PRAISE THE HAWKMOTH KING is a dark erotic tabletop game currently in development. The link is to the publicly available Chapter Zero, which contains partial draft rules of the character creation and some general statements of intent for the full game. It uses a Powered by the Apocalypse-derived system to tell the story of teenagers who have been raised from the dead and gifted strange, uncomfortable Blessings by the Hawkmoth King. I have been promoting it because I am exactly the right kind of sicko (weird sex and weird tabletop gaming venn diagram intersection).

This is not a general-audiences game or post! To quote the game's author:

PRAISE THE HAWKMOTH KING: CHAPTER ZERO contains the following materials built into its rules: Nonconsensual sex, sexual violence, teenagers having sex, age-gap relationships, bugs, voyeurism, oviposition, BDSM, master/slave dynamics, petplay, stalking, musk, nausea/vomiting, intoxication, tentacle rape, vore, hypnosis, and mindbreak. This is both a list of content warnings and tantalizing promises.

"Hawkmoth Derived Thoughts" asks: (2025-01-28)

Although plenty of things are tempting me to buy Praise the Hawkmoth King (despite not having a group to run it in AND also having a active campaign I already participate in) the one that really sticks out to me is that... I can't seem to recall another game that focuses so heavily, no, at ALL on a Magic Marker/Pen/Crayon/PICK ONE type mechanic? The ability to alter parts of the world and characters in such a manner is usually relegated to special one-off items and mechanics, or given explicitly to villains, or area specific- and golly, forbid it be anything other than temporary. Even most systems that allow you to alter your character in such a manner will have it be exclusively your choice. And that's not a BAD thing, it would be unreasonable to expect such a major mechanic to be in a system that isn't explicitly built around it's possibility, and permanent alterations to someone's character can really piss them off... But it's SO cool though. I'm kinda shocked it took so long for me to see something like this be made. One of the things that it's been making me wonder passively ever since I saw it's main mechanic is "What kinds of insults would characters place upon me?". If given the power to mold one another, what would I become? How would i change? How would I feel about it afterwards? And because it's mutual, what would I have THEM become in turn? It's such basic thoughts but I'm Fascinated. I wonder how it easy it would be to splice these mechanics elsewhere... (...None of that was a ask. Uh, Voice of the Opportunist with this mechanic? What will he do...)

right??? it's VERY permissive and very confrontational! really fascinating design, love a mechanic that immediately provokes a lot of speculation about how it would be used.

thoughts are as welcome as direct asks! but nonetheless: oppy should NOT be allowed the insult mechanic

"Hawkmoth Mechanics Are Attacking ME???" asks: (2025-01-28)

