XEPHION - A Knave 2e Survival-Horror Adventure
A downloadable adventure
XEPHION is a Knave 2e survival-horror adventure made for characters at levels 3-4. Heavily inspired by films like Alien and the Metroid franchise it starts with the adventurers exploring a mysterious, remote location that they are eventually trapped in—with a rampaging and bloodthirsty monster on the loose.
The players are tasked with entering Castle Nixdorf and retrieving an heirloom blade alongside a secretive prince. Unfortunately, this blade has an ancient curse: a monster of great and terrible power trapped within its steel. Once unleashed the players find themselves trapped within a torturous underground complex built by the paranoid lineage that once ruled this abandoned land. All the while the creature goes through a rapid lifecycle, changing and gaining new abilities and powers in an attempt to kill the wielder of the blade.
Included in this adventure you'll find:
- a detailed map of Castle Nixdorf and the underground complex below.
- a breakdown of the Xephion, including stat blocks for each part of its life cycle.
- New items, including the cursed sword Aegyrzard, heirloom of the Nixdorf Lineage.
- Advice on how to run the adventure and help players uncover a macabre mystery at the heart of the derelict castle.
CREDITS:
Designed by Gerald Lane
Written by Gerald Lane and Andrew Rivera
Illustrations by Gerald Lane
Additional Art by:
- British Library
- Wikimedia Commons
XEPHION is an independent production of Knighthouse Co. and is not affiliated with Questing Beast LLC.
Download
Click download now to get access to the following files:
Development log
- Updated Version and Complete Edition on the way!63 days ago
Comments
Log in with itch.io to leave a comment.
The underlying philosophy of the monster is compelling. Its birth brought the instrument of its own destruction, and the instrument of its destruction births it. How great is that? The sword is also explicitly a symbolic phallus, with its 'stabbing' resulting in birth. Now that's good stuff right there.
Where the product falters is IMHO, is in the room descriptions. They are a little bland and do not convey the sense of death and decay the adventure is going for. Simple touches such as rust and tarnish on metals, seepage on walls, tattering of banners, the crunch of broken glass, etc. could elevate the writing, without which, the Referee has to do a bit of work to get the feel out of the adventure to the players.
The background info conveys a good sense of putting the reader in the right mood, but only the Referee has access to that.
A good adventure, with the potential of being great.
Wow, thank you so much for the amazing praise and constructive criticism. Couldn't agree more, these rooms need to be more descriptive to get the mood across and set the scene.
XEPHION was a jam submission and it was down to the wire so we had to be very bare bones with the writing but we are working on a Complete Edition where we will beef up the document as a whole, this note will definitely be taken into account during our revision process!
Glad I could help!
If you would humour me more, I would also suggest expanding on 'interactivity' in the rooms. Most pros consider a single interactable thing in a room a sign of amateur design.
Wishing your team success!