Hello! This beautiful game is already one of my favorite hobbies to do after my kiddos go to sleep. It's so wonderful, magical, soulful, and fun! Well done with it!
Question - I've played through Arrival and I'm moving onto Spring and I'm confused on building this next volume deck. The card I didn't draw from Arrival gets discarded, but do I shuffle the other ones (not including Confidants) back into their respective decks, or discard those too?
At the end of any volume, the only cards that go back are confidants that you’ve met already (those that are in your ‘circle’). Moments (minor arcana) from your volume deck are discarded, whether you drew them or not. Any confidants (major arcana) you didn’t draw and have never met are also discarded. Hope that helps!
Hello Jack! I just claimed a community copy and I'm SO exited to play it! But I have a question: When playing in digital, how to use online tarot websites since there's no way to make a custom Volume deck in digital?
I used to love journaling when I was younger but that kinda died. I used to love making stories but those worlds disappeared for me.
But I have always loved magic since I was a little kid. That never went away.
I recently learned about the magical world of solo rpgs (always wanted to play, never managed to find a group) and the amazing experiences only this format could offer.
Deep down though, I thouhght it wasn't for me, that I was too old and my imagination too dry but I was wrong.
The prompts are really good, they really make things flow I can barely believe all I managed to write so far. Is it well written? No. Worth sharing? Never. But it makes me proud.
So I really wanted to thank the author for the chance, I got a community copy and it has brought me nothing but joy.
Hey there. Backed your game and i love it so far. I did have a question about stacking dice. When you take a risky action, how do you figure out how many dice you are suppose to stack to succeed?
Hello Jack! I have a bit of a silly question. I'm struggling to understand the Arrival volume mechanics on page 60-61. When creating the volume deck, it says not to add any confidants, but in the coda, it says to choose one of your confidants. Is this just picking any one of them that is available? Thank you for creating this amazing game! I'm so inspired
Hello! You won’t have met any confidants at the start of Arrival, so there are none to add. However, because you placed a confidant on the top of each suit deck during setup, you’re guaranteed to draw 3-4 confidant cards as you draw cards in the volume. Hence, by the end of the volume, you will have met some!
A question about the circle and confidants: If I added 3 confidants to my volume deck, but only end up drawing 2 of them during the volume do I return that unplayed confidant back to the circle? Or are they discarded for the remainder of the game? Thank you!
Hello! Good question, here’s a passage from page 49 😊
If you have cards left in your volume deck at the end of a volume, return any confidant cards that you’ve previously met to your circle. Discard any other remaining cards, including confidant cards you haven’t met.
I'm back with the link to the first part of my playthrough! I went as far as drawing out a little image of my witchy gal, Hazel, for the thumbnail. I hope I did well enough showing off the 'tutorial' section of the game, and I really hope this convinces more folk to try it out!
It would be lovely if this page could list what kind of dice and how many dice comprise "a stack of dice"? I'm planning to purchase the game this weekend, but want to have all my materials ready before I begin play.
Got the chance to play through Volume 1 while on stream for Extra Life, and I had fun! Lot of reflections and interesting world-building happened, and since it was streamed, I decided to make my Volume 1 journal public. We'll be adding the play-through videos on youtube later, if anyone wants to have a glimpse as to how the first part of the game goes! As I'll be streaming Volume 2 tomorrow, I'll be back to post here how it goes as well.
Hello! That’s rad, I’m so happy to see the game used for a good cause. Sorry I missed your stream announcement, I’m on my own with the kids this weekend so it’s been a bit full-on 😅 looking forward to watching the video!
Hi i'm playing with a comunity copy, i love this game but i can't really buy it. Is possibile to get access to the Rules forse asynchronous play? Or maybe the new soundtrack?
I finished chapter 1 yesterday and had a fantastic time.
Just like MadMerryM below though I can't figure out how and when to add skills. The Rest at the end of the first chapter mentions writing a lesson under the relevant skill, but there was no instructions on adding skills to begin with. Is there a list of skills to choose from? How many should I add per quadrant?
Skills are explained on page 15. Excerpted from the book:
Skills are broad categories covering physical, mental and emotional abilities. You’ll use them when your witch does something risky and you need to stack dice.
(the four skills are Power, Craft, Care and Lore)
We talk about lessons on page 19. Excerpted from the book:
As your witch grows over the year, they will improve their skills. We track this progress by writing lessons.
These are short summaries of an experience, typically a single sentence. For example:
I helped Farmer Benetto cure his orchard of blight.
I broke the curse on Gonville’s pigskin hat.
