Bathtub Reviews are an excuse for me to read modules a little more closely. I’m doing them to critique modules from the perspective of my own table and to learn for my own module design. They’re stream of consciousness and unedited critiques. I’m writing them on my phone in the bath.

Knowing Revenge of the Grasping Gods is a 20 page system agnostic module written by Kyle Tam with graphic design by Lone Archivist, who also did Another Bug Hunt. It’s about stealing fire from the gods.

This zine is clean, structured and creepy in the way protestants find catholic texts creepy. I’m not sure what Lone Archivists’ references were, but it feels like a clean version of an illuminated apocrypha. Big, bold paragraphs on single column large point, clear explosive headings and if it’s not a single typeface throughout, it’s painstakingly picked to appear that way to the layperson.

The big, bold paragraphs are a fascinating choice for a module. Usually, we have a huge heading and a single (rarely double) spread covering a point of interest. Each point of interest feels like it stands on its own through the unusual layout choices, and feels like it’s screaming at the reader. It reminds me a little of a Maria Mison layout, like it was inspired in part by I Eat Mantras For Breakfast. It doesn’t feel clean, it feels like a clean recitation of something messy.

There’s more verbiage in these descriptions than I’d prefer, but it feels forgivable here. Why? I’m not sure. It’s florid but not absurd or self-indulgent. It could honestly afford to lean into its largeness more, be a bit more David Foster Wallace. But as is, I’m running this module telling my players to have a coffee while I read and absorb each point of interest, and then am running it off vibes.

I couldn’t run it traditionally, I don’t think. Instructions are buried in the prose along with descriptions. It’s beautiful but inconvenient. It ends with a choice between godhood and humanity, having impressed the guardian at the gates of Olympus. It feels like a drift from module to lyric game, and I mean this with no aspersions. I could play this in free kreigspiel as a one shot I think with great success. It would be impeccable vibes. But could I drop it into an ongoing campaign? Only one with a very specific vibe.

I think the most damning and complementary thing about this module is that, while I’d enjoy playing it with the right group, what it does do is set my brain on fire for variations on the concept: I want a heist on god mountain, structured to reflect Oceans 11’s antiheroics rather than Promethean heroics. This is excellent, but it wallows in its subject matter rather than subverts or frolicks in it. And sometimes you just want to lay back and soak.

This is the kind of story and atmosphere I often see bundled with a plentitude if half-baked mechanics when really what you need is a table of players which are sold on the mythical heroes stealing fire from the gods vibe and good at improvising heroes based on a random treasure table. I like this a lot, on its own terms, but it’s far enough afield it’s hard for me to recommend aside from: If you found this review intriguing, it’s probably worth at least a read through.

30th November, 2023

Idle Cartulary