FOLIO TRANSCRIPTS
EPISODE 007 | UNPLUGGED SURVIVOR 01
INTRO
SATAH: Welcome to Folio, an actual play podcast about solo and epistolary TTRPGs. I'm your host Satah, and I'm showcasing multiple possible experiences of self-paced games by inviting guests to play them alongside me so I can compile our stories together.
This is episode one of our game of Village Witch, a solo journaling game about a witch finding a home by Eliot Crow. In Village Witch, you play a witch looking for a village. You've just finished up your magical training, and now you have to strike out into the world to find the community you're going to live and work in. It won best solo game at the 2023 Crit Awards, which I somehow completely missed until I sat down to write this introduction.
The other mages joining me on this journey of self-discovery are Agatha C and Rhiannon Daly. I'll tell you a little bit more about them at the break.
One of the reasons that I selected this game to feature on the show is that it is very much not in my genre. I'm not typically somebody who reaches for a fantasy or especially sort of a cozy fantasy energy, but I feel like it's good to expand my comfort zone and give my guests a more diverse selection of like vibes to choose from when it comes to their contributions.
I also thought that the temporal framework of the game, the way that it divides sections up into seasons, would be really thematic and lovely and really ground things in space and time in a way that would be very generative, and I think that's totally true.
And also, I wanted to play something that uses tarot cards. You can play it with a regular set of just playing cards– one of my guests does– but I specifically wanted the opportunity to lean into that magicky feeling. And, uh… if you're wondering why it is that I'm somebody who generally avoids fantasy as a genre, but I do own tarot cards? … Yeah, man! Yeah. I know.
Speaking of self-contradictory, fully complex human beings and people, let's hop into character and world creation and learn a little bit about the witches that we're going to spend the next few weeks with.
GAME: CHARACTER & WORLD CREATION
SATAH: All right.
RHI: All right.
AGATHA: Okay!
RHI: Gonna go ahead and get started with my game of Village Witch.
AGATHA: This is the Village Witch.
SATAH: Village Witch time.
RHI: Getting started with the setup first.
AGATHA: Okay, “You've completed your training and are ready to become a village witch. You've been sent by the order to find a village to work in and have a year to find the place you want to make your life. You have a list of villages that have requested a witch and may now set out to find your new home. Many villages can keep a spot set aside for a witch or healer, which will become your home as long as you stay.
SATAH: So the setup here is a little bit more freeform than I generally like? I really like it when my games have more guidance for character creation, just because like having such a wide open space is just not very generative for me.
AGATHA: It's just a bunch of questions. I've been playing a lot of OSR games and they all have all these rollable tables. So I was like– what if it gives me tables?
SATAH: But with the help of some online generators, I think that we’ll be good to go, so.
AGATHA: “What sort of setting is your world?” is very interesting because like, I mean, the setup or the introduction of this game implies quite a few things. Well, even some of these questions– like, “What sort of broom do you have?? This implies a very Western setting, which is fine either way. But it is interesting that it does make certain choices about the setting. I think that's helpful for playing a solo game, especially because you just need fictional constraint to kind of work off of, I feel.
So there's definitely like an official system. And like if many villages set this aside, this is kind of like– this is like a governmental post almost is what it feels like to me.
I don't want it to be modern. I think I do want to do fantasy, fantasy historical, but I'm curious about how well I can play this game using a non-Western idea for my setting. So I'm thinking of like vaguely fantasy China, but I don't know how to slot in this witch kind of position in a way that in a way that would make sense. I suppose I could do it like, like a witch is also a teacher, and lean more into the herbalist aspect of it. But they also– I feel like this, there are implications that a witch is also shamanic in some ways. So this is that kind of role, except in this alternate history, fantasy China, shamanic witches still hold pretty venerable positions? And they can read and write. So they have some kind of like a teaching sort of aspect to them as well, which is why it feels more like an official thing. And then you went to a school that then sends you out from like a centralized location, right? That all feels very– feels very official and like there's money and social backing behind it. So I think that's how I'm going to imagine it is that this is a, yeah. Fantasy China and there are schools– I think there are multiple schools for witches and you study for, like, different kinds of positions. And then this particular position is the kind of local posting that you would then get sent out to. Or like this is kind of like a boots on the ground level of witches. There are also higher levels, but that's not who we are, so.
