Two games of survival horror, often without the survival.

Desperation is two small roleplaying games, built on the same dark tone and mechanics, that are truly pick-up-and-play experiences for you and your friends.

Both games are designed for 1-5 players in an hour or two.

Dead House is set during the great blizzard of 1888, and in it you will meet the people of the tiny town of Neola, Kansas, who find themselves unprepared in the teeth of the storm. As supplies and sanity dwindle in equal measure, who will live and who will be added to the dead house?

The Isabel is set aboard a three-masted cod schooner fishing in the Gulf of Alaska in 1888. Her passengers and crew have unpalatable secrets, and they are sailing into a storm the Isabel cannot weather. A doomed ship, raging seas, and a handful of leaking dories await them—and then the hard times begin.

Gothic storytelling experiences steeped in actual history, Dead House and The Isabel are dark, lyrical games about people pushed far past their limits.

If you like card-based roleplaying games like For the Queen and The Quiet Year but have a dark and unmerciful heart, you’ll like these Desperation games.

The Desperation engine is different because you don’t decide what is said—you decide who says it. And in a small community, who says “I burned a house down with the family trapped inside” makes all the difference in the world.

The cards for each game include an entire claustrophobic world of characters that form a web of relationships you will then apply agonizing pressure to and, in most cases, destroy.

Each deck also includes the isolated locations where all the action will take place. The locations are, themselves, characters in the unfolding horror.

Finally, the bulk of the deck consists of prompts that follow the inexorable passage of time. Some will drench the experience in unforgettable color, and others will drench it in blood—or worse. And each time, you will have to decide who among the survivors is saying the words.

The two games included here—Dead House and The Isabel—have subtle connections between them, but each also stands alone. Since every playthrough will result in different decisions, replay value is high.

It may not be possible to ship very heavy items outside of the Mainland UK.
Released: 20 June 2023