I stood up to Andrea’s bullies in the palace gardens.
When you write a new lesson, write it underneath the most relevant skill—usually the one your witch was using during the experience.
When you stack dice (pages 50-51), you’ll check how many lessons you have under the skill you’re using to determine how many dice you need to stack.
Ohhh now reading this again I see I’ve misunderstood. I thought power, craft, care etc are categories. And that at some point I’ll be adding skills to those categories like potion making let’s say under craft.
Now I see that power, craft, care etc ARE the skills and the lessons are what goes in the empty space in the quadrants
Thanks. I read those sections a few times but for some reason I got confused.
I find myself thinking about and looking forward to visiting Koriko daily - I’m only drawing a card a day and writing a quick two page journal entry due to work demands, but it’s refreshing me so much to be writing and imagining again! I do wonder if I’m understanding the instructions right, I can’t quite figure out how and when to add skills (just with risks, only successes, or also hangouts?) and am new to rpg so am not sure if there’s examples or lists out there of skills to choose from that will make sense later. But I’m having fun making it up, whether I’m doing it right or not! Thanks Jack! I’ve recommended this to so many friends already!
Your skills are always the same—Power, Craft, Care and Lore (see page 15). Underneath those skills you add lessons (see page 19)—short summaries of an experience, typically a single sentence. For example:
I helped Farmer Benetto cure his orchard of blight.
I broke the curse on Gonville’s pigskin hat.
I stood up to Andrea’s bullies in the palace gardens.
You write a new lesson whenever instructed—most often at the end of a volume or after a successful dice stacking, but also in a number of other ways. You’ll always see it written as ‘Write a new lesson’. Hope that helps!
Ah, yes - very much, thank you! I did not read that quite right, and then was looking much later in the book for his info. I just went to a writing retreat and everyone was so curious, was really fun to share. My witch just figured out how to rig a clever cooling device - if only I could have one for this heat ;)
Jack Harrison is one of those game designers of whom I'm rather jealous; because he's successful, of course, but also because his games are little jewels of game design, always brimming over with one shiny idea after another. In Koriko, everything is magically intertwined: the game's theme, a sort of variation on Kiki's Delivery Service, but also its mechanics, which combine tarot cards, dice stacking, a bingo system and so much more... Koriko takes up the principle now very common in solo games of prompts around which to embroider (with highly oriented questions) but with the elegance of prompts that can be used in many different situations and be interpreted in a variety of ways depending on the circumstances. For me, elegance really sums up Harrison's games, and Koriko is a perfect illustration of this, the kind that pushes me to do even better in my future creations!
I have now finished up my first Volume after struggling to find a physical tarrot deck and I just can not get over how amazing this game is! It manages to perfectly capture the feelings of that hopeful but unsure twilight that is being a teenager out on your own for the first time, while providing plenty of fuel for the imagination to craft a world that really feels alive and vibrant. Jack’s usual structure of mindful play that involves intentional rest and introspection just makes the places and people of this game come to life. I want to recommend this game to everyone I’ve ever met who likes RPGs. Brilliant Work!
Thanks so much! I had some clear goals in mind for this game and it’s really gratifying to hear people getting the kind of experiences I was hoping to create :)
This is the best solo TTRPG I’ve ever played. It’s the only solo game I’ve played that really felt like a full TTRPG campaign. A lot of times, solo games with cards are fun but feel disjointed, like they don’t really add up to anything. In Koriko, the mechanism for hangouts and crossroads events means you get to form attachments and run through full narratives over the course of the game.
It’s a sweet game with a big heart. From the mid-century modern vibes to the general theme of a young ‘city witch’ arriving in their new home, it obviously takes more than a little inspo from Kiki's Delivery Service. I'm a fan of Kiki; I have a friend who's never seen it, so I'm curious to see whether she'll still enjoy the game. But if you are a fan, I can't imagine how you wouldn't love this game.
Although I tried to play a character as different from Kiki as I could imagine, she still managed to have a heartfelt adventure full of painful but generally wholesome growth. (She’s not happy about that, but I am.)
I noticed there are enough cards in the tarot deck to play through a few more volumes, so I’m considering seeing if I can figure out how to give my witch a “year two.”
Wow, thank you so much! What a lovely comment. The extra cards are there primarily to make replaying the game with a new character feel fresh and surprising, but you could definitely hack something together and keep writing! Good luck :)
What impact would there be for starting the four seasons somewhere other than Spring? Obviously, I'd continue by circling back in order, but would it affect the game play much?
Hey! The volumes give shape to the story, so early on you’re asked questions about settling into the city while later you’re reflecting on your year.
