Picture from here: https://www.oldbookillustrations.com/illustrations/shepherdess/
Some journalling games offer a series of paths and guide your character down them. Like a ball drop, where your PC bounces between different pegs, to finally rest in a number of set-out endpoints.
Other journalling games start with nothing, and you build the narrative based on random draws or charts.
Both have their strengths and weaknesses.
Orboboros the Brick Kingdom will take a mixed approach. It'll have charts to generate things randomly, but also a structure so you're not starting off from scratch.
Think of it as a themed building block set, with a book of suggestions but leaving you to build what you like.
Here's an example, the rough for Chapter One's Prompt, Goal, and Borders
Prompt
You arrive in Fortress Fall, a city built inside the ruins of Heaven’s Fortress, which was once the seat of power of Catgod Rex, the demon of the Fourth Calamity. 120 years ago, Catgod was vanquished by the Holy Knight Gwyndaf, who brought his Heaven’s Fortress crashing to the ground. The ruin itself has been picked clean and built upon. Behind its massive walls and within its twisting halls lie shops, taverns, inns, homes, and numerous trade guilds. The streets are packed with goblins of all sorts, from scampering beggars to stuffy Order officials.
If You Are the Bard: You walk through the south gate alone. Your troop is in Crown Rock for the month. You, however, were hired, by letter, to sing the Ballad of the Laughing Dragon, for Magistrate Slywyn True Sighted. This song is banned by the Order, but Slywyn’s paid you 3 silver already, with a promise of 4 more after your performance. It’s best not to keep him waiting, he does, after all, keep your circus legal.
If You Are the Hunter: You walked the Great Spirit Road to arrive at the North Gate. In your pouch is 18 silver given to you by Rhychdir the Green. Just enough for 15 vials of Scurur repellant, a night at an inn, and 3 silver left over for something nice. The repellant is needed back home to protect the farms from armored rat attack. You will find it at Tricks Apothecary.
If You Are the Sage: Your small sailboat docks in the harbor. The Hearth Whale sails for Spring Mount in the West. However, you’ve been summoned by Subdirector Rhodri Sea Shake. A missive requested a sage to apprise an old-world object that came under his possession. To deny such would invite trouble, so you have been sent. You will find Rhodri in his office, in the Administrative Palace.
Goal
You must achieve or miserably fail to achieve what your character set out in this city to do.
Borders
You cannot overturn Order rule in this city.
The guards must harass you at some point, they’re jerks.
You must encounter the Gryphon (see Beings). However, you will not be able to do anything about his captivity yet. That’s for the next chapter. Focus on your goal for now.
You cannot defeat Lylr Crawl in this chapter.
You must leave Crawler’s Maze for the next Chapter.
Nothing here will be trying to kill you
The guards might try to arrest you.
Thieves might fight you, but won’t strike the killing blow, opting to leave you for dead instead. There are no predatory beasts here.
That's the basic narrative flow. It's my way to GM a game for you, while not actually being there. Next we'll cover sample Beings, the important folks that appear in every chapter.
I hope it attracts your interest.
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