itch.io

Ha! Never heard that term before. It seemed so specific that I felt it had to be a game rule I missed. I should’ve looked in the dictionary instead :D

I enjoy how the character creation also sets up the dungeon and the combat encounters. Visuals are great, though the text might be on the small side for printing.

I love the ambition of the combat system. Took me quite a few reads to make sure I understood, and I have the feeling I might still be missing something. Maybe including something like a character sheet would make it a bit easier to visualize the limbs, or maybe have cards for each limb so you could use to make it clear which limbs have been revealed or not. Either way, I feel like I really need something a bit more visual and/or physical to make it a bit more accessible, and it would probably be the first thing I’d try to solve if I am running this.

The chase countdown is a really interesting mechanic! I especially like the fact that you can cross the knights on the road.

Very good looking module! It feels like some of the text might be a bit too small to print, but the content seems solid enough for a small campaign.

Really amazing module. Visually impressive, very concise objectives, neat locations, and I really enjoy the possibility of the landscape changing with the river being rerouted. There’s a few typos here and there, but nothing that complicates reading.

The only thing that I didn’t get is what it means to be shod when climbing the hill. I could not find it in the Flail rules if this is a special term.

Thank you for the detailed feedback 🙏 Good point on gathering all the key terms in one spot! There’s definitely space to reorganize some things and clarify others to make it clearer to the reader.

Delightfully disgusting :D The worm walls of the map really help selling the vibe! The concept is really straightforward and delivers well on the theme. The rebirth mechanic is really interesting and goes hand-in-hand with what seems like a proportionately deadly dungeon. This module would be really interesting to fit in a campaign, having the surviving characters leaving the mountain with all of their boons and banes.

The last room and conclusion I felt a bit ambivalent about:

• On one hand, the worm-then-PvP aspect comes a bit as a surprise: It’s only telegraphed by the ancient motifs, but this is the room you fight the worm-thing (it’s not explicitly saying this, but I feel like I’m 99% sure on this) and there’s also the statues holding up the ceiling, so there’s a lot of information to present and process at once in this room and it might end up feeling like an anti-climatic rug-pull.
• On the other hand, the transformation depends on failing a wisdom save, so it’s never really a given that it would happen.

I think if running this, I would probably adjust this last room to make it totally clear that whoever deals the killing blow becomes the next worm-thing, and let the players figure out the consequences.

The art in this is really cool! Love you you did the maps. Overall the text is well-organized, but I feel that the font size is a bit too small, especially if someone would print it. Font choice is also on the boring side and doesn’t do justice to the rest of the material.

There’s a few things that are not clear to me: Is this meant to be a gauntlet? Should the players roll random pilgrims to see who they are playing? If not, should all players be a cleric of sorts? and how should I use the pilgrims table? I’m also missing a table for random encounters.

Besides that, fantastic use of the theme, with every aspect of the module oozing with flavor and interesting ideas.

Great use of the title and I really enjoy how technical the text gets. Feels like a good way to give the DM some jargon to talk to the players when they interact with the visitors.

I agree with the others that mentioned that a section about the visitors and how they turn into diminished at the start would’ve been nice. Maybe you could compile the description of the decontamination rooms into the same entry to save space, since the text repeats.

Some minor additional notes:

• It’s not clear if the Predictive Armor and the Brutal abilities are already calculated into the stats, or if they should have an activation.
• In Shadowdark, looking for secret doors finds secret doors by default. Maybe what’s really missing is something that telegraphs their presence and prompt the players to search for them. If I was a player in this, I don’t think I would think about searching for a secret door in a decontamination chamber anyways.
• Same for the WIS check to identify Diminished as Visitors. Shadowdark doesn’t usually do knowledge checks, and I feel like you already do a good job to describe them so players can figure out what’s happening. From experience, it’s usually more rewarding letting the players guess at these things and then finding some information that proves them right and make them feel smart then just telling them the answer, especially since there’s absolutely no reason a character would’ve known this beforehand.

Neat module full of personality! The characters are great and the auction items seem like they could be worth the steep cost.

The one thing that I was missing is a suggestion or something on how run the auction and incorporate the bidders.

Very inspired module! Visually appealing and great use of the theme. Some typos here and there, but great material overall.

One thing that I didn’t get: How exactly you overload the Greenmind with technobabble? Are the players meant to come up with random nonsense they could do to it?

Interesting that the shadows here are quite literal :D

Neat mechanic with the bedroom doors! Overall, moving through the tower feels somewhat magical and disorienting, like a wizard’s tower should be. I do think it ends up a bit too linear, and maybe a couple of other options on how to traverse the space could enhance the experience and bring a bit more disorientation. I guess the only nonlinear way of traversal would be if players decide to climb a window and end up skipping the first few floors directly to 3X, but not sure if this is intended or an oversight.

Neat straightforward adventure! The observatory mechanics are really interesting. Awesome that it connects to the secret door!

