How To Play Trophy Dark, by Jesse Ross Buy Trophy Dark: trophyrpg.com/ Come join my Patreon: patreon.com/thebadspotcast Come find me on Twitter: @thebadspotcast
Its actually so awesome that you just uploaded this! Saw someone talking about this on twitter and had to check it out, been getting into more and more non-trad indie TTRPGs lately and this is definitely up my alley
In summary: Trophy Dark is a very narrative, psychological "tragic horror" about desperate characters who lose themselves in cursed space, trying at all costs to gain wealth, power, and might, as an answer to their desperate need. It's a very "storytelling game" based on cooperatively telling a tragic story in a dark fantasy / dark fairy tale setting. Trophy Gold emulates dungeon exploration known from OSRs in a story game format. It is in the same anti-canonical world as Trophy Dark (check out Trophy Loom, a setting book! remembering that it's still anti-canon), and it also has a set of similar mechanics (Risk Roll, Rituals, Ruin, etc.). However, Gold is very game-oriented (vs Dark being story-oriented) - structurally it's about exploring a treasure-filled locations, squeezing as much gold out of it as possible, avoiding combat and danger, and escaping from the location at the last tactically sensible moment, all dressed up in a lot of cool color and themes offered by the modules. In Gold, you inherently have a chance to survive the expedition and return to the city with the treasures you've collected, first you must return with the gold to pay off your debt (cost of living in the city, maintaining a household, renting weapons and armor) and if you manage, to save gold towards realizing your big, desperate goal. From my perspective, these are two dramatically different games, despite a lot of similarities at first glance (character cards look similar, both games have Risk Roll, Help Roll, Contest Roll, it's really the same world and the same color). I highly recommend both!
I didn’t really want to get into it, because this video was about Trophy Dark and I wanted to keep it clean and clear, but looks like you got an excellent answer!
Fantastic that this wonderful game is finally getting the exposure it deserves on such a distinguished channel!
Thank you so much for saying so, I love this game!
Makes me think of the Blair Witch Project, but set in a dark fantasy world and the players are treasure hunters. I'd love to give it a try someday
I had the same Blair Witch thought. Some of Laird Barron’s stories hit that kind of vibe, too.
The rulebook actually states Blair Witch as an influence
Absolutely. And also:
The VVitch
Silt Verses
Green Knight
Old Gods of Appalachia
Midsommar
(All of this is listed in game's inspirations!)
Deffo an influence!
Some great influences!
Its actually so awesome that you just uploaded this! Saw someone talking about this on twitter and had to check it out, been getting into more and more non-trad indie TTRPGs lately and this is definitely up my alley
Perfect timing!
I really love your channel but I usually listen while going to bed. Is there a plan to release the episodes in podcast form?
I have no plans to release in audio format, but there are plenty of ways to circumnavigate CZcams and listen audio only.
This sounds so good! Was recommended to look up this game because of it's similarities to Symbaroum.
It is exceptional!
do trophy gold please!
If and when I get round to actually playing it, I will!
Are you going to explain the differences between trophy dark and trophy gold?
In summary:
Trophy Dark is a very narrative, psychological "tragic horror" about desperate characters who lose themselves in cursed space, trying at all costs to gain wealth, power, and might, as an answer to their desperate need.
It's a very "storytelling game" based on cooperatively telling a tragic story in a dark fantasy / dark fairy tale setting.
Trophy Gold emulates dungeon exploration known from OSRs in a story game format. It is in the same anti-canonical world as Trophy Dark (check out Trophy Loom, a setting book! remembering that it's still anti-canon), and it also has a set of similar mechanics (Risk Roll, Rituals, Ruin, etc.).
However, Gold is very game-oriented (vs Dark being story-oriented) - structurally it's about exploring a treasure-filled locations, squeezing as much gold out of it as possible, avoiding combat and danger, and escaping from the location at the last tactically sensible moment, all dressed up in a lot of cool color and themes offered by the modules.
In Gold, you inherently have a chance to survive the expedition and return to the city with the treasures you've collected, first you must return with the gold to pay off your debt (cost of living in the city, maintaining a household, renting weapons and armor) and if you manage, to save gold towards realizing your big, desperate goal.
From my perspective, these are two dramatically different games, despite a lot of similarities at first glance (character cards look similar, both games have Risk Roll, Help Roll, Contest Roll, it's really the same world and the same color).
I highly recommend both!
Thank you for the explanation! @@rafaelcupiael
I didn’t really want to get into it, because this video was about Trophy Dark and I wanted to keep it clean and clear, but looks like you got an excellent answer!
Thank you for the summary!
And they are both one-shots, right?