In This Echoing World Print-And-Play

3-5 players | 2-4 hours | single session | GM-less | print-and-play 

In This Echoing World is a storytelling and roleplaying game about an unconventional fantasy world and the various and vibrant characters within it. With these print-and-play cards and your imaginations, each player will spin a separate story of a hero (or villain) living in a fantasy world akin to those seen in Laputa: Castle in the Sky, His Dark Materials, and The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.

Players take turns directing and roleplaying in scenes that focus on their major character. Other players may voice the events, environment, and minor characters in the world around them. Additionally, each major character has a Destiny, a predetermined fate and ending to their story, which will come to pass during the game.

The mechanics of this game are mostly taken from Archipelago 3e by Matthijs Holter, with additional inspiration from Desperation by Jason Morningstar, The Fall of Magic by Ross Cowman, and Going For Broke by Avery Alder. Intended to be played over a single 2-4 hour session, and with 160 cards, In This Echoing World is rife with endless settings, stories, and possibilities.

UPDATE 6/19/2025: I've added a downloadable file (the .pcio one) that you SHOULD be able to upload to PlayingCards.io. This should allow you to play the game virtually with others over the Internet. It has the fancy versions of the cards I whipped up too!