There’s a lot to talk about this month, so let’s get straight into it!

August Releases

Since I last updated this newsletter, I’ve released a few new, smaller games. This is part of my general goal to take part in more game jams, expand my writing experience, and get onto a more consistent schedule! I’ll talk more about that schedule in the next section, though. For now I want to talk about my new games and where you can find them!

a most devouring kind

There is a secret that you hide. One you've kept for years. One that can never get out. You've held it so long that the keeping has begun to eat at you — literally. Every day the plants inside you grow stronger, threatening to consume you from the inside out. Will you find the strength to share your secret, before the hunger takes over for good?

a most devouring kind was my first game released this August, and was made for the One-Page RPG Jam! It was inspired by the idea of botanical horror, which I am certifiably obsessed with, as well as the classic fanfiction trope of hanahaki. Yes, I wrote & published a TTRPG inspired by a fanfiction trope 😅 It’s a PWYW game, so you can check it out for free (or throw me some support) through the button below:

In terms of design, a most devouring kind wasn’t super new for me, but it was a lot of fun and let me try out some things. I’m a sucker for a good one page game, and the system I used — the Second Guess System — is one I’ve been meaning to try out for a while. It’s a super cool solo journaling system, which uses a small number of prompts and the idea of a “twist”, where more information is revealed when a prompt is re-rolled. I loved trying it out, and writing the prompts felt like good practice for an upcoming project that also uses a prompt list and a plot twist! That one’s multiplayer, though…

MONSTER ✱ HUNTER

By day, you're an ordinary person, going about your ordinary -- or perhaps extraordinary -- life. By night, you're a monster hunter, bound by the ancient hunter laws to fight the monsters that threaten our world. But not all monsters are out to hurt humankind. In fact, it was a monster who raised you. A monster who created you. A monster who fights with you.

Which will win -- your monster blood, or the calling that brought you here? Will either?

MONSTER ✱ HUNTER is another August release — this time made for the August Eternal TTRPG Jam, and using their theme of “Monster Hunt”! It’s a one page, zine-style multiplayer game about being and hunting monsters. You can play as a vampire, fae or devil, following the hunter laws to rid the world of monsters who hurt humans. It was inspired by stories of conflicted monsters, specifically K-Pop Demon Hunters!

MONSTER ✱ HUNTER is probably the most experimental game I’ve made for Damsels & Dice — it’s certainly the one with the most new things! Specifically, the print-and-play zine look this game has was a totally new experience, and created both a lot of complications and a really cool effect. The aesthetic was also an attempt to deviate from my other games, which are usually either very dark & gothic or very plain. It’s a lot, but I think I like it! And I’m grateful the Eternal TTRPG Jam gave me an excuse to try it out.

Upcoming Games

I’ll be returning to full-time studies pretty soon — our new beginning, from the title — so my presence will be distinctly less involved than it has been recently (and these newsletters will be shorter, thank god!) but I’ve built up a backlog of games that are scheduled to be released this year. I’ll go over the schedule & games here quickly, and the next section will cover one in more depth!

September — More ‘til it kills us playbooks

The two additional ‘til it kills us playbooks promised in my most recent sale will finally be making their way here in September! These two playbooks are called the lovesick & the bound right now. They’re intended to both fill-in some characterization gaps and provide a way to add more horror to your game. And they’ll both be totally free, of course!

October — Minimalist TTRPG Jam Entry

This is going to be the time I finally manage to write an entry for the Minimalist TTRPG Jam, I swear. I have no real plans for this game yet — I don’t want to do too much before the jam officially begins — but it’ll probably use an old idea I’ve talked about before. And I’m aiming for it to be multiplayer and fully playable, with hopefully a meaty-ish system!

November — Tales from the Hearth

This game is actually already finished (hence having a title!) but won’t be out for a while as I’m trying to keep releases spread out! I want to keep the idea pretty secret, but it’s a solo/multiplayer game and it’s much more on the rules-lite side. It’s an idea I’ve had for ages, though, so I can’t imagine I’ll keep quite about it for too much longer…

December — Untitled Corkboard Game

A game designed to be played through writing, asynchronously! It’s inspired by epistolary/play-by-post multiplayer games, but with in-person play as its primary focus. This is also the prompt-based game I was talking about in an earlier section! I want to talk a bit about it in its own dedicated section, though, as it’s relevant to a greater thought.

