itch.io

Thanks for checking out my adventure! And I think you make an excellent point about the differences in character motivation between the two works. The protagonist in The Trial has more concrete motivations and is generally right in his actions. On the other hand, in The Castle, K is confronted with the option to the leave the village multiple times but stubbornly presses on. He is also kind of a petty jerk. Maybe we need a new ruleset, something very dreamlike, to play our adventures like these. 

Anyway, it's just nice to see people making Kafka content.

As a fellow TTRPG designer and fan of Kafka's work, I was glad to see someone else attempting to translate his work into a gameable adventure. A few years ago, I made a little, two-page dungeon adventure based on The Trial. In doing so, I shared the doubt that you expressed here in this "lyric adventure" that the situations in Kafka's work are not immediately playable in the typical TTRPG framework.

However, I do think that it is possible (and effective) to create a more traditional adventure--complete with maps, keyed areas to explore, specific NPCs, etc.--that evokes the same atmosphere of uncertainty, want, and dark comedy that defines Kafka's work. 

Anyway, this is all to say good on you for writing up this little adventure! I hope you keep at it and turn this into a more traditional, playable adventure with NPCs, maps, keyed locations, etc. that embodies Kafka's themes while ensuring the players have agency and their characters have goals that are recognizable to exploration/investigative games. 

Hey there, thanks for reaching out! I'm glad the game looks cool, that's a big compliment! Don't worry about buying the game, I release them as PWYW for a reason--I just like to see people check them out. 

As for new modules, I've toyed around with the idea but there didn't seem to be enough interest to justify it with my limited free time. Who knows, maybe I'll get inspired and make another.

This is cool! Nice work

Nice job with this! The layout is great and consistent with the ItO style. Because you mentioned you wanted feedback/critique, I will say that this adventure feels a little low on gameplay and interaction. 

The rooms encounters are a little obvious and passive in some places (e.g., the lobby and landing don't really act on the PCs). Also, the pantry says there is a 50% chance of a "simple trap" but the description doesn't say what the trap is, how it works, or why it's interesting. I think it would be better if the trap were specific and were guaranteed to be there for more interaction. Finally, the dungeon is pretty linear, with one room after another in order (with a locked room off to the side). This doesn't leave much room for player exploration. 

Added the illustrated character sheet.

Hey, thank you for the kind words! I will check in the next few days but I believe I should be able to add the illustrated character sheet here! I'll double check the license on the LFOSR version (which I agree is awesome) and post back here in a couple days. Good luck with your game! 

Thank you for the kind words! I really think Leo at LFOSR did a great job with the premium version. Let me know how the MU rule hack works out!

Wow, thanks for the detailed response! I really appreciate it. 

That's funny, I had never thought it would be deadly (unless the PCs decided to antagonize the tougher NPCs which is always an option). Yes, the backgrounds are going in the normal release rather than the jam release. The bullet layout has been retained. I hope it will help the GM run the dungeon basically straight out of the book rather than having to make their own notes. And the audience mechanics are in the works now. The idea is to give them some clocks that fill up when they get bored with bad things happening (e.g., flooding rooms, releasing monsters from the kennel) when those clocks fill. Also, I'll include some example audience heckling.

Again, thank you so much for the feedback. Let me know if I can return the favor.

Hey all,

This still needs an introductory section explaining the premise but, otherwise, I think I have my dungeon pretty much finished. My module is "Movie Monster Murder Maze." It's intended to be a "prison escape" type module but with Halloween/Horror gonzo social challenges and puzzles. Here is the dungeon itself.

Ah got it. And thank you so much. Let me know if I can ever return the favor.

Sweet thanks. Here's what I have so far https://docs.google.com/document/d/1eWayfVDVIlhW_oROcX3_MPPWHtbbnfGB4gLgB4SVe1c/...

Hey all. I'm nearing the end of my room descriptions for my adventure. I'd love to get a second pair of eyes on it for feedback. Anybody want to swap feedback?

Hey all,

For the jam, I'm writing a set of spellcrafting rules. They basically boil down to, "if you want to write a new spell, go quest for an obscure spell component that fits the theme of your desired spell effect." For instance, if a player wanted to write a spell that raises the dead, their GM might tell them to first gather a 20 skulls from dead commoners (low), a necromancer's nose (medium), or a vampire's fang (high) depending on the spell's level.

