Denial & Yearning RPG

The three-act structure really sells it — you feel the trashy novel's drama and the author's messy life interweaving, and creating both layers before play makes every scene land. I've run it twice with different groups and each romance played out totally differently.

Building out the two layers of characters—the authoress and her fictional leads—was so much more fun than I expected. The three-act structure gives the story a satisfying arc, and I love how the romance between the lesbian leads evolves with each act.

I've spent hours just crafting the author and their hilariously terrible novel before even starting the game, and the three-act structure for the lesbian leads makes the story feel so organic. The meta-layer of playing the author who wrote the characters you then play is surprisingly deep and fun.