Beyond the Trees (Early Access)
A downloadable game
Tonight, You Gain Audience
The night is cold—a bitter, wet kind of cold that frosts over the marsh and makes the grass crack beneath your boots.
Your life is a mess, and despite all your efforts to change fate, you’ve found it impossible for mortals to do anything of the sort. You’re out of options, and as you stop at the edge of the woods, Book of Night in hand, you choose to place your fate in someone else’s hands. With one step, you’ll begin walking the longest road.
The Old Gods will have to take this cup from you, you’ve decided. You’ve lived a small and quiet life and did things by the book, and for that, you have nothing. Now, as you stare into the moonlit treeline, you force yourself to cross the threshold and trample your way through the brush.
Tonight, you gain audience with the Old Gods. Tonight, you make yourself heard.
Or die trying.
How To Play
Materials Needed:
- A 78-card Tarot Deck, thoroughly shuffled.
- Paper that can be easily strewn about.
- A writing implement.
- A vast expanse of floor space.
In this game, you are someone searching The Woods for something. You've heard stories about the Old Gods and their intercessions in mortal lives and have decided you are desperate enough to walk the path.
To play, draw a card and interpret it using the included Book of Night. The cards will tell you the creatures you meet, the obstacles you reach, and the many forking roads The Woods lead you down. After you've interpreted a card and journaled about this part of your journey, draw another card, lay it end-to-end, and keep walking the path.
You repeat this cycle until you draw Judgement or The World. These suggest whether the Old Gods frown on or smile upon your wish, respectively, but they must be interpreted just like any other card. Perhaps your wish was insolent... but maybe you've proven your worth along the journey. Maybe you entered these woods worthy but have since become a shell of a person.
When you draw one of these cards, it is time for your judgement by the Old Gods, and whatever it may bring.
Book Still Partially Concealed (WIP).
You will find that Cups and Pentacles are currently missing. You may still play, as long as you supply your own interpretation for these suits.
For cups, I suggest interpretations around personal reflection and looking back on the journey. Was it worth it? Are you proud of your efforts? Do you think you have what it takes still?
For pentacles, I suggest interpretations around obstacles: both literal and metaphorical. What things stand in your way? Is there a river blocking your advancement? Has doubt overtaken you? Do your injuries grow worse?
These chapters will be revealed soon, but until then, you may trust your intuition if the woods still call you.
Download
Development log
- Swords Finished, Wands RevealedJan 11, 2024
- The First of ManyOct 28, 2023
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A Final Note (For the Ten of Wands)
“Mariah was my name. It means ‘bitter.' My mother named me so, for she ate little but rapini in her hard days of bearing me. She said its sharp bitterness was the only thing that eased her pain, but I think it was the only thing that matched her sorrow. For my father had died before I was born, and I was left alone with her grief.
I grew up bitter, too, and cared for little but myself. When my mother fell ill with a wasting disease, I did not tend to her, but left her to my younger brothers and sisters, who loved her more than I.
This is why I walked my path. I hoped to find the Old Gods and beg them, or rather, curse them, to take away my mother's life. I wished to be free from the burden of caring for her. I was simply not fated for sweetness. It was not my namesake.
But the Old Gods did not heed me, or if they did, they did so wickedly. I've cried out to them ceaselessly in this everlasting night, and I heard nothing in return. I suppose I have gotten my wish after all: I do not have to tend to my mother anymore. We will both be buried soon. She by earth, and I by bitter frost."