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Wanderhome (Full PDF)
A downloadable game
ENnie Award Winner 2022 for Best Art (Cover), Best Art (Interior), Best Family Friendly Game
Nebula Awards Finalist 2022 for Best Game Writing
Gayming Awards Finalist 2022 for Best Tabletop Game
“I grew up reading Redwall. The opening pages were full of lavish descriptions of playful merriment. I loved those pages. But they always gave way to chapters about war, pillaging, and slaughter. Wanderhome asks: what if the meadow gets to stay safe and happy this time? What if those opening pages last forever?”
— Avery Alder, designer of Monsterhearts and The Quiet Year
Wanderhome is a pastoral fantasy role-playing game about traveling animal-folk, the world they inhabit, and the way the seasons change. It is a game filled with 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 other 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 all the world of Hæth. The seasons will change as we play, and we will change with them.
![Pick up a physical copy of Wanderhome here. Pick up a physical copy of Wanderhome here.](https://img.itch.zone/aW1nLzU0NzA1NTYucG5n/original/l3WWfm.png)
The TTRPG
Wanderhome makes use of a unique game system inspired by the No Dice, No Masters engine, developed by Avery Alder and Benjamin Rosenbaum for Dream Askew and Dream Apart. Each player will make a character with the help of one of fifteen possible playbooks, making choices about their personality, animal-form, look, and passions. Each of these playbooks give you a radically different approach both to navigating the setting and growing over time. From the carefree Ragamuffin to the introverted Poet, from the Guardian and their young ward to the lonely Exile, from the cheerful Dancer to the moody Veteran, there is plenty of space in Wanderhome to imagine every possible world that lives in your heart.
Once you’ve created your character, you and your fellow travelers guide them through the dreamlike pastoral world of Hæth. There are no dice in Wanderhome. Instead, you can inconvenience yourself or step outside your comfort zone in order to get tokens, and then turn around and spend those tokens to tackle larger problems and help make the world a better, kinder space.
Wanderhome is structured with an emphasis on safety and care, built on my own work designing safety mechanics and constructing alternate safety approaches beyond the industry standards. It features a bespoke set of safety mechanics built around empowering players to guide the story however they want, which are used consistently throughout the game. It is also designed to collaboratively set the tone and articulate a version of Hæth that's perfect for your group.
Wanderhome is a GM-agnostic game–while you can play with a Guide facilitating the world, you can also approach it without anyone in charge, where everyone takes equal part in the collaborative conversation. And while you can play Wanderhome in as little as 3-4 hours, the longer you stay with Wanderhome the more the world will grow with you. The months will pass over time and as each season concludes you’ll get to make new choices about your character, advancing them in new directions and helping them grow in ways you didn’t think was possible. If you play long enough, eventually your characters will retire or grow apart, and the journey will continue with brand-new travelers and a vast world ahead of you.
The World of Hæth
Wanderhome is set in the wholly original fantasy world of Hæth, inspired by the works of Brian Jacques, Tove Jansson, and Hayao Miyazaki. The game hints at and builds a mythological language around forces like the bitter King of the Floating Mountain, the Lily Rebellion, the Slobbering God and the blade that killed her, and the fall of the great dragons of old, but refuses to elaborate or define them—leaving that exercise to the players through the journey itself. Instead, Wanderhome is focused on the lives of ordinary people, and the world that exists for farmers, merchants, and crafts-folk.
Wanderhome is a world filled with animal-folk and their buggy livestock. Unlike many worlds with animal-folk, there is no morality or judgement ascribed to the various animals of Hæth—a snake is just as capable of being a kindly farmer as a rabbit, and you can’t assume much about someone based on what animal they are. You might find a fluffy shepherd with a herd of bumblebees, a shrewish merchant riding a stag beetle the size of a house, a lonely fox riding a grasshopper from place to place, or a praying mantis that hangs out in a gecko’s pocket.
Testimonials & Accolades
Best TTRPG of 2021 from Polygon, Game Informer, and Dicebreaker.
ENnie Award Nominee 2022 for Best Art (Cover), Best Art (Interior), Best Family Friendly Game
Nebula Awards Finalist 2022 for Best Game Writing
Gayming Awards Finalist 2022 for Best Tabletop Game
“I grew up reading Redwall. The opening pages were full of lavish descriptions of playful merriment. I loved those pages. But they always gave way to chapters about war, pillaging, and slaughter. Wanderhome asks: what if the meadow gets to stay safe and happy this time? What if those opening pages last forever?”
