A THOUSAND WORDS TO DIE

just a sliver of your soul in exchange for a thousand words to put you on a path of greatness. But now, as your fingers hover over the keys of your typewriter, an unsettling weight fills the room.

A Thousand Words To Die is a solo horror TTRPG where the player takes on the role of an author who has made a sinister deal. The deal? The next 1,000 words they write will bring them fame—but, in true horror fashion, this deal comes with a dark twist. The words the author writes are coming to life, and now they must survive the horrors of their own story.

Mechanically, the game works by drawing cards from a standard deck. The suit of the card guides the story’s direction (such as the narrative coming alive to torment the author), while the value of the card (K, Q, J, 10-2) dictates how many words you must write. Once you reach 1,000 words, the game is over. If you’ve drawn more red cards, the narrative has defeated the author. If you’ve drawn more black cards, the author survives to write another day. Think of it as blood on the paper versus ink on the paper!

This game is perfect for those looking for a simple journaling experience that can also double as a creative writing exercise.

•  A Standard Deck of Cards
• A Word Processor (Google Docs, Word, etc..)
• About an hour of time
• (Opitional) Some atmospheric music and a coffee

A Thousand Words To Die is © 2024 by Tales From The Unknown. Please feel free to hack this game under the CC-BY 4.0 license.

I do ask that if you do make a hack or remix of this game, if you are comfortable please share it with me! I would love to see what you create!

A Thousand Words To Die © 2024 by Zach Havenlok is licensed under CC BY 4.0 

To everyone who play-tested and helped me shape this game to what it is! Also a big shout out to all those who supported me through this process. 

And to you dear reader, thank you for checking out my game!