Game Review #1- The Deep Forrest
For my first RPG review I have decided I want to tackle The Deep Forrest .
This is a map making RPG where all your decisions at the table are not adjudicated by dice but by the words spoken by the players.
After an initial setup where the players decide certain facts about the world, you'll be playing during a year of Peace in which the monsters of the region attempt to recover from human rule, with a truth known to the player is that at the end of that year the humans will return.
Having played The Quiet Year with AthenaxVio on Start Playing I was very interested in this reimagining of the game. I was at PAX Unplugged 2024 and this actually ended up being the second map game I played with the GM over the weekend with the group Games On Demand.
The players will work through a setup phase in which we will come each come up with a specific type or group of monster to add to our world. As this is a GM-less game, each player at the table was able to pitch in and create a group, and from that point forward no one has any ownership over a group more than another person. I found in practice most people felt comfortable speaking on behalf of the group they created for the first few rounds, but we slowly became more and more comfortable adding in our own influence over the different creatures. Adding in our own influence over the different creatures.
Through a series of prompts given to us via either a standard deck of cards, which other than compared to a chart, or with custom printouts, people will answer questions about events that are unfolding throughout the year. Many of these questions will have not only the active player responding, but every other player at the table. Then the player is given an opportunity to do three one of three options. They can either create a project, something that can have great impact and weight on the narrative, and decide how many weeks this will take (up to 6 which are noted by a die), or they can hold a town hall in which the players can each take turns speaking for any of the creatures or groups of creatures that exist on your map, often as a way to spur more collaboration between the players. Finally, they can choose to uncover something old. This can be an opportunity to introduce elements that existed prior to the start of the game, that for whatever reason have been hidden from the knowledge of all of the players.
Between the card pulling step and the action chosen by the player, you'll tick down one of the projects and assuming that it has finished, the person who created the project explains its impact on the community.
With themes of occupation, and uncovering what a monster can and cannot be, the Deep Forest RPG is a wonderful exploration of what a collaborative storytelling experience can be.
Personally, I now look at both Deep Forest and the quiet year as tools in my gming toolkit. I personally would reach for Deep Forest for a singular experience, because I feel like the zoomed out in nature of the storytelling works really well when we are exploring the fantastic creatures we create. For the quiet year, I think of it as something that I could do before a campaign, in order to establish some stakes for an important location that we may use in a story.
I'm going to end all of my reviews the same way. I'm never going to grade or degrade any system. I'm simply going to tell you my honest opinion about whether I would play it again, and whether or not the game is a good fit for me, I'll talk about who I think is the core target audience, who might bounce off of this concept and if at all applicable what singular rule I think you should take from the system and apply it to other games.
I would absolutely play this game again, and am hoping I can convince my grognards to give it a shot.
This is a game for people that want to explore huge sweeping stories, and create lore together. I think it would be impossible for a game of this to not break nearly any gaming group out of their normal ruts. Whether you're swinging swords and Pathfinder or D&D, solving mysteries in call the Cthulhu, or being sexy vampires in a masquerade, this is such a wildly different approach to how we can tell stories together.
If your group really needs hard rules for conflict resolution, whether that be the social dynamics or melee combat this isn't a game I would jump into lightly. That being said, I think that stepping away from your tense simulationist game for a week, especially if you're the kind of group that tries to meet even when a player is missing, this might be the game that helps you all find a new love for a new section of the hobby.
For most people, this is going to be so wildly different than anything they've experienced, so calling out a singular rule is a little bit difficult in a game like the Deep Forest. If I had to pick a singular concept, that is very interesting, it'd be the fact that you're going to spend some amount of time up front conceptualizing, and then explaining what a specific brand new creature is like, maybe even exploring a little bit about what their culture is. Doing so and then immediately relinquishing the control of those characters in The narrative, is an experience that I think would help people transition from being players, to being game runners. So if you're stuck as a forever DM, maybe give this game a shot with your players to see if they be will end up catching that game running bug.
The Deep Forest is a free reimplementation of A Quiet Year and can be downloaded for free with the link below, but I highly recommend checking out their other products to support a wonderful Creator.