Played on 22 Oct 2026

The Deepest Dark
A GM-less, oneshot TTRPG about dying in a cave
https://gejwatts.itch.io/the-deepest-dark

Characters

  • Reese, Mychologist

  • Georgie, Cartographer

  • William Connolly, Seismologist

  • Greg Grant, Palaeontogist

Session highlights

map of our cave

  • Stumbling upon the mysterious ancient temple early on, resetting our expectations on what we'd encounter in the cave

  • Reese's healing prompt lining up with the chamber of perfect darkness

  • William's devotion to processing readings from their portable seismograph

  • Our cinematic demise: Taking a pause and tending to scratches from the razor sharp crystals, chit chatting about the movies we watch and almost letting ourselves be known, before a flood broke through the walls and rapidly drowned us

Facilitating the game

  • Most of my prep was familiarizing myself with the game's mechanics. I was confused pretty early on because the play instructions start off by explaining the Long Rest mechanic, while I was still trying to work out the communal dice pool and why it'd trigger a Long Rest. I sought out this actual play and found the designer's explanation in context easier to grasp.

  • I thought the zine's layout was solid, and the accompanying illustrations evocative. Once I understood the gameplay, it was really easy to find information fast.

  • I also really appreciated the 'Introduction to Caving' section. Being able to quickly reference relevant descriptors and knowledge as you're trying to portray an expert in the field, was handy.

  • Since I was going to play the game virtually, I thought it'd be helpful to make a character keeper for tracking dice. It was worth the effort, I was referencing the sheet throughout the session. Part of the gameplay asks you to specify whose dice you're taking out of the pool so you can work that character into the narrative, and the character keeper made it so easy to figure out who had dice in the pool. It also tells you when it's time to take a Long Rest!

  • Lastly, the accompanying short story and invocation really set the tone for the game. I shared the short story with players beforehand, and played the invocation track at the start of our session. Don't skip it!