Emerging from deep underground, Underneath is out now!
The solo game of perilous spelunking is here.
A cave opening almost undetectable, I found it hidden in the side of a cliff, next to a slow running stream. I planned for this excursion to the last detail, everything except what I could expect inside.
The ground is coming up to meet you, emerging from the dark recesses of an unknown cave system... it's Underneath!
Underneath, by Seb Pines, is a solo cave exploration and mapping game of the unexpected things you encounter underground. Map, journal, and roll dice to build out a winding cave system while dealing with all the dangers and perils subterranean caverns have to offer. Build a cave system, unearth its hidden pockets, and map your discoveries.
Underneath is the game of what we encounter when we venture alone in the dark.
Through the cave opening, I was met by a narrow passage, the ceiling low and rough. I had to get on my hands and knees to crawl my way through, into the cave system proper. I misjudged how low the ceiling would be, my pack scraping along the rough rock, fraying one of my bundles of rope. Fuck.
Cavernous chambers, strange creatures, bugs, and the remains of lost civilizations are all lying dormant under your feet, just waiting to be found. What’s waiting underneath for you?
Underneath is a solo game of map-making and journaling that you will play between the game book, your excursion journal, a map, and a pair of six-sided dice, propelling your character through this cave system.
The narrow crawl eventually opened up and my headlamp’s light almost blinded me, the light refracting and reflecting through hundreds of crystals. The walls and ceiling coated with them, white and smokey and bursting forth from the rock. I walked over to a sheet of them, my hands delicately grazing their edges when the wall of crystals crumbled to silica dust before me and another opening was revealed through the cave.
Pick your character and start rolling, the cave system has much to discover, such as: Features, Paths, Encounters, Obstacles, Discoveries, and Caverns. Each of these different elements of the cave builds out the system and what you will find there, with each new path potentially leading you into a Scenario cavern, a large room in the cave that holds many secret and strange things. Find yourself in Scenarios such as Arora’s Cove: a fungal nightmare, The Still: a vast quiet lake, or The Database: a series of interconnected terminals built into the rock.
Once you’ve entered the cave, it’s time to map the system, charting your exploration while recording your findings and responses to the prompts associated with each part of the cave into your excursion journal. Manage your gear, your skills, and the dangers in the environment while still trying to find your way back out alive.
Moving through the dusty crystalline crevice into a new chamber, the ceiling swoops up ahead of me. A dome echoes my own surprised gasp back at me. I scan the walls, everything smooth and round until my eyes fall upon the imposing feature in the middle of the chamber. A tall, dark obelisk. Veins of quartz snake through the dark rock, its chiseled facets catching the light and throwing it against the cave walls in a brilliant pattern. Without even knowing what I was doing, I found myself stepping forward, reaching out to touch it…
Underneath is available now at Good Luck Press! Get your copy today.
