The Mysterious Island: A Solo Stranded on an Island Adventure

The Mysterious Island: A Solo Stranded on an Island Adventure Where on Earth are you? You find yourself regaining consciousness on a mysterious island. You know you were in the South Pacific, but you don’t remember how you got here. A gentle rumble beneath you makes you turn and look up. Behind you is a mountainous region with a vegetation-covered volcano emitting a single small plume of smoke. You stand and survey your immediate area. The ocean surf slaps against the shore on one side, and thick jungle growth behind and to both directions on either side is what you find. The island is huge, curved, angled, and filled with typical bird and insect tropical sounds. In the distance, you hear the rhythmic beats of native drums. You step further toward the ocean, turning in a circle, discovering a wondrous sight, and can’t believe your eyes. The Island is located in the South Pacific. . . you think. How you arrived here is up to you (although Creative Concepts does have a solo adventure, “Lost at Sea in the Bermuda Triangle: A Cruise Ship Horror Adventure” which could be used if you’d like. Yes, the Bermuda Triangle is not in the South Pacific, but cruise ships are.) The adventures are geared toward pulp fiction, but you can adjust them as you’d like. You’ll encounter strange beings, locations, events, and situations to overcome. There are multiple outcomes to your adventures. Draw your card, write your adventure, and have your friends join you on the island. After all, more targets for the island's creatures means you get to survive longer. Welcome to the Island, may you survive more than a day. Create your worlds! Materials you will need. You will need some simple items as follows: • A Standard Deck of Playing Cards (with Jokers): I own several decks with different face card themes. You can use a standard deck or a unique one to play solo games with themes. Every card will have a different meaning as you draw one. They produce the adventures to start you on your way, a side quest, a discovery, how your character may feel, or people or creatures you encounter along the way. • Paper and pencil, or a writing program: I prefer a writing program or a spreadsheet to log in order to enter your ideas as you travel the world. Now, before you begin, you have to decide who you are: 1. Are you a landlubber, a sea-going adventurer, out of your depth, an adult, a teen, or younger? What’s your gender? Are you from the city or the country? What time are you from? Are you rich, middle class, or poor? 2. Choose Your Role: Are you a survivor? Are you terrified of everything? Are you curious? Have you been to an island before? Any bad habits? A risk taker or a risk avoider? Are you wanting to explore the island’s mysteries or just get off the island? 3. Prepare your Deck: Shuffle your deck of playing cards and place the stack face down. With your character’s nature made, your role in the story selected, and your cards ready, it’s time to start your journey. Gameplay: Each card creates a new event or discovery for your character; make sure to chronicle them in order. A series of turns of fate may reflect on the card you have, two cards later. 1. Draw a single card at a time from the deck. Begin by drawing a situation card first, any Club suit, and it starts you on the adventure. Reshuffle the deck with the cards drawn before the first Club and continue. 2. The prompts below will tell you the card’s meaning by number and suit. Try to imagine the scene with all five senses. 3. Write your entry describing the moment using your senses. Imagine it’s a scene in a movie, comic, or novel, and play with it. Use that imagination! 4. After writing down your scene, draw the next card to continue your adventure. When you reach the end of the deck, you can either imagine going back to where you started or use it as a cliffhanger for your next story after you shuffle the deck. You just completed “Book One” of your saga. 5. Even though this is a solo adventure, you can bring your friends along and have them as part of your group, and all of you write your part in the adventure separately. Careful, their character may not be trusted! Watch your back.