Today we take a look at another amazing game for Epic RPG Weekend - The Maw Cup! This game is being run by good friend of the store Lawrence McNabb from Gooey Cube! Gooey Cube is an RPG Company that makes awesome content for D&D 5E and have been a longtime supporter of Games and Stuff! Those of you who attended our 25th Birthday Celebration last year may have seen them as they came out and ran some great events that day! Let's take a look at Lawrence's game and what players can expect (and trust me, if I wasn't running my own game that weekend I would be playing in this - Jeff)
What is this game about?
The Maw Cup is a large-scale, multi-table mega game hosted by The Gloomport, Gooey Cube’s dangerous harbor city tied to Darkenhaven.
In the world of Zyathé, a major traveling maritime competition has selected Gloomport as this year’s host. The event itself takes place in the larger competition waters outside the city proper, where there is room for multiple ships, officials, spectators, neutral objectives, and all the chaos Gloomport naturally attracts.
The base game is inspired by Capture the Flag, but played at ship scale. Each table represents a different ship and crew. Every ship begins with a magical scoring light aboard, and more scoring lights appear at neutral locations. Capturing a neutral light is worth points, but stealing one from another ship is worth even more. That means the leading crew becomes a target, and every ship has to decide when to defend, raid, bluff, run, or go all in.
The event is planned as a two-day experience. Day 1 focuses on qualifier play, learning the rules, forming crew identity, and getting used to the ship and communication systems. Day 2 begins with championship play, then escalates into a larger Gloomport crisis where those same ships, roles, and communications become essential.
Players do not need to attend both days. Each day has its own entry point.
What are some of the elements players can look forward to doing?
Players will crew a ship in a massive maritime competition. They will maneuver through hidden waters, race toward neutral objectives, board rival vessels, steal magical scoring lights, defend their own deck, and use ship-to-ship communications to warn, bargain, bluff, accuse, trash talk, and coordinate.
Each player has a role aboard the ship, such as Captain, Helm, Engineer, Signal Keeper, Boarder, or Tidewatcher. The game uses familiar 5E-style logic, but the event mechanics are simplified through role cards so players can jump in quickly.
The boarding system is fast and cinematic. When ships successfully board one another, they lock together for a limited number of boarding rounds. During that window, boarders have to get in, grab the scoring light, and get it off the enemy ship before the vessels break apart. If they are still standing on the enemy deck holding the prize when the ships separate, they failed to steal it.
The game also uses magical safety rings in the fiction. These rings convert lethal attacks into nonlethal contest effects, keeping the action fast, mobile, and dramatic without turning every ship raid into a long combat slog.
Why should players sign up for this event?
This is not a standard sit-down-at-one-table RPG session. It is designed to feel like a living event happening across multiple tables at once.
Each table has its own ship, crew, GM, local terrain, and limited view of the wider competition. The full map is hidden from the players. Crews only know what their ship can see, what their specialists can discover, and what other ships report over comms.
That creates a style of play we are calling Information Gameplay. A crew might hear one ship announce, “The privateers are carrying two scoring lights and heading for the north buoy.” The privateers might immediately answer, “That is a lie. The Portguard is trying to bait you.” Now every other table has to decide who they believe and whether to act on that information.
It is a game for players who like teamwork, table energy, creative problem solving, tactical chaos, big terrain, and big convention moments. You do not need to be a rules expert. The goal is to crew a ship, make bold decisions, and create the kind of story that only happens when multiple tables are affecting each other at the same time.
What makes this game "epic" and something players haven't seen before?
The epic part is that this is not one giant battle map. It is a network of connected ship tables.
Each table is a detailed ship and perception bubble. Behind the scenes, a Head GM tracks the true competition map and keeps the entire event moving. Ships can enter each other’s sightlines, disappear into fog, board one another, steal scoring lights, and change the state of the larger game.
The communication system is one of the major unique features. Players will use radios or another comms system as part of the game, not just as a gimmick. On Day 1, those comms may be used for trash talk, warnings, false reports, and coordination. On Day 2, when the championship turns into something much bigger, those same comms become the crews’ lifeline.
The goal is to make players feel like they are not just playing near each other. They are affecting each other. A decision at one table can change what happens across the room.
Any additional information you would like players to know about?
This game is being built to showcase what Gooey Cube does well: rich setting flavor, strange characters, big table energy, meaningful choices, and lots of physical game pieces.
Gloomport is the perfect host because it brings privateers, merchants, smugglers, Portguard officials, criminal interests, visiting ships, dangerous politics, and fierce local pride into one pressure cooker. The official competition may have rules, but Gloomport has opinions.
Day 1 is a great entry point for learning the ship game. Day 2 begins with championship play and then shifts into a larger event where rival crews may have to decide whether they can work together when Gloomport itself is on the line.
Thanks Lawrence! This game sounds absolutely awesome and I know players will have a great time.
