Anamnesis (Blinking Birch Games)
Written & Designed by Samantha Leigh
Purchase a copy of this game here.
If it wasn’t for Samantha Leigh, I don’t think I would be doing solo tabletop rpg reviews on this blog. Through their TikTok posts, I discovered that itch.io was the place to go for indie RPGs, especially solo ones. Now I have a massive list of games I want to play and review, and I can’t say that would have happened without their infectious enthusiasm about games. So, it felt natural to eventually review their game Anamnesis. It looked plain from the outside, with no bold, colorful stylized art, mainly text with a simple cover. Yet, within this game is a powerful creative tool.
Anamnesis is a word you might have encountered while studying for the SATs or to boost your vocabulary. The term is defined as “the remembering of things from a supposed previous existence.” Unsurprisingly, the word has roots in Greek, with its literal meaning being something like “reminiscence” or “memorial sacrifice.” And this is what the game is: remembering through play & writing. You could make yourself the center of this exercise or use it to build a character with whom you have only sketched the edges.
The only tool needed outside the book and a means of writing is a deck of tarot cards. The deck is separated into five smaller decks: The Major Arcana, The Pentacles, The Swords, The Cups, and The Wands. The Minor Arcana are set to the side as your first task is to draw from the Major. The card you draw acts as your Shadow, a representation of who you were in your past, and should guide how you write about yourself. The game allows players to decide what about their Shadow informs their character. You can look up classic interpretations of the cards for inspiration, simply use the art on the card, or even use word association with its title.
The game then consists of five acts, starting with the deck of Pentacles. The player draws three cards face down. They flip over the first card and read the associated prompt, draw a Major Arcana card to use as further inspiration, and they respond in writing, then return the drawn Major Arcana back to the deck. Then flip over the next card, repeat, and then the third. Once all three prompts have been answered, the player moves on to the next act & the next deck. After all four Minor Arcana decks have been used, the player comes to Act 5, where they return their Shadow to the deck. They are no longer defined by elements from their past but can define themselves. The player will actively choose a Major Arcana they believe represents the person they have been writing about.
This is a brilliant character creation method whose prompts can be interpreted just as the cards. It’s the presence of enough structure but still open enough to the player that I can see playing Anamnesis many times over and having a different experience every time. Even if I repeat prompts, I’m still coming to the game with a new concept, and the Shadow gives me a direction to go in that will make my responses different.
I used Anamnesis to work out a character I wanted to play in Supersworn, a superhero hack of Ironsworn: Starforged. Below are the journal entries I wrote. After completing this, I immediately began to think of little character sketches I’ve written up over the years and how this game could make it fun to build on those scraps, so you could see some of that in the future.
Shadow – The Chariot
Act 1: Pentacles/Coins
Card #1 – 9 of Pentacles
You realize you have an intense craving for something. What are you craving?
Major Arcana drawn: The Wheel of Fortune
I am craving a slice from my favorite pizza place. But it’s late and they have closed already. That’s what I get for living such a nocturnal life. I stand on the rooftop, my mind drifting to memories of the floppiness of the crust, the pull of the cheese. Dammit. Making my stomach rumble now. I’ve been going so hard between work in the day and patrol at night. My body is screaming out for actual food; the protein shakes and nutrient bars aren’t doing the trick. I want something greasy, cheesy.
Card #2 – 7 of Pentacles
There is a word on the tip of your tongue. Which word is this?
Major Arcana drawn: The High Priestess
The word is ‘history ‘.’ I’m not doing this because I think I’m the only one who can. There are so many others out there just like me, mostly better. They’ve been pushing back the evil since my grandad was a kid. Some think I’m out here because I’m trying to impress the established heroes. I would be lying if I said I didn’t admire some of them. Their feats weigh down on me always, setting the bar, imposing as that is. I will make history too, maybe not in any way that the big guys & gals notice. But in this community I can do something that will be remembered.
Card #3 – Knight of Pentacles
You notice a scar on your body. Where is this scar? Do you remember how you got it?
