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(+2)

Nest is a FIST scenario that feels just slightly out of genre---almost a Kids On Bikes or Tales From The Loop adventure, but with a twist on that formula too.

The PDF is 4 pages, with some nice splashes of color and a clean, readable layout. There's a lot of redaction of the text, which creates a sort of anti-canon in places, but it doesn't really damage the reader's ability to understand the module.

The source material this adventure is pulling from is weird, and there's a quirky, off-beat tone throughout. Plotwise, you play as FIST agents posing as kids to gather intel on a cosmic monster posing as a quirky family-friendly-80s-kids-movie outsider, and the way this recontextualizes every scene in the game is really cool!

It also means there's sort of a bunch of adventures inside the adventure, as the cosmic monster wants to psychically harvest uplifting experiences, and so it tries to drag everyone into heartwarming 80s kids movie excursions, which the PCs need to go along with in order to learn more about it...

It's neat and tense and weird.

I think my only quibble is that the cosmic monster is tough---it's got very high stats---but it doesn't really have a weakness that I could find in the text. So there isn't really a mechanical incentive to investigate it at all, just blast it with the highest powered weaponry the players can scrounge. GMs can change this on the fly, and clever players can find ways to turn some of its features against it, but it's then on the GM to decide that this changes the monster's mechanics---otherwise the group is in for an extremely tough fight.

Overall, this is a really solid adventure concept with some great slow burn storytelling potential and a weird/tense/jokey vibe throughout. It's interesting as a FIST adventure, and I think it could also work pretty easily in any Kids On Bikes style game. Definitely run this if you get the chance.

(+1)

Thank you so much for the detailed review! Not to mention the kind words. “Neat and tense and weird” are all things I strive for. :D

The good news is, I’m just about to release an update that will address your (totally fair) complaint, as well as provide more guidance on how to actually run this thing in the form of progress clocks.

It’s one of a couple planned updates, along with (hopefully) a full example scenario I’ve got planned, with half-page example Kid Adventures and maybe a map or detail on the town of Westoria.