itch.io

whew, the unbridled creativity on display! i don't know if I've read any other submissions that took so readily to the random setting generator and d100 tables. correct me if I'm wrong, but surely so much of this was constructed from odd names and interesting art assets, right? like doodling while overhearing surreal arguments one apartment over, putting dramatic faces to dramatic names. the wordy bits are so dense with names and goings on that my eyes are a bit crossed (anyone else still reviewing down to the last moment??), but i kinda want more already. on top of all that, the maps and character art are blessedly easy to navigate. lots of lessons to take away for anyone looking to be more knavely in their osr adventure. great job!!

i really like how the module doesn't just pay lip service to player choice but actually has four paths. two are combat heavy, sure, but the others can lead to magic and treasure and maybe even god-patrons. i was a little confused about how to end those. i think i get that they're open ended, but i think a Indiana Jones boulder chasing you out the closing gate might have been nice to have as an option. still, it makes a pretty good filler episode. all in all, any module with a triangle golem is a module i want to play in.

wow, well done! I'm at 33 (sigh. if only office work would kindly pause while I'm busy with more important things!)

good catch. they were left unnamed and ungendered on purpose. i felt like if, for example, the ranger was a lady she'd quickly be "motherly" or something else easily labeled. i wanted the game master to have a chance to rorschach their own favorite tropes there. i'm not entirely sure why dick and jane got names, and i think you're right to pick at that inconsistency. 

that poem was almost the first thing i came up with. it squatted in my notes for so long. staring. so i hid it on the back page so i wouldn't try to reword it over and over and over. that trick almost worked, too.

i can't agree more. i was trying to be minimalist and cover hexes in the rumors, but they really deserve to breathe on their own.

thanks for that. i felt a little thin there but it emphasized what i wanted it to: a way to steer an adventure through emphasizing certain encounters. maybe you never meet the priest but the ranger comes up a lot. maybe sinkholes are common so the road construction is going poorly and tensions between factions rise. heck, i'd be entirely please if some people kept running into only frogs until they started collecting them, claiming them as pets, and using them to snatch cockatrices out of the air.

if i'm being fair to my Monstrous Manual back home, i think a cockatrice is more accurately a lizard, rooster, bat hybrid or 2-legged dragon with a chicken head. i have no idea the origins of the (potentially iconic?) snake-head-chicken-head thing i am presenting here. i mean, that's what showed up when i google image searched cockatrice but WHY? d&d mandala effect?

very kind! if i'm crazy enough to take up another jam, i'll be sure to pester you!

haha all criticism welcome! yeah, it starts out with manuscript art and then... splat. i don't know if anyone noticed, but i took a sliiight shortcut using emojis. i hoped it would come across as charming rather than random if i was consistent enough with them. now that you mention it, i'd have loved to continue the manuscript theme throughout.

thanks for the kind words! i tried like hell not to call the lurking threat of cockatrice by it's name. feels a little more folksy that way? maybe?

the sid-victims would have been interesting but i have to say those puppet strings everywhere seem plenty creepy! also, i think you'd have been well justified in recasting most of your reluctant playtesters in the name of (mad) science.

...and now i'm smitten with the image of one "tall" character loaded down with doll people like some sort of adventure opossum. and adjacent to "the little wars of hopsberry manor" (or is that too much? :D )!

i was so self conscious about the early versions i nearly let the text stand dry and alone. but that wasn't right. so, so glad i stuck with it! high praise! thanks! i'm definitely inspired to search out a decent vector graphics program and stack some more circles.

"my name, you ask? It's Hugh." the counselor's very real mustache adjusts itself like a spinning joke bow-tie. "Hugh Man, the trusted advisor. now, bring me a bucket of delicious fish heads! woop woop woop!"

oof! hard not to judge this one on the fantastic layout and design. i'm still soaking in the idea of color coded dungeon levels with my choice of top-down and isometric. and a minimap for every spread? lovely! the random encounters being on a bell curve is also really great. the fact that delve shifts are handy there too is really, really great. those things plus a few d100 and spell references and a sink full of marbles really do sell the "made for Knave" label while not being at all inaccessible to another OSR.

Knave 2e wounds seem to be designed mostly to get adventurers to make a risk & reward vs run & rest calculation. but what to do when you're locked in (Recast) and unable to rest safely? the Potion of Cleansing Water and Margot probably help ameliorate that without turning down the tension, i'd guess. i'm a little bit fascinated by wounds and would be interested to know what playtesters thought of them throughout.

thanks so much! i figure everyone's got the option to not read it in that voice if the information is clear enough, so why not? i'm personally unsure if that's a random settler talking or if the rumors are exclusively things the bored dockmaster will say just to keep you hanging around a little longer.

as for the counselor, my brain accidentally made a connection to the old, old, old saying "spectacles, testicles, wallet, watch." i'm so sorry. a little sorry. obviously not sorry enough to change it, though. i figure "tentacles" either gives a micromanager feel or else a taboo secret feel, and the game master (or the players) can make the decision on their own. i nearly added the counselor to the "chaos" recommendations list, but held just so it wouldn't seem like an answered question. i kinda like it up in the air, up for interpretation.

thank you! that list and the ones at the back helped me erase so, so many paragraphs of nonsense!! although, i maybe got a little too carried away with cutting and left off descriptions of the hexes. whoops.

i'll be honest, the mine almost didn't get a sketch. it's almost only there because coming out of the mine introduces so many factions immediately. even if they walk away they'll be walking past guards pushing around woodsmen, settlers harassed by a giant boar, some fancy ship that wasn't there before, etc. anything in the sandbox is plot after that launch.

thanks for the feedback!

