Wanderhome (Possum Creek Games)
Designed and written by Jay Dragon
Book design by Ruby Lavin
Art by Sylvia Bi (cover) and Letty Wilson (interior)
“Life is about the journey, not the destination.” This would be an apt blurb for the game Wanderhome, which is all about characters traveling across the land on their way home. This is not a journey of combat; this is after all of that. This is what happens after a war ends or a disaster strikes. Or this is just what your character does; their job entails that they are wanderers, delivering messages or attending to the shrines of forgotten gods scattered about the landscape. This is a pastoral fantasy game whose most apparent inspiration would be the films of Studio Ghibli. The land of Haeth is full of small communities across a variety of biomes, and your character can visit them on their long journey back to their home.
Wanderhome is a GM-less and dice-less game. A single person can handle a session’s management, or it can rotate each session. Players are encouraged to bring life to NPCs in scenes featuring other characters. When specific actions are taken, such as “Leave an offering to a small or forgotten god” or “Take a moment to watch a tiny moment of beauty and describe it to the table,” then the player doing these things is awarded a token. They can spend that token to accomplish things from a list that includes options like “Ease someone’s pain, if only for a moment” or “Know something important about the place you’re in, and tell the table about it.” Needless to say, if you are looking for tactics and combat, Wanderhome just isn’t that game.
Characters come from playbooks, much like the Powered by the Apocalypse system. These include options like Exile (someone banished from their homeland searching for a new one), Moth-Tender (a postman of sorts who takes care of the carrier moths that flit about delivering messages), or Ragamuffin (a youth who loves to cause trouble). There are fifteen playbooks with lots of customization, meaning your table will likely have a very different story than another group’s.
While Wanderhome is not natively solo, it can easily be converted. When you come upon a new community, some traits can be chosen or randomly rolled for. Once you assemble a list of traits for this community and the people that live within it, all you have to do is number that list, and now you have some basic prompts to roll for to give a scene some direction. Add a simple Yes/No oracle, and you have a functional solo tabletop RPG experience that I found fun.
Here’s the story I came up with.
I did a random number gen from 1 to 15 and ended up with the Guardian, which the book describes as “The Guardian takes care of a ward, a young child with a difficult past and in desperate need of care.” As all characters in Wanderhome are anthropomorphic animals, I chose a bear, and my ward would be a goat. I rolled for my Personality traits and ended up with “motherly” and “organized.” For the Traits people assume I have, I got “fatherly” and “hopeful.” This made me think my bear was male if people assumed he would be “fatherly.” The dynamic between “organized” and “hopeful” made me think that this bear Guardian is pragmatic and doesn’t pretend things are okay when they are not.
Bernard the Bear’s look is composed of reading glasses, a stained apron, and seemingly endless patience. On the list of Things I Can Always Do, I ended up with options like Sigh and shake your head, Keep both eyes on someone, and Derive a practical lesson from a situation. Because I have a ward, they also get a list of Things They Can Always Do, and because I chose “witchy” for their personality trait, it contains things like “Mix assorted components to create something new” and “Point out a personality flaw someone hasn’t been dealing with. If you’re right, put a curse on them. If they want to get rid of the curse, they’re going to need to address their flaw.” I named my ward Poppy and chose that she was dropped on my doorstep as to how I found her.
There is always a war, it seems. Bernard had been sent to one, serving as a clerk, filing acquisitions paperwork. He never saw the very frontlines, but he watched through the small window of his office as wagons carrying the wounded & the dead passed by each day. These were dire circumstances, to say the least, and they were not made any better by the fact that Bernard was away from his beloved wife Ursula for over years. He tried to write at least one letter a week, but sometimes the distance & the war sent him into a sinking feeling, and he could hardly get out of bed most mornings.
One evening, while Bernard was working late and trying to get ahead of a push that would involve bringing in tons of resources to the war, he spied a cloaked figure outside his window. It was a mole, rarely glimpsed on the surface, with one white eye. In the mole’s hands, she carried a basket. After wandering the avenue momentarily, the mole disappeared from Bernard’s sight, and he returned to work. The bell at the front of the building rang, drawing his attention. Because he was the only one in the building, the bear rose up from his desk and walked down to the atrium of the building. It was apparently an old library, taken as the army pushed forward into enemy territory, repurposed into a clerk’s hall.
