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A jam submission

Gemini SpiresView project page

A 4-page Adventure Module for Shadowdark / OSR
Submitted by The Department of Unusual Observations (@deptofunusual) — 1 day, 14 hours before the deadline
Rated by 30 people so far
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Comments

Viewing comments 21 to 2 of 21 · Next page · Last page
Submitted(+1)

Great looking adventure! Order/Chaos being two halves of the same whole. And the artwork looks great. Well done!

Submitted(+1)

Tiny print at scale. I feel like I say this with almost every entry, so you're not in bad company there. It's especially a shame here because the layouts are so clean that it feels like it should be readable. My sad old eyes just can't pull it off though. Onward.

The cover is clever. It does everything a cover should be doing, but does it in an atypical way. The name byline is used in a way to seem like the name of a series. Since it indicates book 2, this is reinforced. Being level 3-4 implies it even more since someone looking at this would assume a first book would be level 1-2. Kind of fun how it all goes to reinforce the idea this was a legitimate book in a series pulled strait from a shelf. I have no idea how intentional that is, but it's what I get from it as a vibe.

The story setup is clean enough. Gives an idea of wrongness, duality, and theoretical goal. It's not really forcing anything on players, so that's also a positive for me. They can chose to back away if they want. Below that, the large number of creatures is surprising for the page count. Most people manage 3 or less due to space issues. It's a little odd getting them before anything else, but makes sense when considering the layout of the final two pages. Speaking of layout, this looks very professional. I wouldn't be surprised to find out there was a team of several people working on this entry.

That professional feel follows in the interior pages. The mirroring not just of the images, but the layout is peak design choice. I don't find much to say until I get to the Rule Engine. Since it says it is continuous, I imagine there are a ton of rules already. How are they enforced? Is it just expectations and punishment or do they literally alter the laws of the world within this tower? I can see the latter being difficult for players to follow, but the former meaning an almost immediate failure by someone in any given group.

Encounter 3 for the order side implies it is a punishment, but all of the upgrades have positive results for the most part. A longer list of encounters and upgrades would serve well if you expand this. Maybe a rule where too many upgrades mean a loss of what makes someone human. A slow degradation of their soul so to speak.

On the Chaos side, you use 'upgrades', but then later in the very first entry you use the word mutation. Given the concept of order vs chaos, I think calling the changes on this page mutations for the table would have been better as well. The flesh pool notes adding random body parts, but that implies extra random limbs, eyes, etc rather than the elements noted under upgrades. Uniformity of word choice would go a long way on this page. No major complaints otherwise about what's on the page.

Taken as a whole, it's very polished and offers a strong baseline to build a game around. If the complaint I have is 'I wish there was more' you are doing something right I suppose. With the number of creatures at the start, the towers feel painfully small. I think this is one of those entries I would highly encourage the creator to expand on. A larger document size to work with is going to do wonders for making this into something absolutely amazing to run. Even as it is, it makes good use of the limited space and well worth a read.

Developer

For the record, this review made my night. It's little handholds of encouragement like this that compel me to continue creating and developing things as a whole. Thank you for your time reviewing my entry here!

Submitted

This is a G R E A T entry! The theme is interpreted perfectly, the creatures are fitting and well-done. The whole scene is masterfully painted.

A few questions:

  • How do I reach 6?

  • why isn’t page 2 the back and the spires the spread?!?!?!

  • how do I get Chaos Upgrades? I want Mimic to touch an Archive Golem to get Recursive :-D

Submitted

Such unique concept! I wish the font is a bit bigger, but otherwise perfect visual presentation. I love your character designs!

Submitted

An absolutely stellar entry! The art, layout, & colors are all phenomenal!

The writing and central conflict could easily have been written in a John Carter of Mars serial. A top tier contender for finalist, easy!

Submitted(+1)

Really interesting take on the Law vs Chaos conflict and definitely nails the weird fiction aesthetics! Quite a collection of interesting ideas in both towers.

How do you get a chaos upgrade though? Is it meant to be given when you don’t follow the orders in the Order encounter?

Developer(+1)

Thank you! I had a lot of fun leaning into the Law vs. Chaos tension and seeing just how strange I could make each tower while still keeping everything usable at the table. Really glad the weird-fiction vibe came through! 

My intention was that the Flesh Pools would grant you some form of upgrade. Sounds like I need to make it less of an implication and state that more directly.

Submitted(+1)

Great pallete choices. Very great art! cool cover Plus fun adventure design. I would love to one day try shadow dark.

Developer(+1)

Hey thanks! Most of the time I'll design a cover before I even start writing to help establish vibes. You should definitely try Shadowdark if you like anything OSR related!

Submitted(+1)

Love it. 

Developer

Thanks for the kind words friendo!

Submitted(+1)

Truly gorgeous and evocative. Best art of any entry I've seen so far. Wonderful economy of language: "will not be mocked" tells me everything I need to know about that NPC in only four words. My only complaint is that some of the boons are a little strong: taking three consecutive turns in Shadowdark is absurdly powerful, for example. But that's a minor quibble with a great submission. Nice work!