SATAH: The setting of my world, hmm, probably going to go relatively modern ish. Hmm. Well, I think, you know, without drawing a lot of like dark lines, like, you know, just really sketching it out, I think that the thing that I'm pulled towards is a sort of like Adventure Time post apocalyptica? Um, not doing sort of a like sci fi cyberpunk thing, as would usually be the direction I'm going, keeping it genuinely fantasy and like fantastical and low tech, but in a future.
And the reason I like that is that I just want– I want to be able to explore… I like– I'm just interested in low technology after an Event, capital E Event, rather than setting it in the past in some way.
So that's, that's kind of vague, but I'm going to say this is in a like low technology, gentle post apocalyptica. Not quite Tears of the Kingdom, a little Breath of the Wild, but like softer angles, not as much tech even as that? So yeah, I'm going to say gentle, low tech post apocalyptica.
RHI: Let’s see. “What sort of setting is your world?” The thing I jumped to is that modern is not super appealing to me. Historical would kind of bug me too. But maybe that sort of like, uh, very lived in fantasy world where it's like the fantasy elements of it are very matter of fact, right? There's like magic in the world and maybe it's dangerous, but like, you know, so is the weather in real life, right? And it kind of– kind of takes on that same tone of like part of the reason why a village would have a witch is because there are things out of everyone's control that are just kind of part of life and part of the rhythm of the year. Yeah, I think that's a good foundation for that.
AGATHA: Okay. So I think I figured out the “what sort of abilities do I have”. So it's definitely herb– herbalist and divining. And my other ability is reading and writing, which is always a valuable skill or set of skills. I think I will just go with she/her, same as myself, and just not think about that further.
Um. “What is my name?” That– I don't have a name generator open.
SATAH: The way that I always come up with random names pretty much is to go to random noun generator and then start saying them together.
Negotiation is a great one. Charity is also just a name. Resolution… let's do another list. Foundation Passenger. I love that.  Introduction Passenger actually is going to be the full name. Introduction Passenger. But everyone just calls me Duck. Duck, short for Introduction, full name Introduction Passenger. Regular name, a name that a person has.
RHI: “What is your name?” I think my character's name is going to be Viv, short for Vivian. I think she/her pronouns for for Viv here.
AGATHA: Chinese witch names. This isn’t going to give me anything. Popular Chinese names for boys and girls. Okay. Generation names. All of these characters are– they're kind of like– like they're very– this particular list are so old school and like a little bit cringe. Anyway, that's not relevant to this game, but it's just funny seeing this this list.
Maybe I'll go with Chinese herbs and choose one of those. There are a lot is the thing. So herbs and use. List of medicines. Okay. Chrysanthemum. That's a classic. Ginkgo maybe? Yeah, let's call her Ginkgo. A classic for memory. It's especially always recommended to older people to help prevent memory loss. So I think that would be a very interesting thematic name.
I'm usually pretty, um– I don't think a lot about the names because there are just so many characters to create that it doesn't matter as much to me anymore as it used to.
SATAH: So, Duck. Duck is my name. What is my gender? Ugh, god. None. I don't know. I'm a witch… that doesn't necessarily have to imply anything about gender. But let's let's give this person some pronouns at the very least… let's just say they’re a they/she.
RHI: And let's see, “What sort of abilities do you have?” I like the idea that most of the abilities that like are notable, I guess for what she does for a community she's embedded in aren't really magical. Like she– she knows about that stuff. She has like a general education in it and like maybe has one particular magical specialty? But then also just has a mundane thing she does really well that is most of what, um she's doing with her time, when you know, there isn't such a huge situation that magic is called for, right?
So I think as far as a magical ability for her, let's say maybe healing, right? Sort of like on a magical first aid level and also maybe more dramatic things as situations call for. But outside of that, I think that she does– probably a lot of gardening. And maybe those intersect on some level, right? Maybe you know, she's growing herbs to help with the healing stuff. But it's also just good to have something to contribute when you're not in a situation so dire that somebody needs to be magically healed.
