And then came this amazing list of things I’ve never heard of and need to check out:
I also wonder about the IF-ness of “epistolary-style TTRPGs” in the vein of Quill (which is more “gamey”) or De Profundis (which isn’t solo, but is akin to journaling).
This is a super interesting subject, and I don’t have much to add at this point beyond general enthusiasm, but I thought I’d pluck this from the other thread to give it a little more sunlight.
What are other people’s thoughts and/or recommendations?
If you’re looking for an epistolary style game, then Your Friend in Witchcraft is fantastic. It has a nice collection of community made content- mostly character playbooks, of which I have previously made one* in a game jam that Kay ran. Flipping through some of the freely available playbooks should give you an idea of how the game runs, but the game is a nice balance between coziness and character growth- focusing on the friendship between the two player characters and the weight of their responsibilities.
*That profile is a back catalogue of my work prior to a more recent social transition and name change, hence the different name, to head off potential confusion.
This is fascinating! I had never heard of this style of games.
Out of curiosity, I donwloaded Alone amongst the Ruins and was immediately intrigued when I opened it to reveal just a three-paged PDF (with nice drawings and background). Then, upon looking closer, I glimpsed some of the depth that could be explored by diving into it.
If I understand correctly, the game gives you a setting and a set of core rules, and then you travel this world in your imagination, writing down as succinctly or elaborately as you like what happens. Right?
Yes, exactly! Solo journalling games rely heavily on the player’s own imagination- you really get what you put into them. It’s fun to have produced a little physical ‘artifact’ at the end of the writing session as well with the transcript produced, and people keep fun special journals for them sometimes.
I’ve uploaded some playthroughs, and I like including pictures of the actual written pages for fun. (I initially put them up to populate an otherwise empty page, since I’m planning on a sort of ‘re-debut’ in SpringThing 2025 with a larger IF game- which has meant taking a step back from the usual quick turn around jam games I’ve spent the last two years more or less making: it’s nice to breathe and take time to develop a larger project.)
It’s common for games to also include some element to provide randomization, though it’s not required. For example, it may instruct players to build a tower of blocks and remove pieces, with an end state being achieved when the tower collapses. Decisions might be made with flipped coins, in consulting a tarot deck, rolling dice and reading entries on numbered tables, timed to the duration of consuming a snack or drink, themed in response to the lyrics of a playlist, etc. Some games also involve cartography, or just general doodling and drawing, though again, it’s not required.
My wife and I are often on the lookout for two-player RPGs we can play, and with a child it can be hard to find time to get to the table together. An asynchronous epistolary game sounds perfect, haha.
Thanks to everyone to mention this kind of games. Never heard before about journalling games. Will play some of them. Also never heard about epistolary games. This is some nice stuff.