— Avery Alder, Buried Without Ceremony
"After reading Sleepaway, I was excited to see what Jay could do with Wanderhome - and I was right to be excited. What's contained within this book is a keenly-observed world of miniature interlocking details and a thousand invitations to go and explore inside it; it is a patchwork clockwork machine that paints a universe in strokes both broad and minute, and gives authority to the player to establish their own foothold within. The world of Wanderhome is hard, but not grim; kind, but not saccharine; unreal, but not plastic."
— Grant Howitt, Rowan, Rook and Decard
Playing Wanderhome feels like taking a beautiful trip with friends — through different kinds of game mechanics, different kinds of playstyles, different emotional experiences. I find myself coming back to the stories we told and the characters we met in Wanderhome again and again."
— Jeff Stormer, Party Of One
“Playing Wanderhome is an experience of explorative worldbuilding where the players can delight as much as their characters do at stunning vistas, changing seasons, lost gods, or a good cheese scone all found in the company of good friends. No game has made me want to give up oneshots and settle down into a campaign again as much as Wanderhome.”
— Tony Vasinda, Plus One Exp
“Truly remarkable.”
— Brennan Lee Mulligan, Dimension 20
3rd Party Links
Wanderhome Sheets for Role by @peri_dotted
Wanderhome 3rd Party Content on Itch.io
Contained Within
There are a fair few files contained within this page.
- The full PDF version of Wanderhome, at almost 300 pages and with illustrations by more than a dozen artists. This PDF was checked for accessibility by a hired consultant, and features alt-text for images, a fully-threaded text, and more.
- A printer-friendly / colorblind-friendly version of Wanderhome, in black and white and with full page illustrations removed.
- An insectophobe-friendly version of Wanderhome, with all depictions of bugs in the art either censored or removed.
- A set of blank form-fillable sheets for playbooks, traits, natures, and seasons, under the DEMO section
Status | Released |
Category | Physical game |
Rating | Rated 5.0 out of 5 stars (493 total ratings) |
Author | Possum Creek Games |
Tags | belonging-outside-belonging, LGBT, LGBTQIA, peaceful, Queer, Tabletop role-playing game, wanderhome |
Average session | A few hours |
Accessibility | Color-blind friendly, High-contrast, Blind friendly |
Purchase
In order to download this game you must purchase it at or above the minimum price of $25 USD. You will get access to the following files:
Community Copies
Support this game at or above a special price point to receive something exclusive.
Grab a community copy here!
Are you a low-income or marginalized person interested in Wanderhome? During the Wanderhome Kickstarter we raised money for more than 300 community copies for members of our communities who cannot afford Wanderhome. Just click below to claim a copy and attach it to your account.
UPDATE 9/13: Thanks to a tweet that went unexpectedly viral, we have added an additional 626 copies of Wanderhome to the pool.
UPDATE 12/1: Happy Holidays, I just added another 72 community copies so that we've given away an even 1000 community copies!
UPDATE 6/10: As part of a PDF update, I've added another 400 community copies of Wanderhome to the pool.
Download demo
Development log
- Wanderhome Director's Commentary Available88 days ago
- Typos And Errors FixedJun 10, 2022
- PDF Typo UpdateApr 22, 2021
Comments
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I recently got the chance to play Wanderhome and it is a wonderful, wonderful game that evokes the feeling of a hot mug of cocoa on a cold winter evening.
Even reading through the book (which I do more than I should admit) is a treat.
Highly recommended.
I just played my first session of Wanderhome at Gary Con this past weekend and was absolutely blown away. The group I played with told a truly touching and moving story together that I'm not likely to forget for a long, long time. What an excellent game!
I was about to be sad that I couldn't afford this, but turns out I own it from a previous megabundle. Aaaaa I'm so happy! I'll for sure have to try this game out. It looks so cozy!
i got the pdf in june and then just got the physical copy for christmas and this game is genuinely actually one of the coolest things i've ever seen! i have read it countless times and played it once (planning to do a campaign over the summer tho) and it's changed the way i think about storytelling and got me into ttrpgs
thank you so much jay and everyone else who worked on this !!!!! 💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖
I got Wanderhome in a bundle and I have not had the privilege of playing it yet but my gods I adore this game so much, It was the first group storytelling TTRPG that I found and it holds such a special place in my brain and I truly hope I can get my group to play this with me soon!
