itch.io

Thanks for playing. I'm happy that you had fun. And yes it should be "Threat", don't know how it slipped through several rounds of prove reading. Files have been updated. Thank you.

sorry forr the late reply.

thank you very much. 

after some feedback i also updated the rules and added a print friendly version.

Thank you very much. 

I am flattered.

Love it.

I will print out the game and place it on my wife's desk. She loves to garden and will definitely love this game too.

Thank you for the feedback on the feedback.

: )

Personally, I always try the Atkinson Hyperlegible.

https://brailleinstitute.org/freefont

You can download it on Google Font, too.

We met at another jam but I hadn't seen the game yet.

My personal opinion is that this is merely a (very interesting and also exciting) basic idea for a game. The setting and the rough gameplay are good and also quite interesting, but it is all very rough and little to no defined. The system itself then has to be designed by the GM and the players themselves. If everything is to be kept more free, I would at least like to see corresponding guiding questions that the players have to ask their characters. Or even a simple system that shows the growth. Especially with the background of self-discovery, that the personal development of the characters then affects their territory in a big way.

It's a really nice basic idea and that's where the game design starts. How can this idea be implemented on the game table?
If that is not the goal of your game, then that's ok. Then it's just not a game for me.

i can second what TheGiftOfGabes said.

I like that it's a simple 1D20 system at heart, but because there are so many levers that affect the Tagerget Number, it's quite dynamic and allows for pretty complex play.
Especially the trick with the roll over from the Heat Vampire, simple but brilliant.

What is not quite clear to me is whether the game is a solo or a group game. As I was reading, I was thinking solo all the time, but then there was the Aid rule, which rather suggests that it is meant for more than one player?
A character sheet would also be great, especially because of the outstanding layout.

Otherwise, I personally need a little guideline for something like this, a general goal, an approximate path, a scenario or something. But if that's not the focus of the game then that's ok. I also saw that a small dungeon is planned.

Very good and intense game, but boy this is not my cup of tea.

The prombts all fit very well the theme. 

But i gave it 5 Stars in excited category regardless.

Setting and tone:

+ quite a few nut puns. Love it. 
+ I also love these kind of one-shot humour games, even if this one is a bit too dark for me.
+ mention of safty tools

Layout:

+ good clean layout with good text breaks and some artwork in between
+ it follows the tone

rules:

+ simple and easy rules that allow for quick spontaneous play. 
- Razor-Claw seems a bit overpowered as it always deals serious damage and lets you climb any surface for one energie. But it's not about optimising, it's about having fun.

All in all:

I like the game a lot. I will keep it in mind should spontaneous gaming desire break out. very good work. 

Setting and tone:

+ Combative and set for the battles to come. Therefore very appropriate
- There are always certain mood swings from one sentence to the next. One sentence was about fighting and winning, the next about the solace being short-lived.

Layout:

+ clear and simple texts, are broken up and leave plenty of space.
+ Atmospheric art with a beautiful use of colour. 
- Text on the cover difficult to read and in the character sheet as well.

Rules:

+ Simple and uncomplicated 
+ Fitting to the setting of the RPG
- (Untested) The fact that the power and attacks only do half as much damage on average feels unfair when reading. Enemies always do the full damage and that automatically
* (probably because verse 0.5): No character creation rules. 
* Is the beast actually healed after a wave and are its attributes restored? Otherwise I don't know how it can survive 5 rounds even if it always hits full.

Over all:

I like this kind of RPGs and am curious how the final one looks like.

There were no free copies available. According to the rules of the Jam, they should be available.

There were no free copies available. According to the rules of the Jam, they should be available.

There were no free copies available. According to the rules of the Jam, they should be available.

Hello

First of all there are no free copies available as mentioned in the rules of the Jam.

The game itself looks like a fast, hard but fun little dungeon crawler. What I understand of it seems reallatively balanced and dice-heavy, which is not good thing here.

However, I have found it very difficult to work out exactly how the game works as the texts are not entirely clear. How battles work  is absolutely not clear to me. Also what exactly energy does. Examples or further explanations might be helpful.

