I just started playing a few days ago and I love the flow of the game, the added journal prompts are really nice but the creative liberty is still very prominent. All around a really nice cozy game. 10/10
I usually play doom and gloom, blood and gluts, grimdark, or "style over substance" edgy RPGs. I literally played a round of TRENCH before picking this up. But lemme just say...wow.
I'll edit this later, with more details, but so far:
I'm playing Tāko the Capybara - he has always been a bookseller, but grew weary in a failing shop. He bought a bookshop boat from an ad in the paper...only to find he had a crude carving in the shop counter - no wonder it was such a good price!
BLOOM 1 (day 1): Weather: Thunderstorms all day. Customer outlook: A snail's pace.
To do list: Inventory to start the year.
My very first customer was a very pungent skunk named Ross. He had 12 children - each of whom bought their father a different cologne for his birthday. He refused to choose a favorite and instead wore them all. He was looking for a recipe book on soups, due to the bad weather. He was telling me his oldest son was working on some sort of flying machine up in the mountains north of TD - sounds crazy to me, but what do I know? Kid sounds smart. Sadly, Ross' cologne left me sneezing so hard I had quite the headache and decided to skip the festivities for Rinse. A hare looking for a romance book stopped in, but we didn't quite meet his needs. Total customers for the day: 20. Total books sold: 40. Total coins earned: 55.
Weather is looking like hail. I sure hope the rest of Bloom isn't like this!
Hi, I have looked at tons of the reviews + the preview pages and it looks like so much fun! However, I am in a tough spot and cannot afford the game. Will there be anymore community copies added. It looks liek so much fun and I would love to play.
I got the physical edition from Peregrine Coast and it’s gorgeous. I’m making a concerted effort to spend time with solo games in an analogue capacity at the moment and this one has me intrigued. The illustrations and prompts seem lovely and evocative, there’s a lot of content here I’m incredibly excited to get stuck in.
i'm completely in love with the concept of this ttrpg. it's the first time i'm interested in trying to play something like this, but unfortunately i live in brazil and our currency is quite devalued, so i can't pay for your work at the moment ): would it be possible to add some community copies? i'm sure that in the future, when i have them, i'll financially reward this beautiful creation of yours
Got a copy of this as part of a bundle and have been really enjoying playing through Bloom :3 I'm on day 13 (my character's birthday!) and I'm likely going to play to the end of the season. I'lll pick it up again sometime though, for sure, I can say that much. I do have a few things I want to make note of though:
1: I'm a tad confused by the weather system. I draw a card, which represents the weather, then another card, which represents a part of the day. Does the second card represent how long the weather from the first card lasts until, or does it connote that its occurring *only* during that part of the day? The example didn't make that distinction clear enough.
2: I found an odd typo in my PDF- the Skyflower Festival's page lists it as being on 'the first day of Bloom', which is incorrect- a different holiday is on that day. I thought I should flag this as it did throw me for a loop at first.
3: The book mentions being able to fill out 'hearts' on the customer sheets in the back but they have no hearts. It's not been an issue for me- I'm journaling all of this digitally so I just added some hearts to the customer profiles I've written, but I thought it'd be worth pointing out in case it causes issues for others.
Typos aside, I'm loving this chance to explore the river and to sell lots of books. it's the perfect kind of cozy pass-time I love during this time of year
Oops! Thanks for picking up that typo and the hearts in the customer profile, they're from me moving design and layouts around and forgetting to double check things. I'll fix those, apologies for the confusion around those.
Regarding the Weather: the second card you pick up represents when the first card's weather occurs. If you pick rain + in the morning, it means it will rain in the morning, but only for the morning. You will then pick a third card and read from the weather column, this will be the weather for the rest of the day that isn't in the morning. Another example with the duration 'in the afternoon', the weather will only start in the afternoon and end when evening arrives. I hope that helps!
Glad I could help! I’m having a great time. I’m in Rue Berry now and will probably head to Hurst after the Flower Fall Festival :) I’ve created a recent college graduate name Ollie who’s an Otter, who’s finding running the shop to be a very fulfilling endeavor.
