Tangled Blessings Preview
A downloadable magical horror RPG
PREVIEW
Tangled Blessings: A magic academy horror RPG for 1-2 players
On the eve of your final exam at Brackroot Academy, what mysteries, secrets, dread, and drama will you recall from your last four years of schooling?
Tangled Blessings is a forthcoming solo journaling or two-player RPG inspired by dark academia media, ghost stories, and graduate school. Featuring a wizarding college, wandering specters, assigned houses, curses, devils’ bargains and more supernatural flavor, Tangled Blessings blends horror and the fantastical to help players craft a story that spans their time at the academy — culminating in one final showdown against their rival.
A deck of tarot cards and a way to record the story are the only items required to play. Based on the ENnie-nominated Anamnesis game system by Samantha Leigh, players first draw from the Tarot deck to discover which house they belong to and then they'll discover who of 22 possible rivals will shadow their time at the Academy. In two-player games, players rival each other, working together to unravel their shared and complicated history at the academy shrouded in darkness.
Tangled Blessings in a snapshot
- Estimated to offer a 2-4 hour experience.
- Playable in one or multiple sessions with natural breaks.
- Supports solo play or two players without the need for a game master.
- Doesn’t require a character sheet because there are no skills to track.
- Diceless; only tarot cards are required to play.
- Inspired by dark academia, ghost stories, and graduate school.
- Over 60 detailed and flavorful prompts.
- 22 unique and robust rival descriptions,
- Includes several pieces of original art, NPC ideas, and more to inspire playthroughs.
What people are saying
“Brackroot Academy doesn't waste any time pretending to be a fluffy, chintzy magic school. The larger magical world doesn't pull its punches, and neither does Tangled Blessings. Danger will find you early and often. The first lesson you need to puzzle out is how to protect yourself... and from whom.”
-S. Kaiya J., designer of Her Odyssey and many other TTRPGs
“This game is beautiful and eerie and you can (and should) romance your rival. Top tier stuff.”
-J.C. Darcy, writer, game master, and producer
THIS IS A PREVIEW
This is not the complete game and represents an early version of what it will look like. This document contains most of the front matter, four rivals, and year one. For the rest of the prompts, rivals, exam outcome rules, art, and final layout check out the final version when it releases!
Status | Released |
Category | Physical game |
Rating | Rated 5.0 out of 5 stars (23 total ratings) |
Author | Cassi Mothwin |
Tags | Co-op, duet, GM-Less, Horror, journaling, Singleplayer, Solo RPG, tabletop-roleplaying-game, Tarot, Two Player |
Average session | A few hours |
Languages | English |
Download
Development log
- Community Copies Added (Plus an award nom!)Jun 14, 2024
- Tangled Blessings Expansion AnnouncedMar 20, 2024
- Full Game ReleasedMay 08, 2023
- Less than 2 days left of crowdfunding!Feb 24, 2023
- Now Crowdfunding!Feb 01, 2023
Comments
Log in with itch.io to leave a comment.
Jen with Knave of Cups has started posting her incredible playthrough on Ao3. This playthrough is one of the best works of fictions I've ever read, and I seriously couldn't put it down. It's got drama, found family, romance, magic, humor, twists, and an incredibly imaginative world.
Find it here.
Planet Arcana produced an incredible standalone audio drama episode using Tangled Blessings!
Errant Adventures did a fantastic solo sound-only playthrough that's tightly edited with delightful ambient sound.
I took a look at the Tangled Blessings preview and I can't wait to play the full game!
I made a short video about it!
Thank you!!!
I spoke with Wintry on YouTube about tabletop RPGs before going through the Preview and doing a test run of the first year.
Ghost Candle did a live playthrough of Tangled Blessings! You can watch it here!
I love what I am seeing in the preview! I can't wait to play through my first year tonight! :)
I hope you had a good time!!
I did! I used your game to write some delightfully self-indulgent AU scenes of my favorite queer "childhood friends to enemies to lovers" couple from an old TTRPG. I'm very excited for the rest of this to release. :D
YESSSSSSSS
This is going to be big. The theme of magic and mysticism drips throughout and I am here for it!
This all looks very cool.
Thank you!!!