As teenagers, you found yourselves drawn to the dark and dangerous corners of your imagination. You dabbled in all things occult because it was edgy and it pissed off your parents – but it was also thrilling and powerful. You broke so many rules, you actually found a way to cheat your way into the realm of real magic. No one believed you at first. In the end, you showed them. 

But you went too far. 

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What is Trust Fall?

Trust Fall is a scrapbook grimoire, a deck of haunted cards, a cursed mirror where you will explore the reckless choices and unwelcome truths of your past and present selves. You may be flawed, messy, and entangled in forces you don’t understand. But you’re also close friends who would do anything for each other. 

This demo of Trust Fall is a fully playable game based on the Carved from Brindlewood system, adapted to use a shared deck of standard playing cards. It appears in the Summer 2025 issue of Sprigs & Kindling.

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What you need

This demo requires 3 or 4 players and one Keeper to run the game, a deck of playing cards (Jokers removed) and character sheets. We recommend two sessions of 2-3 hours to complete the game. The demo also includes a file you can import to playingcards.io/ to use for online play. (For a guide on importing .pcio files, see here.)

Trust Fall is inspired by the TV series Yellowjackets, along with elements of The Craft, Twin Peaks, The Blackcoat’s Daughter, The Haunting of Hill House, A Dark Song, Talk to Me, and 90s nostalgia.

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Written by Gabriel Robinson & Ben Mansky

Layout by Ben Mansky