Introduction

You just moved to the province to live a simple life. You promised yourself you’ll get things done in 10 days. Plant crops,
make friends, mine the mountains, populate your pond, and donate to the museum to achieve your goals.
A Simple Life is a 1 to 2-player roll & write game inspired by relaxing pixel art farming video games. Your objective is to
complete your goal(s) at the end of the game and get a high score.

Game Summary
Specifications Required Components
The game is played in 10 rounds. For
each round, you will roll 5 dice. Use 🕹️ 👤 👥 : or
📄
🕒
Player count 1 Game Sheet (A4 preferably)
these dice on Locations to perform the
location’s action. When you run out of
dice, the round ends and a new round is
⚙️
:
Playing time
15-20~ min
🎲 👥
5 six-sided dice
(6 if playing )

✏️
started. If you have completed your :
🎨
Clint Ghosn
goal(s) at the end of the game, you win
Game Design

: Clint Ghosn & various

and you may record your score. Marker (Pen/Pencil)
Graphic Design free assets (see credits)
& Art

Key Terms
When you see these icons and terms, you may refer to this section for their definition.

: Draw a check on the checkbox ( ) or space specified or Artifact: The 4 icons in the Museum. Gained in
by the game. Mines and Lake. (pg.5, pg.6, pg.8)
: Draw a circle around the space or icon specified by or Fish: The 8 icons in the Pond. Gained in Lake.
the game. (pg.5, pg.8)
: Draw a cross or X on the space or icon specified by Tool: Changes your actions in a Location related to it
the game. when upgraded in Blacksmith. (pg.7, pg.8)
Gain (something): its icon in your Inventory. Location: The 6 spaces on the sheet such as the
Lose (something): its icon with a in your Inventory. Museum, Mines, Lake, Pond and Blacksmith
:: Means “Lose this” (to) “Gain this”. example: : mentioned above. (See Locations section for more)
(lose a to gain a ) Resources: /Carrot, /Flower, /Stone, /Coin.
or Die/Dice: A die with six sides. Each side (die face) (pg.5, pg.6, pg.7)
should have a value of 1 to 6.
- Point. Each is worth 1 point at the end of the
game. (pg.4, pg.9)

1
 Anatomy of the Game
🅐 Goal List - A list of possible goals in the game.
Goals give you direction on which areas of
the game to prioritize. Each goal in the list will
have a die value, a circle outline, and a short
description of the goal. More on this in the
Goals section.
🅑 Calendar - Used to track the rounds during
the course of the game. Each square on the
calendar represents the days or the rounds
of the game. These spaces will be crossed
out at the start of each day to mark the
current round.
🅒 Locations - There are 6 locations in the game
(Town, Farm, Mines, Lake, Pond, and
Museum) and 2 of these are mainly trackers
while the 4 provide actions that can be
performed in the game. This is where most of
the focus of the game is. More on this in the
Locations section.
🅓 Inventory - This section is where you keep
track of your resources and other icons you
gain in the game. This section is divided into
three sub-sections; Resources, Trackers, and
Scoring.
🅔 Scoring - At the end of the game, this is
where you will count and write the points
you have gained from different sources
during the course of the game.
🅕 Available Dice & Used Dice area - The space
to the left of your sheet is used to store the
dice available to be used in the round while
the space to the right of your sheet is used to
store the dice you’ve already used in the
round.
2
 How to Play
Preparation
Before you begin a game of A Simple Life, make sure you do the following:
1. Print the game sheet on a piece of paper (A4 recommended size)
2. Get 5 dice and place them in the Used Dice area.
3. Determine your goal for the game.
4. You start with 1 Carrot, 1 Flower, and 1 Coin. These icons are already
marked on your sheet. No actions are needed.
To determine your Goal, follow these steps:
1. Roll one die.
2. Compare the rolled die’s value to the Goal list. A value of 1 means your
goal is the first goal in the list, "Harvest all carrots and flowers," and so
on.
3. Once you have determined your goal, that goal’s outline. Consult
the Goals section for each goal’s full description.
You may add more than one goal to make the game more challenging. To do so, repeat the
process from Step 1 as many times as your preferred difficulty.
Once you have everything prepared, you may begin the game. The game is played in 10 rounds; each
round is called a Day. A Day is divided into 3 phases; Start of Day, Day, and End of Day.
Start of Day
At the start of each Day, that day’s space on the Calendar; 1st round is Day 1, 2nd
round is Day 2, and so on.
Then perform the following in order:
1. Pick up all the dice in the Used Dice area and;
2. Roll and Place them in the Available Dice area.
Day
In the Day phase, you will perform actions that will move you closer to your goal. To
perform an action you must use your available dice to activate a Location and perform its associated
action. Each Location has its own cost of dice to be activated.

To activate a Location:
1. Choose a Location you want to activate and determine how many dice
you need to use by looking at its cost.
2. Pick dice from your Available Dice equal to the cost shown.
3. Place your chosen dice in the Used Dice area, unless stated otherwise by
the Location (See Town in Locations).
4. Immediately perform the Location’s associated action(s).
See Locations for a complete explanation of each Location’s actions, cost, and special rules.

