Venture Carefully Into This Those Dark Places Review
I originally posted this article on A Pawn's Perspective on December 29, 2020. I have stripped out the embedded Live Play from the origial article.
What would you get if Alien and Dead Space were deeply in love, then decided to get Event Horizon in for a little extra action? You would get a very disturbing baby named Those Dark Places. Built upon a foundation of industrial science-fiction, Osprey Games’ latest RPG capitalizes on the fear of being alone, with no one for light years to call on for help. You’re just another line item in a corporate spreadsheet, and honestly, you’re not worth very much.
What will you encounter in Those Dark Places in deep space? Will you survive? If you do, will your mind be able to accept what it’s been subject to? Hopefully, my Those Dark Places Review won’t cause you unneeded pressure.
Those Dark Places Book
Those Dark Places is trim and concise 128 pages long, all single column. While it contains the rules for play, a majority of the book deals with the overall setting that the game takes place in. Written in a very conversational tone, almost as if the book itself was a corporate welcome document.
This makes it incredibly easy to read and understand and drives home the theme to boot. The entire book can be read in a short time, after which you’ll have an in-depth understanding of the game and the dark, cold places where it takes place.
Clear sections for the players and the GM outline each of the roles clearly. At the very end of the book, there’s an adventure-ready module that perfectly captures the tense and terrifying atmosphere that encapsulates Those Dark Places.
The Inner Workings of Those Dark Places
The game uses a basic set of stats for each player that represent their C.A.S.E. file.
- Charisma
- Agility
- Strength
- Education
Players assign the numbers 1, 2, 3, and 4 to whichever stats they want. They then pick a primary and secondary Crew Position. These provide a +2 and +1 bonus respectively to any check relevant to their field. For example, an Engineer may have and Education of 4 along with a bonus of +2 if they’re trying to repair a broken terminal.
Those Dark Places only requires each player to have 1d6, which is rolled when making a check. The player’s bonuses are added to that roll to determine if they ultimately succeed, succeed with a condition, or fail a check. In the above example the Engineer would add +6 to their roll to fix the broken terminal.
The Pressure system is another main rule players need to know. By adding their Strength and Education scores they’ll get their Pressure Bonus. This is a bonus added to rolls when the player sees or hears something that causes their mind an intense amount of pressure or stress. Rolling 9 or below means the pressures of deep space start to take their effect.
The entire system is wonderfully easy to grasp and allows for extremely narrative play. It keeps things interesting enough to be useful, yet light enough to not get in the way of what’s important, the story.
This Those Dark Places Review is Nothing to Fear
Over the past couple of years, I’ve become a huge fan of rules-light RPG systems, and Those Dark Places is an excellent example of one. While players who love a bit more crunch to their RPGs won’t find what they’re looking for here, fans of the tale will devour this book faster than an alien life form can devour a crew.
A PDF copy of Those Dark Places was provided free for review by Osprey Games