Daniel (@dungeondive) looks at Marching Order, a small dungeon crawl from Crumbling Keep that he pitches as Darkest Dungeon on the table. Two books and two decks of cards make up the game, yet it hogs more table than almost anything he owns: you need graph paper for the map, oversized character sheets, and a supply of D6s as cooldown timers.
The tone is the mud-and-blood end of old Warhammer, kin to Hand of Doom and Dungeon Degenerates, and Daniel reads the content warning aloud to set expectations. You hire a band of four rogues (his are a sellsword, an alchemist, a doctor, and an archer), shop and carouse in the town of Rock Bottom, gamble at games with names like Piss on Your Graves, then read your way through a delve book paragraph by paragraph like Fighting Fantasy. Combat happens across a battle line where position governs range and the rearmost rogue can always flee.
His favourite mechanism is one he says he will now miss in other games. Each rogue carries a quality and a flaw, and after every action a die roll can trigger one: a great shot that hits an extra target, or a fit of temper that swings at an ally. Enemies roll for random actions and after-effects too. Sampling the tavern ale in the demo delve earns the Shitfaced condition for six turns. The rules need an editor, and the designer has promised one for the next Kickstarter.
Marching Order’s quality-and-flaw dice mean your own archer might take a swing at the doctor. Does that kind of scripted misbehaviour add character to a party, or just frustration?