HarperPenguinSchusterHouse is a game about the frustrations and difficulties of the publishing world. One player assumes the role of HPSH, the mega-publisher that has merged to control all books produced. The other players assume the roles of writers, who have been trapped in a library basement by HPSH and can only escape by figuring out what HPSH has deemed the “sellable novel” and pitching to its tone, character trope, and genre. Writers turn in pitches that are edited by HPSH in red pen, giving them clues about what may or may not be in the “sellable novel.” The process of pitching over and over again, narrowing creativity as the options dwindle, is meant to evoke the sense writers get as they try to see their work published.