1-Page/1-Hour — Round 1!

The One Page RPG game jam is deep underway — and today, I’m excited to highlight some of the fun submissions I’ve played! The vast majority of games in the Game Jam are completely free to play, and indeed, all of today’s games are PWYW with free as an option. Most of today’s games were submitted to me via Reddit and Discord — and it’s not even a fraction of the game jam's submissions so far!

The rules for this series are simple: One Page, One Hour. I print the rules, I set a timer, I read & play, and after the hour is up, I wrap up, wherever we are.

Today’s lineup includes:

• Journeyman (13-7-0), a solo game about “pro” boxing to pay off debt,

• Cracks & Crankpots, a solo narrative game about conspiracies & isolation,

• Couples & Catacombs, a duet relationship game to play with a partner,

• One Day, a solo journaling game where you play as a mayfly

• Pizza Party…?, a whimsical pizza dungeon game with friends

So, without further ado, let’s dive in!

Journeyman (13-7-0), by FromNiki

Full transparency, my knowledge on contact sports is pretty lacking. I once fenced in a US state tournament, so I can nerd out about foil, épée, and saber tactics and critique videogames that play them wrong. Otherwise, I’m out.

So, I named my boxer Bobby, and imagined the Martian marine from The Expanse guest-starring in the Guy Ritchie film Snatch. I skimmed the rules, picked some tokens, and got started!

This game was fun. Like, lots and lots of fun. Without any knowledge of the technicals, or even the fundamentals, this let me play out the boxing tournament fantasy. My boxer went from struggling journeyman, back up champion, making back what she owed and then some more. Whew! Good for her.

It’s always beautiful whenever somebody takes a subject they’re enthusiastic about, and reflects it into a genuinely-presented game. You can really feel the love coming through the game with this one.

Bonus praise for the trifold layout — all the rules are available from the inner fold, with your record and oracles on the outside fold. It works well!

Check it out now on Itch.io (Opens in a new window)!

Cracks & Crankpots, by Periapt Games

This was a funky one where you roleplay as one of those troubled conspiracy theorists. It starts funny, wacky, and crazy — and by the end, it really got to me.

In this game, your character has a crackpot theory about how the world works, that is fundamentally misaligned with what science and history has taught our species.

Earth has six additional, invisible moons.

Every day is secretly another Monday.

Space is an emotion — and the universe is asleep.

The gameplay involves your character living their life, trying to cope/understand/research/prove their theory. Along the way, you track three stats: Isolation, Certainty, and Obstinacy, which are three trackers of how detached you are from ordinary society.

The goal is ambiguous (Are you trying to heal? Are you trying to prove yourself right?), and it’s easy to get lost in the game. But when you read through the prompts, and imagine how your “crank” goes through life, it’s… surprisingly tragic. When you mail your work to an academic, and they don’t reply and you end up shutting the world out harder — it hurts.

I went into it thinking this was going to be quirky and funny — and by the end, the emotions really got to me when my guy wasn’t able to escape his lunacy and reintegrate with society.

Check it out now on Itch.io (Opens in a new window)!

Couples & Catacombs, by Killer Bunny Studios

This one feels like one of those couples quizzes you can play with your partner, with a map connecting the prompts, and maybe some dice rolling. I played this one with my marital partner, and we had a lot of happy-cry moments during our one-hour play.

“Alright, I’ve got my ‘happiest memory’. Ready?”

“Yep— I bet mine’s the same as yours!”

Even though we ended up rolling no dice, and never losing Party HP, I really enjoyed going through the maze with my partner. We had a great time practicing drawing 6’s and reminiscing about the ways we love each other. It was really sweet.

One critique I have is that “rating answers” seems like a millennial trap, especially for dedicated partners in healthy relationships. Like— Of course I’m going to give my partner’s answer the highest rating! This is the person who knows me even more than I know myself.

Even still, this was fun. Maybe check it out with a loved one?

Check it out now on Itch.io (Opens in a new window)!

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Coming soon: Star-Trek-inspired Space Adventures for the Solo Gamer!

One Day, by Plaman A.

In this game, you play a mayfly born in the morning.

Your whole life lies ahead — an entire, singular, eponymous one day!

This game is a journaling-style game. You have an amount of energy which you need to conserve to get through the challenges and make it to the Great Pond. If you don’t make it before the end, you die before you’re able to lay your spawn!

I had a ton of fun with this one. You only get 9 prompts in a life, but each one is heartfelt and genuine. The Great Ball of Fire scorches down on you. An elder mayfly tells you his story. An old lady-moth is swarmed by ants and begs for help. The dice rolls are simple yet each scene can drastically alter your ability to keep going. Your energy is wild and goes all over the place. And, the ending feels so satisfying — if you don’t run out of energy first!

One Day was cute and fun. Give it a go! Rules are on one side, oracles on the other. A second sheet has the (optional) 3×3 grid for tracking your scenes, which I really appreciated because it kept my answers brief. I’m real bad at that!

Check it out now on Itch.io (Opens in a new window)!

Honorable Mention:
Pizza Party, by Lofty Jungle

This one gets an honorable mention because we’re not really able to play this genuinely, but I wish we could — it looks whimsical and fun. We aren’t actually able to order pizza at home (too many food allergies), it’s a party game for more than the 3 people we have at home, and plus, there are some undefined terms and missing mechanics. Still, there’s some cool ideas here I’m real excited for.

I really love how each box is a microcosm of randomization mechanics.

We have:

• Game-wide oracles that use a real-world pizza order, in the form of a questionnaire with questions like order method, how many dipping sauces were ordered, slice count, shape, and of course, meat or not

• Room Rolls with a random generation table (with partial oracle reference)

• Split The Room-style ice-breakers, splitting the party with polarizing questions

• “Dice Drop” dungeon creation — I love dice drops! (However, you’ll want cheap dice if the pizza box has grease stains!)

• Boss health is randomized using a real-world random seed

• Even the catalyst-for-play is random! The intended way to play uses a prop that you don’t come by everyday.

I wish the boss had more mechanics around it, but on the other hand, I’m certain a party with a bunch of pizza-loving nerds can figure it out. Having spoken with Lofty Jungle, this is their take, too. Hopefully it gets an expanded version. The designer sure wants to do that!

All considered, I can totally see myself printing this out for fun and bringing it to a pizza party — I just need to find one 😅

Check it out now on Itch.io (Opens in a new window)!

And that’s a wrap!

Today’s episode was mostly solo and duet games — of which there are, gosh, so many! More reviews will come in the coming weeks, alongside my regularly-scheduled deep-dive reviews on solo tabletop roleplaying games.

Speaking of deep-dive reviews, we have a Star-Trek-themed Solo TTRPG coming up this week. I’ll have a fancy-shmancy Play Report out shortly for my most avid (and best-dressed) supporters, plus a review aimed to publish just before the weekend. Spoiler: it’s way fun and totally hackable. Stay tuned!

Does your game belong in the next Roundup? Let me know!

Want your TTRPG reviewed next? Reach out!

I’m @faenre on Discord, and you can email me at nicole@play-brilliant.nl (Opens in a new window)

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