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What Lies Beneath

A solo dungeon-crawler of dice, decisions and death

$17.00

You dream you’re in a chapel. Small, high-pitched voices sing an ancient song. Yet a sense of unease washes through you. The core is more macabre. Dream yields to waking confusion. Dust, bones and dried death. A flickering torch. Underground. A crypt.

You catch a wisp of a breeze, heavy with the stench of rot. You gag. Yet a breeze suggests a way out. You take the torch, determined to get out of here alive.

Structured as a branching narrative, What Lies Beneath invites you to direct the plot – but only if you master a unique combination of game mechanisms. Enjoy all the challenges of solo roleplay:

  • Buffing your character: Gain items that unlock new powers

  • Classic skill checks: Roll against thresholds to hit enemies

  • Intellectual puzzles: Manipulate dice using limited actions

  • Dexterity tests (optional): Flick dice at specified targets

And when (not if) you die, you can spend experience points to boost your next character. Perhaps, this time, you will survive.

Additional Resources

Acknowledgements

Thank you to Jason Glover for his awesome art! Thank you to the dozens of people who playtested What Lies Beneath in 2022-2023. Special thanks to those who played many times, including Patrizio, Jacob, Josiah, Sam, Federico, and Trevor.