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by jodokast

Abomination Vaults is dungeon crawling.
That's the hook.
This takes the hook and puts it into 11 pages (which include 1 page of cover one of table of contents, and one of OGL, so 8 pages)

It takes a full page to go 'dungeon crawling' and 'all skills useful' and 'all classes/alignments are cool bro'. We get a page and a half of backgrounds which I don't think come up in the dungeon crawl but that's the mechanics you gotta have.

Half a page about the Cosmic Caravan which is a deity which does come up in the adventure. The rest is a town map and gazetter
"1. The Giant’s Wheel
An enormous waterwheel that powers the lumber
equipment in the Otari Mill.
2. Loading Flume
This long wooden chute takes lumber from the
Giant’s Wheel down a flume into the harbor.
3. Stone Ring Pond
A mysteriously clear pool surrounded by ancient
standing stones.
4. Wrin’s Wonders
A peculiar curio shop run by an eccentric woman
who collects rumors.
5. Gallentine Deliveries
A delivery service always in need of fast, reliable
help.
6. Blades for Glades
Otari’s primary smithy, which sells armor and
weapons in addition to saws and axes.
7. Odd Stories
A bookstore run by a fiction-loving wizard.
8. Otari Garrison
A squat, bunker-like stone building that houses
Otari’s civic guards.
9. Crow’s Casks
A brewery and tavern popular among local
farmers and merchants.
10. Crook’s Nook
A sailors’ tavern built as a bridge across the
Osprey River.
11. Otari Market
The one-stop shop for food, tools, and other
everyday gear.
12. Otari Fishery
Fishery and shipyard by day, gathering place for
games and entertainment by night.
13. Ruins of the Thirsty Alpaca
Once the largest tavern in town, until it suddenly
collapsed in a recent disaster.
14. The Rowdy Rockfish
A surprisingly calm and quiet tavern.
15. Dawnflower Library
A large library and temple to Sarenrae, with
shrines to many other deities.
16. Otari Graveyard
A clifftop cemetery that’s mostly quiet but has a
sinister atmosphere."
Is the Map numbering comments. The subsequent pages are padding and tell you nothing further of any importance.
Lots of words, that tell you stuff, but not in a way you can build off. That Graveyard 'mostly quiet' 'sinister atmosphere' how? Why? What's the point?

Unsure what (if anything) is left to say.

by jodokast

I have run this as a one shot. I needed a one shot that focused on the dungeon crawling aspect of D&D (an aspect that is remarkably thin on the ground) and was relatively newbe friendly, whilst not being 'boring' if one was more of a veteran. A con style game. This adventure promised to be fun for a party of 3rd-5th level adventurers, and would take 4-6 hours to complete. Sounds pretty good. Aggressive spoilers follow.

The core concept here is actually pretty good and fun. A modron wants to know what makes a brave adventurer. So he is kidnapping parties and putting them through simulations to find out what will happen. Testing as a concept is definitely inspired by Portal (2007) and the adventure suggests that the Modron's disembodied voice should be inspired by Glados.
The adventure is ostensibly 9 rooms (each one a cube) but given that room 1 is effective 'wake up and leave' and room 2 is 'get your stuff' we begin to sense a theme - this is far too short. Like this would play in 90 minutes if I didn't have some extra rooms on standby (I suspected this would be the case, but it often hard to tell). There is definately some meta humour, the 'ethical test' has the party have to consign either a (illusionary) Modron Maiden, or an (illusionary) Modron Demon to destruction. Regardless of the choice the 'test is inconclusive' and needs to be rerun with 'variables more in line with your ethical natures' which is the party having to consign either a pile of money or a pile of jewels to destruction.

This is good, as is the the 'Farmer Modron' who needs you to accept 'saving his daughter' (which is a whole room).
The trap room has a handout that will either be appropriately challenging (or very simple) depending on how much 'think in 3d' your players are.

The 'real solution' is for the players to wise up to this and break out of the rooms and go find the freak running this experiment. What the book doesn't have is anything more than a hint that it has been run over and over and over again. I tried to describe a vast facility on the fly but didn't have quite enough to go on.

Also for a party of 4 x level 3 - this was far too easy. Players were never in a serious threat at all.

In terms of formatting we are 2 column, with read aloud. The read aloud could be better but is serviceable, and thankfully short.

The NPCs are all modrons, so your flat robotic voice is the only GM voice you need, and will give you bonus points with the players (for very little effort). The motivations are clear and easy to run with from the page.

There is definitely something here as a concept. I've made some additional rooms of my one, a 'fake church' where one has to 'find the evil' (modron with stitched on hands a prisoner in the altar). Another trap room (A simple chasm with a short drop, but the base of which is electrified). I want 2 more, and I'll keep this dungeon (and the pregens I made) for one shots.
But outside of a one shot niche I wouldn't recommend this adventure as I think the fun comes through the most with inter party conflict in this weird situation. My players had a tendency to all agree to 'get to the next room' which I think you would get more of in an established party in general. Your mileage may vary.

by Krisse Tuominen

I went through the trouble of searching for and checking out a lot of material on itch.io. I did it so I can collect a list of itch.io material.

The collection contains tea culture-related themes, items, or encounters. I also selected some computer programs to be listed that have the right kind of ”drinking tea and chillaxing” vibes.

Here's a list of games and products related to the theme of tea, teahouse culture, teashops, tea parties, drinking tea, enjoying tea and cake, cafeterias, and such.

https://itch.io/c/6793680/collection-of-games-with-tea-teaho...

The "Tea" art picture is licensed from Freepik.com

by skifreak737

$27.00 for Board Game: Legacy of Dragonholt
Condition: Like New
Location: United States

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