Babel

Writing & Layout - David Blandy

Artwork - Public Domain

Printed with support from Rook’s Press

davidblandy.itch.io
twitter.com/davidblandy

THE WRETCHED™ is a trademark of Chris Bissette.

The Wretched and Alone logo is © Chris Bissette,
and is used with permission.

This work is based on The Wretched

(found at http://loottheroom.itch.io/wretched)
product of Chris Bissette and Loot The Room,
and licensed for our use under the
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/).

It was made for Laurie O’Connel’s Painting Jam

and inspired by
The Tower of Babel
by Pieter Bruegel the Elder, 1563
 Babel
A solo game of language and reality

Play Set
To play this game as intended, you need:

• A Journal
• Writing implement
• A six sided die
• Recording device (e.g. a smart phone)
• Pack of cards
• Letter tiles
• A Block Tower (or alternative)
B
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You The Legend
Close your eyes. When you open The printed text fragment found in
them, you find yourself lying in the the journal is replicated here:
dust in a vast deserted hall, clutching
a journal which is empty, except for And the whole earth was of one language,
a title written on the cover- “Notes and of one speech.
on The Unified Language from And it came to pass, as they journeyed from
The Tower of Babel”, and a scrap the east, that they found a plain in the land
of printed text (The Legend, stated of Shinar; and they dwelt there.
below). Several pages from the front And they said one to another, Go to, let
of the journal are torn out, with just us make brick, and burn them thoroughly.
shreds remaining. You remember And they had brick for stone, and slime had
nothing about your past life. You they for mortar.
can’t even remember your name. And they said, Go to, let us build us a
You feel sure you must be in the city and a tower, whose top may reach unto
Tower of Babel, and that you are heaven; and let us make us a name, lest
searching for the one language of we be scattered abroad upon the face of the
humanity. Next to you is a dicta- whole earth.
phone. You rewind and press play, And the Lord came down to see the city and
and you hear your voice reciting the the tower, which the children of men builded.
The Legend. You have no memory And the Lord said, Behold, the people is
of making the recording. one, and they have all one language; and
this they begin to do: and now nothing will
When the game starts in the Tower of be restrained from them, which they have
Babel all you have with you are the clothes imagined to do.
you wear, a pack of provisions, a journal, Go to, let us go down, and there confound
a pen, and a dictaphone. You can play the their language, that they may not understand
protagonist as a fictional character or as one another’s speech.
yourself. So the Lord scattered them abroad from
thence upon the face of all the earth: and
they left off to build the city.
Therefore is the name of it called Babel;
because the Lord did there confound the
language of all the earth: and from thence
did the Lord scatter them abroad upon the
face of all the earth.
— Genesis 11:1–9
 GPrepare your journal. This can be
Setup a stack of ten A4 pages, cut in two
and folded, to make a A6 booklet.
ASet up the tumbling block tower. Staple the fold if you can. Write
“Notes on the Unified Language
from The Tower of Babel” on the
BRoll your die, and complete that cover. Tear out the first five pages.
many pulls from the tower by remov- On the sixth page, write your notes
ing a block and replacing it on the top as you play through the game. The
row. The tower represents the state of Diary can be written in the journal,
the Tower of Babel. If it falls at any but it is recommended to record
time, the Tower of Babel falls around your thoughts on your facsimile of
you and game is over. An alternative the Dictaphone.
is described below.
HRecord your Diary. To do so, first
CSeparate the Ace of Hearts from record The Legend (above) and then
the deck and place it next to you. the following entry:

DFrom a set of letter tiles, remove “Day One: I find myself in a vast deserted
the letters that spell out your True hall, with multiple corridors branching off
Name. This should include a Name it. Windows high in the walls let in warm
and Surname, and total at least ten shafts of light and a gentle breeze, that
letters. Place these letters face down blows scraps of torn paper through the
on the Ace of Hearts. space as I look around. I remember noth-
ing of my past life, neither why I am here
or even who I am. It’s like it’s on the tip of
EPlace the remaining letters in a my tongue. I’m going to explore this place,
bag or box. These are your Hidden
and see if I can find some way out.”
Letters.
All subsequent reports should begin
FShuffle the remaining deck of with the statement “Day [x]...” The
playing cards and place the deck face content of the rest of the diary is up
down. to you, but should at least summa-
rize the events of the day.

