What Is It That Lies Beyond The Immenseness of the Dark?
A phrase that evokes thought and a sense of mystery. It suggests the exploration of the unknown, the uncharted territories that exist beyond the darkness or the limits of our understanding. When I first read this my mind for some reason went to an ocean, dark water stretching beneath your kicking legs…untold creatures swimming where you can’t see…but enough of that, it is also the title of a new indie TTRPG that is currently live on Crowdfundr!
It was created by Tomas Gimenez Rioja, an Argentine game designer that has published several games such as Guns Blazing, Under the Seas of Vodari, and Stuck and Wretched. As well as over a hundred articles on various aspects of ttrpgs on Tribality and the Gnome Stew.
So back to the game, “What lies amongst the Immensess of the Dark,” first off such as long name, but it was inspired by a thought that Tomas had churning in his head and the phrase just stuck. It’s actually the phrase you are meant to chant at the beginning of gameplay. Reminds me of that weird thing my friends and I used to do at sleepovers. “Light as a feather, stiff as a board.”
After the chant the player with the deck reveals the top card (this is the player that last heard of a paranormal or urban legend), you then flip a coin and read aloud the question it corresponds to. The player with the deck can then choose to accept the answer or not and another coin is flipped by the player with the deck and the player answering has to try and catch the coin in midair.
This continues until the FINAL CARD is drawn, this is a name and not the final card in the deck. At this point the monster attacks. Can it be defeated? How does society change? You go around the group and spin your story.
It’s a prompted storytelling card game, no character sheets, no builds. Just pure collaborative storytelling. There aren’t even rules to explain, you can literally just pick this up and go. “What lies amongst the Immensess of the Dark,” suggests playing this game at a location that you’ve seen that may have brought a chill to your spine, someplace mysterious, like a parking garage at night, an abandoned house, of course being safe! But you can also bring that ambience to your home with some candles and a dark playlist.
For me this was a perfect campfire game on my recent camping trip. I played it with just one other person on a weekday camp out. We turned off all our lanterns and sat on opposite sides of the fire, not looking at each other as we described our Horror in hushed tones. We started with the question, “Where was the horror first seen?” Of course we had to put it in the Appalachian woods around us. Every 6 years there would be a string of victims, locals had it mapped out going as far back as records went for the area.
“Which of the 5 senses does the Horror lack and why?” Since central and southern Appalachia is known for its caves, our Horror was blind, the place where it’s eyes should be are completely smooth. I know using all the tropes, but it was still terrifying. It only struck out night and needed to feed every 6 years, usually catching large mammals, but hikers and and campers were a favorite. That warm blood, fat, muscle…a delicacy.
The first ability card, we picked neuromasts. Special organs run along its body and allow it to seek its prey through vibrations.
We continued drawing cards and describing our horror. Every rustle of a squirrel in the dead leaves made us jump, even the pop of the fire made us antsy.
I drew the FINAL CARD and was really mean, I decided to suddenly to shout that our Horror was attacking and scared the shit out of my partner.
The game lasted about an hour for us, gameplay was probably a lot quicker since it was just the two of us. But it was amazing and I immediately wanted to figure out a way to integrate this into a TTRPG session where the players create the monster in session 0.
I like that every game is different. The catching of the coin mechanic didn’t really work with how we were set up, so we pretty much took that aspect out. But I feel like it would be really fun in a group of friends, but I wonder if it would distract from the ambience?
I also think adding in wild cards would be fun where the card dealer or player could add in their own unique ability or lore to the Horror.
All in all this is a perfect pick up and play game with the right group. It’s amazing for collaborative storytelling and the only limitations are your own imagination.
I received no payment for this review, just a okay test to look over.
Keep in touch with everything Tomas is working on via Twitter!