So, you know I love a storytelling game, Fiasco being a favorite. Fiasco’s creator, Jason Morningstar, released a new set of storytelling adventures in 2022, Desperation. We played the The Isabel scenario of the survival horror game Desperation recently and had a great time.
Desperation Decks
Currently, two different scenario decks comprise Desperation: I’m sure there will be more. One story is about a shipwreck, The Isabel, and the other about peopled snowed in by a blizzard, Dead House. As the website says, “Gothic horror storytelling experiences steeped in actual history…[these] games [are] about people pushed passed their limits.” Each deck of story prompts can be played multiple times with a different story generated at every game night.
The prompts include characters, locations, and trigger events. Most cards state an intriguing quote that will advance the story, and some instruct the player to perform an action. On each players’ turn, they draw a card, read the quote, and then decide which character said this thing. They may expand on the quote and/or invite another player to assume another character’s role and advance the scene. Be forewarned, escape and a happy ending are highly unlikely.
Safety Matters
The players have an opportunity before the game starts to preempt any triggering topics, and the x-card could also be incorporated to pull back from any direction deemed too traumatic. This isn’t a game for children, although families with older teens could have a good time with it.
Playing Desperation
One of my family members and I spent about two hours playing The Isabel scenario. More players might yield a longer game, and less verbose and silly players might speed things along. We tend to get into our roles, and the brief but evocative quotes really sparked a lot of plot ideas for us to try to work into the narrative before the key characters died horribly.
The cards are illustrated with amazing woodcut type illustrations of the scenes and characters. We couldn’t resist picking up the character cards and “puppeting” them as we read their lines.
Maybe your game group isn’t quite that zany, but it helps!
The Big Cinch from Montag Press, is an award-winning supernatural noir adventure by Kathy L. Brown. Sean Joye, a fae-touched young veteran of 1922’s Irish Civil War, aims to atone for his assassin past and make a clean, new life in America. Until he asks the wrong questions…
Do you enjoy narrative games or not so much? Your comments are welcome. Navigate to my website, click the blog title and a dialogue box will open at the end of the post.
If you enjoyed reading this game review, you might like to read about the letter-writing game, De Profundis.
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St. Louis Writers Guild published Love Letters to St. Louis last winter.This adorable letter-shaped volume of short stories, poems, essays, and illustrations included my first science fiction story, “Welcome to Earthport Prime: A Self-Guided Tour.” A perfect gift and profits benefit the guild’s young writers’ program.