Farther

A low-profile solitaire walking larp about being a distant father.

Choices… magic stones… and roads more familiar than your own children.
Play it in 20 minutes or more.

Congratulations, you’re a father.You’ve been a father

for a really long time, in fact you’re a father many times
over. From time to time you start another family with
someone and you stick around for a while and then
something gets too difficult and you leave.You’re the
kind of man who repeats mistakes, who leaves instead
of learning. It’s a rough habit to break. Some would
call you “absentee” or worse, but you prefer to think of
yourself as simply “distant,” because it’s less shitty. So, about that- somewhere along the way you managed
to get into the good graces of the spirit with dominion
And yeah, you know it’s a bit creepy, but you like to see over roads, and also the spirit with dominion over
how life’s treating the families you abandoned, the kids storms, and the night spirit too. Spirits, Gods, Forces,
you couldn’t understand or handle, the partners you whatever they are, they’re pretty casual about titles. Who
couldn’t be good for. Sort of check up on them. Happy knows why they help you out, but they do. It’s lonely
to see when they’re doing well. Do they miss you? Are out in the spaces between places so you’re glad for the
they like you? Hard to say from this distance, but you company.
imagine that you recognize echoes of yourself. And
sometimes, when you’re near them, if the spirit of storms Also you stopped aging about a hundred years ago
is feeling gregarious, in your mind you see flashes into because of a magic stone. Some of your kids are over 80
their lives. years old, it’s strange. Well. It is what it is.
 Preparing To Play

Pick up 10 stones from a street or roadside.

Hold the 10 stones in your hand and ask the spirit of
roads to bless them so the stones will grant wishes.
Maybe this is a whole thing, maybe it’s just a little “hey,
would you mind blessing these so they grant wishes,
thanks.” Depends how you talk with the spirit of roads.

Pick up 1 other stone that looks different from the

others but feels similar- the different one can be from
wherever.You can color it to change its appearance if
need be.You’ve actually had this one a long while, it’s the
magic stone which keeps you from aging. A gift from
the spirit with dominion over the night. Nothing ages at
night. Little science fact for you there, bud.

If you like, wash the 11 stones. Makes sense, they were

on the ground after all.

Decide on a place to walk. Choose somewhere

residential, where you might see a few other folks out
walking, where you’ll definitely pass several homes, and
where you won’t have to put too much energy into
making sure you’re a safe distance away from people
(especially if you’re playing this in the time of the
coronavirus.) Are you walking in the evening, when the
night spirit’s near and you can glimpse people through
the lit windows of various homes? Seems like a good
time for it.

Walking

You’re walking.You’re on roads, or streets or paths or

something, and though those spirits aren’t with you
they’re not far away.

As you walk you’ll see houses and people. Lots of these

people are your kids or ex-partners, and lots of these
residences are where your kids and ex-partners live.
Maybe you’ll see some of your kids who are elderly,
maybe you’ll see some who now look about your age,
some recent kids who are still young. Don’t worry, even
if they think they recognize you, they’re going to second
guess themselves and won’t bring it up.
 Roads Bolt

Some of your abandoned families might live quite close
to one another, others probably not so much.You can
call on the spirit of roads to help you travel quickly- just
look down and mumble please take you to the next one,
or mumble one of your kids’ or ex-partners’ names if
you know where you’d like to go next. By the time you
look up you’ll already be near there.
Go to the houses you usually go to, the families you
remember with their familiar houses.
When you glance at someone, or at the window of a
house behind which there might be someone, perhaps
the spirit of storms will grant you a flash into their life.
When it happens it happens unbidden and suddenly. It’s
hard to know if it’s just your imagination, but it feels
sharp in a way that only true things feel. This is your
way to know about their lives. Feel free to appraise how
they’re doing, consider how you’d advise them to shape
up if you somehow could.

Walk farther. Go to the families you seldom visit. See

your children who are now on their own, who are
struggling, even if they don’t let it show. See your ex-
partners whom you can’t remember details of living
with, can’t remember why you left.