Now you are ready to begin.

The Game Investigation
ARoll your die and draw that number of
The game is divided into days inside cards from the deck, keeping them face down.
the Tower. You can take this literally, BTurn over the first card you drew and
playing a slow game over the course consult the Oracle. If the Oracle asks you
of days or weeks, or you can play to do something specific, you are compelled to
the whole game in one sitting. This complete the task. .
usually takes about half an hour. CContinue turning over cards and consult-
ing the Oracle until your Fate is complete.
Each day has two phases:
Investigation, and the Diary. DWhen you have completed all your tasks
for the day, discard the cards you have used
unless you are told otherwise.

The Diary
ATake a moment to consider the events
of the day, keeping in mind what you have
learned about the state of the Tower of
Babel, your continuing thoughts about your
investigation and your identity, and how you
are feeling.
BRecord your Diary entry for the day
CClose you eyes, then open them to begin
your next day.
 roll on your Fate die. Consult the
How to play Codex (below) to divine the nature
of event or task. The Codex has
four topics, each mapped to a suit.
Fate The Kings of each suit are one of
(One six-sided die) your countdowns to failure. When
This determines how many events all four Kings are revealed from
occur each day in the Tower of Babel. the Oracle you realise that you are
It is also used for tests to see if you lost inside the Tower of Babel,
successfully remember one of the let- forgetting your True Name forever.
ters from your True Name collected The Ace of Hearts represents the
on the Ace of Hearts. vestige of your True Name. The
Aces of the other suits give some
Your True Name bonus or help in your plight.
(Ace of Hearts)
The Ace of Hearts is separated from
your deck. Use letter tiles to spell out
The Tower of Babel
(The block tower)
your name (at least ten letters). These The block tower is one of the
tiles are placed on the Ace face down countdowns to losing. Some of your
and shuffled. tasks from the deck will make you
At the end of each game day, you roll and pull from the tower. It represents
remove a letter tile from the card if you the fragility of the tower as you ex-
roll a 6. Once all the letter tiles have been plore. When the tower falls, you are
removed, you have remembered your true trapped within the Tower of Babel
name and leave the tower of Babel which forever, unable to remember your
is close to collapse. Make a final pull from true self.
the tower. Collapse at this stage means that (Alternative block tower)
the tower collapses around you, its walls If playing without a tower, when
threatening to become your tomb. Close your asked to pull from the Tower, roll
eyes for a long time. You know who you are the Die. If you roll a 1, place a coin
and why you’re here. on the Ace of Hearts. If you ever
place a third coin on the Ace of
The Oracle & Codex Hearts, the Tower crumbles to dust.
(A deck of playing cards)
The deck describes your investigation Letters of Salvation
of the sprawling Tower of Babel. (A set of letter tiles)
Each day in the game you take as The letter tiles that spell out your
many cards from the Oracle as you True Name are used to track your
burgeoning memory of your past you remember a letter of your true
life. Once all are retrieved, you name. If roll a Six you do, and you
remember your true name and draw a letter from the Ace of Hearts.
past life, rendering your time in the Now complete the journal for Day
Tower of Babel a half-remembered One.
dream.
Following Days
Hidden Letters After each game day, close your eyes
(The rest of the letter tiles) for a long time. When you reo-
Keep all the remaining letters from pen them, note down the next day
the letter tile set in a box or bag, so number in your journal (Day Two,
that when you are asked to retrieve Three, Four etc.) and roll for and
one you do so at random. complete your tasks. The solitude is
overwhelming, as is the feeling that
The Diary very soon you will understand your
situation and will remember who you
You will write a handwritten diary are. But until you do, you truly believe
of your time in the Tower of Babel. that you must complete your task as
This will form the basis of your au- given on the journal, to gather notes
dio recordings. You sit down to note on the Unified Language from The
your first entry: Tower of Babel.
“Day One: I find myself in a vast deserted
hall, with multiple corridors branching off Escape
it. Windows high in the walls let in warm There are two ways to win Babel,
