Alone on a Journey

Some journeys are best taken alone. Alone on a Journey gathers three of Takuma Okada's solo journaling games into one zine: quiet, open-ended games about wandering, noticing and writing down what you find.

In Alone Among the Stars you are an explorer drifting from planet to planet, recording the strange and beautiful things you encounter. Alone in the Ancient City lets you walk the streets of a long-abandoned metropolis and piece together what happened there. Alone Among the Shifting Trees leads you into a forest that rearranges itself when you are not looking.

How it plays

All three games share the same simple engine, learned in under a minute. Draw a card, roll a six-sided die, and let the result tell you how many things you discover and what sort of things they are. Then write. There is no winning or losing, no character sheet and no prep: just you, a journal and whatever your imagination brings to the page. Sessions can be as short as a cup of tea or stretch across an evening.

What's inside

A 29-page zine with:

• The three complete games: Alone Among the Stars, Alone in the Ancient City and Alone Among the Shifting Trees
• A guide to writing your own hack on the same engine
• Ten blank pages to start journaling right away
• Cover and interior illustrations by Shannon Kao, layout by Quinn Vega

You will need a pen, a six-sided die and a standard deck of playing cards. A lovely first step into solo journaling games, and a familiar comfort for anyone who already knows Alone Among the Stars.