''Don't Rest Your Head'' is a role-playing game published by

Evil Hat Productions Evil Hat Productions is a company that produces role-playing games and other tabletop games. They are best known for the free indie RPG system ''Fate'', '' Blades in the Dark'', and '' Thirsty Sword Lesbians'', all of which have won multiple awa ...

in 2006.

Description

''Don't Rest Your Head'' is an indie role-playing game where characters who cannot sleep draw upon that insomnia for power.

Publication history

While working on ''

Fate Destiny, sometimes also called fate (), is a predetermined course of events. It may be conceived as a predeterminism, predetermined future, whether in general or of an individual. Fate Although often used interchangeably, the words wiktionary ...

'' and '' Spirit of the Century'', as a side-project Fred Hicks worked on indie role-playing game ''Don't Rest Your Head'' (2006), which instead wound up being the first published game from

. ''Don't Rest Your Head'' was critically acclaimed and did not take long to sell through the initial print on demand print run ordered by Evil Hat.

Reception and legacy

''Don't Rest Your Head'' was a runner-up for Indie Game of the Year at the 2006 Indie RPG Awards, losing to ''Spirit of the Century''. Shannon Appelcline commented on the game: "''Don't Rest Your Head'' included some clever dice mechanics and some resources, all bound up in an evocative setting. People who cannot sleep draw upon that insomnia for power. As they take actions, players can choose to use madness and exhaustion dice alongside their discipline dice – but as they do so, they can go around the bend, with either insanity or nightmares catching up. Hope and despair enter the game system as coins, which players and the GM exchange with others to bend the story to their needs. When a GM uses despair he gives hope to the players and vice-versa; thus all participants in the game get to balance their involvement in plot creation." Jay Little listed ''Don't Rest Your Head'' as one of his several influences for his design of the third edition of ''

Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay ''Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay'' or ''Warhammer Fantasy Role-Play'' (abbreviated to ''WFRP'' or ''WHFRP'') is a role-playing game set in the ''Warhammer Fantasy (setting), Warhammer Fantasy'' setting, published by Games Workshop or its licensee ...

'' (2009). In 2008, the game supplement ''Don't Lose Your Mind'' won the Indie RPG Awards for Indie Supplement of the Year. ''Don't Lose Your Mind'' won the Silver ENnie for Best Writing, and was also nominated for Product of the Year.

References

{{reflist ENnies winners Evil Hat Productions games Horror role-playing games Indie role-playing games Indie RPG Awards winners Role-playing games introduced in 2006