SATAH: What sort of abilities do I have? So this game is in part– like it says like, you know, “villages often have places for witches or healers,” which makes me think that healing is like a standard assumption here. I'm also thinking of– I've been reading the Wizard of Earthsea series for the first time. I'm trying to think of like what sort of labour powers tend to– tend to come up as something that sort of the local mage has? There's weather control, um… specifically wind is something that's really common in Wizard of Earthsea just because it is so much about… harbour logistics and sailing…
So weather is one– maybe something with farming? Like a green thumb kind of thing is very possible. Repair is frequent. Ooh, I think that I'm going to leave it kind of open. Like I have a lot of powers, but I think I'm drawn to, um – it's repair, but it's it's more than that. It's it's– I have like, specifically I have a tendency– like I make clothes and something about like, you know, I'm really good at imbuing magic into the stitches to give the clothes certain effects? And I don't think it's like– I can't like, you know, give you magic powers or probably even like let you fly or something. But I can make it like– I can give you a cardigan that… makes you less likely to get lost for like a long journey kind of thing. Or like gloves that– gloves that protect you in some way or like steady your hands for small work. Like just, I– just general little like clothing charms I think is going to be one of my specific like specialties. But I do think kind of an all around like helping people out with with magic stuff? And then maybe sort of in the narrative, I will find like something that's a little more interesting to focus in on.
RHI: “Do you prefer being a solitary witch or having a nearby coven?” I think solitary for Viv. I think of her as being someone who is attracted to the idea of being a village witch because she wants the things she likes doing to be able to help people, but not necessarily because of, um… the place in the community that it gives her. I guess what I'm saying is I think of her as pretty shy. And somebody who would keep her distance a little bit from other witches, um; be kind of standoffish in that way.
AGATHA: “Does she prefer being a solitary witch or having a nearby coven?” I don't know. I want to– I want to roll dice for this. I feel like at the beginning of the story, when it's character beats, that's where I don't have as good of an idea. Whereas if it's, um– if it's like setting or world building, I am usually a bit better at the beginning of a game for it.
If it's odds, then it's– she prefers being solitary. And then if it's evens, she prefers having a nearby coven. Okay, I rolled a six. So that's even, which means that she prefers the company of other witches. Okay, cool. Yeah, she might like to be alone at times, but she wishes that there were more- uh– there were other witches around or that there was more support, like official support for kind of like a local witch.
SATAH: “Do you prefer being a solitary witch or having a nearby coven?” Interesting. So I'm being sent off to like, be The Village Witch. I'm trying to understand what that means for a coven like what the relationship is there. And I think that part of the thing is, yes, I'm being sent out by an order. So I have been working with some sort of group, presumably getting training. And I think that– I think that Duck doesn't have a preference yet. Like, I think that they were very much on their own for a long time, and then sort of like, ended up in training and sort of like, experienced what it was like to be around other people with power for the first– like similar powers for the first time. And so, um… the sense I'm getting– because because– a desire to be a solitary witch could could come from a lot of places, one of which is like, “I want to be the only one with power nearby.” Like, that's that's certainly not them, I don't think. Like they really do want to just help people. I think if they're nervous about a coven or like other people, other witches, other mages being around them, I think that it's almost like an insecurity? Um, that like, maybe their powers tend to be very subtle. Like they're doing these sort of enhancing charms and like protective charms. And so they're like, maybe, you know, “If other people are around, maybe I don't like, have a lot to offer.” But I think that they aren't opposed to it. It's just like an autom– like, their first instinct would be to be like nervous about that.
So not totally an answer. But I'm going to say they're figuring it out.
And I think one important thing for me to note here is that the the thought I'm immediately having is like, they weren't othered for having magical powers in like, you know, their home community, whatever it was, like their– their their first home. They were probably they were probably the only one that… did have powers like this. They didn't grow up with everybody just doing magic. But it was like– it didn't make them weird. And so it's kind of like, it's not like they went off to witch school and were like, “Oh my god, I'm being accepted for the first time.” You know, like, they're like, “I'm gonna get along fine, kind of no matter what, I think that people are pretty much cool to me.” Yeah, I don't know.
RHI: “What sort of broom do you have?” I think of her as having sort of like a shabby but well-maintained hand me down, right? Like she's taking good care of it. She's repaired it, maybe, a few times, but it's not it's not anything special. It's, you know, it's another tool to her.
