A mercenary company is stranded within a star system as a cold war heats up and results in the destruction of the only wormgate in and out of the system. Not wanting to stick around and get caught up in an unprofitable war, they take a 100-year loop out into deep space and back in stasis. They awake to find no new wormgate, fractured civilizations, and broken cities. The Captain's first order of business is to find some real food to eat. And to figure out what the frak is going on.
Dark Metal: Mercenaries in the Deep is a solo or co-op, open miniatures science fiction tabletop adventure RPG. Players can create their own squad leader and allies, or select from one of the pre-made character sets to get started a little quicker. Movement is either distance or hex based and the board is created by the player based on the scenario's instructions. The gamer provides their own minis, terrain, and dice from their existing collection to create the experience.
Players go through a series of missions and scenarios linked together with progressive narrative elements on their journey to investigate what has happened within the star system since they left. They will grow in abilities, knowledge, and equipment as they are sent out on mission after mission. Player builds range from heavily armored warriors bristling with weaponry, to lithe bio engineered splicers dashing across the terrain to engage in close combat, to half metal cybernetic beings aiming high caliber weapons downrange to plink off enemies at a distance.
Dark Metal will be initially available as a print and play game with optional accessories.
—description from the publisher