Games to Play Over Distance

We’ve had our new beginning, so it’s time to mention our goodbye! Just like the beginnings, this isn’t anything to do with my games. I’ll still be posting, writing games, making newsletters. But in my personal life, some loved ones will be moving away — a goodbye — so I’ve been thinking a lot about games to play long distance.

The corkboard game is one attempt at these. So long as you can be in the same place once, you can play the game from anywhere. It is designed to be played in writing, using a deck of cards for prompts, so it can easily use Discord or even texting. But I have discovered that transporting a shuffled, separated deck of cards is a bit of a nightmare (as this is what it uses for prompts) so I’m going to look into another way to decide prompts. Maybe online dice rolls? But that would require numbering every card in a standard deck.

Anyway, there isn’t really a point to this section, beyond a dramatic title and a bit of insight into how I make my games. There’s a few coming down the pipeline — Tales from the Hearth, for one — that deal with this same problem of distance. And I’ve got some vague ideas for more down the line. I guess for now I’ll ask if anyone has any suggestions for excellent long distance games. I’m thinking epistolary games like The Machine, or ones designed for online play like This Discord Has Ghosts in It. I’d love to hear any suggestions of ones to check out!

Pricing My Games

My other debate at the moment is the question of how to price my games. I’ve seen advice from various people in the Indie TTRPG community (not the one on Tumblr, the general community) that seems to contradict. There’s a lot of people who advocate for PWYW games as the way to go, and there’s a lot who insist that PWYW simply encourage people to, well, pay whatever they want and take your games for free. And that more people will be willing to pay if you insist on a minimum price.

I’ve mostly so far been in the direction of PWYW — most of my games have no minimum price, and I get the very occasional donation through those. I want my games to be accessible to people, for one thing, and I also feel like a lot of my current products aren’t worthy of a minimum price. I’d certainly never be putting one on my lyric games, as they’re barely playable, and I’m uncertain about the single page games.

But then again, part of the reason I don’t feel my games are worth as much is the fact that I don’t have the money or time to put into them. I’m a full-time student, and I work part-time — my free time is limited, and I can only invest so much money into things like art commissions. So I do wonder if having some more paid games out there would let me make more stuff I feel is worth money. Currently my plan is to make my other bigger games, like the Minimalist TTRPG Jam one and the corkboard game, have a minimum price. And maybe from them I’ll be able to get some art for ‘til it kills us, and have the time to start some other big projects. Maybe a board game.

I don’t know. I’d love to hear what any other designers (or players) reading this think.

🎊 My Birthday 🎊

If you’ve gotten this far through my ramblings, I feel like you deserve a reward! And, since it’s my birthday, I happen to be running a 50% off sale for all my paid games right now…

On top of that publicly available sale, though, since I do that every year, I have a bonus sale available just for those who read this newsletter! It’ll let you buy both of my paid games for $2 total, which is $1 cheaper than the general sale (and $4 less than usual). It does genuinely mean a lot to me when people read this newsletter, and more people reading it means I’m more able to start expanding what I do — like making other kinds of games, YouTube videos or maybe even a Patreon. So I wanted to say thanks!

Thanks for Reading!

Thanks once again for reading this newsletter! However you’re interacting with my stuff — reading these posts, reblogging me on Tumblr, downloading free games or buying paid ones — you’re helping me keep making new & better games. So please check out the sale as a thank you, and consider sharing this newsletter or subscribing!

(P.S. if you have any thoughts about what I said here, or answers to my questions, feel free to reach out on Tumblr or Bluesky! I use the same username everywhere more or less.)

(P.P.S. if you’re seeing this in your email inbox for the first time, you might be one of my Substack subscribers! I finally figured out how to transfer subscribers over — if you don’t want to receive my emails, however, feel free to unsubscribe. I won’t be offended.)