So, I'm writing component costs for different kinds of spells and I'm trying to make sure I include the most popular themes/types of spells that players want. In your experience, what kinds of spells do players want most?

Thank you! It means a lot to hear that.

Sweets, thanks. 

I'm comparing different POD services now. Waiting for some samples to come back. Hopefully it won't take more than a month.

Absolutely. Glad to hear it. I just extended it by a month. 

Hey all,

To help make our submissions, I thought I would leave a list of some free design resources I use. Everyone is welcome to add their own resources in this thread.

Map Maker

Dungeon Scrawl - https://probabletrain.itch.io/dungeon-scrawl

Dungeon Design

Dungeon Checklist - http://goblinpunch.blogspot.com/2016/01/dungeon-checklist.html

Layout

Scribus - https://www.scribus.net/

Public Domain and Free Use Images

Pexels - https://www.pexels.com/

National Gallery of Art - https://www.nga.gov/open-access-images.html

Museo (A search engine for free use art) - https://museo.app/

Hey all,

I'm working on an adventure module for the jam. I tried to get the whole map on one A5 page. If anyone could check it out (second page) and let me know if you can make sense of it, I'd appreciate it. 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/11f2DU44Aaah4Lue_MuwxBDyg0q6wpgAQ/view?usp=drive...

Wow, this is really imaginative! Great stuff. I love the tone and the layout. The mechanics are well explained, too.

My favorite thing, however, about this submission is the GM (i.e., Big Daddy) advice on creating adventures that fit the theme and goals of the system. My number one complaint with one-page RPG systems is that they frequently provide resolution mechanics for player rolls but never illustrate what kinds of adventures/situations the players are supposed to encounter. I especially appreciate that this submission provides guidance on this.

As the jam ends, I just wanted to thank everyone who participated. We ended up with 9 great submissions! Thank you all. I hope it was a worthwhile experience.

Thank you for your kind words! And sorry about the font color. I wish I could say it was an intentional choice I made to echo Kafka's disorienting prose but nope lol 

Thank you! 

And I totally agree. The module was not written as a series of balanced combat encounters. Players who are into that style of game might bounce off of it. 

Third time's a charm. Thank you!

Unfirst because it openly recycles the plot points,  and atmosphere, of classic heist films like Snatch and Oceans 11. 

Hey all. Just double checking, can we submit adventures (i.e., modules) for RPGs instead of original systems?

Thanks

This is fantastic. It's chock-full of great ideas set in an interesting setting. I dig the O, Brother Where Art Thou/Labor Movement vibe. The situations seem fun and flavorful and the mechanics seem solid enough. 

Although the layout is a little unclear, the ideas in this are up there with my favorite 1-2 page RPGs. Awesome stuff overall.

Hey all,

First, I wanted to thank everyone who has submitted their project or left feedback for others. Our jam content looks great so far! If you want feedback on your project, don't forget to give feedback for others. 

Second, I wanted to remind everyone still working that they have 15 days left to finish up their project and submit it. If anyone needs resources or has questions, please comment below and we'll all try to help.

Thanks. To save room on the pamphlet itself, I put the system info on the game's project page instead. It's an adventure module rather than a game system so you just slot it into your group's ongoing campaign.   

You can hack it into any game system but it's geared toward OSR systems like Old School Essentials, Knave, B/X D&D, etc.

Thanks! And you're right, it was intended to be generally OSR compatible. I should've snuck that in somewhere on the pamphlet. 

This is really cool. I like that it evokes classic Western themes (there are already plenty "weird west" and "fantasy west" games). The mechanics seem like they would work easily for anyone with experience playing RPGs. Art is also great. All around good stuff. Thanks for submitting this! 

Finally, a game that lets me roleplay my righteous comeuppance for torrenting. Seriously though, I like the "that's a bit much" rule. It codifies the table conversation for newbies. Cool. 

This is really cool! I like the aesthetic and the alien/plot generators look great. I also like the twist mechanic. Overall this seems like a fun, narrative-style game. 

Hey!

Thanks for the resources. Here is another one: https://dungeonscrawl.com/

If you haven't already heard of it, Dungeon Scrawl is a great, free, browser-based map maker.

And the results are in. We're theming the jam and the theme is The Law. 

Hey guys. I set up a poll so we can vote on whether to theme the jam and, if so, what will the theme be. Vote here  https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/QQQ2896

The poll will close Monday (7/12) at 11:59pm EDT. I'll report the results then. Thank you!