🧩 Unreview: Flying Courier
Mar. 25th, 2026 11:22 pmUnreview: Flying Courier
What is it?
A one page semi-game. There's the seeds of a journalling game here, and it sounds like it might be fun, but you need to bring everything yourself and I don't have the mental capacity. Maybe if I only had five games to my name I would want to invest the time, but then again, it's very slight.
Is it playable out of the box?
No, you need to build everything in your head. There are instructions to pull a tarot card, but the given meanings make zero sense if you know Tarot, which is contraproductive.
Amendments:
A story, a much better prompt list, a mechanism for deciding whether to invoke chance or not.
Tools
A tarot deck and two coins.
Price:
$3
Verdict
🧩 I'm puzzled how to get from here to 'game'.
There are the bones for an interesting solo game here, but only the bones, and I do not have the mental bandwidth to invent a whole ass character and setting and plot and game mechanic and interpretations for the tarot cards,
Swords, for instance, has the following list of keywords attached:
SWORDS: the sea, a diplomat, the heart of the forest, a dying city, dangerous quiet,
archers, mountains
There are fourteen cards in a suit, and while you'd probably not play through the whole deck (there are no guidelines how many cards you should pull, how many items you'll attempt to deliver, and I don't mind if this is '2d4 + 4' or any other random number, but no, it's 'you decide'.
So given that not all of these prompts may be right for your world/character, what should replace them that distinguishes them from, say,
CUPS: fellow travelers, a bustling market, a temporary shelter, expansive gardens, a gentle voice, wrong turns, a beacon
?
???
I've been reading Tarot for umpteen years, I've bought my first deck in 1999 or thereabouts, I've STUDIED the Tarot up and down and sideways and weirdwards and I have no idea what makes any one prompt a member of one group and not another. (The sea sounds like Cups, the heart of the Forest like Pentacles, a beacon like Wands…)
The prompts for creating a character at least inspired me TO create a character, but the world and the game mechanics are just not enough, and thus this became an unreview and I am booting it from my life. Maybe one day I'll play a delivery game; maybe I'll even play it with Tarot cards, but right now, I must decline.
What is it?
A one page semi-game. There's the seeds of a journalling game here, and it sounds like it might be fun, but you need to bring everything yourself and I don't have the mental capacity. Maybe if I only had five games to my name I would want to invest the time, but then again, it's very slight.
Is it playable out of the box?
No, you need to build everything in your head. There are instructions to pull a tarot card, but the given meanings make zero sense if you know Tarot, which is contraproductive.
Amendments:
A story, a much better prompt list, a mechanism for deciding whether to invoke chance or not.
Tools
A tarot deck and two coins.
Price:
$3
Verdict
🧩 I'm puzzled how to get from here to 'game'.
There are the bones for an interesting solo game here, but only the bones, and I do not have the mental bandwidth to invent a whole ass character and setting and plot and game mechanic and interpretations for the tarot cards,
Swords, for instance, has the following list of keywords attached:
SWORDS: the sea, a diplomat, the heart of the forest, a dying city, dangerous quiet,
archers, mountains
There are fourteen cards in a suit, and while you'd probably not play through the whole deck (there are no guidelines how many cards you should pull, how many items you'll attempt to deliver, and I don't mind if this is '2d4 + 4' or any other random number, but no, it's 'you decide'.
So given that not all of these prompts may be right for your world/character, what should replace them that distinguishes them from, say,
CUPS: fellow travelers, a bustling market, a temporary shelter, expansive gardens, a gentle voice, wrong turns, a beacon
?
???
I've been reading Tarot for umpteen years, I've bought my first deck in 1999 or thereabouts, I've STUDIED the Tarot up and down and sideways and weirdwards and I have no idea what makes any one prompt a member of one group and not another. (The sea sounds like Cups, the heart of the Forest like Pentacles, a beacon like Wands…)
The prompts for creating a character at least inspired me TO create a character, but the world and the game mechanics are just not enough, and thus this became an unreview and I am booting it from my life. Maybe one day I'll play a delivery game; maybe I'll even play it with Tarot cards, but right now, I must decline.