
๐ฏ๏ธ Four more quiet years, and one die. A counter in a country apothecary, a cottage at the edge of the wood, a cafรฉ on a town square and a walled garden with its gate open โ and in each of them somebody is about to turn upโฆ
โฌ10.39โฌ15.99−35%on Etsy · sale until 31 Oct
The second four books of the A Year atโฆ series in one download. The same rules as the first four, four new places, four sets of people, and four different things running out. About twenty minutes an evening, one die, one pen.
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Four complete solo journaling games. In each of them you keep a place for a year, and people come to you: across the counter, to the door after dark, through the cafรฉ door, or to the garden gate. You write down what happened.
You play one evening at a time:
๐ฒ Roll for who turns up.
๐ฒ Roll for what they want.
โ๏ธ Write three or four lines: what you did, what it cost, and what you did not say.
โ๏ธ You never roll to find out whether you succeed. The die says what happens. You say what you did about it. There is no failure in these games, only what it cost.
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โช 4 books: A Year at the Apothecary, A Year at the Witch's Cottage, A Year at the Cafรฉ and A Year in the Walled Garden
โช 648 written entries across 100 tables โ every one of them rolled on a single d6
โช 16 seasons, four to each book, each with its own people
โช 48 writing prompts and 12 ending tables
โช 32 journal sheets, eight in every book
โช 80 pages ยท 16 PDFs
Nothing here is a stub. Every table is written out in full.
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Behind the counter of a small country apothecary, the town tells you what is wrong with it, or most of it. What you are keeping: Jars, Herbs and Goodwill.
The beds wake ยท The drying season ยท Roots and berries ยท The coughing months
The last cottage before the trees is yours, and so is everything the village will not say in daylight. What you are keeping: Candles, Thread and Goodwill.
Sowing and asking ยท Short nights ยท The turning ยท The long nights
The bell over the door rings at seven and does not stop until the chairs go up on the tables. What you are keeping: Flour, Beans and Goodwill.
Windows open ยท Tables outside ยท Market days ยท Steamed windows
Behind the old brick wall the beds are waiting, and the gate is open to anybody who asks. What you are keeping: Seed, Water and Goodwill.
The first sowing ยท Glut ยท Picking and keeping ยท Bare earth
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"An old man who comes in every week for the same bottle, which you both know is mostly sugar and company." โ the Apothecary
"You count the money in the drawer twice and decide not to count it a third time." โ the Apothecary
"A charm for the door, against something they will not name, which turns out to be the landlord." โ the Witch's Cottage
"Carol singers, who sing your door last and fastest, and are gone before you can open it." โ the Witch's Cottage
"Soup. You do not do soup, and by the end of the week you do soup." โ the Cafรฉ
"You count the cups and saucers. There are three more cups than saucers, and you will never know why." โ the Cafรฉ
"The fig ripens. One fig, after all these years, and you do not tell a soul." โ the Walled Garden
"The seed merchant, with his catalogue and his stories, who stays three hours and sells you nothing." โ the Walled Garden
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โช You have played one of the A Year atโฆ books and would like more of them
โช You want a cozy game that still has structure and consequences
โช This would be your first solo RPG and you want one that explains itself
โช You keep a journal and want prompts that build on each other instead of starting over
โช You want quiet evenings that are not a screen, for a good part of a year
โช You are tired of combat and stat blocks
โช You own one six-sided die and nothing else, and would like that to be enough
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โช These books
โช A pen
โช One six-sided die
โช Somewhere quiet
That is the list. No deck of cards, no second die, no app, and no account.
Every book is made for one player, with a way to share a year with a second: take a season each.
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No combat. No monsters. No stat blocks and no character sheet.
Three of the four have no magic at all. The Witch's Cottage has a little: a knot, a candle, a lost thing found, and you are never quite sure it was the charm and not the walk home.
Nothing here is fought. If something arrives that you cannot solve, you cannot solve it, and you write that down.
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The first four books of the series, A Year at the Wayside, A Year at the Lending Library, A Year at the Ferry and A Year on the Salt Road, are sold together as their own bundle. They use exactly the same rules.
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Two zip files, one for each paper size, so you only download the one you print on:
โช A4 โ all four books, colour and ink-saver
โช US Letter โ all four books, colour and ink-saver
The ink-saver builds drop the tint and the cover paintings and keep every word.
โฌ๏ธ Instant digital download. Nothing is posted to you.
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Games for a table, and for a chair by the fire.
Ready to print tonight · โฌ10.39 on Etsy, 35% off until 31 Oct.
Get it on Etsy → Or get it on itch.io →