I just want to make sure I’m totally understanding you wrt the weather, sorry, just be certain Im clear on this-
Lets say you draw a card which says it will rain. The second card gives you “the afternoon” as the time. The third card says it is sunny the rest of the day.
So, if Im understanding you correctly, the day will begin sunny, until the afternoon, when it will rain for awhile and then go back to being sunny again. Is that right?
Thank you for making it so we may claim community copies! I'm a stay at home mom to two children and with only one income it's tough to spend money. So I definitely appreciate the generosity.
That being said, already this game is wonderful. As a long-time lover of TTRpgs, I have been looking for a way to fill the rpg void that's been around since the birth of my second child. Your game has already given me an opportunity to come back to the hobby without relying on a party full of players with different schedules. Just this morning, I was able to do a bare bones character creation (I've created Clover the echidna with smudgy glasses, patched overalls, and a little hat!) while my daughter slept and my son watched some YouTube and it was just so nice to be creative and imagine again. I can't wait to do more and give a review for you!
Is there going to be a furniture add-on for this game?
I'm just joking, but one of the things that has impressed me so far (other than the worldbuilding) is the customisable bookshop. I have mild aphantasia so I like not having to visualise things by myself.
Also, may I ask what font is used in the game? EDIT: Nevermind, I saw that it's in the 6th page!
I’d be happy with either—though perhaps the 2nd option would be less overwhelming for new booksellers? BTW, I’m halfway through Bloom in my playthrough now and I’m having such a blast! The flavor text of the rulebook is written so well.
Thank you so much for the community copy. I have a large surgery coming up and needed something to keep me occupied during 6 weeks of hospitalization with no use of my left arm. I stumbled upon TT journalRPGs on YouTube. I’m a DM, but I wasn’t sure if I could hold up my side of journaling. I did my first character creation today and was fully absorbed for 3 hours of journaling immersion. The game fits that magic sweet spot of rules, prompts, and free play. It was amazing and will definitely keep me distracted in the hospital. Thank you again!
I kind of feel awkward asking this, but will more community copies be made available? I'm up all night with our newborn recently and would love to play this!
The physical copy is so beautiful, everything is so cozy and nice looking. One thing I was wondering though, what are the items on page 22 in the upper right hand corner? Above the bookshelves and to the right of the couches? I can't quite figure it out.
The Kickstarter page gave an estimate of the project, and I ended up going well beyond the estimated page number. The content is the same as in the Kickstarter page, the game just needed more pages to be able to give the full experience :)
I'm currently setting up the game (perfect way to pass the time until our internet is fixed) and I absolutely love it.
I'm a little confused about page 79, daily task 8. for Bloom. It says you need a new washer and a spanner, only the spanner is listed in the shop inventories though. Speaking of, I'd really like a quick reference of shop inventories, for when you really need to get your paws on some of that BugOff Spray. I was also wondering about enlisting the help of a tradesanimal, does it cost anything to get in touch via the post office or is that included in their fee? There's a small typo on page 34 under "Repairs" where it says "inhabit" instead of "inhibit". I took some slight artistic liberty with the floorplan by flipping the counter upside down and adding windows to the small room with the kitchen. It seemed odd to not have any in a room you'd cook in!
With those notes out of the way, the game is absolutely wonderful. The book is beautifully designed and has such a cosy feel, I can absolutely see myself playing through more than one animalfolk's story of life on the river. What I like about this solo journaling game is that it gives a lot of guidance and clear prompts - that works much better for me than other games that leave basically everything up to you. The journaling game police won't get you if you change any aspect of the game to suit you better, so there's no harm in having more rather than less framework provided for your story! I'm definitely thinking of picking up a physical copy should they be easily available within the EU at some point.
I used a digital program to play around with the shop layout until I was happy, but I'm copying it onto paper to play through a physical journal. It just adds something to the experience for me, putting pen to paper tickles my brain in just the right way. Drawing out the river map by hand at the start of my journal for quick reference definitely was a nice and somewhat meditative exercise! I'm also adding (and decorating) the deck outside the two rooms, so my shopkeeping cat has a nice spot to sit down and enjoy the view or do some fishing. There's definitely going to be fairylights involved. I can't wait to sit down now and start her adventures on the river!
