Fetch

If you decide to play Fetch, please take a look at our safety guidelines below:

CONTENT WARNINGS: Depersonalisation, body horror, pervasive unreality, psychosis, suicide.

GRANT: This is not my usual sort of game! It’s personal, introspective, and raw. It comes from my own experiences of depression and suicidality. It has a lot of potential for bleed, in that it can trigger emotions that could potentially upset you outside of the game itself. If you have history of serious trauma, psychosis or suicidal ideation, it might be sensible to talk the game through with someone that you trust before and after playing – or just skip reading and playing altogether. There are plenty of light-hearted games I’ve written; have a go on those instead.

Here are a few safety measures that I can recommend you put in place:

1) Remember that you are not the person in the game. You are a real person with thoughts and feelings and bones and everything. You are human. When you play Fetch you’re taking on the role of a non-human creature, but it’s just that – a role. Playing the game as yourself can be traumatic and is not recommended.

2) Each time you finish playing, return to yourself. Centre yourself in the real world. Look around you and name five things you can see. Press your feet into the ground and feel it supporting you. Say your real name out loud. Remind yourself who and where you are.

3) Write a paragraph about the experience in the third-person past tense – this is something which happened to a fictional character, not you. Think about what you want to take from the experience into the real world and what you want to leave behind.

My thanks to Jessie Holder who contacted me about this, and some of whose techniques I have copy-pasted verbatim into this warning. For additional resources on safety with respect to de-roleing and bleed, take a look at Black Armada’s safety guide or Beau Jágr Sheldon’s Script Change toolbox.

HERE’S THE DEAL: I write one tabletop or live roleplaying game a month. It will be no bigger than one side of A4 paper (that’s one side of letter paper, for you American types) and I will do all the art, layout and design myself in pen.

My games are, in general: short, punchy, well-written and exciting. Over the last six years of writing I’ve become more serious and less silly, so expect to see a mix of tones ranging from introspective and heart-breaking to daft and explosive. I’ll always strive to innovate and offer something original or surprising in each game.