You’d be better off playing through the volumes in their written order, but changing/ignoring/swapping the small number of seasonal details (usually about things like the weather) as you go.
Hi! I just got a Community copy of Koriko, but wanted to make at least a contribution but if I put any amount other than $18 it wouldn't let me checkout. Is there a Paypal account where I can "buy you a coffee"?
Oh man, this is not generally the kind of thing I seek out, but boy am I glad I found it. It's such a pleasant experience and it's great discovering more about the witch I've created as I've gone through my journey with them. I can definitely see myself coming back to this every couple of years to revisit the journey.
Hey! I’m so glad you took a chance on something a little different :) It’s definitely designed to be replayed, so I hope you will return once or twice :)
Hi Jack, I write The Soloist - a newsletter focused on solo and co-op RPGs. Congrats on the release of Koriko, it looks lovely! I am including it in the new releases section of the July 3 issue, and was hoping to use your cover art (with attribution) to illustrate the article. And if there is a press kit, let me know. Thanks, and congrats again!
Super duper excited to jump into this! The art is already blowing me away, and it's easy to see the improvements in formatting/flow from the playtest version. The confidants, especially, are so cool???
Quick question, any word on the 'Magical Sandwich' stretch goal content? I don't see it on the 'things to come' list above but if it's in the main game text, I totally missed it!
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Hello! This beautiful game is already one of my favorite hobbies to do after my kiddos go to sleep. It's so wonderful, magical, soulful, and fun! Well done with it!
Question - I've played through Arrival and I'm moving onto Spring and I'm confused on building this next volume deck. The card I didn't draw from Arrival gets discarded, but do I shuffle the other ones (not including Confidants) back into their respective decks, or discard those too?
Thanks so much for the game!
So glad you’re having a good time with it :)
At the end of any volume, the only cards that go back are confidants that you’ve met already (those that are in your ‘circle’). Moments (minor arcana) from your volume deck are discarded, whether you drew them or not. Any confidants (major arcana) you didn’t draw and have never met are also discarded. Hope that helps!
It does, thanks so much for the quick reply!
Hello Jack! I just claimed a community copy and I'm SO exited to play it! But I have a question: When playing in digital, how to use online tarot websites since there's no way to make a custom Volume deck in digital?
It is possible, but I’m soon going to release a custom version on a website called Screentop which will make digital play a lot easier!
Thank you for your hard work for this game. For now I'll play with tarot cards I made from a regular A4 paper :)
I used to love journaling when I was younger but that kinda died. I used to love making stories but those worlds disappeared for me.
But I have always loved magic since I was a little kid. That never went away.
I recently learned about the magical world of solo rpgs (always wanted to play, never managed to find a group) and the amazing experiences only this format could offer.
Deep down though, I thouhght it wasn't for me, that I was too old and my imagination too dry but I was wrong.
The prompts are really good, they really make things flow I can barely believe all I managed to write so far. Is it well written? No. Worth sharing? Never. But it makes me proud.
So I really wanted to thank the author for the chance, I got a community copy and it has brought me nothing but joy.
This really made my day to read, thank you so much for sharing <3
Hey there. Backed your game and i love it so far. I did have a question about stacking dice. When you take a risky action, how do you figure out how many dice you are suppose to stack to succeed?
It depends how many lessons you’ve got in the skill you chose to use :)
From page 51, Dice Stacking:
Hello Jack! I have a bit of a silly question. I'm struggling to understand the Arrival volume mechanics on page 60-61. When creating the volume deck, it says not to add any confidants, but in the coda, it says to choose one of your confidants. Is this just picking any one of them that is available? Thank you for creating this amazing game! I'm so inspired
Hello! You won’t have met any confidants at the start of Arrival, so there are none to add. However, because you placed a confidant on the top of each suit deck during setup, you’re guaranteed to draw 3-4 confidant cards as you draw cards in the volume. Hence, by the end of the volume, you will have met some!
A question about the circle and confidants:
If I added 3 confidants to my volume deck, but only end up drawing 2 of them during the volume do I return that unplayed confidant back to the circle? Or are they discarded for the remainder of the game? Thank you!
Hello! Good question, here’s a passage from page 49 😊
If you have cards left in your volume deck at the end of a volume, return any confidant cards that you’ve previously met to your circle. Discard any other remaining cards, including confidant cards you haven’t met.
Hope that helps! J
It would be lovely if this page could list what kind of dice and how many dice comprise "a stack of dice"? I'm planning to purchase the game this weekend, but want to have all my materials ready before I begin play.
