Trophy Dark

If you’d’ve told me that I’d be including a dark medieval fantasy game on this list, I’d have asked you for a Deception Check. DC like 40. It’s far too often that dark fantasy games are miserable for no good reason, other than to satisfy your average edgelord player or GM that wants to just make everyone uncomfortable.

And then I read Trophy Dark and holy shit. I immediately pinged one of my gaming groups on Discord to ask about playing this, because this game looks like an absolute delight. Forget the Dark Souls TTRPG, this is where to go if you want a crushing, moody, dark fantasy experience. Its premise of a thematically dark and heavy setting where your characters are very likely to end up lost in the forest forever, or dead, is placed front and center. The game begs you to make the world “haunted and hungry,” with “dangerous and tragic” stories as the main course. It also centers the essential role of safety tools and open communication between all players; it wants to be the darkest and most intense game you have, but it doesn’t want you upsetting yourself or players.

This book serves as a game in its own right, and can become a part of other suitable games if you’d wish. It can be a chapter in a D&D adventure or, as the book so seductively suggests, a flashback for the party. Ugh, the possibilities!

Game sessions work around “Incursions.” It’s a nice, tight focus that takes you away from the burden of having to build an all-caps WORLD and CAMPAIGN, and sends your party into the heart of “a haunted forest that doesn’t want [you] there,” to return with something worth the trip into madness and terror. Each Incursion is filled with Alighieri-esque “Rings,” each with their own dark and twisted challenge.

All you need are some d6s and a willingness to brave the heart of a defiantly protective forest, and you’re set for a great evening. Your characters will probably die. But that’s okay!