Unstuck Core Rules Layout
Unstuck Core Rules Layout
So you’ve become
U n stu c
in time
What is Happening
Timelines for human beings typically have a start point--their
birth--and a definite end point at death. They cannot experience
time outside of those two points in history, and all of the moments
between progress linearly from one to the next, for the average
person. Fig 1 and 2: Standard Timeline and Unstuck Timeline
4 5
The Institute of Content Warnings and
Chronological Research Safety Tools
and Treatment This experience can be very disorienting, and it can make
memories hard to retain. Your experience, like anyone’s life, may
The Institute was founded by Ambrose Welles II, a philanthropist
also touch on topics such as death, disease, family dynamics, or
and early documented time-jumper from Baltimore, who was one
other things that could be distressing or triggering. If these are
of the first people to record and write about the phenomenon of
concepts you are not in the mood to play with, consider beginning
Consciousness-Based Time Travel. They founded the institute in
your record at a later date.
their childhood to serve as a fixed point for those who become
Unstuck, also called “time-jumpers” or “travelers”. As you are the only person who ever needs to see this journal, you
have some control over your experience, and you can record only
The Institute does not have all of the answers. We do not know
aftermath of touchy topics, or avoid them altogether. However,
why this happens, nor do we know how to stop it. Based on our
the prompts in your journal, or your lived experience may get
best research so far, we know how best to manage the experience,
away from your intent. Check in with yourself every few
and have recorded that information in this pamphlet.
memories. If you need to go back and edit or rewrite part of a
page to steer yourself away from a particular thread, feel free to
do so. This is a record of a life, and it does not need to feel
Rule Zero of Traveling: composed only of tragedy.
Make this Experience
Yours Breaking the fourth wall for a second: This is a game. If
you are not having fun because of some aspects of the
Everyone experiences time-jumping differently, and time-jumping
narrative, take a break or change your story. This does not
can affect people from all backgrounds. The prompts included in
break the rules, because this is part of Rule Zero.
the journal are intended to elicit unique memories, although they
may not line up with who you are. If a journal prompt doesn’t line Make this experience yours: do things that are interesting,
up with your personality, change part or all of it. compelling, and cool, but also fun and comfortable.
For example, some travelers are asexual or aromantic, and they
rarely if ever found themselves on a date--So, instead they wrote
about having a meal with a friend. For travelers whose biological No Fascists On This
families were not around, they instead wrote about their found
Journey
family of friends and loved ones.
Curiously, the Time-Jumping phenomenon does not affect people
with fascist ideologies. If you subscribe to those ideas and are
looking for ideas here, put this pamphlet down, as it does not
concern you. You are going to have to seek answers to your
problems elsewhere. If you believe that the Institute is only
labeling people they disagree with as “fascists ,” then you are
6 equally unlikely to find any answers here. 7
Taking Stock of
Things You Will
Yourself
Need Before you start, take stock of who you are. Write your name at
Before you jaunt away to another moment in time, you may find it the top of your journal. If you have just arrived in this moment,
useful to create a kit that you make a habit of keeping with you in and have kind of forgotten your name, that’s OK, you can return
one of your pockets--the same pocket, throughout time, to form to this step later. Take a look around your room, and note the
good habits. This kit should include this pamphlet, or an earlier general time period you are in--or a rough start point based on
version of it, as well as the following items: your earliest and latest memories so far. Make a note of this in
your journal.
• Pen and paper (or a chronologically appropriate digital
equivalent) You have a unique perspective on personal history, but you may
still know roughly where you want to go despite being Unstuck in
• A set of hobby dice
Time. Generally, travelers tend to visit certain defining moments
• Scrap paper or index cards (Optional) in their lives multiple times. We call these Core Memory Events.
Consider what some of these Core Memory Events might be, and
choose one from each of the the following stages of your life:
Some time-jumpers find it helpful to make their own journal. If
you would like to do this, then you will need the following:
• Printer paper sufficient to print the Printout Journal, and/or 1 Youth What was your childhood like?
the Jump Tracker.
2 Coming of Age What key moments from your teenage
• Needle and thread years shaped your future?
8 9
Making the Journal Basic Memory-Keeping
(Paper Journal) (Paper Journal)
Many time-jumpers find it helpful to record their experiences in a 8. Flip to a random page or prompt.
journal of some kind. A physical journal is a little easier to keep
9. Record the number time jumps your character has made in the
with you, but this is not always an option for everyone as paper
circle. If this is your first jump, record a 1. After the next jump,
has been a rare commodity at certain points in human history.
record a 2, and so on. (If there is no more room in the circle,
Note: If you are keeping a digital journal, skip this section. find space in the margin to record the jump number).
