About Autumnal Games
The games and events that I produce invite people to embrace a shared fiction. None of my players are looking for a normal night.
I make games and events for people who want to experience something unusual. That includes storytelling games, parlor larps, and theatrical writing events. You may have seen Autumnal Games (or me, Jim Markus) at PAX East, PAX South, PAX Unplugged, Gen Con, Forge Midwest, or as a character in various larps around Chicago.
Autumnal Games has been a labor of love for more than a decade. Fortunes, the Tarot Card Storytelling Game, was the culmination of years of work, of countless playtests and late game nights. But the soul of this studio started with writing duels.
Some of the most popular events I've designed are writing duels, often under the banner of The Ink & Blood Dueling Society. That secret organization started at New Wave Coffee in Logan Square more than 10 years ago. Since then, the group has met after hours at comic and game stores, in the back rooms of various bars, and eventually at conventions across the United States. It also found a home for a while in the basement of Goblin Market in Chicago.
The writing duels and our beloved society that must not be named share an aesthetic with my other games. That includes Fortunes, The Tarot Card Storytelling Game, and The Elderflower Inn, a more recent mystery game.
What we've made
Fortunes: The Tarot Card Storytelling Game is a game for storytellers, played with a tarot deck or an ordinary deck of playing cards. No game master, no prep. Art by Charles Huth. Fortunes runs at game nights, and players can find copies at independent bookstores. The game can also be played at Secret World Books, in Highland Park.
The Ink & Blood Dueling Society Doesn't Exist is a short, illustrated manual to the secret world of writing duels. Autumnal Games runs these events live as Writing Duels, where writers compete to craft stories in a short window of time, usually in front of an audience, including appearances at PAX East, PAX South, and PAX Unplugged.
Crypt Kickers, a free committee larp about negotiating where to throw a party, won the Golden Cobra Max Gladstone Special Judge's Choice Award in 2021.
Alongside the back catalog, we publish printable murder mystery party kits and parlor larps under the Autumnal Games name, and write hosting guides from the table.
The Autumnal Games logo
The Autumnal Games logo was designed by Charles Huth, who also did the art for Fortunes.
Photos and art on this site are © Autumnal Games unless credited otherwise. All rights reserved. Contact us for permission if you would like to use our work.