The Family Tree

Festivity. Fantasy. Fable.

It can be hard to see the decorations come down after Christmas, but just imagine how sad it must be for the ornaments. No, really, imagine it. That’s kind of the point.

What is The Family Tree?

The Family Tree is a rules-lite fantasy RPG based around the ide of Christmas tree ornaments telling the story of their tree to the newest, shiniest ornament. All this takes place as the ornaments are being taken down, leaving the ornaments open to dangers such as children running in the house, the family dog snapping up anything that looks like his ball, and the cat swiping shiny things under the sofa.

This game is perfect for:

• One-Shots: Run a narrative session in just a few hours.
• Minimalist Design: The entire game fits on one page, cutting down on rulebook searching.
• No Character Creation: You’re Christmas tree decorations, how much character creation could there be?
• Simple d6 Mechanic: Roll to determine the type of Action you need to perform (Knowledge, Dodge or Narrative), then roll again to see how you fare.
• Rules-Lite and Plot-Lite: Simple zine design (A4 and Letter formats), with a bare-bones plot that you fill out yourself with Narrative Actions.

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas tree, Of all the trees most lovely

Part of my 2025 Advent Calendar!