Ah! I'll accept being the 'Good Girl' if he'll tolerate being the... um... Ah jeez, I don't r-really want to call him anything too rude... Give me a moment to think of something... The cover artwork is really nice too, if I'm being honest...Although they could maybe afford to be a little less v-violent on it? I guess they are zombies, though... And it's nevertheless quite striking! Kink-related TTRPG's fascinate me a lot, but it's difficult to imagine how best to go about collecting players. DND has that one system/campaign for WG that I think I heard people say was good, although I don't remember what it was called... I think it was multiple, actually, I don't know much about it. I'm sure it was good though! But getting people who are eager to play normal DND isn't the easiest thing in the world (for how popular it is, DND is has a oddly divided opinion on it's quality (which is honestly quite fair, given how WEIRD parts of 5e are)) and getting people from that pool who are willing to play KINK DND is... (Let's see, he's already vain, he's already selfish, he's a glutton (which, let's be honest, is super hot...), he's kinda lazy...) Well, it's a little... hard. And that's a another part on why this is cool, actually- as a SEX ttrpg, you (in theory) get to weed out a lot of the people who would have... well, for lack of nicer words, Sucked to play with at the cost of less people in general! It makes me really want to try and put myself out there sometimes when I see games like this, even though I'm terribly shy... (He's jealous (which is cute...), inconsiderate, he's not very polite (which is a little cute...), he's inherently dishonest...) I guess that it might not be too hard to gather a selection of my friend group for a one-shot, though..? It's also somewhat fun to think about in context of the people you know- it's like a thought experiment! What kinds of qualities would they inscribe upon YOUR character, if given the chance? (....He's already got. Most of the negative qualities one can think to insult about???? Wait, I'm thinking too close to Hawkmoth's rules. Anything can be a insult, if it's terribly opposed to the person's views...) ...Alright, I've got something, I think... It's a little hard, since most Insults would just feed back into what Opportunist is... already kinda like? So... If I'm the 'Good Girl', Opportunist should be, at least in regards to our dynamic, 'Leashed'. Because, um... if I have to do, or at least Really Want To Do what he says, and he DOES sound reasonable, and it would feel TERRIBLE to refuse him- ...He should only be able to give requests that would benefit me? And maybe he should also do things for me sometimes? Although maybe not t-too many, I mean, I would feel bad. And it's a little tricky even with this one I spent time thinking about, because. Well. I already like quite a number of The Opportunist's quirks... his possessive nature, for one, and he's not body-shy at all, very physically clingy... So it's not really as much of a restriction as it appears, and it begs the question- ...What do you think happens if you give someone a Insult that Heavily compliments aspects of their current personality? Without the rulebook in my hands to potentially give a really good answer to this potentially stupid question, I'd say that Hawkmoth King is, on appearance, more concerned with applying characteristics to characters that you want to see more of That Aren't Already There. Because you could interact with those already, and adding new ones fucks with the character themselves and makes for more engaging role play as you shift the character, how they speak, what actions you think would make sense... But technically, you COULD probably give, say, a submissive character Insults that lead further into it, or the opposite. And that would probably in turn effect what Insults THEY could give... This is a really cool system. O////O

it's cute how you're shy enough to be worried about being too mean when you insult someone

no stupid questions! not only can anything be an insult but insults can 100% be observations/complimentary to their existing behavior! if someone gets into fights a lot and you want them to be better at it you can call them a brute and a meathead and goad them into fighting harder, if someone sucks a lot of cock you can call them a cocksucker and so on. you can absolutely Insult the opportunist for being clingy and jealous and egg him on to new heights. the converse of this is that it's not like, mind control.

(i don't know if you've encountered PBTA systems before but i'm sure not everyone reading this has, so quick primer: when i talk about rolling in a PBTA the standard form is to roll 2d6 and add relevant bonuses/maluses; moves have one outcome on a result of 6 or lower, another on 7-9, and a third on 10 or higher. the 6- result often has negative consequences, 7-9 a "mixed success" where you succeed but something unintended happens, and 10+ is typically the best result, but this structure can be subverted; and almost never, at least in a well written game, is a result just "you fail and nothing happens and you can't do it again," it should always be something that moves the story forward.)

another player reminding you of one of your Insults when you make a roll moves the result up or down one step, their choice. boosts a 6- failure into a 7-9 mixed success, or knocks a 10+ down to a mixed success, or vicey versey. it's absolutely a threat to be like, i'll make sure you face consequences if you try to do something that isn't being a good girl for me! but it's not cutting off other players' agency quite as strongly as i think you're imagining. calling someone a cocksucker is not gonna, on its own, make em drop their existing ambitions and look for cocks to suck.

i'm also being pretty mild and pretty literal when i talk about Insults but i want to be clear that when i posted that screenshot with hawkmoth-chan's list of insults mosaic'd out it was jam packed with slurs in there, and i do think an intended part of the design space is the cruel cocktail of nonsense implications and stereotypes that can weigh socially on insults, like, "d*kes can't make friends with other girls", "f*gs aren't any good at football," whatever it might be. you're not obligated to engage on that level i just want to be on the same page

you do get to permanently add a fitting modification, potentially a new ability, to the other character's statblock if you're the third player to invoke someone's Insult though >:) before that point you can remove the Insult with certain actions, after the third reminder it's not able to affect your rolls anymore but it is just a permanent part of who you are. many possibilities there. you could give a "leashed" opportunist the "Obedient Dog" play from the wolf-pet boy and make it very hard for him to go against the wishes of his Master, although that does come with the risk that someone will seduce him into changing his allegiance; and of course you're racing against him doing the same or something worse to you.

