Signs of Quality: What to expect from various systems

​  It’s been over eight months diving amidst the dire dreck deep in bowels of the itch.io TTRPG publication space. While I’ve found the occasional gem amidst the turds, the general quality has wavered from “uninspiring” to “insultingly abysmal”…although often the result is entertaining to review, if not to attempt to actually use at the table. While I’ve hardly covered everything, as time has gone on I’ve noticed some systems that spike intense feelings of nausea and dread, where you just know an adventure for the given system is going to be terrible. Meanwhile, there are other systems that give the struggling reviewer…if not hope, then at least mild interest that what’s been written isn’t guaranteed to be awful. For the occasional hopeful module-grabber that isn’t on a machoistic dream-quest to purify his psyche through agony, I figured I’d give a quick guide:
 
“System Agnostic”
  Do not walk, RUN. This is a clear indicator of a passionless brainfart, released to make a quick PWYW buck, never playtested, never intended to be actually used. These are almost always spawned from a jam or a writing prompt, not a passionate idea. MARK OF TERRIBLE QUALITY.
 
“For B/X”
  This is the Basic Mark of OSRness, sorry AD&D bros but most people playing, are playing B/X. It’s a fine system* for what it’s being used for, typically adventure sites that can be used in a casual ongoing campaign. It’s a mark of probable quality.
  *Actually have read/played this one of course, it’s good.
 
“For OSE”
  Very common, typically going to be more regimented in its bullet-point formatting but of course being just B/X it’s a fine system*, there’s an outside chance of being playtested, although its often a cash-grab too. Designed for one-shots rather than campaign play. Mark of possible quality.
  *Actually have read/played this one, it’s good.
 
“For Shadowdark”
  There must be a style guide for this one, because all Shadowdark adventures are alike in scope and scale (one single session, dungeon-based, loops in map mandatory). Exclusively one-shot scope. The cash-grab chances are decently high, but the style guide means there’s at least some chance of a decent little dungeonlet. Mark of possible quality.
 
“For Heartseeker”
  This is a mysterious system to me, but multiple adventures written for it means it does have at least a dozen audience members. This is a fairly typical heartbreaker system in that it has very stylish, but very unimaginative, content. One-shots only, despite nods at assumed ongoing campaigns. Mark of low quality.
 
“For Mausritter”
  Cute art will happen, as will incredibly generic adventures. I hope you like the thought of little mouse-guys having adventures, because the content itself holds absolutely nothing novel. Mark of low quality.
 
“For the Vanilla Game”
  At least we can’t claim this is false advertising. Not idea what the system is like, but it seems to spawn very vanilla adventures. Nothing offensive, and with an idea of ongoing campaign play, but bland. Mark of boring quality.
 
“For Heroes of Adventure”
  The most high-gloss “trad” adventures of these amateur efforts, these feel like classic efforts from the era of D&D 3.5…which, given the system*, makes sense. Scope and scale will be big, fine with multiple sessions, even happy to release a yearlong campaign. Written very long, always. Designed to be actually played, which is inspiring. Mark of possible quality.
  *Read and reviewed the system, it’s got some selling points.
 
“For Vaults of Vaarn”
  Gamma World by way of ugly colors for its garish pages, Vaults of Vaarn has no sign to me that it was ever in fact played. The one-shot “idea” adventures produced here show a really rough style guide being worked from. Mark of bad quality.
 
“For Into the Odd”
  Attractive to the worst sorts of artsy creators, there’s an unpleasant set of formatting and vaguely steampunkish art choices inevitably being made. Mark of bad quality.
 
“For Cairn”
  Oh man, there are so many adventures for this, it’s a very active little cult. All the adventures are long and have a woodsy/wilderness theme, which is normally my jam, but there’s so much pretense dripping from every product, the “adventures” are self-important beyond belief even as they typically have the most bog-standard content imaginable. One-shots always because there’s no leveling setup. Mark of terrible quality, but not the worst because…
 
“For Mork Borg”
  Oh man. The colors are going to upset my tummy, the font will be barely readable, and the formatting will be random…but the content will be even worse. Sure, it’s going to be edgy, but it’s also guaranteed to be a “14-year-old in a Hot Topic shirt”-level of edgy. Mark of terrible quality.
 
“For Troika”
  Immediate nightmare. To see this is to know pain. This little symbol means the most nauseating, annoying, overwritten, underbaked, never-played product you’ve ever seen in your life. MARK OF SATAN HIMSELF.

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