This has really good NPCs, clearly structured hooks, and an economically delivered atmosphere. The plot is unusual and it's nice to read a mystery. The art nicely complements the text, though if the background image was lighter it might improve readability.
Play game
The Stream of Anguish's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Writing: how clear and/or interesting is the writing? | #133 | 3.556 | 3.556 |
| Layout: how easy is it to find all the presented information? | #178 | 3.000 | 3.000 |
| Playability: how easy would it be to run this module? | #181 | 2.833 | 2.833 |
| Overall | #182 | 3.111 | 3.111 |
| Theme: how well would the module have fit into the Appendix N? | #183 | 3.500 | 3.500 |
| Art: how well does the art support the other content? | #195 | 2.667 | 2.667 |
Ranked from 18 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Comments
I for one do not object to a tasteful background image. Appreciate the best-seller depth in the writing.
Submitted
Saber of the Saffron ElfA wealth of information for DMs to work with in this adventure, which is great news. I’m grateful for the text only pdf, my old eyes struggled at times with background, that’s probably just me. Guilt barometer is a clever addition, DM’s should have fun using it. Good entry to the jam
Submitted
Death, Imprisoned!This is a great premise. The guilt barometer is a fantastic mechanic; tying it to the character's actions with real consequences is a strong design choice. The historical details also provide a rich context that makes the world feel deeper and more explorable. For readability, you might consider a few layout adjustments. A textured or blurred background image, something softer on the eyes, would make the text easier to parse than the current photograph. Have you also considered a two-column layout? It would make scanning the text on the page much easier.
Submitted
He Who Walks with ShadowsThanks for the comment!
About the layout, I originally thought a standard page would “honour” the original stories, but there's always room for improvement.
About the background… well, I was so artistically intimidated by everyone else's amazing work (those cover images! even the covers are impressive!) that I panicked a bit and slapped on a background image.
I won’t change it now, but I’ll definitely add a text-only PDF soon, for those who prefer a better legibility.
Very interesting premise. I'll probably use the guilt rule in other adventures (there's a typo in this part of the guilt rules). I just found the magical limitation to be quite intense. But it's a good adventure, I'll try it out.
Submitted
The Gloaming UrnfieldVery atmospheric! Reminds me of the movie Crimson Peak a little bit. Dreadful secrets tied to a place trying to come to light.
Submitted
The Lavender LexiconThat's true. So far, I've only got to play one mystery adventure. I had a lot of fun taking notes and trying to solve it, but that wasn't the case for everyone playing, and even people that enjoy mysteries get frustrated with them at times and just want to cut through rather than unravel the knot.
I read in another comment you wrote you were worried about people spamming zone of truth, but I feel like you've solved that in a way with your guilt mechanic. I think, if any NPC was compelled to tell the truth through magical/chemical means, that it would raise their guilt to the point of possession by the stream and they would attack the players and/or themselves uncontrollably. Which may or may not hinder the players but it would definitely be evil if they did so knowing what would happen which would be a stumbling block for some characters playing any sort of good alignment and you could make the pc's track guilt too possibly.
You made me realize that i could mix the 2 mechanics in something more cohesive, like a unique “cycle of shame” where exposing something increase guilt -> facilitate possession -> harm -> more investigations -> new secret exposed -> repeat. But it would require a bit more effort… I’ll think about it for the next jam.
I quite enjoyed reading through this. Excellent writing, and all the key information is easy to find. This could be perfect for a party eager to role-play and solve mysteries. The limitations on magic users are pretty severe. Maybe focusing on limitations to specifically game-breaking kinds of spells could work? The Guilt Score mechanic is unique, and having the player characters interact with it might be very interesting.
"He has always preferred war over remarrying..." hee hee. I enjoyed this a lot!
Submitted
Scrolls from Azov's Shelf
Leave a comment
Log in with itch.io to leave a comment.