives you a lot to work with. I think the shrimp people are fun and funny. Are they parasitic/symbiotic with the Zetafish? RT1 should have more detail about what the players could interact with. Describe some aspects of the Zetafish so GMs have something to work with. How is it different than other space whales we've seen in other media?

I would advise against calling rooms "boring". You've got total control here. Don't make things boring, make them interesting. If there's nothing to do, there should be something to learn. Maybe the villi/phalanges have evidence of other things the zetafish ate. Maybe there's loot there. Maybe there's evidence of some high tech/magic species the PCs have been looking for. I don't know, but don't call stuff boring.

This has the structure of a fun, unexpected adventure. I wish there were more details on the Zetafish ecology and what we find there, and less mechanics and GM asides. I think you're almost there.

I like your drawing of the pirate cove. It's got the right amount of whimsy and unigueness. The pirates playing darts in the mess hall while they're getting attacked got a chuckle out of me. They must have a good union. It seems fun, but I wonder how this would work when inserted in a larger campaign. The implications are concerning.

This is a nice little adventure to start a journey off with a little boost to the adventurers. The class challenges are a little unbalanced and would require a lot of "cross-cutting" from the GM to keep things interesting. Seems to have equal parts puzzle, roleplay, and combat (except for floor 4). The sepulchre were the friends we made along the way.

Very, very cool adventure. Tight writing, rewarding puzzle structure, epically powerful (game-breaking?) rewards. I appreciate how each relic has a thematic and pretty rough cost. Good work.

A solid dungeon crawl with several tactical challenges and very clear mechanics. Thematically rather grim, but within Appendix N expectations. I like the layout a lot. It makes me wish I played more 4e instead of 3.5e as recommended by well-meaning friends back then.

Nice job matching the DCC style adventure. I like the conclusion and how it breaks the game just a little, but let's us know that there are rivals out there with broken stats too. It leaves the shrewd players with am interesting choice. Also, science-fantasy vibes are always welcome.

This adventure feels like a whole campaign in disguise. A GM can spread the locations of these rites out, add some interstitial adventures to remind us that the gods are silent and demons roam the land, and up the stakes as completion draws near. Once the Criers return, the game can become almost domain-like if the players choose. Great work.

Whoa, even at 3 pages there is a lot here and a lot to unpack. The ticking clock is a nice pressure and it changes the region, but with such a large area to explore it feels like the players will inevitably run out of time. The mystery can be a bit of a challenge as reading the whole thing I'm lost a bit myself. I'm not sure how the PCs can bring balance, but maybe that's what page 4 has!

Honestly, just expand this whole thing and describe every hex in as many pages as you need. Spread things out, make it easier to read and reference. You can even include subsections of the map on the relevant keyed pages to make things easier. This is great and the 4 pages is really limiting what this wants to be.

I enjoyed reading this. The non-euclidean geometry was cleverly solved and the "marital" trap/puzzle is diabolical ("Why are you carrying around that skeleton hand?"). Clear layout. I would advise checking the colors with a colorblind friend, I had some contrast issues. Nice work!

This adventure seems like a straight up good time! Every room has something strange about it and once players figure out the pattern, going room to room becomes its own little minigame. The chances of finding Holly increase as the adventure progresses, which is nice. Solid hooks, multiple conclusions. Puts the fun in funhouse dungeon.

One typo that may (or may not) have an effect: The Office (Room 12) lists the quail as its anchor. Based on context, I think you meant quill. A quail is a small bird, a quill is a feather you would use to write. HOWEVER, I think it is wayyy funnier if players need to find a quail who can dip its beak in the inkwell and transcribe your words. After the jam, I'm not really sure whether you should fix it or not...

I like the overall setup and premise here. The thunder and lightning (and associated hazards) effectively set the atmosphere, the oblivious guard is a nice touch, and your NPCs are distinct and well-thought out.

You've got a pretty well-appointed town considering it just burned down, though. I also don't understand how the King's daughter plays into this. Also, if the cult has already taken the citadel, why allow business as usual around town? The town should be crawling with cultists. I wonder how it would feel if this infiltration mission happens before the citadel is attacked. The party gets sent to investigate the sudden unexpected storm at the town, people are scared, Storm-Spawn keep appearing, three weirdos are in the inn's attic. At midnight, the storm will reach its peak, the town will burn, and a contingent of cultists will take the citadel. Maybe Lythen or Kip have noticed some folks gathering in the woods. Now the party has a chance to save the town, the citadel, and the princess. If they succeed: Kudos, but now the party has made an enemy of Storm Cult. If they fail: its now time to storm (ha!) the citadel and save the princess.

Clean layout, good use of an existing map, and well-described town. It just didn't match the premise of the background.

Thanks! Glad you enjoyed the maps, I learned a lot while making them.

I really dig the patrons and the follow-up roll that adds complications, very cool. I don't know Traveller, but I assume Sorcery rules aren't in there which makes your add-on incredibly concise and neat. No small feat.

It's nice to see another typst enjoyer in the wild. I did all my layout in typst as well. I had seen Idraluna's typst work before, so when I saw their name in the credits then saw the document itself, I inspected the PDF to confirm my hunch. Good work!

This is a solid sword and sorcery (or is it sword and sandal?) adventure module. Bad king, dangerous magic with a high cost, a neat puzzle. I appreciate the hand drawn art a lot. Good work!