Thank you for your comment! I’ll fix the typo and add the washer to some shops, thanks for pointing it out to me. I will add a reference for all the items, that’s a good idea to have it!
I'm releasing the physical copies tomorrow, however they are shipping from me which means shipping is quite expensive. I've got some copies on their way to the US at the moment, but they are primarily for kickstarter backers. I do expect there will be some copies left over, I don't know when they will be available though!
Shipping from Australia to Poland is expensive, so I'm looking into a UK distributor to stock the game to make it easier for international folks. I'll post an update when physical copies are available as well as how you can get them :)
Oh my gosh I’ve just started but I’m loving this game!! One question though: on the page with the bookshop floor plan furniture, what is the thing in the top right?
It's supposed to be the fireplace! I'm not fabulous at drawing furniture, especially from a birds eye view haha. The things next to the fireplace are supposed to be logs and a bucket of twigs!
Found you from Dicebreaker's video. I LOVE the look of this game, just what I needed at this time. Thank you so much for community copies, helps out a lot :)
Physical copies will be available on my store once Kickstarter orders have been fulfilled, (I’m hoping by July/early August) I will post an update here when they’re available!
Hi ella! I mailed you because we are interested in working on a French edition of your game, but sometimes our mails got "lost in the void" XD Can you tell me if you received it? Thank you!! ^^
I already delight in Wanderhome and would equally if not more so delight in this! Finances are a bit tight at present, but I'll gladly trade a review for a Community Copy!
That's really exciting to me! I was debating buying this $60 rulebook in order to adapt Wanderhome for solo play, but instead, I am gonna wait for yours :)
i grabbed a community copy- (thank you for those, by the way!) and just looking through the pdf real quick, i have to say this looks incredible! the amount of thought that must have gone into the world and the various prompts, the holidays, seasons- the towns! i could go on and on about this, its very cool and i cant wait to actually try it out. ^^
(just noticed you made 32% and a lonely road, too? nice)
and one small note- i noticed in the spread version, on the appendix recipe page (can't recall the page numbers off the top of my head, sorry) there was what looked to be a slight error? just the formatting, some of the words on the page had the same font as the main title, instead of matching the other recipes, and one of the recipe prompts was oddly split. i didnt check the single page pdf to see if the error was there too, sorry, but i thought i'd let you know! hope that's alright
this comment got long, whoops, never commented here before
This game looks absolutely stunning! The illustrations are charming and I'm already in love with the beautifully designed seasonal holidays. I can't wait to sail the River.
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I just started playing a few days ago and I love the flow of the game, the added journal prompts are really nice but the creative liberty is still very prominent. All around a really nice cozy game. 10/10
Estaría disponible en más idiomas? A mi me interesaría el español ciertamente.
No tengo planes de hacer ninguna traducción, pero si hay suficiente interés, ¡puedo considerarlo!
(I translated this through google so apologies if it doesn't make any sense!)
Bueno, si lo reconsidera, me encantaría saberlo. :) Es muy bonito su juego de rol.
I usually play doom and gloom, blood and gluts, grimdark, or "style over substance" edgy RPGs. I literally played a round of TRENCH before picking this up. But lemme just say...wow.
I'll edit this later, with more details, but so far:
I'm playing Tāko the Capybara - he has always been a bookseller, but grew weary in a failing shop. He bought a bookshop boat from an ad in the paper...only to find he had a crude carving in the shop counter - no wonder it was such a good price!
BLOOM 1 (day 1): Weather: Thunderstorms all day. Customer outlook: A snail's pace.
To do list: Inventory to start the year.
My very first customer was a very pungent skunk named Ross. He had 12 children - each of whom bought their father a different cologne for his birthday. He refused to choose a favorite and instead wore them all. He was looking for a recipe book on soups, due to the bad weather. He was telling me his oldest son was working on some sort of flying machine up in the mountains north of TD - sounds crazy to me, but what do I know? Kid sounds smart. Sadly, Ross' cologne left me sneezing so hard I had quite the headache and decided to skip the festivities for Rinse. A hare looking for a romance book stopped in, but we didn't quite meet his needs. Total customers for the day: 20. Total books sold: 40. Total coins earned: 55.
