Play leaflet
Hypocondriol's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| How legible and easy-to-understand is this mission? | #3 | 4.286 | 4.286 |
| How well are design principles used to create a fun one-shot? | #3 | 4.286 | 4.286 |
| How well are the themes utilized? | #3 | 4.143 | 4.143 |
| Overall | #4 | 4.036 | 4.036 |
| How stylish does this one-shot visually look? | #7 | 3.429 | 3.429 |
Ranked from 7 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Which RPG system(s) is this for?
system-agnostic
How did you use the mandatory theme "Side Effects May Include"?
It's a medical mystery module formatted as a patient information leaflet, with side effects being the unused symptoms.
Which hard mode challenges did you do?
What do you want comments/critiques to focus on?
The module is supposed to work as a stand-alone introduction to the Brindlewood Bay-style mystery solving, played by a single player to familiarize theirselves with the system. A learning tool to consider a mystery with no set solution. Does it work, what would make it easier to pick up the new ideas?
How harsh do you want people to critque your submission?
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Comments
Lovely format, novel interaction with side effects as a game mechanic. Stakes are low(ish) but very personal, which is nice. Big fan.
Explaining how the Moves work before what they are(/are for) was slightly confusing - expanding that first sentence of section 3 just a little would help.
I love the formatting as a medicine leaflet, and the use of the side effects.
Played this once, it was great. I had played Public Access once, so I was familiar with the mechanics, and this is a really effective introduction to the system.
One point I would emphasize in the text is the importance of establishing the consequences of a Risk before you roll. This system can be very immersive, and it is easy to get caught in the narrative, roll, fail and then feel like cheating because you are now establishing the consequences after the fact.
Thanks, really happy to hear that it seems like an effective intro! It was surprisingly tricky trying to decide how much the rules can be simplified while still being useful as an introduction. I remember myself struggling initially as a GM with the Brindlewood Bay mysteriy sheets, their shape is so different from an "adventure module" it was initially hard to parse the session from the sheet.
Excellent point about establishing consequences beforehand, I could clarify the process a bit more.
I had to stop and laugh multiple times while reading. Using Brindlewood Bay’s mystery solving mechanic for a solo game is a really great idea!
As someone already familiar with BB’s mechanics I got it right away, but re-reading it with your goals in mind I might suggest taking another pass at the self-diagnosis section. The sentences have a lot of clauses and sub clauses and are fun, but not entirely clear to the uninitiated. This is the most important mechanic and so I might try to strip it back to something that explicitly tells the reader “this is how you win the game”. Pure technical writing. maybe even an example if you have space?
Had to reread the Self-diagnosis myself, and indeed, it's now more inspirational than instructive. Also actually referring to the self-diagnose elsewhere could be a solution, stating that the expected process right out at the start. Thanks for the feedback!
The styling could look slightly more like a prescription label of some kind, but otherwise this just gets out of the way nicely.
Easy to follow, although it does leave a fair amount up to the player in terms of what stuff actually looks like. Worth taking for a spin.
Usually not a fan of Brindlewood-style non-mysteries, but for a solo game I think that it works well.
A cute game you could play by yourself for 20 minutes and come out with a funny bad-luck weekend short story. Not much for the eyes (as intended, which is good), it could lean more into that patient info leaflet feeling with some colored text for highlights and an imaginary Dr's office logo. I think something could be done to push into the side effects of the medicine, as at the moment the game feels like it only addresses symptoms of the disease.
Overall nice, I might play this during my break at work today.