are you familiar with this ttrpg? i aint played it myself but i interviewed a professor for a rascal article who used it in her classes 

https://speakthesky.itch.io/this-person-should-not-exist

oh i love that. in spirit i am sitting in the corner nodding sagely 

really gonna be simmering on this one. i love art that refuses to answer the questions it raises (in theory ... i feel like i would be pulling out the whiteboard for this one) 

Shadow / Giant 2e is now out in digital & print! 

Shadow / Giant is a 60-page TTRPG for two players eager to create their own wolf & cub story. Their journey will be filled with dangers, outbursts, exploration, discovery, and entirely unexpected devotion. 

One player takes on the role of the Shadow: a traumatized youth with powers unfit for their world. The other player is the Giant: an adult who swore they'd grown too jaded to ever care again, until the Shadow crashed into their life. 

There are tales of somewhere they can go—a Safe Place, far away, where the Shadow will be protected. To make it there, the pair must outrun, outsmart, and outfight the Threat that's hot on their trail. No matter the specifics of the Threat's sinister plans, they cannot be allowed to catch up and take the Shadow away. 

And they won't—not if the Giant can help it.

THE SYSTEM

SG2e uses a bespoke system that builds off the Badger + Coyote SRD core of the popular 1st edition to add support and structure for GM-full play, a host of flavorful oracles, and tactile asymmetric mechanics.

• 2 players, no GM, no prep
• Dice (5d6 per player, physical and full set optional)
• Playing cards (with Jokers, physical optional) 
• 2-4 hours per session 
• Supports one-shots through ~12 session campaigns 

The Giant's player rolls a handful of 6-sided dice to try and make good combinations. Using a Skill or Resource, getting help from the Shadow, or using a Boon can allow them rerolls, increasing the chance of good combinations... though they could always take a Devil's Bargain and put themself at risk for a better chance of success. Because combos vary, aiming for a better one could risk total failure, as well as Complications and Costs. 

The Shadow's player builds and knocks down dice towers to represent the balance between their mundane skills and their fantastical powers. Leaving dice stacked in the tower or knocking them to the floor racks up Mishaps, though they could always choose to move their Skill Number to ensure success. Watch out, though - moving that Skill Number too far ensures a nightmarish event is about to occur. 

Each player takes responsibility over various parts of the world such as NPCs, Threats, Locations, and Opportunities. Card suits and oracles support GM-full play so players can focus on their characters and story. 

Check out the 1st edition on...

• Party of One with Jeff Stormer and Rahrah 
• Dice Exploder's 2024 Year End Bonanza
• 5 Minutes Not 5e with The Copper Compendium

https://itch.io/embed/4588127

oh, thank you so much!! what a lovely comment, thank you for sharing ^^ i love that this game was discussed in the context of therapeutic ttrpgs. that's my whole research & academic focus, and i wrote & published this the month i defended my master's thesis on the topic. i do find it helpful as a general exercise to try to purposefully create something exactly Opposite of your usual goal and see what you discover in the process. i definitely learned a lot from this one!! 

im currently in the process of creating some shareable resources & a potential networking group for academics and practitioners interested in (non-d&d) therapeutic ttrpgs - if you or your cohort are interested please feel free to reach out!! luka (at) psychhound (dot) com or any of my socials :)

found your itch after seeing your post in gen analog

this game is so sweet. it resurfaced a memory from a decade ago of my girlfriend at the time showing me the alebrijes she'd brought with her from her childhood in mexico. i was so in awe of how colorful and charming they were, but i had totally forgotten the name of them until finding this game

is there a version available in (mexican) spanish? my new neighbors have younger kids who i think would love this game, but the whole family is still in the process of learning english. i would love to be able to print this out for them (or print out both english and spanish copies for them). i would do it or help them with it, but i'm also still in the process of learning spanish :) 

either way, keeping this in my back pocket for therapeutic work. thanks!!  

im so glad to hear yall had fun with it!! :) 

feel free to post it on itch and charge for it if you'd like (assuming it's sufficiently different or is supplementary rules to run it multiplayer rather than reprinting my text) but i'd prefer using a different title and cover art for it :) i found most of the assets from public.work !! 

oh, amazing!! well i don't have any plans to work with it further, so feel free to hack to your heart's content!! 

