It's one I've looked at many times and I have managed to run the adventure on at least 3 1/2 occasions. Each time the thing has been givin dice rolls it pretty much gets the same player-reaction all of the way through.
People stick with the idea of stilted napa huts like fly to the paper. Absorbing setting. Attractive. And Tte short, half-circle fortification, scarcely barring the village from outside threat, always seems quite pitiful to players and thus the presence of a potential piracy/plundering situation grows heavy as far as in-game concern. Which Is very much an in-game concern to the proximal NPCs.
"Hey, these people seem sweet and scared. Totally fucked of course, unless we maybe intervene, but how so and for how long?"
But I'm getting ahead of myself because you might not know anything about "Tikbalang".
Here's what: The adventure is very slight in terms of page count and overall content. The fact that the village's fortification is so useless carries an obligation for protection that no coin purse would have invited. With Kowolski is the small things, an intelligent arrangement of minimal content creating maximal tension. For the descriptive and contained environment, although short, becomes a mire of curiosity for players.
Tropical/coastal/strange/dependent. We Dig. This village makes players feel needed before meeting anyone.
Note: Make pirates either scary or cool or both when running a coastal isle type game. Preferably before Tikbalang is introduced. Thieves in the day. Senseless but for the acquisition of booty. The village should be an obvious victim, just a matter of time.
Overall, it's an exercise in social interaction 'As' adventure, buried beneath the premise of a mythical violence, a là the supposed existence of a Tikbalang, who is ostensibly causing havoc within the humble beach community presented (buy the pdf for a full description).
The big notes to be considered, according to the content found within the adventure, are: Notably, claims of inter-species rape and potential impregnation. Infidelity and the threat of domestic retribution via banishment or physical abuse (punishment/murder/etc.). Corrupt and fleeing village leadership, resulting in the community's detriment. Hysteria/Folie á deux. Social Lies. The death of a small culture.
Kowolski informs the potential referee that they ought be considerate of the players feelings regarding some of the aforementioned content. So, naturally, the first time I ran this thing was in a San Francisco hotel without AC, character sheets made from hotel notepad paper. And my players were/are both heavily invested advocates and volunteers of anti-sex-trafficking and anti-rape-culture campaigns.
By God, they were chasing that Tikbalang through the forest all night. The fucking bastard.
Me: "From yer roll.. It looks like you might've just missed it. Or this was made by something else entirely. Give me an intelligence check (to the other). Yeah, looks like maybe a javelina was nesting or something. You don't know Exactly."
Them: "Well, we're going in circles, regardless. The middle-aged guy back at the beach said that they caught some activity to the west of the village.. I think."
"Remember us talking to that one kinda spastic girl? She was behaving a little odd."
"Are you saying that she lied about being raped?"
"No. Just thinking, maybe we should investigate more in the village. Or we can just keep checking trails."
"Well, if we're checking out that cave.. which I wanted to, then maybe we should bring a couple villagers? The militia."
"Good idea."
Oh, really now?
Tikbalang plays like a few loose pages falling out of a Call of Cthulhu adventure. It's a caper with a mild social underbelly, pirates nearby and the possibility of an abysmal creature trying to forcefully impregnate village women. But unless the whole 'issue' at hand is approached with sword sheathed and ears unclogged, I'm afraid your players will end up looking pretty foolish. Which is fun, because the more they search in futility then the more weighty the revelation becomes.
No one writes adventures like this. Something totally emotive yet basically empty. Even CoC wants you insane or dead by its conclusion. This publication wants you to simply handle a civil issue without knowing about said issue. You probably won't die or even get hurt, sans the nearby pirate situation and the party's possible obligation to visit them.
Pretty much though, You just deal with people being shady assholes who have a desperate need to save face. That's the adventure. That's the fucking monster - Deceit.
It's like the whole thing was built around a couple of village drama table rolls, without giving the PCs an outlet for what they're good at. i.e. killing shit/getting treasure/getting on. No site-specific random encounters. If you need it, provide it.
Note: make all random encounters at least somewhat allude to the Tikbalang through paranoiac searches. Sure it might simply be an infant mud spider spinning mud webs for the evening but.. Is it a baby mid-spider? Or is it the Tikbalang?
And not that it should be exploited, and I know Zzarchov warns consideration but the adventure works best when people actually care about other people getting raped by a descriptively horrible beast. Care about the state of others relationships and the well-being of a cultural collective psyche. Which means you have to be extra considerate but a little risky if you want to maximize its full potential of affect.
I've always assumed the content would get trampled by hamfisted decision making but it hasn't, yet. The content's claims of rape ensure that most will heed the call for assistance, which is crazy great to watch happen. I've never seen so many players wander such a limited section of map for so long with no real, excellent reward besides some gold and a sense of resolve.
Though, it's most likely they'll receive neither and eventually just leave to kill pirates like its daily cathartic activity.
Buy below.
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