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The Delicate Diamond - Appendix N Jam's itch.io pageRate this Adventure
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Glad someone else had the clever idea repurposing Weird Tales art and making it work so well!
Looking forward to the thrilling conclusion!
I never cease to be amazed by how much information some of you manage to pack into four pages without compromising the presentation. I really like the adventure, the way you encourage exploration through the search for the Foundry and the variety of possible outcomes at the end. Plus, I think including ads for the sequels is very clever and gives the adventure a bit of a magazine feel. Great job.
Impressive adventure, so many outcomes.
Impressive adventure, so many outcomes.
Amazing atmosphere throughout, and great use of visuals! I especially liked the illustrations from Weird Tales.
Cover: An arresting cover that ticks the Appendix N boxes: a haunting oil-painted portrait, fonts that scream 1970s and distressed paperback look, as if you had just picked it off the pulp fantasy shelf in your local second-hand bookshop.
Interior art: Weird Tales pencil artwork works very well.
Interior layout: I like the limited choice of colour palette, it’s a case of less is more. The green bars on the table are lighter than the green used for the bold text and on the map, maybe it would look better if they were all the same shade? Though the dark green/black combo is harder to read so maybe not.
The columned text layout is for the most part attractive and easy to read. Just a few places where the text bumps up against the table and artwork could do with more space to breathe.
The Adventure: Nice concept and outline, with a lot of potential for role-playing, investigation and negotiation. Due to the space constraints imposed by this jam, the GM will have to put in some time fleshing out the details (or be good at improvising). Given the space constraints, I wonder if the table of terrain types and distances is a good use of space. I think if I was running this I would be inclined to hand-wave the moving from location to location and focus on the political and personal interactions.
Nice work, very pretty!
Finally, something that checked all my boxes! Love the paper texture and font choices...concise writing, incredible panache and excellent use of pre existing art elements!
um. Wow. Thanks so much. Big fan.
Like a diamond, I can feel sparkles of genius within this adventure! It feels like a negadungeon but with a larger scope.
Solid entry, well laid-out, great choice in art. I’m curious to see more of Matea, and characterize her! What secrets did Bartolo think he uncovered? I think there’s lots of room to expand this adventure; it begets curiosity! <3
To me, this one could be a pulp novel that you find in an unorganized used book store. The themes come through very strongly!
I feel like there's a lot of work a GM would want to to do flesh out the towns, but I really liked the mix-and-match encounter tables, that's something that would work immediately from the get-go.
Great design!
Great factions, moral ambiguity and twist. Dig the design. Would love to play this.
Man, I really need to get me some of that Weird Tales art- that shit is fire!
Really liked how much spot art you squeezed into this, as well as the texture & feel of an old thrift store find. My favorite part, though, was the bleak ending that could definitely serve as a hook for Matea’s redemptive sequel. Great stuff!
All of those old pulp magazines are just a treasure trove of awesome art. And not only illustrations, but typographical embellishments, flourishes, borders.
I really like the visual design here and the bold choices you've made in terms of presentation and what you do/don't show of the adventure. I reckon this could be built out into something super unique post-Jam!
you get it.
The overall design has been some of my favorite so far. Actually gave me a lot of inspiration for whatever I make next. Sidenote, I really need to learn about Cairn, so many powerhouse submissions for that system.
High praise! So many great entries! There is a knack to using Public Domain art, but man drawing my own stuff seems like it would be so much easier. (I'm sure you'd say the opposite lol)
Cairn is super easy to learn, so you shouldn't really have any troubles picking it up :)
yes. What they said. My system of choice for precisely that reason.
Great choice of art and fonts. Overall design is clean, sharp and thematic. and Ifeel like the page texture might affect readability on some screens but it combines perfectly with the engravings.
Very kind words. Page texture was a very last minute change that I wish I had thought of earlier to make it just a tad better. Thanks for reading!
I love how much art is packed into this, and the theme is on point. It really feels like a novel, down to the structure of the writing.
Many thanks! Picking which art to use and which to not was TOUGH. I have a huge folder of downloads to prove it. lol
Great, great use of public domain art. The 'stab my chest' etching is so good and weird.
There was a little too much going on for me to follow quite why the forge is the way it is - is that explained in another module?
For the purposes of the jam, I wasn't sure how to rate a 'midway-thru-the-adventure-path' linked adventure like this - bold of you to do it! - but I didn't want to demerit you for doing it - I loved adventure paths! So I tried to rate the module without thinking about the ambiguity introduced there (as if those loops were closed).
Great, great use of public domain art. The 'stab my chest' etching is so good and weird.
There was a little too much going on for me to follow quite why the forge is the way it is - is that explained in another module?
For the purposes of the jam, I wasn't sure how to rate a 'midway-thru-the-adventure-path' linked adventure like this - bold of you to do it! - but I didn't want to demerit you for doing it - I loved adventure paths! So I tried to rate the module without thinking about the ambiguity introduced there (as if those loops were closed).
I agonized over that ending, but ultimately felt it was a satisfying enough conclusion on its own (while bleak and sort of cliffhangery).
This is really good. I love the cover and use of spot illustrations in a layout that puts me in mind of turn of the century newspapers. Great vibes.
Using the Weird Tales art like I did, I really wanted to go further with emulating that style but didn't for lack of room. Maybe in a re-issue!