Deep Nightly Fathoms
A downloadable game
Deep Nightly Fathoms
Inside this zine you will find a game that will take you and your fellow players through the Kingdom of Night, a liminal space between life, dream and death, inspired—and illustrated—by the beautiful art of Gustave Doré.
Dive in to discover:
- One-on-one or two-on-one play with expansions for larger groups.
- Player characters who take a transformative journey over a land of sorrow.
- Rules for exploring the Kingdom of Night and confront the dangers that lurk inside.
- Tools to run a point-crawl exploration game, with an assortment of random tables to roll an adventure on the spot.
Let us traverse these Deep Nightly Fathoms.
Video Read-through by Cezar Capacle
Cezar was kind enough to do a complete read through as part of his Unzipping series. If you're curious about what's inside Deep Nightly Fathoms, give it a watch!
And of course, check out his YouTube channel for more indie games reviews.
Purchase
In order to download this game you must purchase it at or above the minimum price of $20 USD. You will get access to the following files:
Exclusive content
Support this game at or above a special price point to receive something exclusive.
Community Copies
As a South American creator I know that money can make the vast majority of games completely inaccessible to marginalized people.
During our ZineQuest campaign we promised that every backer would be paying forward for one extra community copy of the game. Thanks to them we have 179 community copies available for anyone low on budget, no judgment. If you can't afford Deep Nightly Fathoms, please claim one of these.
If you give it a read, don´t hesitate rating the game, commenting or even at me at @duamnNFR over Twitter.
Comments
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This zine is a surrealist game exploring the workings of dreams and their everchaning nature, and what they mean to different individuals.
As a disclaimer, I've only read through the rulebook, I haven't played this game yet (although I really want to).
Optimally designed to be played as a duet (one facilitator, or Dream Master in this game and one player character) the PC embarks on a journey through the dream realms, traveling deeper and deeper to the realm in search of their objective. If attained, the PC must make their way back to the land of the awake. It is clear this is not an easy journey, but the system for resolving actions is quite simple and yet interesting, changing character stats as they go deeper into the dream realms, encouraging players to think about *why* their character is changing as they go through their journey. My one complain about the resolution system is in how actions operate under a roll-under system while saves are a roll-over system. Something about the disparity feels a bit odd to me, but maybe it feels more natural in play.
The game gives guidance on playing with more than two players - when four or more players are present, the extra players each play a different demon, characters the main characters encounter in the dream realm. While this means the extra players won't be active in the whole duration of the game, I do like that it provides that option.
This game feels great for a one or two-shot. I expect the gameplay feels a lot like "Sandman" by Neil Gaiman, with a little bit of Dante's Inferno mixed in. I think I especially am excited to try it as a supplement for an existing campaign - Should a long-running campaign need a change of pace, a character or two could end up in the dream realm searching for something. Since this zine gives great guidance on how players may encounter different dream-like places and revelations about the world, this could be a great way for Game Masters to help players explore a campaign world in a completely novel way. Additionally, it provides bigger stakes for the survival of the dreamer - do they take great pains to get out of the dream realm with their objective (risking oblivion along the way) or do they prioritize survival, knowing there is a greater world out there that they still need to exist and interact with?
I highly recommend this game to anyone looking for a wonderfully designed game with mechanics that fit the narrative superbly well. It is fairly short (I read it in one evening) but easy to grasp and full of possibilities.
This game is part of the RPGLatAm Collection!