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The Eternal Empress's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Theme: how well would the module have fit into the Appendix N? | #9 | 4.606 | 4.606 |
| Writing: how clear and/or interesting is the writing? | #11 | 4.394 | 4.394 |
| Playability: how easy would it be to run this module? | #12 | 4.273 | 4.273 |
| Overall | #18 | 4.370 | 4.370 |
| Layout: how easy is it to find all the presented information? | #33 | 4.303 | 4.303 |
| Art: how well does the art support the other content? | #54 | 4.273 | 4.273 |
Ranked from 33 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
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Comments
Thank you everyone for reading and reviewing! Happy jam!
Great cover, for starters.
Wonderfully clean layout with a great typeface.
I love the character names. I know a lot of them are drawn from history, but they work well together to give a picture of the cultures involved.
In a world of fantasy RPGs full of weird and gross stuff, congratulations on coming up with skin magic, which somehow is ickier than a lot of the more overt eeeevil magics seen elsewhere.
I'm not sure I understand the centurion just laying in bed, talking to himself. Likewise, why is only being able to move single-file through the rubble-filled room important?
I like the subtle warnings to not look in Josephina's eyes. It will take a clever player to realize why the painters don't know what her eye color is, but it'll save the characters' lives if they figure it out in time. (Yikes to her gaze power.)
Very creepy adventure and a compelling and horrifying villain. Well done!
Fantastically imaginative with impeccable art. This has so many vivid details and unusual features that would make it a pleasure to run, along with a rare consistency of theme and tone. Excellent all round.
Wow what a seriously dark fantasy. It makes my skin shiver.
Good job.
This is a brilliant adventure with a fantastic and grotesque central theme. The body-horror premise of an empress using skin and leech magic to prolong her life feels like a story straight out of Clark Ashton Smith, capturing the Appendix N spirit perfectly. The writing is clear and evocative, efficiently painting a grim picture of the Palaestra and its strange inhabitants, like the tragic spider-Primus and the determined former levy, Igrit. From a playability standpoint, the design is excellent; the wandering NPCs and the various clues, such as the way of bread, make the location feel like a dynamic and solvable puzzle. The entire adventure is also presented beautifully; the layout is clean, the art is evocative, and the map is both stylish and easy to read at the table. A very creative and elegantly designed module.
thank you for this thoughtful review!
Damn. This really, really good. Unsurprising, because you've assembled a crack team of experts to assist. But I love the premise, the writing, all the creepy skin stuff. This feels very playable, and very Appendix N. It would also fit really well into the UVG or Vaarn, places I am fond of.
Gus's maps are fantastic. The non-cutaway map makes a great cover.
If you were to expand on this (which I rather think you should!), some more art and ornament to set the tone would be great--but obviously we were very space-constrained in this jam.
thank you! yes, i would consider expanding it a bit. I really wanted a flesh furniture monster.
In addition to being well themed, the presentation is excellent to look at, with an organized layout and design, well-written text, and evocative art.
Awesome inspirational writing. Really like the unique hook and story presented here. Perfect to drop in my funky westmarches setting :)
Love new to me vocabulary words (case in point, Palaestra: Ancient Greek or Roman gymnasium or wrestling school). Creepy threats. Nice art.
Holy macaroni * * * * *
Yikes! This is a good kind of ick for a rescue mission, and there is just enough detail in all of the characters and rooms for someone like me to pick it up and run without poring over lore. Salvage rights to Paleastra, you say? We will have to figure out what to do with all this skin! Great work on the maps and all!
loved this, straight out of Jack Vance by way of some real body horror stuff. Thought the map was excellent and really got the most out of the cover with the cutaway, excellent!
Incredible execution.
The writing and illustrations are Fantastic.
Everything supports the theme extremely well.
Insane body horror.
An excelent module, spot on in various sword & sorceries tropes (evil sorcerors, body horror, human sacrifices)!
i loved the whole idea of the husks and drainig of life. It really reminded me of the legend of Lady Bathory, a proto-historical tale about the noblewoman who fed on the youth of others. 10/10!!!
This adventure is so twisted. It's awesome! It really takes a single theme and applies it in so many fun creative ways
I'd have very little work to do to get it to the table which is awesome. Gus L.'s artwork is always incredible, but I wish the map was a little larger or easier to see the connecting points between rooms.
That's just nitpicking though! This adventure rules!
Sword & Sorcery adventure at its finest, and a creepy one at that! Major Appendix N vibe coming from the story and writing! I love the cover and the map!
This is so gross, I love it. Great maps and cover, too! Definitely want to run this one.
Fantastic and creepy dungeon crawl. Well done!
A nasty empress, who's as creepy as heck, kidnaps women and uses skin husks and leeches as her tools. She must be a fun date!
This is a masterclass in old school adventure design, tightly written, with a bonus of art by Gus L. Won't forget running or playing this in a hurry!
very cool, very creepy adventure!