You step onto the shores of another world. 

Before you sprawls an archipelago of misty isles, each scattered with odd contraptions and ancient ruins. Above it all looms a mysterious tower, its dome reflecting the golden glow of an ever-setting sun. 

While most of this curious realm is unknown to you, a few facts are certain:

This place is called Rillem.

You are not alone here.

This world ends in three days, and you are already running out of time. . .

Rillem is a solo journaling/mapmaking game inspired by ‘90s puzzle games, old ruins, archipelagos, and the end of the world.

During play, the player will explore by moving their piece between cards, flipping them and responding to their prompts. As they uncover strange devices and cryptic clues while searching for the lone figure trapped within Rillem, they will make notes and drawings of their discoveries, creating a record of this world’s final days.

Time is short and Rillem is dying. 

Can you solve its mysteries and escape before everything collapses?

What You'll Need

• standard deck of playing cards (jokers removed)
• something to write/draw on
• something to write/draw with
• a piece to move around the map (coin, button, pebble, small toy, etc)
• 10 tokens to track resources
• 3 long items (pens, bits of string, drawn lines, etc.) to connect isles

(If playing virtually, https://playingcards.io/ is a free site that has all the cards/tokens needed for Rillem.)

For further questions, longer thoughts, or just to say hi, holler at me in the comments or over on Bluesky!

Printed Version

Rillem is a featured Story Game  for the July 2025 RPG Zine Club, and is now available as a physical printing by Plus One Exp!

Credits

Cover/background by lennguine (https://lennguine.carrd.co/)

Text and Design by Chronicled Fox

Additional Design by Kaden Ramstack (https://kadenramstack.carrd.co/)

This work is based on the Carta system (https://peachgardengames.itch.io/carta-srd) from Leon Richardson and Peach Garden Games, and licensed for use under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/).

Inspirations

• Myst video game series by Cyan Worlds, in particular Riven: The Sequel to Myst
• DIE (comic and RPG) by Kieron Gillen and Stephanie Hans
• The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern
• Artwork of Will Quinn (daily bunny no.2162)

Content Warning

This game has themes of peril, isolation, abandoned places, imprisonment, tyranny, death, betrayal, and the end of the world.

Rillem is proudly made by humans and contains no AI or machine generation. Supporting this game means you're supporting real (and actually creative) people who have dreams, passions, & bills. Thank you!

Human Made icon by HINOKODO