When you see some now-grown child of yours out

walking, perhaps with an unfamiliar dog, maybe greet
them. After they pass, think about the interaction and
their reaction too much.

Stones

When you see someone, or walk past a home you were
once a part of but are no longer welcome in, if you like,
you can hold in your mind the image or name of one
of your kids or ex-partners. If you’re not certain of their
name you can be honest with yourself about that.
If you like, you can hold a wish in your mind for them,
and pull a stone from your pocket.You can choose to
look at the stone. If it’s one of the stones blessed by the
spirit of roads then your wish for them will be granted
when you drop it- the wish travels directly to them, and
it’ll come true.You don’t have to know your kids well to
know what’s best for them.
But maybe this stone you pulled from your pocket is the
unique magic stone that the night spirit gave you, the
one that means you never age, the one that lets you live
like this.You can put it back in your pocket if you like.
But you can also drop it, and know that as sure as night
falls that kid’s gonna pick it up and not age another day
and take after dear old dad.
Maybe you don’t even look as you drop them from your
pocket.
Maybe you decide to keep a couple wishes for yourself.
Maybe the wishes run low fast and then you find the
kids that really need ‘em.
Maybe at some point you take stock and realize the
important one’s gone.
Maybe you’re real careful, keep the important one safe
all evening and take it home and put it on a shelf that
night.You can go for another walk another night.
Maybe you’re ready for someone else to live forever, to
hand down an anonymous legacy to one of your kids.
Or maybe you never learn.
So how you gonna play it pops?
 Review

Imagine the flashes into your children’s lives. Form the

wishes. Be cautious or uncareful dropping stones. React
to the moments. Focus on how you feel. Walk farther.

Farther
by Jackson Tegu
March 2020, the Rubix Manor

Special Thanks:Ymr, Willa, Jonny B, Taylor, Jessie Rainbow, Arielle, Sady, China, Arrington, Marina, Jamie, Jay, Daniel, Gary,
Leah, Jana, Tavia, Disco, Julian, Amanda, Gavin, Emily, Gary, Meredith, Jaywalt, Grapes, Jory, Madi, Harry, Bleu, A*, Seraph,
Miri, Agnes, Bea, & Dub.

My dear-hearted patrons include: Adam the Mender, It’s the little things, A*, Bay, Sandbank Diner, Bryant ‘Dante’ Stone,
Camilla, Charlie X, Chris Angelini, Clayton Grey, Her Eminence Corrin Elizabeth, Devon Breithart Bazaar Returner,Vice
Telepath Eric Fattig, Evan Silberman, Fred Lott, Madu, Greg Sanders, Harry Lee, Engulfed in James, Jamie ‘Jamie’ Fristrom,
Jason Wodicka, Jay Loomis, Jen Ting, Rainbow the Spectromancer, Joe Beason, John geary, John Powell, Jon Bristow, Jon
‘Van’ Robertson, Jonathan Jung Johansen, J. Walton, Josh Laison, Josh T Jordan, June & Mike Garcia, Marcus Hawaiianus,
Karen Twelves, Kythryn Hymys, The Fuzziest Kitty, A Second Brief Catapult, Laurel Halbany, Lester Ward, Matthew Klein,
Matthew Sullivan-Barrett, Mai-kun, Max Saltonstall, Galactic Impersonator Noam Rosen, Literally Patrick Brannick,
Prettyboy Paul and the Barrel Gulch Gang, Paul K, Phil ‘Wiseacre’ Hanley, Rachel Comicbookeater, Rick Dean, Sean
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Venn,Vincent Baker, Walter German, The Indisputable Will, and Admiral Yoshi of the Forever Dodecahedron!

photographsoflightning.com • patreon.com/jacksontegu

Storms

If the rain begins, or the wind starts cutting through

your jacket, or the snow gets thicker by the moment,
you can beseech the spirit of storms for leniency. The
spirit of storms will put its attention on your request for
only that moment in which it’s amused by your audacity,
then resume not thinking about you or your comfort or
what you want from this world- but the act of begging
can at least take your mind off the weather.