A small band of travelers arrives at a tavern. Filthy, spent, and weary of their endless journey, they eagerly cross the tavern’s threshold to seek respite from the dust of the road and the weight of their own sins. But in the tavern, the rooms are bigger on the inside than they are outside. Lodgers wake in the night to see their darkest secrets coalesce before them, made flesh. The walls grow arms to embrace them.

And the tavern offers everyone the same bargain: your heart’s desire, in exchange for your humanity.

The Longest Rest is vivid, suspenseful game for four players and one game facilitator warps the classic “tavern scene” fantasy setting into a wild, volatile mirror of fantasy genre storytelling. Together, they will play to find out whether they fight tooth and claw to escape the tavern, or if they surrender to its embrace and become a part of it forever.

Whether you’re a horror fan dabbling in tabletop games for the first time, or a veteran tabletop RPG player, The Longest Rest offers visceral, lush scenarios for everyone to sink their teeth into.

The Longest Rest warps the classic fantasy “tavern scene” into a wild, volatile mirror of well-trodden fantasy genre storytelling.

The text reads more like a horror novel than a game manual, and features several hallmarks of the genre that aficionados will quickly pick up on. Once the players’ characters enter the tavern, their outsider status and the secretive rituals of the tavern’s inhabitants will ring true to fans of folk horror. Themes of the land reclaiming itself through the vengeful avatar of the tavern have familiar eco-horror anchors. And as the action picks up over the course of the game and characters are subsumed, one by one, the game’s body horror elements will make themselves known as plainly as a ruptured artery.

There are six player character options, known as the Travelers. Each one has an emotionally compelling bond with their companions, a secret weakness, and a personal hunger that can only be sated by those who know their heart of hearts.

The Longest Rest is made in collaboration with Conner Fawcett’s beautiful, signature visceral art style, and will be laid out by award-winning layout designer Ruby Lavin (co-founder of Possum Creek Games). In addition to their work as The Longest Rest’s community outreach director, Kienna Shaw will serve as the game’s chief editor.

The playkit (coming this winter!) features a lavish cover illustration by Quinn Milton, and the $5 download fee will include ever pre-publication update of the game, errata, and bonus content.

The crowdfunding campaign supports three versions of the book: a streamlined thrift edition for students and players on a tighter budget, a softcover edition with black and white illustrations, and a sumptuous hardcover edition with full color illustrations, custom end papers, and other beautiful finishing touches as stretch goals allow.

FEATURED REWARD: The Companion 

$65 (reduced from $70) hardcover edition + digital bundle
The crown jewel of The Longest Rest’s production plans, this beautiful 9″x9″ square hardcover book will feature full color illustrations, custom end papers, and other beautiful finishing touches as stretch goals allow.

The Squire

$15 digest-sized thrift edition (digital bundle not included)

The Squire is a crowdfunding/pre-order exclusive. Once the pre-order period ends, orders for the Squire will no longer be available.

The Humors

$25 (reduced from $30) digital game bundle

Includes a text-only PDF, full color illustrated PDF, printable Traveler sheets and tavern maps, and more. There may be crowdfund/pre-order exclusive bonus content as stretch goals allow.

The Pottager

$35 (reduced from $40) square 8″x8″ softcover edition + digital bundle

A lovely 8″x8″ softcover edition of The Longest Rest, featuring black and white illustrations. Upgrade to color illustrations and foil detailing on the cover as stretch goals allow.

The Coffers

$180, crowdfund exclusive bundle 

Everything in the Companion + a set of real bone dice in a commemorative bag, with bonus tavern coin. You will also receive a brass traveling compass engraved with the game logo, and thanks by name in the book.

In addition to the regular reward tiers, there are four luxury rewards available for the crowdfunding period. While some specific items may be available as add-ons after the crowdfunding campaign ends, most of them will be campaign-exclusive. When midnight closes down on November 17th, so will your window to claim one of the beautiful, artisan-crafted wares on offer.
 

The Harbinger

$360, crowdfund luxury bundle 

Everything in the Coffers along with an 8×10 archival quality art print printed on hot-pressed 100% cotton rag paper, a Travelers’ purse (real leather coin purse with six Traveler coins), and an oracle card deck in custom-printed velvet deck bag. Additionally, your copy of the hardcover will be signed by the author.

The Cellar Door

$540, crowdfund exclusive luxury bundle 

Everything in the Harbinger + antique skeleton key with bone talisman + 100% pewter tankard, made in London and engraved with art from the game.