Is the intent that something happen if a player breaks one of the spoken rules?

And a minor thing: There’s no damage type in Shadowdark!

Thanks for the comment 🙏

Great visual design and art, despite the small font size for the format. Using the silkworm as a timeline is neat :D

Amazing use of the title with a lot of interesting moral dilemmas for players to roleplay. There are a few lacunae in the text that I miss the original intent: The wranglers seem to want to free the awakened moth but they also want better compensation. For sure they know their work depends on the silkworms being there, but the megamoth wants the brood to be freed, so would there be any possibility of compromise where they work together to continue to produce silk, or would the wranglers be OK if they need to find a new job as they’d rather release the moth? These are all things that I can probably find my way around if running this, but would be interesting to know how you have thought of those when setting up the scenario.

Great module overall! Definitely saving here to run at some point in the future.

Somehow the art and textures feel very compressed, including the compatibility icons. I think something might be off in your export settings, as it is reducing the quality image quality a bit too much. Makes it feel a bit like the pirated D&D books I’d find laying around on the internet when I was a teenager.

I agree with others that it feels like there’s a lot missing here. Like, what is the candle about? If I just snuff the candles Blackbeard dies? Or do I have to kill him three times to off the candle? The candelabra seems massive, so how did one of his crewmates carried it around? What’s the hidden entry? (should it be entrance?)

Absolutely love the art, especially the decorations around the hex map! I feel like the font is way too small if this were to be printed, but the text packs a lot of great bucolic descriptions, and a super interesting setup that makes great use of the title.

“(martian) vampires have clockwork alchemical contraption which supplies them with firearms and dinosaurs to aid in their conquest”…yes to all of this! 😎

I love the visuals and how the map is laid out, but I’m having such a hard time to read the pictures and the connections. I think using a letter to key them would help with the referencing, and either spacing the pictures out to not connect diagonally (or having rounded corners) would help a lot with reading the map. It does not help that it seems like the rooms are described in a random order that doesn’t follow the flow of the map.

While the text is packed of fun and evocative descriptions, I felt like I was missing a few things that I needed a better description, like a bit more about Athanor, her personality, what does it mean for her to be “rolling on her round body” (is she the round teapot thing from the picture in the alchemy lab? is this a fat joke?). What exactly is a mnemonic bead chain, and how is it big enough to hide a secret door?

Quite a competent Shadowdark dungeon crawl full of dragons! The visual design is what I’d expect of any Shadowdark adventure. Great use of the stock art, the watabou map, and I like the use of the non-Montserrat font.

Text is terse, though I had to do a double-take on a few points to be sure (like, is Zig the thief-turned-scholar that found the tomb?). Would’ve been nice to hear a bit more about the wyrmlen. I get that they are dragonborn, but could be nice to have an idea of why they trapped themselves in the tomb, who and where is Auzxenor. Is he the dude that asks for gold to keep the doors open for longer? We get a couple of other named characters (the dragon-turned-wyrmlen-statue and the lich).

It does make some sense, I completely missed that! Now that I know of it, one addition I would do if I’m running this would be a crumpled note on a body written something like “two constellations cast in metal lead to [smudged]”, and maybe a poem or something talking about the beauty of constellations at dawn/dusk/night.

Stunning visuals and amazing use of the title! The Memento flashback structure is well explained visually, and while I feel like I myself might have a hard time to pull it off, the module keeps it simple enough and gives enough material that I feel like I could try!

One thing that I’m not really sure how to feel about: If the players decide to do nothing each day, it seems like the module ends up the same way as if they were active in trying to interact and investigate each day. I feel like I’m missing something, but it doesn’t seem like there’s much leeway for future days’ information to impact the quality of the decision taken at the second day 0. At day 2 you will know the ship is attacked by the Eyes of the Void whether you take any action or not. I think I’d need to watch a playthrough to get a better idea of how player action affects the game experience and possible outcomes. Maybe this module is indeed intended more as a rollercoaster type of experience, and it is less about what players do and more about the discussions at the table. Maybe I have to go play this and come back yesterday to see if I get a better understanding of it.

I love that you used the seal of Stolas as a map! The location itself is fascinating and with great potential.

I did get a bit lost in the writing. Although humorous, it overextends itself a bit. For example, I don’t know what to do with the dead rat puppet show and how I would ever get that communicated to players and have them use that in their plans. And as a GM, I’m not sure if I can use that example to extend and come up with 25 other ludicrous weaknesses. I would’ve liked to know more about The Talon besides that they created the place. I feel like I know a bit more about each other NPC than the Talon.

Also, maybe it’s a matter of preference, but I think you could’ve skipped explaining the hooks and how to use the adventure, and consolidated a few explanations to not need to duplicate them (like explaining what folks learn in area 1 when it’s already explained in the intro).