SATAH: “What sort of broom do you have?” The visual I'm getting is definitely just your very standard old straw broom. But I think as sort of a hat tip– witch hat tip, pointy brimmed hat tip– to their sort of enhancing charms thing, it's probably been like repaired a lot. They might even call the broom Theseus or something like that, you know? Like, parts of it have been replaced just so often that it is like this constantly evolving thing. But mostly it just– it looks like your kind of classic straw broom with a lot of like obvious glue and nail and repair marks and stuff tied around it and, uh, new finish and and whatever. Like they're– they're constantly repairing it.
AGATHA: That's the thing that I find very interesting about game design is that a lot of times you put in a specific prompt, or you put in, like, an assumption about the world in your text. And this helps people build their own world, because they can either choose to go along with your prompt, or they can choose to go against it, right. So like, for me, I'm reading this, “What sort of broom do you have?” And I'm like, well, I don't have a broom. But I never even thought about a broom until I read it here. And now I'm thinking, okay, so then what's the alternative, then, that my witch would have? How do I travel?
I don't think it's through magical means. I would be travelling just through mundane means, the same as most other people. So like, donkey carts or horse carts, that kind of thing.
SATAH: “What is my favourite season?” The first thing that came to mind was fall, because like… I think that– I'm going to decide whether it's fall or winter. But but the first thought I had was that Duck really likes colder months, because, like, more clothes start to come out, you know? Like, there is just more for them to work with. And you know, people always need their coats sewed up– uh, sewn up and everything. And they need like gloves fixed and all that kind of thing.
I think specifically fall, because I think in winter, those repairs do happen, but they're a little bit more like emergency. And then fall sort of has like some of the maintenance repairs, like people pull a sweater out of their closet, and they're like, “Oh, shit, I forgot that when I put this here, I was like, ‘I have to remember this summer to patch up those elbows that I– that got ripped.’” And then the first cold day they pull out the sweater and they're like, “I didn't patch the elbows! Duck??” You know.
I also think that part of what I'm establishing here, or like is being established is that Duck likes the slow prep work, like finds fall exciting, because it's kind of like. Alright, this is our chance to get ready for winter. Winter can be really hard. But if we do fall right, then it doesn't have to be. Yeah.
AGATHA: Wow, this Wikipedia page is really telling me everything except the one thing I need. Ginkgo bloom season? Early… oh. Early spring, late spring and mid spring. Okay. So– so spring. Okay.
Um, let's say that that is her favourite season. She loves spring the most, because it is the time when the earth wakes up.
So with that, I think she's also from a place where there are seasons. Where it does get colder in the winter, and then it gets hotter in the summer? Actually, what if she is from a place that is warmer in general, so there is the rainy season, the dry season, that kind of thing. So she likes the idea of spring, because it feels very– it feels symbolic. But she hasn't really experienced it in that specific way.
I think she also– she likes the dry season more probably. But that's not relevant in this current location, because this current location has four seasons.
RHI: For her favourite season? Oh, that's an interesting one for like a gardener who is also a healer, right? I think that weirdly for a gardener, I actually think that winter might be her favourite. Both as like kind of a solitary person who would like the the sort of intense quiet that comes with winter, but also in that… I imagine the, the more like magical side of her expertise with the healing and everything would become a lot more important during that season? And so even though usually it's a bad thing if that skill is needed, it's good to have something to provide, for her. It's almost like she feels like winter is a whole new phase of her job, right? When she's really on call in that way.
AGATHA: Now, “what is she leaving behind?” I think she is leaving behind heartache. I think she was supposed to be married. And it was a point of contention for her as she's still studying to become a village witch. But then in the end, it didn't work out. And she couldn't get married anyway. So she kind of– that basically made her decision for her that she is going to keep pursuing this village witch path.
SATAH: “What am I leaving behind?” I mean, it sounds like I had a home of some kind. I don't really know why I'm not there specifically. I mean, I might like– I don't really know what my drive is, specifically, yet. Like, you know, I came to this order, whatever it is, and got trained and now they're sending me out. I imagine it's an option for me to return home, but I'm kind of like, “I should explore and see if I would be more helpful elsewhere.” And so I guess I'm– yeah, I'm leaving that behind. Like, the– the comfort and the certainty of like the thing that I've always had?
And I imagine the order… is… has… is a physical place that I've been at least part of the year or whatever.
