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Castles Burning In The Night's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Theme: how well would the module have fit into the Appendix N? | #183 | 3.500 | 3.500 |
| Layout: how easy is it to find all the presented information? | #187 | 2.923 | 2.923 |
| Playability: how easy would it be to run this module? | #209 | 2.385 | 2.385 |
| Overall | #210 | 2.715 | 2.715 |
| Art: how well does the art support the other content? | #214 | 2.077 | 2.077 |
| Writing: how clear and/or interesting is the writing? | #217 | 2.692 | 2.692 |
Ranked from 26 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
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Comments
Systems are difficult to really rate without playing them. Very ambitious to create one in these space constraints. You avoided the temptation to cramp as much information as possible into these pages. I would need some more pages fleshing out the adventure to run it, but the skeleton is rock solid!
Thanks! The irony is I'm probably going to end up doing that anyway when I expand it further with more pages, visuals would definitely help uncramp any potential stuffing though.
Interesting theme for the adventure! And it's such a high concept and an effort deserving praises for the system. I hope to see an expanded version in the future!
I appreciate you, and your words! I'm definitely going to expand it. :D
Cool idea, especially the random generation for the castle. Good work!
Thanks! I am working on making the random generation for the castle holding better too, it definitely needs more rules.
I like that this is a new game system complete with a character sheet. The god /godless dynamic is interesting. It needs more pages to fully flesh out the system.
Good job.
Thanks, I appreciate it and I'm glad that you liked it and found interest!
And for sure, I'm planning a more expanded version. This is only my second drafted game like this, so I'm learning as I go.
I think I'd need a lot more detail to be able to run this game. The instructions for creating a map need some more explanation to be usable. I would get someone else to give it a read and see what questions they ask if they try to run it; that way you can get direct feedback about the parts that don't have enough detail or need more explanation. Congratulations on trying to do something ambitious and different. Keep it up!
Thanks for the feedback. I do have an updated and revised version that explicitly has the better instructions, but I will go through it with what you've said to see if anything can be improved further.
Ooh this is interesting. The idea of being sent by an interstellar agency to protect a planetary lord is very vintage scifantasy, and appendix N. The spiritual aspect adds a different dimension, as does using your own system. I’d solo it before using it with the players, just to see whether it works as I’d expect- but in any case, a very unique contribution to the jam- sweet
Glad to know it's caught your interest and that you'd solo it. The spiritual aspect is the defining part of what makes it work.
It's soft to hard rules, like if the character is a godliving, they naturally have to follow specific spiritual rules. Which imo, should help with creating tension and further conflict.
I like a good theme related to spirituality and the conflict here is interesting, to say the least.
To say the least? What's the most? Lol but happy to know that the theme is something you like! :D
Creating a self-contained system under these page restrictions is an ambitious and impressive achievement. The 'existence' system is an enjoyable mechanic, and the themes of the 'godless' and 'godliving' are compelling. My only suggestion would be for more artwork to complement the text, perhaps starting with a cover image.
Thanks! :D It really is, especially since I'm learning to improve my skills with Affinity Publisher and Designer as I go.
I have some ideas for an expanded version and a system for generating the lord / lady, which since you find this compelling you might really enjoy that. The existence system is supposed to be modular and agnostic to inject in any other system, so, this is just one ruleset that showcases how it helps with gameplay.
I am working on better artwork too! I'm thinking of making it appear more as a diegetic, found-in lore type of manual / stitched together vellum too parts.
I can see a very cool game in this. I think my aptitude for comprehending new system mechanics is not robust enough to give me the confidence that I could play this as is, but I am intrigued!
What parts of it are you having trouble with comprehending? I can see what I should improve later to help. Is it the actual castle generation part?
What tripped me up is the existence system, and how a character's attributes would be applied to this specific scenario. It seems like I'm missing something, but then like I said, I'm someone who tends to need a *lot* of explication when I'm learning a new system.
Okay, I'll see what I can do, especially in an expanded version. The existence system is rougher to explain. Its examining like hey what if we live in a region of space-time where gods have 0 influence and don't exactly know we exist (until they do), and what happens if you do go to one of those places? Ergo, if we lived in one of those places they gods explicitly affect us on a metaphysical level. Hence why it's immutable.
So, if the Lord of the Castle is a patron of a divine being of protection as they are always godliving, it will cause conflict personally and more explicitly with that god. It has immediate and lasting affects with their standing on a more metaphysical and societal sense. It's not simply a sorcerer or dnd warlock pact with a demon or god, ties to divinity and blood has affects from birth to the Lords interests.
I have more work on it.
An intriguing self-contained system in a brochure. Good on you for attempting something ambitious.
Thank you! I hoped it was intriguing enough, and then as I did reviews I immediately went, oh crap did I do this completely wrong? Lol
Your kind words helped a lot! :)
Lots of interesting ideas here
Seems to reference other rules/mechanics that could benefit from links or references to those. Ie, the dungeon building via dice rolls
Thanks! I agree, I only had five hours too. The dungeon building is definitely something I'm working on making better. I literally came up with that in like 5 mins lol
This is captivatingly alien. I love it. And the tone of voice is great too.
Thank you kindly! :D