That’s fair! I’ll update the page with the required materials :)
You’ll need at least 21 regular dice to fully experience the game, depending on how well you can stack them 😉
Got the chance to play through Volume 1 while on stream for Extra Life, and I had fun! Lot of reflections and interesting world-building happened, and since it was streamed, I decided to make my Volume 1 journal public. We'll be adding the play-through videos on youtube later, if anyone wants to have a glimpse as to how the first part of the game goes! As I'll be streaming Volume 2 tomorrow, I'll be back to post here how it goes as well.
Hello! That’s rad, I’m so happy to see the game used for a good cause. Sorry I missed your stream announcement, I’m on my own with the kids this weekend so it’s been a bit full-on 😅 looking forward to watching the video!
Not a problem! The recording is still on twitch, and we'll likely try editing out the bigger patches of silences and upload to youtube later.
Hi i'm playing with a comunity copy, i love this game but i can't really buy it. Is possibile to get access to the Rules forse asynchronous play? Or maybe the new soundtrack?
Hey! Neither of those things are available yet, when they are they’ll be available for everyone—regardless of how the game was obtained :)
I really appreciate your afford, thanks from the botton of my heart
I finished chapter 1 yesterday and had a fantastic time.
Just like MadMerryM below though I can't figure out how and when to add skills. The Rest at the end of the first chapter mentions writing a lesson under the relevant skill, but there was no instructions on adding skills to begin with. Is there a list of skills to choose from? How many should I add per quadrant?
I'm very confused..
Hey! Glad you’re having fun so far :)
Skills are explained on page 15. Excerpted from the book:
Skills are broad categories covering physical, mental and emotional abilities. You’ll use them when your witch does something risky and you need to stack dice.
(the four skills are Power, Craft, Care and Lore)
We talk about lessons on page 19. Excerpted from the book:
As your witch grows over the year, they will improve their skills. We track this progress by writing lessons.
These are short summaries of an experience, typically a single sentence. For example:
When you write a new lesson, write it underneath the most relevant skill—usually the one your witch was using during the experience.
When you stack dice (pages 50-51), you’ll check how many lessons you have under the skill you’re using to determine how many dice you need to stack.
Hope that helps! J
Ohhh now reading this again I see I’ve misunderstood. I thought power, craft, care etc are categories. And that at some point I’ll be adding skills to those categories like potion making let’s say under craft.
Now I see that power, craft, care etc ARE the skills and the lessons are what goes in the empty space in the quadrants
Thanks. I read those sections a few times but for some reason I got confused.
Un juego en solitario que se adecua muy bien a su temática, con un sistema muy interesante de creador de situaciones y bastante rejugabilidad. Para más información, la reseña https://rolerodelamancha.wordpress.com/2023/07/03/resena-rolera-seven-murders-ti...
¡Gracias por la amable reseña!
I find myself thinking about and looking forward to visiting Koriko daily - I’m only drawing a card a day and writing a quick two page journal entry due to work demands, but it’s refreshing me so much to be writing and imagining again! I do wonder if I’m understanding the instructions right, I can’t quite figure out how and when to add skills (just with risks, only successes, or also hangouts?) and am new to rpg so am not sure if there’s examples or lists out there of skills to choose from that will make sense later. But I’m having fun making it up, whether I’m doing it right or not! Thanks Jack! I’ve recommended this to so many friends already!
Hey! Glad you’re having a good time :)
Your skills are always the same—Power, Craft, Care and Lore (see page 15). Underneath those skills you add lessons (see page 19)—short summaries of an experience, typically a single sentence. For example:
You write a new lesson whenever instructed—most often at the end of a volume or after a successful dice stacking, but also in a number of other ways. You’ll always see it written as ‘Write a new lesson’. Hope that helps!
Ah, yes - very much, thank you! I did not read that quite right, and then was looking much later in the book for his info. I just went to a writing retreat and everyone was so curious, was really fun to share. My witch just figured out how to rig a clever cooling device - if only I could have one for this heat ;)
Ooh yeah we could all do with a magic AC unit! Glad you’re having fun with the game 😊
Beautiful design & illustration for this magical solo journaling game. I only have one thing to add : i want to play it <3
Thanks! I hope you get a chance to play it soon :)
Jack Harrison is one of those game designers of whom I'm rather jealous; because he's successful, of course, but also because his games are little jewels of game design, always brimming over with one shiny idea after another. In Koriko, everything is magically intertwined: the game's theme, a sort of variation on Kiki's Delivery Service, but also its mechanics, which combine tarot cards, dice stacking, a bingo system and so much more... Koriko takes up the principle now very common in solo games of prompts around which to embroider (with highly oriented questions) but with the elegance of prompts that can be used in many different situations and be interpreted in a variety of ways depending on the circumstances. For me, elegance really sums up Harrison's games, and Koriko is a perfect illustration of this, the kind that pushes me to do even better in my future creations!