Though I did have the honor to talk about this game on my podcast with one of my friends who loves it in hopes more people will learn about it!
https://therpggoblin.buzzsprout.com/2055426/12212804-wanderhome-the-friends-you-...
Thank you Jay Dragon for making such a fantastical game!
Will also look for a communit. I think this is a realy great opportunity for my scout groups. Love the conzept <3
This game looks amazing and I’m going to watch for community copies for now. :)
Would it be possible to receive a community copy of this?
I keep looking at the demo and it feels like something I can adapt and pull parts from to use in my journaling experiment for my classroom this year to encourage my struggling readers to read and write.
If so, my email is Sharyna at gmail dot com … if not I understand completely!
Thanks!!
If you still haven’t bought the game, it’s available in the TTRPGs for Palestine bundle for 10$: https://itch.io/b/2295/ttrpgs-for-palestine
Just reading the book is an invitation to imagine a world that you want to spend time in. I still haven’t got to play the game but even if I never do I’m happy I have this in my collection.
Helloo, I was wondering if there were any more community copies available? I adore the concept of this game - it sounds so heartwarming and sweet! Tysm in advance :)
Its currently in a bundle for $10 if you haven't bought it yet and can afford it.
i purchased this with the bundle, and this is perfect for me and my sibling. weve been wanting to play tabletop roleplay type of games, but its hard with only the two of us. this game seems just perfect. theres so much soul in the universe and how the characters work, and the rules are so forgiving and relaxed. a flaw with the dnd world is that its kind of generic magic universe, which is fun, but it just isnt what we want.
we are currently making our characters and im learning the universe and how things work, i cant describe my excitement! i honestly feel bad that i payed 5 dollars to get access to it, and none of which goes to the developer ;u;. i definitely am going to save up to get the physical book!
This is a really cute story! i hope you two enjoy the game.
ну я ставлю класс
will there be more community copies or can we message for a discount? I can't work due to disabilities but I do get a small amount of money by selling my own art as stickers. ; - ;
the game is currently part of a bundle for trans rights in florida and you can get it (plus a bunch of other games) for $5, so you can get it for a good cause and on a discount :]
Hello will there be more community copies I'm on disability and can't spend much
Same :(
Will there be community copies available again? I really wanna play this but I'm in a rough spot and my currency doesn't translate well to USD
This game is such a gem; I got the pdf in a bundle and then my friends got me the physical book for my birthday and it just continues to bring me joy time and time again. I particularly enjoy the emphasis it puts on rest, enjoyment, care, and community.
I have the chance to play Wanderhome with my friends recently and what a wonderful little journey it was.
Thank you so much for making this game, Jay and Possum Creek team! Thank you so much!
Is this a PbtA game?
No, it's belonging outside belonging — a spiritual descendent of PbtA that uses no dice and has an optional MC/GM role.
I haven't played Wanderhome yet, and I don't even own it. I just thought I should share that seeing the artstyle, and how peaceful and happy everything is, brought me to tears. This is one of the most gorgeous TTRPG's I've ever seen.
Hello! I'm a Japanese TTRPG player.
On February to March 2022, I played Wanderhome with friends.
It was a lot of fun! I summarized the impressions tweeted by everyone on Twitter.
Please read it!
https://togetter.com/li/1858220
Thanks to fel for introducing this game to Japan.
https://twitter.com/feltk
Also, "Wanderhome" is introduced on the Japanese Youtube channel "PhantomRadio"!
Many people are looking forward to the official Japanese translation of this game. As a fan, I hope that a complete Japanese translation will come out.
Hello! This game looks absolutely amazing! Your Dungeon game looked fascinating, but this is mind blowing as I love games with animal characters!
I would love to buy those two beautiful hardbacks, but I can't even afford the pdf.
If you add any more community copies in the future, please let me know, I would love to play this!
Thank you!
