Something I may never complete. Inspired to share this from my slush pile by my post about Ghibli-inspired games. Putting this out there for anyone else to finish, if they want. Fully open license, public domain. Use as you will.

Hard Road Ahead

A two-player micro-RPG inspired by the darker elements of Studio Ghibli.

Overview

One player takes the role of The Young Person, someone desperately striving to save a loved one who will die without their help. The other plays The World That Is, a callous, indifferent force that cares only for the endless cycles of life, death, and the laws of the universe. Together, you will tell a story of hardship, fleeting hope, and the cruel beauty of persistence.

What You Need

• 6-sided dice (d6), at least three.
• Paper and pen for tracking progress.
• A quiet space to reflect and tell your story.

Setup

1. The Young Person names their loved one and describes why they must save them. Define the relationship and what makes this bond vital.
2. The World That Is describes the setting: is it a crumbling city, a storm-lashed forest, or a war-torn countryside? Frame the narrative tone.
3. Both players collaboratively decide on the loved one’s three essential needs:
   • Medicine to treat or prevent sickness. What treatment do they need?
   • Food to stave off starvation. What kind of allergies and other food issues must you avoid?
   • Clothes to protect against deprivation. What is needed for the season, weather, and terrain?
4. Draw two trackers:
   • Young Person’s Needs: Hunger, Exposure, and Exhaustion, each starting at 0.
   • Loved One’s Needs: Sickness, Starvation, and Deprivation, each starting at 0.

How to Play

The story unfolds across at least five quests that The Young Person must pass to gather the resources their loved one needs. Each quest is an encounter, framed by The World That Is, which presents as (roll a d6):

• 1-2, A Social Trap: An overprotective guardian, a deceptive merchant, or others with conflicting goals.
• 3-4, A Task: Delivering messages, retrieving a lost item, or fulfilling a troubling request.
• 5-6, Internal Struggles: Phantoms or hallucinations of doubt and despair.

For each quest, the conditions available in the quest may offer a chance to reduce negative conditions for the player and there are two possible outcomes:

• Pass: The Young Person earns a vital item (Medicine, Food, or Clothes) and/or a step of relief for their own Needs.
• Fail: The World That Is offers a deus ex machina escape at a steep cost: an increase of 1 in either Sickness, Starvation, or Deprivation for the loved one, as well as usually an increase of one of the young person’s Needs.

Mechanics

1. Encounter Timers: Each encounter is resolved in three rolls or less, symbolizing the limited time available. The timer reflects urgency, a collapsing bridge, approaching danger, or window of opportunity closing.
2. Rolling for Progress: The Young Person rolls 1d6 per action. Actions must align with their described approach to the challenge. They may choose to accept 1 negative track for +2 dice. Once per encounter, you may also pick one of your loved one’s Needs and roll twice as many extra dice as the track is at. But if you take a cost (partial success or failure), it adds +1 to one of their other Needs tracks in addition to the young person’s. However, if you succeed, reduce the loved one’s Need used by 1. Possible results:
   • 6: Overwhelming success.
   • 4-5: Partial progress; the player may advance but at a cost, such as 1 Hunger, Exposure, or Exhaustion.
   • 1-3: Failure; no progress and +1 to one of the young person’s Need tracks.
3. Tracking Needs: Needs can be alleviated to some degree by the encounters, such as eating at a strange festival to reduce Hunger or taking shelter with that witch for a while to reduce Exposure. When any of The Young Person’s Needs (Hunger, Exposure, or Exhaustion) reaches 5, they collapse, lost to the indifferent world. The game ends with tragedy, as they are discovered dying by their (probably also soon to perish) loved one.
4. Loved One’s Condition: Failures during encounters add to the loved one’s Sickness, Starvation, or Deprivation. They cannot be alleviated under they are reached by the Young Person. However much Medicine, Food, and Clothing they have reduces Sickness, Starvation, and Deprivation that much. If the game ends with any higher than 1, or 1 in all, their future is ambiguous. 1 or 0 in all, except for all 1s, they go on to be well. When any of these reach 3, the loved one succumbs before The Young Person can reach them. The story ends in sorrow.
5. Winning the Game: If The Young Person successfully passes at least five quests and delivers at least 1 Medicine, Food, or Clothes, they reach their loved one in time, saving them (at least for now) from death. Note the loved one’s condition to judge their epilogue. And the journey’s toll remains, leaving scars and questions about what was lost to succeed.

Example Encounter

The World That Is: “You step briefly inside a well-maintained old cottage and suddenly an old woman blocks your way. Her house is warm, filled with food, and she offers you shelter. But she insists you stay and never leave. Her smile is kind, but her grip on your arm is iron the moment you step anywhere near the doors or windows.”

The Young Person: “At first I may have no choice, so I will rest a while and eat a bit to put her at ease.”

The World That Is: “The old woman seems happy that you accept so easily. She presents course after course of food, then covers you with a blanket as you rest afterward in a deep comfortable chair, reducing both your Hunger and Exhaustion by 1.”

The Young Person: “When she settles down herself, that is my chance. I will try to distract her by singing a lullaby to make her sleepy.”

Successful Quest

The young person rolls a 4, a partial success with a cost. The old woman’s eyes droop, but she shakes her head and her gaze remains fixed on them. They also take 1 Exhaustion as they sing a lullaby but resist the urge to sleep. Continuing to sing, they make a second roll. The old woman finally nods off, lulled to sleep by the soft melody. The Young Person gathers food and escapes, having some time while the woman sleeps so both reducing their Hunger by 1 and earning 1 Food for their loved one.

Failed Quest

The young person rolls a 2, a failure. The song is off-tune as the old woman eyes them suspiciously and remains perfectly alert as she sips her tea. The awkward tension is draining and adds +1 to Exhaustion.

The Young Person: “I see this isn’t working. I’m going to try making increasingly bothersome requests to see if I can get her away long enough to slip out.”

The young person groans as they roll a 3, another failure. They ask for different blankets, pillows, obscure snacks, and the whole lot of it but she never has to leave the room to accommodate the young person. The whole process is so tiring and adds another +1 to Exhaustion. Their Exhaustion is creeping very high and they decide to not risk any further action.

The Young Person: “If I can, I’m going to accept that there is no escape for now and rest to recover a bit before the other shoe drops.”

The World That Is: “You may remove one of those Exhaustions you gained. As you fitfully nap, you are rudely awakened being pushed out of the chair. The old woman is screaming at you about some request you made while half-asleep. As far as you can tell it was for some kind of cookie or snack, but she is taking it as a deadly insult. You are thrown out of the house in the middle of a storm, gaining 1 Exposure. Reflecting the plenty that you’re leaving behind, your loved one’s Starvation goes up by 1.”

Themes of Reflection

After each quest, The Young Person pauses for a moment of introspection. The player must describe what keeps them going despite the rising toll and stress, while The World That Is narrates how the environment reacts: indifferent stars, whispering winds, or the cold indifference of a collapsing society.

Conclusion

Hard Road Ahead is not about triumph or comfort but persistence against the odds. It captures the heartache, fleeting beauty, and relentless hardships that echo the darker undertones of Studio Ghibli’s masterpieces, while also mixing in non-traditional conflicts and whimsical encounters to reflect the other side of the inspiration. Will you make it in time, or will the world’s callousness win?

Have you hacked this into a more complete game? Are you incorporating some of these ideas into your own game? Or have you even tried giving this raw/mini version a try? Please, shout at me on Bluesky about it.