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Hi everyone! I have an idea for a collaborative oracle project, where each person makes their own deck but we share certain ideas.

Basically, we would each design an oracle card (or maybe a few), coming up with whatever title and imagery we like, and writing a short guidebook entry. Then we'd add that card to a shared document, where anyone else involved in the project could create their own version of that card and add it to their own deck. At the end, we'd all have our own deck that had cards in common with other people's, but filtered through our own visions.

One goal of this setup is to be able to collaborate in a low-pressure situation. Nobody would be dependent on any other specific person getting their part done.

If you're interested in talking more about this, please let me know here, but you don't have to make any commitment. I'll also mention this in the reliquary server if you'd rather contact me there.

A wonderful supplement revolving around strangeness and storytelling! My favorite parts are the Fairyland nature and the Illusioned trait. Fairyland has some really cool tools for making the world continually stranger and stranger. And Illusioned speaks to an issue I've been thinking about a lot recently: the danger of believing things too strongly and uncritically, and the reasons why people believe anyway. There's a lot else to appreciate here but those are the parts that stood out to me!

Not all of them; I know I was at Bell's office with the Bells looking at Mark G's phone right before it happened. Other than that I saw the small park and Mark G's apartment that chapter, but I don't think that was all of them. 

Hey! I'm really enjoying the game so far, but I got to a point in chapter 2 (I think) where it dropped me back to the Toronto map but there were no more places to choose to go to. I don't feel like I reached any kind of ending so maybe this is a bug?

thanks! I’ll check those out

super cool! Quiet and mysterious and evocative.

This is a super cool playbook! It's got lots of fun silly stuff, but also ways to give your character depth along with the silliness. I especially like the 2-and-1 picklist and the list of things you can always do.

A really cool playbook! Something I liked about the Executor that I haven’t seen anywhere else so far is that the picklists aren’t written in the usual detached narrator voice of Wanderhome. Instead they’re written in this character’s own distinctive voice, which sounds to me like they’re concerned and maybe in over their head. It fits really well with the overall themes of the playbook and it’s cool to see innovations on what the standard template can be!

This is super cool! I especially liked the big custom picklist, both the larger-than-life options for masks, and the question itself that you answer. The way it's about which masks you'll lend out and which you don't makes me think of collaboration in general, and how much say you allow others in your vision. Where are you willing to adapt and where do you need things to be a certain way?

That makes sense! I'll go back over the folklores I wrote with that in mind

I wrote some Natures and now I'm trying to revise them, but I'm kinda stuck. My idea of what I want Natures to be is basically, "It's a literal place, but also an invitation to feel and act a certain way. And those two things should each be interesting and fit together well." Which I think is a pretty good goal to aspire to, but I don't know how to tell if what I've written is actually doing those things or not. Granted, I've only ever played the game solo in a journal, so maybe I'll understand this better once the group I found finally meets, but in the meantime does anyone have any advice?

I'm especially lost with how to write folklores and I don't know if there's something I don't understand about them or if I'm just overthinking things. I wrote some weird and magical events, which is the basic thing folklores are, but I don't understand how they contribute to a Nature. I think I get how the "can always do" list basically gives you ways to make the place have influence on its people and the main characters. And also how the "aesthetic elements" list helps you imagine what it's like to be there. (These are just my own interpretations, and also kind of simplifications, but that's the basics of how I read those lists.) But I really don't get what folklores contribute to play. Do they just need to be any kind of weird event, or is there a more specific way to say "will this work in a game or not?" (And again, I know there's not one right answer to the question of "does this make for good play?" But if anyone has their own feelings about it I'm interested.)

I feel like I answered a couple of my own questions in there just by writing my thoughts out, at least partially. Having spelled out what a couple of the lists do might help me decide whether the things in those lists could do what I wanted them to do. But I'm still curious whether anyone else has their own ideas about Natures and how to write them.

Here's a place to ask for advice on writing Wanderhome content, or to share helpful resources (either about Wanderhome specifically, or relevant TTRPG advice in general.)

I know there's a Discord where these kinds of conversation probably happen, but Discords usually make me anxious- no matter how friendly they are, it's just the nature of the platform. So I wanted to offer another space in case anyone else is interested in sharing on here.

To start, here are some resources I found interesting, written by Jay Dragon, the creator of Wanderhome:

• A blog post about Jay's process of figuring out what playbooks Jay wants a game to have: https://possumcreek.medium.com/writing-playbooks-an-approach-75cb3e448a82
• A twitter thread about how Jay writes and revises picklists: https://mobile.twitter.com/jdragsky/status/1429228244759457803

Really cool and inventive! My favorite part is the question that this place can ask people, but there are so many other bits of cool description.

Yeah, having typed those out I see how I came up with them both as variations on this one core idea that really interests me- the idea of having been "great" and then realizing that you don't want any part of that greatness because it's actually pretty restrictive and damaging. (Maybe a little autobiographical haha)

I think the difference being: The Heir would have a kind of "I don't want to perpetuate power and yet I'm afraid I'm so molded by it that I will anyway" deal that the Virtuoso wouldn't. And then the Virtuoso would have a deal of "music for me was all bound up in pressure and expectations and a conditional kind of validation, and so I kind of hated it. But now that I'm running from those expectations I'm asking myself whether I actually do love music when it's something I genuinely do for myself." Which the Heir doesn't really have, in my mind.