Included with this pamphlet is a print-out journal template for 10. If you haven’t visited this memory before, determine the
creating your own paper journal: month:
1. Print out the pages of the book. In the Print dialog, select ▪ On the Left page, roll 1d6 for the months of the first half of
Double Sided and Bind or Flip Along the Short Edge. the year.
2. Sort the pages by Age. There should be 20 sheets with Youth ▪ On the Right page, roll 1d6+6 for the second half of the
and Winter Years memories on both sides, 20 with Coming of year.
Age and Middle Age, and 10 with Prime.
11. Fill in the Visit box at the bottom of the page.
3. Gather the Age sheets that indicate a Core Memory in the
▪ If both have been filled, your memory has become
prompt line. On the pages that indicate Core memories, write
corrupted. Roll 2d6 and redact that number of words.
a Core Memory. Fold the corners of these pages down.
12. Write or add to the moment on this page. You may flip to the
4. Shuffle the core memories into each pile of Age sheets, then
nearest Core Memory if you are not sure roughly where you
shuffle the Age sheets, taking care to keep the Ages
are in time.
themselves separate.
13. Follow the directions in the ‘When finished here’ text. If a roll
5. Fold the piles of pages in half.
goes past the end of the book, flip to the first page and
6. Pierce the pages along the dotted lines with the needle. continue counting.
▪ Thread the needle, and tie a knot in the end. Sew these 14. Repeat until you have filled every page, you have found all
pages of the book together. As you do, think about what the Fleeting memories, or until you feel your character has
event (if any) caused you to become Unstuck in Time. been through enough.
▪ Number the pages sequentially. As you do this, re-read
your core memories when you reach them, and begin to
form a rough idea of your character’s history.
7. Record your name, goals, and home on the cover, and mark
the pages for the five Core Memories on the inside cover of the
journal.
10 11
Basic Memory-Keeping 19. After writing all of the relevant information in your first entry,
read the ‘When Finished Here’ directions, and roll
(Digital Journal) accordingly.
If you are going to keep this record in a digital format, choose
20. Repeat the above steps, checking the Visit boxes before writing
something you will be able to access throughout your history. Use
a prompt.
the included Prompt Sheet to track your time jumps, which will be
recorded from your time-perspective. 21. If you wish to make a new memory into a Core Memory, copy
and paste it at the top of your journal. When you have more
15. Record your name, home, and goals, and the five Core
than 10 Core Memories, delete down to 10 total (or move the
Memories at the top of the journal.
extras to the bottom and strike-through).
Note: You may find it helpful to copy the Core Memories to a
separate document. 22. If you have visited the memory before, locate that entry and
bring it down. You can Change the font color, or italicize the
16. Roll a d100 and find the relevant entry in the Prompt Tables or
entry to denote that you have encountered it before.
Prompt Sheet spreadsheet. You will roll a d100 whenever
instructed to ‘Flip to a random page.’
17. Write your first journal entry in your Journal Document. Begin
by writing the Number of Jumps So Far, 1, and the month and
year:
▪ After an Odd numbered jump, roll 1d6 for the months of
the first half of the year.
▪ After an Even numbered jump, roll 1d6+6 for the second
half of the year.
18. Mark the first empty Visit box on the Prompt sheet or a Jump
Tracker.
▪ If both have been filled, your memory has become
corrupted. Roll 2d6 and redact or strike-through that
number of words.
12 13
Core Memory Events
Recording
You may be ping-ponging through time, but there are certain
Memories anchor points in your history that you will not let go of. You can
refer to these “tent-pole” memories at any point to give yourself a
When you turn to a new page with no memory attached to it yet,
sense of where you are within your personal history.
read the Prompt in your journal. Write some notes on what
happened after you arrived at that particular moment. If you are In addition to the core memory events that you recorded at the
stuck, write down the first mood that the Prompt evokes for you, beginning, you may declare a memory “Core” by folding the
or consult the Mood Oracle. corner of that page down. If you have more than 10 core memories
marked, you must sacrifice one by unfolding that page. You begin
For example, some travelers find themselves ‘looking at a curio
with one per age, a total of five. After you mark five additional
cabinet’, and describe the various trinkets they have collected,
memories, you must un-mark some (You may remember these
while others found it was something that they did to calm down
afterward, but you can’t go looking for them).
after an argument. After ‘going on a date’, some described an
evening filled with long, comfortable silences with a long-term Bear in mind that these memories are not immune to the effects of
partner, while others recorded the awkward nervousness of a first retreading your memory too often. If you land on these memories
date, and still others found themselves at the beginning of the end and both “Visit” boxes are full, you will need to redact them. If a
of a relationship. Core Memory becomes fully redacted, you can unfold it to free up
a new one.
