Skip to main content

Indie game storeFree gamesFun gamesHorror games
Game developmentAssetsComics
SalesBundles
Jobs
TagsGame Engines
A jam submission

Domes of the Deluged ChasmView project page

Drip by drip, the old gods are reclaiming the Hanging city of Yaab.
Submitted by Headless-Press — 3 days, 12 hours before the deadline
Rated by 20 people so far
Add to collection

Play module

Domes of the Deluged Chasm's itch.io page

Rate 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

Submitted(+1)

A wonderful concept of using floodwater. I also love the premise and the writing, the hanging city map using spheres is also unique and wonderful. 

I also love that to get the relic, PCs can satisfy the guardian by doing what they want. I'm thinking of giving something dilemmatic as the guardian "want" that clashes against PCs value to make it more interesting. 

Submitted(+1)

The map of the spheres with the markings for the floodwaters advancing is so damn cool. Definitely something I'd turn into a player-facing graphic to give them an instantly understandable and impactful sense of their timer for the adventure.

The level of detail you've gone into for the factions and NPCs is exactly what I'd look for as a GM to run this type of adventure, where I need to easily reference what characters want and what priorities they'll default to when pressed. 

Your title feels like one that I would've struggled to come up with a good concept for, but you tackled that assignment extremely well. 

Developer

Thank you, I'm really pleased you liked it!

Hmm I may have to add a player-facing diagram, good call!

Submitted(+1)

This is a cool idea - and I feel like a lot of intended short  modules benefit from a ticking clock. I think any critiques  of the module I may have originate in  the fact that there isn't enough space in this format. I'd like to see the descriptions of the locations expanded quite a bit, but in four pages that would have to be done at the expense of the card-draw  mechanics. Ultimately,  I am glad you included both! It was a bold choice to design crawling rules for a system neutral  module, and I applaud it. 

Submitted(+1)

This is a cool idea - and I feel like a lot of intended short  modules benefit from a ticking clock. I think any critiques  of the module I may have originate in  the fact that there isn't enough space in this format. I'd like to see the descriptions of the locations expanded quite a bit, but in four pages that would have to be done at the expense of the card-draw  mechanics. Ultimately,  I am glad you included both! It was a bold choice to design crawling rules for a system neutral  module, and I applaud it. 

Developer

Thank you! It was very hard to figure out what to cut as the card-crawling  felt important enough to retain, so I'm glad it worked!  I'd certainly like to expand it a bit and plan to do so after the Jam ends.

Submitted(+1)

What an absolutely breathtaking layout, the page aesthetic is different and jaw-dropping, even if a bit crammed. Also the hanging glass megastructures in a ravine being swallowed by a deluge is extremely evocative. The faction dynamic and the Wants are brilliant insertion, I wish there were more explanations to better understand them.  

I have a doubt related to the card use: the rules say cards suits determine whether you face a hazard/treasure, but the page only describe ace and jokers so I assume the single value is not important?

Overall, it's a super evocative, tense, apocalyptic.

Developer(+1)

Thank you, I'm glad you liked it! I had to cut some extended descriptions that would provide some more nuance and context to the faction dynamics, it is definitely something I'll be adding in once the Jam is done.

Correct the individual value is not important, with the exceptions of aces and jokers...

But!
That wasn't the original plan, I was going to have the numbers relate somehow to the severity of the challenge/reward of whichever event occured, but that also got cut, when I add some encounter/event tables post-Jam I'll probably work that back in, I think.

I'm happy I was able to convey the rising panic and tension of the situation well, thank you for the kind words!

Submitted (1 edit) (+1)

Fantastic work here! This is a wild scenario that fits in perfectly to the jam's premise. Loads of rich details and great descriptions packed in. I particularly enjoy the dotted lines abstracting the city flooding over time and the ramping up of narrative and mechanical tension that comes with it.

Any critiques I have cover stuff others have noted in detail already, so nothing worth diving into too deeply. Giving this more content and breathing room will definitely enhance what's an already solid adventure. Looking forward to the expanded edition!

Developer

Thank you for the kind words! Yes I'm definitely going to expand this one a bit, I had to leave a few things on the cutting room floor so I'll be glad to give the text some more space and add some extra things!

Submitted(+1)

This is a beautiful setting ad a wild scenario. Putting up big glass balls (without even trying to explain them, great!) and slowly let them fill up with water - that sounds fun.

