The Athenaeum

The Athenaeum is a mysterious place. It holds all knowledge within its doors, yet it is fickle and always changing. 

In The Athenaeum, you play as the Lorekeeper, master of the Athenaeum. It is your calling to help the desperate souls (read: patrons) in need of the knowledge you possess. More often than not, however, these souls are not looking for the knowledge they need to know. And if the Athenaeum does not kick the poor soul out, then, well, you are more than happy to help. 

The Athenaeum is a short, solo journaling game played in 30-minute sessions or less. It is designed to have as much room for creative freedom as possible. There are some writing prompts included in the game, but I encourage you to play around with the settings and types of characters you may come across. 

Each session has you describing what the patron is looking for, what they actually need, and how the conflicting information gets resolved. You can also describe the patron and the setting if you wish. A complete example of one session is included in the last page of the document.

To play the Athenaeum, you will need:

•  a journal or place to write
• a deck of playing cards with two jokers left in
• one 6-sided dice
• one 10-sided dice
• one 4-sided dice (optional)

*Note: This game can be played entirely online.