We've done a significant amount of internal playtesting and collected some feedback from anonymous playtesters, and we're happy to say Despair Dilemma is reaching the final stages of the public playtest period. 

Most likely, this will be the final big update before we get working on the game proper to prepare for the crowdfunding campaign early next year.

Major Changes

• Character Arcs Have Been Introduced: For those times where you've grown interested in a specific character and want to give them some mechanical flair, each player will now have a once-per-game opportunity to grant a Character Arc to their character of choice! These give unique effects on the gameplay and describe Beats that character can fulfill to advance a storyline of their own.
• Chapter Option Selects: This was something we always intended to do at some point - and now's the time! From now on, when you first reach Chapter Two and Chapter Three of a Death Game Sheet, the player who answered the Chapter Mystery will choose one of two versions of the oncoming chapter, letting the game adapt better to the story being told by the players at the table! (Or just picking the one that's best for your plot sheet, you can do that too)
• More Control Over Chapters' End: Instead of just terminating as soon as conditions are fulfilled, the current Narrator may end the Chapter when they feel fit, as long as the necessary targets are met. Additionally, to incentivize Passing the Narrative actively, Taking Over the Narrative no longer puts cards on the Chapter Mystery.
• Plot Sheets Have Been Renamed: We've made each Plot Sheet follow a three word sequence for ease of conversation and referral.
• The Opening Section Has Been Rewritten: We feel confident that we don't need to explain why this game exists anymore. Instead we describe the core gameplay conceits and stories you'll be able to tell.
• Plot Sheets and Death Game Sheets Have Been Updated: These changes are to match with the new mechanics and remove some troublesome elements. S.S. Opportunity and Challenges have the main changes.
• And Much More! Read the full play test document to learn more.

Despair Dilemma will be Crowdfunding on Backerkit

Finally, as an exciting update, we've made up a Teaser Page for Despair Dilemma's upcoming crowdfunding project available here: https://www.backerkit.com/call_to_action/900da2c7-32c0-454d-96dc-55168f3c2b7c/landing 

We're looking to launch in March as a part of Backerkits big "Pocketopia" event. If you'd like to be updated when the project launches or we give a crowdfunding update you can subscribe there! But we'll be sure to let everyone here know aswell.

We're working hard on making Despair Dilemma the best it can be and will have a lot of exciting news to share with everyone in the coming months!