re: cover art they are not only zombies but an expected part of the gameplay loop is dying and coming back again repeatedly (death is a consequence for rolling poorly on several moves, the only reason you'd need to pay/sacrifice anything for resurrection is if you want it to happen quicker) and the rules and plays include a whole spectrum of sexual violence, so there's an argument to be made that being violent on the cover is valuable expectation-setting

as far as gathering players, idk, i already hang out with indie tabletop circles and kinkster circles (strong overlap fyi) so i don't feel like i have useful advice, but HK is very much following in the footsteps of games like Bliss Stage and Monsterhearts, people are already assembling groups to play games like this, it's super possible. i would definitely start from the pool of people who are willing to engage in kink w/ you and then narrow from there to the people who will tabletop game with you - which i know is the narrower funnel but you only truly need one or two people, yknow? it's on the lower end of what's viable but you could make a two or three person group work. i will say, there's still opportunities for people you trusted with a sex-forward game to suck to play with (in new and exciting ways even) and i do feel you on how difficult it is to assemble a group who are all equally enthusiastic about a game and schedule it and follow through, with or without kink in the equation

the expectation-setting text in HK's introduction includes, basically, don't play this game with people you wouldn't trust to engage in an intense kink scene with, and don't play it if you're inexperienced with kink culture safeguards or with powered by the apocalypse TTRPGs. and even if you are you very well might be hurt. i heartily endorse all of that. if you're not already up on PBTAs i would say go look into something like Monster of the Week or Under Hollow Hills first, then circle back to the deep end. (UHH also being a listed inspiration for Praise the Hawkmoth King and it completely whips ass (while being much less sexually charged), it is about playing the members of a fae circus act; MotW is more generic a system, with a monster/cryptid investigation-and-hunting focus, which excites me less but it is a perfectly good workhorse)

(sidebar, i would not say.. i know what you mean but this is not "Kink D&D" lol. even apart from my principled objections re "wizards of the coast does NOT get to claim this whole hobby," it sets weird expectations, like if you, idk, called monopoly "capitalism checkers" bc they're both board games. completely different mechanics, complexity, tone, this is mostly beside the point but i didn't want to just let it pass)

okay i think i addressed everything haha. thank you very much for your detailed thoughts and engagement! i appreciate hearing from you and getting to talk abt my interests, truly

Anonnie asks: (2025-01-29)

Do you think Wolf-Pet Boy would fit the Hunted at all? Or would a different title maybe fit better?

wolf-pet boy would be an entirely appropriate blessing for the voice of the hunted yeah! although the hawkmoth king is under no obligation to give people appropriate or wanted blessings! i would equally love to see hunted as a cicada-shell girl but that doesn't signify anything, i want to see everyone full of bugs.

chapter 0 includes four blessings, there will be more in the full release but sticking with the ones that are public, assigning voices to blessings that do feel fitting:

the Cicada-Shell Girl is full of bugs, can assign her children to spy on people, can burst out of the paper-thin shell of her old body to flee a bad situation, and can make her plays using other people's bodies if one of her children is inside them. i actually think the voice of the paranoid would be all about it. yes it's disgusting and awful but he gets to hear what other people are saying about him all the time? knows exactly where they are and what they're doing? bring on the bugs, lfg.

