As dawn approaches, darkness engulfs the sky, leaving only the void behind. That’s when it comes. The Horror makes its move, only this time we are ready. The sound of its dragging chains can be heard screeching from three blocks away. Its long, sharp, hairy tongue drools as it approaches. We know its story, its tale. Let’s hope we get to live long enough to see the next sunrise.
What Is It That Lies Beyond The Immenseness of the Dark? is a collaborative storytelling card game for 2 or more players in which you use cards and a coin to create a Horror inhabiting the area you are playing in in the real world. A serial killer, swarm of monsters, master manipulator, or eldritch creature, as well as its myth or urban legend, will come to life in 30 mins - 1.5 hours. The game materials are a poker size deck of 22 cards (17 prompt cards, one X-Card, and 4 inspiring picture cards).
Location-based
Location-basedThe game encourages the players to find a mysterious or eerie place to play in, such as the nearby park with the dead tree struck by lightning, the spooky abandoned manor everyone in town talks about, or near the endless sea in the coastline. The location you play in influences your choices during the creation of the Horror as you take inspiration from your surroundings when answering the prompts that shape the entity.
Designed with Portability in Mind
Since this game is intended to be played outside, it relies on just the deck of cards and two other things everyone usually has at hand: a coin and a cellphone. This allows the players to easily bring the game to exotic locations, rooftop parties with friends, a campfire, your own attic, or anywhere you can think of.
Easy to play
The game is played by repeating 5 steps until the game ends:
- Chanting. All players chant together, “What is it that lies beyond the immenseness of the dark?”. Try to coordinate as much as you possibly can.
- The player with the deck reveals the top card.
- Flip a coin and choose your question. Flip the coin and read aloud the question on the card that corresponds to the coin result. Answer it yourself or brainstorm a response with the other players. The player with the deck has final say.
- Discard the card.
- Pass the deck and coin to the next player.
Solo Play
The game was designed to be played in a group, but after talking with several people and trying it out myself, I've come to find that one can definitely play it solo, getting fantastic results out of it.
Available in Spanish!
As a native Spanish speaker, I want my game to reach as many people as possible. While printing the game in Spanish would require as many Spanish copies to be sold as the English ones to be profitable, the only Spanish content I will be offering for now is the Print & Play PDF. However, the Print & Play copies in the Spanish language are offered at a discount price to be more accessible, and buyers will be given a discount code for the physical Spanish version of the game when it releases.
About
the designer
Tomas Gimenez Rioja (he/him) is an Argentinian (Global South) writer, and game designer with 4+ years of experience working in the TTRPG space. While he has mostly written articles for both Tribality and The Gnome Stew, Tomas has also worked on both 5e settings Seas of Vodari and Under the Seas of Vodari creating monsters and game content. Additionally, Tomas has worked on some projects of his own for the DMs Guild (Including Best Silver Selling Product A brief description of all Classes/Subclasses, Races/Subraces), DrivethruRPG, and Itch.io.
What Is It That Lies Beyond The Immenseness of the Dark? is Tomas' first big project since he dived into full-time game designing. He is also a software engineer, cinephile, coffee aficionado, and Lego builder in his spare time. You can support him on Ko-FI, or do so while receiving weekly content over on Patreon.
You can find Tomas Gimenez Rioja on Twitter, Instagram, and Tik Tok by the same username: @TGimenezrGM
About the Editor
Nico MacDougall (he/they) is a USian writer, game designer, and editor with 2 years of experience in the TTRPG space. This includes writing a few mini-dungeons for Adventure A Week, a successfully funded game during ZiMo23, serving as a judge for The Awards 2022, and coordinating The Awards 2023.
What Is It That Lies Beyond The Immenseness of the Dark? is his first big editing project and he could not be more excited to be working on this game. His interests include: teaching, spiders, baking, singing, chess, and trashy reality TV.
You can find Nico on Twitter ( @gigantic_spider ) and Tumblr ( gigantic-spider ).
What People Are Saying
The game's atmosphere really clicked to me when I thought of it like bloody mary, conjuring the horror that will lead to your downfall. When starting the game, the Horror and the atmosphere is very broad, and for good reason -- it gives a lot of room for the players to draw from their location and experiences. I think that's a big selling point for the game -- it's flexible and lightweight. It adapts to a lot of scenarios. It's quick to learn and play. It encourages people to get together, explore, and play.
-Mya Shishido
Financial Breakdown
I am looking to offer the best possible quality, while also reducing the shipping costs as much as possible. Depending on the number of backers, these numbers may be subject to change.
$1000 Printing
This is the amount of money needed for printing. If the crowdfunding campaign starts to reach stretch goals, this number may increase. We might also change the printing company to have better quality cards, with possible cool effects such as metallic ink and tarot card size.
$1200 Layout, Art, Design, Editing
I may not be a graphic designer, but I think the results ended up being pretty darn good. Both I and the editor will receive our pay, with most of the funds on my side going towards my next project coming in the next few months.
The remainder: Buffer
As this is my first project there's always the chance something goes sideways. Let's hope not, but we'll be saving these funds just in case. All money that doesn't end up being used will go toward the team.
Shipping
Stretch Goals
Stretch Goals$2750 - Background music
A 1.5 minutes music file you can have running in the background as you play, building tension, and keeping you uncomfortable (with no jumpscares or anything like that)
$3250 - Tarot Sized Cards
The game was originally designed in a Tarot card size. For cost reasons, I went with Poker size, but I would definitely love it if you could help me make this a reality!
+$3500 - Further rewards
More rewards have been thought out for the game, including add ons, expansions by well-known designers, further cards in the core game, and more! They, however, lie beyond the immenseness of the dark. Bring many allies to the project to delve further in their search!
Timeline
Dates may change with the addition of stretch goals
