Requirements

• A deck of standard French-suited / Bridge playing cards ➚.

• The rules and content of the game, all of which are found here under the Unhola –menu.

• A journal to write your character's experiences in, but also to make notes, track character information, items, and other relevant game details.

What is known about Unhola

Although it has been a while since the first doorways to Unhola began to open, information about it has remained scarce. By its nature – that those who enter are forgotten by all and will never return – opportunities for research have been few and far between, and finding willing volunteers has become increasingly challenging. Despite this, there are always those with their own personal reasons for becoming Forgotten, who are never accounted for, and cannot be counted as lost.

Something wicked this way comes

When the first doorways opened, many suspected a new form of mass hysteria, a wide outbreak of false dementia. Highly localised cases, people were reporting photos and writings of individuals in their homes, whom they had no recollection of. The photos and diary entries told of lifelong relationships, but nobody could remember these people ever existing in their lives. Initially, these cases seemed to be limited to a few isolated towns, but as the information spread along with similar cases afflicting more and more communities, the phenomenon could no longer be ignored.

Then the first doorway was identified. A historical bridge, one visited by hundreds of locals each year, could no longer be passed through from below. Many entered, but none came out through the other side. Photos taken at the site revealed that several forgotten persons – individuals previously unknown to anyone, but whose existence was later verified – had been seen in the background of these photos, walking under the bridge. From all this, one conclusion was clear: that one day, the nature of the bridge suddenly changed so that anyone who walked under it, vanished without trace even from the memories of others. The coverage of this incident became near instantly frenzied, and the previously afflicted communities were quick to distrust any of their own bridgeways, blocking them off as a safety measure. Yet the number of people forgotten kept increasing.

The miserable failure of science

With the only known "gate" isolated, research could begin in earnest. Makeshift drones and rovers were sent in, but they each ceased to function immediately following their entry to the other side – after passing a certain invisible border, remote controls no longer worked on them. Even the radars could not identify anything past the border. Trained dogs were sent in next, but they could no longer discern where the entrance had once been, even though in their fear, they were eager, even desperate, to return.

Time passed, and the forgetting spread. It soon became evident that it was not just bridgeways, but any kind of gateway, door, or arch one could pass through, that could suddenly lead to the place of becoming forgotten (fin. Unhola). And no two gateways led to the same place. Some appeared to be natural extensions of what one might expect on the other side, while others led to more unsettling locations — such as landscapes of raw, bloodied flesh, or places of total darkness, where monoliths of concrete would at times emerge from its depths. Despite the dramatic increase in entryways to study, research effectively halted, as none of the pre–existing technological methods could pass through the frontiers of Unhola.

But living things could. And at an extreme cost, people took the risk with their own lives to venture into the unknown.

Choosing to become Forgotten

The Forgotten, as they came to be called, began to spearhead the exploration of Unhola. They bid their final, heroic farewells to a captivated audience of their peers, and those with fame to thousands – all forgotten the instant they disappeared into the depths of Unhola, their scientific importance, and the value of their sacrifice, vanishing with them. Most were never heard of again, many an aspiring explorer lost before they could report back even the first thing. All a foolish errand.

But those who were heard of again were much better prepared, and a new hope was borne from the knowledge that while no living beings could return from Unhola, inanimate objects could travel freely back and forth. Equipped with this new information, dedicated groups of Forgotten–to–be learned how to operate mechanical cameras, to illustrate their surroundings and write about it descriptively, to collect and dry samples – and most importantly, to select their point of entry with care.

Finally, information about what lurked on the other side could be brought to the public – to a mixed reception. The conservative, cautious opinion became the mainstream one: this place was a death sentence. Photographs of innumerable mutilated bodies, of monsters beyond imagination, of diseases unlike anything seen before, all within the doorways considered safe... it was no exaggeration that to most, Unhola was hell come manifest.

These were the stories that had the furthest reach, but they were not all there was to the Forgottens' reports. In equal quantity, they brought back illustrations of wonderful sceneries, photographs of extinct animals, diary entries written as through they were in love with it all, encouraging others to leave their mundane lives behind, to join them in this utopia beyond the damaging reach of mankind.

Character creation

Before you begin play, you must create your character. Dedicate at least one page to this process and leave room for notes, for you will be referring back to your character's page frequently over the course of the game.

From this point on, you and your character are treated as one and the same, and will be referred to as "you". This is your journey, and yours alone.

Basics

There are certain basics that ought to be settled on first, most of all your name, personality, past, and motivation(s) for entering Unhola.

physique

Determines your overall physical capability. This attribute represents one's ability to perform tasks that require strength, athletics, or other forms of physical exertion. It also determines one's physical well-being – a score of 0 means death.

instinct

Determines the sharpness of your instincts. This attribute governs your awareness as dictated by your senses and animal instincts, as well as by the more esoteric “gut feeling”.

knowledge

Determines how much you know and how much you can deduce. This attribute allows you to understand the familiar and come to at least somewhat sound conclusions about the unknown.

insight

Determines your ability to grasp the world around you through moon logic and to see and hear things which most cannot. This form of reasoning does not follow logic, but seems to align itself with the ebbs and flows of Unhola.

Equipment

It would be foolish of you to enter Unhola empty–handed. To this end, you have gathered a few things to help you out on your venture into the unknown. Take a look at the Table of Cards ➚ –page, and select one Item from each suit to give yourself 4 pieces of starting equipment.

Attributes

Attributes represent your capabilities, both physical and mental, and you have 10 points to divide between them – 3 is the human average. There are ways to temporarily increase one's Attributes over the course of the game, but for the most part, you will be working with what you got.

These Attributes determine what options and actions are available to you, for example, certain items may have a minimum requirement of Physique to use them, or you may be able to gain additional information with a sufficiently high Knowledge – but you may also be "locked out" of this information if your Knowledge is too low.

name

Names in the world of Unhola tend to follow specific combinations of consonants (C) and vowels (V). For example, Kauto, Tuule and Hyytä share the structure of CVVCV. Alternative common structures are CVCV (Lume, Save, Kuto) and CVCCV (Rasse, Mertä, Penno).

Beyond these names, some choose to leave their old identity behind, forget it as others have, and create a new identity for themselves.

personality

How did those around you describe you, before they forgot you? How do you handle disappointment, loneliness and despair? What makes you resilient?

past

We're all formed by our experiences, defined by them whether we want it or not. Likewise, we are formed in reflection to the people around us – who we wish to be like, and who we do not want to have anything in common with. But if you wish, you can try and forget your past.

motivation

What are you hoping to achieve? To enter Unhola is hardly any different from dying, what could lie on the other side to make this choice worth it for you? Your motivation should inform the nature of the notes you will be writing, while venturing through Unhola.

Preparing the cards

Ensure that your deck has all 52 cards, and shuffle them. Place them face–down in a single pile – this is your Draw pile. Leave some room for a Discard pile as well, onto which you should lay your cards face-up and sideways.

All the cards in Unhola correspond to one Item, Entity and Flora respectively, and these correspondences are listed on the Table of Cards ➚ –page that you looked at earlier.

Your hand

From the Draw pile, draw 5 cards. This is your starting hand, and the maximum number of cards you may hold in your hand at a time, with some exceptions. Always keep your hand close to you, for these are the options you will be working with during your journey.

What next?

Up next, you should move onto the How to play ➚ –page, to learn the rules of the game.