Oldest Child Print+Play

OLDEST CHILD

with SOLO and GROUP modes. This download contains all the cards from the core game.

"Oldest Child functions like cel animation: it takes the players' real life and superimposes a vampire you have to care for onto it. A strange and satisfying game about who you are, and who, if the supernatural comes for you, you might secretly be. As the oldest child in my family, I heartily recommend this game." -- Brian Evenson

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Oldest Child is a cooperative storytelling card game about a vampire. There are no winners or losers. In this game, you will be playing as yourself. Although you might change throughout the game, you are always you. If you need to change certain aspects of your own life to make the narrative work better, you are free to do so. The important part is that you be yourself and make choices that only you would make.

In Oldest Child, you and a group of friends take care of a vampire for three years (the game taking only 4-6 hours). Her kind is suffering from a mysterious illness that cakes their noses with a white fungus, suffocating them, sometimes leading to death. It is named The Sufoca (Romanian for Suffocate). Lyda, the vampire you are taking care of, is sick with the illness and in a state of relative weakness.

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You can play solo or with three to eight players, but keep in mind, the more players you have, the more competitive the experience can be if players want to become vampires. Couples can team up if they live in the same dwelling as they will make decisions as a household. Couples can share exposure symbols so they both could turn into a vampire at the same time.

Group Mode

In the group mode of the game, you and your friends will take turns pulling story, item/effect, and history cards as you learn Lyda's past and resolve current-day events. Tensions will quickly run high as you decide who hosts Lyda in their home, what neighbors need to be fed upon, and how to make your undead guest happy. You will have to preform real life acts like, if your group decides an IRL neighbor will be fed to Lyda, take a glass from your kitchen and place it in front of the neighbor's front door as a symbol.

Solo Mode

In the solo version of the game, you will choose two people in your real life that you will base new characters on. For example, I might choose my best friend who lives in the same town and also someone I am dating or interested in. You will play the game as it is normally played, but you will make all the decisions. Journalling is very important if you are playing solo. Track as much as you can, draw scenes if you want to, just make the experience as real as you can. There are additional simple rules for solo mode in the instruction book.