Mm… I think tied to sort of the like, idea that Duck loves preparation is that leaving training is difficult for them in some ways, because they're like… that's kind of the thing they love, in a lot of ways, is like the process of preparing for something. And I think that there's a little bit less satisfaction for them in the thing actually happening. Like, “I've been training for this. I love that. I love to get ready.” And then being sent out in the world is like, “Oh, yeah, sure. I guess I did all I could to get myself to this moment. Let's go.” So another thing I'm leaving behind is just like, the joy of… looking– is it looking forward to something? Is it? I don't know, I'm just gonna say like the joy of preparation and training and the unknown. Like the the the more unknown unknown. The less known unknown.
RHI: What is she leaving behind? I think not that much. I kind of think of her as somebody who has not made very many close connections with other people up to this point in her life.
SATAH: “What do I desire most?” Gosh. Is it– is it– is it silly to say something like, I want to make clothes from scratch for people instead of just repairing their stuff? Is that goofy? I don't know. I think that's too big of a question for me at the moment, I think. I don't know that I know enough about sort of what I've got going on.
RHI: “What do you desire most?” is kind of a terrifying question. Both real life and for a character. Like what? Oh god. How do I answer that? I don't– I don't know if she knows. Yeah, I don't know. I think I might pass on this one.
AGATHA: “What does she desire most?” I think she wants to find herself. A lot of her identity was wrapped around– well, the conflict of either getting married and doing something else with her schooling or becoming a village witch, which is a very particular kind of role. I feel like they hold a very central position in a lot of villages, but all these villages are also kind of out in the middle of nowhere. It's a very non city sort of position. So she wasn't sure what she wanted. She wasn't exactly sure who she was either. Like, it seemed like it was either or. And now that she's chosen village witch, or it was chosen for her because the marriage didn't go through for whatever reason– we might explore more of it later– now she's trying to figure out… how is she a village witch? What does it mean to live without the person that she thought she was going to spend the rest of her life with?
Okay, and–
RHI: Alright, I guess that's my setup.
AGATHA: Those are all of the setup questions.
SATAH: Great.
AGATHA: Wow.
SATAH: And that's my setup.
BREAK
SATAH: Hello again. In just a moment, we're going to be establishing the places that our witches are going to be living for at least the season of spring. But before we get into that, I want to let you know a little bit more about some cool shit that my guests are up to.
Rhiannon Daly is a writer and game designer who I met on Tumblr over a decade ago. You can find her on Twitter at CNIDARIAA and find some of her work at scyphozoan.itch.io, both linked, of course, in the show notes. Particularly in my opinion, you should check out her Ludum Dare Jam contribution from a couple years ago, which is called Ghost Moth. It's a science fiction horror text game about parasitism and gig work. It is atmospheric and awful in all of the exact ways it's supposed to be, and very emblematic of the creepy, surreal horror that Rhi really excels in as a creator. 
Agatha C is a game designer, freelance writer and co-host of Asians Represent! and The Game Design Game Show. You can find her on Twitter and Bluesky as Mighty Shrimp. Check out the links in the episode description because it's spelled a little differently on each platform. As somebody who is very invested personally in what you might call “invisible rules” in TTRPGs, especially in the narrative or story game space, I love hearing Agatha’s thoughts on what it means to push back on a game's assumptions and expectations, and the way that she talks about how even disagreeing with what a game asks of you can be a generative experience that you might not have otherwise had. I love these sort of conversations. Every game has a point of view. Obviously, like, you can't take yourself out of the things you create in any real meaningful, total way, and learning how to notice that, learning how to notice your point of view, learning how to notice the things that you're saying when you don't necessarily mean to be saying something? Will make you a much stronger designer, and so I really appreciate hearing the ways that she thinks about that.
As for me, you're pretty much listening to the main thing I would otherwise want to direct you towards, so thank you! I've got some games and some music you can find at gaygothvibes.online, and I'm on social media generally as posatahchips. Now we're going to hop back into the game.
The main game loop of Village Witch takes place over the course of a year, divided neatly into seasons. At the start of each season, if you decide to move on from your current location, you answer some questions to create a new village to head off to. Obviously, we need to create a village to start at, and that's what you're going to hear now.
