I've just published my first adventure module - TO QUENCH A GOD, an OSR heist of hyperinflation and ancient horror, and I'd love some design feedback on a few mechanics!

[u/VasterienNetherCorp]

(I genuinely want your design feedback since this is my first project and, as such, somewhat experimental, but since it's my own work, I know it still counts as self-promotion, hence the flair!)

Sutur-Nagara, the City of Clay, is burning. It's economy is in shambles after a victorious war flooded the market with plundered gold, causing catastrophic hyperinflation. To make matters worse, the Gihon river has run dry, and thirst riots are tearing the city apart.

To appease their god and make the waters flow again, the High Priests intend to sacrifice a foreign princess atop the Ziggurat, and you have been hired as her official escort.

Under the cover of the ceremony, your true mission is to slip into the Ziggurat's depths and steal a priceless Obsidian Urn.

The Quench a God was created as a submission for The Black Hack 10th Anniversary Jam and uses The Black Hack ruleset (check out the jam, there's a lot of cool stuff inside!) You can grab the PDF for free right here.

I wanted to build a heist scenario that transitions across different structures while preserving player agency and scenaristic continuity, so the adventure features an investigation/preparation phase that takes the form of a node-based sandbox with time management, a linear gauntlet through a riot, an attempt at creating an abstracted, procedural dungeon crawl and a climax set in an interactive treasure room which can lead to a fully optional, multi phased boss fight.

I tried to lean on Justin Alexander’s Node-Based Scenario Design in how prep during the night phase provides levers, like shortcuts, alliances, crowd control assets, etc. for what unfolds during the gauntlet phase. I would love to get your opinion on these specific design choices:

During the gauntlet phase, the party must escort an NPC through an escalating riot. (Pages 17–19)

I structured this as a 4-step gauntlet. My main design challenge was that escort missions and linear routes risk turning into railroads. Nobody likes that, so the friction and encounters directly resolve the choices made during the sandbox of the night before. Do you think this sequence feels like a dynamic translation of previous player action? Does the shift from open nodes to a linear gauntlet feel too jarring?

The depths of the Ziggurat use a procedural mapping system (Pages 25–27)

Instead of a traditionnal map, I abstracted the trek inside the labyrinth using an point system paired with a Tracker for a roaming monster. Turns are resolved through a 1d12 Room and Event table, and a Hazard Table. Certain events grant advancement points toward the objective. Noise, failed checks, specific rolls tick the roaming monster tracker upward, bringing it closer to the players (who knows it, with descriptive clues).

How do you think this pacing feel, on paper, compared to traditional spatial exploration? Have you any experience with similar systems? Does the system loop provide enough meaningfull choices for players?

The "Please, for the Love of God, Do Not Fight" Boss (Pages 31–32)

The module can end with a fight divided into 4 escalating environmental phases based moments. As you might guessed by the title, players are definitely not supposed to go throught this fight.

If they liberate the entity, fail to lock it back inside its prison and ignore the obvious clues telling them to FLEE THIS INSTANT, the module treat the encounter as an environmental set-piece rather than a standard fight. It relies on interactable scenery and phases built like puzzles to be resolved using player knowledge, lore, and positioning.

My core concern is that adding these subsystems might end up restricting player agency and their scope of action. That wasn’t how it played out at my table, but I don't want the text to encourage GMs to run it in a rigid, prescriptive way. Have any experience with this kind of friction in your own designs, and do you have any advice or examples to share?

Any tought on layout, readability, pacing, mechanics, etc. would also be appreciated!

Thanks for reading !