Granted, maybe trying to make all the stuff I described a core part of the playbook might actually limit the playbook too much. It might be better to allow those interpretations to be one possible use of the playbook, but not try to make it so you have to play the characters exactly in those ways.

Also having said that, I'm not even working on either of those right now, I'm working on some natures. But I'm excited to see what Eric D comes up with, and how it relates and differs from the stuff I was thinking!

ooh yeah! The small and forgotten gods I feel like are treated as “friendly but a little mysterious” in Wanderhome itself so that could be really fun to flip the perspective. I wonder if the gods would also find the animal-folk characters to be friendly and kind but not quite understandable?

This is really cool! Personally I read this playbook as geared towards ambitious, perfectionistic characters (being someone who's cast things out of themself, and who strives to complete a project that eludes them) and I think that could make for some really interesting play. I also really liked the descriptions of projects, they're all unique and valuable in their own ways.

This is such a cool idea! I like the idea of a train carrying wishes.

Everything about this playbook is so cute and evocative! I feel like it would easily lead to characters who are very alive and full of joy for the world.

A really interesting playbook that lives up to its promises of ethical conflict! I especially like the list about the different things that taxes might or might not actually be paying for.

This is super cool! I especially like the lists that tie into "what you eagerly are/have and what you're more reluctant about", it's an interesting look into the kind of character this playbook is pointing towards.

Yeah! Careful about worrying too much over hits, it'll drive you nuts (I say, as someone who totally worries over hits haha) I have a lot of feelings about this archetype too- like I said, Steve Rogers, but I also have a soft spot for characters who came back so different that the people around them have to wrestle with whether they still know this person at all. As I kind of implied, I very much know it can be a lot to deal with when you go through something big and are kind of left with a clean slate and no idea what to do next. Not like I actually almost died, I just had a weird life event, but it kind of feels the same.

That Bright Land sounds fantastic! I like how even the short teaser implies a very nature-based god.

I'm bouncing around a lot of half-formed ideas, including but not limited to:

• a talented musician running from their fame and prestige after enduring years of intense training and pressure
• a reader of oracular cards who leans heavily into metaphor and symbolism
• a runaway heir to the throne, trying to break the cycle of power and cruelty
• some natures, including a thick tangle of thornbushes and a land just starting to heal from fire

Honestly... I've got plenty of ideas. I just gotta settle on one. If anyone is interested in seeing me flesh out one in particular let me know! Same if you'd like to try writing one of these yourself- I'm not possessive about my ideas.

*takes a token*

This is so great! It's literally about being imaginary and one of the lists is focused on what that means in your case, but a couple of other lists also tie into "what you let others see and what you keep to yourself" in subtler, more grounded ways. My other favorite part is the things on the item list, which made the items seem so real and interesting to me with just little word and description choices. I haven't had a chance to play with this playbook but it seems like it would be really cool to!

Awesome playbook! It's funny, I'm not that familiar with Wei Wuxian or Aslan, but the character I immediately thought of was Steve Rogers (Captain America) - and the playbook is flexible enough that it could support lots of different variations on the same core archetype.

I haven't played this in a game but I made a character for myself just to try it out, and it was fun and made me think! I feel like all the lists do important work towards explaining the character type, while still leaving space to make interesting choices.

My favorite detail is how the items list asks you to pick an item you kept from before your "death", an item you got recently, and an item you hope to find. I've been thinking a lot lately about living in the aftermath of some big event, as if your life is made up of "before and after". And so I think it's interesting and poetic that the game asks you to pick an item from before, an item from after, and an item you still want- that shows you still have hopes for your future. Just because the life you lived before "dying" is over doesn't mean it's the end.

That's how I read it, anyway. But like any good playbook, the way you use it is up to you.

does this mean that playbooks for existing games would be ok?

the title says it all- I was just wondering if 500 words meant exactly 500, or 500 or less, or something else?

I love this! Would it be possible to get a black-and-white foldup version so it's easier to read when I print it?

How many players is this for?

amazing!

yeah it's just that one page. Glad you liked it!

Title says it all... is there going to be a discord server?

It should be playable in browser. The graphics are simple,  it's just 3 colored boxes and an image which drags from box to box.. if that's not what you're seeing, please tell me what you are seeing and I can try to troubleshoot.

aww thx!

Looks awesome! Are there plans to release it for Mac?

This was simple (well of course, it was an hour game) but it was fun!

Uploading the .gslides into Google Drive might work, but I'll fix the link- thanks for letting me know!

thanks! Here's hoping it turns out

so what are people planning on doing? I'm think I'm going to compare Twine and Texture, which is an idea I've had for a while; yes, it is slightly weird to do a visual essay about a textual medium, but what I want to talk about is the mediums themselves and what it's like interacting with them, so I think it'll work.

Also, if anyone wants me to look over their essay and give feedback, I'd be happy to.