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solo_knightFirst Impressions The Cog That Remains
(Find it in the current No ICE Bundle)
What is it?
A Wretched and Alone game, which means it’s a solo journalling game, played with a deck of cards and using a Jenga Tower mechanic (or paper substitute thereof), similar to Ice Station Zero (this is a whole genre; I've come across a fair few games by now).
Is it playable out of the box?
Looks like it. Bring your own knowledge of the topic.
Amendments:
I'm playing with the 'Ace of Hearts = Card 1' rule. A little wretched is one thing, hopeless is another.
Tools
1d6, a deck of playing cards, a tumbling (Jenga) tower or equivalent, ten tokens.
Price:
$9.99
Verdict
🧊 Put on Ice
It's not the game, it's me. It really is. I love the system – you get 52 (and here, 54) prompts which come up randomly; you have the additional Jenga tower mechanic (which I play with a paper equivalent since a physical tower would be less fair), but this type of game demands that you create your own story. Which is great.
But.
Firstly, I am strapped for time. I would like to try a second dedicated solo adventure this month. Then I'm poking at a Scarlet Heroes hexcrawl/wilderness adventure (and am learning a lot from that), and from time to time I poke at a freeform adventure (I have no system I play with or character stats; I'll add them when I need them, but so far, I'm just exploring).
Plus I'm downloading the _No ICE_ bundle (page 15 of 48; see link above) and despite a lot of games being duplicates, Windows-only, or for systems I have no interest in (eg Mothership) that's still A LOT of games to glance at and save.
This is a game about keeping a giant mecha running. I'd struggle coming up with appropriate stories about maintaining a car, but at least I've owned cars for many decades and done _some_ maintenance, and know what you use a car for.
I know nothing about giant mechas and their pilots, and after a week of staring at my first prompts and not coming up with anything useful, I have to conclude that this game needs more prep and more story brain than I am able to give it.
Which is a shame. Prompts like
Something about the Mecha’s original construction was flawed. Pull from the tower. What limb, part, or system simply doesn’t work the way it should? How do you jury-rig a solution?
sound like they will create great stories – there's just enough substance here to spark imagination and not enough to feel railroaded.
I, however, am in the 'wait, they have limbs? What kind of limbs' stage; I have no knowledge of my own to link this prompt to, and this game feels like work. Work that I am not willing to put in, not while other settings/stories sound so much more interesting.
So, with some reluctance, I am letting this go, or rather, putting it on ice in the hope that one day I may feel bored and curious enough to go back to it.
(Find it in the current No ICE Bundle)
What is it?
A Wretched and Alone game, which means it’s a solo journalling game, played with a deck of cards and using a Jenga Tower mechanic (or paper substitute thereof), similar to Ice Station Zero (this is a whole genre; I've come across a fair few games by now).
Is it playable out of the box?
Looks like it. Bring your own knowledge of the topic.
Amendments:
I'm playing with the 'Ace of Hearts = Card 1' rule. A little wretched is one thing, hopeless is another.
Tools
1d6, a deck of playing cards, a tumbling (Jenga) tower or equivalent, ten tokens.
Price:
$9.99
Verdict
🧊 Put on Ice
It's not the game, it's me. It really is. I love the system – you get 52 (and here, 54) prompts which come up randomly; you have the additional Jenga tower mechanic (which I play with a paper equivalent since a physical tower would be less fair), but this type of game demands that you create your own story. Which is great.
But.
Firstly, I am strapped for time. I would like to try a second dedicated solo adventure this month. Then I'm poking at a Scarlet Heroes hexcrawl/wilderness adventure (and am learning a lot from that), and from time to time I poke at a freeform adventure (I have no system I play with or character stats; I'll add them when I need them, but so far, I'm just exploring).
Plus I'm downloading the _No ICE_ bundle (page 15 of 48; see link above) and despite a lot of games being duplicates, Windows-only, or for systems I have no interest in (eg Mothership) that's still A LOT of games to glance at and save.
This is a game about keeping a giant mecha running. I'd struggle coming up with appropriate stories about maintaining a car, but at least I've owned cars for many decades and done _some_ maintenance, and know what you use a car for.
I know nothing about giant mechas and their pilots, and after a week of staring at my first prompts and not coming up with anything useful, I have to conclude that this game needs more prep and more story brain than I am able to give it.
Which is a shame. Prompts like
Something about the Mecha’s original construction was flawed. Pull from the tower. What limb, part, or system simply doesn’t work the way it should? How do you jury-rig a solution?
sound like they will create great stories – there's just enough substance here to spark imagination and not enough to feel railroaded.
I, however, am in the 'wait, they have limbs? What kind of limbs' stage; I have no knowledge of my own to link this prompt to, and this game feels like work. Work that I am not willing to put in, not while other settings/stories sound so much more interesting.
So, with some reluctance, I am letting this go, or rather, putting it on ice in the hope that one day I may feel bored and curious enough to go back to it.
