2019 Diana Jones Award for Excellence in Gaming

This is the second printing. It does not include a tumbling block tower, but has space to store one.

In Star Crossed, you and your fellow player will craft characters who are powerfully attracted to each other, but have a compelling reason not to act on their feelings. You’ll watch the attraction between them grow as you play out scenes, taking turns describing what your character says and does. Some of the things you’ll want your character to do are going to increase that attraction—and when that happens, you are going to pull a brick out from an increasingly shaky tower and place it on the top (blocks not included).

“The stories are sweet, sad, and sexy as hell. Playing feels like falling in love. I have only played one game so far, but it left a profound impression on me. It’s one of those games that proves how beautiful roleplaying is as an art form. Also, there is kissing.”
James D’Amato, The ONE SHOT Podcast Network

If the tower falls, your characters act on their feelings! You decide what happens; the rules will tell you what that means. How many bricks you’ve pulled will help determine if your love is doomed, triumphant, or something in-between.

“It has an elegantly light system that prepares players to jump right in and create romantic narrative knots that will have you battling the butterflies in your stomach to keep your hands steady enough to make your big move.”
Mo Turkington, Unruly Designs

Of course, that tower may never fall. If you make it through the final scene and the tower is still standing, the character never act on their feelings. Sometimes that’s the right thing to do.

“What I find genuinely surprising about the design—and what draws me to it—is not just how well the metaphor fits; but how the metaphor veers from that of Dread. Hiding in the gravity of that teetering tower is not the grisly finality of well-swung hammer or the existential threat of eternal void, but something far more terrifying: real human desire.”
Epidiah Ravachol, creator of Dread

Star Crossed takes about two hours to play. You’ll need the rules, the cards, some character sheets and a couple pencils. And a tower of bricks, of course.

“The hottest game I’ve ever played.”
Sara Williamson, creator of Shelter and co-creator of 183 Days