shafts of light and a gentle breeze, that either though remembering your True
blows scraps of torn paper through the Name or discovering the entirety
space as I look around. I remember noth- of the lost alphabet of the Unified
ing of my past life, neither why I am here Human Language. When you are
or even who I am. It’s like it’s on the tip of asked to draw a tile from the pool of
my tongue. I’m going to explore this place, Hidden Letters, check to see wheth-
and see if I can find some way out.” er you have one of all 26 letters of
the alphabet. If you do, make a final
This entry should be copied into pull from the tower. Collapse at this
your journal as the first entry in your stage means that the tower collaps-
game. The rest of day one will be es around you, its walls threatening
defined by your Fate (die roll) and to become your tomb. Close your
the Oracle (deck of cards). Once all eyes for a long time. You understand
tasks are completed, roll to see if the world and what you must do to
change it.
Codex
Consult the Codex each time you turn
Will
(Hearts)
KYou can see a scrap of parchment
over a card from the Oracle and com- in a pile of rubble. Carefully you try
plete the task it assigns you. Sometimes to pull it out, but as you do the adja-
these tasks will involve pulling bricks cent wall starts to crumble. You run,
from the Tower, taking letter tiles from but you’re soon choking from the
Your True Name or the cup of Hidden cloud of dust, and the Tower contin-
letters. Others will involve quiet reflec- ues to shift and groan.
tion or answering questions. Take one letter tile from your True Name.
Do not discard this card. Place it where you
Hearts can see it. If this is the fourth King you have
drawn, you realise that you are lost inside
Hearts represent your Will to remem-
ber your True Name. When you draw the Tower of Babel, forgetting your true
a heart, you are remembering some name forever.
fragment of your identity.
QYou see an intriguing pile of
Diamonds papers nestled in the corner of a high
Diamonds represent your continu- buttress. You climb up to them but
ing Quest to rediscover The Unified slip, falling onto the far floor below,
Human Language, lost to time. You as the wall crumbles. Recovering from
will find fragments of this language, the fall, you see one piece of paper is
seeking to amass a complete alphabet. clutched in your hand.
Take one letter tile from your True Name.
Clubs Pull from the tower.
Clubs represent your Past life. When
you draw a club you are reminded of JYou feel so listless today, wandering
people and events you have forgotten, the halls aimlessly before succumbing
and the reality that you may never see to your heavy head, curling up in a
loved ones again. shaft of light. You dream of running,
and someone’s calling your name,
Spades which you half remember when you
Spades represent the fragile state of wake.
the ancient ruins of the Tower of Take one letter tile from your True Name.
Babel, and your increasing desperation Pull from the tower.
to leave.
10You find some stairs and ascend 6As you wander the halls you call out.
to the next floor, coming across a As the echo reverberates, you hear a
window that frames the setting sun. whisper, like someone’s calling your
You remember a scene from your name. Who does it remind you of ?
childhood. What else do you remem- Take one letter tile from your True Name.
ber about that time?
Take one letter tile from your True Name. 5You’re feeling so lethargic, everything
seems impossible. Why are you even
9As you walk the halls, a great chunk here? Lost in your melancholy you
of masonry falls, cracking the floor almost fall off the end of a broken
in front of you. You look up and a balustrade. The lurch in your stomach
shard of sun catches the dust. You reminds you of a moment from child-
remember a voice and your fingers hood. What happened?
reaching for the light. Whose voice is Take one letter tile from your True Name.
it you hear in your mind, and so you Pull from the tower.
remember anything else about your
memory?
Take one letter tile from your True Name.
4It’s raining, and the drops are com-
ing straight through the cracks in the
Pull from the tower. roof. As they hit your upturned face, a
memory comes back to you, as clear as
8The loneliness is overwhelming, but if you were there.
you feel like you’re getting closer. A Take one letter tile from your True Name.
memory comes back to you of trying
something difficult and finally suc- 3You come across footsteps. You fol-
ceeding. What was it? low them to a collapsed room. Who’s
Take one letter tile from your True Name. footsteps do you wish they were?
Pull from the tower.
