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A jam submission

To Die In Kallskapt Pass Is A Bitter ThingView project page

A Misadventure for Mork Borg (Northern Darkness Game Jam)
Submitted by Ironbeast
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To Die In Kallskapt Pass Is A Bitter Thing's itch.io page

Results

CriteriaRankScore*Raw Score
Coldest (How far below zero can you get?)#44.4444.444
Most Deathless (You know it when you see it.)#63.2223.222
Overall#73.4173.417
Most "Northern" (We're from Minnesota, it's okay.)#93.2223.222
Darkest (How deep into the darkness of man can you go?)#182.7782.778

Ranked from 9 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.

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Comments

Submitted

I loved the serious survival mechanics here!  I also enjoyed the little homage to Jack London's "To Build a Fire" per your comments in the Discord thread.  Never try building your lifesaving fire under overhanging snowy branches,  nothing good can come of it.

Host

The hopelessness is real with this one. A bleak crossing in an unforgiving, uncaring wilderness. I really like that. Nice work.

Submitted

First off I would say well written! Your paragraphs are a little long, so it could benefit from being put into columns, but I also appreciate that you haven't tried to make this into a graphical weird piece. It's straight and in that there is beauty. Perhaps giving the image a border or inverting the colours would make it complete. 


When it comes to story I really like it, but I'm left with a feeling that the first paragraph would be a little unfair to the players – perhaps I'm judging it too harshly. But I don't feel like I have a say as a player, I'm just left to run. Maybe that's actually a great feeling that you want? More power to you.


I'm also questioning how I escape this thing? What's the goal? Am I just stuck?

The whole coldness and blutness of this area comes across great and (having used a Howler Bear myself) I love the bear!


Overall great job.

Submitted

Kallskalt Pass is a dangerous place, and you get that across very well. The Howler Bear encounter sounds chilling and horrifying as it should!

I think that this scenario would benefit from a map that provided more flexibility and made clearer the goal is to get through it. Ultimately, by the end this gets lost in the trying not to freeze to death.

The opening sounds like a great encounter with the Steppe Wolves, but it also feels like a railroad. Player agency takes a back seat, which can be fine at times, but here there are catastrophic consequences for an action the players have no part in choosing. Even a bad choice where both situations have consequences would alleviate this feel. Like you can go around the lake, but it will double the number of wolves chasing you or something. Getting across the lake, will lose the wolves, but it is dangerous in its own right.

A lot of this adventure is dedicated to the freezing mechanics, so I understand the desire to ensure that at least one player is facing imminent death from freezing. Perhaps an alternative way to gain the freezing condition could alleviate this like spending too much time without shelter, and going around the lake pushes you toward the required time. And maybe the wolves attacks damage winter clothing making the situation worse?

The firestarting rules are pretty concrete and I love the beckoning snow maiden. Good stuff there.

This is a really punishing adventure. To offset this, there should be ample rewards. Maybe someone the players can save to gain something? Or a treasure trove behind the Howler Bear made from all the people it has killed up to this point. The Heavy Armor is good, but even that is damaged.

I had a phase in my DM career where I had a tendency to focus on the negative consequences of everything, which can create really compelling stories and verisimilitude, but I had to learn you also have to focus on the positive consequences, which I don't think comes as naturally. If you give a carrot, then you can get away with much more devastating sticks.

Submitted

I'm not used to reading long paragraphs in Mörk Borg but this text is well written and provides a lot of flavour. Many thoughts on the coldness theme, that make so much sense. Putting PCs at risk with the danger of freezing, falling into the lake and then robbing them of the benefits of a fire if they don't care enough about the place... Makes it so dangerous and challenging but doesn't seem unfair to me. The only thing that isn't clear to me is the creature stats. I'm not familiar with the term EPK and don't know where to look for the stats. Maybe throw in a hint?

Submitted

EPK is "Eat, Prey, Kill", although I wouldn't expect everyone to recognize it immediately.