The Caravan • 2016 rpg

(3-5 players, pens, notecards.)

A lonely desert caravan—
A storm—

Familiar paths erased. A baleful sun blazes above; imperious, unmoving. Our travelers endure to find their journey’s end.

Write these words on individual notecards, creating two shuffled decks:

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Overgrown. Singing. Ruined. Crystal. Sunken. Shadowed. Living. Empty. Golden. Colossal. Sacred. Impossible. Forgotten. Painted. Night. Bountiful. Glassy. Fallen. Haunted. Charred. Glimmering. Bleak. Carven. Radiant. Profane.

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Altar. Tomb. Statue. Mount. Door. Library. Guardian. Labyrinth. Spring. Pits. Teeth. Mirror. Wall. Chasm. Pool. Citadel. River. Bridge. Lair. Monument. Caves. Roadhouse. Stair. Throne. Fort.

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Whoever was most recently lost begins as Guide: draw once from each deck, and describe the landmark. Everyone narrates their traveler’s vignette against that backdrop.

Lone travelers might part company, seizing a way home. That option starts with the Guide, thereafter passing clockwise. One traveler may decamp per landmark; consider it “claimed”.

When moving on, a new Guide draws the next landmark. Travelers narrate vignettes, but ex-travelers now portray the desert, harsh and alien.

If none continue, or the desert ends, conclude. Shuffle “claimed” landmarks together, randomly adding one more. Draw: this one held the way home. Anyone there describes their return; others sum up their ensuing lives in this strange land.