Bernard opened the front door and found the mole nowhere to be seen. The basket, however, sat on the wooden porch, and something squirmed within the folds of a dirty, pastel-green blanket. Bernard opened the blanket and found a goat kid over a year old. The child was almost a speck in the world, covered in fine, soft, downy fur, brownish color with a black face. Her tongue hung out of her mouth, a little too large for it. She smiled at him, and Bernard felt many overwhelming things. Mostly, he was flooded with memories of the cottage in the forest back home where Ursula waited for him.
He named the child Poppy and took her in as his own. He wrote to his wife, letting her know of the foundling and how he was raising her, with plans to bring her back. Two days later, the war ended, seemingly out of nowhere. The enemy surrendered. Bernard never really understood what was being fought over, but he was happy it was done. Though he carried a sinking feeling in his gut whenever he thought about the fragments he’d witnessed.
There was a sudden rush to return home, and outside that same clerk’s office window, Bernard and Poppy glimpsed the wagon trains, horseback riders, and foot travelers going in the opposite direction they’d been taking for over a year. Once business was concluded in the clerk’s hall, Bernard donned his cloak, placed Poppy in a sling so she nestled close to his heartbeat, and began what was to be a long, long walk back home. He’d wished he’d been able to stay just a bit longer to get Ursula’s reply. Instead, he quickly penned another note letting his bride know he would be home again in a year.
Now that I have the opening of my story, I set the Season and Month. We’re in the Season of Leap, the end of Chill, so all the nature that had been asleep is beginning to wake up. It is the month of Tillsoil, and Bernard and Poppy find they are spending it in the Bogmarket community. I ended up with the traits Market, Swamp, and Road for this community.
Six months later, during the season of Leap in the month of Tillsoil, Bernard and Poppy had stopped in the swampside merchant spot known as Bogmarket. When the icy cold of Chill began to subside, merchants rowed through the brackish water of the bayou to sell their wares on the wooden bridge road constructed there decades hence. This market was now seen as a traveler’s respite, passersby knowing they could find a hot meal and replace some much-needed equipment. Bernard also knew this meant there would be a moth-tender there, and he could send another letter to Ursula updating her on the journey’s progress.
There are three Kith, or NPCs; I rolled in this community and decided to do a scene with each one. First up is Kona, the Venerable, Caring, and Adventurous lizard. I rolled on her list of Traits and used that as a spark for a scene.
Show what things were like in more grim times.
Bernard and Poppy found a place of comfort at Kona’s Swampside Grub. It was owned and operated by Kona, a wise old lizard who spent Chill curled up in a ball in her burrow hibernating. When it got warm enough, she emerged, gathered roots, herbs, and other ingredients found nearby, and paddled her way to Bogmarket. Here, she sold stews by the bowlful and a tremendous herb toast that Bernard became particularly fond of during his short stay. He’s secured a tent from another merchant and found a plot of the wide wooden road near Kona to set up.
Over one evening’s dinner, as Poppy drifted off to sleep, her quiet snores were muffled by Bernard’s fur as she laid her head on his shoulder. Kona spoke about the times before. Bernard learned her people were some of those who were the target of “his side” during the war. That didn’t seem to bother Kona. She replied, “No one kin see t’all, just the few bits floatin’ in front of ’em.” The old lizard told of the war times, how so many could barely scrounge up enough crumbs to fill one belly, much less a whole brood. The cold season was the worst when the earth fell asleep, and one had to be very crafty to know where to look for sustenance. Kona said she felt sorry for the ones who didn’t sleep through Chill; they had to be awake for the most challenging times.
I decided to roll on the list of Traits generated for Bogmarket to frame another scene.
Reveal the consequences of theft.
The following day, Bernard was awoken by the sounds of a scuffle outside the tent. He made sure Poppy was still sound asleep; she sucked on a minty root Kona had suggested to soothe her gums while teething. Bernard poked his bear head out and saw a weasel shoving a young crow on the wooden walkway. “Thought you could snatch that green fruit without paying, hm?” The crow looked to have a lame wing and stepped back precariously close to the edge of the road, teetering toward the swamp.
