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Thank you! I had a lot of fun making it. Knowing someone enjoyed reading it and found it useful is an amazing bonus. Cheers!

Please accept this first hack of your game to be a sign of my appreciation for your unique take on the dread mechanic. 

First, the self-doubt is for real! I cannot emphasize enough how even running this Jam was an exercise in imposter syndrome. Everything I've put out has seen me cycle through delusions of grandeur, crushing self-loathing, rageful defiance, and defeated resignation. That's basically my editing process, too. So, just know everything from me that I try to describe as "meh, I made this, whatever" is the result of an emotional everythingness, but the self-doubt is primary.

Second, you can make a page for your project and submit it to this jam so it will forever be here, and you can even change the title and url of the page later when your title changes. If you look at my page for COSR, you'll see I've been posting Devlogs the whole time. The page has been getting views, getting added to lists, and even getting people to follow me on this platform. It didn't have any files to download until today. I'd recommend making one for your project and using it like a single-purpose blog (if you want to) so people can follow along with your progress.

I'll be giving feedback on JAMuary submissions into next month, and maybe beyond. Today is only the deadline to get your page submitted, not the deadline for your finished product.

Either way, I'm following you and I hope to see how your work progresses!

It's the last day of ttRPG JAMuary, and soon it will be in our past.

Use this space to share your struggles, your achievements, what you learned, and what you're going to do next!

I like these NPCs. This is a great little addition of uniquely interesting NPCs for your fantasy campaign, Cairn or otherwise.

What a blast! I can't wait to play this with my group!

Nah, it's fine. Most of the submissions appear to be for other jams. Submit away!

Hey Jonkler, I'm glad you're able to find time where you can to design! There's not a whole lot here to go off of, but I've put together some observations based on what is here.

1- I dig this. I like a good freeform describe-your-character mode of character creation. This sounds fun, fast, and easy, while still allowing for in-play complexity.

2- Whoa, right into damage. I wonder what dice/randomizer we used to get here? I like the idea of situationally variable damage. Maybe less of this one does d6 and this one d8, but maybe a baseball bat would do d8 in these circumstances, but only a d6 in these less-optimal circumstances. Just a thought!

3- Most of this sounds fine, but Control gives me pause. Before you get going with it, you might want to do some reading about insanity in RPGs. While it was a common thing to add to games in the 90s, our hobby is less welcoming to it at present. Instructing people to roleplay insanity can brush up against some safety concerns at the table and some ableism concerns at the book level. That doesn't mean you can't include it, it just means you'll want to be aware of the arguments involved and handle it tactfully if you do include it.

I think you've got a solid start here. I'm excited to see where you take it next!

JAMuary is in its second half! How's your project coming along?

Notes

It's a little unclear at the beginning about what favor is. "You view your bond as a curse: 1d4 favor." This feels like my Favor die is a d4, but as I keep reading I think I'm to actually roll the d4 to determine a number of Favor Points.

You might do better to mention the conversion notes at the front, but place them at the back. "See pg 12 for how to convert this to other systems." I say this because you have two readers: one will gladly skip over conversion notes that don't pertain to them and the other will just stop reading. If you can get both of these readers to the back page, you're winning!

I dig the Grimalkin. This setup has a lot of fun and interesting complexities to it. Very cool. Are these Patrons supposed to be physically present?

I think the format could use a bit of clarity. Sections that apply to me and sections that apply to the Grimalkin are all shuffled together, making it just a bit more difficult than it needs to be to parse what applies to my character. Is my character supposed to become fickle? Do I gain slightly acute senses? Will I no longer cross water? I think a little added delineation will go a long way toward making this a clear and fully enjoyable read from the first time someone sees the page.

I like this presentation. It's clean and classic.

This is a great start. I'm into it and looking forward to what comes next. 

The mock-up isn't public, people clicking on it would have to request approval.

There's only been a little of the support stuff, so don't feel bad.

Honestly, this seems to have primarily become a place where people post the things they made for other jams to just get it more visibility (which I get and is fine) instead of a jam people are trying to make things for. It just makes it a little harder to separate the signal from the noise. 

But there have been actual submissions for this jam and a bit of solid success from new creators, so it's still a win!

Do what you can, set an achievable goal, and if you can say one nice thing to one other jammer it'll be a bonus!

Done! I just learned a new thing about Itch reviews!

This is an excellent little game that balances chance, individual creativity, strategy, and improvisational cooperation. It surprised me by featuring the homepage I set all my browsers to in the rules.  I recommend this as a stand-alone game for a few minutes of fun, warm-up, or as an ice-breaker. 

