One Page Haven Puts The Creepy In Cabot Cove

Who doesn’t dream of moving to a quiet town by the coast?

Well, after playing One Page Haven, you may reconsider that dream, as this solo horror TTRPG has a deliciously creepy vibe due to its unique mechanics that combine writing, doodling, and space management

In One Page Haven, you play as someone who has just moved to a seemingly quiet town. Alas, you soon find that life in this town would be as idyllic as you first thought as a strange apparition is following you around, doing its best to ruin your new life.

A Coastal Town Where The Shadows Speak Your Name

Based on M. Kirin’s equally excellent One Page Left, One Page Haven has two main gameplay phases. The first phase is the preparation stage, where you’ll use the included table to make your resident and the apparition lurking in the shadows. You then play out a short segment where your resident meets their new neighbors, and you get to draw the creature trying to make you regret your move.

After this, the main phase begins. Players roll on a prompt table and then follow the instructions in the prompt. These prompts may ask you to do any number of things, from writing descriptions to drawing pictures. Some even ask you to make other rolls to alter the nature of the prompt.

During this second phase, the game’s clever core mechanic comes into play. Unlike similar solo horror TTRPG games, One Page Haven restricts players to a single page of A4. If you accidentally draw or write over something you’ve written previously, you lose a point of Luck. If you run out of Luck or page space, the game ends, and you consult a unique prompt to find your character’s fate.

Single Page And Great Prompts Elevate Solo Horror TTRPG Formula

This single-page mechanic gives the game a great flow and a tense atmosphere. As the game goes on, you’ll become more and more frantic as you try to find places to write your new prompt. Because of this, your page will quickly resemble a stereotypical horror game collectible covered in scrawled writing and strange drawings, further adding to the atmosphere.

This mechanic is enhanced dramatically by One Page Haven’s fantastic prompts. Each one is wonderfully crafted, evoking a creepy and unsettling atmosphere without ever feeling like they’re railroading you down a specific path, as during a single game, you can encounter everything from sleep paralysis to suspicious plays that seem to reveal your darkest secrets. Plus, the prompt’s intriguing setups, unique mechanics, and probing questions effectively trick you into writing or drawing more than you originally planned to, leading to plenty of tense moments where you realize mid-way through a task that you’re rapidly running out of space, forcing you to get creative.

In a fantastic (and welcome) touch, the game comes with a few different prompt tables for the second half of the game, meaning it has a lot of replay value as you’ll be playing for a while before you encounter duplicate prompts. On top of this, creator Brite Palette has also made a Spotify playlist containing over 8 hours of thematically appropriate music, allowing players to create a game-enhancing atmosphere effortlessly.

Due to all this, it’s hard to shake the feeling that One Page Haven would be a great “show and tell” style group activity, with several players coming together to show off their sheets and share their character’s stories once they finish their solo playthroughs.

One Page Haven shows how good prompt writing can elevate solo games by creating an evocative and immersive atmosphere. This, combined with the physicality of the singe-page mechanic, leads to a game that effortlessly captures the feeling of being trapped in a surrealist Twin Peaks-Esq horror film, where nothing is quite what it seems, and the world could turn upside down in an instant. Because of this, it is a game that both horror and solo game fans should check out, as it is an effortless masterclass.