Tavern at the End of the World

Tavern. Publichouse. There are a lot of words for the thing you run. The one you like these days, as occupiers’ boots tramp through your streets, is refuge. You offer a hard drink, a good meal, somewhere to hide. And other, more slippery things. Until they shut you down.

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TAVERN AT THE END OF THE WORLD is a journaling role-playing game for one player. It requires a tarot deck and can be played in half an hour or more. And it fits on one printed page.

The city is under occupation. You keep your establishment afloat by serving this embattled community. But if you want to continue to do it, you'll need to stay off the occupying forces' radar.

Receive visitors to your establishment. Turn over a tarot card and use the game prompts to help decide who comes calling and what they're looking for. A drink, a hot meal, a secret meeting to ferment revolution.

But keep a low profile. Throw coins to find out what kind of heat your visitor brings down on you. What kind of action are you willing to take to keep the occupiers away from your doorstep?

Write in your journal. But be sure to hide any illegal activity behind coded language or euphemism. If your establishment gets raided, your journal could be seized as evidence against you.

One of our city’s new protectors stopped in for a nightcap, but objected to sharing the bar with refugees. Once he tasted the drink I mixed up special for him, though, he quieted down immediately.

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Designed & written by Anna Anthropy and  illustrated by Rayne Klar. Shout out to Sharang Biswas for coming up with the name. The tarot deck in the photo is the Tarot of Pagan Cats.

Tavern at the End of the World is a Princess Sword game, and is based on my other game Princess with a Cursed Sword.