Where this game may really shine is as a more-engaging barter system for existing ttRPGs. GMs who know the sell or purchase of a major item is on the horizon will appreciate having this tool in their back pocket to use as a mini-game for the exchange.

And then you produced something AWESOME! I'm really digging Hard Sell. Cheers!

I'd be happy to playtest, though my schedule is complicated. I likely won't have time to playtest until this jam is over, unfortunately. 

That said, I'd be happy to review and comment on the document. I can at least run through a character creation round and point out any points of confusion or trouble.

Not a bit. I think you may be hard-pressed to find a game being worked on here that isn't similar to other games. What matters is that you make something that fulfills your personal creativity and design goals. Ours is an iterative art form, so you're on solid ground as long as you're iterating artistically!

Thank you! I'm really trying my hardest to make it a good game for folks like that. I appreciate the encouragement!

That sounds awesome! I think I've seen some of your posts around, and even responded to one, where you've been exploring these problems (unless there's another designer out there working on a HZD+MH game). I'm glad you found an elegant die system that accommodates your goals!

I know I've got struggles over here, I'm sure you've got struggles over there.

Feel free to use this space to express your frustrations and sticking points with your project, but also don't be afraid to share your successes and breakthroughs!

So, how's it going?

Oooo, I love to see a good d4-based game!

I respect your choice and I look forward to your next project. Happy JAMuary to you!

So, the idea for this Jam to encourage people to create something new during the month of January. It's ok for people to get started early, but it sounds like you did almost all the work before the jam started and would have been doing that regardless of this jam's existence. 

If that's the case, it's not entirely in the spirit of the jam, but I'm not here to police what does it does not belong in the jam. 

It looks like it's available to the other jam participants for free (point 3 on the jam list), so that just leaves point 2: "Support and encourage your fellow JAMuary participants (advice and feedback should be constructive and considerate)."

So, I'll leave this up to you. Are you looking for advice and feedback on your project? Are you down to support and encourage the other jam participants?

If the answer to those questions is "yes," then I don't see anything wrong with your project being included in this Jam!

Everyone is free to partner up or fly solo as they see fit!

That sounds awesome! I need to install and play Horizon Zero Dawn (probably after January). It's just been sitting in my game library, looking at me everytime I install some other game.

I'm intrigued by the Lumen-YZE combo and excited to see what comes of it. It sounds like a grand experiment!

My own project will likely (still time to change it up!) be a Cozy OSR game. I've been pondering on the idea of reframing the OSR playstyle in less intense circumstances. I want the challenge and problem-solving to be there, as well as some element of the "lethality,"  but smoothed over so that 0 HP isn't death, it's more of a "I'm tired of adventures. I'm going home!" situation. Less elves and fighters, more "I live in the house with all the cats!"

Absolutely! I went ahead and removed the rule about not starting until January 1. Enough people had expressed anxiety about the timeline that it seemed more of a hindrance than a help. 

So, yeah, go for it! 

There's no limit on silliness, seriousness, scope, scale, size, tone, type, or tempo. Your goals are your own, this is just a space to share and be awesome along other awesome people trying to achieve little goals of their own. Many of my favorite games are squarely within the genre of "silly little." I, personally, would welcome such a contribution here!

Of course, if this gives you more anxiety than enjoyability, please don't feel any pressure to participate.

Whu-oh! I've fixed the links. Thank you for letting me know!

If you've got questions, someone will have answers... or advice... or will at least admit that no one knows!

As someone who purchased the game before it was made free, I applaud your decision! I hope this makes it easier for people to discover and enjoy Dextra.

Ugh, thank you for the keen eye and taking the time to point it out! I spent so much time on everything else that I just breezed past that. "Unoffial" is a singularly unpleasant-sounding word.

Oh man, what a great little system and campaign! This is way more interesting than I thought it was going to be when I downloaded it!

Wow, this is a lot of fun to read, looks like a lot of fun to play, and I love the art. I'm backing it now!

I've been studying and tinkering with RPG Design for 20+ years, but never actually completed or published anything. I saw old 24-hour RPG challenges, but only after they were finished. I just happened to see this Jam, and it inspired me to finally put something together, beginning to end, and get it out into the world.

Thank you for running this Jam.

I was intrigued enough that I finally made an itch account and bought something. It's a pretty great little system that's lite, easy to remember, allows for some statistical fiddling, and can produce a variety of storytelling objectives with a single handful of dice. Great kit!