World building via the Wandering Library

 It has been a few years now since I last participated in NaNoWriMo. It is not because I haven’t had the time but because I haven’t prioritized NaNoWriMo. I think this is a meaningful difference because it isn’t nearly as full of self-pity lol

That said, I still try to play at least one journaling game during November in honor of NaNoWriMo. This year, it was The Wandering Library, which I found on Itch.io 

In most respects, it is a very standard journaling RPG. A couple of tables in order to generate writing prompts. And, while I do feel I got all I wanted out of my one play, I can also say that I have played for weaker journaling games.

The core idea is that you are the owner of a portable library and the game will guide you through a series of scenes about your experiences as a wandering librarian.

What is exactly is a wandering library? That extremely open ended question is basically up to you. I do think that this game manages to give you just enough guidance to actually count as guidance while still leaving a lot of decisions and interpretations up to you.

There are two tables to give you prompts for each scene. One is six locations for the scene. The other is an actual grid and you will roll two dice to determine which of the 36 prompts you will be working with.

I decided to write about a wandering library that was in a ramshackle bus traveling through a post apocalyptic United States. A fairly pastoral post apocalyptic, to be fair. I also decided to run through an entire year with each month being a separate scene.

On the one hand, I ended up really liking the grid. It gave me plenty of options and since I chose not to pre-assign dice, I had two choices per scene. I found that really made for an effective world building tool.

On the other hand, having only six choices for locations felt very limited pretty quickly. And, while the game is freeform enough that I could have ignored those prompts, I felt that I should try to play by the rules, at least for the first time. I will also admit that having 12 separate scenes overloaded that part of the mechanics.

Ultimately, your own desire to create and write are more important than anything else when it comes to a journaling game. I felt that, overall, the theme of The Wandering Library was its strongest element. I enjoyed thinking about what a portable library could be like.

At the same time, while I enjoyed my time with the game, I don’t see myself in a hurry to go back to it. Alone Among the Stars or The Swamp You Die In have been games that I have regularly revisited. The Wandering Library doesn’t have that.

With that said, most journaling games aren’t ones that I need to play over and over again. Getting one good experience is reward enough.