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The Cloister
A downloadable game
A two player storytelling game about the last hour of a long journey home.
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The Cloister is a short, one-session storytelling game for two players.
One person plays The Pilot, who is finally in orbit around their home planet after a very long time away.
The other person plays The Operator, a stranger on the ground who is trying to help the pilot get home.
The story takes place between the two of you in conversation as you navigate atmospheric reentry and fill the dead air of your radio with stories.
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Playbook is 20 pages, printable, with a plaintext option.
There is also a risograph zine, with a goldenrod cover and black ink on light blue paper. The physical zine is available at the bottom of this page.
To play the game you will need one 6 sided die. Games should take between half an hour and an hour to complete (about the length of a real atmospheric reentry).
Artwork in the gamebook is half original work, and half illustrations from the public domain.
Status | Released |
Category | Physical game |
Rating | Rated 4.8 out of 5 stars (24 total ratings) |
Author | Everest Pipkin |
Genre | Role Playing |
Tags | Altgame, Dice, GM-Less, Minimalist, Narrative, One-shot, Space, Tabletop, Tabletop role-playing game |
Average session | About an hour |
Languages | English |
Purchase
In order to download this game you must purchase it at or above the minimum price of $2 USD. You will get access to the following files:
Comments
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warning: i listened to a 2-minute recording capturing:
in a single breath my thoughts about the table of
conscience on repeat of the words below on repeat
andexperiencing the corruption and once corruption takes
turning into what i wrote of what i wanted while waiting
(thank you for holding space).
☄️
You gave silence a homonym like presence transcends into twilight where recognition is mutual. The transformation from twilight setting into the night then where you are the night an ecology in the topography of night, so youre waiting but youre waiting in silence, or yourwant or your love however you decomposed into the present moment
Oncence youre starlight then you have an orbiit all these strands come back around, youre waiting, yiure waiting where silence knowledge wisdom however you exhale, settle into still silence held.
and then you have deorbit experiencing the pockets of yourself remembering your path as you fall into parabola wait for it to come back around gathering like colors waiting in silence like when you do anchor something like knowledge like gulps waiting to settle into still silence.
WhA that’s something interesting there hot once your starlight then you have a whole path like strands turning red like thats something warm there gathered close like expressions of where they are waiting in silence, so when you do anchor yourself into decomposing the current moment held.
And there’s experiencing orbit, then yoiu resonate with your path as your hecical horizon as some dimensionless expressions decomposing into the attention of the mother tree of good presence tending like gulps into stilled silence held in finding starlight closing in until you donct see it anymore - dawn.
Or your idea of wanting love all of the things are always changing like this or all the words that want to be this still-held phone as you sit in twilight of labor washing you way to rent and once this post releases, the setting of you to such a radiant var bleaches the second person like candles in a tumbleweed made flameproof through knowledge or suppression or guls of succession wanting to be held.
But inhale instead like gulps waiting for the night experiencing your way into starlight streams everywhere like a parabola closing attention as light entangled, like expressions of twilight see all of the things are always changing like increasing informational mass or however you decompe into the present moment
Held,
I just played this with a friend—it was an absolutely beautiful experience. I played the Pilot (Casey) and they played the Operator (Lara). I loved the way the dice rolls built on each other as the game progressed, and the companionship our two characters found felt earned and genuine. Thank you for this game!
just got done playing this with my partner and ohhhh my godddd it was incredible! the system was near tailor made for our tastes and it was so fun. the system is beautifully written and is honestly a moving work on its own, but when played it leads so naturally to heartfelt storytelling. there are moments in which you have to pause and read the instructions, but those moments of dead air are baked into the heart of the game and so never feel like theyre awkward or hurting the story.
i played the operator (Senior Communications Officer Tenzin Lau)and set up a little control panel with a piece of paper and some sticky notes and it really added to the atmosphere (pun intended). We used an online walkie talkie website with push to talk and it really had impeccable vibe. It took us 30 minutes to complete and it felt neither rushed nor drawn out, the system let us take just as much time as we needed.
I would *highly* recommend this system for those that love storytelling that has just such a *vibe* and who want that lovely feeling of learning about another character in a ttrpg but in a short amount of time. For a single dollar, this is a *steal*. I'm already thinking about replaying it.
this is INCREDIBLY good. i loved playing it and the playbook works as a piece of fiction in it's own right! very very glad i came across this game, i enjoyed it and the characters that spawned from it immensely
I love the update you've done! It's beautiful.
My pal and I just finished telling our story of Captain Juno Rogers and Operator Moss Speck and had a great time. Thank you for the lovely 2-player game :)
This looks great! Looking forward to trying it 😄