7There’s a large pile of fallen rock,
which shifts as you clamber over it. 2You come across a great library, full
As your fingertips reach the ledge, of thick books. Each one turns to dust
the rest falls, and you’re left dangling in you hands. You sweep your hands
above a chasm. With great effort through the debris in frustration, but
you pull yourself up. That feeling of as the pieces settle, you see a scrap of
dread takes you back to a vivid mem- parchment, with a single letter written
ory. What happened? on it. The shape of it sparks something
Take one letter tile from your True Name. in your mind.
Pull from the tower. Take one letter tile from your True Name.
Codex Quest
(Diamonds)
AYou use all your strength to open
a wedged heavy door, and find a
perfectly circular chamber, lit through
a lattice of holes in its domed roof.
In the very centre is an obelisk, its
sides covered in writing in what you
presume is the Unified Language.
Draw three tiles from the Hidden Letters.
Keep this card out and place all your Hid-
den Letters tiles on it, face up. When you
have collected all 26 letters of the alphabet
you return to this room and recite the words
inscribed. You are suddenly bathed in light
and something incredible happens. Your
Quest is complete.
KHeading further up the Tower, you
see a huge oak door, lined with brass.
The catch is heavy, and stiff from lack
of use, but you manage to turn it and
push the heavy door. You gasp as you
look up at a vast library, parchments
stacked across the walls. You run to
the first pile, glancing at the ornate
writing.
Draw three tiles from the Hidden Letters.
You hear a pebble fall from the wall
of the doorway, then a trickle of
stones, then great rocks start falling.
You run to try to escape as the room
crumbles around you.
Do not discard this card. Place it where you
can see it. If this is the fourth King you have
drawn, you realise that you are lost inside
the Tower of Babel, forgetting your true
name forever.
QLooking into the shadows of a 7The Unified Language is altering your
small chamber you see a journal, not vision. You return to a large chamber
unlike your own. It’s wedged in the and what was once austere is now
base of the wall. You pull it out care- ornate.
fully, but you feel the bricks shift. Return two letters from your True Name to
Pull from the tower. Do not replace this the Ace of Hearts.
block at the top of the tower- remove it from Take two letters from the Hidden Letters
the game instead. Pull from the tower.
JRather than wandering, you decide 6You dream that a unseen voice is
to find a nice patch of light and study talking to you. When you awake you
all the text you have amassed so far. can remember every word they said,
Halfway through the day you hear a but they make no sense.
distant rumble and feel the ground Take two letters from the Hidden Letters
shift beneath you. . Pull from the tower.
Pull from the tower. Do not replace this 5 You come across a huge mural, a
block at the top of the tower- remove it from serene bucolic landscape, with a huge
the game instead. tower being built in the distance.
10You manage to climb high today, Take a letter from the Hidden Letters
until you reach a layer of mist. You Pull from the tower.
catch a rare glimpse of the landscape
surround you and you realise you
4It’s colder today. Exploring a new
area you find a scrap of paper. It’s in
must be high enough to be walking your handwriting. It seems to be de-
through the clouds. coding a part of the Unified Language.
Pull from the tower Take a letter from the Hidden Letters
9You’re feeling tired from all this Pull from the tower.
walking. How does it feel to be wan- 3You find a page, and the tear match-
dering these deserted halls for days es one of the torn out pages of your
on end? journal. How did this happen?
Pull from the tower Take a letter from the Hidden Letters
8You’re beginning to feel like you’re Pull from the tower.
thinking in the Unified Language.
Your thoughts are changing, and your
2 As you climb a seemingly endless
staircase, you start to hear yourself
memories of your life before the muttering, as if you’re speaking in
tower are becoming hazy. tongues. What are you saying?
Return two letters from your True Name to Take a letter from the Hidden Letters
the Ace of Hearts. Pull from the tower.
Take two letters from the Hidden Letters
Pull from the tower.
Codex Past Life
(Clubs)
AAs you climb higher, the air gets
thinner. It’s harder to breathe. The
sound of your breath brings back
a vivid memory, of a place and a
person. What was it?
Keep this card. The next time you are
asked to pull from the Tower you can
choose not to.

