ENDLING

You have spent the last several years in a bunker north of the Arctic Circle. You know what country it was in when you and your companions sealed the door, but you have no way of knowing what has happened since then.

Your last companion passed away months ago. That let the food supplies stretch longer than planned, but they are dwindling now. You pull open the bunker door for the first time in almost a decade. You step outside, squinting against the sun’s thin rays.

You have never felt silence like this before. No wind. No animals. Just your own breathing. You have only your journals to distract you, scrapbooks constructed over the years with what bits of paper you could scrounge up in the bunker.

You already fed anything else that could burn to the bunker’s furnace.

You take your journals and all the food and gear that remain in the bunker and head south. You have a promise to keep.

You just need to get there.

The Game

Endling is a solo-journaling game about being the last living human. Your character will go on a journey through the ruined remains of human civilization in order to fulfill a final promise

The journey is not without risk, however. You will use two six-sided dice and a hexflower to create the path between the bunker and your goal. You will also have to manage your resources: Food, Fuel, Gear, and (most importantly) Will. Run out of Will, and the endling's journey will end short of their goal.

While dice are used to manage travel and resources in Endling, the storytelling is driven by tarot cards. After each round of movement, you will draw two cards from your tarot deck. One will correspond with a Story Prompt, telling you one of the challenges that the endling has encountered during the last week of travel. The other will serve as inspiration for you to answer the questions posed in the Story Prompt. The fate of the lost kitten that found you while you slept may very well hang on whether you draw The Empress or The Tower that round.

Inspiration

• Anamnesis by Samantha Leigh
• Tangled Blessings by Cassi Mothwin
• Hex Flower Cookbook by Goblin's Henchman
• Various Skeleton Code Machine articles by Exeunt Press

The Book

Endling was brought to physical life through a Kickstarter campaign in November-December, 2024. Physical copies of the game will be available soon at shop.mallenhall.com.