Adventures Dark and Deep™
“What if?”
Some of the most intriguing works of fiction have stemmed from those two simple words. What if Hitler had won World War 2? What if the Roman Empire had never fallen? What if John F. Kennedy had never been assassinated?
Adventures Dark and Deep™ represents just such a “what if” scenario, if perhaps one with less weighty historical consequences. What if Gary Gygax had not left TSR in 1985, and had been allowed to continue developing the world’s most famous fantasy role-playing game?
We will, unfortunately, never know the answer to that question, because he did leave TSR in that year, and others took over the job of designing the second (and subsequent) versions of the game. After that unfortunate episode, he was understandably reluctant to give any advice on how he would have carried the game forward.
However, he did leave behind hints as to the direction he would have taken the game. New character classes. Streamlined combat. New spells and magic items. Consolidated and re-worked monsters. We don’t have many specifics, but we do have a fair number of “big picture” ideas. All of these have been taken as inspiration for Adventures Dark and Deep™.
Bear in mind that we have no special insight into Gygax’s mind on this subject other than what he himself wrote publicly, and certainly the game should not be taken as having any sort of official stamp, either from his estate or the corporations that have taken the game in new directions. All that has been done is to collect the hints he did leave, use them as inspiration, and take off in a wholly different direction than that which happened “officially”.
Adventures Dark and Deep™ is not a “retro-clone”. It does not set out to re-create a particular set of rules from decades past, as do some other games (not that there’s anything amiss in doing so!). Rather, it is a new creation, unique unto itself, and does not attempt to recreate any set of rules that has gone before.
The Adventures Dark and Deep™ rules, supplements, and adventures are almost entirely compatible with other games that set out to re-create either the original or Advanced versions of the world’s most popular role-playing game.
COMING SOON!
- Adventures Dark and Deep™ Game Masters Toolkit. Additional rules to help run non-player characters, adjudicate natural and man-made hazards, set up vast treasure hoards, and reward your players with powerful magical items. Due June 2013.
- Adventures Dark and Deep™ Bestiary. Over 900 monsters, demons, humanoids, and other creatures to imperil your players, plus rules for creating your own. Due December 2013.
NOW AVAILABLE through our online store!
- Adventures Dark and Deep™ Players Manual: Create characters, run combats, and cast spells. Includes all-new character classes such as the mountebank and the savant. Everything you need if you’re a player of the game.
- A Curious Volume of Forgotten Lore. A supplement designed for use with any old school rules, allowing you to add new classes, spells, an alternate combat system, and much more!
- Darker Paths 1: The Necromancer. An optional character class featuring over 75 unique spells, the Necromancer is a master of death and the undead.
- Darker Paths 2: The Witch. An optional character class featuring approximately 50 new spells, the Witch is a malevolent figure who lives for spite and evil.
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