Catatonic Missy

A woman rests in a disordered stupor, lost within her own mind. Who is she? 

The Key to her Selfhood is hidden deep within her psyche. What is it? 

You will guide her as she confronts her Trauma and recovers lost Comforts. 

Features

• Gameplay combines dungeon crawling with journal notes and introspection.
• Designed for self-contained one-shot play.

Content warning

• Deals with themes of trauma, including abuse, betrayal, phobias, and insecurities.
• Heavily luck-based resolution mechanics. Possible to lose within an early turn. 

Requires

• 1 player
• +/- 60 minutes 
• a standard playing card deck (no jokers) 
• a notebook or journal
• pen or pencil 
• the game pamphlet

Credits

• Concept, text, and visual design by Paolo Jose Cruz
• Images sourced from:
  • The Met Museum Open Access Collection
    Cover adapted from "Self-Portrait with Christine and Yvonne Lerolle" by Edgar Degas, ca. 1898 
  • Public Domain Vectors

Acknowledgements

Gameplay 

• hacked from Temple Antics by Richard Perrin (Locked Door Puzzle) 
• other influences: 
  • Twisty Little Passages by Caravel Games 
  • The Estate of Baron Archambaud, An Ingrate by Steve Walsh (Galazor)  

Themes

• Neo-Freudian psychoanalysis 
• Karen Horney’s theories of neurosis 
• Jacques Lacan’s concepts of The Real and “traversing the fantasy”