Thanks for the free to use PSA on your blog page, @albatross-the-pen-chewer ! I was struck with a vision today of a deck building / journaling / cartography solo rpg, and the Never Found sign sat right in the middle of the whole idea.
It starts with a blank notebook, a blank sheet of paper for drawing a map, a standard poker deck, a coin, and a standard set of polyhedral die (d4, d6, 2d10, d12, and d20). I painted a box to keep my game supplies in while I tweak the details:
Vague game mechanics under the cut.
You're a detective investigating a stack of cold cases, left behind by a colleague who disappeared a while back. Draw a card from your deck, roll all of the dice, and check a series of tables to determine biome, weather, and other attributes. Following the tables, write a description of the place you've found yourself in. Then, roll the dice again to determine who disappeared there, and write a missing person report for your cold case notebook.
Flipping the coin determines whether you are able to finish documenting this location and its victim in your notebook before the place tells you to leave. If you're allowed to finish your notes, roll a d8 to determine which compass direction you move. If you're interrupted, roll a d10.
If you roll a one, you must move straight down; Start Digging. Get a new piece of paper, and start an underground map with a different set of tables.
On a zero, you feel compelled to move straight up, but since you can't fly, the location begins to consume you. Write down how this happens, then roll a d20; on a 1, you are Neverfound, and the game ends.
If you're permitted to leave a location, it tells you its name. Write the name on the card you drew, on your map, and at the top of the associated case file. Shuffle the deck and draw another card to continue. If at any point you draw a location you've already seen, you find yourself transported there, and you must roll to escape again.
I've got a lot of tables to write and details to hash out, but I'm excited to write a solo game instead of just playing a bunch of them.
