Despair Dilemma [Playtest]

CW: By the nature of the genre this game is replicating, the TTRPG you are about to read is very likely to contain references to Death, Murder, Suicide, and other depressing situations people face at the darkest moments in their life. Sometimes, these will even involve animals or children. Please be careful before reading any further. A more complete trigger warnings list 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 Games like those in Danganronpa, Squid Game, Battle Royale and many 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. The characters in these stories have cheap lives, and even those unlucky enough to live are likely to face some significant amount of torture. 

Traditionally, this has caused some issues when it comes to replicating these kinds of stories in tabletop - there's an amount of cognitive dissonance in getting emotionally invested in characters that are otherwise expected to die and introducing new characters can get extremely difficult. It’s also true that a lot of the mystery and intrigue in these stories can completely disappear when you’re already fully aware who’s playing what character. Despair Dilemma takes a new angle at this problem by letting players take on the role of Narrative Forces rather than only a specific character. 

Instead of any player taking the role of GM, each player will select a Plot Sheet that defines a certain force they represent in the narrative. These Plot Sheets modify the Death Game itself and define both the goals and abilities of the player who has the sheet. Through this narrative sway, the players will vie for control to ensure the narrative goes the way that they want - creating an exciting Death Game story together. 

This is a Public Playtest: By downloading this file you agree to be sent playtest survey emails and information related to the progress of game development. 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.