So I've begun chipping away at the expanded version of DISTRESS, and just wanted to share some sneak peeks and thoughts, as I rework the first game I've ever designed. I had so much fun making it for the Eternal TTRPG Jam in March 2025, and I'm excited to refine it and expand a bit to make the game even more fun.

First I want to say (and this will be included in the full version as I expand a lot of the included text) that this game was heavily inspired mechanically by two solo games I think are superbly well done, Eleventh Beast by Exeunt Press and Dead Belt by A Couple of Drakes. These games were a huge help in that they are very clear mechanically and oriented for solo play. I also heavily drew from the layout of Eleventh Beast for the trifold pamphlet version, especially the idea of including a play map within the pamphlet.

As far as working out the expansion on DISTRESS, my main goals at the moment are to increase clarity in the rules so that the flow of gameplay is clear and easy to pick up, and to expand on the ruleset itself to allow for even more roleplay, critical player decisions, and hopefully more strategy and fun overall. I am hoping to work out some more tables/oracles to help solo players flesh out details if they are so inclined, as well as an instrumental song to include as a sort of theme / mini-soundtrack (click here to listen to a rough version).

Outside of those goals, the biggest hurdle to overcome is to expand the rules into a book format without adding so much that the trifold cannot exist, and to also support the larger format with even more imagery and setting (AKA vibes). I have attached a few screenshots of the roughly reworked beginning of the book, with filler text for now. I don't want to get overly verbose for no reason, but I do want to use the opportunity the new format brings to hopefully include examples, better explanations, and really play with the visual space that it will provide.

For everyone who has already downloaded the game, I just want to say thank you so much for checking it out. I hope to bring you many more fun experiences in the future and continue to expand on this and the other games I have been working on behind the scenes. Hope everyone had a great week, I will try and check back in with more updates soon.