Move Quietly and Tend Things

WELCOME TO NUSA 

Sometime and somewhere in the far future in Southeast Asia there is a derelict megastructure that you have made your home. It is called Nusa. You love this place. It's busy and gentle and imperfect, but it's yours. Recently, you have discovered pieces of the past, washed up by the tides, that ask you to rethink how exactly you got here.

HOW DO I PLAY THIS GAME?

Move Quietly and Tend Things is a story-game for 2-5 players. It's been written to be welcoming to people who have never played TTRPGs before and are unfamiliar with the form. You don't need a game-master, and you can sit down and play it immediately without anyone preparing anything, simply by reading the text together. 

To play this game, you need:

• things to draw with
• things to draw on
• a deck of cards

Each member of the play group should have digital access to the character sheets; alternatively, a set should be printed out to distribute during play. Ideally, players should also have access to the prompts. Both are included here as separate files. 

WHO CAN YOU BE? 

There are five different characters you can play. 

The Gardener believes in time. Not time as currency, something to be saved and spent, but time as experienced. They're not afraid of cutting the rot out at the root. 

The Elder believes in death, i.e. the inevitability of it. They can't help being bossy; they just know better. They power-walk and gossip, but some days they seem far away. 

The Stranger believes in truth. They didn't grow up on Nusa. They hawk chai and talk to everyone, but at night they have recurring dreams of the ocean. 

The Repairer believes in gentleness.  They carry around lug nuts and a sewing kit. Everything is treasure. Everything can be saved.

The Archivist believes in memory, but they don't trust it. They're chronic diarists, anxious about forgetting. You can't make them throw anything away. 

WHY DID YOU WRITE THIS? 

I think there's a lot of beauty in the world and I will miss it if it is gone. This is a story from a post-climate collapse standpoint, about celebrating what we might have and grieving what we might lose. But that's just my story. I hope that the game gives you the room necessary to tell your own.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This game was funded by the Research Impact Award by the Association of Southeast Asian Studies. I am very thankful for ASEAS's support in making this game.

The book's design was made by my wonderful friend Jawn Chan, who invited an imagined Nusa to press closer to this world. He wants to stress very much that AI tools such as Midjourney and Photoshop's Generative Fill was utilized in the creation of some of these assets.

The game is and always will be available for free. Your comments, shares, and downloads also help me tremendously, and I always want to hear from you if you've played the game.