Escape from the Belly... Many a salty sailor has warned their deck hands of Davy Jones and his locker. Some tell tales of a dead pirate captain sailing a ghostly ship filled with lost souls. Others say that he is the devil himself punishing the sinful and mutinous lost at sea, but the true warning of that ancient legend has been mangled throughout the centuries. Closer to the truth is the Biblical tale of Jonah, for it is said the original name was not Davy Jones, but ‘The Devil Jonah’. Tossed overboard for his sins against God, Jonah was swallowed up by a ‘big fish’, often thought to be a whale. Even that old text has lost the true warning though, no whale, but the great Leviathan itself came for Jonah. Nor did he cry out in repentance to those above to be saved. Instead, he sought a bargain with those below to spare himself from the flames. A bargain he must keep to this very day... The Devil Jonah’s Leviathan is a horror-based tabletop roleplaying game (TTRPG) for 3-6 players and a game master (GM). Players take on the role of sailors swallowed up by the great Leviathan. These doomed wretches must try to escape with their souls intact from threats by hideous creatures, treacherous players, and the machinations of Jonah, the man swallowed by a ‘whale’ in the Bible. Jonah, however, did not repent his sins as that text describes, but instead struck a bargain to drag the souls of the drowning to hell to spare himself the flames. The game uses a bespoke card-check mechanic for resolution, similar to blackjack. The path through the beast is filled with horrors and various creatures of the deep. To create the paranoia, tension, shocks, and betrayal this kind of tale needs, this game uses two decks of standard playing cards with different fronts and backs. The GM will test players by selecting a series of cards drawn from their Leviathan Deck; players must get as close to the total value of the GM’s cards without going over by playing cards from their own hands, drawn from the Lamp Deck, representing their dwindling resources. Can you escape the horrors inside before the Lamp runs out? All versions include all digital files: the zine pdf, playmat, gm screen, Aspect and Vice cards, and player sheets. Brought to you by Zine Club, for the April 2026 Adventure Zine.
