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It has everything that would make me hate it (necklace structure, metal vibes, pirate borg, funhouse puzzles, ecc) and nevertheless i love it. Guilty pleasure, but pleasure. It's not somehing i would play or i would like to play, but there's fire in the blood of its author and i can respect blood and fire.
I like the idea you pulled from the title. The puzzles combined with what I guess not knowing the system might be a quite bloody meat grinder are on theme, and the ending is a very nice touch. My instinct was “this idea is to big for four pages” and it would be if one expects a map, four NPCs, a quest to be solved and a warm bed for every epoch. But this is a Tarantino Montage of violence, unstoppable in its pace and that works.
Thank you! Tarantino is a masterclass in the beauty of violence, so hearing that I managed to capture a similar vibe is incredibly exciting.
And you’re absolutely right about the scope. My original idea was way too big for four pages. That limitation actually sparked a new idea: I’m planning to release several more 4-page, 5-room dungeons that GMs can run individually, mix and match, or combine into something much larger.
This is a trip, and feels like it would flow like one long Spielbergian action sequence. Players will come out of this one feeling like the Eternal Champion!
lol, thanks. I can definitely see the action sequence. I like to run my pirate borg games with high energy, over the top action and slice in horrific and comedic elements for a pulpy action flick vibe. Thought about adding a countdown clock to this, for each room, but didn't want to add more complication for the HM's to deal with.
The unique layout and approach to design will require a little study from a prospective GM upfront but wowee all of your prose and instructions are very well written and often evocative of a scene. Great economy of words.
The maze construction mechanics and visualization is super clever and space efficient. Kudos on that!
Thanks, I struggled with trying to convey everything in limited space. I'm learning to "kill my darlings" with this being a successful attempt. I'm excited that most people enjoyed the maze - as that was done at like 4am the day of submission after fighting with the ugly "wall of text". The round table didn't quiet work as well but I think I know how I could improve it for next time.
Always love it when a module doesn't read like just a collage of places and a list of what's inside. Gives you a real sense of call to adventure, which I reckon is what every module should aspire to do. The rooms with different themes inside make it suitably epic as a final dungeon of some sort. Very nice work.
Thank you. My goal is to release a few more of these so that the GM can pick and choose where to go next. I had so much fun with these settings that ive got plenty left over. Really wanted to lean into the "echo" through time of different moments of upheaval. Not sure if that came through but I did enjoy making each "room" unique to the setting.
The labyrinth system is the absolute highlight. I like this concept too. Fits well with Appendix N. Getting some Indiana jones vibes in this adventure.
Awesome, the labyrinth was a decision make at like 4am the night before submission, lol. I took inspiration from a solo game i enjoy called 2d6 dungeon. Indiana jones is also another inspiration, i run a lot of Pirate Borg with that vibe and tone, just usually a bit darker. So i was hoping to portray my style of running games into the writing. Glad you enjoyed it.
Man, the surviving pirates will make out like bandits with the eldritch relics. I like the chaos of the adventure -- very Pirate Borg and very Appendix N.
Thanks. Yeah that is one thing I've learned about myself when running some of the first season of PB West Marches, I give out crazy toys to play with. I personally always add a caveat about eldritch relics that isn't always know to the players - every time you use one, a clock gets ticked. What happens or how long that clock has depends on my players but overusing it always brings complications. lol
I've been running Pirate Borg one shots at my local game store and the folks who show up every week are loaded down with stuff, but in true PB fashion, many of the items are either super-situational or are dangerous to the users and those around them. It's been fun, but it definitely makes things crazy.
Love the vibes. It definitely puts some work on the GM to get the players into this really specific scenario (which I'm totally okay with, and did a similar thing in my own submission). I like how you played with the formatting of each scene. It makes it a little bit harder to read, but the vibes are good.
I think the Shoji Shadow Labrynth is particularly interesting. I love the idea of a long hallway maze that gets procedurally generated with random sneak attacks that can happen from the walls at literally any moment.
Typos:
Thanks for catching those - I've noticed a few mistakes myself and was going to upload a newer version, just didn't know if that would be allowed - though honestly after seeing a lot of these submission, I'm not concerned with the competitive angle anymore. Glad you liked it, I plan on releasing a series of these so that the GM could swap rooms out for other rooms and mix and match as they please.
Yeah, there are no updates to the adventure until after judging is over. I'm making all the changes to my entry in a 1.1 file I'll post afterwards.
Thanks for the heads up. I'll probably release a new version in a few days after I had time to go through everything.