A downloadable playkit

This is the free playkit, produced before the Kickstarter. The Wanderhome PDF will be available soon.

The road has a song all to its own. Sometimes, when I stay in the same place for more than a few nights and I take some time to lie in the grass and stare at the clouds, I can forget that the song is even there. But eventually it always calls to me, and I’ll put on my cloak again, grab my walking stick and set foot once more.

Wanderhome is a pastoral fantasy Role-Playing Game built on the No Dice, No Masters engine (often called Belonging Outside Belonging). It is a game filled of grassy fields, mossy shrines, herds of chubby bumblebees, opossums in sundresses, salamanders with suspenders, starry night skies, and the most beautiful sunsets you can imagine. You might be a tamarin who dances with small and forgotten gods, a leporine mail carrier who relies on moths to get packages where they belong, a little lizard with a big heart and a mysterious past, or a near-endless number of thrilling possibilities.

No matter what, we’re always travelers—animal-folk who go from village to village and get to see the length and breadth of the whole of the world. The seasons will change as we play, and we will change with them. But I can’t tell you all that will happen on our journey together, along the winding dirt road and amid the grassy fields. We’re just going to have to find that out together.

Will you join me?

Wanderhome coming soon to Kickstarter. Click here and subscribe to get notified the moment the project launches on August 4th.

This playkit contains all of the following: • Abbreviated and condensed rules for getting started with Wanderhome • Six playbooks (The Dancer, the Moth-Tender, the Poet, the Ragamuffin, the Shepherd, and the Vagabond) • 36 basic traits • 18 natures It does not contain: • The full ruleset for Wanderhome • An additional nine playbooks (The Caretaker, the Exile, the Firelight, the Fool, the Guardian, the Merchant, the Pilgrim, the Teacher, and the Veteran) • Advanced traits • Advanced natures • Season sheets and phenomena • Any of the incredible art produced for Wanderhome

More information
StatusReleased
CategoryPhysical game
Rating
Rated 4.9 out of 5 stars
(102 total ratings)
AuthorPossum Creek Games
Tagsbelonging-outside-belonging, bob, cottagecore, GM-Less, Kickstarter, LGBT, LGBTQIA, pastoral, playkit, Queer
LinksKickstarter

Download

Download
playkit.pdf 987 kB

Development log

Comments

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Dead Melody3 years ago(+1)

Oh no! I just found out about the KS campaign and therefore missed the chance to preorder on Backerkit. Will I get the chance to order a physical copy in the future? :(

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Possum Creek Games3 years ago

We'll be putting up preorders on our website (possumcreekgames.com) in the next few days!

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Mari Humphreys3 years ago(+1)

Getting ready to start a little ongoing campaign using this playkit and I'm so excited!

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Beak Studios3 years ago(+1)

Amazing! :)

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Flamewinger4 years ago (1 edit) (+4)

Hello, This game looks wonderful.  I am a teacher and have been looking for a rpg that my elementary students could get into that isnt about slaying monsters and killing folk.  I looked through the free play kit and I like what I see, though I do have a few questions.  

1. Are gods heavily featured (I work in Texas)?  This might be of concern to some of my parents.

2. While I myself am trans, and support the lgbt community, I again worry about parent backlash.  How heavy are the lgbt themes in the game?  In the free play kit, they seem pretty light, but I definitely will have to cover my butt on this if I bring it to school.

3. Is there much killing? I noticed the character background "vagabond" is probably one that I would just not offer to my kids, but are there other areas in the story that heavily feature killing or other such things?

I realize that I can edit out parts that I do not think will fly in my Texas school, but at a certain point some things might be more work than they are worth.


Thank you for your help!

River (She/Her)

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Possum Creek Games4 years ago(+8)

Hi River! Thanks for reaching out

1. There are explicit references to small and forgotten gods, but if you want to rename those "spirits" or "ghosts" the game functions totally fine. They're more like animist deities than anything else.

2. If the level of themes in the playkit works for you, then you'll be fine with the full game itself. There might be a couple of pieces of artwork that depict gay animals, but that's it.


3. There is no violence in Wanderhome, not even with the vagabond! There is the Veteran, another playbook who has a sword - but they never draw their sword and the act of using it causes them to immediately get removed from the game. Besides that and the Vagabond's history (which they've moved on from) there's no violence of any kind.


Please let me know if you have any more questions!

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unhabit4 years ago(+3)

This Playkit is absolutely gorgeous, and the writing feels so evocative! I really hope I get the opportunity to play this soon, but regardless I very much intend to back the Kickstarter and I cannot wait to see what else is in store for Wanderhome!

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Viditya Voleti4 years ago(+7)

This Playkit is already beautiful, and I can’t believe there’s going to be MORE!

Some wonderful things of note are:

  • The Land of Haeth, Journeying Tools, and First Steps are brilliantly written and designed to immediately invite you into what the game is telling you it is about, both in the story, feel, and on a meta-table level between players. 
    • The Safety Tools are masterfully incorporated into the narrative of the game itself, down to how you’d phrase them as if you were on a walk with your friends (both in real life and in the fiction). This is a strength and tenant of Jay’s games that I’ve come to anticipate and is so well done here as well.
  • All the Playbooks here are incredibly designed and thought out. I could go into each and every one of them but it’d take forever. Do yourself the favor of reading them thoroughly. You will find at least 1 Playbook that resonates with you on a deep level.
    • The Poet specifically is devastating. As an artist, it spoke to me in such a haunting voice. Its mechanics can very easily be turned into its own game, solo or with others.
    • All the Playbooks grow in beautiful ways. Pay attention to what they can always do and what takes time to learn. It’s intense and designed so well.
  • It’s chock-full of content! Outside of the actual intent of the game, it is truly a playkit. You really do and can take what you want from this. Jay leaves the story to you, Wanderhome is truly a well-crafted system. The Traits and Nature sections of this game are intimidatingly full of content (from a designer’s point of view, as a player it makes me buzzy with excitement). It’s surprisingly OSR. I’m so excited to play with it and dig through it. 

This is a game that’s more than just cute animals traveling. It is a game about growth, trust, found family, and what we take with us and leave behind as we move through life. It is a game about growing up no matter your age. And this isn’t even the full game!

Back it on Kickstarter when it comes out, please!

You can watch me read through this Playkit here: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/678194391 [Jay happened to be in chat, which was really cool and added a lot of insight to their words!]

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P0rthos474 years ago(+8)

wow this looks amazing and heart warming. Can’t wait to give it a try!

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