So roughly half a week ago I got my hands on the Dark Peaks: Deep Maw rulebook.
The system seemed very interesting to me, and I really enjoyed their concepts like the "Level Dice", "Risk Dice" and "Fate Dice Pool" which all come together to make the base system very minimalistic while still keeping the game from becoming a full on storygame and resembling something like PbtA.
Now a word of warning, the whole book could really do with someone checking for both spelling errors as well as making sure that the rules the author has sprinkled within the book are coherent and add up. In more than one instance did I find sentences with rogue words left in the middle of them like the author was writing one sentence, then changed their mind on how it should end and didn't realise they needed to erase one more word, or sentences that flat out make no sense although those were much more uncommon.
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| Also the cover is rad as hell |
And that's my super condensed mini-review of the system, now let's get into the play report!
For this session I only had two players with me, one of whose only experience with trpgs was watching few episodes of Critical Role (although this did not slow down or hamper the play in any way, guy caught on pretty fast).
We started the game with character creation which is really simple in Deep Maw, everyone starts with 1 in all of their attributes and then chooses a background which will give them an extra point to two attributes, one skill level with a weapon appropriate to their background as well as a weapon according to what weapon skill they got. After this you roll 2d6 to determine the motivation of your character which in further expeditions would be used to set personal goals for you to accomplish, as well as another 2d6 for a fear which will treat all your attribute and weapon skill scores halved on all your rolls in the presence of situations triggering that fear.
After getting the characters set up, I gave a basic rundown of the rules along with warning that I too was still in the process of wrapping my head around them so mistakes would be made (and we did in fact forget to use some rules)
Now onto the game proper!
The Maw's Foot
The adventure included in the quickstart rules is called Festival of Swords and it introduces the characters to the Maw, a mountain underneath which lays a monster only known as Dweller. Whenever a new Dweller makes it's home beneath the mountain, the other monsters start pouring out like from a chalice overflowing with evil and with nowhere to go they spill out to the surrounding countryside and terrorize the continent.
Whenever the rangers and professional adventurers living at Maw's Foot, a small town build into the side of the mountain, cannot handle all the monsters by themselves it is evident that a new Dweller has set up residence within the mountain and the Festival of Swords is held.
During this festival hundreds of people from all different backgrounds come together to fight against the horrors spilling out from underneat the mountain in an attempt to either cull their numbers or break deep into the depths of the mountain to slay the foul Dweller.
And like many others, our story began as two weary travellers with former background in sewing and tilling fields were lining up in the town square along with hundreds of other anxious newcomers for their turn to step into the equipment tent as the festival promises to arm all those attending.
Merriment, worried murmur and the odd shouts filled the air but faded slightly as our two would-be heroes stepped into the tent to get their equipment.
Borat of Honeyfield was handed a half-torn chain mail and a worn looking bronze spear with it's point bent, now only serving as a slightly longer quarterstaff. He also had a wooden sledgehammer he had brought with him to this place.
Zeno of Iguana Bay likewise ended up with a large flimsy looking wooden shield and a quarterstaff held together with generous amounts of glue and good faith. Other than the quarterstaff, the former seamer had a pair of shears with him.
Getting pushed out of the equipment tent by the line ever moving forwards with other attendants of the festival eager to get their promised equipment, the two now found themselves slowly approaching an older man with white stubble and heavy sleepless rings underneath his eyes shouting orders on top of a wooden box that he was using as a makeshift stand. A small group of people would form in front of him and he'd discuss something with them in a less shouty voice, gesture either to one of his sides or the large gate behind him leading into the mountain and the group would slowly start heading towards where he had pointed.
When it came turn for Borat and Zeno to step in front of this man, he assesed them as somebodies who might be able to help him and told he'd even pay them. See, his nephew -or rather an orphan boy he had picked up- had also head into one of the many caves dotting this mountain. While this old man would have liked to go after him himself, he had a duty here to instruct the people attending the festival and had been looking for any individuals seeming capable of looking for his boy Yui.
