Over the Mountain is a solo rural fantasy journaling game on one page.
Your character lives in a small mountain town and records their journey to carry out their Calling as they get to know the local human and spirit Neighbors, find bizarre items to collect, and clear the strange Dungeons found throughout.
Will your curious character stick with their mission long enough to fill an entire journal?
What Achievements might they unlock?
Over the Mountain has players roll dice to generate prompts they must include as they record their daily encounters.
It’s flexible and leaves a lot up to the player so that it can be replayed again and again, generating a new town each time.
If a rule isn’t clear or isn’t explicitly stated, it is up to the player to decide what best fits the story or is just the most fun.
– Description by game author
Game Description
Do you like Hex and Dragon Crawling? Do you like NPC interactions and finding interesting items? But does it often feel forced and uninspired?
Over the Mountain fixes all of this – and more…
Instead of a hack and slash, this is a journaling game that you will keep coming back to repeatedly.
The Basics
The rules for this solo RPG fit on a single sheet of paper.
You start by describing your character. Why are you in the mountains, what are you good at, what is your secret, etc.
Next, you name your starting town, and you are ready to go.
To play the game, you will need a couple of D6s, a D10, and a D20
However, rolling is not the key to this game. It just helps to keep the story moving along. (This is a journaling game, after all)
Each day you get four encounters. The tables will help you pick a location, who the neighbors are, any items you find, or events that happen along the way.
From there, it’s up to you.
If you turn the rules sheet over, you will be surprised to find prompts to create and clear dungeons and the rewards they offer.
Every seven days, one of your neighbors hosts a weekly gathering. Neighbors can also give you side quests.
Once you’ve interacted with a neighbor ten or more times, you can attempt to make them your friend, to meet them when you want to, instead of random encounters.
Once you have interacted 20 times, you can ask them to move in with you and become your roommate.
All of these rules allow you to earn Achievements while playing the game.
According to the author, the game ends when your notebook is full, or you decide your character has achieved its calling.
The Tables
A lot of the tables have been mentioned in the paragraphs above.
The prompts are high quality and specific enough to figure out what they mean but open enough that you can roll them into your story in any way you see fit.
The tables are the real strength of this game. The fact they ALL fit on a single sheet of paper and are so good is a testament to the author.
Note: I don't post actual prompts in my reviews. This is to protect the IP of the designer. You will need to buy the game to read the actual prompts.
What makes it different
This is a hex crawl and dungeon crawl on a single sheet of paper.
However, these rules also allow you to make friends, have weekly gatherings, manage the seasons of the year, and earn achievements.
It is a journaling game and not a slow hack and slash.
The prompts let you build an entire environment. Characters could have backstories and reasons for being around. You don’t need to kill everything, and I like that a lot.
My Thoughts
I love this game.
It is compact yet comprehensive. It offers everything you would want in a hex and dungeon crawl.
I love journaling games, so I appreciate that it is not dice heavy and doesn’t use stats.
This is a game I will revisit over and over again. It is the type of game you can put down and come back to when you are ready or have the time.
From a journaling point of view, you could build up an entire world with repeating characters and adventures to boot.
Verdict: VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
How to Get It
Over the Mountain is designed by Marz Corbeau