NO RETURN

 This is a game about everything taken by time.

We will not be going back to these things. We cannot. Every moment is a point of no return.

We can only think of them, a secondhand internal recreation of an unreliable firsthand account.

FIRST: Think of a time, a person, or a place you have lost. 

What about it can you never return to? Why?

Example of Play: "A Christmas day at my grandmother's house. Over two decades ago. Yeast dough rising on the counter. My mom and aunts chattering from the kitchen. My dad and uncle are in the living room, idly watching TV (and us, the kids). I'm sitting on a cloth recliner near my brother and cousins. We are absorbed in our video games. I can hear the music from Dragon Quest Monsters.

"I cannot return because my grandmother is dead, but yeast dough still reminds me of her. The house is no longer ours, lost to my family as part of the cruel economics of end-of-life care. I'll be leaving the state (and much of my family) soon."

SECOND: Think of what you still carry with you from that which is lost. 

How did you keep it safe, against all odds? Why?

Example of Play: "My grandmother's recipes, two binders full, kept by her on a shelf in the kitchen for decades, removed from the house by my mother (after my grandmother's decline), and brought to me a hundred miles away. I'm scanning them into the computer, hundreds of handwritten index cards splattered with old broth and bacon grease. I'm going to take these thing and make them digital, keep them safe online and off. Keep them here with me and my mother and her sisters, in a place off to the side of time, as long as we can. Every now and then, we'll eat the same food as we did and try (futilely) to return."

THIRD: Think of what you have now that will be lost (all things in time, of course—even yourself—but choose one). 

When will you lose it? Why?

Example of Play: "My lifelong home. The only land I've ever known. Born, raised, and lived all these years within a single state, within 25 miles even. Sometimes, I love it here. Every good person, place, and time in my life was or is here. More often, I hate it here. The background radiation of hatred (and a sad familiarity) is getting stronger. I am leaving, as soon as I am able, for another land, a new home. I need to breathe new air."

FOURTH: Think again of what you currently have, where you currently  are, the people that currently surround you. If you have something you don't want to lose, you win (for now).