Weather is looking like hail. I sure hope the rest of Bloom isn't like this!
I love this game so much.
🥺 thank you so much! I love that Ross wore all the different colognes from his kids haha
i haven't played many solo ttrpgs but this one is my favorite and i expect it to hold that spot eternally
I'm honoured you like it so much ahh
Hi, I have looked at tons of the reviews + the preview pages and it looks like so much fun! However, I am in a tough spot and cannot afford the game. Will there be anymore community copies added. It looks liek so much fun and I would love to play.
I have added some copies!
I got the physical edition from Peregrine Coast and it’s gorgeous. I’m making a concerted effort to spend time with solo games in an analogue capacity at the moment and this one has me intrigued. The illustrations and prompts seem lovely and evocative, there’s a lot of content here I’m incredibly excited to get stuck in.
Woohoo! I hope you enjoy playing :)
i'm completely in love with the concept of this ttrpg. it's the first time i'm interested in trying to play something like this, but unfortunately i live in brazil and our currency is quite devalued, so i can't pay for your work at the moment ): would it be possible to add some community copies? i'm sure that in the future, when i have them, i'll financially reward this beautiful creation of yours
Got a copy of this as part of a bundle and have been really enjoying playing through Bloom :3 I'm on day 13 (my character's birthday!) and I'm likely going to play to the end of the season. I'lll pick it up again sometime though, for sure, I can say that much.
I do have a few things I want to make note of though:
1: I'm a tad confused by the weather system. I draw a card, which represents the weather, then another card, which represents a part of the day. Does the second card represent how long the weather from the first card lasts until, or does it connote that its occurring *only* during that part of the day? The example didn't make that distinction clear enough.
2: I found an odd typo in my PDF- the Skyflower Festival's page lists it as being on 'the first day of Bloom', which is incorrect- a different holiday is on that day. I thought I should flag this as it did throw me for a loop at first.
3: The book mentions being able to fill out 'hearts' on the customer sheets in the back but they have no hearts. It's not been an issue for me- I'm journaling all of this digitally so I just added some hearts to the customer profiles I've written, but I thought it'd be worth pointing out in case it causes issues for others.
Typos aside, I'm loving this chance to explore the river and to sell lots of books. it's the perfect kind of cozy pass-time I love during this time of year
Oops! Thanks for picking up that typo and the hearts in the customer profile, they're from me moving design and layouts around and forgetting to double check things. I'll fix those, apologies for the confusion around those.
Regarding the Weather: the second card you pick up represents when the first card's weather occurs. If you pick rain + in the morning, it means it will rain in the morning, but only for the morning. You will then pick a third card and read from the weather column, this will be the weather for the rest of the day that isn't in the morning. Another example with the duration 'in the afternoon', the weather will only start in the afternoon and end when evening arrives. I hope that helps!
Glad I could help! I’m having a great time. I’m in Rue Berry now and will probably head to Hurst after the Flower Fall Festival :) I’ve created a recent college graduate name Ollie who’s an Otter, who’s finding running the shop to be a very fulfilling endeavor.
I just want to make sure I’m totally understanding you wrt the weather, sorry, just be certain Im clear on this-
Lets say you draw a card which says it will rain. The second card gives you “the afternoon” as the time. The third card says it is sunny the rest of the day.
So, if Im understanding you correctly, the day will begin sunny, until the afternoon, when it will rain for awhile and then go back to being sunny again. Is that right?
That is correct!
Will there be additional community copies in the future?
Thank you for making it so we may claim community copies! I'm a stay at home mom to two children and with only one income it's tough to spend money. So I definitely appreciate the generosity.
That being said, already this game is wonderful. As a long-time lover of TTRpgs, I have been looking for a way to fill the rpg void that's been around since the birth of my second child. Your game has already given me an opportunity to come back to the hobby without relying on a party full of players with different schedules. Just this morning, I was able to do a bare bones character creation (I've created Clover the echidna with smudgy glasses, patched overalls, and a little hat!) while my daughter slept and my son watched some YouTube and it was just so nice to be creative and imagine again. I can't wait to do more and give a review for you!
Thanks so much again!
Thank you for the community copy. I am loving your work and this journaling game is amazing. I highly recommend!!
