A new zine-sized tabletop roleplaying game, Vestiges, offers a haunting and inventive exploration of memory loss, treating the theme not just as a story hook but as the game’s very core.
Published by Troctopus Press, it’s a compelling new entry in a fascinating subgenre of TTRPGs that mechanically engage with how we remember, forget, and rebuild a sense of self.
Designed by Geramee Hensley and Emiland Kray, Vestiges is a collaborative storytelling game where four to six players work together to reconstruct a single, forgotten memory. Its most clever design choice is that players do not embody separate characters, but instead represent different “Aspects of the Mind” of a single protagonist – the Mother, the Scientist, the Poet. This immediately sets it apart from games like the sci-fi RPG Nibiru or the one-shot Ocean, where a group of individuals must piece together their own separate, forgotten pasts. In Vestiges, the conflict is entirely internal, a psychological puzzle played out within one person’s subconscious.
The gameplay revolves around a central “Memory Map.” Over five rounds, players interpret symbolic nightmares and collectively place “Figments,” or memory fragments, onto the map. The goal is to assemble a hidden, pivotal memory correctly. This makes the act of remembering a collaborative puzzle with a correct solution, a notable contrast to the more freeform discovery in a game like A Penny for My Thoughts. While both games see a group collectively building a past, Vestiges frames the challenge as one of faithful reconstruction rather than pure creation.
Furthermore, the game uses memory as a finite and precious resource, a design philosophy it shares with the celebrated solo game Thousand Year Old Vampire. In that game, the immortal player must choose which memories to discard over the centuries to make room for new ones. Vestiges mirrors this by giving each “Aspect” a limited pool of Figments it can contribute, creating tension as players debate which fragments are essential. The protagonist’s mind simply cannot hold everything at once, and the group must decide what is worth remembering.
The very reason for the amnesia in Vestiges is traumatic and involuntary, a stark contrast to the self-inflicted memory wipes in Lost Days of Memories and Madness, where immortal elves erase their pasts to escape eternal boredom. This highlights the emotional core of Vestiges; it is not a game about the convenience of forgetting, but the desperate, vital need to remember.
Emiland Kray’s wonderfully atmospheric, high-contrast art reinforces this unsettling theme, with illustrations that feel pulled directly from a fever dream.
In the end, Vestiges stands out as a powerful and focused addition to this genre. By turning the players into competing facets of a single mind and framing memory as a cooperative puzzle, it offers a unique and deeply psychological experience. It’s a sharp reminder that some of the most compelling adventures are not those through dungeons, but through the labyrinthine corridors of the mind.
Quick Links
- Download Vestiges: DriveThruRPG.
- Buy print: Troctopus Press.
