Hey! I think I fixed the permissions on the files. Can you try again and let me know if it’s working?
Pandion Games
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I went back and forth on a lot on whether the family members should consume additional food and water and left it out for now. The realistic answer though is YES. They would consume another Food and Water per person per day. Each member could decide to not eat or drink each evening.
But that felt too brutal even for this game. I may add it in as an optional rule.
Thank you! I’m glad you’re enjoying it. It sounds like you uncovered quite the story! If you ever post about it, definitely tag me. I’d love to read it and learn more about the cult and the lonely crab god.
For the mechanics: The card draw for the location is only used on the location table and then discarded. Only afterward do you start using the other tables. The idea is that the first card draw is the character arriving at the location, so the investigation hasn’t formally started.
Hints and Hijinx creator here! This is definitely one of my favorite games to come out of the system. Almost Bedtime Theater really took the spirit of hijinks and knocked it out of the park.
The story, clues, and locations are all spot on. The writing is top-notch, and the layout is gorgeous.
Absolutely pick this one up.
Ahahaha, I was waiting for this comment! The images are indeed guinea pigs! This was a simpler, lower budget project for us and the artwork we had was for guinea pigs. However everyone really loved the name “Hamsters and Himbos” rather than “Himbos and Cavies”. So we decided to take some artistic license and live with the mix up of the art vs name.
To answer your question you play as the president of the local book club trying to solve the mystery of why the giant hamsters (or guinea pigs!) have arrived in Willowdale.
Hey Lady Tabletop! We have had some discussion around that on our Discord, and there are several ways to make the clue gathering easier or harder. As designed, I tried to strike a balance while erring on the side of more clues than fewer. That said, here are some ways to tweak the difficulty:
- The total Clues available
- When Skill Dice degrade
- Resetting Skill Dice
- Deduction dice starting size
- Target number for success
The total number of Clues available to the player This is impacted by the number of locations, and whether a player can collect 1 or more clues per location, or if some locations can be ‘duds’ without a Clue to gather, but just a complication to overcome.
Skill Dice degradation You can increase or decrease when a Skill Die decreases. In the game that inspired the skill dice, Breathless, the dice actually degraded after every roll regardless of outcome. That said, I wouldn’t reduce the starting die value. Because failures reduce the die a step, starting lower runs the risk of rolling a ton of failures and depleting your die quickly.
One mod I’ve made for Jester King’s Dance is a 10+ roll gives you 2 clues. That will still be rare, and early on. Or right after a Refill Your Cup, but it’s the whisper of a chance to catch up if you’ve rolled poorly earlier.
Resetting Skill Dice The “Refill Your Cup” mechanic resets their skills to max. After a certain number of locations, it becomes mechanically impossible to gather more clues as their skills drop. If you have fewer locations, or want a harder game, consider removing this.
The start value of your Deduction Die The Start value can be anything you choose, starting at d0. You can adjust not only how high the Deduction Die goes, but when do they start adding modifiers? Modifiers remove the swingy-ness of the final roll, and can be removed entirely in favor of larger die probabilities vs. guaranteed success.
The Target Number of their final roll needs to hit. If you are expecting players to achieve a d100 + 10 on their final roll, bumping the Deduction Roll’s target number from 5+, to 15, 20, 25+ or even higher is another option. Or, combine the two: After the Deduction Die reaches a certain size, instead of adding modifiers, begins reducing the high target number for success for each additional clue.
I hope this helps! And if you think of any other ways to tweak the difficulty, I’d love to hear them.
Thanks! I’m glad you’re enjoying the system!
I wasn’t planning on adding a theme for this Jam.
One thing I’m excited about with Hints and Hijinx and the jam is the wide array of theme possibilities: A lighthearted romp, an exploration of evil deeds, a traumatic wilderness mystery, a classic murder mystery, fanciful space operas. We even have a Sandman inspired game submitted, and I know of a Cold War era game under development, too.
That said, if you’d like help picking a direction to go, I’m always happy to chat through the ideas you’re mulling about.
Not a problem! I appreciate you asking these questions because it means others probably have them too, and I need to organize all this better.
There is a lot of extra content in there for people who want to make their own props to print (such as making their own creature cards, or pre-made Camper/Spirit cards). That’s what the templates are all there for.
You can absolutely print token sheets and badges for use on the maps and character sheets!
In the rules we encourage people to draw, sketch, and color on the maps, but supply the token sheets for people who would rather cut and paste those on the map instead.
We’ve had many players who draw their earned badges on their character sheet, but we provide the badge sheet to print out and use. Also, we offer a sticker sheet for the badges players can peel and stick onto their character sheets as they earn them.
Hi! Thank you for reaching out. I agree, the folder organization is a bit of a mess and is something we’re looking at making simpler. Apologies about that.
For print and play I’d print:
In “Additional Formats & Print Friendly Folder”
- CharacterSheet_PrintFriendly.pdf (one for each player)
In Map Files -> Maps
- GroveMap_USLetter.pdf (1x)
- FragmentDetailMap_USLetter.pdf (7x)
In Extras -> Print & Play
- BG_SpotList.pdf (one for each player)
In Extras -> Print & Play -> Camper and Spirit Cards
- CamperandSpiritCards_SingleSided.pdf
Let me know if you run into any issues or have any more questions. I’m happy to help.