Next week, we'll start pulling cards for journal prompts as Spring… springs. Springs. Springs Springs. Mm. Spring has Sprung only really works in the past tense I'm realising. And I also have a terrible feeling that I made that same verbal misstep in my playthrough at some point, but I haven't done the transcripts yet so I don't have a quick way of checking. And so it's possible you're going to hear it twice. And I apologise. Back to the game.
GAME: SPRING SET-UP
AGATHA: “At the beginning of each season, set your house in order and prepare for the change. Then draw cards and use the prompts from the card tables to craft your story until you feel it's time for a new season. As each season draws to an end, contemplate if it's time to move on.” Move on as in from one location to another, because the setup of this game is that you're still trying to figure out which village you want to be in. That's so interesting.
I feel like I've conceptualised a world that is much more bureaucratic and therefore like it's not actually up to the witch’s desire whether they move or not? It's more like a scheduled thing. And this would obviously be to prevent any village witch from holding– developing and holding onto too much power in each local village. So if they keep going to different locations, then obviously they can't establish those kind of relationships.
It could also be that people just don't like to stay in villages for that long. So it's kind of like a way that you can rotate out of there and then maybe to a higher ranking position, which might not be in a village. I don't know. I haven’t– I'm not sure if I'm married to that concept, but that is something interesting for me to keep mulling over.
But anyway, the setup is that as each season draws to an end, I can choose whether the witch– my witch– moves to a new location or if they stay in the current location for another season.
RHI: First, let's figure out where Viv is going to be going for her first location. I'm gonna roll my extremely tiny d6 from my mahjong set, which is somehow the only d6 I have. And I got a six. Swamp. Spring in the swamp. Okay then.
AGATHA: Okay, location. Ooh, “desert, forest, grassland, mountain, seashore, swamp.” That's so funny because so many of these don't have the same idea of seasons as others would. Interesting.
Okay. I rolled another six– if only I was playing a Forged in the Dark game right now. And that is a swamp. Oh, that's so funny. Yeah. Okay.
So Ginkgo is like, “Yes! I'm looking forward to exploring new places and finally experiencing the four seasons that I read about in books.” And then the first place that she's been assigned to is a– is, like, a swampland. And it is very hot. And it has like, it has like a dry and a wet season, but it is not very obvious. I guess if this was like, let's say, like, Florida, I think they do have, like it does get cooler in the winter and that it's not blazing hot there. But anyway, I'm gonna stick with the wet and dry seasons.
So the wet season is when it's really, really hot. So like what one can equate with summer. And then the dry season is when it gets relatively cooler, which is not really by a lot, but it's also not raining all the time. And I'm gonna say that that's what the swampland is like. But generally, it is muggy. It is humid.
SATAH: So I think that– like I'm arriving to a new location, so I should roll the location dice… die… I got a one, which is a desert. That's what– I'm playing through my Strange Places playthrough right now where I'm also in a desert and there's no particular reason to believe that they're the same desert, but… what if they are? What if this show is going to have a long running canon where all of the games are in the same universe secretly? That… sounds terrible. But, uh, exciting, theoretically, to try and massage that. I love to make– I love to make stuff that doesn't make sense, make sense. Huge fan of that.
AGATHA: “What is your new house like? House on stilts, cottage, stone house built into a cave, something else entirely.” Let's– let's do stilts. I think that makes the most sense in the swampland… swampland village. Maybe the village should have a name, but we'll see.
So all houses are on stilts generally and there's a lot of travelling by boat. And “is the house in the village on the outskirts or a long walk away?” Um, I think it's in the village? And… it's not central because it's kind of, like, giving the village which privacy, but it also– so it's not central, but it has an easy access to like pretty much all parts of the village. So there are very clear boat paths. And I think there's also like– I mean, I think there are patches of areas where you don't have to be on the boat, you know; there's like land that's not completely submerged or, you know, too swampy to walk through. But this is primarily a very, very wet and marshy area.
RHI: So I think this is, this is her sort of first– first assignment, right, after she gets done with her training? And let's see, “what kind of house?” I'm going to say this is like a house on stilts in the swamp. That's probably a pretty easy, uh, easy one the picture for this environment.
