LONE EONS
A downloadable Solo adventure game
Your people have lived in your Haven for a thousand years. It protected you. The experience changed you. Now the Haven's doors must open. What will you find up there on the surface? How has the damaged world healed? Do you have what it takes to survive?
LONE EONS, the solo iteration of Lost Eons, is a Science Fantasy Solarpunk journaling game for one player, using dice and a pack of standard playing cards to create problems and opportunities for you to explore.
With new unique art by illustrator Daniel Locke, funded by many supported during ZIMO 2022!
Lost Eons is designed to help see our climate reality and high fantasy afresh, experiencing and describing a new world for the first time.
- YOU DECIDE WHAT HAPPENS Procedures help to set the scene, and embody the world of Lost Eons, offering a space for play, but feel free to change, augment and twist the prompts to make the world you want to inhabit.
- FICTION FIRST Think about your actions rather than refer to statistics. Describe the situation and then decide how to tackle any test.
Rulings not rules There are rules to cover certain situations, but let the narrative lead the action.
- POSTHUMAN Lone Eons is a journaling roleplay game (RPG), played by taking on the roles of a post-human character in the deep future. This book is a remix of the Lost Eons Player’s Guide, repurposed for solo play.
- CARDS AND TABLES Cards and prompts set the scene helping to outline the flora and fauna you encounter, and the world around you. Always interpret to prompt in a way that makes sense for your story. Take a different card if it really doesn’t fit.
- DICE AND LUCK As the game continues, there will be moments of difficulty and tension. When there is something at stake, roll dice to see what happens, to test if your character is skilful or unlucky.
Purchase
In order to download this Solo adventure game you must purchase it at or above the minimum price of $6.50 USD. You will get access to the following files:
Exclusive content
Support this Solo adventure game at or above a special price point to receive something exclusive.
Community Copies
If you're in need and can't afford a copy of the game, help yourself to a community copy of the digital zine. These copies were generously provided by supporters of the LOST EONS ONESHEET and Core Books. Extra copies will be added with every sale.
Development log
- Fixed error!30 days ago
- ECO MOFOS!! KickstarterJun 02, 2023
- Errata and new colours!Sep 26, 2022
- IT'S FINISHED!!!Jul 10, 2022
- Almost Funded! And Major update.Feb 05, 2022
- Beings defined, Combat refined, wounds and DeathJan 19, 2022
Comments
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Hello, I am having trouble finding the Rumour table that is mentioned in the book. Can you tell me where to find it?
Ahh well spotted! I changed the Rumour Table to be called the World Table late in development, and forgot to change all the references! Arg! Now I'm going to have to fix that. Thank you. But in the meantime whenever it says Rumour, Roll on World.
Any chance at community copies?
Sure thing
Hey David! I think there's a typo in the Detriments table on p20 of the players' guide- Major Detriment option 4 says "-1 Talent" but on p32 of Lone Eons it says "-1 Trait" and it's rather confusing. Can you clarify?
hi, thanks for reading! Sorry, Lone Eons is correct in this instance, I decided losing a Talent is just too harsh when I was refining the game for Lone Eons, and forgot to make that correction to the Lost Eons files. I will make that change. Thanks again.
Hi. I'm loving the game btw, but a few questions occurred to me. One, am I meant to discard cards as I pick them for the randomised encounters and such, or am I meant to shuffle them back in after each pick? Secondly, why do I have to separate the suits? If each suit represents a different kind of encounter, surely I could just decide the type of encounter, then use the number I pick ignoring the suit?
Has the writer stopped responding to messages? I wrote the above 3 months ago. He usually responds quicker than this! I feel most put out 😒
Hi, I’m really sorry I missed this! No idea how that happened. In answer to your question, the cards all work together to create each Location event-
The first Spade is the location you discover and first Club is the Being you encounter there. Read the remaining Spade and Club as Twists to describe the location.
So it helps to seperate the suits. Hope that helps. And so sorry for the (very!) delayed response!
Hey, any chance of having some community copies?
Sure, there you go. Please do leave a review if you claim one.
Are there going to be any updates to this in the future? I absolutely love the concept, but some things just feel slightly confusing and incomplete, such as multiple references to time mechanics that aren't there.
ah, good spot, I better sieve those out!
sorry, would you help me by pointing out page and paragraph of the problems? Is it where I’ve bolded “time” references? I meant them to be purely narrative rather than mechanical, but maybe I should reintroduce a simple time mechanic. I had one in earlier drafts but it was too unwieldy
Perhaps I was getting confused about the bolded ones. There was also reference to a dice pool in the quickstart example, so I assumed there was a missing mechanic.
There was one other question that I did have though! I've been rather confused if you're supposed to discard each card after you pull it, or put it back in. If you discard, eventually you'll only be able to pull Kings and Aces, which felt like it forces the end of the game fairly early on.
yes, the play example needs revising. My apologies. And I’ll unbold the time references to make it clearer.
As for the cards, I play discarding every card. This makes for a shorter play time, the Aces and Kings should be put aside, so you know where you are in the quest. I should make that clearer.
Thanks again for your support!
Are there plans for a print run or print-on-demand?
thanks for asking! Yes, I’ll have news on this very soon.
New design is fantastic! really dig it
thanks so much!
Hi David - I've just purchased the game and I'm looking forward to playing - just wondering if there is a way to sign up to find out if a new version is available as it looks like you are still maiing revisions?
