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one of the best read in this jam.
Thank you so much!
I absolutely love the art as it gives an eerie feeling by only looking at it. Also I love the way that the carrion crawler is wandering around the vicinity with random encounter. Also the villagers mistaking it as a dragon is also a nice addition, it gives the aspect of realism that they don't perceive things clearly when they were panic or in an environment that makes it hard to see.
Thanks so much! We worked hard to communicate the vibe of the setting—a village of folks who believe they live far from any fantasy adventure "action."
Excellent job bringing the feeling of winter to the adventure. Very runnable. Great details and I like how it could go many different directions depending on what NPCs players might be drawn to and where the 'dragon' is encountered. Very cool adventure!
Thank you! I am becoming a fan of the "wandering final boss"/variable-location climax as opposed to the video game-like set final encounter.
That's a good move. I like it. I may try something like that at some point. I've done similar where there's a chance a boss can be run into in multiple locations, but if they haven't shown up yet, they'll be encountered in one particular room. But I like what you did. If the characters somehow totally avoid the final boss, they can return to areas and eventually they'll find the boss. It's opportunity to involve NPCs or add story. Or, if they just run into the boss right away, still totally great!
So many things were going through my head as I read this. “Oh, there’s a hint of Finnish here”, “Is this a worm/wyrm thing?”, “I hope the dog is fine…”, “Is it just like a carrion crawler then?….oh!”
Lovely illustrations, and the color definitely gives an old-school, anti-xerox blue while still feeling new. The cover and overall design is fantastic! The situation of the village is quite engaging, and the locations and challenges presented sound like a lot of fun to run. This hits all the right notes at all times. Definitely saving here to run in the future.
Bonus points for the situation of the dog being better than the situation of the kid!
Please let us know if you run it! And yes, I would play with the encounter mechanics. If we had more space, I would have suggested more details for turning a carrion crawler into a velvet worm (at least one unique attack, shooting out sticky slime), but we thought to keep the mechanics as light as possible for this version.
Absolutely! I think the reference to the Carrion Crawler plus the description of the effects of the silk are good enough to come up with a quick adjustment. Though I think the prospect of it being able to grow to larger sizes and the fact that there is a hundred other eggs about to hatch already turn this from a “regular monster” into something a lot more interesting. Also great for sandbox play as a consequence to not dealing with the problem right-away!
Love this one! Reminds me of The Buried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro. I think the way you've made this system agnostic is also very clever, though it took a moment for it to land with me. Seems like you could pick this up and run it in any system, taking only the read time plus another five-ish minutes to prep.
I will definitely be stealing the woods, with the rivals and pit traps, for another game sometime! The kid in the cogs is also a great encounter.
Thank you so much! I love The Buried Giant! Ishiguro's quiet, dread-pumping prose is a major influence. (My personal favorite is The Unconsoled.)
Very cool adventure! It's already been said but the cover is awesome, really captures the science-fantasy vibe!
Greatly written and illustrated!
The adventure and map look very runnable, with the small twist of the memory-loss which could befall the PCs. Let’s test their role-play-metal :-D
Very nicely done!
This kicks ass! The aesthetic absolutely nails old school that I would readily believe this were a real published AD&D adventure, or the game booklet for an early 90s PC RPG. Phenomenal stuff here!