The art sell's it. It's packed of good ideas (but mapless! why!), but the jack's art is the main piece. It tells' all you need to know about the monster, you know how to run it at first glimpse.
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Hell yeah, this fucking slaps! The art is so good, and when it combines with the atmospheric writing the weird west vibes hit perfectly. I loved everything about this, from the treasure’s name, to Laughing Jack’s whole deal, to the names & traits of the guns! I don’t know when I’ll get to run this, but I definitely will. Phenomenal job!
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Living Idols of the Gloam-WasteI totally dig the scene, the tone, the mechanics, the writing.
I don’t like the everchanging font sizes, but that’s neither here, nor there.
But I seem to miss something to actually run this (what I would do). What system is this? Traits are… Cairn? Perhaps it’s my illiteracy in that system (that will change soon), but I don’t know right now how to run this, how long the party is at one place and whe Laughing Jack appears.
If you could give me some pointers these would be greatly appreciated.
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The Prison of the Star SovereignNo problem!
Laughing Jack’s appearance should be made if the party lingers a bit too long in one place (about half a day) and will stalk them at night too. He will try and single out travelers in a group he thinks are the weakest. He can and will bite someone which can be a very bad situation if that isn’t treated. If he’s gotten someone in group two infected with his curse via bite, all the better to ambush the party when they least suspect it.
Behaves like a mountain lion following a person on a hiking trail essentially.
I’m wishing you luck in running the system soon! Hope you and your players enjoy :D
Very cool theme! Nice visuals too. I like the idea that you're racing against another party.
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Lament of the Jade ProphetThis was a lot of fun and you really killed it with the layout!
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The Lazulite Fountainlove a weird west. first thought after finishing reading this was "this person must love Violence." scrolled down this comment section and grinned big n' wide when i saw that confirmed.
thoughts:
- lets go, another beastman entry.
- the inverse auditory progression with jack's laugh is so sick. the idea of his laugh being this loud, constant echo in the canyon until he's a few paces from your camp builds suspense in such a fun way. "everyone's debating over what to do next when they realize its quieter than it should be" type beat.
- considering jack is such a constant in this story, and his bite likely, i wish his infection were a little bit more difficult to cure. having players begin with all silver bullets feels like a missed opportunity to force them into desperate choices. right now the only choice they make is "oh if i've been bit, i have to sacrifice one bullet" and even that seems temporary. having a source of silver be in the mineshaft, or running along a group of shady ne'er-do-wells who offer up silver bullets at the cost of something precious feels like it'd add a nice layer of danger to the setting.
- on that point, i think there's value in a progression beat there as well. facing jack before you have silver bullets and after smacks of something almost resident evil like, where you shift from hunted to hunter. could be fun.
- i really like the detail of the graveyard being in eyesight of the old town. the three rolls players have the chance of landing for their manners gives this a lot of color. 1-2 confirms their suspicions, 3-4 will likely make them more resigned, and 5-6 will make spotting players digging up the yard feel like a proper betrayal. very cool.
- alright i'm going to preface this one by saying i love a good gun name. its like a ship name. means a lot, y'know? one of the best gun names i've ever heard was calling one a "Persuader." i don't inherently dislike the name of the 6 offered, but part of me wishes they felt: a. little more tied to this specific setting and b. bit more evocative of a pistol. opium pipe i can see in terms of a long cylinder that offers relief, but cyanide pill doesn't really conjure up old west firepower and there's at least ~50 years before they become a concept at all. castor+pollux feels like its dying to be tied back to the central premise as well. i feel like the only connection there i can see as-is is your party and the skulls being too sides of the same coin, but i would've liked a little more to chew on there.
- i love that final illustration of jack. great bookend. the style in this module overall rules, too.
had a great time reading through this!
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The Passing of Tengliu*i am not rating because i worked on this*
this was so much fun to read, especially as it evolved from draft to final! the guns were my favorite bit, personally. (jellyfishlines gave me permission to promo projects i enjoy, sooooooo) you should also check out The Still of Touchstone Station, Heart of the Stygian Grove, and jellyfish also really enjoyed Spell of the World-Weavers. thank you for letting me do the layout on this!
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Battle in the Mind's EyeIt's really refreshing to see a non-fantasy entry. Laughing Jack is a fun opponent. Great weird-western!
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Sorrows of the Seventh SonLoved the atmosphere in this one and was particularly drawn to the location descriptions which were all very evocative. I thought the use of keywords was very powerful and efficient. Very cool that you went with a western. Was it the canyon part of your title that sparked that?
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THE LEMURIAN LARDERoh i do love a good western. thank you for committing to the written voice throughout - it works without being cheesy. i especially like it in the location text. feels like narration you'd hear over a montage in a pulpy movie. love the art, especially my man Jack
high: the guns! terse, great flavor, cool mechanics. if this document was just four pages of those i'd still dig it tbh
low: mechanically this is barebones, but in a way that generally is flavorful and gives a good feel for how to play it. the only whiff for me is the location of the rabbit's eye mineshaft, which is just kinda "idk, put it wherever". i would've liked that to be bespoke, or have a little more sauce in the text to inspire me when putting these pieces together
in-between: the gun rules feel too specific to slot into any old system, but, tbh, very close to just being playable as-is. i don't know if i'd even adapt this - probably i'd just label everything by how many bullets they can take and run it closer to an FKR-style game.
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The Gravity Plagueit's hard to pin down unfortunately lol, the short of it is that you defer to the logic of the world before deferring to rules or system. the idea is kind of like, if you understand the world and you understand what the players are capable of, you can usually make a reasonable decision about how their actions play out without needing randomness. some FKR tables don't have any player-facing mechanics. for the long of it, here's a great megapost!
not my preferred style (i like improvising around random results). but in this case, a magic gun that makes you a better shot when you're nasty is a Very cool piece of world logic to work with, and i don't need a rulebook to say what happens when you take a bullet in the desert. since the world is otherwise grounded, there's some appeal for me in stripping away the rules and just playing the space!
Flavorful as hell, great work going on here. Congrats!
This is my personal jam winner, I think
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Into the Viridian PitHappy to see a non-fantasy theme! You really leaned into the Western setting/tropes and it works. I think this could be a really fun time. What system would you recommend for running this?
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Cemetery of the Silent Monks
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