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Into the Crumbling Catacombs's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Usability: Is the adventure easy to use on the fly? | #9 | 4.136 | 4.136 |
| Fun: Is the adventure fun to play in an OSR playstyle? | #14 | 4.136 | 4.136 |
| Overall | #22 | 3.985 | 3.985 |
| Writing: Is the adventure original and fun to read? | #55 | 3.682 | 3.682 |
Ranked from 22 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
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Comments
simply wonderful layout, easy to read and marvellous use of Knave 2e's table centric design decisions with both encounters and prospective loot in rooms. I'm off to go join the undead dance party now byee.
Thanks for the glowing praise!
Fun adventure with unique design that can allow for many sessions to be ran with it! Much of our own inspiration came from the sleek, straightforward, and grimey design of one who would dare traverse Into The Crumbling Catacombs!!
The coolest feature of this is adventure is that as a GM I could run this multiple times and no two sessions would feel the same. Lots of rooms packed with options, interesting traps, and a handful of awesome factions to align with or oppose! Excellent layout too! This would be a blast to run!
Thanks! I've got two groups playtesting it now (schedules never permitted it to happen before the jam deadline) and they have gone in totally separate directions. One group immediately sided with the thieves, went in through the sewers and got into multiple combats. They destroyed the wraith, but haven't gotten even close to finding the lantern yet. The other group has decided to play the New Nobles against the Necromancers and con them both. They chose to go in through the great hall and have mostly been sneaky sneaky. They got hit hard with a trap, but survived, fed some curious fey cats, and are actually close to the lantern, but turning away from it to try another direction (they want to bring the following cats to the room with the rat swarms they avoided earlier). I'm very pleased with how this dungeon turned out.
I really like the layout nice work! Very easy to pick up and start playing.
Huzza great hook and options. I think my party would spend an hour debating which faction to work with lol. Kudos to some of your layout approaches (use of bold words, followed by description) and including coin totals for various pieces of treasure (something I overlooked in my game).
I guessed a lot on the coin totals. My theory was a group of 4-5 (level 1-2) characters should be able to get an entire level out of it if they find everything.
The three competing factions are nice, but turn combat-heavy right away. that's emphasized by delve shift #5 which sorta stacks the odds in favor of NN. the thieves are first to pass you a note and the necromancers let you keep extra treasure, so i kinda get that NN need a perk to recommend them. except that it's a secret perk. even with that minor criticism, it's great that you included delve shifts at all. shifts can be such a good way to sell the ambiance to the game master (who is reading them, even if they aren't rolled) in short, sweet sentences: there really are ghosts/rats/smells, not just rumors of those things.
also, in room 3 is that driftwood figurine a crustacean from the protozoic era?? dammit, monster! get off my lawn!
You nailed the need for the New Noble perk on the head. It was also to display that the NN are the dominant faction controlling the dig site. So far in playtesting, the group that sided with the NN got that delve shift, and are happy to have 3 extra dudes (I rolled low) with them in case sh*t goes down. They're even making them carry the torches.
Your adventure has a great layout, factions, and dungeon. It was a delight to read.
A nicely realized adventure. Very clean layout and a quick, easy read.
The factions are great in this. The layout is easy to read. I'd advise moving the map towards the top of the pdf.
I realized the same after publishing. I'm going to move it forward in a future edit. I'm finishing playtesting it with two groups, and will update it after they've finished delving.
Agree with the others that the faction play is very cool
I like that you presented 3 unique factions with their own competing goals. I will definitely have to use a riff on that morgue trap in a future session too!
Thanks! My inspiration for that was the scene in Poltergeist when all the corpses fall into the muddy pool and try to drown the mother.
Love the faction play potential here. (lol at "trickle down economics")
It immediately popped in my mind when the random generator gave me a faction that worships the God of Gluttony and Rain. Careful, them New Nobles are strong proponents of Reaganomics.