The layout looks good and reminds me of OSR. Maybe a map with all the opponents could be very descriptive.

There were no free copies available. According to the rules of the Jam, they should be available.

Hello

First of all. There were no free copies available when I went to rate your entry. According to the rules of the Jam, they should be available. But I liked it anyway so I bought it.

The game itself is a little contemplative journey back home. The layout is very coherent and sets the atmosphere well. The flow is easy and guides you well.

Notes:

In the table on page five which talks about the shape of the fireflies. 3 shapes are 2D and one (the sphere) is 3D. Wouldn't a circle be a more appropriate choice?

On a personal note: I would have liked a closed narrative arc. There is the question of why you are here. I would have liked to go into that again at the shift change. You are suddenly alone and think about your problems again and then the next shift comes and you are hopefull again. Likewise at the end. Here the question for me would be how does the reason for running away relate to the miracle you have just experienced? I find the question about thanking very beautiful, though.

I know I could do that easily myself while playing, but it still feels like an unused opportunity to me. But if that doesn't fit with your concept for the game, then it's okay that it's not in there.

All in all, I liked it a lot.

An interesting hack from L&F. The exchange from D6 to D12 could be interesting, especially with the critical dice.

How do the Agency and Character Goals apply to the characters?

Do you mean in "Rolling the Dice" Cowboy and Spy actions or when exactly is it determined when one is a Cowboy or Spy?

In Create a Problem, the numbers in "which will" are doubled. And it's not entirely clear to me exactly how the problem is composed. Maybe numbers for the captions could help.

In Run the game, there is a part of a word on the far right under the yellow circle.

Otherwise, the layout is very good. It looks nice and reflects part of the mood. Good work

Hello

As far as I can see, there are no freely available copies of the game to rate for the Jam.

A very beautiful and coherent RPG. I love these wood print graphics to give a vintage feel.

It is easy to read and understand, and the mood is conveyed very well. The three acts are also well thought out and follow the three act structure. Every act has ot own pase.

It invites you to play immediately.

I did find one thing, however. On page 6, the first section: you have to roll a D6to eliminate one guest and the other 5 guests are the suspects. But in the list you are supposed to roll the dice on, there are 7 people.

Great Work

Very nice game. Well thought out and also balanced for both players.

Could be something for my wife and me. 

Good work.

Very creative and great game. Also a lot of word jokes.

so many word puns... and I love every one I got.

I did not understand how this was supposed to work until page 6 but then everything was clear. Very creative idea and great execution. The fantastic layout completes it really well.

I only found one thing:

I think a "to" is missing from Snowball Stacking. "Your goal is to stack your supply of snowballs...".

A board game and an RPG in one PDF, that's something good.

I like the layout and it seems quite appropriate.

About the board game

I like the general idea and the free play. I also find the secret identities very interesting. The introduction is dripping with sarcasm, which fits the theme.

In itself, I think you have to play it, but when I read it, I had a bit of trouble following the gameplay and rules. I think an example of how the game works could make it a bit more clear.
Otherwise, I noticed a few typos:

How to Win: the second line says "until he end", the "t" would be missing.

Being the presenter: there is a lone "B" at the end of the paragraph.

Tokens: there is a "a" too much in the first line: "is given a 15 token".

All in all, I like it quite well. Sounds like a fun couple of hours at a meeting with friends.

The RPG

Here you have left more space/time to explain and it feels better while reading. I also like the idea of keeping the masses calm.

Talking is mentioned quite often as an alternative to fighting. Here I would like to see another rule construct on how this can be implemented. For combat, this was explained in detail.

In the Attacking section: I may be misunderstanding, but since you have to beat your opponent's Fight value, why is rolling 1D12 easy and 3D12 hard? The chance to roll a higher sum with 3D12 and thus exceed the Fight value of the opponent is much higher than with only 1D12.

I also don't understand the test to see if the character can wield a weapon. Does that mean that if a dagger is picked up, the player has to roll 3D12 and get above his own Fight value to be able to wield it? Then very good fighters (with a high Fight value) would have a big disadvantage. They might not be able to wield a big weapon at all.

