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The Buckriders Hoard's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Writing: Is the adventure original and fun to read? | #11 | 4.353 | 4.353 |
| Overall | #34 | 3.882 | 3.882 |
| Usability: Is the adventure easy to use on the fly? | #37 | 3.765 | 3.765 |
| Fun: Is the adventure fun to play in an OSR playstyle? | #68 | 3.529 | 3.529 |
Ranked from 17 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
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Comments
You did a great job immediately catching the reader's attention and not overwhelming them with too much information. The whole first page is especially fantastic. It would be up to the GM's interpretation anyway, but I'd suggest cutting "but none are really evil" from the section Before the raid... - maybe some of them actually are evil.
I love the tables to decide what players gained, lost, and would suffer breaking from their Oaths.
The adventure feels very grounded due to its historical references, but at the same time mysterious and dangerous with the references to the occult - especially as it proceeds. Fantastic work on the layout and the illustrations.
To maximize usability, it might be worth considering swapping the names of real places/countries with imaginary ones. Of course, anyone using the booklet can do that themselves but it would save them some work. It would still be a nice touch to include references to the historical facts that inspired the adventure, but maybe just at the beginning and end of the booklet. I also recognize other readers might disagree and prefer the current setting.
Thank you for your in-depth review, really appreciate it ☺️ I completely understand your suggestion of using fantasy names and places to make it a bit more useable in any another OSR campaign. It's not easy to drop the buckriders in somewhere. But I did wrote it with the intent of a self-contained one-shot (multi-shot maybe) and the historical setting is a feature of that. Ofcourse any GM may turn things upside down to make it fit their story. I would encourage! 😉
Btw, being a historian by profession it's a bit of a trademark to use historical themes in my games with my regular game group ☺️ haha.
Being a historian really shows, you were able to put it to great use here! You're absolutely right about a GM being able to chop it up, and all the historical details you did include were interesting.
Great job. Very interesting subject and the oath tables are fun. Great for a one shot.
I love the oath tables and the warning about flying in rough weather.
Yeah, honestly it was only yesterday when I was caught in a huge down poor :o Wouldn't wanna be on a goats back then. Haha xD
I love the theme, the writing had me captivated from the first page and the layout was very organized. Awesome submission!
Thank you so much!☺️ I really loved the art you did in your project!
Nice writing! The scene-based structure of this adventure feels wrong for Knave, and probably for most OSR rulesets. But I love this adventure anyway for it's wonderfully evocative writing, the very original adventure idea, and the dark historical setting. I could totally see myself running this using Savage Worlds. Maybe Deathbringer, if I was set on using an OSR game.
Thank you so much! Yeah I totally see what you mean and honestly I was in doubt of using "scenes" because it is "not really OSR". But then again: I like using it in the prep of my games because it helps me with the structure so in the end I decided on just going for it.
Edit: oh yeah, SW or DB would be a nice fit as well. Haha ;)
I guess having a solid structure and making the best version of an adventure you can make is more important than the particular contest you enter it in.
Probably the most original work I've seen, with some of the most evocative art I've seen.
Thank you, that really means a lot to me :) I like that the framework of the Knave ruleset gives us so much freedom to explore all different kind of stories and settings 😉👍From historical to science fiction ☺️
This feels so steeped in authentic folklore and I love it. Haven't seen anything quite like it before.
Thank you so much for your kind words:)
I can't believe I've never heard of the Buckriders! I love that you made them out to be a sort of dark version of Robin Hood and his Merry Men.
I rate this one a 5 in the writing department! For me where I struggle is wondering how I would give players more agency when going through the Scenes. I haven't played it, but it actually reminded me of Blades in the Dark, especially the planning phase, which seems really cool! I really like the idea of taking players through a setup scene or two before unleashing them fully to see how they fair. I think you mostly did that, I'm just not sure how I'd tie it all together if they go super off rails.
That being said, I'm pretty new to the OSR and not a super experienced DM yet hah, so what do I know lol.
In the keying, I really liked that you added the hidden rooms to their own section, I've never seen that before. Really fun read!
P.S. "Destroy your character sheets!" is absolutely what I'm saying at my next TPK XD
Haha, no problem. I think it's a bit of folklore that is really specific to the region where I grew up. But I like it really much as a setting, exactly like you said: a bit of a darker Robin Hood 😉
And how to handle it when things go off road? Well, I figured not to plan out too much when the raid starts to keep it in the OSR-mindset. And let the players and GM decide how things go. I only provide an example of how things could end. But yes, the planning ahead may be a bit more like Blades in the Dark then Knave. I agree.
PS: I have run a campaign in a BitD type of game in the past and I love to run Call of Cthulhu and World of Darkness. So much of the inspiration will come from games like that.
Not only is this a heist AND a political conspiracy thriller, it's also allowing players to inhabit a very specific part of folklore and history through the medium of RPGs, which is one of my favorite kinds of adventure material. Your love of the history and magic come through loud and clear. Thanks for sharing your craft with us all!
Thank you so much for your kind words! Loved working on this project ;)
This is ridiculously creative and I love the drawings! I absolutely need a flying goat.
Thank you so much :) And yes, we all do. A flying goat would make anyone's commute so much easier :P haha.
For sure. Hand drawn content has its own vibe.
As someone who has turned a box and packaging from a new toilet into a Ziggurat for an in-person campaign, I love that you incorporated your maps and art like you would in prep. Gives the feel of coming across someone's game journal and going, "this seems cool."
Also really dig the creativity of the oath creation at the start. While thing was easy to read and follow. Great work!
Thank you! :) My regular gaming group and I love it when random stuff like this is thrown at their PCs. So I figured 'the Buckriders oath' would be a nice thematic way to add some extra flavour right from the start ;)
Very cool map!! I love it you painted it on a battlemap <3 I think i have the same battlemap :D
Thank you :D I liked the idea of just using what I would always use when running a game at my table ;) Haha.