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Guards...Guards?'s itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Writing: Is the adventure original and fun to read? | #51 | 3.778 | 3.778 |
| Overall | #65 | 3.519 | 3.519 |
| Usability: Is the adventure easy to use on the fly? | #66 | 3.333 | 3.333 |
| Fun: Is the adventure fun to play in an OSR playstyle? | #74 | 3.444 | 3.444 |
Ranked from 18 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
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Comments
Amazing choice of colours! really fantastic "Vinyl" style that makes it a pleasure to view. Expertly designed one shot for the groundhog day experience without overstaying its welcome. I love the use of quotes and conspiracies as a means of shaking this up further!
I loved the stark choice of colors! The backgrounds worked too.
A time-loop is intimidating to keep track of, but you did a good job with the "Runs" mechanic of trying to simplify that. Although, I do like the idea of players learning from their mistakes, I think I would probably run this divorced of the time-loop, as it's still a very usable, short and sweet dungeon with just a few tweaks.
I liked that the descriptions were straight to the point and Cudgel, with crystals growing from his eyes, was a definite highlight. I also liked how you dealt with Death and Dying, Ending the Adventure, and Loose Ends right up front.
I think the characters on page 6 are so well developed that its a shame they're meant to be for the PCs - they'd make great NPCs for a party to encounter and they are fabulously illustrated.
Haha, it's amazing to hear how many people are really resonating with the guards.
I could absolutely see a version of this adventure though with the guards running rampant throughout the manor, only to solve...very few problems.
I knew that one of the biggest challenges I'd have with an adventure would be getting players and referees interested in running pre-gens instead of their own characters, so I really agonized over each of the guards' personalities, looks, and habits. Anecdotally, I play tested this adventure with a DnD/Pathfinder group that doesn't usually get super into roleplay. It took them less than 20 seconds to turn completely belligerent after reading their characters.
I really appreciate your play test example, because my take is all conjecture.
I'm also glad I clicked back here because it looks like my rating didn't save the first time, so I was able to rate it now!
A fun haunted house exploration that would do Nobby Nobbs proud. Particularly in the context of a one-shot, I think the idea of rewarding players for using the quotes for their PC is really inspired. I did have a few questions:
1. On page 6, the provided PCs have negative stat values and weapons that deal more and less damage than they usually do in Knave. Is this to help them stand out from each other?
2. On page 10 - are the rabbit-men the same as the satyrs?
3. On page 15 - is there any way for the players to access the spell inscribed by the primordials?
Haha, you've got a good eye for the details. This was a first-time effort on everyone's part putting this together. In particular, the layout didn't get anywhere close to finalized until...about 3 minutes before the submission deadline. So yeah...unfortunately, there's a lot of fully prepared content that just didn't make it into the layout of the final version.
1. The stat-blocks are one of the things that didn't get entirely finalized. I initially created the adventure with stat-blocks configured for DCC as I'm more familiar with the ruleset. This probably ended up being a mistake though as it's led to some odd incompatibilities like you've noted. The weapons were minorly scrapped, and were intended to be unique items, hence the different stats.
2. I almost fell onto the floor when I was reading and saw this in the submission. Yes...yes they are
3. The spell to fix the hallway can be found in the last run on Bracken's Skull from inside his quarters. Otherwise, it's noted that the false manor lord can be of assistance to the party if they can find him a replacement body.
Thanks for the in-depth feedback on this one! I'm working with my layout designer to make an updated version of the adventure specifically to address these sorts of issues.
This was a good submission! I’m glad to hear you’re already at work on version 2.0, it’s going to be even better!
Very Pratchett and very fun looking adventure. Well done y'all.
Lots of good bits and fun premise for an adventure.
Maniac Mansion meets the City Guards from Discworld, with sprinkles of Groundhog Day. I like it ;-)
As others have mentioned: Maybe create a printer-friendly version as well, just black and white.
Fun setup for an adventure, and I really like the color scheme. The red and black looks super cool
This is such a fun and original concept! Great layout and writing too. The NPCs would be a lot of fun to run. My only critique is the orange background is intense on my old-man eyes XD haha. Maybe consider white and use the orange to highlight stats or notable room details that need to be quickly referenced? Otherwise excellent job!
Thank you so much for the kind words! We really crunched at the end just to get some kind of deliverable in on time. There will be a final version with improvements to text and layout.
Love the guards personalities, and great writing
Thank you so much. Getting each of the guards to immediately pop off the page was the biggest hurdle we wanted to climb with this project. Incredibly happy to see them resonating with people
Downloaded for a later read the artwork really sticks out!
now this... this is freakin epic
VERY GOOD!
Last-Minute Errata:
Accurate player character stat-blocks-
Tom: Str:+1 Dex: 0 Con: 0 Int: 0 Wis: 5 Cha: 0
Gum: Str +2 Dex -2 Con+1 Int:-2 Wis: -2 Cha:+1
Bumbadil: Str: -1, Dex: +2, Con: 0, Wis + 2 Cha: - 3
Plinket: Str +1, Dex +1, Con +0 , Int+1, Wis + 2, Cha -1