Chart of Note

by Anonymous and Jonathan Gilmour

Chart of Note is a journaling RPG about being lost and finding hope. You are a traveler. The journey you are
on may not be the one you set off for originally. Maybe something has happened and you are now off course.
Perhaps you are exactly where you want to be. Through playing this game you are going to be faced with feelings
about where you are. But each day you’ll play to see what happens. Hopefully, at some point, your journey will
move onto the next step, but until then, this is about maintaining hope.

What you’ll need

A journal. Something you can write and draw in. It can be fancy or simple. Moleskin, leather-bound, spiral-
bound notebook, or something you made yourself.
A pen or pencil
A d20

Getting started
This game is about a journey, so first, we have to decide what that is. Perhaps you are going through something
personal, and you want to choose something that symbolizes that. Maybe there is something you are struggling
with and you can build off from that. It can be anything. Lost in a forest, trapped on a desert island, or
imprisoned in a tower. On the first page of your journal, draw out what that looks like, and write a sentence or
two about how you are feeling, from your character’s perspective. This can have as much or as little to do with
how you are actually feeling. This can be day one, or at any point. Maybe you’ve been there for a long time? Or is
today the first day?
I spend some time thinking about it and decide that my journal is going to be about a person adrift in the ocean.
I feel like I’ve become unmoored and I’m having a hard time with that. I’m disconnected from the things that
gave me strength before, and I need to rediscover how to do that on my own.

The next step is to write down your Chart of Note. Make a numbered list of 20 things that you think you may
encounter that would lift your spirits. They can be as specific or vague as you would like. Do this on the last page
of the journal so you can find it easily.
Here are a few of mine:
1. An especially beautiful sunset
2. A package floats nearby
3. An especially lucky catch
4. A message in a bottle
5. A pod of dolphins playing
...
20. Something major happens.

How to play
Pick a time: either before bed or first thing in the morning. No waffling, you have to commit. Every single day
when it’s that time grab your journal, writing utensil, and d20. Open up to your next empty page.
Roll the d20. There are two possible outcomes:
You roll a 1-19 just draw a normal picture of what is happening. Write a few sentences about what you are
feeling. You don’t use the list at all. It’s just another day with your thoughts.
If it’s a 20 then you get to flip to your Chart of Note and roll a second time. Then you flip back to your next empty
page. Using the result from your Chart of Note, draw what’s happening and write a few thoughts about it.
That’s it. Do this every day. You can stop when you feel ready to stop. It’s ok if you have months of not rolling a
20, you’ve made it through another month regardless, and that makes it worth keeping hope alive.