So What Is Sin Eater?

I should’ve led with this.

I know I’ve been incredibly radio silent lately; we’re currently in the stage of “a lot of stuff happening behind the scenes for Sin Eater, mostly none of which can be shared.” However, after meandering around sin and sin-adjacent topics, it occurred to me that I’ve actually done relatively little to talk about what the game of Sin Eater entails. As someone who works in marketing, you’d think I’d be better than this, but talking earnestly about a personal project that you’ve poured your heart into means willingly hurling yourself into the stygian maw of potential rejection. Downvote to that. Anyway, in the post below I’ll be breaking down some of the gameplay aspects of Sin Eater, interspersed with excerpts from the game itself. So let’s get hurlin’.

At the bottom of this pit is the merciless judgement of your peers.

Hired by the living for your disposable soul, the discretions of the dead instead find their home in you. Our sin-eater. You are the scapegoat, the sacrifice, the child cast down in the pit to let the honored dead rest in their shimmering cities. A footnote in the life of the late and great, a custodian of souls, scouring clean their spiritual filth as they embark for the great beyond. That is, if you decide they are deserving.

Sin Eater is a solo journaling tabletop roleplaying game about the real, historical practice of sin-eating. Over the course of your session(s), you will take on the role of the titular sin-eater, absolving or condemning the souls of the dear or detested departed. To that end, and to begin, you will sculpt your sin-eater using the questions and tables in the game text: what put you on the path of ruin? Sin-eaters circle the drain of humanity, lapping at the dregs of filth-encrusted souls. What were you before this? And what has this life done to warp you, body and soul?

This is the ideal sin-eater body. You may not like it, but this is what peak performance looks like.

A greasy candle made from the lard of a two-headed calf; not slaughtered, but left to die as nature saw fit. How did this candle make its way into your possessions?

A dried severed finger that softly taps out a beat in time with your ritual dirge. Was this a gift, given but perhaps unwanted? A souvenir you took for yourself?

Creeping phlox harvested from the oldest headstone in the village graveyard. While the name has long since eroded away, the relief carved above it always makes you uneasy. Describe or sketch it.

You will design your ritual from the prompts provided, sketching or writing out the detestable tools of the trade. A severed finger that twitches in the presence of a wrathful soul, a death mask that resembles your own wasted visage. Inexorably tie your world to your sin-eater by incorporating curios from the physical realm, pulled from your own possessions and placed on the ritual spread before you.

Cannot stress enough how much you don’t need to do this to play Sin Eater. This is not a game mechanic. But also, the cool thing about a solo game is that if you want to do this, no one is stopping you.

Flip each coin twice. Note the harmony of the results. 

Balanced Humors. One of each: black bile, yellow bile, phlegm, blood.

The four seasons of the soul, in perfect harmony. What recipe did you choose that represented each in such measured ways?

Rip and tear into the meat of the game itself. Balance feast & flesh alike with two custom coins, each face representing one of the four humors. Using a coinflip mechanic, attempt to maintain equilibrium among the four essences that will make or break your ritual. Crack the bones for the marrow of sin: The soul, their transgression, and the feast that will decide their fate. Weave the story of the corpse before you, roll or pick their sin(s), and make the decision that will seal their fate forever. Whether you choose condemnation or salvation, the coins decide: does everything go as planned, or are you doomed to be forever tethered to a sullied soul?

Yet again, I’d like to reiterate how much you don’t have to do this to play Sin Eater, but you could if you wanted. It’s really up to you.

While your corporeal work may be finished, the soul’s trajectory has only just been set. Refer back to the results of your coin flips to determine whether you severed the mortal tether successfully, or if you find yourself returned to the well-worn grooves of failure.

And with that, this chapter in the life of your sin-eater comes to a close. Create a new sin-eater for each session, or tell an overarching story of a single character, recording across days, weeks, or years of fulfilling their unsavory duty. But know this: three catastrophic failures of discordant humors upon the head of your piteous wretch will shuffle them violently off this mortal coil.

Rule of threes.