The Understory: Cycle of Care

The Understory: Cycle of Care is a quiet, meditative, procedure-driven solo journaling RPG about tending to a living forest. Follow a simple daily cadence (weather, wandering, noticing, and returning) while letting shrines, paths, and small encounters shape what the land and your journal remembers. No heroics. No quests. Just attention, change, and the slow comfort of a place that starts to recognize you. In The Understory: Cycle of Care, you are a mushroom Caretaker (a gentle, fungoid wanderer) sent by The Spread, the living mycelium that notices everything in the forest. You walk familiar paths, record what matters, and let the rest drift. You decide what to map, what to journal, and what to remember. What this is: This is a solo game for players who want something calm and grounded, but still want clear procedures and some dice. Explore paths shaped by weather, terrain, and time Notice places through light Sparks that colour what you see Meet animals and denizens as gentle interruptions, neighbours not foes Gather and forage, take only what the forest provides Return to your Shrines, where attention becomes questions, and questions become memory Craft and tinker with what you gather and with what the denizens offer you Build your own persistent map; not an exhaustive one, but chosen by you Start immediately: The PDF is table-forward and fully hyperlinked, built to be skimmed. Begin with the Quick Reference and the First Day Walkthrough, then you're ready to enter your Cycle of Care. What you need: A notebook (or notes app) and something to write and draw with Dice or roller app (ideally a set of polyhedrals) This PDF: 64-page, Table-forward and meant to be skimmed , containing a Quick Reference + Field Journal Examples to guide players when first starting out. Future work: The Understory: Cycle of Care is the core and polishing v1 is the goal. I’m also exploring a few companion add-ons: modular expansions that slot in when you want a different tone, more layers or a bit more structure. If that interests you, feel free to mention it in your feedback. This version does not contain any art, I hope to add some soon. Playtest & Feedback: This is a free, early version public playtest. If you play, I’d love to hear what worked, what didn’t, and where you got confused. Even a few bullet points go a long way. The PDF includes a link to an optional feedback form. Disclaimer : Some tables were drafted with the help of generative AI and later curated, researched, and edited by the creator. No AI-generated art.