Bernard didn’t want to interfere. He was worried about what might happen to Poppy if the altercation escalated. He did keep his eyes on the crow once the weasel snatched back the fruit. A memory from the night before flashed through Bernard’s mind. It was the image of a plate of herb toast being devoured over the night, with two pieces remaining. The old bear had stashed them away in his satchel for him and Poppy in the morning. Searching his bag, Bernard pulled out one piece, wrapped in a leaf, and walked out to where the forlorn crow sat on the wooden road. He handed it to the young bird and smiled slightly before returning to his tent for a little more shut-eye.
I deemed that this gained Bernard a token.
Next, Kith was Fergus the Fox and decided to use an assumption about my character as another spark in conjunction with one of Fergus’ Traits.
Explain how things have been handled in the past.
The most garish and obvious vessel docked along Bogmarket was a theater troupe’s flotilla. The Fantasia Fables Caravan read the artfully painted banner that hung above the entrance day and night. Bernard couldn’t remember going to the theater as a grown bear, but when he was a cub, his mum took him to a children’s play. It was a horrid thing about a monstrous human girl breaking into a kind bear family’s home and wreaking havoc. It ended with them running her out of their home. Bernard remembered standing up and applauding as the performers took their bows afterward. He wondered if Poppy might enjoy going before they moved on.
That night at Kona’s, Bernard found himself and Poppy eating with Fergus, one of the star thespians of Fantasia. He was quite a dapper fox, wearing a cape that linked around his neck with a silver chain. A cocked felt hat sat upon his head. He took a long, noisy sip of Kona’s stew and loudly proclaimed: “This is, my dear lady, without question one of zee best soups or stews that have passed my lips in many a-theater season. Moi compliments to the chef.”
Bernard quickly learned how much Fergus enjoyed talking as the entire meal was spent with the fox telling long-winded stories of his escapades onstage. “Once I was playing Caron’s The Duke de Bertrand, and I was about to go on to zee stage for zee grand ball scene, you know, and…” In addition to not seeing much theater, Bernard had not read many plays either. He didn’t quite understand the details of Fergus’ story or even the point, but he listened nonetheless, attentively nodding from time to time despite his confusion.
At one point, Fergus finally seemed to take in his surroundings and noticed little Poppy spooning some stew into her hungry goat maw. “The child, she is yours?” He asked. Bernard replied in the affirmative. “And the mother?” Bernard explained Poppy’s adoption and the journey home. “A little girl without the mother is…how do you say? Quite bewildering, yes?” Bernard snorted in annoyance. “I’ll have you know,” the bear said, “I am quite a good mother to this little kid, thank you.” He paid for his and Poppy’s meal, and Kona slipped him some herb toast on the house. She made sure to give Fergus the stink eye afterward. Fergus apologized profusely, not realizing he’d offended, and left some coin that Kona promised to give Bernard before he departed.
Our final Kith is Blanco the Elephant.
Reveal the appearance you hide underneath.
Bernard took Poppy for a walk the afternoon before they were leaving. They came across a new food stall anchored next to the wooden road. The Nice Spice served food, unlike anything Bernard had ever seen before. Blanco was the proprietor, a large glamorous elephant decked out in purple & orange silk robes, jangly copper earrings, and an impressive tattoo up the length of their trunk. They served plates with a big pile of rice and rich red-brown sauce with pieces of fish and vegetables smothered on top. Bernard ate up his plate, feeling a surge of warm happiness. Poppy had some of Bernard’s in a tiny clay bowl Blanco pulled out from underneath the counter. She, too, made a happy squealing sound after her meal was finished.
“You make quite the good mother,” Blanco observed as they gathered the dirty dishes for washing. Bernard felt the heat in his cheeks as he blushed. The elephant handed Poppy rock candy on a stick and started wiping up the counter. They made small talk, asking how the bear and the goat ended up in this place. Bernard learned Blanco was from far on the other side of the world. They were the child of a cook in their village and wanted to travel the world sharing the delicious dishes their mother had taught them.
This begins a whole afternoon of Bernard and Blanco sharing stories and getting to know each other better. Bernard wondered what this meant and why he was inclined to talk to this stranger. Those questions faded as the sun went down, and eventually, the bear had to be on his way. He wondered if he would run into Blanco again somewhere in this strange world.
I deemed that this counted as spending a token.
Bernard and Poppy’s time in Bogmarket ended, and it was time to move on, getting ever closer to home and journeying to the next community. See you in part two…
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