itch.io

Official art for Vivy, Elvaria's Ruler and Number One Idol!
Illustrated by: @Maolv_draw (X/Twitter)

Met a wonderful artist a while ago, and I'm glad they like the game enough to help with our first character illustration of Vivian Edelweiss, Fairy Queen of Elvaria and soon to be the greatest Superstar they've ever seen! Hopefully, more illustrations to come. Till next time!

DarkReach Chronicles is a diceless TTRPG released on the 31st of October, 2025. Become one of the chosen few, the Fourteenth Generation, tasked to defeat the Great Deceiver. Thirteenth generations have failed to bring him down. You must be the ones to succeed, else all is taken by Despair.


If you are interested in playing the game, or you want to follow for more updates, join the play-by-post server at: https://discord.gg/CDaKpUVxz

Thank you. My sister helped bring everything together, alongside the design and formatting, so I'm grateful to her, too!

Oh, I forgot one last detail.

- combined the Devil Doesn't Bargain 1-4 into one lorebook (The Devil Doesn't Bargain).

Till next time, Players and Heralds!

Good day! My discord is thespadekvng. I've been looking to collab with an illustrator for a while, specifically for DarkReach Chronicles, the TTRPG I published last year. Please feel free to DM me on Discord if you're interested!

Thank you. More on the way next year. A lot more.

I'll be adding more entries with each update, and you may not have to wait a whole week for more. Thank you for reading.

Thank you. I'll see what I can do about the illustrations. Hopefully, it makes the marketing side easier, so everything else can fall into place in the process. Can't give up just yet.

Thank you very much, Aleks. It's the most thoughtful feedback I've had since the game released. I feared that the plain state I left it at would make it harder to market, since there's nothing to drag the eyes in unless one actually takes their time to read it. I could've waited for my co-designer to handle the visual aspect but he's unavailable now. If I did wait, I would've never released it, so I don't regret that part. The lack of knowledge from people in my area regarding TTRPGs most likely also played a factor in the marketing difficulty. I'm trying to bring the people out and into the genre, using this as a first-try thing. Might work. If it doesn't, I'll be back to the drawing board once again.

After reading your reply, I realized that I can't give up now. I'm not primarily seeking money, but people who love it. I'll see what I can do between now and this time next week. The work might not technically be an ashcan, since it's the finalized version of a 2-year project, but as you said, it sure looks like one. So, I'll get some design flair and hopefully, it gets easier then. Even if slightly.

Again, thank you.

(Reshared from the General Discussion section of the Community.)

It's been five days since I published my first tabletop RPG, which I co-designed with a friend. After more than two years and seven months of designing, redesigning and playtesting with friends, I finally made the decision to put it out there for the world to see. It was a dream come true. I'm happy I got to accomplish something I found significant in a year when everything else felt seemingly aimless. Then again, it was just the start. The next thing in mind was marketing this game of mine. You know, leaping out of the circle of friends to find others who would be willing to try it out.

Man, I should've known this would be the hard part for me. I've done what I can since the day I published it, I guess. WhatsApp communities, Discord servers, subreddits, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, been there and done that, too. I was really glad I'd get to talk with someone Ijust started to knowabout a project that meant so much to me. Well, it's the fifth day, and I haven't met anyone interested in playing the game with their friends. Here's what I've seen so far:

1) Tabletop RPGs aren't common in my area at all. I've had to explain what exactly it means several times, even pulling up some Critical Role clips so they'd know what it looks like. On one side, my game could be the hammer that breaks the ice and introduces people around me to this wonderful subgenre. On the other side, the ice is tougher than I expected it to be. I thought it'd be easier to draw people in as long as the writing is good and fun to read, when in Reality, that only got me a "cool!" or a "good for you, man". It's nice and all to be complimented, but they'd move on the next day. I'm not simply looking for readers. I want people to play my game and have fun doing so.

2) I find it harder for me to convince people in TTRPG communities to try out my game, and I feel it has a lot to do with the fact that they also want people to try out theirs. Unfortunately, it's not always going to end up as a "why don't we try out each other's games?" . Not long ago, I asked a question in one of them. I was confused and tired like I am right now, trying to know if people aren't willing to try it out because it's a diceless RPG and people are used to TTRPGs with dice mechanics. I asked to know whether that was the case, and if it was interesting, how would I market it better? I tagged the channel in the server where I dropped the game link so someone could check out the game and they'd have a better idea of why I'm struggling with the marketing. Somehow, a fellow game designer replied in a way that accused me of disguising a marketing ploy in the form of an actual question. I explained that it was nowhere near the case and I wasn't even confident enough to market the game in such an outward manner, but I got no reply afterwards. The short convo made me more confused, and now I had lost all interest in marketing as a whole. 

