Play Module
Voices of the Unknown's itch.io pageRate this Module
In order to rate this submission you must be logged into itch.io and have submitted your own entry. Anyone with an account can leave a comment.
Leave a comment
Log in with itch.io to leave a comment.
Comments
Great adventure! Good, terse writing. One of my favourites modules!
Really enjoyed the three different gods, their descriptions and weird influences. Great use of the theme!
Maybe it’s me, but I felt like a reorganization of some information could make it easier to parse the adventure and figure out how to run a bit more easily. One part that could be made more explicit, for example, is that 6 really is connected to A. 5 and G already have a connection that is called out. The exit between B and G (described only in B) doesn’t help reading the map, and I feel like it could be erased and the dungeon would be easier to read without removing much from gameplay (there’s already an alternate entrance/exit anyways)
Maybe another thing to think about is about the role of the travelling merchant there. It gets mentioned twice quite early in the module, then never again. Feels like the merchant should either play a bigger role in the adventure, or maybe get removed. I could see my players learning about it and hyper-fixating on it as a possible solution to some of the issues.
Thank you for the clear and specific feedback! I agree the mine-to-town connections could be more explicit in the drawing, keying, or both. The dungeon does have a lot of loops doesn't it?
Rightly or wrongly, I intentionally put in a bunch of stuff for the GM to use that I don't have answers to. The Esoteric Order of Sanctified Knights, more idols represented on the box, worm tunnel fork and blocked mine exits. The traveling merchant was one of these things, intended to allow a Warden/GM to graft onto him whatever they needed him to be. As a character, I saw him as a kind of cross between The Dark Tower's Man in Black and Majora's Mask Happy Mask Salesman. But as always, no plan survives contact with the players and I could definitely see a party chasing his trail while bad things are left to happen in town. I wonder if Spawn can fly to the big city...
I'll revisit these things after the jam. Thanks again!
Love the lore, especially with so many gods involved. Really packed with content for a 4-page, in a good way!
Thank you. I was convinced it was over-stuffed and under-baked!
A town, a mine, three gods. All put together withous need for squeeze. writing is terse and down to earth, overall design is practical and well thought. That's the kind of job i was happy to find in my zines when i was younger, and to be honest it was pretty rare.
Thank you for the comments. Glad to hear the writing was direct! I tend to ramble.
Really creepy adventure! I like the idea of the Idols of Krel, Urmioth, and G’Ta and how each of them causes a different sort of chaos. Irontown looks like a fun place to wander through, finding clues and hints to the greater mystery, and I love the maps for both the caves and town. Super cool!
Thanks! Glad you enjoyed the maps, I learned a lot while making them.
This adventure is impressive! Packing a full town, rich lore, and a mine dungeon crawl into a couple of pages is no easy task, and you executed it with great style. Congrats!
Just one quick clarification: Are the Crystal Worms and Iron Worms intended to be the same creature? I can only see the stats for the first.
Thanks for the review! I wanted to give the Warden/GM more than they needed so they could keep or discard as they saw fit.
You've found one of my cleverly disguised typos! There are Crystal WORMS and Iron BATS. So, entry 6 on the Encounters should be Crystal Worms. Originally, there were Iron Worms and no bats, but then the mine's ecology changed. Nice catch, and thanks for asking!
This is so well made! It got a mystery and drama. It is laid out well and seems like a very scalable one- or two-shot: A party could speedrun into the mine or spend a session in town. I like it very much. I’ll put it ontu my todo-list!
Best thing after reading a lot of submissions: The layout is so thought through. 1st page: Cover and Teaser 2nd page: Background, Idols, NPCs 3rd page: Overworld 4th page: Dungeon No overlap between those whatsoever.
The one thing to push this to P E R F E C T I O N: Switch the Primordal Idols and the Notable NPCs. The Idols-section names a lot of NPCs only introduced later. And with a little format- and text-tweaking the Idols will fit into one column, even avoiding the column-break on the page.
(Also: The text needs a final spell-check, but I don’t think anyone in the jam will hold this against any entry.)
Wow, this is incredible feedback, thank you! I joined the jam about a third of the way through and have two young kids taking up all my time, I'm just happy I was (just barely) able to produce something.
After the judging period, I plan to go back and tweak layout and give it a true editing pass. The layout is done in typst, which is made for academic writing (it's like LaTeX, if you're familiar) so I was worried it would look too stiff. I'm still learning it, but if used correctly, I can have extremely granular, programmatic control over the document. There were changes I had in mind but didn't get to do, including setting the Idols on one column as you mention. I hope to have a cleaner presentation (and better spelling!) in version 1.1. Thanks again!
A great little module! I like that the idols have to be avoided/contained, and the various effects they have. Also there's a lot potentially going on at once, good job!
Thank you. As I said elsewhere I was worried it was over-stuffed and under-baked, but if a lot going on is good, then awesome!
A nice mystery. And I appreciate how clearly you lay out the premise at the start!
Thanks! I wonder how I'd fare as a player in this.
The Primordial Idols are such a neat concept! Especially with how the interact with the crystals. Very cool!
Thank you! Trying to give a Warden/GM lots to play with.
I'm a huge fan of idols and the impact they have. I think the adventure is very elegant—simple, yet packed with content that you can really dig into. Great job!
Thank you! I was worried the adventure was a little over-stuffed and under-baked. Happy gaming!
I love the interpretation of primordial gods as idols! Each of the idols are so eerily written to. Not only that, but this adventure has two maps?? So much fun! Kudos!
Thank you so much! Glad to eeriness comes through!