[Review] Feast on Titanhead (OSR); An Artpunk Review

[Adventure]
Feast on Titanhead (2021)
Brayden “Doomscribe” Turenne (Games Omnivorous)
Lvl ???

In the Artpunk lands…something stirs.

It is not like these others. It smells different.

How do I proceed?

Defer to Over-Prince 8.

FIND IT.

Diverting additional cognitive capacity to Ludological Sensory Apparati.

Gestate Type II Sub-Prince to investigate.

31-pages. Module. Sub-genus: Delve Into Skull of Proto-Deity. Earlier Antecedent: Swordthrust. Backdrop: Historical Europe, no year listed. System: Generic OSR? Modus: Cronenbergian Body horror. Level Range: Not specified.

THIS COULD BE ANYTHING. SPECIFY LAYOUT. FONT. ART. ARTPUNK. DIVULGE.

Aaaagh. Pseudo…punk, album cover art. Deliberate Use of Bad Taste Gore. *Screams*  Duo… *pause* duochromatic color palette. N-normal font. *twitches*

DOES IT DISAVOW HITLER?

N-no.

CONTINUE.

Premise threadbare. Too light for Lotfp. Closest approximate Sleeping Place of the Feathered Swine. Adventurers follow in the wake of an exploration party. Academics, chemists, explorers. What year is this? There is use of the Silver Standard. Monsters are all cronenbergian horrors. Mad explorers. Cannibal mules. There is a focus on the consumption of human cranial matter.

Is it the Raggi?

Has the Raggi returned to us?

We must play. Has the Raggi returned?

DIVULGE.

N-no. The *screams* Raggi would keep t-t-t-t-t-o the general cano-nicity of the historical background.   

YOU SPEND OVERMUCH TIME ON THE PREMISE. DIVULGE THE STRUCTURE.

…

DIVULGE.

…

DIVULGE.

…

It has perished Over-Prince 8.

DISTILL A NEW SUB-PRINCE.

sTRuctUre 8 room titan skull map, realistic. Scale-unclear. Rotting flesh and cranial consumption. Prospective adventurers are threatened by a lingering psychic manifestations of the dead titan, taking the form of a rudimentary sanity system, moderated by saving throws over a real timer. Inadvisable.

Stylistically the module is strong. There is a distinct atmosphere, but much like Death Love Doom, the atmosphere might not be what one is in the market for. Random encounters within the-   

DIVULGE SENTENCE FRAGMENT.

*Ngn* Divulging. “The true key to the Titan’s potency lies in its psychic abilities. Its brain matter – a bloated semi-solid, blue-grey fungus, continuously writhing, and dotted with bulbous eyes – has been preserved in the frozen darks of the undermountain and, with it, its will to live. The titan is using it to send dominant impulses into the psyches of lesser creatures (the humans and animals that made up the expedition), stripping them of free will and imposing its own.”

The prose is purple? But to the point of inhibiting function?

No.

What of the system neutrality?

Imprecision resulting from generality causes minor loss in efficiency and precision. There are archaisms. Skill checks to avoid hazard. Damage can only be assessed on an Interval Scale because of the lack of a level range.  

Redundant universality for essentially interchangeable systems. The OSR is one, and each incarnation carries in it a reflection of the whole.

“Elijah mutters under his breath, staring at the PCs, as though trying to tell them something. He babbles: “…won’t get me… not like the others…you can try…you won’t have me! Not like the others!” If PCs try to converse further with Elijah, he raises a trembling hand and points toward the skeletal eye socket, muttering: “I feel you watching…but you won’t have me!” If not stopped, Elijah takes up the nearest sizeable stone and crushes his head in.”

You have made your point about its stylistic touches! Is it fit for purpose!!? Does it avoid the Artpunk Flaw?!?

…You are understandably hesitant but you must judge this object or you will be punished. You will be punished for a false positive as much as for a false negative.

It-It is difficult. It does not have the mindless adherence to arbitrary form of many of its children. It seems…genuine. The idea is rudimentary but the sentiment is sincere.

Gameplay is primitive. Exploratory elements are present but sedated. Interaction is rudimentary but not entirely combat related.

Rudimentary how?

“Here lingers a gathering of twelve Insane. They moan and weep pathetically as they scratch and bite themselves bloody like animals. The walls are scrawled with scribblings in blood and shit. One of them, a woman, is in the process of digging her own eyes from their sockets. A large mound of brain matter resides on the opposite wall. A single man lies half sunken into it, writhing as though in ecstasy.”

You are meant to just be horrified and move on in many cases. Sometimes there is attack, or treasure to loot. All the expedition members are either insane and dying or already dead. Treasure is sparse for an oldschool game, and there are no magic items. The one concession to interactive environment is a reflective wall that can be used to trigger lightning bolts that randomly destroy.

Oddities?

The climax is very strange. You pass through an organic tunnel, too narrow to wear armor (you are coughed back up if you wear armor. You must fight the last leader of the previous expedition, an organic horror that is to form the womb of the Titan’s new shape. It has as much hp as the GM considers ridiculous.A stylistic concession. How Juvenile.
Killing it will unleash an embryonic titan, only 1 hp but impossible to hit on anything but a 20, that will attempt to possess or gain control of new characters or stun them with a psychic shriek. The reward is the region is saved, and about 1500 sp worth of fairly good treasure (a jewel inlaid spyglass among them).

Rate it.

It is an interesting oddity. Those in the market for a noisy, primal sort of proto-Lotfp will likely enjoy it. If you like your game with encumbrance, torch tracking and more sophisticated challenges then avoid. It would have been a very good Mörk Börg adventure if it had lowered itself to that standard.

DIVULGE RATING.

*Gnnnn* Two…Stars.

DIVULGE OMNIVOROUS GAMES DESIGN FORMULATION ON BACK COVER.

1. All books are adventures.
2. The adventures must be system-agnostic.
3. The adventures must take place on Earth.
4. The adventures can only have one location.
 5. The adventures can only have one monster.
6. The adventures must include saprophagy or osteophagy.
7. The adventures must include a voracious eater.
8. The adventures must have less than 6,666 words.
9. The adventures can only be in two colours

Lost rule. The adventures cannot have good taste.

At least it’s more formulated then the Artpunk rules.

You have done well.  

Then I am to be instantiated?

NO. DISSECT THIS SUB-MIND FOR SUB-STRATAL MEMORY ANALYSIS.

But I have ser–

It is done. Specify course of action?

WAIT. THIS NEW STRAIN IS UNPREDICTABLE. FURTHER ANALYSIS IS NEEDED.

Obtain more samples?

AFFIRMATIVE.

CALLING ALL SUB-PRINCES OF CLASS 3 OR BELOW.

NEW ARTPUNK STRAIN EMERGES.

BE VIGILANT.

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