The Charnel House

$1,000 or more, crowdfund exclusive luxury bundle)

Everything in the Cellar Door, as well as a few decadent treats: a translucent red, life-sized, anatomical heart-shaped box with padlock and keys; a Damascus steel pocket knife with bone handle, brass fittings, and custom initial engraving; original flash fiction set in the tavern, hand written by the author on real goatskin vellum parchment.

The stretch goals will be unlocked not only during the crowdfunding period, but also during the pre-order period. Here’s what’s on the horizon!

√ $27,000 — Custom Endpapers by artist Conner Fawcett — funded on 10/19!
The hardcover edition will be graced with eerie endpapers by project artist Conner Fawcett.

√ $32,000 — Team Bonuses — funded on 10/22
Here, I’ll be able to the team a bonus on top of their current pay!

√ $36,000 — Tavern Map and Interior — funded on 10/25
In order for your character to escape the tavern in The Longest Rest, you have to clear certain parts of the world that unfolds once you’re inside. I would love to have that map be illustrated by Conner, who has such a gift for details.

√ $42,000 — Limited Color Illustrations in Softcover — funded on 11/02
Currently, the softcover is budgeted for black and white illustrations, but I would love to be able to add reds and browns to make them really pop.

√ $50,000 — Fancier Hardcover Edition — funded on 11/16
Painted book edges as red as fresh blood, a ribbon or two to help keep your place as you navigate the labyrinth of your newfound hell, a dust jacket that cloaks the book’s true form, and other embellishments that cross my path as I continue talks with the printer. 

√ $54,000 — More Merchant’s Wares — funded on 11/17
More merchant’s wares will be added to the luxury collections, including traveler pendant necklaces.

$60,000 — Merchant’s Wares Available in Pre-order
At this moment, the merchant’s ware is available only for those who back the crowdfunding campaign as it’s live. Unlocking this stretch goal will allow me to make more of the merchant’s wares available during the pre-order period for late additions to the group of travelers joining our journey.

$66,600 — ???

To be shared soon!

Jeeyon Shim, author.

Conner Fawcett, artist.

Kienna Shaw, community outreach director.

Lauren Broyles, administrative assistant.

Unpredictable supply chain breakdowns, dramatic increases in manufacturing and shipping costs, and other circumstantial hurdles are always a risk with any large-scale project of this nature. To account for that, TLR’s estimated fulfillment date is December 2024. 

1. This is my biggest project re. production, and I’m modeling the fulfillment timeline after traditional publishing timelines to allow myself more ample time to edit the prose.

2. After two prior projects that suffered overdue fulfillment, I learned to allow myself much more time buffer (I’d rather under promise and over deliver). 

3. I’m using a printer who produces the highest quality work at a rate I can afford, but they are a smaller operation and their communication and production schedule is notably slower than overseas printers

4. My health has changed significantly and I will need to allow myself ample to rest throughout production and fulfillment.

All that being said, I’ll strive to get the game in your hands as soon as I humanly can — after all, I’m the person who wants you to play the most! Here are some measures I’m taking to set myself and the team up for success.

1. Working with BackerKit to streamline and standardize fulfillment.

2. Reaching out to several fulfillment warehouses to handle packaging and shipping.

3. Working with domestic printers and manufacturers wherever possible to avoid inventory getting stuck on a boat in the event of a high traffic shipping bottleneck.

4. Hiring the inimitable Kienna Shaw as community outreach director. They will handle many aspects of project fulfillment not tied directly to the creative process.

5. Hiring a game editor and project assistant on retainer for the duration of production.

Beyond The Longest Rest, there are many ways to support my work and Jeeyon Shim Games.

The easiest and most direct way is to sign up for the Jeeyon Shim Games newsletter. Right now it’s scheduled for a weekly delivery with project news, as well as frequent subscriber-exclusive downloadable content, Onion’s Almanac, and lots of little “easter egg” extras. When news slows down, so does the newsletter! All our inboxes are crowded with noise these days, so know that my goal with the newsletter is to keep you up to date and genuinely bring a little more joy and curiosity to your inbox.

We hear it often, but one of the most truly helpful ways to support me as a creator and the rest of the team is to post about The Longest Rest on your own social media, to share your enthusiasm for the game with your various communities, and to link to the game’s crowdfunding campaign or my newsletter as far and wide as you’d like to! You can also follow my own socials to stay “in the village,” as it were.

Finally, the Dirtgoblin Community Center is a vibrant, creative, and wonderfully friendly Patreon community where I share my experimental games, community events, and have an upcoming slate of workshops related to my background as an outdoor educator. There’s a lively Discord server dedicated to the Dirtgoblins, with a weekly live voice hangout on Friday nights and many flourishing community member-led events like game nights and cooking clubs.