a lonely road

Hi there! 
I tried A Lonely Road during a lunch break. I drifted into a nap and the dream formed around floating cities. I rode a tall pedal powered boat bike.

At the first stop I reached a tight cluster of small boats. A merchant at the center shouted about some miracle mix and aimed his pitch at anyone who looked uncertain. People noticed me right away because of my height. They urged me to try the mix. I backed away, lost balance, and fell into the water. It felt clumsy rather than dramatic.
While I tried to get my bearings, I heard someone say they were recording the moment. A boom mic hovered toward me.

The next stop grew from that moment. A boat home floated closer. The owner used the boom mic like a tool to pull me aboard. He said he was gathering field recordings and asked if he could follow me. I said yes. He handed me a cassette filled with sounds from the rescue. My tallbike had not drifted far and he guided me back to it.

We continued toward an old floating university. A group of science folks greeted us as if we were expected. They held cups of choco milk and chatted about odd projects. They showed how dead spiders could act as tiny mechanical tools. They talked about licking rocks to reveal textures. They explained how flattery can briefly raise a sense of specialness.
Something in their energy reminded me of a teacher I once had. Same spark around strange ideas. They gave us posters about their work.

The last stop was a new art fair. Each piece looked intentionally weak. A potato with a fork. A broken umbrella titled Weather Permitting. A shoelace glued to cardboard called Knot Bad. A dirty sponge named Absorb This.
My companion tried recording the scene but seemed unsure what to capture. Nothing there carried any interest. The scene went flat and I woke up.

Back at my desk I told a coworker about the dream. They said the floating cities showed that my mind wanted height. The tallbike meant I was searching for a better view. The charlatan was, in their words, my fear of easy answers. Falling into the water was a reset. The boom-mic rescue was my “creative voice catching me.”
They claimed the science crowd represented ideas I keep ignoring.
The dull art fair, they said, was a sign that my mind refuses anything that feels empty.
They ended by saying the whole dream was me preparing for a shift.
I didn’t argue.
I just kept the log.

Thanks to the creator of A Lonely Road. The game turned a short nap into a small trip that stayed with me.

I took a lot of inspiration from A Lonely Road for my own hack of Alone Among the Stars and I have to say it’s definitely the best iteretion one out there! It offers a lovely and deep experience, with a pretty distinct mood. Really like the prompts and layout of the pdf as well.

Just finished playing this for the first time. I really enjoyed it as a journaling game. It was low pressure and relaxing, and did not drag on longer than it needed to. The prompts were simple but thoughtful, and I can see a lot of replayability. Awesome work!

Out of dozens of solo pen and paper games, A lonely road has been my favorite by far. It’s cozy and relaxing, encompassing the freedom of writing on its own and the structure of prompted things. 
It’s suck a lovely, beautiful game, that sticks with you days after playing. Thank you for such a wonderfully crafted game.

Struck a great balance of structure and flexibility. As someone new to role-playing games, I found it easy to start, play, and immerse myself into the world I had created. Thank you for A Lonely Road :)

The first journalling game I ever tried and.... I immediately fell in love with it (and then with the genre). The prompts are suggestive enough to avoid the fear of the blank page, while being open enough to allow a lot of freedom in deciding the tone of the journal. I am hoping to have time to do it a second time, as my first "journey" was very melancholy, a representation of depression... and I would love to try... a different road next time!

A meditative and peaceful experience for me, although the system is flexible enough to create more drama on the journey if you want. You can tinker this to be just about any kind of vehicle you like, including horses and spaceships, and not just cars on a highway—you just need a journey with multiple places to stop.

I like that this game additionally encourages you to add different flavors to your journey setting, too, with a simple table for 2d6.

As this game features one road of multiple stops represented by cards, should the journey seem too short with the die roll, I like to add 6 for 2d6 and 3 for a shorter 1d6 journey.

Thank you!

The PDF is quite pretty, and I really like how the card rank table includes character-oriented as well as adventure-oriented prompts.

I will certainly continue the game I just started, it feels no-pressure and has been very inspiring.

Had a lovely time with this solo rpg. Prompts strike a perfect balance between freedom and direction and the art and layout are fantastic. 

I finished the game but haven't stop thinking about the story, characters, and world I created through it. That’s always a clear sign of a well-made rpg.