Major Arcana drawn: Temperance
I’d followed the sirens and found Bombardier decimating a city block as he tried to escape with bundles of cash from the bank he’d just robbed. This dude didn’t think twice about someone like me, barely out of high school & not even sure of what my powers could fully do. I couldn’t just stand there and watch him kill people. I put on my homemade costume, before I got the nicer one from Doctor Extraordinary. I let my senses take over, slowing everyone’s movements down, seeing the angles on the buildings, the overturned cars, the debris. I really thought I had a clear path to kick Bombardier across the face and at least stun him long enough for the authorities to get some clean shots off. I miscalculated. He contorted so I just missed him and then was hit with the acid spray from his gauntlets across the chest. It ate through the material as I frantically tried to pull it off. Left a nasty scar on my chest. Thankfully I didn’t get an infection or anything.
Act 2: Swords
Card #1 – 6 of Swords
People are looking at you and whispering. What are they saying?
Major Arcana drawn: The Sun
I’m surprised but pleased. The papers are saying I’m hope. Despite so many powerful people that fly around above us they talk about me differently. I’m down on the ground with them. This is a big difference from when I started out. I was just another young hood that first year. Ezra Eaton used his ownership of some of the big papers, channels, and websites to smear me. I felt like giving up when I was running from the cops while chasing down the bad guys. Something in me said to keep going. And now, the people are starting to see who I am, what I can do. There was even a kid wearing a homemade mask of mine on the street the other day.
Card #2 – 5 of Swords
Someone on the street recognizes you. How do they react when they see you?
Major Arcana drawn: The Devil
Ezra Eaton. Billionaire business mogul and wunderkind of Forge City. I don’t understand why he hated me so much when there were plenty of other hotshot heroes I’d consider “on his level.” But I was an easy target, I guess? I think I must have busted up some of his under the table rackets without realizing it and he went to war on me. He’s come extremely close to figuring out who I really am. Multiple villains in his employ have crashed events at my high school or events the school newspaper club attended around the city. The public talks more favorably about me now, but I can feel him, up on the first floor of Eaton Industries, his eyes scanning over the city looking for me all the time.
Card #3 – King of Swords
You see a child swinging from their parents’ arms. How does this sight make you feel?
Major Arcana drawn: The Lovers
My dad, the professor, was too caught up in his work to realize he was losing his family. One day mom was just gone. Then it was just me, Mari, and dad. A few months later, he went off to work and never came home either. We heard the firetrucks that night but didn’t make the connection at the time. Nothing was left of his lab except a pile of smoldering rubble. They found his body, so no worries about dear old dad faking his death. We were sent to live with Aunt Laurie who is the total opposite of dad. She’s all about making sure we are healthy, body, head, and heart. I still wonder if mom knows what happened to dad. If she does then I don’t understand why she didn’t come back to take care of us. It’s better to imagine she’s out there, far away and completely oblivious to me & Mari. That she would have come and saved us if she knew.
Act 3: Cups
Card #1 – 9 of Cups
You stumble upon a collection. What did you collect?
Major Arcana drawn: The World
Filling up a bookshelf in my bedroom are my trophies & awards, all for my work on the school paper at Victor Romita High School. My sophomore & junior years are where most of these are from. They were for good stories but even then I knew they weren’t the most important ones. Those happened senior year and that’s when the awards dried up. I started writing up biweekly reports on the city’s school board, particularly when I found out they were cutting funding for a bunch of the city’s special needs programs. I had good friends that depended on those things and I couldn’t just be silent. I had some articles that got me sent to the principal’s office. He wasn’t much of a challenge after nights spent tussling with Old King Crow or The Reptilian. Aunt Laurie stood up for me though, she said these were good life lessons about the way the world worked. You had to fully take in the bad, to embrace everything else that was good.
Card #2 – Knight of Cups
You find a box that seemed intentionally hidden. Where did you find it? What did you store here?
Major Arcana drawn: The Magician
This was a box my dad had hidden away in our old house. Before we had the big sale and then the big move to Aunt Laurie’s, I had poked around the attic. I think I was looking for photos, some sort of memento because I was really worried about forgetting both their faces. I found this box and inside were mostly scientific notes I couldn’t decipher. What did stand out was a file with my name on the label. Inside were all sorts of measurements about my physical & mental health. Dad had been tracking something about me for a long time. It was around the same time I found that box that my powers manifested. I was able to slow the world down inside my head when I thought I wouldn’t make it to the subway in time. My muscles became taught overnight without any working out on my part. I could leap from building to building in a single jump and all that. The wildest thing was the energy…ropes, I guess? Extensions of my arms that let me grab and swing in mid-air. I keep going back to this box, hidden behind some loose bricks in Aunt Laurie’s basement, trying to make sense of myself. The big question I need answered is was I already this way or did my dad turn me into what I am?