howdy!! i'm running a project through chimera hearts to encourage more audiobook versions of ttrpgs. i have a page on my website about the project with a list of currently available ttrpg audiobooks. could i include this game on the list? :) 

https://psychhound.com/2025/10/20/ttrpg-audiobooks-for-accessibility/ 

thank you so much for playing & for the lovely review!! i'm so glad you enjoyed it :) 

oh i'm so glad! i would say i hope you enjoy it but ideally it will be an experience that sucks (in a good way) :) 

awesome, they've both been added! if you make future ttrpgs with audiobooks feel free to let me know & i'll add those too! 

hi there! first wanted to say that some of my students played this game and really enjoyed it :) one of them played as his childhood cat and had a great time 

second, i've been leading a project through chimera hearts to encourage more designers to include audiobook versions of their ttrpgs! on the page is a list of ttrpgs that already include audiobooks. could i include hedge witch? 

you can find the page here -> https://psychhound.com/2025/10/20/ttrpg-audiobooks-for-accessibility/

thanks!

hi there! i've been leading a project through chimera hearts to encourage more audiobook versions of ttrpgs. i have a page on my website about the project that includes a list of ttrpgs that include audiobooks. could i include nibiru and zephyr on the list? 

you can find the page here! -> https://psychhound.com/2025/10/20/ttrpg-audiobooks-for-accessibility/ 

i'm so glad you enjoyed it! thank you for letting me know!!! 

you can find the list here :) -> https://psychhound.com/2025/10/20/ttrpg-audiobooks-for-accessibility/

you can find the list here :) -> https://psychhound.com/2025/10/20/ttrpg-audiobooks-for-accessibility/

i'm making a list of indie ttrpgs that include audiobooks as part of a chimera hearts project - could i include your games? 

and any other games you've made that include audiobooks as well! 

i'm making a list of indie ttrpgs that include audiobooks as part of a chimera hearts project - could i include this game? 

i used this with my first year college students and they got a lot out of it :) thanks 

omg im so so glad you like it!!! it's not my own original system, it's built off an SRD called for truth's sake by h moon. which means there are other settings you can explore with it :D you can check out the other games made with this system here!! https://itch.io/c/3290711/for-truths-sake 

of the original settings by h moon, i've played werewolf neighborhood and urban witches and they were both super fun ^^ 

i hope you get so much enjoyment out of these games!! the whole collection is really great 

i'm so glad it can be what you're looking for!! 

i'm so glad you think so!! thanks so much :D 

thank you so much!!! i can't wait either, i think they're gonna be best buds :) 

oh, definitely not!! 😅 this was a little teaser to get folks intruiged. the actual thesis is 40,000 words in standard format and is being published on proquest soon :) i'll update this page with the link when proquest has finished processing it!! 

okay, a friend just showed me the twitter post. to be clear, i did not solicit that post in any way nor was i told it was happening. i think advertising a game about protecting children yesterday specifically was in very poor taste on the part of the itch team. i stand by my game but that's just bad timing 

i'm not sure what this means, i haven't taken out any ads. but to be very clear i'm completely against the censorship and sanitization of itch and other spaces on the internet that's happening right now
 

i also have an SRD for one pagers! :) horseshoe system is designed for no-prep, twisty oneshots with grand finales. you can find the games in the collection so far here!! so far players have really liked the system and i'm thinking about doing a co-op bundle with horseshoe games once some more have been made!! 

i taught this game for the literary analysis section of my college freshman composition class and got some very cool essays back on it :) 

i'm so glad you like it!! ^^ 

this is so rad

we played this for my birthday to create a new threat for the campaign i GM :) it was really fun!! thanks!! 

literally so incredibly kind of you :') 

i appreciate you and your contributions so much!! 

i'm so glad you found it helpful! i try to make including a plaintext doc and dyslexia friendly doc my standard now! 

got to play CORE/LORD + OATH and it was absolutely brutal (positive). heart wrenching, tragic in the best way. had to pace my backyard for an hour after the session. considering these are all minizines, it really had a lot of depth and there was for sure a lot of strategy involved. that game is gonna be sticking with me for a long time

very cool game, the ghibli inspirations shine through in some interesting ways :)

this summer! i defend in may, and then will have a month or two to edit and revise my thesis if necessary. it should be published after that, and i can start working on spiritkeep more in june! 

so glad you liked it!!