About this site

This site is my playthrough of Carved by the Garden by Cassi Mothwin.

The text in the journal is exactly as I wrote it while playing the game, with only light editing for spelling and grammar. The story is completely improvised, and I had no idea where it was going when I started it. The date added to the Ex Libris was added after the playthrough was complete, but I now consider it important context.

Carved by the Garden is a folk horror game with dark themes and disturbing content. I don't shy away from these in my playthrough. Consider reviewing the content warnings in the journal.

About the game

Carved by the Garden is a folk horror solo journaling rpg. The basic of the mechanics of the game involve rolling a d6 for each day you return to the woods, and drawing the associated number of playing cards. Each card directs the player to a prompt, describing something that has occured and asking them a question. I have not included the prompts in their entirety, as I believe this would be sharing too much of the game. Consider supporting Cassi and buying the game to see the full prompts.
The other main mechanic is a tumbling block tower (like a jenga tower) - I chose to use the variant rules that utilize a tally system instead, as tumbling block towers cause be the bad kind of stress. Once I hit 20 tallies, the game ends. Tallies are marked on each page as they increase.
I made one major deviation from the rules: on the last day, I chose to rearrange the order I reacted to the cards, because I found this ending more satisfying. Other than that, I tried to follow the rules faithfully.

My other solo game playthroughs

My playthrough of 1000 Year Old Vampire

My other sites

All My Friends Are Stories, where I manage my TTRPG-related shows, blog, and AP preservation project.
Patreon Shop, where I sell all the games and TTRPG zines I've (co)created.

Credits

All written contents copyright Anne Monteverdi @gnome_anne @annethegnome.
Carved by the Garden by Cassi Mothwin.
Images are from various public domain and creative common sources.