Here’s a unique take on a single-player tabletop game: Advent of Adventure is a solo journaling RPG that comes in the form of an advent calendar. The game is live now on Kickstarter. The campaign ends in just a few days, in fact, so now is the time to pledge if you’re interested in this unique creative endeavor.
In Advent of Adventure, a greedy dragon has descended onto the North Pole and taken a stack of gifts for its hoard of treasure. Naturally, it’s up to you to save Christmas. You’ll set the scene for the unfolding adventure by imagining your character, and then each day a new door will reveal a fresh prompt for you to continue writing their story, leading up to a conclusion of your own devising.
This new, fantasy-themed calendar is following up from the independent UK-based publisher’s previous offering Advent of Abomination, which was conceptually similar but told a darker tale of Yuletide horror. Each day had a scare rating to guide you on how sinister it should be, and some entries offered a decision on additional prompts to vary things up.
If you want to get a sense of how a journaling game can pan out, you can read one gamer’s story on their blog, although obviously it’s full of spoilers if you’re planning to play yourself.
That first game proved a popular and unique offering, healthier and more imaginative than chocolate and rather more affordable for gamers than luxury dice or miniature figure calendars. Both are now being reprinted and you can back now for a November delivery, ensuring you get your game in time for the holiday season.
Each physical calendar is £15, or £5 for a digital PDF version (currently about $20/$6.50) and delivery is approximated at £6.50/$11-14 depending on your location. There are some fun extras to add if you’re interested, such as stickers, and coloring sheets or prints of the cover art.
Matt Thrower is a contributing freelance writer for IGN, specializing in tabletop games. You can reach him on BlueSky at @mattthr.bsky.social.