the tlc update!

hello panic enjoyers!

it's been over two years (!!!) since i released 5 AM Panic and a lot has changed since then. i've worked on quite a few cool projects across itch, my blog, and elsewhere, which has helped refine how i approach ttrpg writing a lot. when i made this module, i was completely clueless. innocent, even, like a newborn child or maybe a fresh baby deer. i wrote this in fuckin times new roman 12 like i was worried about how a professor would grade it. i wouldn't say i have that much more of a clue now, but i know enough to know that this module could really use some TLC. so, here it is!

the biggest reason i wanted to revisit my sweet child here was to replace the cover art. back when i wrote this, i wanted a decent cover image and had no idea how to make one, so i used AI to generate it. these days i reject generative AI, but this (plus a few other modules) have been putzing around my itch page like stains on my soul and i wanted to change that. i reached out to one of my fav artists in the scene (especially in the Odd-like sphere), JFUR, and asked about commissioning a new cover image. she, extremely kindly, offered to do it for free. i'm floored by the result and i hope you are too!

outside of that, i also touched up the layout and a few other things. reading back through this several years later made me feel so tender. it's wordy, self-indulgent, and anxious, but also still very true to myself. maybe most importantly, it's true to a version of myself that listened to Panico a las 5am for the first time on an early spring walk and was so bowled over i nearly hyperventilated in front of a bodega. i hope i'll always be moved by art so deeply.

the full changelog:

• replaced cover image (thanks again JFUR!)
• re-did layout across the board (new fonts, restructured how areas are presented, added actual headers seriously what was i thinking making all the headers 12pt oh my God)
• added printable black n white version
• licensed all adventure text under CC BY 4.0
• i tried not to mess with the original text too heavily bc that road just leads to scrapping it and rewriting from scratch. i did make a few little changes here and there though. as a treat.