A Review of the Role Playing Game Supplement The Sealed Library

The Sealed Library by Matt Sanders is a role playing game supplement published by Sealed Library. This is a complete solo journaling game based on The Wretched using the Wretched & Alone SRD.

The supplement is available from itch as a 20-page PDF for $8 although it was purchased at a reduced price as part of a special bundle. Two pages are the front and rear covers, five pages are the front matter and two pages are filler.

Who and What? explains that you are the sole surviving librarian of the greatest library in history. Outside are invaders looking to destroy it. You are attempting to save as much as you can.

How? explains that playing it requires a falling block tower, a standard deck of cards with jokers removed, a six-sided die and ten tokens. The tower can be replaced if need be. Finally, some sort of journal will be needed to record your thoughts. This could be anything, but a leather journal or scroll that has been embellished are recommended. There are two ways out; both are unlikely.

Begin: has you set up the tower, with some pieces removed based on rolling the die. This is the current state of your barricades. The cards are shuffled, the first diary entry is made and the game begun.

The Day explains that each turn is divided into two activities; drawing a number of cards based on a die roll then writing the diary.

The Reading Room explains what the suits represent. Hearts are opportunities to save works of literature. Diamonds are unexpected discoveries. Clubs are damages and breaches. Spades are resources.

The results for each suit then follow. Some results require a block to be removed from the tower, others do not. One card, the ace of hearts, is used with the tokens to achieve victory. In each case you record what you feel or answer questions based on the result.

Debrief is after the game. It says that success is unlikely at best, and you think over what happened.

Other Wretched & Alone Games and Making Your Own explains that there are other games and an SRD.

The Sealed Library in Review

The PDF lacks bookmarks and, although it isn’t long, they would have been appreciated. Navigation is poor. The text maintains a single column format and appeared to be free of errors. There are several public domain images. Presentation is okay.

Games using the Wretched & Alone SRD are extremely difficult to win and victory is highly unlikely The feel of the games can be different, though, and this one is not as depressing a game as The Wretched itself is. This is still not a game that everyone will enjoy, though. If you lack the ability to come up with journal entries with a minimal prompt or prefer a rather higher chance of success, then this game is not for you, especially as it is not cheap. The Sealed Library can be found on itch.