The party agreed to help him, but as they did a group of four people who in their previous lives might've been described as thugs or bandits elbowed their way into the conversation, pushing Borat and Zeno out of the way as the largest of the four loudly explaimed that Pilon of Oxfall would gladly accept this task of retrieving poor Yui and wouldn't even need any advance payment. The old man seemed rather annoyed by this sudden butting in, but Pilon went on about how these two who had never even seen comabat would be too cowardly and not up to the task. Some remarks were exchanged and Pilon ended up making it a race between the two groups on who would save the missing nephew and thus did the two goups head off into the direction of one of the many entrances into the depths of the Maw that Yui had allegedly been seen entering.
Stopping short of the indicated stone entrance, Pilon's group that the party had been following from distance stopped for a moment to discuss something among themselves.
Zeno crept a bit closer to them and managed to overhear bits of their conversation. Something about one of them knowing another way into what should be the same part of the dungeon.
Pilon them prompted Borat and Zeno to step closer and in a berating manner told them his group would graciously let them use the front entrance while he and his companions would enter from another entrance that required some climbing to access.
And with that Pilon of Oxfall and his thugs disappeared behind a bend in this path set on the steep mountainside and our adventurers-in-the-making were left advancing into the corridor leading into the mountain. Atleast the organisers of the festival had left a barrel full of bundles of torches there at the entrance and lit up some torches leading in...
Into the dungeon
Some ways into the mountain, the corridor split up in a T-junction with a body laying in the middle of it. From the left the party could hear this occasional cackling noise and judging by the bloody trail left on the ground it was the direction the man laying dead on the floor had come from.
They promtly searched the body, finding a rusted scimitar but naught else of use and decided to head right, away from whatever had caused the several puncture wounds on this man.
Heading right they came up on a large room filled with barrels and crates strewn about as well as the remains of a small stone bridge. The bridge had collapsed in the segments with less supporting structure and those gaps had been covered with rickety wooden platforms. From the center point of the bridge it extended both forwards into darkness as well as turned left with another wooden platform laid atop a gap to make it walkable.
The two ventured further towards the bridge to get a better look at the chasm it was built over as well as the large rumbling sound below that they were thinking must've been the river they saw flowing out of the mountain when first entering Maw's Foot, when suddenly three shadowy figures stood up at the middle section of the bridge. A torch was lit by one of these shapes, revealing them to be some sort of human-bodied and ox-headed creatures with hooved feet and clad in rags.
Largest of the creatures stood there watching Borat and Zeno, heaving heavy breaths from it's bull face and brandishing a large metal shield and a cleaver of some sorts while the other two skinnier looking creatures with similar ox-like features started to gather up javelins that were resting against the railings of the bridge.
What followed was few frantic moments of finding cover, taking a mostly intact table to use as large mobile cover, trying to communicate with these creatures they had now deiced to be minoutaurs and getting nothing but a furious mooing in response, Zeno taking a javelin to his leg, Borat being stabbed in the chest by a javelin that broke through the table, a lot more missed javelins, an attempt to roll a burning barrel over the makeshift wooden platform to the middle of the bridge that the minoutaur creatures were still staying at but it getting stopped and kicked down into the darkness by the large one in the front.
By this point the more frail looking creatures had run out of javelins and were just shifting behind the larger one which was lowering it's head and preparing to attempt to gorge it's agressors.
Just a second after Borat and Zeno decided to turn tail and run they heard the table they had been holding up splinter behind them as the sound of stampeding hooves approached them at an alarming pace. Not wanting to get run over, they decided to both split and turn sharply to left and right in order to not get ran over by an angry bull-headed muscled freak of nature.
The creature's charge came to a halt as it used it's momentum for a wild swing aimed at Borat that managed to leave a long bloody streak across his back. As Borat attempted to retaliate the creature brough up it's other hand behind it's sword, and Borat's swing collided with the worn metal of the minotaur's shield. This however meant that Zeno was able to slip behind the creature and sink his shears into it's back, finishing it off.
Now standing bloodied in front of the corpse of this creature they had decided on being a minotaur, the party heard the clattering of hooves on stone floor disappearing somewhere to the north and looking back to the bridge the smaller minotaurs were nowhere to be found.
What followed was bit more exploration during which they found what had likely been used as a storage room either by these minotaur creatures or someone before them and looted six more javelins on top of those that they managed to salvage from the earlier fight. Borat had also picked up the shield wielded by the minotaur the two managed to defeat.
They found another way heading towards where they had first heard the cackling noises, deciding yet again to not go that way and instead follow the way the smaller minotaurs had retreated, which meant a jump over a large cap into what seemed like a pitch black room.