This is your adventure, you don’t know where you’ll end up, but
stay true to the person you are. You will change over time, but the
Fleeting Memories
people you meet will not have seen what prompted these changes,
because they are moving through your timeline chronologically. We are all chasing something, even if it’s something in our past.
You know that for each age, you had a moment that set up or paid
Some travelers find it helpful to keep notes on the people that they
off the (initial) Core Memory. You are, to an extent, looking for
have met throughout their travels, because they forget exactly
those Fleeting Memories. You know that they exist, and that they
what their friends and family know.
were really lovely--you may not remember when they happened,
or what happened yet, though.
The Next Jump Fleeting Memories can never be corrupted. If you reach a Fleeting
Memory and would otherwise have to redact part of it, ignore the
When you are done with a memory (or at least this part of it), the
Corruption while you are here. When you find one, write the page
time-jumping phenomenon flings you to another point in your
number of the corresponding Core Memory Event at the bottom.
history, with no memory of what happened between. For scary
Also write the page number of this memory at the bottom of that
memories, this is probably great; for good ones, it’s not fun.
Core Memory.
Unfortunately, you can’t control it.
Before you leave the page, read the directions at the bottom of the
page. Some include prompts for things to figure out when you
arrive. You don’t have to use them (Rule Zero), but they are there
to give you narrative through lines for the story.
14 15
Revisiting Memories The Corruption
Your jumps through time are random, meaning that you are Some time-jumpers describe The Corruption as a vague sense of
probably going to revisit the same point in your personal history disorientation, like a photograph losing details over time. Others
multiple times. When this happens, re-read your previous believe it to be a conscious entity of some kind that is trying to
memory, then add some more details: what happened next? What stop people with these memory jaunts. A more fringe explanation
else was happening at the same time? Were there new details in is that it’s a plant or virus from outside of time that spreads as a
the scene around you that you perhaps missed the first time side-effect of time travel.
around?
Whatever the cause, you will likely encounter this Corruption
To help you keep track, mark one of the Visit boxes on the bottom during your life. This will look like a memory that has been lost,
of the page. However, when both become filled after your third and all you will see is whatever form The Corruption takes. If you
visit, your memory will begin to become Corrupted. The leading experience this, record any notes about your current
theory is that this happens because your steps retrace themselves understanding of the Corruption. Any information at all about the
too often. As the details become hazy, roll 2d6, and redact that Corruption could be useful to the Institute’s research.
number of words from this memory.
What we know of the Corruption is that it clings. It sticks to a
Be ruthless, redact the good parts. This will make it more person, usually into the next memory. Unfortunately, even those
interesting when you forget them next time around. that are being visited for the first time, lose something after the
first visit. Fortunately, the Corruption gets lost after that jump.
Repeat this whenever you return here.
2 Happy 12 Calm
Finishing your Journal
3 Angry 13 Nervous
You may finish this journal at any time. When you are satisfied
4 Excited 14 Resigned with your experience, or have found all of your Fleeting
Memories, or it becomes corrupted beyond the point of
5 Lonely 15 Contented functionality. Consider what you have seen, and write your final
Epilogue entry on a blank page. If you would like to further the
6 Loved 16 Regretful
Institute’s work on the time-jumping phenomenon, please leave
7 Scared 17 Beloved your notes on the Institute’s page for those Unstuck in Time, at
theinstagrahame.itch.io/unstuck-in-time
8 Ambivalent 18 Sorrowful
9 Comfortable 19 Determined
10 Stressed 20 Remorseful
18 19
Jump Tables: What was your childhood like?
Youth Your Youth is a collection of your earliest, formative memories.
This is a period largely shaped by those who raised you. It’s fine if
When Prompted to ‘Flip to a Random Page’, roll 1d100.
you didn’t know what you wanted to be when you grew up.
You have run into a Roll 1d12. Think about You have entered an Flip to a Random Page.
66 childhood friend whether you saw them again. 76 empty room
CORE MEMORY Flip to a Random Page.
You have run into a Flip to a Random Page.
77
67 friend from a previous
job
Fleeting Memory Go to the next filled memory.
You have run into a Flip to a Random Page.
78 Erase one visit box. Rewrite a
68 new friend
redacted word.
You are--The Go to the next filled memory.
You are arguing with a Roll 1d4. Find out how the
Corruption is here. Fill in all Visit boxes, and redact
69 child argument is resolved. 79
four words.
You are at a going- Flip to a Random Page. You are--The Go to the next filled memory.
70 away party 80 Corruption is here. Fill in all Visit boxes, and redact
26 three words. 27
Jump Tables: Who surrounded you as you slowed down?
Winter Years Your Winter Years are the nearest to your end. You are less quick
than you used to be, but you have a wealth of experience to draw
When Prompted to ‘Flip to a Random Page’, roll 1d100.
on, and share with those around you. Especially those younger.