The Devil's Mark

THE DEVIL'S MARK IS A TTRPG IN THE MAKING. HIT THAT FOLLOW BUTTON TO GET ALL THOSE JUICY UPDATES AND SNEAK PEEKS!

• July 2024: While I still wish to finish writing TDM, it has been put on hiatus indefinitely for now.

The screenshots you see here are from the unedited playtest version in its current state. - Questions? Comments? Leave them in the comment section below! I'd love to hear what you think about the game.

1. Elevator pitch
2. Prologue
3. What is The Devil's Mark?
4. Timeline
5. Press
6. Full version
7. Publishers

A patchwork community made up of former misfits, outcasts, and criminals is about to be torn apart by a terrifying threat approaching from within or without. To make matters worse, THE DEVIL has decided to step in and offer his help at a steep price. You play to find out whether THE VILLAGE survives and, if so, if it's on the horned one's terms or that of your characters.

Tucked away in a quiet but not quite safe corner of the land lies THE VILLAGE. It is made up of people like you, people who fled or were made to flee their previous lives. Misfit or criminal, THE VILLAGE takes them all in, and somewhere down the road, fellow outcasts become friends, become family. To keep this community thriving, you must have each other’s back. Together, you have weathered many a storm.

And then, things get bad. Really bad, and progressively worse. Just as the oracle foretold. THE VILLAGE is tested in a way it never has before, or at least not that you can remember. A marauding gang that seems intimately familiar with your community’s weaknesses; bloodthirsty beasts that hunt unseen; a strange disease that kills your crops and spoils your food. Whatever it is, everyone is in grave danger, and your community shaken to the core. This could be the end.

To make matters worse, THE DEVIL has decided to pay a visit, whispering what-ifs, making offerings. The oldest members of THE VILLAGE urge you not to listen. “THE DEVIL”, they say, “has once before brought chaos to this community, feeding on people’s suffering, their vices, their dark secrets. It doesn’t matter whether you enter a pact trying to spare everyone else or whether you think yourself smart enough to fool the fiend—ruin will follow.” “What kind of ruin”, you ask. 

“Make a pact”, the elders croak, “and you will be marked. Be a fool in fooling him, and you will be marked.” “Marked”, you ask. “Marked”, they say. “To seal the deal or punish your mockery, he will kiss you, and where he kisses you, a mark will appear. A mark you can neither wipe off nor cut out. A mark that will grow and swell, and fester. It will consume you, change you, make you a monster or a breeding ground of monstrous things.”

“What if we keep our end of the deal”, another person asks. “Then the mark will vanish”, the elders say. “But the price”, they hiss, “the price. Are you willing to pay the price?” “What price”, you ask. “Your most precious memory, your gifts and talents, your neighbor’s health, the village’s next newborn, the soul of your beloved”, answer the elders. “Whatever he deems fit.” A veil of silence falls over the assembled and rests there for a while.

Eventually, someone speaks. The words come slow and heavy. “We all want the village to survive, don’t we?” Silence again. Everyone is weighing their options. It’s written in their faces. What is anyone of us willing to do?, you wonder. What am I willing to do?

• GM-less folk-horror TTRPG for 3 - 6 players
• format: one-shot; the full version will include instructions on how to run a mini-campaign
• system: Belonging outside belonging
• additional elements: playing cards (randomization), dice (tempting fate)
• grimdark, mature contents
• estimated run time for a one-shot: 4-5 hours

• Private play-tests to begin in late winter '22/'23

If you would like to stay up to date on the game's development progress, ask questions, and receive more insight into the full version of TDM, please leave me a comment here, contact me on Twitter (@PetraVolkhausen), or send an email to petra.volkhausen@gmail.com.

• More playbooks and setting elements
  
• Expanded safety tool sections
• Example play
• A chapter on how to approach exploring mature contents
• A chapter on the role of the devil in European (and, perhaps, Northern American) folklore

Who I want to bring on board for the full version: professional editor, professional graphic designer, artist(s), sensitivity reader, accessibility consultant.

I want to bring The Devil's Mark to life for the English-speaking market in print along with a digital version - but I don't have the capacity to do so on my own. If you are interested in assisting me in running a crowdfunding campaign and adding this game to your portfolio, please contact me at petra.volkhausen@gmail.com.

Banner font: "Who asks Satan" by Chris Vile