Junk Mail Archaeology
You live in a distant future, and you come across a scrap of paper from the 21st century.
Maybe you're an alien archeologist trying to learn about the long lost human race. Or perhaps you're a human scrapper, scrounging for supplies at an old dump. You could be a sustainable farmer, uncovering old trash in an abandoned field. Or maybe you're a librarian charged with archiving relics from the past.
Whoever you are, the bits of paper you find intrigue you. What do they mean? What do they tell you about people in the past? You save them in a notebook, writing down your thoughts.
Junk Mail Archeology is a solo journaling game about creating and interpreting the past (our present), created by eladnarra and silasoftrees for the Scissors and Glue TTRPG Jam - Issue 2. Find some junk mail that you were going to throw away, tear it up, roll some dice if you wish, and imagine what on earth these partial images and broken words could mean.
Supplies
- Some junk mail
- A journal and writing implement
- A six-sided die (optional)
Files and Accessibility
You can download (for free, or for a donation):
- A digital PDF for reading on a computer or phone (landscape mode is best).
- A one-page PDF for printing the zine at home. Folding instructions below.
- An accessible, text-only HTML file. Please let us know if you have any issues, or if something would work better for you!
How to Print and Fold the Zine
Print the one-page PDF on letter paper at full size/100%. (If you don't have letter paper, printing "fit to page" on A4 paper should work, but you'll have to trim off a bit from one or both of the short edges.)
To fold, you can follow any of the many "one-page" zine tutorials online, or check out the steps below.
Folding Steps
You'll need something to cut the paper — a craft knife with a ruler and cutting mat works best, but scissors will also work. You may also want to use something to help you crease the paper, like a bone folder or the flat edge of a plastic knife.
- Fold the paper in half widthways with the zine content facing out. (It should look like a book or hamburger.)
- Unfold the paper and lay it flat on your surface with the zine content facing up. Make sure the front and back covers are on the bottom left.
- Fold the right side inward so that its edge meets the middle fold.
- Unfold the paper.
- Fold in half lengthways with the zine content facing out. (It should look long and skinny, like a hotdog.)
- Lay the folded zine flat on your surface. Make sure that the font and back covers are facing down, and that the text isn’t upside down.
- Fold the right side inward so that its edge meets the middle fold.
- Unfold the paper completely and lay it flat on your surface with the zine content facing up. The folds should divide it into 8 evenly-sized pages.
- Cut a slit along the longest fold. It should span the width of two pages; the two halves of the zine should remain attached at either end by one page.
- If you're using scissors, it may be easier to first fold the paper in half widthways (book fold). Then make a cut in the middle perpendicular to the fold you just made; it should span the width of a single page.
- Unfold the paper if needed, then fold it in half lengthways with the zine content facing out (to make it long and skinny).
- Hold both short ends and push them together; the cut pages should start to form a diamond. Keep pushing until the diamond closes up and the pages look like a plus sign from above.
- Find the front and back cover, and fold along the edge where they meet (the spine of the zine). You now have a mini booklet!
- Flatten the zine by pressing on the folds.
Download
Click download now to get access to the following files:
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