Is there going to be a furniture add-on for this game?
I'm just joking, but one of the things that has impressed me so far (other than the worldbuilding) is the customisable bookshop. I have mild aphantasia so I like not having to visualise things by myself.
Also, may I ask what font is used in the game? EDIT: Nevermind, I saw that it's in the 6th page!
I’m glad you liked the bookshop customisation! Do you want more customisable options at the beginning or more furniture upgrades later on?
I’d be happy with either—though perhaps the 2nd option would be less overwhelming for new booksellers? BTW, I’m halfway through Bloom in my playthrough now and I’m having such a blast! The flavor text of the rulebook is written so well.
Thank you so much for the community copy. I have a large surgery coming up and needed something to keep me occupied during 6 weeks of hospitalization with no use of my left arm. I stumbled upon TT journalRPGs on YouTube. I’m a DM, but I wasn’t sure if I could hold up my side of journaling. I did my first character creation today and was fully absorbed for 3 hours of journaling immersion. The game fits that magic sweet spot of rules, prompts, and free play. It was amazing and will definitely keep me distracted in the hospital. Thank you again!
You are most welcome, I hope your surgery goes well!
Thank you sooooo much for the community copy. I will post a rating as soon as I've played it.
You are most welcome!
I kind of feel awkward asking this, but will more community copies be made available? I'm up all night with our newborn recently and would love to play this!
Added :)
I was just awoken by a loudly grunting baby after just two hours of sleep... this is the silver lining! Thank you so much :-)
The physical copy is so beautiful, everything is so cozy and nice looking. One thing I was wondering though, what are the items on page 22 in the upper right hand corner? Above the bookshelves and to the right of the couches? I can't quite figure it out.
Hi :( I love books and Solo RPGs so much, can I have a free copy? Thank you. I'll leave a review after <33
I've added more community copies, enjoy!
Thank you! ^^ so much~ I'm surely gonna rate it after I play 🫧💙
the Kickstarter was 50 pages zine has something changed since then? The physical copy says 220 pages and $45?
The Kickstarter page gave an estimate of the project, and I ended up going well beyond the estimated page number. The content is the same as in the Kickstarter page, the game just needed more pages to be able to give the full experience :)
That's amazing!
The holidays for Brink have the header Brisk Holidays.
Oh whoops! I’ll fix that, thanks for letting me know :)
I'm currently setting up the game (perfect way to pass the time until our internet is fixed) and I absolutely love it.
I'm a little confused about page 79, daily task 8. for Bloom. It says you need a new washer and a spanner, only the spanner is listed in the shop inventories though. Speaking of, I'd really like a quick reference of shop inventories, for when you really need to get your paws on some of that BugOff Spray.
I was also wondering about enlisting the help of a tradesanimal, does it cost anything to get in touch via the post office or is that included in their fee?
There's a small typo on page 34 under "Repairs" where it says "inhabit" instead of "inhibit".
I took some slight artistic liberty with the floorplan by flipping the counter upside down and adding windows to the small room with the kitchen. It seemed odd to not have any in a room you'd cook in!
With those notes out of the way, the game is absolutely wonderful. The book is beautifully designed and has such a cosy feel, I can absolutely see myself playing through more than one animalfolk's story of life on the river. What I like about this solo journaling game is that it gives a lot of guidance and clear prompts - that works much better for me than other games that leave basically everything up to you. The journaling game police won't get you if you change any aspect of the game to suit you better, so there's no harm in having more rather than less framework provided for your story! I'm definitely thinking of picking up a physical copy should they be easily available within the EU at some point.
I used a digital program to play around with the shop layout until I was happy, but I'm copying it onto paper to play through a physical journal. It just adds something to the experience for me, putting pen to paper tickles my brain in just the right way. Drawing out the river map by hand at the start of my journal for quick reference definitely was a nice and somewhat meditative exercise! I'm also adding (and decorating) the deck outside the two rooms, so my shopkeeping cat has a nice spot to sit down and enjoy the view or do some fishing. There's definitely going to be fairylights involved. I can't wait to sit down now and start her adventures on the river!
