way I played it: punchy and effective communication of an idea; the things you learn away from home change you, but home doesn't change; or, rather, home changes on different timescales; "change" means something else on the road; travelers and homebodies may experience the same upheavals, but they are experienced differently. like an inverse the world's end, you can't go home again, not because home is different, but because it's where you're from and not where you're going. all communicated with simple conversation-tree-slash-deckbuilding gameplay, where everybody speaks with certain types of cards, and to speak with them you need compatible cards, and the only way to collect one town's cards is by discarding those that work in other towns. and, on the road, the town you least need to stay conversant in is home.

makes this point in a tight 4 hours, bing bang boomgoink.

now, others have definitely played it otherly. it lends itself to being replayed. there were towns I never visited, subplots I blew by attempting them before I had the requisite parlance, mysteries only partially uncovered. and, on replays, I'm sure you can strategize, learn to balance your deck, know which cards to always keep hold of so you can talk to people back home, which runs along the route should focus on which towns so you can prep, specialize, and then discard in time to get back. this is a loop-game, where an individual game involves multiple "runs" (here: months where you travel with a caravan along a trade route), but also one that invites you to play again and again, that has more than can be experienced in a single round, even a perfectly-played one.

I don't think I'll be doing that. I got it the first time! and I've done a few of these already - most obviously roadwarden, but there's also 80 days, dreams in the witch house after a fashion (hell, I even made one) - and this one intrigued me with its message but less so with its world. I do not need to travel these roads again. the characters, setting, milieu, they all worked (for me) as supplements to a theme. and that theme was communicated, rather effectively, in a single run. I imagine more would be teased out by repeats, but I find none of the characters/settings/milieus compelling enough to take another look.

and that's fine! it's a good game, brent. if it clicks with you, you might wanna go round again. roadwarden, I wanted another go. dreams in the witch house, I gave it two. (technically three if you count the one where I went mad and died.) 80 days? several! signs of the sojourner... I got it in one.