Thank you everyone, for your invaluable playtesting help! Armed with feedback, we've gone back to the drawing board on some mechanics, done some further internal tests, and now we're ready to release the most significant Despair Dilemma update yet! If you've read the playtest rules before, we highly recommend taking nothing from the previous version as a given when reading this version.

Major Changes:

• Death Game Points And Upgrades Are Gone! We've got a new, more story-oriented successor for you in the form of Chapter Goals, which convey unique Plot Book abilities for managing to achieve certain goals per chapter.
• One Suit Per Player. In place of the old, tragically undersized shared deck, each player is now represented by a single suit of playing cards.
• Actions Revamped! They now care about played cards' numbers, not suit. In addition, each Plot Book will modify a few of the Generic Moves (now improved, also), as well as give new uses, like powerful Plot Book-specific Ace moves!
• Setup and Endgame Overhauled! The newly-renamed Prologue and Epilogue are now full-blown portions of the game where you roleplay and expand on the story.
• Despair Dilemma Is Now... More Mysterious. Introducing the Chapter Mysteries: invest enough of your Flags in them to shape the course of the story in far-reaching ways!
• Dying is Harder. No longer does zero Morale equate to an instagib; you'll have to spend face cards, use Plot Book moves, or otherwise find ways to get those kills.
• Death Game Sheets, Character Archetypes, and Plot Books are all more interesting! Archetypes with weird abilities! Plot Books with unique specialties, like the Detective introducing Twists left and right! Give them a look!
• And Much More... We recommend taking a look yourself to see what's changed!

Thank you so much for supporting Despair Dilemma! Enjoy!