In this case, I'm really curious whether it's a village that is in the swamp, right? Or if she's kind of on the outskirts of it, where the swamp starts and the village ends. I think it's interesting if the village is in the swamp here, because that makes it a little more like– I like the idea of it being, you know, the swamp being more normal to everyone else there than it is to her, as an environment. I think that's fun.
So, let's see. Yeah, I think her, her house is in the village. Maybe not like right at the centre, but it's definitely in there.
SATAH: Again, these are very open ended in a way that like runs a little bit counter to how– what I generally want from games. And so I'm going to roll some dice on the questions to– to see what the vibe is.
So it says, “What's your new house like?” And then it says, “House on stilts, cottage, stone house built into a cave, something else entirely?” What I see there is a list of technically five things, but one of them is just “other.” So I'm going to roll a D4 to see if it is any of the options provided to me.
Got a one. House on stilts. Love that. Why a house on stilts in the desert? That seems– because I feel like normally you really want to like sort of go to ground in the desert, which immediately is very intriguing to me. The first vision I have is that it is like– it's on stilts because, uh– over like a transit way of some kind? There's either like migratory creatures or, you know, just people on camels or whatever that go through here? And stilts on sand– in sand– is so unstable… that I love– I mean, they have to be like buried super, super deep, right? They have to be buried very deep all the way down into the clay or whatever.
I'm just going to real quick Google desert house on stilts because maybe I'm wrong. Maybe this is a thing. This has provided me no information. Okay. Whatever.
So I’m in the desert, I'm in a house on stilts for some reason that I will continue to explore.
AGATHA: “What is something unique about your house?” I think what is unique about this house is that it is as big as the house of the village elder. And there's something about that where they both have– it feels like they both have the same amount of power– like social power. One is because of their life in the village and then the other is because it's like an official assignment kind of thing. And I feel like there is like generally tension between these kinds of things in terms of administrative power and like also just the official presence. And so in this case, that is manifesting in the sizes of the houses.
SATAH: “What is something unique about your house?” It is on stilts.
I think that what this actually is– the thing that I'm thinking of is like, so a house on stilts, like… I'm thinking of, of, you know, sun, sun in the desert, just like– that this is this huge open thing. And I think that one of the things about this house is that it was designed as sort of like a living art piece? And has prisms that are built to refract the sun? Like it is very much deliberately designed to play with the sun– to like, create patterns and that kind of thing? And possibly also tell time. I like the idea that it tracks time, but very beautifully. Uh, it's, it's like a really over the top clock tower essentially that I'm– that I'm living in.
The note I've taken is, “Built very purposefully as a piece of art to refract light like a giant psychedelic sundial.” And it's on stilts.
AGATHA: Okay. “Is it haunted?” Um, no, I don't think so. “Are there animal friends that come to visit?? There could be frogs. Is that– I don't know if that's the vibe that this question was going for, but sure. There can be a lot of frogs around. [Hums] Frequented by frogs.
SATAH: “Is it haunted or is there an animal friend that comes to visit?” It is not haunted, in part because it's new.
I am just going to have to look up desert animals real quick cause there isn't a bird! If there's a bird! ‘Cause I just don't– I like the idea that somebody that the person who designed this very tall building built it in a way that keeps birds away. ‘Cause that's something I worry about when it comes to tall buildings.
So desert animals. Yeah. I mean, there's probably like a little meerkat who comes to hang out sometimes, but I think that like, I don't know. I don't want to, it's, it's, it's not going to be a giant focus of my narrative, I am guessing? I could be proven wrong, but there is, there's, there's a meerkat who hangs out. Um, and maybe like– I'm not the best at talking to animals. Like it's something that I can like, do, but it isn't, you know, a specialty of mine. So maybe the meerkat’s like, “Ugh. You're not– you're not as cool as the other witch.”
AGATHA: “Do you have a garden?” Yeah. I think a village witch should have one. Um, that's kind of, uh, you kind of need it, um, as the herbalist. So there, there is like an area for planting herbs and obviously the ones that are here are kind of like– the ones that are surviving are the ones that are local to this area, but there are also quite a few pots of herbs that are commonly used, but don't do well in this climate, and they're just all like wilting and sad. And this is clearly planted by a previous witch.
SATAH: “Do I have a garden?” I don't think so. I'm in a desert. I maybe– maybe there are some little window cactuses, cacti that I take care of?