KFinally, you reach the very top

chamber, and you see the landscape
around, covered in a hazy light.
Looking to the ground far below,
you feel a twinge of vertigo, and re-
member a face. A face of someone
you love.
Do not discard this card. Place it where
you can see it. If this is the fourth King
you have drawn, you realise that you are
lost inside the Tower of Babel, forgetting
your true name forever.

QYou’re feeling weak. You close

your eyes. You see someone in your
mind’s eye. You know they died a
long time ago. Who were they?
Pull from the tower.

JYou see a shadow move in the

corner of your eye. A cat. How did
a cat get in here? It seems to like
you. Touching its fur takes you back
to a specific time. Where were you?
What was happening?
Pull from the tower.
10You enter into the shadow zone, 5 You listen to the whispers of the
deep in the centre of the tower. wind, and you hear a song from your
Perhaps there’s an archive here. In childhood.
the darkness and the silence, you hear Take a letter from your True Name
your own heartbeat. The sound takes
you back to hearing another’s heart- 4As you walk another hallway, search-
beat, a moment together. ing for answers, you wonder what
brought you here?
9You descend a set of stairs and see
some strange markings on a wall. You 3The moment you wake, you remem-
touch them, and a chamber opens, ber a story, a story you know that has
dark and warm. You feel around and some relationship to your time in the
cut your hand on a shard of bro- tower. What is that story?
ken rock. You lick your cut, and the
taste reminds you of a moment with
someone
2 It rained last night, and throughout
the tower there are pools, some lit by
the now shining sun. Passing one, you
8You enter a room in the middle of look down and catch sight of yourself,
the tower, and the walls are covered the first time you’ve seen yourself since
with frescoes. Some are intricate everything slipped away. What do you
illusions of vistas, some portraits and see?
groups. You’re drawn to one figure Take a letter from your True Name
in particular who looks exactly like
someone you know.

7If everyone spoke the same lan-

guage, would there be less misun-
derstandings? Would there be less
conflict?

6You must have come here with a

reason. This Universal Language
makes some sense to you naturally.
Was this your specialism in life?
Codex The Tower
(Spades)
AYou decide to search below, to
find a way out. Every staircase you
find you head further down, until
finally you find a door. It’s locked.
There are words above the door. You
don’t understand them, but the letters
look familiar.
Take two letters from the hidden Letters.
If you have previously drawn the King of
Spades you may shuffle it back into the deck.

KThe Tower has been creaking

and groaning all day, mortar shifting,
scattering on the dusty floor. With a
sudden lurch, you fall sideways as you
hear a great tumbling crash off to
your left. You run to see, and a whole
side of the tower has fallen, the end
of a corridor now ledge on a preci-
pice.
Do not discard this card. Place it where you
can see it. If this is the fourth King you have
drawn, you realise that you are lost inside
the Tower of Babel, forgetting your true
name forever.

QIn the central chambers, far from

the outer wall, you find a chamber of
murals. It shows events leading up to
a great flood.
Pull from the tower.
JYou open a door to a secluded 6You look up through a crack in the
chamber, and you see a an intricate walls, and you can see a staircase head-
but fading mural, painted by skilled ing up to another portion of the tower.
hands. It appears to show a united You spend much of the day trying to
human race in the generations follow- find a way through, with no luck.
ing the Great Flood, speaking a single Pull from the tower.
language and migrating eastward.
Pull from the tower. 5 It’s been raining, and the water is
dripping down the walls.
10Looking out of a high window, you Pull from the tower.
watch as a great spire slips and tum-
bles to the floor far below. How much
longer will this structure hold?
4Walking along a parapet, you see the
wall behind you start to fall. You run,
Pull from the tower and jump onto the next tower just as
the huge bricks begin to shift beneath
9You descend to the bottom of the you feet.
tower, and find an area full of water. Pull from the tower.
It’s freezing, but you dive down to
search for any exits. You don’t find 3Looking down at the floor you see
any. You shiver the rest of the day. green shoots growing through the
Pull from the tower cracks. One shoot holds a solitary white
flower. You kneel down to smell it, and
8You feel like you’re going in cir- its perfume takes you to a place long
cles, thinking you’re seeing the same ago. Te ground shaking beneath you
bricks, the same windows again and brings you back to the present, and you
again. You mark the wall to check. scamper to find firmer ground.
You never see the mark again. Take a letter from your True Name
Pull from the tower. Pull from the tower.

7You find a hidden passageway, lead- 2 You find a room filled with vines.
ing to a spiral stair. You ascend, then As you work through them you come
gasp and grab the wall as you see the across a wall of bark. A vast tree is
structure above you has sheared off, growing through the Tower.
looking straight up at the birds gliding Take a letter from the Hidden Letters
in the warm breeze. Pull from the tower.
Pull from the tower.
B
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