Dead Letter Society

From Montford Tales comes Dead Letter Society, a GM-less, epistolary and journaling game for 1-2 players. In it, you are playing as vampires who have been matched as letter writing partners by a secret communication network enabling the secure exchange of ideas between its members. 

Entry comes at a cost, however, and over the course of your correspondence you will be pursuing your own ambitions while also, possibly, undertaking an additional task for the Society. Will you realise your goals? Will your sanctuary remain such? Will you find your place among humanity, stand with or against the expectations of vampiric society? The journey is yours to write. 

I received a preview copy for review purposes and will always be transparent about times when this happens! 

Overview

From game setup to character creation, Dead Letter Society provides a thorough guide to creating the world in which your vampires are corresponding. Each round is broken up into three distinct phases, and you and your partner start in different ones. These are the Letter, Society, and Chronicle phases respectively and the game provides a helpful diagram in distinguishing which is which, and the order they follow.

When not writing your letter, you are feeling the influence of vampiric society (through journaling prompts in the Society phase) and pursuing up to three items of interest by spending Chronicle Points in the Chronicle phase. I thought the Chronicle phase was particularly interesting as you ask an open-ended question about your topic, and then draw a card from the Minor Arcana deck which corresponds to a prompt to guide your answer. The example of play – which follows the same player and character throughout the rules – for this section is particularly fascinating and gives a strong idea of how to engage with and draw inspiration from the prompts. (It was also a very interesting and I would love to know more about how Margaret’s story unfolded.)

Play continues until the number of agreed upon letters are exchanged, the characters have achieved their goals, or when the narrative has run its course. When this happens, both players complete one last Chronicle phase as an epilogue to their story. 

Highlights

Expectations for content and length are the first things you’re determining, and this limitation of scope prevents a ballooning outward of the game world that would – to me – make it feel daunting. By having a set number of letters agreed upon beforehand, you’re effectively determining how many ‘rounds’ your game is going to have, and those rounds can span as much or as little time as you like. Do you want days or weeks between your letters? Fine! You want centuries? You can do that too!

By working together with your letter writing partner, you are creating a world you both want to play in. Not only do you get to choose the core characteristics of what makes a vampire, but also determine the time and place in which your game is set, the achievements of humanity that are considered boons and banes by your kin and the core principles guiding vampiric society – a society whose influence you will feel over the course of your game. 

If determining all these factors seems overwhelming to you, never fear! Several playsets are provided so that you can jump right into creating your characters. The preview provides a Lovecraftian London, England c. 1878 setting with defining features of vampires, humanity’s accomplishments, and the influences on vampiric society already determined. Making small changes to a playset so that it suits your story needs is a wonderful option to have, and I am very grateful that Dead Letter Society includes multiple playsets to inspire ideas! 

Throughout, tips are given for ways to improve your game experience. This ranges from advice on how to approach writing your letter, to how to resolve potential narrative conflicts, and more. I really appreciate the thoughtfulness that went into this – the game doesn’t need these elements, but to me it reads as a mark of care from a creator who wants players to have the best possible time.

With over 100 pages of full colour content and custom illustrations, Dead Letter Society is a beautiful game. A free preview is coming on January 30th and even if the game itself doesn’t hit your interest boxes, it really is worth checking out just for how pretty it is. The character sheets (Dead Letter Society Application Form, shown below) alone are a thing of absolute art, making me immediately think of triptychs and stained-glass windows – I love the macabre elements and the darker red used for their design. Makes me wish my penmanship with my fountain pen was better!

Final Thoughts

Dead Letter Society is very thorough in its world creation, offering new, limitless story possibilities and methods for letter exchange. With several rule variations, including ones for solo play, there are many opportunities to tailor the game to suit your specific interests, and ensure your play experience is exactly what you’d like for it to be! I particularly like that the rule variation for solo play (“They Never Reply”) incorporates how your character feels each time they should, and do not, receive a letter. It’s a neat addition that sent my brain spinning with story possibilities about why they aren’t responding!

The atmosphere of this game, which is supported beautifully through the examples of play, art, and layout choices, is excellent. There’s a mystery and mystique to it that is often associated with vampires, and which flows from the Society itself in only vaguely sinister form (maybe more than vaguely, depends on your game, really!). The game feels like something secret and old.

A free preview for Dead Letter Society is going up on January 30th [here], while the Crowdfundr campaign launches February 7th [here]! This is a great opportunity to take a look for yourself and dive straight into your best vampire fueled epistolary life. And, if you want to see an example of the game in action you can check out Amber’s live playhtrough right [here]! Dead Letter Society will run you between $15-25USD, depending on if you want just a digital, or digital and physical version of the game. To keep up with Rori and all her projects, check out her website Montford Tales [here].

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