Hi Reader,

It's good to see you. Please, have a seat. Have some iced tea. On the table is a little succulent called, I shit you not, goblin fingers. Other name, for real: Gollum jade. It's the most tabletop role-playing game plant I've ever met.

The Defy the Gods Kickstarter ends on Thursday. It's been a roller coaster. In these last four days, I need to tell as many people as possible about it. Expect a few more emails from me this week. If you don't want to get them, you can opt out here.

Publicizing it has meant posting on social media every day. That's been work, but it's also made me think about the game from new angles. Here's what I wrote yesterday:

I wanted to show everyone the beating heart of the game. Not to turn off the majority audience who isn't queer. If that's you, this game is for you. And if you're queer, it's especially for you.

Junot Díaz says, "There’s this idea that monsters don’t have reflections in a mirror. And what I’ve always thought isn’t that monsters don’t have reflections in a mirror. It’s that if you want to make a human being into a monster, deny them, at the cultural level, any reflection of themselves."

Wrapped in this game's many layers of fun is a silver mirror. Like the one the Sorcerer uses to scry. I want you to see it. See yourself in it. See yourself differently. Especially if you really need to.

Here's the last part of my post:

That's a lofty ambition, but I didn't get into this business by being realistic.

Stories and games show mirrors, and—as every sorcerer knows—mirrors can make magic. Make monsters feel like people again. Open portals out of hell. If Defy the Gods helps one person see themself differently, or start to escape their private hell, this will have been worth it.

Thanks for helping me make the mirror.

xoxoxo
Chrys

P.S. That roller coaster is swooshing around its last bend here. I added one last deluxe stretch goal, where Ryan Khan makes a Sumerian recipe, and I write up a guide to the setting. Take a look!