Wendigo
A downloadable solo horror TTRPG
A solo, journaling game about wanting to be alone in the woods and the terror of finding out that you're not.
Wendigo is a game about the peace of solitude and the terror of having that peace broken. To play it, you will adopt a persona called a character through whose eyes you will experience this story vicariously.
In the story you create, your character will run for their life through an unforgiving environment while fleeing from an unknown presence. You, the player, will roll dice to determine how well your character navigates the obstacles that confront them. Along the way, you will record their thoughts and fears using as much or as little prose as you'd like. Depending on how the dice fall, your character may live or die; they may emerge with their sanity intact or they may be forever affected by their encounter.
What you need to play
To play Wendigo, you’ll need the following in either analogue or digital form:
- An active imagination, a desire to be creative and at least a little bit scared, and a place where you can focus.
- A journal, blank paper, and copies of the character sheet at the end of this book.
- A handful of six-sided dice (abbreviated D6).
What you get
- The 56-page, fully-hyperlinked, A5 PDF, which features a minimal (but snazzy), single-column, print-friendly layout.
- A separate A5 PDF of the Wendigo character sheet.
For 1 player. Recommended for ages 13 and up.
Wendigo is copyright © 2021 by David Garrett. Licensed for use under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license.
This work is based on Heroic Tales, designed and authored by David Garrett and licensed for use under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license.
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Purchase
In order to download this solo horror TTRPG you must purchase it at or above the minimum price of $10 USD. You will get access to the following files:
Development log
- Added a game preview and links to a physical copy.Dec 23, 2021
Comments
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TLDR: This game is honestly fantastic!!
I just finished playing this for the first time and I must say I absolutely adore it. There were moments where my heart was literally beating out of my chest with tension, I was actually scared at points but it definitely felt like a the game was able to 'win', which is a nice change to many horror rpgs out there.
I love your writing, it's so evocative and inspirational. From the first page (when the actual prologue hadn't even started yet) I already came up with ideas. I loved the map, and the way that it allows you to track your progress and estimate how long you still have to go (useful if you want to take breaks in between!).
Also as Tallywinkle aid as well, the dice rolling works really well. There were encounters where I kept rolling equal successes and failures and you keep being in a stalemate that increases the tension again and again, it felt great adding small hesitant sentences to my journal at every roll, trying to resolve what was happening. I ended up not just writing down the prompts but even narrating and taking creative liberty at the encounters.
All in all I can highly recommend this game to anyone who wants an experience where things happen to you, and you react instead of a game where you have to come up with the things that happen to you.
Thank you so much for the great review! I’m so glad you enjoyed it.
Out of curiosity, was anyone on the team who created this game Algonquian? Anishinaabe?
I was the sole developer on the game and I do not have any Native American ancestry.
I loved this game! The dice rolling mechanic was punchy and added tension, and the entire game was well written and created an excellent horror atmosphere along the way. There is a replayability mechanic that I haven't explored yet but would like to in the future. Highly recommend playing it for yourself.
Full disclosure: I got to playtest this product for free.
I played through this last weekend and highly recommend anyone giving it a go!
The hex map and open-ended challenges and prompts combined with a story that has a specific beginning and end worked really well.
Wendigo is a good solo game for when you don't want to just wander around or figure out your own story but still feel like you're experiencing a story game and not just rolling dice overcome challenges like a pure board game. I also love the definite end-point. I don't have to wonder when the story will feel "done enough."
It also offers the rogue-lite (to borrow a video game term) element of permanent upgrades between playthroughs to incentivize playing again. I don't think I would be able to jump right back in, myself, but I could see trying again after a while. I also imagine it would be a bit of a changed experience because of character advancement.
Wendigo is an emotional and intense solo/journaling RPG without being over-the-top and, again, I definitely recommend it!