The RPG publisher Psychhound Games is Luka Brave, and Luka was a disability coach for years, working with neurodivergent teens and adults before returning to academia to teach gaming-themed courses and take a Masters in therapeutic applications for gaming.
On Kickstarter, Psychhound Games has launched and funded a solo-journaling TTRPG that teaches grounding and breathing techniques to help people deal with real-life anxiety attacks. There’s about two weeks, at the time of writing to join the project.
The player character in With Breath and Sword will win; it is their fate, which helps reduce anxiety, and the game wonders how they will win.
The hero has been summoned to fight a monster, and, as before, each time this happens, the PC must steady themselves against the effects of this magic.
With Breath and Sword‘s concept is that the grounding methods and breathing techniques useful in real-life to bring on calm in the face of anxiety are the guide for how the story goes.
The number of breathing cycles used or needed equates to the encounter’s difficulty. The more cycles the player can do then the easier the fight will be, although the hero cannot lose.
What’s more, the fight need not be a knight slaying a dragon and could be about taming or befriending the monster.
By participating in the 5-4-3-2-1 grounding method, players are able to determine the traits of the monster, the environment they find it in, the gear they have with them, the ideals they are fighting for, and their heroic core—the trait that makes them a hero.
Supporting the project with a pledge of $1 will result in a discounted PDF copy of the game later, one that comes with a printer-friendly version and a dyslexia-friendly one, too.
Backers with $3 will get discounted game documents and add copies to the community for those who can not afford to purchase With Breath and Sword.
The finished copy of the game and community copies are the reward for backers at $20.
Luka estimates the game will be delivered around March this year. The campaign closes on the 17th.
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