3Deep is an interesting game that uses a very basic system, and tries to cover everything. It does lack some detail but is a very serviceable tookkit in which to run a game in virtually any setting. In addition, it provides a well done set of solo-play rules.

The Tabletop Gaming Club recently finishing running our first campaign using these rules. Overall, things worked pretty well, though combat can be a little slow. We recommend that people looking for a new system that is quick to learn check out this product.

3deep takes a Traveller-esque 2d6 mechanic, combines a thoughtful set of solo (one person wearing the GM hat as well as playing one or more PCs) rules, and provides just enough scaffolding to build your game around. It is a very serivcable toolkit with lots of examples that I found easy to spin off into my own house rules.

My only wish is that the content was better formatted. In particular I would have liked it if the core mechanics and then examples were better separated - either thru a different content structure or a visual deisgn. Obviously this is a personal preference and I still found the product well worth the investment.

Cons: 3Deep is a basic game. It tries to cover everything but means that nothing is covered in any great detail There is no default setting Combat can get slow if every rule is used. Combat is dangerous Pros: This game is easy to learn and fast to play It is every easy to adapt to any setting or genre There are lots of adventures available from full adventures to plot hooks I can develop.

I will buy the print version to use at the table.

I will write a review of 3Deep in the worst possible way, using the less polite of the narrative gimmick: I will write about myself. I'll justify this tremendous act of discourtesy and bad manners after 2 important facts:

1. I am a Game Master of Old, properly infused with Endless Ego
2. We are talking Roleplay and storytelling here, so here's my story.

I felt in the trap or RolePlaying games back when I still had hair on my hair but not on my stomach. The book's cover had the very same pattern and layout of the well known (and beloved) game books (Fighting Fantasy, Lone Wolf and so on...) Except it was three times bigger. I traded. The book for few hours of my time in the next week end (for additional chores)... and entire years of the rest of my life (Maps, NPCs, Plots, Artifacts...). Starting with that book ( basic rule of The Dark Eye since you are asking), I learned how important is to be able to dive into a setting, to provide tiny but significant details that lead the players through the same wood, across the same sea or into the same dungeon. I learnt that a "Thief" Is not necessarily someone who steals. I learnt that the ruleset has to serve the setting and the atmosphere you want to deliver. I learnt that the setting and the atmosphere have to serve the fun. And a lot of other things (Which, I must say, I recognize through several PPM products)

I (role) played with my friends. Then life happened (I moved out of the country, grow up, had a job...) Then internet somehow made me believe that I could start playing again. Getting back my friends and put them in fron of a PC was not the problem, deciding a good ruleset was. I am a big fan of Rolemaster, but time constraints (as I said life happened) don't allow adults to spend enough time on it. Needed something faster, more accessible.

At the same time it has to be something that allows depth and freedom and does not try to mimick a videogame, or miniatures game. A game where the player can decide how to develop their character without rule constraints. And were the rules do not flat out the player efforts to find smart and never-seen-before solutions to their problems.

3Deep is all that I have learnt to appreciate and nothing that I do not like.

I'll try to force my 2nd group of players to change to 3Deep as soon as the current adventure ends. (as you guessed, the 1st group can still afford Rolemaster).

I do wonder though, where the name comes from. 2Deep would make me think of the 2 dice the game uses in most cases, and also "Too deep!" sounds like a compliment to a roleplaying ruleset. Would you like to share something about the origin of the name?

To be fair though I must add that the rulebook will benefit of an update with minor changes like bookmarks (pdf version) or adding the hit location table in the Rules Reference Page. I cannot say I played intensively, but trying a simple fight I had many doubts, and although the GM can easily cope with them I feel like something is missing or unexplained.

SHORT: The product irradiates passion, knowledge, and inventiveness. How all of this is delivered, could be improved.

Thanks for caring about GMs.