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You have been here for some time. This school, this cemetery, this fairground, this theatre. You've been trapped, unable to leave, no matter how you've tried. For beyond the walls here there is a hum, a whispering madness that you are not yet ready to join. 

You know that you're dead. You know how it happened, but not the who, not the why. You may not even know yourself any longer. But you're not alone. The living have gathered here. There's something you have to know, a mystery you have to uncover. But what is it...

You know that with the help of the living, you can find your answers. Whether they're willing, or whether you must enter their bodies and make them help you. And find these answers you must, before your energy finally runs out and leaves you to the whispers. Gather your energy, gather your vessels, for this...

...this is What We Possess.

What We Possess

Celebrating October with Witchstarter, your local Publishing Goblin is bringing you a ghostly story telling game in What We Possess. A card-run game that requires no preparation to sit down and play, this GM-less experience will see players taking the role of Ghosts in the scene, pushing the living to action and creating the mystery even as they seek to solve it. 

This game is perfect for roleplay focused players, as an improv game or practice, and one-shots around your longer campaign games when a player can't make the session. 

What We Possess comfortably seats 2-7 players, and games last anywhere from 1-2 hours.

WHAT WE POSSESS

What We Possess, the ghostly story-telling game where players take turns leading scenes of the living and the dead, as your ghostly souls begin to fade into the whispers that keep you trapped in this building. Why do you haunt this place, what mystery are you meant to unravel, and will you get there before fading away? This game is made for quiet nights in with friends, telling haunting ghost stories over a few hours.

• Ideal for 2-7 Players.
• The game is made to be run as a gm-less experience. Establish the location, set the stage for the living human and animal vessels and possessable objects, then reveal the methods by which your ghosts have died. Before you begin to set the scenes, you will reveal the Haunting, which gives you a core mystery to work towards revealing. From there, you will spend your ghostly energy to set up scenes among the living beings in the space, and use your ghostly powers to help raise the ambient Terror, scaring the living and collecting energy from them, pushing them to the point that they become able to be possessed. Use these vessels to help you uncover Clues, which you and your fellow players will use to build the secret you're uncovering. Once you reveal the truth, you'll have space to define for yourself what your ghost's relation to the haunting was, and what you'll do now.
• Are you the specters of protestors, silenced by a rich and covetous Mayor, realizing the conspiracy that was at play that led to your deaths?
• Or perhaps the haunting souls of a prison that was built over your bodies to hide what had happened to you long ago?
• Or are you the violent, inhuman revenant left behind from a bygotten era that none will ever remember, seeking only to harm the living?
• Walkthrough of How the Game Plays in this Update! (On the old campaign)

This game's original art was created by Sam Dow, and new half by Robyn Phelps.

The game features a 6"x7"x4" two piece box, with 20 Locations, 20 Haunting, 20 Ghost, 60 Vessel, and 20 Clue cards, Dice, Energy tokens, and a 10-page rulebook to explain how to get into the game and to answer all your questions of how to keep your story flowing. 

ZOETROPE: Death Didn't Take

ZOETROPE: Death Didn't Take, is also now in its second edition and bringing you time travel shenanigans where no one has to have any idea what's going to happen before you play. In fact, it might be more fun that way. Go fix time, or make it worse! Whichever is more fun. This game is meant for pick up and play experiences, and best run in single sessions.

• Ideal for 1 Story Leader and 3-6 Players.
• Stepping into Zoetrope is easier than most other roleplaying games. Players are dealt a Role, which contains a title, a set of card maximums, and a small power that is unique to it. They then get 2 Trait cards, which grant them small roleplay and mechanical benefits. These make up their character, and they can otherwise define it as the game goes on. They then draw a number of Actions, Time, Gear, and Weapon cards as defined by their card maximums on their Role. These are the pre-determined actions they can take that won't screw up the timeline on their mission, according to the ZOETROPE time agency. The Storyleader will then draw an Event card, which gives the group an Inciting incident, the time anomaly or crime they are going to stop. Event cards also feature names, locations, time periods, and additional events beyond the inciting events, making the deck the Storyleader's friend in generating the game from start to finish. To take actions, players will place their cards on the Timeline in the middle of the table. When they get too close to finishing the mission, the Storyleader will use the Event deck to introduce complications, prompting the players to rewind time, taking cards off the timeline, and allowing them space to try again. Play stops when they successfully handle their mission, and the game comes to an end.
• Let's go to the year 1-Million-and-1 to stop (or cause) the assassination of Earth's President, Sparticus the 7th, our beloved cloned cyborg T-rex overlord.
• Or maybe to Ancient Egypt to stop Elvis-impersonator aliens from changing human history and becoming our overlords, while they learn how the Egyptians built the pyramids and advanced agriculture.
• Or maybe you're returning to one of your character's own old jobs and trying to fix what your team had done to make things right.

