Play depthcrawl
Kith & Kindling's itch.io pageRate this depthcrawl
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
best depthcrawler in the jam
An amazing entry without an ounce of wasted space. That being said, the density, without art or a map, was a lil much- but such is the nature of the format of the jam. Would love to see an expanded version in the future. Even without one, I loved the colors chosen, the weird otherworldliness of the story, and the great writing in all the roll tables. A top-tier entry for sure!
Thank you!
This goes straight to my gems list from this jam! The writing is superb, and the added mechanics seem very fitting and gameable.
I would have loved a map of the depth crawl, or some evocative drawings, but I understand that’s not easy to do and pack in such a limited area. It probably deserves and expanded edition with a bit more of breathing room in the layout once the jam is over :)
I would love to add some illustrations too! Time and space were my enemy in terms of getting them done for the jam deadline, but an expanded future edition is certainly possible. Thank you for the kind words!
Very tightly packed. Would love some more space to let this breathe. With all the location descriptions, I think this could really use a map. Might be worth expanding after the jam!
Setting that aside, a very evocative setting with solid writing.
If I had more pages available to me, I would've loved to do all these things! It's definitely a fair critique, though; I may have bitten off more than the page limit could handle. If I still have the enthusiasm after the jam is over, an expanded version is high on my list. Thank you so much for reading!
Ha, I well know the feeling! Would love to see this expanded after the jam!
When I scale this, I know flat out my printer is never going to see this thing run. The use of black background with light writing is always a striking visual, but murder on a printer and if the printer is low quality, the text ends up fuzzy. Worse, the size of this print is unreadable to me when scaled to size.
Cover gives the information required. It's pretty on a color use level, but not bringing a lot else to the table for me. Clear about the system, which is pretty important. I don't know Cairn, so I have to guess at usability in some cases. Something to keep in mind if I mention system-related confusion.
Reading things over, I see bold call-outs. Always like those since they draw my eye to important stuff when skimming. Given how dense this is, that's extra important here. Info is on theme and still within a range of fitting into most games typical of what I would expect to see played. Good clean read on how the crawl works, so again good.
The loss of memories is the one sticking point I have. If I am doing this as a one-shot, there's no real impact to losing memories of a character. If I'm playing a long-run game with lots of history, this can be deeply impactful, but also potentially destroy beloved elements of a character. I think that would be the thing that decided if I ran it or not. If I had a game with rich history and NPC ties, but also with a set of players who consider /all/ character change good, it would be perfect. Long sentence, deep concept. Either way, I don't dislike it. I just need to be careful with how I use it.
Enemy is clear and offers a non-combat solution in a relatively small block. Solid. Not sure if you know the Wizard of Oz backstory for the Tinman (the tin woodsman), but it is all about a man who had deep love in his heart but had his parts slowly replaced due to a situation caused by a witch. Eventually he lost everything that made him human. His physical heart, but also the metaphorical one. In the absence of his love, he became like a machine, just going through the motions until he froze up. Why bring it up? Your NPC doesn't sound like that guy, but the connections between lost emotions and a woodsman reminded me strongly of that history. I would have been hard pressed not to have the subconscious connection make some some odd appearance in how I ran him. As to the last monster, 1d12 WIL... ouch.
Locations are varied and interesting. Lots here. Tight packed, but all clear enough from what I am reading. Again, without knowing the system, I have to guess at balance. It seems balanced though. With a minimum of 9 rooms to get deep enough to find the center (barring kindling rule). It's enough to create doubt of success without being unreasonable.
Details are solid also, adding changes to the location that go a long way to making repeated rolls on the same 'location' into their own unique variations. Events also have some nice details including causing location merges, detail double ups, etc. I think it's your tables in this that make the whole thing sing.
The biggest issue for me is just how tightly packed this is. Everything works and I'll honestly be adding this to the ones I keep in a file. My current printer can probably handle it as readable, but if I was using my printer from 2 years ago it would be a lost cause. Even with the good printer, I am looking at a massive loss of ink due to the black background. A printer-friendly version would go a long way on that though. If the jam was still ongoing, the change I would have suggested is actually cutting out the cover.
Maybe a quarter of the page dedicated to the same information, a bit of art, then use that space to give the rest of the document more breathing room. My old man eyes are always a bit intimidated by ultrafine writing. Everyone with small font always responds with something to the effect of 'I printed it and it's fine' as if everyone has the same quality printer or the same eyesight. There are people who've been in the hobby for around 70 years now and still going. It's really easy to say 'it's fine' when you're half the age of the person reading (or maybe just have better eyes if similarly aged).
Despite my finding the tight, small font intimidating if not scaled up, I think you did something really high quality here. You packed a lot in (even accounting for the tightness, there's more than expected here) and should be proud of this entry. Not going to lie, I was jealous when I was starting my own and saw the title you got. Such a fun title and you did it a lot of justice. I hope you decide to do an update after the jam to maybe make it a little less jam-packed and let it breathe a little. I don't even know that it needs a lot added honestly. Just maybe a bit more space for things to ease the eye a touch.
Thank you so much for such thoughtful and extensive feedback! I agree on basically all counts. It would be nice if there was more space; if I'm still enthused about this thing when the jam is fully over, I can certainly see myself developing an expanded version with more room to breathe and larger font (sorry for your eyes).
