Despair Dilemma [Playtest]

CW: This TTRPG contains references to Death, Murder, Suicide, Torture, and other traumatic experiences that may be potentially triggering. Sometimes, these will even involve animals or children. Please be careful before reading any further. A more complete list of trigger warnings will be made for the final stages of this game's development.

Despair Dilemma is a Tabletop Roleplaying Game designed to replicate the stories of Death Game narratives like DanganRonpa, Zero Escape, Squid Game, and others. In these games, people are trapped in a life-or-death scenario and must fight, scavenge, or argue for the sake of their victory and survival. Players take the role of the masterminds and narrative forces pushing the characters to the brink.

Taking control of forces like “The Massacre's Edge” and “The Traitor's Sabotage”, players will vie for control of the story and work to achieve the goals laid out on their Plot Sheet. 

Depending on the actions of the players, the characters they manipulate may find escape and safety or die a horrible horrible death at the hands of someone they thought was their friend.

This is a Public Playtest: Nothing in this document is final. If you have feedback related to the game, the best place to get in touch with us is through our Discord or the Community Threads on this Itch page.

The crowdfunding campaign for Despair Dilemma will be launching on Backerkit on March 2025! Click the link here to sign up now and be notified when the project goes live!