A downloadable journey

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What is this game?

OLDHOME: Children Chasing Giants is about a tradition where children leave home for the first time and go out into a strange and beautiful world in order to return something precious to a stranger.

The default setting takes place in a world where towns and cities have been built on the backs of colossi. Long ago the ground became uninhabitable due to the actions of selfish people, and the last remnants of good rock and soil came alive.

You can also play Children Chasing Giants in any setting where the world has been shattered and rebuilt, and where communities are far apart and interact infrequently but have a strong bond.


What do I need in order to play this game?

You will need:

  • One six-sided die for each player, at least three total
  • A standard deck of playing cards
  • A journal and writing utensil or something else to write in
  • Optional: A group to play with (can be played solo)
  • Optional: Tape or glue for putting tickets in your journal

What is this game inspired by?

A Short Hike, Adam Robinson-Yu

Deca-Dence, NUT

The Earthsea Cycle, Ursula K. LeGuin

Ech0, Role Over Play Dead

The Edge Chronicles, Paul Stewart and Chris Riddell

Flying Witch, Chihiro Ishizuka

Old Home Days Festival, Hollis, New Hampshire

Pokemon Special/Adventures, Hidenori Kusaka

Sable, Shedworks

There Is Always Dust, Tim Busuttil

Yokohama Shopping Log, Hitoshi Ashinano

Download

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Click download now to get access to the following files:

OLDHOME Children Chasing Giants v2.0 Color.pdf 168 kB
OLDHOME Children Chasing Giants v2.0 Color Spreads.pdf 157 kB
OLDHOME Children Chasing Giants v2.0 Black and White.pdf 171 kB
OLDHOME Children Chasing Giants v2.0 Black and White Spreads.pdf 345 kB
Children Chasing Giants Arrival and Treasure Tables.pdf 32 kB

Development log

Comments

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(+1)

I love the concept of this. Do you have any sources that would help to make a game like this?

Umm I don’t really have much but I do have this collection from a while ago. Mostly I would just recommend reading and playing whatever games you find on Itch that you think are cool!

https://itch.io/c/602475/games-that-make-you-think-a-crash-course-in-ttrpg-design

(2 edits) (+1)

Looks really charming. I already printed it out in booklet form and will give it a try later.

If you want, I can send you the printer-friendly booklet pdf I created.

Can you send me it? I only have a B&W printer

(+1)

I know it sounds too pedantic, but I don't really want to remix and distribute without the author's permission.

I hope I get a reply soon.

fair enough

I shared it here in a reply to Takuma Okada.

hi! feel free to share it with other people! I just don't want to host anything i didn't work on on the page for payment. I will hopefully be putting out a black and white version soon, but please feel free to share the booklet pdf you made wherever!

(1 edit) (+5)

Thanks. I will just post them here then.

Separate pages: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1up-Ar-GGPWWaPY-GFYREufL6bWjhnA2E/view?usp=shari...

Booklet, every even page is the back side of every odd page: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1S3WczxzywvKL8pq4TvMr3xxoEGSAjq13/view?usp=shari...

For the booklet, on most home printers

1. you print the odd pages first

2. then you flip the stack (or not) so that the back side of the last printed page is on top

3. and put the stack back into the printer (also be careful about page orientation)

3. then you print the even pages in REVERSE.

I always get confused on which side of the paper gets printed and in which orientation.

(+8)

Oldhome is a solo adventure game about reuniting sky-dwelling people with their lost treasures.

The PDF is 9 pages, with clean, easy to read layout and a really nice DOS game art style cover.

A lot of what makes up Oldhome is its setting. The PDF doesn't detail it exhaustively, but you get a good snapshot of the gentle, post-apocalyptic world where cozy villages live on the backs of giant animals.

Your character is a child in a world where children come of age by doing adventurous community service for their villages. You have elected to return a treasured item to someone who passed through your village, and your quest to do so will take you across the sky to other towns.

In terms of gameplay, like other journaling rpgs, you respond to the book's prompts and write about your adventures. However, Oldhome stands out from the genre in terms of how much narrative space it gives you in between the prompts. You'll roll to generate towns and the people that live there, of course, but there's a ton of room in between those rolls (such as what happens when you travel between towns.) If you want to go nuts and write a whole novel with this system, you definitely can, and the game's mechanics really only come into play when you move on to a new town.

Overall, if you like games with bright, warm settings, and if you like solo rpgs with low-stakes adventures, you should grab a copy of Oldhome. If you don't like journaling, this is still a neat tool for building a setting, and it's worth a read.