Really nice and flavorful, with lots of interesting little details! I love how the materials help guide decisions and connect items across rooms (like the orichalcum key+coffer)

The one thing that I’m not sure is how the players are meant to link the constellation groups. 1 is clear and guided by the Amphisbaena, but 2-3 and 4-5-6 are spread in different rooms with no hints connecting them, also with 3-5 appearing together in the sanctum. Or am I reading it wrong and either 4, 5, or 6 would lead to the vault? I’m also not sure how to guide the players towards patterns having a different number of constellations in each. I guess the amphisbaena can say it directly, but maybe if running this, I might want to think of a way to standardize the portal addresses, and have more hints for the portal addresses.

It took me quite a while to parse the map properly, but this is a very reasonable dungeon crawl with some interesting ideas.

I will say that I was a bit disappointed about the use of the title. Knowing Ogun from being an orixá in Yorubá religion and in afro religions in Brazil, I was initially excited about a Ogun Dragonslayer, and it got me wanting to see more ties to the god of war and metal, with maybe some African-inspired themes, thinking the offal maybe being some kind of offering. I guess that’s on me for coming in loaded with expectations, but it is a bit sad that the module doesn’t use the full potential of the name to reinforce the themes.

I really like how the locations are described. Terse but evocative, and gives just enough that I can roll with it when GMing. One piece of feedback that I have is that the rest of the text could lean a bit more into Shadowdark conventions to simplify the text, like using x:6 for formatting the chance of things, saying that the area is deadly to connect to the 1:6 chance of random encounter every hour, and assuming DC 9 for an easy roll for the lunathyne (or 12 if it was meant to be normal).

I find it neat that a hallucinogenic drug is at the center of the conflict here. Knowing my players, I think that they would side with the wolf-riders as soon as they learned about Mother Moon and lunathyne :D I think there is an opportunity to play out the riders as being a bit more sympathetic, with the loggers and trappers posing a real threat to the existence of lunathyne and the connection with Mother Moon.

One thing that I feel is definitely underplayed in the adventure is the lunar thralls! The adventure makes me think that the whole cult is very lucky and/or very charismatic as there are not lunar thralls around. Or maybe the cult knows when they transform and hunts them down? Either way, it just goes to show that there’s a lot of interesting gameplay and worldbuilding potential in this adventure.

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!

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!

I’m glad it could serve as inspiration! 🙏

Thank you for the kind words 🙏 The Victoria and Sawara friendship is truly amazing and crosses the eons! Fun fact: Victoria’s name comes from the Victoria amazonica plant. I chose it to match her boat/hat :)

It works super well next to the text! Makes it immediately accessible on a printed page. Really well done!

Thanks for the comment 🙏 Yeah, I really wanted the Realm of the Dead to look more contemporary because I was inspired by the affirmation of the author Ailton Krenak that the indigenous people of the Americas already live in a post-apocalyptic world. Not very Appendix N for a reference, but I wanted to counterpoint views of authors like HP Lovecraft that put indigenous people as collaborators of eldritch begins, while in many indigenous cosmogonies, their religious practices is all about appeasing natural spirits and maintaining balance so the world can continue to exist

Thanks 🙏

Thanks 🙏

The layout is fantastic! The color coding makes it super easy to parse and the circuit map is a great way to simplify the pointcrawl. The writing is evocative and it hits well the weird fantasy vibes. Great module all around.

Absolutely love the pointcrawl map! Good visual design, and the weird fantasy vibes are through the roof.

Really interesting use of the page format!

Good use of the title. I would not have guessed that Domdaniel is not someone’s name :D

First thought in my mind: “Remember Alf? He’s back - in POG form!” Second thought is that he’s a bit more sweaty and touchy than I remembered :D

I really enjoy the weird fantasy aspects of it: The cultists, the alien that accidentally activated the jetpack and slammed on the ceiling, the fact that the whole thing is a spaceship. Nice visuals, good layout design, and lovely map!

One thing I didn’t get is the difference between Shendu and Shabu. Still not sure if it’s a typo or I’m missing something.

The looks are amazing, and each individual section seems very well-explained and helped by the visuals, but I felt like I had the hardest time figuring out my way around the pamphlet. Maybe it’s just me not being used to the format, but I had to confirm the folds and pages with the accompanying image before I was sure I was reading it correctly. Also, not sure if it’s a World of Dungeons thing, but the 2d6 table threw me off a few times, until I figured it was a d66 table.

With that out of the way, I really enjoy the tide cycle mechanics. Would be nice to see a direct example of how they could impact the the mana crypts. As far as I can tell, they only make it easier/harder to get from one to the other. Maybe if I’m using this location, I might have the tide impact the crypts, like having one that is flooded and can only be accessible in in low tide, or maybe one filled with sand that you need to break a barrier to have the coming and going of the tide open the way.

This module seems like it’s a ton of fun! Writing is clear and evocative. I love that the cultists are unsure about their leader and definitely wrong about their beliefs.

Definitely saving it to run in the future!