The Game Moves

Short Stories

The game Lighthouse at the End of the World uses the Wretched and Alone SRD, a system designed to tell stories of horror, sadness, and hopelessness. You’re not supposed to “win” these games often, and this play reflects that, I feel. What follows are the die-rolls, card-draws, and tower-pulls that created the events that I turned into my short-story.

  1. Roll: 2
    • Card 1 - Jack of Diamonds : Pull
    • Card 2 - 7 of Hearts : Pull
  2. Roll: 3
    • Card 1 - 7 of Diamonds : Pull
    • Card 2 - 6 of Hearts
    • Card 3 - 3 of Diamonds : Pull
  3. Roll: 2
    • Card 1 - 5 of Spades : Pull
    • Card 2 - 2 of Spades : Pull
  4. Roll: 4
    • Card 1 - 5 of Hearts : Pull
    • Card 2 - 10 of Hearts
    • Card 3 - 5 of Clubs : Pull
    • Card 4 - 3 of Clubs
  5. Roll: 6
    • Card 1 - 4 of Spades : Pull
    • Card 2 - 4 of Hearts
    • Card 3 - 2 of Hearts : Pull
    • Card 4 - 8 of Diamonds
    • Card 5 - King of Clubs
    • Card 6 - King of Spades
  6. Roll: 6
    • Card 1 - 9 of Diamonds : Pull
    • Card 2 - 9 of Hearts : Pull
    • Card 3 - Ace of Diamonds : Gain Help on Manifest Roll
    • Card 4 - 10 of Diamonds
    • Card 5 - Jack of Hearts : Pull
    • Card 6 - Queen of Spades : Pull
  7. Roll: 5
    • Card 1 - Queen of Clubs : Pull
    • Card 2 - 4 of Diamonds
    • Card 3 - 10 of Spades : Pull
    • Card 4 - 9 of Clubs : Pull
    • Card 5 - 6 of Clubs
  8. Roll: 4
    • Card 1 - 2 of Diamonds
    • Card 2 - 2 of Clubs
    • Card 3 - 8 of Clubs
    • Card 4 - Jack of Spades : Pull
  9. Roll: 1
    • Card 1 - Ace of Clubs : Ignore next Pull
  10. Roll: 2
    • Card 1 - Ace of Hearts : Gain Manifests
    • Card 2 - Queen of Hearts : Pull
    • Manifest Roll: 6
  11. Roll: 6
    • Card 1 - 6 of Diamonds
    • Card 2 - 8 of Spades : Pull
    • Card 3 - 6 of Spades : Pull
    • Card 4 - King of Hearts
    • Card 5 - Queen of Diamonds : Pull
    • Card 6 - King of Diamonds
    • All 4 Kings: Heads = Storm

Final Thoughts

The reveal of cards one at a time became somewhat limiting. I found my instincts were always towards finding a throughline, seeding information that might be useful later. You could also say I got a bit out over my skis, as rather than using the prompts as guideposts, I used them as writing prompts, enough that I probably could have told the whole story of Thomas with half the time/space given.

Masterful segue: this game was a lot longer than I expected. Perhaps I made a mistake in turning what is supposed to be a journaling game into a third-person narrative. There is material here that would require a full-on novella, rather than a short story. Possibly a whole novel if I developed the penal colony, Thomas’s history, explored his backstory with more care and consideration, and polished up the themes and storyline.

I found myself ready for Thomas’s story to end around the time he found the mine. His morose nature had already become clear, and when your character is a very poe-like mumbling mad-man, there isn’t much more to do but wait for the horrors of the haunted lighthouse to end him. By the last three draws, I was hoping each one would be the last, and I would have the opportunity to move on to a story that didn’t feel quite so flabby.

There are a few other Wretched and Alone games in my collection, I’ll have to try and be a bit more tightly focused with the next ones, to say nothing of trying an actual journal style, instead of third-person narrative.