Cinderella Smile

Cinderella Smile

There's something wrong with the princess.

It isn't that she laughs too long. Although she does.

And it isn't that her manners and customs paint her as strange. Although she is.

No, it's the way her shadow flits from place to place, darting around her body irrespective of the light---but only when you catch it from the corner of your eye.

You have twenty four hours to stop her. Twenty four hours to prove that you are right, that something insidious lurks beneath the skin of this intruder. Twenty four hours to save the prince, and the kingdom with him.

From across the ballroom the princess meets your eyes and smiles just a little too widely, her cheek pulling back and exposing neat, even teeth.

You do not think you will succeed.

Courtly Horror Roleplaying

Cinderella Smile is a courtly horror tabletop roleplaying game. In it, you play as courtiers, servants, ex flames, advisors, and social climbers in a gothic fantasy palace where the sovereign has caught the eye of something inhuman.

Its touchstones include Red As Blood by Tanith Lee, Apocalypse World by D. Vincent Baker and Meguey Baker, Gormenghast by Mervyn Peake, Bluebeard's Bride by Whitney "Strix" Beltrán and Marissa Kelly and Sarah Richardson, Dead By Daylight by Behaviour Interactive, Maid by Ryo Kamiya translated by Ewen Cluney, Best Served Cold by Joe Abercrombie, and Geiger Counter by J. Walton.

Human Made

Cinderella Smile is 100% human made. It has art by the illustrious HODAG and words by me.

Cinderella Smile is built on a loose framework from the Powered By The Apocalypse system, but is heavily customized to track locations, status effects, and to handle an asymmetrical game where the GM's monster and the players' conspirators work in different ways.

Other tweaks include rules for continuing to play after your character is dead, several different ways the game can decisively end, and a core mechanic where players can lie about their (and vouch for the lies of others') dice rolls.

A Simple Campaign

The world is complicated and I just want to release the book and get it into people's hands.

Cinderella Smile is scoped as PDF only, allowing it to avoid issues with changing prices of paper and shipping. POD is planned down the line, but I do not feel like I can adequately price it in advance.

In recognition of the economic situation, an unlimited number of discounted copies are available.

You can also intentionally choose to pay more for the game, if for some reason you wish to do that.

Commissions And Collaborations

A number of backer levels come with custom content. This means that I'll reach out to you after the campaign ends and I'll design a custom piece of the game for you.

This does come with some limitations. The piece does have to ultimately fit the game, and fit within its scope, and I do have to hear back from you before the PDF delivery deadline (which will be as soon as I can manage, but likely May 2027.)

No stretch goals are currently planned for this campaign, however I do typically keep adding to the game over the course of the crowdfund and the editing process that follows.