beatifully written and ready to be played without any interpretative effort by the dm. Everything runs smoothly. fairy-goth-arthurian style makes me think of Pendragon, which i love. With a real map it wouldhave been perfect
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Focused and dense arthurian tragedy, really immersive through repetition but remains dynamic.
What I thought worked well
- Super clear writing, despite the density, it's an easy read
- Well organised
- A lot of content and systems
- Cool reuse of content without it feeling repetitive
What I thought could be improved
- Despite the good structure it lacked a bit in mood visually, felt a bit too clean and utilitarian
- I know it could be figured at the table, but a bit more around how the ghosts disposition could be handled would have gone a long way, feels like a great element that could add a lot but it gets a small paragraph.
Submitted
The Worm-thing at the Hadal MountainBeautifully written & well-organized. I know I’m not alone in my love of heartbreaking Arthurian tragedy, and this delivered heaps of it- especially in the little moments of each Knight’s individual graves. So well done, with such tenderness. Really superb!
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Living Idols of the Gloam-WasteAwesome stuff! The layout and presentation are clean, the text is informative and readable and the vibes are immaculate. It would easily slot into Cairn, Dolmenwood or Mythic Bastionland. (Frankly Pendragon would be fun too) The premise is compelling and the Deeping Chase is a great location and set-piece.
The only thing that I have questions about (and this might be less criticism and more just be me figuring out how I'd build upon this as a campaign...) is how the initial curse on the chase formed. The Graveshroud Stag is interesting, but it is not clear what circumstances brought it into being. This does allow for a fun reverse-uno if the GM wants to say "The Graveshroud Stag is actually a legitimate guardian and Koschel transgressed the laws of the forest somehow in hubris/lust for glory", but that doesn't seem like the intention, so i'd be curious to know!
I like how you account for different outcomes in a way that isn't prescriptive and the handling of the point-crawl is done well from a visual and mechanical standpoint. lots to learn from here, this is an impressive entry, excellent work!
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Domes of the Deluged ChasmEverything about it is fantastic. Specifically, the design and presentation of information is so clean and precise. Really made something special from this prompt.
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Snuffing The Fiend Candlei really like the point crawl within a hex. having a hazard per trail and an encounter per point really packs a lot of content into a little space.
figuring out what happened to ser koschel is a fun premise, but i could see it falling flat without the dowager's involvement. to that end, the other two hooks seem superfluous. the dowager is the juice.
gonna keep this one in my back pocket for my ongoing dolmenwood campaign!
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The Healing WarExcellent layout! Its very pleasant to parse & seems like a breeze to run. I like that you dared to change the usual Shadowdark statblock order, it makes more sense to end with the stats rather than LV and AL.
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The Ancient Army AwakensYou made a lot of a rather difficult prompt. Well organized and written. I would love to see how the Things Known table works out in actual play. Maybe I'll drop this module into my Dolmenwood Campaign.
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Scepter of the Thorn-Headed RegentThe cover image is evocative. Even though you squeeze it into a mere quarter page, you include all the important cover info, and save your page real estate for the text of the adventure.
This is probably the most economical use of space I have seen in the jam. Yours is one of the entries with the most words: you even have room for the luxury of read-aloud text. The adventure is very clearly laid out, with judicious choice of fonts, colours, boxed text. The clear and attractive page layouts will increase playability at the table.
At first glance, the setup is a classic quest: break the curse, find the treasure. But the additional requirement to learn Ser Koschel’s story adds narrative and role-play elements. I like that the story is revealed piece-by-piece through player interaction as the adventure progresses.
The adventure is presented as a series of atmospheric locations, with random hazards and three repeating encounters. The fixed order of revealing Things Known means that the narrative will be progressively revealed. This looks like an entertaining night’s play, with plenty to keep the party engaged. Nice work!
Minor nit-picks:
In the “spreads” layout, shouldn’t the first page be on the right-hand side of the A4 spread, so it is the front cover when folded?
The factions are listed in a different order on p.1 than on the back page. (It adds a little unnecessary cognitive load to match them up.)
Typo on p.1 “amiral” → “amoral”
Submitted
Daedalus' Wondrous WorksThe hook is really interesting. It’s cool to see an adventure designed with bards in mind.
Some random thoughts.
I’m not sure what’s gained by making it a hex. It seems perfectly serviceable to call it a point crawl.
I’m not sure how the hermit encounter would go with my table. I think if she just gave two “things known” then stopped that my players would be confused and keep asking questions. I guess she could be willfully dodgy with info or get interrupted?
Why can’t they get the reward if they don’t blow the horn? That’s not part of the deal with the dowager?
Submitted
Fording Fabled Aegea- It being one hex would make this very fun to slot into other hexcrawls (I know this is written for Shadowdark, but it feels like it could also be used in Mythic Bastionland).
- Very readable layout!
- Compact but still very evocative and interesting locations. Would be very fun to get this to the table.
Submitted
Race Against the NuckelaveeLovely details here. Ending the adventure with a story composed of what the group found is a really nice touch, as is the specific means of relating specific details. The vignettes/descriptions are quite good, and do a lot of work with a few words:
In the center of a small clearing the desiccated corpse of a knight is pinned to an oaken stump by a jagged shard of antler.
It's economical but evocative.
Having Brek along is a great choice... there's an antithesis who doesn't have to be a nemesis.
This piece manages to tell a story without railroading the PCs into the story.Submitted
Quick Words, Ill ConsideredLove the concept, especially the story-craft element to gain a superior reward. Love the map with the different trails and "deep woods" locations. The layout of some of the text boxes was a little confusing. The writing was super evocative and I found myself drawn in to Koschel's story, eager to learn more!
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Hauntings in the WyldwoodIt's intense, it's well written, exquisite style, make me want to play it. Nothing to add, really.
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The thirteen counts of charmThis is beautiful. The writing and the art.
I also like how the map on a hex works.
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Zepar's WeirdingI love it when an entry has me opening an English dictionary and learn new words 🤣 The writing here is great, super evocative and well thought. I love the mechanic of collecting pieces of the story to be able to recount it later, that’s a really interesting take. The layout is super clean and very easy to follow. Can’t wait for the expanded edition! 😁
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The Widow of the WeirwoodThe things known system really adds a different dynamic to the module. I'd be interested to see how it plays out at a table. Great work!
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Shadows on the Spiral RoadI can see everything in my mind; the forest, the ghostly gallant knights, and the mist - i can almost feel the mist on my skin. Some imagery reminds me of Aronofsky's the Fountain. Beautiful.
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When the Earth Sang FireReally great. Somehow stradles the line of being dense but concise and marries a more modern layout and idea presentation with an evocative tone.
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Chemosh's Canvas
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