This is a fun mystery with a lot of investigative avenues in a tight package. I love the werewolf and garlic misdirects. Very well done.

Clever layout to visually emphasize the Axe's sweep. Also fun writing for each reality. Very on-themec for the jam, too. I wonder how the players can successfully bring the Axe home or recharge it...oh well, that's the players' problem.

Short and to the point. The party goes in rescues the flame pixy and they're out. If they pay attention, they may rescue a helpful goblin.

I really like the idea of memory being such a core part of the adventure mechanics, down to the puzzles and enemies. Plopping this adventure down mid- to late-campaign and having the characters lose core memories can be really compelling. Good work.

Poor Lisandra :( also is the map missing? It's referenced a couple times, but I didn't see any file.

Mysteries are tough, especially when players are rolling to find clues because even "Easy" checks can be failed. Consider the three clue rule or similar, or make finding the right clue a matter of time. The consider, what happens to the party if they waste time?

I think you can provide the GM with a little more detail on the mystery and a little less detail on how to understand the underlines, italics, and bold. If you use less typographical iconography but keep it consistent, we can figure it out. That buys you some writing and layout space to give us more details on the NPCs and the mystery. Who really did it? Was it Lisandra and why frame her if you're going to sacrifice her? Or is she a cultist suffering on purpose? Why does Lisandra have Lycanthrope Suppressant? Where's the Mayor's dad? Is he still around? Does Nesåm deliver on their promise for prosperity from pain? There's so much mystery here and if I'm the GM, I want to know more!

Reading this felt like reading a location description from a bona fide Appendix N novel or story. The vocabulary, the cadence, and even the finer details all evoked the feel of low fantasy story for me. Even a sentence that is explicitly breaking the fourth wall and talking to the adventure reader like "In these pages our concern is with the first cave, a former mine, and its outbuildings." would not be out of place in a story out of Weird Tales. Love the overworld description. The dungeon has pretty precise details, but I'm not smart enough to get it all on a first read through. I would need some legwork (and a dictionary) to understand the finer details. Good work.

The faction play makes for some very interesting player choices and impact. I also think the Orb is a very cool item/relic and it's very consistent with the dungeon theme. The layout made reading the adventure a little challenging, my eyes kept reading things I'm the wrong order. Overall, solid work.

This dungeon crawl is tops! Extremely clean layout, fun encounter table, clear outcomes depending on what the PCs do, and the possiblity for more adventure or mayhem at the end. What more do you need, except to play more DURF?

I really enjoyed reading this and imagining all the goofy voices and fun you could have with the Mylingars. They're super threatening but also little chaos gremlins and who doesn't love a little chaos gremlin? Great layout, loved how you did black background with those headers. The pool of automaton blood leading to the witch's house almost makes this feel like a dream sequence. And the ART IS SO GOOD.

It took me a bit to figure out how this game wants to be played, but once I grokked it, I could see how this could be a fun little solo game. I'm reminded a bit of the game Korg and Marvel's Secret Wars. 2 fights of attrition plus a final boss fight would be tough though, especially with the chance to lose the access to anima/might abilities. Good work!

Holy smokes, this is incredible! So much wonderful science-fantasy art, creative world-building, a three-part dungeon, high stakes puzzles and challenges, so many NPCs. I like how player magic in the Trials directly affects what the technosphinx can do in the Machine. Great work!

Love the style of this trifold, it looks like it was torn out of the back of a rulebook in the 80s. It's funny how the cult is eschewing all worldly possessions but Xar has his silk curtains and fancy goodies. Nice attention to detail.

This seems like such a whimsical adventure through a jungle full of frogs and scholars with no good brothers till you read about the soul stealing and getting turned to stone and the panther right behind you. Good fun! Great work creating a bunch of interesting characters and opportunities for PCs.

Take a look at your overland map, it looks like 7 and 8 have their keys mixed up.  Does Sky Dog possess the singing bowl relic at all times? It wasn't clear till a second read that the dungeon has the PC's traversing some of the exposed parts of a massive statue (I know you said that, but it wasn't clear to me the head and hand were connected). Also, Rebo Min and Sitting Uncle get renamed to Rebo Macx (Star Wars?) and Singing Uncle in the encounter table.

Clean layout, this would be straightforward to run. Good work!

Thanks for the review! I wanted to give the Warden/GM more than they needed so they could keep or discard as they saw fit.

You've found one of my cleverly disguised typos! There are Crystal WORMS and Iron BATS. So, entry 6 on the Encounters should be Crystal Worms. Originally, there were Iron Worms and no bats, but then the mine's ecology changed. Nice catch, and thanks for asking!

Wow, this is incredible feedback, thank you! I joined the jam about a third of the way through and have two young kids taking up all my time, I'm just happy I was (just barely) able to produce something.

After the judging period, I plan to go back and tweak layout and give it a true editing pass. The layout is done in typst, which is made for academic writing (it's like LaTeX, if you're familiar) so I was worried it would look too stiff. I'm still learning it, but if used correctly, I can have extremely granular, programmatic control over the document. There were changes I had in mind but didn't get to do, including setting the Idols on one column as you mention. I hope to have a cleaner presentation (and better spelling!) in version 1.1. Thanks again!