i hope i didn't earn any 1 stars, but if i did then i hope it at least comes with a full color emoji. :) 🤷‍♂️ (:

thanks! i have an isometric draft in dungeonscrawl that was too tall but probably a touch easier to read (staircases!), but after spending so much time beating google docs' little draw app into shape i just couldn't abandon it. next time: pen and paper. or macaroni and glue even. anything but ai haha.

you might consider using a rumors table to "show don't tell" the goings on of a town. it's convenient for a gm to look down a list and see, for example: farms attacked, mayor's son abducted, druid Cliffwood and ranger Dawrick know the way to the obelisk/temple, elf at inn saw goblins. boom, got it. trust another game  master to know what to do with short hooks. that doesn't preclude the group from running into Cricket and talking to farmers and enjoying the ranger's luxurious black hair. but it does save space when you're limited to, say eight pages or so. :)

seems a bit less of an OSR event than a heroic cut scene from a video game. those first three paragraphs were certainly constructed with care. i'm just not entirely sure where i would put this, except maybe in a really badass set of stained glass windows. don't stop writing on my account! looking forward to seeing where you take this.

i appreciate the runes as a way to interact with a faction (the golem) who otherwise wouldn't be very interactable. having said that, i was a little surprised not to find any faction (or patron maybe) suggestions for Lum. we almost know more about Demelza than Lum, you know? how's she feel about wandering ghouls? and about Xng? just a few words for the gm to riff with.

i like the idea of an ash-covered landscape and the first two warplight mutations are spooky. probably could have found a way to explain weather, ashrot, and warplight into fewer pages. it would be great to use that space for dungeon maps of the tower, citadel, and library. even more important might be the inclusion of some factions to help show the story and offer some alternative routes. the knaves may wish to try you on that "no escape" thing if they can't see others drowning or rebuffed by a big wall. some good ideas here that would benefit from some additional time.

i really appreciate the succinct style. the map goes in a bit of a spiral that gives plenty of chance for players to find the out-of-the-box solutions (thoughtfully noted on the front page!) and discover the components of what will become the ticking clock/time-bomb. pretty sure the secret path 3-to-11 isn't my cup of tea... unless it slammed shut maybe? also, it wasn't much, but i like how pulling a certain lever (in 7, opens door 10/11) secretly mobilizes the boss who may or may not use a secret door. i like the idea of players meeting him and then having to chase him the long way as he scoots along quickly on some gadget. not that gadgets were mentioned. but speaking of gadgets, this would make a pretty decent Black Sword Hack dungeon. since it's built for Knave 2e, however, i expected just a bit more guidance on the automaton stats. or even a note to acknowledge that stats were left off for brevity in the same spirit that the map isn't a fancy grid with illustrations. all in all, i like it a lot. i like the undead and electricity, the time bomb, and the ability to trick automatons (in lieu of faction play). good use of bold and bold+color to help this run on the fly. thumbs up.

The three competing factions are nice, but turn combat-heavy right away. that's emphasized by delve shift #5 which sorta stacks the odds in favor of NN. the thieves are first to pass you a note and the necromancers let you keep extra treasure, so i kinda get that NN need a perk to recommend them. except that it's a secret perk. even with that minor criticism, it's great that you included delve shifts at all. shifts can be such a good way to sell the ambiance to the game master (who is reading them, even if they aren't rolled) in short, sweet sentences: there really are ghosts/rats/smells, not just rumors of those things.

also, in room 3 is that driftwood figurine a crustacean from the protozoic era?? dammit, monster! get off my lawn!

the potions, robes, and wands were nice trick or treat loot in lieu of boring coin. you have to worry a canny knave will eventually decide they're rich enough, but magic stuff? hardly ever. the stuff does ride a fine line between being fun to pick up and being shunned as obviously cursed. I suppose a dm could remind a paranoid group that Halvia plus gem could probably fix things (extra long torso, too many noses, etc) later, just to keep moving.

also, i really appreciate the (remodeled) cloud room and the membrane hall for giving the place a real lived-in feel! plus a wall of slugs that accommodates that one player who would ask "can i?" yes, dive in.

rumor 13: east beyond the fens they say a rowdy village of raiders live. but, their legends warn of ghosts in the fens that will possess trespassers and cause them to raid their own tribe!

rumor 14: lizard men used to swim across the river for their favorite frogs and more. then they picked a fight with pirates on the river and neither really bounced back after.

rumor 15: between hills and forest up north a short-grass plain stretches. skeletal horses roam at night, but luckily there's some sort of waystation up a big tree that the Ranger keeps stocked. i wonder where they sleep, if not there?

(( ...i think i really shot myself in the foot by posting comments here. everyone else in the "unrated entries" have recieved constructive criticism by now except me. oops. the lessons we learn. ))

it's my first jam so i had this question too. not quite sure how to articulate this better than to say it's like i need permission to give three or four stars. otherwise it'll be "5-stars, but here's where writing/usability/fun fell just short." fell short of what? is 5 stars perfect or average?

An adventure for the 2024 Knave 2e Adventure Game Jam.

My first jam or module or zine ever. I'm a little nervous, actually.

Bronze Lure is an independent production of Possessed Bug Book Club and is not affiliated with Questing Beast LLC.

if an NPC bandit B surprise attacks armored PC A (UD3 shield), then A must roll UD to check for armor degrade on fail. is that 1d6+6>UD or 3d6>15(surprise) and count the complications? either way, A takes no damage because a player only takes damage if they roll poorly on attack, right? if PC A (12 Str) attacks NPC bandit B (2HD), then A must get 10 or more on a gambling roll ([3d6=1+3+6]+12>19+2) to do any damage. would A have rolled with advantage if they were a warrior who considered swords a tool? because of the complication, A would roll 1d6+6 to test UD of their tool, the sword, right?

i would love to see a few combat examples!