As November approaches, we are once more coming to “SoloGaming Appreciation Month” (SGAM), an annual event where a bunch of Solo gamers
come together to play a game or two with linked elements. Last year was focused
on the work of Zach Best and shared Tarot Cards as story inspiration. This
year, the theme is a bit more nebulous, “New & Shiny - Play a game or
genre that you have never played before,” with a runner up of “Hybrid Game -
take a small board game or card game and use it as driver for a solo RPG
experience.” So, my challenge for this year is to play a new game or genre.
Unfortunately, every game I own I’ve actually played at some
point, in some way, even if it wasn’t as a Solo game. So, I decided to branch a
bit further out of my comfort zone and try a truly narrative game, specifically
one of the “Letter Writing” genre. For those who aren’t aware, this is a genre
of game where you take on the role of a writer, trying to communicate with a
distant character. There’s a couple of these, though Quill is, justifiably, the
most famous of these. Quill is great, don’t get me wrong, but it’s not quite
clicking with me right now. So, instead I’m going to try a game that is heavily
inspired by Quill, All We Love We Leave Behind by Adam Vass.
In this game, you play as the one who has been left behind.
Someone close to you--your spouse, lover, sibling, child, or best friend--has
left. Generally, they’ve gone off to be an “adventurer” of some sort; what
would typically be a PC in other games. You are the one left at home, hoping
for their safe return, and dreading the worst. So you write them, as often as
you can, trying to keep your connection alive. But they never reply, and you
are left to struggle with their absence. As you play, cards from a typical deck
are drawn to reveal what happens to you during while they are gone, and how you
cope without them in your life. If things go well, you are finally able to put
them in your past and move on. If not, the feelings of abandonment and
isolation may prove too much for you.
So, yeah, it’s a pretty different beast than what I’m used
to, so this is going to be a bit of a rough experiment. I’ve never done
anything like this, and it’s quite possible I might trip up and do a few things
wrong here and there. But, that is all part of the fun. I’m also pretty sure
there will be at least two differences from this play through and what the game
presents.
The first way I’m going to diverge from Vass’s instructions
is in the actual writing of the letters. He instructs you to actually,
physically, write the letters out, to better experience what the character is
feeling in the moment. I’m pretty sure he’s correct about this, but for this
series I will, naturally, be typing these letters. This might deny me the
pleasures that come from physically creating something, but it ensures that
others don’t need to deal with my atrocious handwriting.
Secondly, I don’t know what genre I’m going to use. The base
AWLWLB game assumes a fairly typical fantasy scenario, though the game also
includes “hacks” for alternate settings--noir, summer camp, and distant sci-fi.
I have no particular idea of when or where I want the game to take place, so
I’m going to decide randomly.
First, general time frame. Is this:
1. The past (includes fantasy, but also historical era’s
prior to 1900)
2. Modern Day (1900-present)
3. Future.
Now, is this:
1. Standard Fantasy
2. Grim Fantasy
3. Weird History (Old West, Classical, Medieval, Colonial
eta, etc.)
4. Real History (Old West, Classical, Medieval, Colonial
eta, etc.)
I roll a D4 and get a 1. So, it’s Standard Fantasy.
I'll be honest, this was not quite was I was expecting when
I started this post. But, play the dice where they lay, as they say. Next post
I’ll create my character, The Writer, and their focus, The Absent.
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