Press Kit: The Long Road Home

By Alex White

- 3 minutes read - 531 words
The Long Road Home is a collaborative story telling game about the conclusion of an epic fantasy adventure.

A game inspired by the idea of the Hobbits travelling home after the events of their great quest. Reminiscing together about the friends they made and lost along the way, and wondering whether they will find their touchstone back home.

The inspiration for this game comes from quest stories such as The Lord of the Rings and the Narnia chronicles. Imagine the hobbits on their way home after the quest was over - reminiscing about the adventures they had along the way, and wondering whether the ideals they loved would be waiting for them at their homecoming. Merry and Pippin became heroes, Sam married his Rosie, but poor Frodo found that he had saved the Shire... but not for himself.

Together you choose a genre and create the realm and the great enemy of your quest. Then as you are returning home you use flashbacks to remember the story of your quest. The highs, lows, triumphs, and tragedies. Ordinary playing cards are used to prompt the emotional content of scenes.

What is The Long Road Home?

This is a story game for 2-5 players. It takes 2-4 hours to play, depending upon the number of players. You will need a deck of ordinary playing cards, pencil and index cards to record information.

The Long Road Home Features

  • Simple rules with a clear structure that help you tell engaging stories together.
  • Choose the genre of story you want to tell together. There are rules modifiers and sets of story tropes to include for Children’s tales, Young Adult stories, Heroic epics, Grim stories, and tales of Horror.
  • Locations, treasures and threats are included for four classic realms for your stories. Sylvan realms of rolling hills and majestic woodland, where mountains are taller, oceans are deeper, and rivers are grander than our world. Fey realms, mysterious and magical, that don’t adhere to earthly moralities. Faded realms with ruins that are reminders of an elder civilisation, the shadow of greatness they have forgotten. Dark realms which have long been under the influence of the great enemy, where spies and traitors are everywhere.
  • Threats associated for a range of enemies are also provided. Whether human tyrants, undead foes from beyond the grave, giant dragons, or supernatural demonic or divine enemies.
  • A clear structure of play, with chapters for <>
  • Clear examples of play drawn from The Lord of the Rings for each chapter.
  • A bibliography of inspirational books from any of the five genres covered.

Art Assets

Message from the Author

The Lord of the Rings has been one of my favourite novels since I was a teenager. I love the epic quest, the fellowship of varied characters, and the ending (which was somewhat shortchanged in the otherwise excellent movies by Peter Jackson). A number of my games in recent years have used some variation of my Retrospective system - telling a story by looking back at what has happened.

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