A downloadable game

Buy Now$4.00 USD or more

Writers in the Darkness is an immersive, horror, role-playing game, heavily inspired by Lovecraft and played entirely by writing letters between two people. Either take the role of The Writer, who describes the setting and the horrible dangers they have found themselves in or The Player, who advises and guides them to try and save them from The Threat.


Write letters. Give advice. Tell them what to sacrifice, when to fight and when to run. Try and help them survive. Try and learn what really is going on. Write them more letters. Learn why they are trapped in the town and the truth behind why they can’t leave. Think back to why you became friends with them in the first place. Help them train to get better at surviving. Help them heal. Tell them where to hide. Receive one final letter from them…


  • A simple, yet unique system played entirely by post where every line of your letters counts and spending too little time guiding The Writer, will plunge them into even greater danger.
  • An impairment system where each day the writer gets weaker and closer to death, insanity, destitution or being killed by their very neighbours.
  • Seven original ideas for different threats for the players including the torturous Skin Thieves, the Mouldmeds growing from the deep and a poem that changes your mind.


Thank you PJ, Charlie, Jana, Cassii, Sam, Matt and everyone else who helped out!

Purchase

Buy Now$4.00 USD or more

In order to download this game you must purchase it at or above the minimum price of $4 USD. You will get access to the following files:

Writers in the Darkness.pdf 19 MB
Writers in the Darkness Compressed Version.pdf 1 MB

Development log

Comments

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Hello!

The bundle requires that every participant approves their game before it can start. We are asking for you to approve your submission to the bundle at this link: https://itch.io/b/1314/the-ttrpg-community-stands-with-ukraine-bundle

The bundle is scheduled to begin tomorrow (5th of March). 

Please let us know if you have any questions for a smooth launch tomorrow.

Sincerely, PoorStudents

Hey there, my name is Scott & I am with The Academy of Games.  We want to start running a promotion using actual letter writing between us and our new gamer clients.  I love Writers in the Darkness and think it would be an excellent resource for this.  Could you reach out to me about terms and conditions?  Thanks!

Hi Scott, Thank you for your message and interest in Writers in the Darkness. Please drop me an email at josephokelly1@hotmail.com and we can discuss things there.

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hello, currently trying out the game and i've got a question.

in the player actions list, where there is "Sacrifice", it says here that "When a sacrifice is taken, a +3 is added to the roll for every line, instead of the usual +2 for Instruct." however when i looked at the instruct section it doesnt say anything about adding +2 to the roll per line written to instruct. could you explain a little more? thank you!

EDIT: oh never mind, I forgot and I found it in the previous page!!! sorry about that.

Thank you again for a fun game I can play over the distance with my boyfriend!

Glad you could figure out the rule and I'm sorry it wasn't as clear as it could be. Let me know if you have any questions about the game.

I hope you enjoy playing it with your boyfriend!

I am really interested in trying this game with one of my friends. I just read the rules and there is one thing I am not sure of. After the GM and player do the opening questions is the GM supposed to send the first letter detailing a bit about the situation and asking for help?

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Thank you for checking out my game! While this is up to exactly how you'd want to run the game, I think the player & GM should talk through the rules of the game (making sure the player understands how to play), decide the relationship between writer and player and why they can't leave the location and then discuss safety. Then the GM should be free to send the first letter, starting the game off and asking for help.