An opportunity arose for a one-off session so we chose Trophy Dark, winner of an ENNIE Award in 2023. A rather experimental game described as "tragic fantasy", where the player characters are expected to die by the end in the course of their woebegone quest, killed by a supernatural malice or each other.
We generated random characters using the tables provided and I picked out the incursion (aka adventure) from the book called Shifting Sands, set in a haunted desert with the theme, "time". It put the focus almost solely on the player characters with no distractions and I thought would showcase the game best.
Here's an official playthrough from the author and his group on YouTube:
Trophy Dark: Shifting Sands
I hoved quite close to this style of play on the day, and our cast of characters was colourful.
Nima
Grounded sailor who is now the party's naturalist and seeks the resting place of the Morning Knight. Used ritualistic Yoke
Played by pchan
Rasei
Usurped royal who is now the party's sellsword and must acquire the Gleaming Cache. Used ritualistic Carve
Played by Bigby
Summer (rolled Lora)
Devoted widow who is now the party's oracle and must commission a glorious statue of her deity. Used ritualistic Unravel
Played by slill
Valen
Emboldened ratcatcher who is now the party's chain and must earn the respect of the Governor of Fort Duhrin. Used ritualistic Siphon
Played by Rossi720
As we played the game took on a classic The Mummy vibe, with faces in sandstorms and undead armies rising from the sands. In the end I even threw in a buried pyramid and literal mummy lord, smitten by Summer and taking on the visage of her deceased husband.
Those two met, merged and ascended to a higher plane, whilst Rasei eagerly sat upon the mummy lord's jewelled throne. But the ancient powers of the pyramid could belong to only one. Rasei and Valen fought with their ritual magic, Valen winning and sucking the juices from Rasei's body. Rasei's face was permantly moulded into throne and Nima chose to flee into the desert, perhaps emerging in an earlier age and becoming the Morning Knight herself.
Trophy Dark
-
nemarsde
- Regular
- Posts: 401
- Joined: 20 Jul 2007, 20:04
- Location: UK
- Contact:
-
nemarsde
- Regular
- Posts: 401
- Joined: 20 Jul 2007, 20:04
- Location: UK
- Contact:
Verdict
On the day, this game didn't work for us but was it the game's fault?
Trophy Dark expects you to come out of the gates flat-out, role-playing scenes of intense creativity and character development. That might be unrealistic for some groups and probably was for ours. Like thoroughbred racehorses we need a lot of warming up!
Although our group can create material at the drop of a hat, role-playing with each other is usually something we have to work harder at. Often we will fall back on procedural scenes and problem-solving as a rest from role-play. We struggled to build a shared story around the characters, leaving us a little high and dry.
On our best day, I think Trophy Dark would be exhausting (though possibly rewarding) for us. And in hindsight a different incursion with more NPCs and puzzles like Gift of the Sea would've been a safer bet for our group.
Alas we won't be running out to play Trophy Dark again. But our group is fearless when it comes to trying new games, so Trophy Dark won't put us off trying experimental games in future. I recommend you try it too.
Trophy Dark expects you to come out of the gates flat-out, role-playing scenes of intense creativity and character development. That might be unrealistic for some groups and probably was for ours. Like thoroughbred racehorses we need a lot of warming up!
Although our group can create material at the drop of a hat, role-playing with each other is usually something we have to work harder at. Often we will fall back on procedural scenes and problem-solving as a rest from role-play. We struggled to build a shared story around the characters, leaving us a little high and dry.
On our best day, I think Trophy Dark would be exhausting (though possibly rewarding) for us. And in hindsight a different incursion with more NPCs and puzzles like Gift of the Sea would've been a safer bet for our group.
Alas we won't be running out to play Trophy Dark again. But our group is fearless when it comes to trying new games, so Trophy Dark won't put us off trying experimental games in future. I recommend you try it too.