Seven games, from one card to fifty-two
The thing that goes wrong with a solo journaling game is buying a fifty-two-card one first. You play two turns, life happens, and the book sits there reproaching you. This bundle exists so you can start with the one-card game instead, find out whether this kind of play suits you, and keep the fifty-two-card one for when you already know it does.
| Game | Turns | What it runs on |
|---|---|---|
| The Unanswered Letter | One card | One playing card |
| The Crimson Parlour | Thirteen cards | One card at a time |
| The Keeper’s Log | Forty rolls | Two ordinary dice |
| The Hedgewitch’s Almanac | One per plant | A card and a growing thing |
| Folklore Forest | Fifty-two cards | One card at a time |
| The Borrowed Shelf | One per book | A card per finished book |
| The Commonplace Hours | One per line | A card per line caught |
What each one is about
The Unanswered Letter
England, 1913. A letter arrives, addressed in a hand you either knew at once or have never seen. One card decides who wrote and what they want. You write their letter first, then your reply, and then you decide whether it is sent, burned, or folded into the page unsent. Two facing pages, from a single card.
The Crimson Parlour
Christmas Eve, 1887. Edmund Ashgrove is dead and the household would quietly prefer that it was you. Turn one card at a time: the suit sends you into a room, the rank shows you what you found. Keep the Register, clear the suspects one by one, and after the thirteenth card write a single name for the inquest.
The Keeper’s Log
The supply boat has not come, and there is a light burning where the chart shows open water. Roll two ordinary dice. One points to the sea, one to the night. Doubles move the story of the light forward. Every fifth watch ends in a sealed paper pocket you do not open until later.
The Hedgewitch’s Almanac
Mara Venn left her almanac unfinished and you are the one filling it in. Take one growing thing (a houseplant, a weed in the path, a sprig of rosemary from the kitchen), turn a card, and make its page. The suit gives you the lore, the rank tells you how to compose the plate. No plant knowledge needed and none claimed; this is invention, not identification.
Folklore Forest
A wood behind the house is forgetting itself. Draw cards to discover your keeper, the twelve Folk, the four Reaches, and what is going wrong out there. One card and one page at a time, through the four seasons of the wood.
The Borrowed Shelf
One page for every book you actually finish. Turn a card when you close the cover: it decides what goes on the page, and it decides which book you hunt down next. Nine spread ideas for the ones you want to make more of.
The Commonplace Hours
Catch a line somebody actually said before it is gone by the weekend, then turn one card. The suit decides how the line goes on the page, the rank sends you looking for the next one. Add a word in the margin, build the index at the back, and let the subjects of your book emerge from what you kept.
What is in the download
- 7 complete illustrated game books, 248 pages in total
- 40 component sheets to print and cut: registers, keeper sheets, a house plan, a map, hand-designed portraits, action cards, quick reference cards
- A printer-friendly copy of every book and component file, with the decorative page wash removed
- A two-page-per-sheet copy of every book, sized for an A5 journal
- 42 high-resolution PDF files across seven clearly named downloads
What you need
- One ordinary deck of playing cards. Six of the seven games run on it
- Two ordinary six-sided dice, for The Keeper’s Log
- A journal, or loose pages you will bind later
- Something to write with, and whatever odd paper is already in the drawer
One player, one pen, played at the table on paper. Nothing is scored, and no previous role-playing experience is assumed.
Never played one of these?
A solo journaling game gives you a situation and a deck. You draw, the card tells you what happened, and you write it down in your own journal as the person it happened to. That is the whole thing. Put it down for as long as you like and pick it up on the page where you left off.
Start with The Unanswered Letter. One page of rules and worked examples, and it is done after one card.
Papers and ephemera are not in here
This bundle is the seven games and nothing else. Folklore Forest and The Crimson Parlour both have matching junk journal kits (printable papers, tags, frames, torn edges, collage tape), and those live in The Complete Collection. If you want the art as well as the games, that is the listing to look at.
File format
- High-resolution PDF, US Letter portrait, A4 compatible, 300 DPI
- Print at 100 per cent. For an A5 journal use the two-up copy rather than your printer’s booklet setting
- Instant download, yours to print as often as you like for your own personal journaling
- For personal and small-business use. Please don’t share, redistribute or resell the files themselves
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