RHI: Do you have a garden? Let's see. I, I do like the idea of her keeping a garden here, both because that's kind of a thing she does and because, I don't know, it's interesting to have like a cultivated patch of swamp where she's like… really growing very particular things, whether it's in pots up on the like platform that her house is on or down in the water, right? I think that like cultivating parts of the swamp is probably a thing that people here do.
And so I think that, um, also ties into the like, “who do you meet first” thing? Where– I'm getting a picture that Viv sort of gets in– you know, maybe she travelled overnight to get here, right? Um, and she's sort of bringing a few things of hers inside, but as soon as she's done that, she's out taking a look at the area around her house for like a way to set up a garden. So I think– maybe it's just one of the neighbours who notices her kind of looking around the swamp, a little bit confused, and kind of strikes up a conversation and tells her like, “Oh yeah, here's what to look for if you want to be able to like grow plants around here.” Um, and that kind of thing.
So yeah, I think her first person she runs into is a neighbour and it's kind of a pretty warm reception there.
AGATHA: “What is your initial impression of the village and who do you meet first?” I mean, first impression is that it's disappointingly similar to where Ginkgo grew up. I think what might be interesting is that it's not geographically close to where Ginkgo grew up? So she's surprised by how similar it feels, maybe like temperature-wise, and then also in terms of the moisture level in the air, like it's pretty humid. And so she was expecting something different, but when she got here, she's like, “Oh, it's this.” Her skin's gonna be so good. But she was– she was hoping for something different
And I think it's also a lot poorer than she was expecting. I think she grew up in a decent, like a small city is how one could categorise it. So there– it's not even close to what one could see in a big city or even the capital in terms of population or even economic prosperity. But she's definitely used to more infrastructure than she is seeing here. So she's kind of like, “Oh, it's so similar to where I grew up in terms of how it feels, but also is kind of like a backwater.” So that's kind of disappointing, as well, for her.
[Laughing] I think she's generally disappointed.
And who does Ginkgo meet first? Well, I made Ginkgo single because I'm like, what if in addition to indulging myself by really changing up the setting, I also indulge myself further by making this solo game a dating sim.
So I think the first person that Ginkgo meets is the village elder’s daughter. Which I’m gonna– [Frustrated sounds] I need another name for.
Chinese herb names. Come on. Come on. And why is it always just super long articles and not the actual list?
Ren shen, or red ginseng root… I don’t know what this is…  huang qi… astragalus root… bai shao– oh, white peony root! Yeah, let's call her that. Let's call her Peony.
And Ginkgo's impression of Peony is that she's like startlingly beautiful, I think is– as Ginkgo is kind of looking around and being like, “oh boy, like, how am I going to get used to this?” Peony is the one that shows up on the boat. And is like, “You must be the new village witch. Let me take you to your place.!”
And, and like, it's kind of like, just Ginkgo sees this, this boat winding out of this grove, where there are a lot of these kind of like low trees, and they– they have this– they cast a lot of shade? And so– and they're also they just obscure vision a lot. And so it's kind of like just the tip of a boat pointing out from the shadows and then like emerging, just this– this like loud and, um, again, beautiful young woman.
Whenever I say young woman, I feel like I'm very old. [Dusty & ancient voice] This young woman. [Regular voice] Yeah, and she'll, she'll say hi.
SATAH: “What is your initial impression of the village, and who do you meet first?” I think in order to just kind of get into play. I don't– I don't meet anybody. Like– and I haven't even seen the village proper. I, like, arrive in the dead of night. And I knew where I was going. And I kind of go in and get set up. And we are going to start– we're going to see– we're going to see the beginning play out as I start, like, answering the prompts and stuff.
OUTRO
SATAH: This has been Folio, an actual play podcast about solo and epistolary TTRPGs. to find where you can find the show, check out foliopod.carrd.co.
You can find Agatha C at mightyshrimp on blue sky or mightyyshrimp with two Y's on Twitter.
You can find Rihannon Daly at CNIDARIAA on Twitter and find her work at scyphozoan.itch.io
You can find me at posatahchips on social media generally and check out my other work at gaygothvibes.online.
Next week, Agatha and Rih and I will continue our game of Village Witch by Eliot Crow, linked in the show notes. Thanks so much for listening, and take care out there.