Card #3 – Ace of Cups
You stroll around your home, a place you do not remember. Which emotions bubble to the surface?
Major Arcana drawn: The Hanged Man
I think the strongest thing I feel being here is that even after two years it still doesn’t feel like my home. It’s Aunt Laurie’s house and me and Mari live here. It’s that feeling you have when you visit a relative and their home feels like a place you’re not allowed to touch or relax in. That’s not Laurie’s fault, it’s me. Everything moved so fast when dad died that it never felt real. All the adults were in such a rush to set up our lives in this new place. Now that I’m in college, I think I may move out during the summer. I had imagined I would move back into the old house back when it all happened but that was sold by now. Maybe an apartment in the city? But I don’t know how to handle a roommate like that when I do what I do.
Act 4: Wands
Card #1 – 3 of Wands
There is somewhere in town that beckons you. Which place is this? Do you travel there?
Major Arcana drawn: Strength
Instead of here at Aunt Laurie’s house…I mean, home where I really want to be is the college newspaper office. There are stories I need to be covering. Like the way Ezra Eaton is buying up properties across the poorer parts of the city, forcing people who’ve lived there their whole lives out onto the streets. Then that cascades into the string of homeless murders that the Forge PD refuses to comment on. I have a lead from a woman who says she saw a ragged cloaked figure crawl out from under a manhole and drag a man kicking & screaming down there with him. There’s also apparently a new crime boss shaking things up in the underworld, three of the old family bosses were taken out in the last month. When the cops recovered the bodies they were all missing a different body part: right arm, left leg, and right eye. The Hokey Pokey killer?
Card #2 – Knight of Wands
There is something you are desperate to learn. Which question haunts you? How do you seek this information?
Major Arcana drawn: Justice
My dad’s death in that fire remains unsolved. Detective Baxter is convinced it was a homicide but the commissioner closed the case saying it had been a lab accident. I kind of sort of snuck into the evidence locker one night and looked at what they had. There was a box of what looked like garbage to me, pieces of metal burnt and twisted recovered from the lab. However, my senses started going wild when I touched them. I secreted away a few pieces and, with help from Doctor Extraordinary, learned they contained traces of temporal energy meaning they had traveled through the timestream. I’m convinced that this was something sent back in time to kill my dad. Why anyone would do that is a question I still ponder. One day I will know the truth. And if time travel is involved, maybe I can somehow go back and save him.
Card #3 – Page of Wands
You decide to seek company. How do you go about this?
Major Arcana drawn: The Empress
When dealing with things outside what I think I can handle I head over to the East Village and seek the help of Alessandra Moreno aka The Mystic Maiden. She’s only eight years older than me but that makes a big difference in the superhero game. Right now she’s the most powerful sorcerer on the planet and one of Forge City’s most popular social media influencers. Alessandra can be…a lot, but she’s wiser than most people give her credit for. When I had to reveal Mr. Enigma’s ruse he was putting on running for mayor, Alessandra cooked up some nifty spells that helped out quite a bit. I have kept my true identity a secret but I’m feeling more and more that I should disclose what happened to my dad. If she can speak with the dead, then maybe she could summon his spirit or something? I could ask him who killed him. But I’m not sure I want to open that door quite yet.
Act 5
Choose your representation from the Major Arcana
Major Arcana drawn: The Tower
Who are you? What do you do next?
My name is Christopher Kelly. The world knows me as Slingshot. I have taken on way more than I can handle, compartmentalizing the various parts of my life in order to keep my two identities separate. I tell myself it’s to protect the people I love, and that is partially true. But it’s also because I think I’m trying to erase Christopher. I am becoming Slingshot more and more of the time. As the number of my enemies grows and I keep their attention for longer periods of time, I know they will eventually overwhelm me. And I’m scared about what I will become as a result of this.
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