When (and if) more community copies will be added? Not everyone can buy the game after all
Hey, how's it going? I want to translate your material into my language, can we talk here?
insectophobe edition? cobsultant approved for (almost) all? you're a treasure and if my mic... or pc.. worked I'd try to wrangle an online group up ❤️🩹
really enjoy the game, thank you
Any chance an epub/mobi file with the rules will be made available in the future? The PDF is beautiful but can be a struggle on smaller ereaders. Even a plaintext would be nice…
This game is so enchanting. I picked it up to play it with some friends and now I don't want to put it down. This wasn't my first time playing a GM-less game but something about it redefined what storytelling can mean for a group. I am so incredibly fond of the Haeth and the stories within it.
can this be played with just 2 players? I'm really interested but all I have is myself and my fiance right now :')
Yes! There's a few podcasts where I do exactly that (such as on Party Of One)
big fan of possum creek games, excited to read this one
I've read through Wanderhome multiple times and have listened to a couple Actual Play podcasts, though I haven't had the opportunity yet to run a game with my own game group.
First of all, the book is a beautiful thing even if you just flip through for the art. The saturated, whimsical style of the art is just nice to look at. Then there's the descriptions of the natures for kith and for places that are great for getting your mind working imagining a character or a place or a story all on their own.
If just the book can bring me back this much, I can't wait to get a Guide-less game going with my usual group.
I wish I had money to get a pdf my Physical copy got destroyed because of flooding
I'm so sorry that happened! If you got a physical copy and you still have the receipt, you can send that to main@possumcreekgames.com and we can send you a PDF copy.
I will get the money eventually since the receipt is already hone
Hi! I want to say - I love what you've made! I'm from Poland, a rather conservative country (the most discriminating against LGBTQ+ and women in Europe, some say) and I think having ttrpgs that are wholesome and support stories of healing, acceptance and kindness is really important. We generally love to play in D&D, Warhammer, Call of Cthulu or Kult, but seeing how people react to Wanderhome with amazement and squeals of joy when they get to be a cute, cuddly animal is pure gold. I've played Wanderhome with friends (and a bit more random people from discord) and all of them loved the contrast to what they usually play.
Thank you for having enough courage, drive and creativity, to come forward with Wanderhome. It's beautiful and fully capable of changing the landscape of the ttrpg fandom.
Lots of love from Poland <3
Hi there, I just bought your book from an online store in Canada, which came with the PDF (Though it seems to be only about 50MB). But coming here after the fact I see that you also provide a variant PDF which wasn't included in my purchase, can you give a bit of information as to what's included in that file? Thanks, really looking forward to diving in!
That contains a black and white version and an insectophobe version, for people who dont want color or bugs!
Did you know there's a review video on this RPG? Go Check it out!
First of all, thank you for the incredible work put into this beautiful game. I'm considering a Haeth where I can wander in my indigenous heritage, and I have a question about Sprawling Natures. Densely populated permanent settlements were unusual for us -- is there another aspect to sprawling that I should keep in mind? (This can wait until after the crowdfunding campaign for Yazeba's Bed and Breakfast, I know you've got your hands full.)
Hi, I'm so glad Wanderhome resonates with you! So if I was playing a game where I was mainly avoiding sprawling natures, my approach would be to generally not select them unless a picklist prompted me to, and then once selected interpret them through a metaphorical lens. Like, what is a forge metaphorically about? Is there a space for a place that contains many people coming together and intermingling, even if it's not a literal metropolis? Another approach might be to draw more heavily on 3rd party natures or those in the stretch goals PDF, all of which can be found here — maybe if there's no equivalent to a metropolis, you could pull in a beach, fallen star, or shade.
No matter what, I hope your wandering goes well!
Thank you, excellent advice. Just prepping for this game has been nourishing! What a wonderful and healing thing you've put into the world.
Hi! I’ve heard great things about this game and want to try it. Question, though - can it also be played as a solo RPG?
Yes!
Only managed to get in one session of this before online schedule hell pulled the group apart but the character creation process was lovely, inspiring and simple and the one session we played was wholesome and soft.
I have a group inviting me to play this and from the read here I am wildly excited to give it a try :)
Any chance you'll open up a few more community copies over the holidays? Would love to see if my niece and nephew would enjoy the system/setting before buying the big splashy hardcover version! Also, love the Arc of the Year blanket on your webstore. That's such a neat idea! :)
I don't think we'll be opening more over the holidays, simply because we've already given away a thousand copies and I would like to space out giveaways periodically.