I get the problems of having to communicate a rising tide in a culture that reads from top to bottom. The second page needed some additional parsing, but as the information isn’t as dense as on the front page, it was absolutely “readable” and communicates the doom clock perfectly.

Overall I think the whole premisse needs much more space, to flesh out the ravine itself, possible dungeons/locations of the guradians, the sphere locations itself,… any plans for an expanded edition?

Developer (1 edit) (+1)

Thanks I'm glad you liked it! Yeah the second page was very much an experiment and I wasn't sure how it would go down (or up 😆), But the response seems to be broadly positive so far.

I strongly agree about the space, I'm planning to at the very least loosen the belt to let it breathe, then  add some unique encounter tables for each suite, and add some more depth and flavour  to the locations, keep your eyes peeled and I'll post about it when I have a solid plan.

Submitted(+1)

I can't praise the layout on the second page enough. I can see why one might take issue with the ordering of information - the page sort of needs to be engaged with as a whole to really work - but that's also why I like it so much. Once it clicks, everything is immediately where you need it to be to run the adventure and to visualise the rising water level that's so central to what's going on here. It's also just really satisfying to look at and read through - an example of great "visual design" without any art to speak of, but all done through tasteful use of colour, contrast, and layout that's as interesting to engage with as it is useable.

Developer

Ooh thank you! I'm glad you found it engaging, I thought it would be a good way to visualise the flooding and integrate the map, but wasn't 100% sure on it, I'm glad it paid off!

Submitted(+1)

This has some very cool ideas and pushes game design in interesting ways! The procedure and structure of the adventure sites is really fun, and your approach with the guardians as puzzles caught my eye too!

Developer(+1)

Thank you!! (Really enjoy your blog, always a pleasure to read!) 

Layout is something I still need to work on and I had to get a bit tight with spacing,  but Jams are the perfect place to experiment!  I'm glad you found it engaging!

Submitted(+1)

I struggled a bit with this one, because I really liked all of the sections separately (The exploration mechanic in particular is a very fun way to tie the party's adventuring to time table!), but I've had a lot to trouble fitting the pieces together.  I feel like the relic guardians should be near the Exploring the Downpour section (since that's where they come up), and having description of the downpour below all its effects was very unintuitive, though once I understood it I loved the concept of the city becoming part of the dungeon as the crisis worsens.
In the current format you don't get what is happen really, what you can do about it, or why any of the information above matters until the very end, which is a shame because once you do its really cool! Let me know if you do end up expanding this, because I am very curious to see where you take it.

Developer(+1)

Thanks for the feedback, constructive criticism always helps!

The layout and ordering was something was largely an experiment:  In the original manuscript and draft versions the relics were on the same page as the downpour rules, but I shifted it around in favour of having the city key line up with the downpour effects as an abstract depiction of the flooding, I was conscious of the space, but didn't want to lose some of the flavour present on page 1...Perhaps I can shuffle some stuff up on that second page... I'm definitely tempted to expand this a bit (encounter tables, etc), or at the very least loosen the proverbial belt and give things a bit more space once the Jam ends.

Submitted(+1)

Nice colour scheme, the layout feels a bit crowded at some places, making it hard to parse. I’d have loved some art!

Love the different guardians, and a nice non combat oriented problem to solve! The themes are very much on point.

Love the doom clock mechanism.

Developer(+1)

Thanks!  Yeah I think once the Jam ends I might relax it a bit and add another page to let things breathe/be more legible. I struggled to decide what else to cut! I'd loved to have included some art, but I sacrificed all on the altar of text XD, I'm glad you found it interesting!

Submitted(+2)

There's a lot to praise here. Excellent layout and formatting, beautiful old gods, guardians, and factions, but most importantly, that exploration mechanic using cards, absolutely genius. I also love the doom tracker as well. I would love try to this myself. Great job!

Developer

Thank you so much! There was a lot Ibwas unsure of with this, but I'm glad it seems to resonate! I wanted to add some unique tables to complement the card-crawling, but I'm glad i kept in what I did. 😊  (Though I may add some unique encounter tables further down the line...)

Submitted(+1)

If you're planning to make an expanded version, I would love to see the unique tables for the card-crawling, I'm very much invested. This entry remains to be one of my personal favorites for this gamejam :>>