Burning two of their fate dices brough them to two dice left but ensued a safe crossing of the gap and lighting a torch Borat and Zeno found themselves in what was an empty room with few more javelins scattered about, likely as replenishments for the group posted on the bridge that thay had disperesed.
Further into the darkness
Moving on, another corridor leaves the room and turns to the left where they see this loooong dimly lit chamber. All kinds of animal and more humanoid carcassed hanging from hooked chains, blood everywhere and another of these minotaur creatures hunched over one of it's kin laying atop a raised stone slab. Further in the darkness they can make out two scrawnier shapes at the end of the room.
While Borat and Zeno discuss how to proceed there's suddenly a loud crashing sound and the slap of bare feet on stone floor as four shapes just smaller than your average human dash into the room from somewhere at the back, surround one of the two shapes hanging by the back wall and impaling it with spears. The minotaur hunched over on the stone slab in the middle of the room snaps towards these smaller shapes and prepares to charge while the one smaller minotaur left at the back of the room with it's assailants tries to hit them but fails to land a blow.
Decisions have to be made, and our duo decides to atleast temporarily fight alongside the minotaurs to expel this new unknown threat, charging in and throwing their many javelins which manage to hit two of the smaller humanoid shapes that had burst into the chamber and downing them.
Following their attack the minotaur charged into the fray but it's weapon found no target as these short pale-skinned humanoids with no noses and eyes like vertical slits speared the remaining scrawnier minotaur full of holes while now starting to slowly advance backwards and attempting to keep the party and the remaining minotaur at bay.
By now the party is at a distance where they can both charge into the rank of these smaller pale creatures they've named ghouls and Borat does exactly that while brandishing the large wooden mallet he had arrived to Maw's Foot with in two hands, charging in and obliterating the jaw of one of these ghouls while the minotaur finishes off the other one that Zeno couldn't find the opporturnity to get a strike on.
The party now intends to stop the violence as they are left alone with the one lone minotaur, but this creature had only seem something dashing right next to it from the corner of it's eye and is still in full combat mode, thus leaving Borat with a large bleeding gush across his cheek as it quickly turns to slash him without much aim in it's strike.
Seeing as the violence didn't end, Borat distracts the minotaur enough for Zeno to get a critical strike on it, driving his shears into the creature's flank is several quick stabs and it collapses to the floor.
End of combat, three fate dice left and both Borat and Zeno needing to burn fate dice on every hit they receive lest they risk dying.
Now that the action has settled Zeno has amassed enough experience points to increase his archery skill by one to have easier time hitting with the javelins while Borat has divided them across more weapon skills and has thus not improved in any yet, and the two of them check on the minotaur laying on the stone slab only to come to the conclusion that the slab has once been used as a table and the minotaur was likely being treated for the large laceration wound on it's chest.
Deciding to leave the minotaur to it's fate the two of them head to the break in the wall leading to a cramped and dark tunnel that these ghouls had burst out from.
Bit further into the tunnel they come across a fork in the tunnel as it turns west while another way continues south. They also notice one more of these pale humanoids covering on the floor.
As soon as it notices the light of their torches the creature scampers backwards, motioning something that Borat and Zeno interpret as "be silent". The duo stops to listen for a moment to figure out why this creature is acting so frightened and apart from the slow crackling of their torches they hear a faint skittering sound coming from somewhere on the ceiling of this tunnel towards south, thus deciding to step over the ghoul covering on the ground and head towards west. As soon as they pass the creature they again hear the slapping of bare foot against stone as it hurries away.
Reunion with Pilon
The tunnel heading west worms it's way slowly upwards untill a bright light shines at the end of it, and beyond the light they hear the familiar bombastic and overly-confident voice of Pilon of Oxfall barking out something that they can't quite make out.
Not wanting to repeat the incident with the minotaur in making Pilon assume they are hostiles, Zeno steps into the light while calling out to the thug and now properly sees the situation he's walking into.
The room is another part of a dungeon, littered with fresh corpses of ghouls of seemingly every age from child to elderly with some burning in campfires surrounded by cooking utensils, and at the back end of the room stands Pilon with his sword pointed towards a young man covering on the ground.
