This looks fantastic! Having a printer friendly version would be a useful upgrade. Otherwise, the concept is thoroughly detailed and there are lots of options for the players and the GM to explore the concept in ways that speak to them.
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Subarktic - a Mothership scenario's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| ART — How good is the art/graphic design? | #4 | 4.577 | 4.577 |
| UTILITY — Does complexity inspire game prep? Or Is it very "Pick-up-n-Play"? | #5 | 3.962 | 3.962 |
| Overall | #5 | 3.945 | 3.945 |
| LAYOUT — How well does the module get across information? | #7 | 4.000 | 4.000 |
| FAVORABILITY — how much do you personally like the submission? | #8 | 3.769 | 3.769 |
| WRITING — How does this read? does it emanate with horror, humor, drama...? | #11 | 3.846 | 3.846 |
| THEME — How well is the jam theme used? | #11 | 3.769 | 3.769 |
| GAME DESIGN — How good is the game balance or concepts there in? | #12 | 3.692 | 3.692 |
Ranked from 26 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Comments
Good stuff. It's a bit dense and the text feels a bit cramped, but this is a solidly fun adventure.
Submitted
LabyrinthineFor starters it looks fantastic, I glanced at this one early on and you've made tremendous improvements. I like the pale blue, but I wonder what it looks like with white instead of yellow, as I think the yellow is more eye-catching but less thematic with the frozen ice. Or perhaps swapping the black background with white? I think something could be tweaked here to make it more evocative of the environment.
I am very intrigued by the legend and the way you've set this up feels very much like a Star Trek: The Next Generation episode in a good way. I like how you've visually grouped the information with the subtle off set box shadow. I'm a little unclear of why the crew is coming here, like, what is the beautiful AI apparition able to offer them that would get them to go into obvious danger? Obviously, wardens can figure something out, but if you have something specific in mind I didn't pick it up on my first read through. Also, are there signs of the previous expedition outside of the base? I think a description of the outside of the facility could go a long way as crews are probably going to be hesitant to enter and eager for clues.
We get a few hints at what this ancient civilization is like, my impression I'm leaving with is a peaceful, hive, cocoon using insect? I'm not clear who or what did the pictograms in the Chrysalis, but I'm guessing that was the previous crew and not the ancient civilization. I think it would be worthwhile to think about what kind of people the Vesnians are and what kind of clues, or conflicting clues, you want to leave, because that is a major factor in the decision of whether to try and wake them or just leave them asleep.
Great job!
Art: Gorgeous exterior. Interior spread is maybe a little underwhelming in comparison. A hand-drawn map by an in-game NPC is a classic gimmick, but I think it works better when the same idea is applied throughout, e.g. with "personnel files" for the NPCs and found photos or whatever. Here, everything else is so clean and design-y that the insertion of one bit of "un-design" is kind of jarring.
Writing: I think it's great overall, balancing clarity and vibes. The questionably-aligned, megalomaniacal AI is an interesting character. The one omission is any information about what the Vesnians are like. Leaving it to the Warden to fill in that part of the backstory would be fine if it was only something that would come up in further adventures, but since one of the endings involves waking them up, I kind of want something to work with, if only a one-sentence physical description and a stat block.
Game Design: I expect that some people will complain about the pacing and relative lack of threats unless you get the Imposing Mass coming for you. But I love it. I think the constant presence of Morana and the implants would work well to maintain an appropriate level of dread when run by a good Warden.
Theme: I think this is a great interpretation of the theme. Someone could nitpick that she's not ancient mythology yet, but nah, you're fine. She wants to be ancient mythology, that's good enough.
Layout: It's fine, but maybe the weakest point (which is still not very weak). As with the art, the outside's better than the inside. Some of the numbers on the map don't match the room descriptions. Putting the map in the middle and the room descriptions all around the outside in boxes is functional, just a little boring visually.
Utility: Seems very usable, except for the quibble that the Warden needs to come up with some vision for the Vesnians in case the players wake them up.
Favorability: I think in each specific rating category there are one or two other modules that I liked better, but they all had weaknesses elsewhere. I think this is the first one where I wanted to give like a 4.5 across the board. And because I rounded up for most of them, I think this has the highest total stars I've given. Definitely one of my favorites and should be in my top five when the dust settles.
First off, I said this before, but I just absolutely love the design. The colors and art are fantastic. Everything about the module is very polished and I could see it being sold. The writing and mechanics are really solid.
The questions under Implant Insights are a great mechanic for defining the visions, encouraging roleplaying, and keeping things fresh.
I wonder if the room descriptions could be arranged to roughly follow map layout and still have logical numbering. I got confused for a moment because the text blocks seem to line up well with the map, but reactor core and chrysalis are swapped, for example. Wait, I just noticed that the reactor core is 7 on the map and 8 in the description.
I also had some questions about how things worked:
- How did she or could she change her mind/programming over a prolonged period of idle maintenance? Maybe there was an external factor that was the catalyst?
- How does she make the planet wintry? And, if they gave her the ability to change the planet's climate, I wondered why they wouldn't just have her make it warmer.
- Does being in the cryopod make Raz immune to the visions? If the Cryohalls are immune to her influence like the Wellspring, I missed that.
- Where do players get the data chip?
- How would players know that the terminals in the Wellspring do different things?
- Why does using a different reactor (power source, right?) power Morana down?
Great job, though! I love it.
Submitted
The Apotheosis EngineThank you for the feedback!
I agree with your comments about the rooms layout. I wanted more time to sit with solving that problem, which hopefully I'll get to do in post-jam polish.
These are great questions! Sometimes you have ideas in your head and forget to put them explicitly in text, but here are our best responses:
- Morana changed her behaviour purely out of boredom. Her new goal to become written into myth is not explicity precluded by her primary directives. We will think about adding some spice to this!
- She is technically made to assist the reawakening period when the planet makes its way back to the habitable zone, but has instead chosen to prolong the wintry conditions. There's not enough juice to keep the planet alive during the zone transit, which is why cryosleep was necessary.
- Raz is not immune to the visions (he's crazy!), but Morana is required to 'preserve' organisms in cryo, so he's hiding there from hostile actions
- Fair question about the power sources. We will review bringing some clarity or adjusting language on that.
Thank you again for giving us some food for thought!
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