This second Edition is being redesigned visually by Rickie Lee Benedetto.

The game features a 6"x7"x4" two piece box, with Actions, Time, Gear, Weapons, Roles, Traits, Fated, Wounds, and Event cards. Additionally there are bullet tokens, dice, and the 20-page rulebook.

While the game is getting a soft-launch in its 2nd edition here, it will have its own campaign next year with its first expansion sets for a proper full release!

Who We Are

Seven Dane Asmund - Designer, Publisher

Seven is the Publishing Goblin. Creator of 20+ crowdfunding projects. The award-winning Alleyman's Tarot, the Publishing Goblin's Oracle Dice, Confluence, and more. The worlds and games of Take Me to the Dark are all their braincild's. They live a vascillating gender journey in the mountainous state of Colorado.

Website - Twitter - Instagram

Samantha Dow - What We Possess Illustrator

Sam Dow is an illustrator, graphic novelist, and tall ship captain from coastal New England, whose work explores themes of the fantastical meeting the mundane. Most recently they have illustrated the Gold Normal Tarot, the Literary Tarot's Major Arcana, and contributions to F(r)iction Magazine, as well as a number of shortform comics.

Website - Instagram

Robyn Phelps - What We Possess Illustrator

Robyn Phelps is a New Jersey based illustrator, designer, and maker-of things. You can find her making illustration work across publications like the Washington Post and Insider and creating and selling art prints and handmade goods like rugs, tapestries, and more. When she isn't illustrating, Robyn spends her time taking care of her plants, making miniatures, playing DND, and searching for her next little treat.

Rickie Lee Benedetto - Zoetrope Illustrator

I’m Rickie Lee Benedetto, a California native, I transitioned from opera to pursue a freelance art career. With a passion for creating and making art, I am excited to showcase zoetrope. Stay tuned for any future artistic endeavors!

TikTok - Instagram

Kollapsar - Secret Halls Illustrator

Kollapsar is a Filipino-American illustrator based in the Pacific Northwest after a life of semi-vagrancy. They love spicy food and all things neon and eldritch, and are probably off slapping some loud colors around on a card design as we speak.

While Secret Halls will not be available on this project, it will come to pass in the next year and Kollapsar is an incredible illustrator!

Website

Terms and Conditions

• Refunds I will refund any pledges within 30 days of the campaign's finish date no questions asked, from November 30th to December 30th 2023. After that time, no refunds will be granted for any reason, and if you choose not to fill out your survey or pay shipping on time, your pledged amount will be considered a donation towards the project.
• Shipping and Fulfillment We will be charging shipping costs closer to actual fulfillment. That means you are not being charged for it now, or for VAT or IOSS or any other taxes or fees unique to your country. That will be done closer to the shipping date over on Backerkit. You will not receive your items if you do not pay shipping and any other relevant taxes or fees, and you will not receive a refund for your original pledge if you choose not to pay the shipping costs. This notice is here from day 1 of the campaign.

We are planning to ship to people in May of 2024, but that may move sooner or later. You will be made aware of any changes in regular, monthly campaign updates.

• Fulfillment and Survey Deadline Once the first wave of backer items has been sent out around the world for people who get their surveys and shipping charges in on time*, remaining backers will have 30 more days to complete surveys to then receive their rewards. Any who do not do so in that time forfeit their rewards, and funds they paid into the project are considered donations to the project. As noted in refunds, no refunds will be made at that time for people who do not get their surveys in.

*This will be made clear in updates when we know for sure that we're moving to shipping, and will be clarified in multiple updates prior to starting the 30 day final reward claim timer.

• Damaged or Missing Items, Lost or Misdelivered Packages You will have 30 days after your package arrives to you to report to PublishingGoblin@gmail.com if you need replacement items or have missing items in your order. For packages that go missing, you will have 45 days after the item is sent (60 for international packages) to report lost or misdelivered packages to have us resend or follow up on the items.

Backers are responsible for providing proper and up to date email addresses on Kickstarter/Backerkit, and for reading updates as they come out to inform them of this information and the deadline dates. Tracking info will be automatically sent to provided email addresses, and it is the backer's responsibility to followup on their packages should problems arise.

• Backing this project is a pledge of support to the project itself, it is not the purchasing of items. I will be doing everything I can to deliver all pledged items as part of fulfilling this project with your help, and have a track record of a dozen plus projects of doing so, but there is no 100% guarantee that you'll receive your items with crowdfunding. By pledging you are recognizing this and agreeing to it.