Thanks
O
Hi Wandering Lark, I thought it was all set, but it turns out I need to revise :) But if you follow my account on itch.io you will receive alerts on all updates. Many thanks for the purchase!
Hi David. Loving the game having purchased it this week. Glad to see Solarpunk becoming more popular!
I must say I'm struggling to understand it though. Page 11 isn't as clear about playing it as I hoped it would be. I think it gets Twists and Oracle mixed up, and to add to the confusion is Rumor! "Read the remaining spades and clubs as Twists (page 13) to describe the location. " Yet twists are page 15. Page 13 is Oracle.
Also I don't understand Insights and Doom. Do they only become challenges when picked up as an Oracle, or also when picked up as Rumor, or Twists, or Magic? A challenge isn't always implied by their appearance. I feel like I'm missing something, or am I just not getting it? Shame, because it does look fun. Thanks in advance.
Hi Mc! Thank you so much for picking up the game and taking time with it! And I apologise for the errors in the text- I made revisions recently to layout, but failed to update all the rules text. I also see your frustrations with it in terms of clarity.
This is how those paragraphs should read-
THE ORACLE
After each journey, take two Spades and two Clubs, a Heart and two Diamonds. The first Spade is the location you discover and first Club is the Being you encounter there. Read the remaining Spade and Club as Twists (p.15) to describe the location. Interpret freely. The Heart and Diamonds are Twists to describe the being/s. Write in your journal about your first encounter. Now reinterpret the Heart as an Event that changes the situation. What happens? Now reread the first Diamond is a Thing that is there with you. Can you find it? The second is a thing that belongs to the Being. Will they let you have it? A table of names (p.16) is there to help.
THE END
As you travel, you seek Insights, and fear Doom. The Insights are the Four Aces. When they come up in play, after the action you receive a vision: roll your highest Skill against the World. If you Succeed, keep the card and roll for a World Event (p. 14). If you fail the vision remains indistinct and the card returns to the deck. Doom is the Four Kings, a terrible omen. What portent do you see in the clouds or hear in the wind? When a King comes up in play, after the action, roll your highest Skill against the World. If you Fail, keep the card and take harm. Once you have four Insight or Doom cards the game ends. Insight ends well, and you live on to share knowledge. Doom, and the journey ends badly; in lonely misery; taken by the CryOrg; or death.
Hi David,
first of all: great game!
I'm starting an adventure but I don't fully understand the insight/doom mechanism.
When I draw an ace or a king, the manual says "after the action, roll against the World" but I don't understand which stat I should use, apart from soul.
Hi Massm, thank you so much for playing! And thank you for your question. Every Test is rolling a combination of your Soul (d6) and Skill (d4 or higher), taking the higher result. So roll both dice, then roll 2d8 for the World. You can use whichever stat you feel is most appropriate for the moment in your story- maybe you’ve just fought a ravenous beast, so roll Endure, or find yourself lost and Roll Search. Personally I’d probably roll my highest stat, as your character plays to their strengths to try to resolve the situation.
Hi David, I have just downloaded the latest version but notice there is going to be a revised version coming out! Do you know when it is going to come out as I want to make sure I am printing out the latest version? :)
Regarding the current version. I noticed all the rules about Time dice pool is removed but the mechanism is still mentioned in page 7. Are you intending to add it back?
On the other hand, I don’t think currently there is a mechanism to find out if player has reached their destination?
Hi Mely, thanks for downloading the game! I hope you’re having fun with it. The next edition is very close- just waiting for the last couple of pictures from the artist. So print later maybe?
As for journeying, on reflection I found the time mechanic too cumbersome for a solo game, maybe a fun procedure for group play? Undecided right now haha. So I devised a simpler procedure that you can find on p. 9 of the downloadable edition-
THE JOURNEY
As you travel, roll a d6.
On a 5,6, take a Diamond. You find a thing. Proceed to the next Location.
On a 3,4, take a Heart. An Event occurs. Proceed to the next Location.
On a 1,2, Take a Club, Heart and 2 Diamonds. You meet a Being. Describe your encounter and then roll to travel.
So it can create an infinite loop of you were astronomically unlucky, but that’s just how it goes sometimes. Hope that helps?
It's a great game, and I am enjoying it so far. I just have a question: What is the purpose of rumors ? Are they just there to add some lore or can I use them a special mechanic ? For example If I draw a rumor saying there is a sage nearby, can I just go visit her without use of the oracle ?
Thanks for playing! Yes, they are events you can choose to interact with- see from a distance, hear about from an NPC or encounter them, an intervention in the normal process of the game that helps build the world and the story. Hope that helps!
thanks so much Black Dragon! So close now to publishing the revised edition with new art.
heck yeah!
If I already have Lost Eons, does Lone Eons offer anything more for solo play?
Hi there, yes it’s entirely solo-focused. Among other things it gives you a procedure with a deck of cards that define your adventure as you progress, coming across rumors that introduce some of the lore of the setting. The character creation is duplicated from Lost Eons, but the whole book will have new art and a very different feel once artist Daniel Locke has completed the work funded by Zine Month, which of course you’ll have access to as soon as it’s released if you’ve already purchased.
A fun and well-structured solo game, with an interesting take on the post-apocalyptic setting. This would be great for a longer solo game!
thanks so much Philippa! It’s a great video.