A short argument bursts out as Zeno is shortly followed by Borat, and Pilon expresses how they should just back off as he was the first one to find the boy and will hand him over to the old man himself. Borat and Zeno are curious about the fate of Pilon's other party members which he tells have been cut down by these savages save for one of his men who they notice hanging back and sticking to a corner of the room. Further pleas to let the boy go and suggestions on how to handle the situation devolve into Pilon claiming that if it is not he who brings in the boy then none will!
Borat and Zeno spot a rope hanging from a hole in the ceiling which must've been the other way that Pilon had mentioned his group was going to be using, and deciding that it's better if they let him hand over the boy, our duo makes a dash for the rope. Before Pilon or his thug manage to catch them they're gone and have reeled up the rope with them followed by an obscene amount of threats and curses from the room below.
Taking a moment to asses their options, they decide to lower down the rope again and dash further into wherever Pilon must have come from.
They eventually find somewhere to hide and decide to wait for Pilon and the boy to pass them to make sure they get out safely before leaving the place themselves.
Some thirty or so minutes have passed when they see Pilon limp past them, bloodied and covered with wounds, he is holding his left arm that's dangling along with his hobbled steps and the boy is nowhere to be seen.
Now worried, both Borat and Zeno step out from where they are hiding and Pilon demonstrates just how bad of a shape he's in as he tried to turn on his heels to point a sword at them but barely manages it with even half the pride and bombast he's been acting with before.
Asking for an explanation as to what has happened and where they boy is, Pilon tells them that he and his comrade were attacked by these degenerate savages shortly after the PCs left. He watched his remaining comrade get chopped into pieces in front of his eyes and had to fight his way back up just barely escaping. The boy he has no idea what these cannibals might've done with, but he swears that Pilon of Oxfall will have his revenge on these dim-witted troglodytes before turning back towards the way he was going and disappearing behind another turn of the corridor.
Finding the boy
The party decides to go back to where they last saw the boy but all they find is that some of the bodies of the dead ghouls are missing and there's even more fresh blood strewn about the room with Yui, the boy they were set out to find, nowhere in the room.
Very obvious dragging marks on the floor made in all this blood point back towards the tunnel that the PCs had first entered this room from.
Following the drag marks in the cramped tunnel, they arrive back at the intersection where it is evident that whatever made this trail has gone south towards the skittering sound.
Zeno decides to go grab one of the animal carcasses hanging from the long chamber this tunnel connects to before proceeding any more south in this tunnel in hopes that if there really is something in there and it is agressive they might be able to distract it with food, and so the two continue down the tunnel.
A moment later the tunnel has another small intersection that ends up in stone wall while the dragmarks continue deeper in towards the slowly downwards sloping path, but the PCs decide to stop for a moment to examine the stone wall.
Poking at it with one of their many javelins, the stones seem rather loose and Zeno pushes one of them in. What they hear is stone falling on stone followed shortly by the same cackling noise they had heard twice before already, and just like twice before they decide to leave whatever is making the noise well alone and to continue on the tracks they were following.
Having passed any of the skittering sounds in the tunnel they now advance downwards in ever steeper tunnel untill arriving at what appears to be an old mineshaft. With the light of their torches they do not see the bottom of it, but do decide that they should head down there as there is a ladder built into the supporting beams of the shaft.
And that is where our first session ended.
Afterword
Boy did it feel botched on my end but I'm glad both of the players enjoyed the experience. The biggest issue with the system was how do the fears and ambitions play into it, and that's one of the rules that I totally forgot to use in play along with the rule of different weapon types giving bonuses when fighting against specific types of other weapons but I hope to adress this in the next session.
Towards the end this quickstart adventure is supposed to end in the players facing off against Pilon and more of these creatures the game calls Dusklings bursting into the final room through a door and then leaving the dungeon afterwards to return the boy, but since they wanted to go up the way that Pilon and his gang had come into the room from I decided that the thugs would get overwhelmed and only Pilon would make it out because I think he makes for an excellent re-occuring non-monster adversary.
Likewise the soutwards tunnel is supposed to end at the stone wall but since I cut the door that these dusklings would normally burst into the room from I decided that they instead have more tunnels leading deeper into the mountain so I'll now be designing another dungeon where the creatures have retreated to since my players wanted to continue their search! \o/
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