Chimerical Realm

Landon— I trust that this letter, as well as the previous one, has found its way to you. The war here seems to be on the verge of resolution—at least, the nobles are meeting with the Prince Reginald, and we all pray that the recent madness will be put aside shortly. At least, with things as they are, things seem to be picking up for us common people. The trade ships which were so long delayed for fear of piracy have at last made it to port, and all of Avalon is rejoicing.

Landon— I am certain that this letter, when it arrives to you, will come as something of a shock. When last we spoke we exchanged words which may chairtabily be described as “harsh.” It has been a month since then, and while I certainly recal my vow to never speak with you again, our beloved sister Agatha has entreated me to write to you. If not for our sake, than at least for that of our parents. Their passing this past winter has not been easy for the family, as I am certain that you are aware. Though, perhaps, you do not feel it so keenly. You were always the favorite, after all, and what little fortune our family possessed was dedicated to you. Your education and prospects always remained prominent in our parents thoughts, to the detremint of the rest of their children. I assume they thought that you would use their gifts to give aid and succor to the remainder, particularly to our sisters. It would appear that they were mistaken in your intentions.

Now that I’ve decided on what game I want to play as part of SGAM 2018, it’s time to start filling in some details for the characters. As my random rolls have left me with a “Standard Fantasy” setting, I’ve decided that I might as well go with the default setting provided with All We Love We Leave Behind , a small town called Avalon. It’s a vibrant trading community, though nothing terribly large or important. The bulk of the details will be answered as the play progresses. Though, a few of these are necessary to get the game started, so I’ll be tackling those in this post. The first question to answer is, in many ways, the most important. Who is the Absent ? Who is it that has left, and why have they left. Like almost everything in AWLWLB, this is determined by a random drawing of a card from a standard deck. So, I do that first. I have a fresh deck that I’ve shuffled quite a few times. Drawing from it I get: Three of Clubs

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. ...