Just wanted to say I really enjoyed this - I love the whole solarpunk plus cosmic horror premise, and the execution is filled with thoughtful details. I love the MENDERS acronym. The REKINDLE YOUR HOPE mechanic feels like it might work really well.
I know people do jams for different reasons, and some are happy to go with “I made a thing!” and move on, whereas others plan to keep iterating their games afterwards. In case you are interested in more feedback / ideas …
- I like the paradisiacal solarpunk communities surrounded by spooky wastelands. But I also like the idea of scars appearing IN the communities. “Evacuate District Meadowflowers-Four! Somebody call the MENDERS!” etc.
- The SENS are evocative and freaky, but could there be one or two more details to tie them to the premise of the game, i.e. the era of extractivism and environmental destruction lingering as eldritch entities? A SENS themed on oil spills, on nuclear meltdowns, on low-lying atolls sunken through sea level rise, child labor and cobalt mining, on pandemic sweeping through overcrowded refugee camps, on a carbon offsetting forest that burned down and released all its carbon into the atmosphere (the financial backers still got to keep their profits) etc. ...
- You could consider pointing players to books and movies featuring zones where the laws of nature are strangely altered. Jeff VanderMeer’s Annihilation series is excellent for that and very ecological (I’m guessing you may already know it). The Strugatsky Brothers’ Roadside Picnic and M. John Harrison’s Nova Swing are also great. & obv loads more: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/EldritchLocation/Literature
- “Only once, to a max total of 2d6.” So 2d6 is the max I can roll, even if I’ve got a relevant Item, a Role, and somebody helping? Or does the help put me up to 3d6?
Thank you again for participating,