The last thing I noticed: In the stat reaction table, the reaction for 10 and 30 is identical. Is this intentional?

Again, I like the game. The double threat of the monsters and the population sounds fun and gives it a unique touch.

best regards

Aratlon

Thank you for the kind words.

Is there anything that could be improved?

hi

Thanks for the feedback on my feedback. 

This had to meet the requirements of the Minimalist TTRPG Jam

Ah i see, my bad. Still learning to give good feedback. 

Cheers 

Aratlon

First of all, how can you steal this idea from my head? (joking) I had a similar idea but nothing fully developed.

About the game: I don't know if this is cannon but I love the idea of the beta site. Especially with regard to the game. A small detail that holds everything together so well.

About the criticism:

The worst thing in my opinion is the readability. The background is great but maybe adding a black or blue text background with 05 - 15 % transparency could improve the readability a lot. Especially the blue of the stars and the font are very similar. I had highlighted the text to make it easier to read. (but I am also dyslexic)

Secondly: The second page is actually very filled. The marging on the left and right is ok, but there is not much space at the top and bottom. Likewise, the patting in the Scenario List is almost not there. Maybe reducing the number columns, the header and maybe reordering the designation table from 3 rows and 2 (4) columns to 2 rows and 3 (6) columns could create more space.

Lastly: I don't understand what the planet designation is supposed to do and mean exactly (but this can be a purely me problem).

Hello thank you for your explanation:

First about the diceFirst about the dice...

ok so both roll the same ammount of dice. This is a good way to guid to a more narrativ play style because the only way the employee can get an advantage is by using their proficiency. Otherwise it is just luck. (i still don't understand the "player will ask to roll nd6 / nd12 ...."

Regarding the proficiency, weakness and fear...

In my opinion, this should be mentioned in the rules, for example in a parenthesis in the chapter Character Creation.

On level 5, the Employee will encounter things that they shouldn't able to see - symbols, figures, sounds, places. As long as the circles haven't filled up when on this level, they could uncover "The Truth" (whatever it is), but once it filled up, they'll out of the game.

i like that idea. This could be mentioned as well.

Ok for (In)Sanity Level, you only go up to Lv. 5 where the employee will be faced with The Truth (which eventually died).

But that's not what I meant. I was referring to the fact that if the employee has already been promoted three times, they have a total of 16 sanity circles. Does they reach a new sanity level at 10 filled circles (as it says in the rules) or 16?

If it is always 10, then gaining sanity circles is pointless for a promotion. If at 16, the wording should be adjusted.

Aratlon

A small base to create a character.

I like the disclaimer page. It's always good to clarify things like that and it also gives the impression that you've done some research on the subject. The list of past's also seems to be well elaborated.

Again, stats are explained but then other stats come up that also require dice. How is Composure related to health and defence?
It is also noticeable that it is not explained how many points / dice you can distribute to create your character. It is also not clear why each character should have its own genre. Furthermore, it is not clear how the game progresses after the creation.

It looks like a nice little mini-game. There are only three stats here and they are all used, which I think is good. The individual steps also feel complete and, together with the hard mode options, this could be quite fun. Here, the other dice are also used a bit. I like it.

I just wonder what the gp in the "Type of Car wanted" table says about the car? I don't know anything about cars, maybe it's obvious.

I think if one works on it a bit more and maybe adds a few more rules, it could even function as a solo RPG.

An interesting use of the DiceGoblin system. A race promises a short but possibly fulfilling game.

But here, as with the other modules, I miss the use of the other dice. Mud and Sand require twice the number of successes instead of changing the dice category.
Again, all the stats are introduced and then on the next page you are told to do a Weapons Roll. It is not clear to me how this is done.

I like the maps. Maybe some additional information would be useful. e.g. this shortcut needs X successes to be used; here there is ice and therefore cars faster than X have to do a handling test....

I don't really understand what this is. Is it an add on for the Dice Goblin rulebook? As such it has a lot of duplication with the basic rulebook. It is also not explained under what circumstances this fusion works. Nor how stability and instability (does it really need both stats?) are affected in the game.