Thanks so much Côme, I really appreciate your kind words :)
I have now finished up my first Volume after struggling to find a physical tarrot deck and I just can not get over how amazing this game is! It manages to perfectly capture the feelings of that hopeful but unsure twilight that is being a teenager out on your own for the first time, while providing plenty of fuel for the imagination to craft a world that really feels alive and vibrant. Jack’s usual structure of mindful play that involves intentional rest and introspection just makes the places and people of this game come to life. I want to recommend this game to everyone I’ve ever met who likes RPGs. Brilliant Work!
Thanks so much! I had some clear goals in mind for this game and it’s really gratifying to hear people getting the kind of experiences I was hoping to create :)
This is the best solo TTRPG I’ve ever played. It’s the only solo game I’ve played that really felt like a full TTRPG campaign. A lot of times, solo games with cards are fun but feel disjointed, like they don’t really add up to anything. In Koriko, the mechanism for hangouts and crossroads events means you get to form attachments and run through full narratives over the course of the game.
It’s a sweet game with a big heart. From the mid-century modern vibes to the general theme of a young ‘city witch’ arriving in their new home, it obviously takes more than a little inspo from Kiki's Delivery Service. I'm a fan of Kiki; I have a friend who's never seen it, so I'm curious to see whether she'll still enjoy the game. But if you are a fan, I can't imagine how you wouldn't love this game.
Although I tried to play a character as different from Kiki as I could imagine, she still managed to have a heartfelt adventure full of painful but generally wholesome growth. (She’s not happy about that, but I am.)
I noticed there are enough cards in the tarot deck to play through a few more volumes, so I’m considering seeing if I can figure out how to give my witch a “year two.”
Wow, thank you so much! What a lovely comment. The extra cards are there primarily to make replaying the game with a new character feel fresh and surprising, but you could definitely hack something together and keep writing! Good luck :)
Absolutely adore this game!
Absolutely adore this comment! :)
What impact would there be for starting the four seasons somewhere other than Spring? Obviously, I'd continue by circling back in order, but would it affect the game play much?
Hey! The volumes give shape to the story, so early on you’re asked questions about settling into the city while later you’re reflecting on your year.
You’d be better off playing through the volumes in their written order, but changing/ignoring/swapping the small number of seasonal details (usually about things like the weather) as you go.
Thank you for the quick reply!
I've been enjoying my game so far. 😃 It's a very slow process for me, but I think I've grasped the mechanics after a few missteps. 😅
Hi! I just got a Community copy of Koriko, but wanted to make at least a contribution but if I put any amount other than $18 it wouldn't let me checkout. Is there a Paypal account where I can "buy you a coffee"?
Hey! Don’t sweat it, keep the money or give it to another worthier cause if you like!
That's so nice of you! Have an awesome day, btw Koriko is amazing so far <3
Oh man, this is not generally the kind of thing I seek out, but boy am I glad I found it. It's such a pleasant experience and it's great discovering more about the witch I've created as I've gone through my journey with them. I can definitely see myself coming back to this every couple of years to revisit the journey.
Hey! I’m so glad you took a chance on something a little different :) It’s definitely designed to be replayed, so I hope you will return once or twice :)
Hi Jack, I write The Soloist - a newsletter focused on solo and co-op RPGs. Congrats on the release of Koriko, it looks lovely! I am including it in the new releases section of the July 3 issue, and was hoping to use your cover art (with attribution) to illustrate the article. And if there is a press kit, let me know. Thanks, and congrats again!
So happy to see this get released! Can't wait to get it!
Super duper excited to jump into this! The art is already blowing me away, and it's easy to see the improvements in formatting/flow from the playtest version. The confidants, especially, are so cool???
Quick question, any word on the 'Magical Sandwich' stretch goal content? I don't see it on the 'things to come' list above but if it's in the main game text, I totally missed it!
Oh yeah that should be on the list!
(Also thanks!)
Thank you so much! I appreciate your generosity
What a lovely game.
What a lovely comment! ☺️
I love the cozy mundane but heartfelt feeling of the game, Jack. Koriko is an amazing game.
I can see Koriko has Violet Evergarden and Witch Hat Atelier atmospheres too.
I am excited to see the ansynchronous play rules.