Onward! – A one-page story engine for solo or cooperative storytelling

I got an alert that Onward! was released on itch.io by Penforge Press and was immediately captured by the cute little wizard art piece.

Players begin with 2 6-sided dice, and take turns asking questions. For each yes or no question they ask, they may roll the dice to find an answer, either “yes”, “no”, “yes but”, “yes and”, or “no and”.

https://penforgepress.itch.io/onward

Onward! is now available on itch.io, and is positioned as more of a procedure than a full game, but I find that often these types of procedures can lead to a more free-form, easier time at the table than something with tons of rules you have to remember.

Onward! walks players through three essential phases of telling a story: Setting, Characters, and Conflict. Using player questions & answers, these elements of the story are defined to provide a framework for the collaborative tale.

One of the touches I love is that you’re supposed to shout “Onward!” after a conflict comes to its conclusion, continuing the story into a new conflict. Any time games provide explicit rules for ways to act silly, I’m on board.

Onward! provides a clear, concise set of rules you can use to flesh out a world, create characters, and determine & overcome a conflict in a collaborative story. It includes some super helpful advice on improv and answering questions while using this procedure/story engine.

If this sounds like something you’d enjoy, it’s available for $1.50 (or free, but you should tip the author if you use this thing!) over on author Penforge Press’s itch.io page here.