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Arachno-Nerds!!'s itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Does the game seem fun to play? | #12 | 4.300 | 4.300 |
| Did it make good use of the Havoc Engine? | #12 | 4.200 | 4.200 |
| Overall | #14 | 4.067 | 4.067 |
| Did it build on the Havoc Engine and add interesting stuff? | #20 | 3.700 | 3.700 |
Ranked from 10 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
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Comments
The final product is really well done. It feels concise and polished. The Havoc implementation is super straightforward. The art is gorgeous.
I think it was a good idea to add responsibilities. Not only is it a great reference to the side inspiration source material, but I think that not adding it may have left the game feeling more like a reskin than an adaptation. But giving each character story complications pulls them into the narrative is a great way to give out a unique spin.
Lastly, the tables at the end are really good.
Great submission!
Seems like a very good use and extension of the havoc engine, feels very mechanically whole and coherent, and presented and written really well!
Loved the inclusion of quipping into style points as feature, and how the GM attack dice work (and are countered in the scene).
Automatically creating a sub-crisis to rescue a downed character is really elegant. I love how that brings any other character into play in rescuing the character in any way (instead of more trad rpg with specialised healing actions/characters). Feels very havoc-y but also mechanically sound and satisfying.
The tension track and responsibilities feel like they link into more long lived structure, the GM tables and structures are really strong and useful. My only complaint is I would have been happy to read even more, especially on the GM side, about a world and setting in which these super actions and responsibilities take shape.
Thanks for the compliments. Although the attack dice thing and sub-Crises for downed players are both things I took whole cloth from Eat the Reich, so I can't take credit for introducing them to the Havoc system.
This was one of my favorite games to watch come together in Discord. Excellent concept for the game, clever and cool character designs, and a really clever way to manage the mission details. And the art/design are just chef's kiss levels of excellent. Well freaking done!
The visuals in this book absolutely pop; the illustrations are amazing, and the bright CMY colours really give that four-colour-comic vibe. The arachno-nerd characters are exactly the right combination of funny, stylish, and ick. I like the addition of the Responsibility system; it provides an interesting source of narrative tension and impactful decision points. The random tables for generating setting, scenarios, and villains are a lot of fun and would make the game really quick to pick up and play, though I can see some GMs having difficulty improvising around them on the fly. A default scenario and villain might be a worthwhile inclusion, with the random generator as an optional replacement. Overall, I really liked this.