Facing the End

Facing the End is a roleplaying game for a single player. The point of play is to explore themes of Grief, Regret, and Loss associated with End of Life. This is accomplished in the setting of a fantasy world where the Protagonist of the game is asked to sacrifice himself to save humanity, and in the process he brings about the personal Loss and Regrets pertinent to the Themes.

In this game, you take the role of The Master Wizard, an ageing veteran wizard who is approaching the end of his or her life and now realizes that the accomplishment that made him or her famous was but a fleeting victory. Prior to yet again performing the Ritual that made him or her famous, he or she must vanquish any lingering Grief or Regrets, and overcome his sense of Loss at the prospect of losing his or her life.

This was my submission for the Ronnies and utilizes the ingredients of Old and Soldier. Inspirations come most directly from an exercise I participated in during my palliative care clerkship in medical school, which taught me a lot about Loss, how an RPG might work as a solo experience, as well as how to make game elements intensely meaningful to players. Other inspirations include the boardgame Pandemic, various RPGs including but not limited to Dogs in the Vineyard, The Leverage RPG, Capes, Committee for the Exploration of Mysteries, Apocalypse world, and the 1st edition AD&D DMG!

As a first draft, it needs many things, most especially a little playtesting.

Download

• Facing-the-End.pdf

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 4th, 2011 at 6:10 am and is filed under 24 Hour RPG, Free RPGs. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.