Thank you for your comment! I’ll fix the typo and add the washer to some shops, thanks for pointing it out to me. I will add a reference for all the items, that’s a good idea to have it!
Is the zip file just everything in the other files combined
The zip file has all five seasons in seperate PDFs :)
Any chance of more community copies?
Sure! Added some more!
Thank you!
This is a gorgeous book. When are physical copies going to be available in the United States?
I'm releasing the physical copies tomorrow, however they are shipping from me which means shipping is quite expensive. I've got some copies on their way to the US at the moment, but they are primarily for kickstarter backers. I do expect there will be some copies left over, I don't know when they will be available though!
This game is amazing! I bought the PDF, but I am also waiting for the physical release. Will there be shipping to Poland?
Shipping from Australia to Poland is expensive, so I'm looking into a UK distributor to stock the game to make it easier for international folks. I'll post an update when physical copies are available as well as how you can get them :)
Oh my gosh I’ve just started but I’m loving this game!! One question though: on the page with the bookshop floor plan furniture, what is the thing in the top right?
It's supposed to be the fireplace! I'm not fabulous at drawing furniture, especially from a birds eye view haha. The things next to the fireplace are supposed to be logs and a bucket of twigs!
Well, to be fair, a fireplace is pretty much just a rectangle from an overhead view!
Shoot, all the community copies are gone, any chance they will come back soon, would love to try this but cant afford.
Added some more :)
Thank you so much, I really wish I could pay for all the hard work this must have been to make.
Eager for a print copy!
Me too, they're going to look so good!
Thank you for this!
Hi, thank you so much for your amazing work. Can't wait to play.
Found you from Dicebreaker's video. I LOVE the look of this game, just what I needed at this time. Thank you so much for community copies, helps out a lot :)
I hope you enjoy the game!
Thanks for the community copies... Very excited to try.
You are most welcome!
Hi. Where can physical copies be purchased, I'm UK based? Thanks :)
Physical copies will be available on my store once Kickstarter orders have been fulfilled, (I’m hoping by July/early August) I will post an update here when they’re available!
Thanks for the info! 😊👍
Hi ella!
I mailed you because we are interested in working on a French edition of your game, but sometimes our mails got "lost in the void" XD
Can you tell me if you received it?
Thank you!! ^^
Hello! I did receive your lovely email, and I have been meaning to respond but I have been very busy! I'll send you a reply later today :)
Ok, I am relieved then ^^
Take your time! There is no hurry ;)
I already delight in Wanderhome and would equally if not more so delight in this! Finances are a bit tight at present, but I'll gladly trade a review for a Community Copy!
Added some more community copies, I didn't realise they ran out :)
Had to stop myself squealing out loud. Thank you!!
This game looks fabulous! I'm gonna wait for the print edition to come out. Was this game at all inspired by Wanderhome? I get a very similar vibe.
It was indeed inspired by Wanderhome!
That's really exciting to me! I was debating buying this $60 rulebook in order to adapt Wanderhome for solo play, but instead, I am gonna wait for yours :)
i grabbed a community copy- (thank you for those, by the way!) and just looking through the pdf real quick, i have to say this looks incredible! the amount of thought that must have gone into the world and the various prompts, the holidays, seasons- the towns! i could go on and on about this, its very cool and i cant wait to actually try it out. ^^
(just noticed you made 32% and a lonely road, too? nice)
and one small note- i noticed in the spread version, on the appendix recipe page (can't recall the page numbers off the top of my head, sorry) there was what looked to be a slight error? just the formatting, some of the words on the page had the same font as the main title, instead of matching the other recipes, and one of the recipe prompts was oddly split. i didnt check the single page pdf to see if the error was there too, sorry, but i thought i'd let you know! hope that's alright
this comment got long, whoops, never commented here beforeI'm glad you like it! I'll check out the appendix formatting, thanks for pointing that out, I appreciate it :)
😍 Have you planned a printed edition ?
Yes! They’re coming very soon, I just wanted to release the digital version first :)
🤘
This game looks absolutely stunning! The illustrations are charming and I'm already in love with the beautifully designed seasonal holidays. I can't wait to sail the River.
In the chaos of releasing the game, I forgot to add some community copies! They're available now :)