I got some strength today. Enough to make a post. I made an announcement post some days ago, but I can't find it. I thought to send another announcement, but I was afraid it would seem like I was trying to spam, so I just decided to rant instead. I might get some views and no replies, but I'm too tired to care about that now. I don't want to be discouraged even further, so I don't think I'd drop any link in this rant.

 Thank you for your time, random person.

Hmm, that would make sense actually. I'll send the post to the Tabletop Gaming section, then. Thanks for the reply.

I see. You should really specify that in your site. You know, the "any game that's not tabletop" thing. Anyways, good luck.

I hope tabletop RPGs aren't excluded from this. Sure, it's easy for others to drop a browser game and get plays since it can be played on the go, but my game would take a longer time to learn, so I wonder if it would even get any players from this...

I really like the gameplay loop, but I'm not sure I understand the movement controls. Sometimes, it moves me left when I go right. Maybe it's because I'm swiping with a phone and not clicking keys on a keyboard, not sure. Anyways, real cool game!

It's been four days since I published my first tabletop RPG, which I co-designed with a friend. After more than two years and seven months of designing, redesigning and playtesting with friends, I finally made the decision to put it out there for the world to see. It was a dream come true. I'm happy I got to accomplish something I found significant in a year when everything else felt seemingly aimless. Then again, it was just the start. The next thing in mind was marketing this game of mine. You know, leaping out of the circle of friends to find others who would be willing to try it out.

Man, I should've known this would be the hard part for me. I've done what I can since the day I published it, I guess. WhatsApp communities, Discord servers, subreddits, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, been there and done that, too. I was really glad I'd get to talk with someone Ijust started to knowabout a project that meant so much to me. Well, it's the fourth day, and I haven't met anyone interested in playing the game with their friends. Here's what I've seen so far:

1) Tabletop RPGs aren't common in my area at all. I've had to explain what exactly it means several times, even pulling up some Critical Role clips so they'd know what it looks like. On one side, my game could be the hammer that breaks the ice and introduces people around me to this wonderful subgenre. On the other side, the ice is tougher than I expected it to be. I thought it'd be easier to draw people in as long as the writing is good and fun to read, when in Reality, that only got me a "cool!" or a "good for you, man". It's nice and all to be complimented, but they'd move on the next day. I'm not simply looking for readers. I want people to play my game and have fun doing so.

2) I find it harder for me to convince people in TTRPG communities to try out my game, and I feel it has a lot to do with the fact that they also want people to try out theirs. Unfortunately, it's not always going to end up as a "why don't we try out each other's games?" . Not long ago, I asked a question in one of them. I was confused and tired like I am right now, trying to know if people aren't willing to try it out because it's a diceless RPG and people are used to TTRPGs with dice mechanics. I asked to know whether that was the case, and if it was interesting, how would I market it better? I tagged the channel in the server where I dropped the game link so someone could check out the game and they'd have a better idea of why I'm struggling with the marketing. Somehow, a fellow game designer replied in a way that accused me of disguising a marketing ploy in the form of an actual question. I explained that it was nowhere near the case and I wasn't even confident enough to market the game in such an outward manner, but I got no reply afterwards. The short convo made me more confused, and now I had lost all interest in marketing as a whole. 

I got some strength today. Enough to make a post. I made an announcement post some days ago, but I can't find it. I thought to send another announcement, but I was afraid it would seem like I was trying to spam, so I just decided to rant instead. I might get some views and no replies, but I'm too tired to care about that now. I don't want to be discouraged even further, so I don't think I'd drop any link in this rant.

 Thank you for your time, random person.

https://thespadeking.itch.io/darkreach-chronicles-the-first-edition

Finally completed the starter edition for my first, official pen-and-paper RPG. Feel free to check it out when you like.  

It's something I've been working on for the past two years, and I was confident that the marketing would be the hardest part of the whole process. I was not wrong in the slightest. Anyways, this is my first post in the community. Hopefully, one or two people like the game.

If you're not a fan of the genre, you can still read and enjoy the lorebook. It's enough to give you a piece of the general experience, even if you're not interested in trying out the game.