the Orb-Weaver Girl focuses on one person at a time, termed her Obsession, and is empowered & encouraged to shape them into tools that are more pliable and useful; and generally has abilities related to gaining influence and favors and power over others. smitten would definitely thrive here and i think skeptic would adapt pretty well, it's a very red-strings-on-a-corkboard, understanding someone much too thoroughly kind of love

the Wolf-Pet Boy also has a defining relationship, this time with his Master, and it's difficult for him to disobey a direct command; it's possible for him to transfer allegiance to a new Master if he's fucked well enough, bring someone else under his domination by fucking them, & has some possessively stalking & defending people abilities. besides hunted, i think stubborn would chafe a lot at calling someone Master but that doesn't make it wrong

the Hemlock Boy is a sickly wretch who is deeply unwell but can produce various drugs & poisons inside himself to be administered by bodily fluids or touch. broken fits right in. contrarian is more of an oddball choice but i would like to see what he does with access to LSD for spit and so on. from a safe distance.

nonnie asks: (2025-01-30)

which PTHK playbook would you personally find the most attractive to play as? is it the same as the one you'd find the most attractive to be fucked by or fuck yourself?

cicada-shell girl is, as i've vaguely alluded to, a targeted strike on my position & my favorite blessing, but wolf-pet boy is pretty close behind. however. the potential consequences of fucking or being fucked by a cicada-shell girl go a little too hard for me but i would let a wolf-pet boy hit and i'll even let him wrestle to see who tops, either way around is good there

OCs(?) asks: (2025-01-31)

Which Hawkmoth classes (of the four we know) would your various OC’s want most?

hmm. let's see

the incubator gets like one sentence into any description of cicada-shell girl and immediately smashes the Put Bugs In Me button. that's a gimme

orb-weaver girl.. i think i personally have the least handle on what makes orb-weaver girl appealing to be unfortunately. i'm going to say kokabiel. e's already a weird lil schemer

wolf-pet boy is an odd position because despite the feral-animal-play and the. wolf aspect i think dr. hyland is too dominant and proud to willingly go for it. her tail would, if that counts, and i guess that drags her along

otherwise dr. hyland and dr. mutable are going to slapfight for who gets hemlock boy. in the name of Substances and Concoctions. i know i just said dr. hyland was prideful but idk, there's calling someone Master and there's throwing up on your own labcoat, they're different kinds of humiliation. some people are more willing to do one than the other. many dimensions here.

random does not want to be any of these. they're all scary and none of them are about shapeshifting. if you make it pick i think it would whine about it and then pick wolf-pet boy. prima would not really take the thought exercise that seriously but would select orb-weaver girl

of course if we're talking about it actually happening to them they don't get to pick what blessing they want and have to submit to the will of the Hawkmoth King ^u^

thank you for the indulgent question. poke me again if i forgot some less-common OC you're just dying to know the opinion of

"OCs(?) Deluxe Edition" asks: (2025-01-31)

Y'know what. I DO have a followup. Bookie is debatably still a thing given circumstances but is still on the table for this question. I am unsure if the various pooltoys you've made recently have enough... agency(?) in them to be selected by the Hawkmoth King. Even that one unicorn that got their own tag on the booru... Fascinated by the implication of Cicada-Shell Girl on Pooltoys, though. And I suppose for fun I'll also add Lupin III as bonus, even though there's a 94% chance Daisuke trips over his own shoes into Wolf-Pet Boy before you've finished asking the question...

bookie still exists! i was contemplating their answer in the original response but didn't really come to a conclusion. honestly they might be torn between cicada-shell girl and wolf-pet boy but too embarrassed to admit they want either one. wolf-pet boy wins if they absolutely have to pick one

the unicorn .. i was going to say i haven't given it enough of its personality for it to have an opinion but before i could finish typing such a thing it signaled to me that it would choose orb-weaver girl. apparently it is kind of vain. i accept this. i should probably name that thing

meanwhile toypool is . oh no no no. toypool would choose hemlock boy and the water it is filled with would become No Good Very Bad. bad situation. narsty fucker

a pooltoy full of bugs...... certainly an image to contemplate

fujiko orb-weaver girl, jigen wolf-pet boy, lupin cicada-shell girl, goemon hemlock boy.. i guess. assuming i'm evenly distributing blessings. it's not great but i'm not sure what else to give goemon either. i mean he wouldn't be awful as a second wolf-pet boy. but ultimately this might be something to circle back to on full release when there are more blessings

ty again!!