We need a game to play in the dark of the year.

There are many traditions of telling haunting tales in the depths of winter. This solstice, create a game that lets one or more players tell a chilling story. Help us get through the longest night with the weirdly satisfying pleasure of shared fictional terrors.

This jam is timed around the winter solstice in the Northern Hemisphere, but feel free to set your game in the Southern Hemisphere, or on another planet.

The Guidelines

1. This jam is for "paper" games only: the game must be something we could print out and play. The game can be a TTRPG, LARP, or other horror-themed game for any number of players.
2. Games must not have been posted anywhere before December 12, 2025. You can submit a game you have been working on, but not one that entirely pre-existed the jam.
3. The game should have mechanics that players can pick up and play quickly. The focus is on getting to the story.
4. Modules or scenarios for existing systems are allowed. Assets or tools are okay if they are specifically designed to add chills.
5. This is a non-ranked jam, for fun and to creep each other out.
6. The plan is to play these games! If I and/or my crew have fun playing a game, I'll post a review, and I encourage you to do the same. 

Yes!

• Games with playful or unusual mechanics
• Games with grim or tragic endings (fine, happy or bittersweet is okay too)
• Games with thoughtfully crafted prompts
• Games that label explicit or graphic content
• Games that are thoughtful about invoking cultural figures from traditions that are not the creator's own

No!

• No games that don't fit the theme.
• No use of generative AI for any aspect of the game: writing, visuals, or any other part.
• No bigotry or hate, including but not limited to racism, ableism, homophobia, or transphobia. You can allow players the space to explore those things as horrors, but the game itself should not appear to espouse bigotry.
• As Unknown Dungeon puts it: nothing that breaks itch.io ToS or local law.

Games I Find Haunting

• Ten Candles (Beautiful doom ritual)
• 1000-Year-Old Vampire (Solo roll & write brilliance)
• Quietus (Oli Jeffery: "sadness is scary.")
• Pull Me From the Earth (Body horror / romance two-person Q&A excellence)
• Star Crossed / Dread (What to do in the face of the inevitable)
•  Debrief (Two-hander LARP excellence)

Credit: Cover photo by Patrick Mueller on Unsplash