The Ascetic - a playbook for Wanderhome

You strive to live in agreement with nature, simply, free from all possessions and flouting conventional values. The pursuit of clarity and flourishing drives you.

You are alive. Your care is deliberate, passionate, and sometimes a bit bitey.

The Ascetic is a playbook for Wanderhome that focuses on living simply and assessing what is really of value in life and for happiness.   You wander, listening and learning from the natural world what is of real value and how to live in agreement with nature, sharing your beliefs and way of life with others. What might home and belonging look like for you? What in your past shaped you and why you choose to live this way? 

Note:

A note on the cover image. The reasoning behind the cover image for this playbook is that the term cynic derives from the ancient Greek word for dog or dog-like, an insult thrown at Cynics and one they sought to turn to their own advantage. 

There are four reasons why the Cynics are so named. First because of the indifference of their way of life, for they make a cult of indifference and, like dogs, eat and make love in public, go barefoot, and sleep in tubs and at crossroads. The second reason is that the dog is a shameless animal, and they make a cult of shamelessness, not as being beneath modesty, but as superior to it. The third reason is that the dog is a good guard, and they guard the tenets of their philosophy. The fourth reason is that the dog is a discriminating animal which can distinguish between its friends and enemies. So do they recognize as friends those who are suited to philosophy, and receive them kindly, while those unfitted they drive away, like dogs, by barking at them.  -Source

Credits

This playbook is based on the Greek philosophy of Cynicism and the practice of Asceticism. 

This playbook would not exist without Wanderhome by Jay Dragon. Wanderhome is a dice-less pastoral fantasy RPG about travelling animal-folk, the world they inhabit, and the way the seasons change. 

Wanderhome is copyright of Possum Creek Games Inc.

The Ascetic is an independent production by Affinity Games and is not affiliated with Possum Creek Games Inc. It is published under the Wanderhome Third Party License.

Cover image is from the 14th century illuminated book about Marco Polo's Adventures in the Far East - The Book of Wonders, known today also as Manuscript Francais 2810.  The image is of "Dog-Headed men from the Andaman Islands." "The condition of cynocephaly, having the head of a dog or of a jackal, is a widely attested mythical phenomenon existing in many different forms and contexts."