So, it’s been a few months since Fermentvm Nigrvm Dei Sepvlti was released! During that time, there’s been some mostly-favorable reviews posted:
The first appeared at Save vs. Player Agency:
Fermentum is an inspiring and substantial addition to the Lamentations of the Flame Princess product line-up, at over double the size of the largest of 2019’s offerings. It is at once something new and impressive from a new (to our hobby bookshelves anyway) and impressive author, and entirely at home thematically and aesthetically with the existing Lamentations of the Flame Princess range. I highly recommend it!
Next, a review appeared at Dreams in the Lich House:
If you can’t tell, I enjoyed the book a lot and look forward to running it. This is a great little horror-themed exploration and dungeon crawl, with escalating tension as the players hope to discover a resolution while facing rising infection and loss. The beer and brewing theme is fantastic, and I can imagine unnerving the players with Guinesses or stouts all around as we sit down to play this one (except maybe sodas for the kids). Cheers! Salut!
Along with a very positive comment about the physical book itself (“Mind blown”), there was also a pretty in-depth review over at Reddit, by TheMathKing1984:
I liked this adventure and consider it another worthy addition to the Lamentations of the Flame Princess pantheon of books.
Most recently, a review appeared at Get Real Roleplaying:
Final verdict: 8-9 out of 10. Well worth the price of admission. Would run it again. Even gave me a chance to brush up on my college Latin.
This was accompanied by a second posting containing transcriptions as much of the marginalia scribbles as the author could figure out. I’ve post the passages that were illegible there, for those who are curious, but definitely it contains spoilers so players should avoid that post. (I commented, providing some of the marginalia that the reviewer couldn’t figure out, too.)
Finally, Get Real Roleplaying also posted an actual play video to their Youtube channel, containing an online session running through the adventure:
Things go… horribly wrong, pretty much as intended. After spending so long with this adventure and its particular, individual mechanical oddities, it was really interesting to see how the mechanics worked for another group being run by a different GM.
(Trigger warning for cuckoldry-obsession, alien codpieces, magical suicide, and Things Going Terribly, Terribly Wrong.)
If you’re game for a beery body-horror OSR adventure, you can get a hardcopy from the publisher directly (either from the European webstore or the US webstore); if you prefer a PDF edition, DrivethruRPG’s got it.
UPDATE (16 October 2020):
Another review has been published, this time by Bryce Lynch, over at tenfootpole.org. It’s a little more critical than the others above:
I’d call this a middling effort. It has some highlighting to help call attention to things, but it too frequently used and (AC, highlighted?) and also is weird about it, highlighting weird choices when more effective ones are present in the same description. A little verbose, but the highlighting helps a lot to focus attention. It’s not BAD, per se, but it’s not overly GOOD either, given its inability to bring the fire and chaos to life. Which means its better than most crap being published.
Yowch! But opinions are opinions, and I honestly appreciate his taking the time to discuss our book. And hey, “better than most of the crap being published” ain’t bad for my first published work in the genre.
UPDATE (16 January 2021):
I didn’t notice until now, but a new review went up (bilingually, in English and in Spanish, presumably by the same person) back in November. The English version of the review was posted at the Mexican Dice blog, and here’s the conclusion that sums it up:
Although I don’t feel the purchase of Fermentum Nigrum Dei Sepulti is mandatory, the truth is that the module has everything necessary to generate a somewhat frenetic and exciting game experience, which can be better if you have the full cooperation of the players and a good reading of the whole module. This is not just another adventure, as it has its unexpected twists and that bizarre/loftp touch, but it lacks it. I like it, but it lacks more personality or interesting npc’s.
The Spanish-language version of the review is here, for those who prefer it. And I agree: you need your players on board with roleplaying the infection effects. I will not hazard a guess as to what the lacking “it” is although I will say I suspect I know what he means.
And… I still have not actually seen a print copy of the book, though I hope to soon.
UPDATE (15 June 2024):
A recent addition (from 2022), over at magickuser.wordpress.com:
… a highly recommended adventure if the referee is not afraid of a bit of hard work (studying the maps and their relationship with the territory).