The realms of fantasy, art, and creativity come together so well when designers hit the mark on an excellent tabletop role-playing game (TTRPG). Being a first-time game designer can be an uphill climb; the learning curve is steep, but the things you see along the way make it worthwhile.

If you’ll play along, we shall reveal a glimpse of the mysterious manuscript the old men of Runeworks Games keep along the waters edge. Roll the dice, read a bit further. It’ll be fine. Don’t cost nothing.

Darkest Age: Resurrected Gameplay: Test Session One

Call it pride. Call it hubris. Call it whatever you want; the developers of The Darkest Age: Resurrected are just trying to make a decent role-playing game out of customer respect. So we decided to test the thing out a bit and see which direction the winds would blow. We needed a group of folks, hopefully, ones that would work on the cheap because the official Runeworks Games mystical canoes were running on hopes and dreams at that point (they still are).

So I called my brother and his friends. “Would you like to spend a couple of hours exploring a 13th-century version of Europe torn asunder by zombies and plague?” Who wouldn’t, right? Luckily, they said yes, and this put Runeworks one step further on our journey.

The motley crew, thirty-year-old nerds of varying genders, came from the far corners of the digital multiverse, ready to game! Playing with mature gamers (of any age) provides the advantage of a safe space to try out our fledgling character classes and game mechanics. The players were also free to tell the game master what worked, what didn’t, and when to get the show on the road. From there on, it was time to create a session and get characters rolled.

Codename “Breakfast Club”

What does a lovable band of misfits serving Saturday detention have to do with a fictional game about zombies and The Crusades? More than you’d think. The characters from the 1985 film were a diverse group of people which gave them the advantage of more skills and resources to pool from. The brilliant play testers followed a similar path in the creation of their party.

First came “Dopus de Pierre,” a florist wielding a hatchet and having an extensive knowledge of herbs. Then came “Armand,” a battlefield priest disgusted with The Crusades and an experienced orator. Being able to convince the people around you that spreading disease is bad and zombies are everywhere is harder than you might think. Nonetheless, “Robin of the Turban,” a Saracen convert wielding a heavy club, answered the call. Lastly came “The Munchkin”

Only starting with One Hit Point?
The Darkest Age: Resurrected is meant to be a challenging game. The flesh-eating zombies that infect everyone should be the first clue. When creating a character, fortune may favor the bold but not their dice. The Munchkin somehow ended up rolling only one hit point, and his character class didn’t add any bonuses. To their credit, The Munchkin never backed down from a fight.

The Last Party Member
Arrived late, but it was cool with everyone. Probably because when the encounter started, “Kenneth of Kennington” with their shining short sword left three zombies never to rise again. The casual and rules-light system of The Darkest Age: Resurrected supports a character being made on the spot with just a handful of dice rolls. How much the character matters and how much they care is up to them. Want more game ideas? Runeworks has you covered.

Will the Breakfast Club ever meet again?
I sincerely hope so, at least for our playtesters; those people are downright kind and thoughtful about how they played the game. Their criticism and mockery were the sharpest things around the Discord chat that night, all in good fun. The imaginary game we played to escape the harsh realities of real life did its job. We rolled dice, laughed, and shared action and excitement. We had fun playing the game. It was worth giving a try because of the people who gave it a chance. Not all of their characters make it to the end, but they make a lasting impression, just like the end scene where Judd Nelson throws his fist into the sky and walks away.

What’s Next on the Menu
If those gamers ever decide to return to Darkest Age: Resurrected, they will now find it brimming with 13 character classes and game-altering powers that give the players a chance to survive when things worse than zombies come crawling out of the pages.