Maybe I am naïve -- and it is my first time entering a jam like this/publishing a module pdf -- but it really didn't occur to me that people would print them! I don't own a printer and usually take play/GM notes from pdfs by hand, but concede that I might be the freak in the hobby. Obviously this thing is entirely unsuitable for printing, for a wide range of reasons (there's text boxes outside the bleed margins!), but I didn't see any printy guidelines in the jam rules, so out the window that concern went.
I'm glad you found stuff to like, and thank you for reading! I had a lot of fun putting it together, and reading feedback like this is so helpful and gratifying.
I suppose printing is suggested by the 'zine' format, duh. I have lived too long online.
You're welcome. It's pretty impressive realizing this is your first time entry/publication. I wouldn't have guessed given the quality of design overall. Sounds like you have a bright future if you pursue publishing further. It's not super shocking to hear someone not considering the print. A lot of it is generational. Older folks like myself grew up before cell phones even existed. My first computer had no internal memory (used floppy disks) and my first console was the ColecoVision! Before the 2000s, a lot of us were using physical media almost exclusively. For people growing up after 2000 (or at least in them) it became increasingly easy to just download entire books and images. I've found a lot of 20-somethings don't even own physical media or printers anymore. They do everything online, including proofreading papers on their phones and tablets.
A lot of these short-form documents end up getting printed out by people for their table. It lets them slip it into a folder to carry to games or cons and have something to run on the fly. Given the nature of this one, I would expect a lot of people to want to print out a copy to have on hand. Not only that, in jams, there are always a few people who print them out to judge on their lunch breaks or when otherwise away from the computer. Having a printer-friendly version is often a major boon to them. Something to consider in future jams. I expect this one to do well in the votes, so hopefully you do stay enthusiastic and do either an expended or updated version after the votes are in.
Either way, I hope you continue to enter jams in the future and look forward to seeing your other entries.
Really like the procedures and additional rules, rapture feels very fitting for Cairn and very representative of a mind unsane cause of the exploring deeper and deeper. The visual design is good and informations are easy to find. Text is very clear and gives what needed for the warden. One of the most interesting entries in the jam!
Thank you so much! I had a lot of fun putting it together
This is super slick. I love the mechanics and theme. I'd run this at my table in a heartbeat.
What an evocative depth crawl! I love when memories and relationships are mechanized as a type of HP bar, so the Rapture mechanic makes me punch the air in excitement. This is a great interpretation of your title, and I love the imagery of burning away the memories of loved ones mirroring the burning of the Forest as fuel for the Envoy's vessel. Having locations in the depth crawl that draw upon the PCs' memories, like the recreation of their village, is the icing on top, giving a weird and unsettling character to the terraforming process and gives the players a hook to get the Envoy to understand their own bonds and love.
Excellent. Adding this to my list of "to be played"
Thank you so much!
I love the semplicity of the procedural generation and how good the options mix together. The new mechanics, too are intriguing. My only doubt is if there is a way to fix/cure/solve the rapture. It seems the love ones are just missing forever, and that's a bit sad.
Thank you for reading! It probably is quite sad, yes -- I'm a sucker for a downer ending. If I ever expand this into a larger format, I'd definitely look into adding more rules about recovery from Rapture. Candidly, though, I expect the success rate in this adventure to be relatively low!
Not only am I really happy to see a depthcrawl in this jam, but damn this is a good one. The links between table entries really shine and you’ve nailed the thematic consistency. This would make for a wonderful session of play.
Thank you so much, that's very kind! I love the depthcrawl format and think there's so much potential for surprise and delight in there, with some careful table curation.
Sublime entry. Love the writing of this; The "villain" is compelling, how to stop it too, the Rapture mechanic is narratively excellent: Great tour de force to include that in a Cairn entry. Lot of content/combinations with the different tables, all bringing something interesting. And I love the depthcrawl format; it's not used enough in my taste, so that's right up my alley. This goes in the things I really want to play!
Thank you so much! I love the depthcrawl format.
I wasn’t familiar with a “depthcrawl” but I see the beauty of escalating events in it and love what you did here with the theme. The two add. rules are a great expansion into the theme, the backstory itself is fanatstically interwoven as a root (haha) cause, but at the same time a bit subdued and not overwhelming the roleplay potential. VERY nicely done!
Thank you so much! Depthcrawls are a lot of fun. I'd really recommend checking out Gardens of Ynn or the Stygian Library if you haven't; they're both huge inspirations and great showcases for the procedural shenanigans the form permits.
Mmm I love the arboriality of it all. Very atmospheric and I think the choice of a depth crawl actually makes sense in the context of the story. I like your set-up as well. Very clear for the DM.
Thank you so much!
Great opening hook, the rapture mechanic is very interesting and works well at mechanically reinforcing the theme and roleplay. The Envoy I think will be a really interesting encounter and I like there's an avenue encouraged in the adventure to settle things in a non-combat way. Very cool module and nice presentation! 🌲
You're very kind, thank you!
Who would've think that a fantasy forest can be scary again.
Thank you for taking a look!
I like how you've created something original based on Cairn's “woodland” theme, with an ending that can be truly dramatic. The adventure is simple yet elegant, both aesthetically and in terms of gameplay. Great work.
Thank you so much!
Love this. The ecohorror eldritch stuff is top tier and works well as a depth crawl. Also love how you did the tables and stat blocks from a design perspective. Great stuff!
Thank you, this means a lot!