The Kindlings

You are a young naturalist walking out of the Last Village with a notebook, a pencil, and a bag of small offerings. Across five wildlands — a sunlit meadow, a green grove, a misted marsh, a high stony ridge, and an ancient overgrown ruin — you will meet thirteen small kin. The kindlings.  You will not catch them. You will meet them, sketch them, and let three of them walk beside you.

THE KINDLINGS is a solo journaling roleplaying game about small companions and the road you share with them. It plays like the coming-of-age quest Pokemon fans wish they could hold on paper — with a warmer, slower pulse.

  WHAT'S INSIDE                                             

  • 53 pages, illustrated storybook layout

  • 13 kindlings, each with a portrait, habitat notes, offering rules, and three writing prompts

  • 5 wildlands, each with its own mood, weather, and roster of small kin                                                

  • Bond track (Curious → Trusting → Kindred) so companions grow with you

  • A hidden Whisper Well ending for wanderers who reach the Old Grove with three Kindred companions                     

  • Field guide templates for extra journeys                                                                             

  • Original card-based system — no dice required                                                                        

  WHO IT'S FOR                                                                                                           

Solo journalers. Cozy game players. Anyone who ever loved their first Pokemon starter, or Wanderhome, or the feeling of a paper map on a long summer afternoon. No RPG experience needed.

  WHAT YOU'LL NEED                                          

  • A standard deck of playing cards

  • A notebook and a soft pencil

  • Three small tokens for Offerings (an acorn, a pebble, a scrap of ribbon are traditional)                             

  • About 3 to 5 hours (one wildland per evening is the honest pace)

  FOR FANS OF

Pokemon Snap · Wanderhome · Ryuutama · Augury · Studio Ghibli · Ori and the Blind Forest · every first Pokemon starter you loved

  From Hearth & Quill Press — cozy games for slow evenings.