Again, I miss the integration of the other dice. Why, for example, isn't the average of the stats taken and one cube category lower instead? Instability also mentions that decisions have to be made together. How does this work with NPCs?

Otherwise, the points are the same as in the DiceGoblin system.  I like the other modules better.

An interesting concept. I like the basic idea that each die is a success that results in the two highest numbers. Even though it is no longer used in the rest of the rulebook. For example, defending against a Hevy Weapon only allows the highest number (at least I think that's what you mean by "only on an 8", otherwise rolling an 8 with a roll of 6 is pretty difficult).  It does not say that the defender simply has to take 2 dice categories higher.

It is also not clear to me how the character creation works. Apparently you have to distribute the number of dice over the 5 stats. But then there are also the categories Weapons, Health and Defence. These also seem to need dice. And how many do you have available by default?

Also, why is XP mentioned but not really explained or backed up with numbers? The milestones fit the system much better.

Apart from that, there are still some errors in the texts. For example, in Rolling Attacks, dame is written instead of damage. The Defence example also says that 24 damage is done with 4 successes, but Range only does 3 damage per success.

Except for the strange border at the bottom (and the cover picture) I like the layout. Especially the tables look good and easy to read. The pages are well filled without seeming too crowded.

Actually, I just wanted to take a little break from work and got this in the random draw, with some tasks I'm trying to escape from. :)

But to the game: I like it. It's quite simple but offers enough to build up a story.

Just a few follow-up questions (maybe I missed it): How many dice do the employees roll? And how does the Proficiency, Weakness and Fear come into play (is it purely narrative?)?

I don't know if this is intended but when you are promoted you have more (In)Sanity, should you still reach the next Insanity level at 10 or when all circles are filled?

I also find the expression "There are four phase / day / player" quite confusing. I think you mean "There are four phase per day per player".

In itself, this looks quite good, but it is hardly more than was given in the CALTROP CORE SRD.

I love random tables, so my personal opinion: I would have liked a D44 table (4 tables with 4 items each) with events that happen to you. Like some others who use the CALTROP CORE SRD have done.  This way it is too free for me.

About me: I have almost no idea about horses and prefer games that have a goal. So that you can put the criticism into perspective.

In general it is a good one page RPG. You know what to do and you get a good idea of the gameplay.

As a dyslexic, I had a bit of trouble reading it. The font is a bit difficult, especially the distinction between f, t, i and l.

I also noticed a few phrases that didn't sound right to me. But since I have English as a second language, I could be completely wrong. Therefore, please ignore all my suggestions. Oh, and the file names should ideally also be in English. I didn't know what "liggande" was. :)

Bottom line: It makes you want to try it out, I like the character sheet and especially as a debut work I find it quite good.

I have a weakness for this kind of niche simulations. The ones that illustrate a few special processes with maths without unnecessarily adding a lot of side aspects.

The layout could be reworked a bit. Packing the trainings into a table, for example. And a few graphics could also loosen things up.

So there are a few errors:

Under trainings: "Speed IV+: Min Level" (the plus)

under trainings point: "Levels 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, Level 4 to 5; Requires 15 Training"

Also under Trainings points: "Are considered low High Level" or did you mean something like semi profi level?

But all in all i really like it.

P.s.: I haven't done the math yet, but wouldn't it be very easy to make money by buying a horse that has level 5 on many stats (500$ per stat), train it by one level and sell it again (per stat on level 6 is 3000$)? That sounds like a huge profit margin.

Soo i am back.

Sorry it took so long. But in the meantime we were sick, have renovated and then sick again. But now we have thoroughly looked at every word and every meaning and this would be the result:

https://www.canva.com/design/DAE-dCBmJKY/NTDcUgWgxiUmE0BRDOZiDw/view?utm_content=DAE-dCBmJKY&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_medium=link&utm_source=publishsharelink&mode=preview

I hope you can use it to create your own German version.

best regards

hello,

This is my first Itch Jam, so if this approach  of mine is not ok you are welcome to just delete it. 

I wanted to ask if there is some interest in translating the tamplet into other languages? In my case i would offer to translate it into German. 

Best regards

Aratlon