Line #6 TabletopGame/Wanderhome


1	[[quoteright:349:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/wanderhome_tabletop_game.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:349:The road has a song all its own.]]
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4	''Wanderhome'' is a TabletopRPG by Jay Dragon, published through Possum Creek Games. It is a pastoral fantasy RPG game built through the No Dice, No Masters engine (more often called Belonging Outside Belonging), a design philosophy related to the UsefulNotes/PoweredByTheApocalypse engine. This is Jay Dragon's major-project follow-up to 2019 [=BoB=] game ''TabletopGame/{{Sleepaway}}''.
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6	Set in [[GhibliHills the idyllic world]] of the Hæth, the players of ''Wanderhome'' follow a party of traveling [[FunnyAnimal animal-folk]] as they go from village to village, meet other inhabitants of the Hæth, and watch the seasons change. This game is not a HeroicFantasy, as it instead focuses on [[SliceOfLife the lives of ordinary folk]].
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8	On July 2020, the free preview playkit was released, [[https://possumcreekgames.itch.io/wanderhome-playkit which can still be downloaded from itch.io.]] The following month, [[https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/jdragsky/wanderhome the ''Wanderhome'' funding campaign]] launched on Website/{{Kickstarter}}, and it raised more than $300,000 across 6,600+ backers.
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10	The full PDF version of the ''Wanderhome'' was released on April 5th, 2021; it can be bought on [[https://possumcreekgames.itch.io/wanderhome itch.io]] or [[https://www.possumcreekgames.com/shop/p/wanderhome-pdf Possum Creek Games]]. The physical edition can be pre-ordered [[https://www.possumcreekgames.com/wanderhome through Possum Creek Games]].
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13	!! This game provides examples of:
14	* AlternativeCalendar: Campaign play is dictated by "the great arc of the year," which is divided into five seasons of two months each, which a holiday concluding each season. Meanwhile, each year is given its own name, with the starting year being "The Year of the Waterlily," and subsequent year names being up to the players. The seasons in order are:
15	** Leap: Tillsoil, Monsoon, and the holiday of the Sun Parade. Corresponds to late winter and early spring.
16	** Bright: Bloommeadow, Devildays, and the holiday of the Day of Song. Corresponds to late spring and early summer.
17	** Breathe: Swarming, Gateling, and the holiday of the Moon Dance. Corresponds to a mix of spring and summer.
18	** Silt: Firetop, Grasping, and the holiday of the Candle Feast. Corresponds to fall.
19	** Chill: Snowblanket, Frostbite, and the holiday of New Years. Corresponds to early winter.
20	* BigCreepyCrawlies: Bugs serve as the pets, livestock, and wild creatures of the Hæth, so they are accordingly large. Unlike most depiction of giant bugs, they are supposed to be less creepy and more cuddly.
21	* CarnivoreConfusion: ''Wanderhome'' resolves the tension between predatory and prey animals by having insects be the FantasticFaunaCounterpart. Whether herbivore animal-folk partake in eating insects is up to the table to decide.
22	* CensorBox: The digital download comes with a "insectophobe-friendly version," a PDF where all illustrations of insects are either removed or covered up with boxed shapes.
23	* TheDrifter: Every player character is a {{downplayed}} example of the Stranger archetype. The party is going from place to place and encountering each location's problems. However, the game warns the players that it is not their characters' place to solve these problems, because they are only travelers in someone else's home, and the home's inhabitants are the ones who must solve those problems.
24	* ExtraordinaryWorldOrdinaryProblems: The Hæth is a world full of spirits and gods, with the aftermath of a war looming over the land. At the same time, the text predisposes players to problems that are interpersonal and local such as "conflict between expectations and demand" in a village workshop. Even if the characters do end up encountering any major gods or conquerers, any epic-level adventures exist outside the game's scope.
25	* FantasticFaunaCounterpart: The fauna of the Hæth are insects and other assorted bugs. The playbooks paint this dynamic, as a Moth-Tender can be a pigeon carrying for carrier moths, or a Shepherd could be a ram herding chubby bumblebees.
26	* FictionalHoliday: In the AlternativeCalendar, each season closes out with a holiday, providing local color to places and marking a time for characters to advance. The table figures out how a particular place celebrates a holiday, and some places may even celebrate an "alternative holiday" entirely.
27	* FunnyAnimals: The player characters and the NPC kith are animal-folk, who are depicted in the artwork as bipedal, capable of manual manipulation, and of human intelligence.
28	* GameMaster: ''Wanderhome'' calls its equivalent of the Game Master "the Guide." But as the name "No Dice, No Masters" suggests, this system is GM-optional, and the group is encouraged to collaborate and trade responsibilities for running the settings and non-player characters.
29	* GhibliHills: Jay Dragon cites Creator/HayaoMiyazaki as an influence of the world of the Hæth, and both the setting descriptions and illustrations depict the Hæth's rolling, colorful valleys and bright blue skies.
30	* ExperiencePoints: Averted. Playbooks do have an advancement system, but players choose advancements during each holiday between the seasons, instead of accumulating XP.
31	* NonPlayerCharacter: [=NPCs=] in ''Wanderhome'' are termed "kith," ordinary people living ordinary lives. Players trade responsibility for playing as the kith.
32	* SliceOfLife: ''Wanderhome'' keeps its focus away from the high-concept heroes of other fantasy stories, focusing instead on the day-to-day life of villagers. All of the playbooks revolve around more-grounded vocations; the only significant difference between the player characters and the [=NPCs=] is that the [=PCs=] are wanderers.
33	* SoloTabletopGame: The rulebook has a section on "journeying solo," permitting a player to play with one's imagination and giving some advice for what works for playing by oneself.
34	* WalkingTheEarth: The premise of ''Wanderhome'' revolves around the player characters going from place to place, without an end destination in mind.
35	* WorldOfFunnyAnimals: The Hæth is a fantasy world of animal-folk, with the animal-folk serving as the setting's people.

Context TabletopGame / Wanderhome