Status: Ongoing
THIS PAGE IS UNDER CONSTRUCTION Marwood's Diary is a (solo for now) journaling game that uses a standard pack of cards to determine Location, Events, Objects, and Non-Playable Characters. This fictional journal will serve as an example for players to write their own journals. I want to give players, or should I say writers, as much freedom as possible so this game will be free of stats or methods of conflict resolution.
Character Creation/ Starting map Selection
There is no character creation and that's the character creation. Your diary's author is called Marwood but at no point should your first person narrator or other characters say his name... Marwood has been stuck in a Virtual Reality RPG. Marwood's goal is to finish writing the story journal which will allow him to escape from the game. Your character's background is upto you. I'd advise against detailed backstories because the aim of this "system" which is barely a system at all, is to help "discovery writers" (who make it up as they, well we, go) keep track of minimal details and plod along without getting stuck in the weeds of their own setting. Having said that feel free to break any rules or suggestions that I make. Although there is no character generator, at first at least, Marwood's character Generating prompts for Entries
Pick a card at random from each suit. Refer to the table for your starting Map. Spades represent Locations, Hearts are events, Diamonds are Non-Playable Characters and Clubs. If you pick the joker then that means your character will be leaving the current map to a map on a higher or lower level but if you haven’t got any other maps or would prefer to stay in the same map that's fine too. Story is king 👑. Your Characters can move freely between maps at any time as long your story allows for it. Personally, however, I would advise players to spend at least one entry on each of the maps when moving through them rather than just teleporting/jumping through maps. This, I hope, will help establish a both a sense of distance and location placement.Writing Diary Entries
Each entry should be about 400 words long. If you want you can date and title them but it's enough to title them as "Entry 1... Entry 2... Entry 3..." so that you can keep track of them. The reason for the short length/small word count per entry is that I want to keep things snappy and events flowing. I also prefer short web novel chapters.Generating Map Tables
As you write your journal you will want to create your own maps to keep track of new NPCs and Locations. Generic event Prompt Table Personal thoughts/Motivation for the Project
Is it a good idea to use card deck prompts to write a story? As in, will you be writing a masterpiece doing so? Probably not but it's fun and if it keeps you writing them maybe it'll improve your fiction writing skills. Basically Marwood's Diary is an attempt by me to overcome my chronic, recurring, writer's block condition. 
