Sunrot, from Smash Bash Games, reached Daniel (@dungeondive) through a viewer comment on his Ten Tabletop Games for fans of Dark Souls video, and he bought a copy on the strength of a very good box spread. It is, he says, probably the simplest game he has ever played at this size: a GM-led, rules-light cooperative adventure whose entire ruleset fits on two poker-sized cards. Roll a d6, succeed on a four or better, then flip a card to discover what the success actually did. Battle Fatigue can wound a random figure in base contact, yourself included. Ranged combat, line of sight, stealth, curses and poison have no rules at all; players and GM invent them as they go.
The box is generous: chunky cardboard terrain, a double-sided board, standees for a full bestiary, and decks for four classes plus an NPC Oracle who must survive and can call three divine interventions. A timed event deck becomes Daniel’s solo clock through an escalating die roll, and since enemies never roll dice the game solos without modification. A hidden ending, five rot shards carried to the final board, can heal the dying sun.
Complaints: tokens printed identically on both faces defeat quick scenario randomisation, some card text is hard to read, and the scenario book is vague hooks with a cracking spine. Still, at about $90 the components alone would furnish Forbidden Psalm or Mörk Borg, and Daniel recommends it, with the caveat that its simplicity cuts both ways.
Daniel frames Sunrot’s one-rule design as a fine line between simple-and-easy and simple-and-confusing. Where does that line sit for you: how few rules can a tabletop game carry before the freedom becomes a burden rather than a pleasure?