Traverse Fantasy

Before I get going, check this: DISCLAIMER The author wrote this article out of her interest in this hobby, and also to synthesize this with her other interests in literary, mathematical, or political theory. Any criticism in this article was written in pursuit of that interest, and it is not intended as ammunition in factional disputes nor as a personal denouncement of the individuals whose works are being criticized. The author also has no interest in petty arguments on any topics discussed in this article. Are we good to go? Okay? Okay. Everything I write about is because it interests me, so all I ask is for some empathy and open-mindedness. Thank you! I wanted to dialogue with a blog post by Jared Sinclair, " 'Rules Elide' and its Consequences ", because it's popped up a little in conversations with friends. I've also seen it cited by Noora Rose to criticize Trophy on account of it being too abstract, even as far as to gloss over the fun of a dung...

My friend Liz from Underground Adventures just introduced me to Cthulhu Dark and, in doing so, kinda blew my mind. I've been raving about Trophy Gold , or Trophy in general, for a couple of months ( see my shared review on Bones of Contention with Alex and Ram —that we only just published because we're a bit behind). It turns out that Trophy Dark , the original rulebook in the series, was based off of a rules-light Lovecraftian horror game called Cthulhu Dark . Even better is that Cthulhu Dark seems easier to grasp than Trophy ! If you've played Trophy , you know that there are two main kinds of rolls you can make: risk rolls for when your character is... risking their safety or sanity, and hunt rolls for when your character is delving deeper into a mystery. Both start with 1 light die plus another light die if your character is skilled at the task; only for risk rolls, however, do you roll a "dark die" representing the potential risk of your character'...

I think I’ve played more Trophy: Gold this year than any other rulebook (look out for the upcoming Bones review!). However, for the most part, it’s not your typical Trophy . Three out of five times, I’ve been participating in Nova’s playtest for her excellent Bridewell adventure ( session 1 , session 2 , session 3 ; expect a gushing “review” for this as well!). Since Bridewell is written as a system-neutral text, playing through it using Trophy has served to almost “tour” the adventure without dealing with the typical rules and restrictions of old-school rulesets. Who doesn’t like a session without rolling dice? At the same time, to accommodate the more open or sandbox nature of her adventure, Nova has been employing Trophy with slightly different rules. This is because, on paper, Trophy begins and ends with the “incursion”—or the dungeon crawl. Characters exist in a void before being summoned into an incursion, with the hope to pay back their new debt and return treasure into ...