Developer

HA - Man, those are some of the most meaningful comments I've received yet! I tend to spend way too much time on the art and bust my butt to keep the language as tight as I possibly can. A lot of times I'll rewrite a section multiple times just to see how compressed I can make it. Very valid comment about the boon strength though. Many times I tend to look at OSR characters as disposable and therefore invite wild / swingy qualities to creep onto the table so they may have their glory day in the hot sun before retiring in the dirt.

Submitted(+1)

Fantastic visual design on this one and the chaos/order duel works very well for that title. I love the ideas in it and the touch of humor. Must be a very fun module to play, and I’m likely to give it a shot!

Developer(+1)

YES! I love that some of the minor humor made it through to the reader. Thanks for the kind words. Please let me know what you think afterwards if you do end up playing it. Thanks again!

Submitted(+1)

Gorgeous yet ominous cover art, very intriguing ideas all over. the monster is also fun. Nice work!

I have a twin tower in my home game which I haven't decided what they are supposed to be, I might steal this instead

Developer

*Wringing hands* Yeah, steal it good! Thanks for the encouraging words!

Submitted(+1)

Gorgeous visuals and a cool interpretation of the title. I love the Chrome Soldier especially. But I would be up in there complaining that the chaos tower is too orderly all damn day long

Developer

HAAAAAA - Thanks for the kind words friend.

Submitted(+1)

I love anything that contrasts the wild built structures and the human built ones. The theming here is addictive and really well thought through. A great adventure that feels genuinely explorative. This will be a great oneshot for a clever and curious table. 

Developer

Thanks! I tend to lean pretty heavily into exploration themed games, so I'm really happy to hear that word emerge! I appreciate your time looking it over. Also your review has created all the one-liners I'll need for future movie trailers.

Submitted(+1)

The consistent layout and art direction is *chefs kiss*. Really screams appendix-n, definitely something I wanna throw at my players!

Developer(+1)

Hey thanks Andrew! This project had the weight of the meta narrative of my own creative process behind it. The type-A, everything in clean, corporate alignment trying to scoop up and organize a pool of chunky beef stew. Also I still owe you some Shadowdark stuff!

Submitted(+1)

This entry is beautiful, well laid out, creative, and has an economy of words I really envy as a designer. As it is the only concern I have is in gameability where I don't see much of a real connection to Shadowdark as a ruleset. It's working outside of the box though, where there is no dark dungeon but a unique Science-Fantasy scenario. 

As it is there is no direct and apparent threat but that might be okay!

Developer(+1)

Thanks fellow spire architect! You're right about the lack of connective tissue with Shadowdark. It's really just the game I know. Any systems that you'd recommend here - Cairn? Troika? Mothership?

Submitted

Heya!

I'm organizing a collaboration between all of the Shadowdark Appx. N creators on Discord. If you're interested look me up in the SD Discord or reach out in DMs.

As to your original question I do think with some minor revision this would be a really cool Mothership addition as well.

Submitted(+1)

The idea, visual design, and theme are all on point. Some of the writing is a bit confusing (the "temporary beneficial mutations" on page 4 seem to reference the Chaos upgrades, but only one is explicitly temporary- should they all be for just this?) but mostly it's clear and concise. The monster design is incredibly creative. My biggest complaint might be that some of the upgrades are too powerful for a deadly system like Shadowdark, but that's more of an accepted practice for the system rather than a hard-set rule. Overall, great adventure.

Developer

I really appreciate your feedback and time reading the adventure! I've heard that recurring theme about the upgrades being too powerful - definitely going to note that for future designs and potentially adjust this one later. I feel like my biggest struggle writing concise adventures like this are how much to assume of the reader / DM. How do you judge what to explicitly state vs. where to leave holes or freedom to just figure it out?

Submitted (1 edit) (+1)

you nailed the atmosphere. great, descriptive language that feels vivid but more importantly, fun. i want to see this place in action, i want take people to the blooming garden and endless archives just to see what happens! and the art's stellar too, i adore the chrome soldier. it all just comes to life so well!

high: the flesh pools, my fav imagery of the whole thing. the unfinished half's line is a small detail but gave me goosebumps on first read

low: i'm not familiar with shadowdark so i may be missing something, but this feels toothless. the locals read polite, unbothered, or otherwise static until bothered by the players. there's nothing wrong with an exploration heavy module, but... i think, especially with the listed inspirations, that i'd like to see more stuff that's a threat not because of aggressive posturing but because it's alien and incompatible with you. the encounter roll that can forcibly "upgrade" you is in line with what i was looking for - would've loved to see more like that!

Submitted(+1)

Oh, this is good. I love what you did with your title. The art is incredible, and the game aspect is sooo solid. One of my new favs.

Developer

Thanks Shurebis - wow, those are strong words of encouragement that will stick with me the next time I design something!

Submitted(+1)

Great overall design. The I love the black silhouette art on the bridge. 

Developer

HA - that was a last minute addition! Thanks!

Submitted(+1)

The visuals and writing absolutely NAIL the Appx N theme. Lovely just to read through and look at.

Developer

Hey thanks - I really appreciate the words of encouragement. Glad you enjoyed it!

Viewing comments 21 to 2 of 21 · Next page · Last page