Cosmic Joke ✴ by JakeForReal follow it to make sure it doesn’t bring about the end of the

Introduction space-time. Proceed to the Timeline Jumping section.

In this solo journaling game, you are the worst version of yourself and the life 2. If the result is not less than your Luck, this version of you is
you have been living is your darkest timeline. You have long been haunted overcome by What Haunts You. Describe your failure that
by the consequences of a choice made years ago. After festering all this time, results in the utter ruin of this reality. You flee to a parallel
What Haunts You now threatens the very fabric of space-time itself. You timeline. Proceed to the Timeline Jumping section.
must confront What Haunts You to prevent reality from collapsing in on
itself. Luckily, you can jump to parallel timelines to take the place of another Continue responding to Action and Luck prompts until you decide to attempt
version of yourself in case What Haunts You tries to escape, or things get too a Confrontation or your Luck reaches 1. When your Luck reaches 1, you have
bad in your current timeline. reached the darkest depths of desperation. Either attempt a Confrontation or
forsake the life you have been leading in this timeline and escape to another
To play this game you will need a d6 and a way to record responses to (proceed to the Timeline Jumping section).
prompts. Prompts are noted in italics. It is recommended to read the rules in
their entirety before beginning. Timeline Jumping
Jump Action: To jump to a parallel timeline, you must perform an action that
Setup is contextually ridiculous, bizarre, inappropriate, or nonsensical, and
Universal Identity: Record something that is true about you in every timeline. extremely so. What do you do?
Local Identity: Record something that is uniquely true about the version of Timeline Divergence: Working backward from the most recent Decision
yourself in this timeline. Point, you arrive in a parallel timeline where you made a different
Decision Points: List five critical decisions you have made in your life in the choice. For each subsequent jump, use the next most recent Decision
order they occurred (oldest first). For each, explain why you made the Point. Explain the choice you made differently at that Decision Point,
choice you did, and how that ended up being the worst possible option. and how your life has diverged up to the present day. Replace your Local
What other options did you have? Did you knowingly choose something Identity with a new one.
other than the best option, or was it not clear until later what the best Reality Crack: When you arrive in the new timeline, you immediately notice
choice was? a reality. Each jump damages the space-time continuum and radically
What Haunts You: The aftermath of your earliest Decision Point has followed changes something about history, physics, or the world. These
you throughout your life. How has this continually reared its ugly head? differences are cumulative, meaning they carry into each new timeline
It has now taken on some physical manifestation. Why and how is the you jump into. What is obviously wrong with reality now?
manifestation currently threatening the space-time continuum? Current Moment: Upon jumping to a parallel timeline, you arrive in the
Current Life: What has your dismal life looked like recently? What are your present day. For some reason, the version of you in this timeline was
important activities and who are your important people? Somehow, intentionally doing the strange Jump Action you used to make the jump.
you’ve learned about jumping between timelines but you’ve never done How did the different choice lead to this version of you doing this
it before, afraid to leave behind life as you know it. How did you learn action? Where are you and who are you with?
about timeline jumping?
If this is one of the first four times you have jumped timelines, respond to the
You begin the game with 4 Luck and 0 Courage. Continued Threat prompt below. If this is the fifth time you have jumped,
skip to the Final Timeline section.
Current Timeline
Action: How is What Haunts You presenting an immediate threat to you and Continued Threat: Even in this new timeline, What Haunts You remains a
space-time? How is it wreaking havoc around you? What are you doing threat to the space-time continuum. How did What Haunts You develop
to deal with it? differently in this timeline? How does it still present an immediate
Luck: When you want to do something to deal with What Haunts You but the danger? If you failed a Confrontation just before jumping, reset your
outcome is not obvious or the action is not obviously achievable, roll Luck to 3. Otherwise, reset your Luck to 4. Return to the Current
1d6. If you are doing something that plays into your Universal Identity Timeline section.
or Local Identity (only one), subtract 1 from the die roll.
1. If the result is less than your Luck, describe the most Final Timeline
favorable outcome possible that doesn’t completely nullify After jumping timelines for the fifth time, you have made it to a timeline
the threat of What Haunts You. What Haunts You is delayed where you made a different choice at your earliest Decision Point. In this
for a while. What do you in the meantime? How does What timeline you did not make the choice that resulted in What Haunts You, but it
Haunts You eventually return? has come across time and space for revenge.
2. If the result is not less than your Luck, you achieve the least
favorable outcome possible short of destroying the space- Final Confrontation: There is nowhere left to run. Face What Haunts You
time continuum or killing you. How does What Haunts You once and for all. Do so in a way that embodies both your Universal
negatively and drastically impact your life and the world Identity and your Local Identity. Roll 1d6 and subtract 2 from the result.
around you? Subtract 1 from your Luck statistic. 1. If the result is lower than your Luck plus your Courage, describe
the most favorable outcome that finally eliminates the threat of
Confrontation: After responding to at least one Luck prompt in this timeline, What Haunts You. Describe your life hereafter. How will you adapt
you may attempt to salvage your life in this timeline and put a stop to to the Reality Cracks you’ve accumulated along the way? You win
What Haunts You. Do so in a way that embodies both your Universal the game.
Identity and your Local Identity. Roll 1d6 and subtract 2 from the result. 2. If the result is not lower than your Luck plus your Courage,
1. If the result is less than your Luck, describe the least describe the final agonizing link in the chain of failures that has
favorable outcome possible that still nullifies the threat of been your life. Describe the spectacular and catastrophic collapse
What Haunts You. How will the version of you in this of time and space as What Haunts You and the Reality Cracks at
timeline pick up the pieces of their life after all the havoc that last become too much for the multiverse to bear. You lose the
has been wrought? What lasting damage has been done to this game.
life and reality? You gain 1 Courage. What Haunts You
escapes to a parallel timeline to wreak havoc there. You