WE STARVED HEARTS

COMMUNITY COPIES AVAILABLE FOR FREE BELOW
to those who are marginalized or experiencing financial insecurity.

CONTENT WARNING: portrayal of unhealthy or abusive relationships, player vs player antagonism, unfavorable depictions of one's own character by others, breakups, illness, death.

a diceless, GMless single-session game inspired by For the Queen and Alone Among the Stars. uses one deck of playing cards. requires at least three players.

detail the downfall of a social group in a series of questions reflecting on the past as the characters remember it. explore tensions, betrayals, love, and loss.

this game contains emotionally difficult and potentially unsafe topics presented in a way that sometimes suggests the player roleplay unhealthy mindsets. this can be a ground for using fiction to explore the way people react to trauma in interpersonal relationships, but only if everyone is consenting. the Discard mechanic is built with this fact in mind.

this is also a game in which your character is portrayed unfavorably by others as a part of the core mechanic. play with those you trust and check in out of character whenever something difficult is presented. allow others to feel welcome to speak up on behalf of their own comfort.

see the TTRPG Safety Toolkit by Kienna Shaw & Lauren Bryant-Monk for a thorough survey of commonly used safety tools and consent mechanics.

that said, this begs a playtest. hit me up if you're interested and we know each other.

cover image created with Canva using images from its free library.
font used in game text and the text of this page is Aubrey.
shoutout to Jared Sinclair for helping me clarify the direction of this thing,
and to Jammi Nedjadi, Maria Mison, and Jay Dragon for the influence from their work.

this game was created on the occupied land of the Duwamish. this creator supports returning all lands, ceded and unceded, to the care of Indigenous people.