Completing a Goal:
Whenever you fulfill your goal’s requirement, you immediately complete that
goal and the of that goal in the Goal List. The game does not end
when you complete all of your goals, continue playing until the end of Day 10.
You can still score more points.
Important Notes
● You have to finish your action(s) in one Location before using another Location
● You do not have to use all of the dice in the Available Dice area.
● You may use a Location more than once in a Day.
● The dice you use are placed in the Used Dice area after use.

End of Day
When you have no more dice in the Available Dice area, or when you decide to pass, the Day is over. If
you pass and there are dice in your Available Dice, they are placed in the Used Dice.

If it is the 10th day, the game ends, see Winning and Scoring. Otherwise, start a new day.

3
 Rerolling

Rerolling: ANYTIME during the game, you may Lose 1 to reroll

ANY NUMBER of rolled dice once. This includes dice in the
Available Dice area. To reroll, pick up any number of dice available
to you and roll them again. You must accept the new result or
spend another to perform another reroll.

Winning and Scoring

Game End: The game ends at the end of the 10th day.
Winning: If you have completed ALL of your selected goals, you win!
Scoring: If you won, Congratulations! You may now count your score.

Score for each icon in your Score from Museum and Pond.
Inventory that has a and without . Score based on the number
Icon Points Museum of with in the Museum; Gain
3/8/15/25 if you collected a total of
5 1/2/3/4

5 Pond Score equal to the sum of from

all with a in the Pond.
3

2 Gain or Lose from each .

1 Icon Points

with and
2
no

with -2

Record your score and try to beat it the next time you play.

You may choose to play with the same goals to see how well you will perform
compared to your previous games that have the same goal or play sandbox to
see how many goals you can complete in 10 days. See Game Modes and
Plugins for different ways of playing the game, and the Score Chart to see how
well you did.

Thank you for Playing! (Read on for more rules)

4
 Locations

FARM
This Location is the main source of and
resources.
Cost: 1 | Related Tool: (Watering Can)
Action: Perform the following in order;
1. Choose a column with a die value equal
to the value of the die you used.
a. For example: you may choose the first
column if the dice value is 1.
2. Add a to that column's bottom-most empty checkbox ( ).

Harvest: When you the with a or a , you will immediately Gain it.

Special Rule: 6
When choosing a column, you may choose any column if you use a die with a
value of 6 on the Farm.

LAKE
This is where you can catch a Fish. Fishes are tracked in the Pond and are
worth points at the end of the game.
Cost: 1 | Related Tool: (Fishing Rod)
Action: The value of the you used determines which column you can
pick a Target. (1 or 2: 1st column, 3 or 4: 2nd column, 5 or 6: 3rd column)
After determining the column, perform the following in order;
1. Choose any cell in that column without or . Then, place the
you used on that cell to mark that this is your Target.
2. Pick up and reroll the you used to activate this Location. If you
roll greater than or equal to the value in the first column of the
target’s row, it’s a catch! Otherwise, it’s a fail.
Catch: the Target and Gain the icons in it.
Fail: If the Target already has a , it. Otherwise, the Target.
(This means you have a maximum of 2 attempts per target, so use wisely to reroll)
Example:

5
MINES
The Mines is a dangerous place but also the most fruitful Location.
You can get carrots, stones, flowers, artifacts, diamonds, and coins
while exploring it. However, monsters also lurk in the area.
Cost: 2 | Related Tools: (Pickaxe), (Sword)
Action: Perform the following in order;

⬇️ ➡️
1. Reroll the 2 you used to activate this Location.
2. Choose one die as column and the other die as row .
Place these dice on their respective die spaces in the Mines
table (the dice icon showing 1 to 6).
3. Find the cell where the row and column meet. If the cell
already has a , do nothing. Otherwise, the cell. Gain all
icons in the cell, except for (see Fighting Monsters).

Special Rule: Fighting Monsters ( )

When you are about to gain a , you must fight it first.
To fight, Reroll one of the you used. If you roll a value of 5 or more, it’s a hit! one
in your Inventory, it’s considered Defeated. Otherwise, one in your Inventory, it got
away. When fighting more than one monster, fight them one at a time.

Example:

TOWN
This Location has different sublocations within it. While performing this Location’s action
you may perform any sublocation’s action in any order as many times as you can.
Cost: 1 | Related Tool: None.
Action: The value of the die you used to activate this location is the number of actions
you can perform in this Location. Different actions have their own costs.

Special Rule: Action Die

Place the die you used in the dedicated space in the Town, it is now the Action
Die. When the die’s value would reach 0, place it in the Used Dice area, and
your Town action ends.

When you perform an action in this Location, reduce the action die’s value by
that action’s cost. For example: If the Action die’s value is 5, and you
performed one action that costs 1, you must deduct 1 from the die. To do so,
rotate it to show the value of 4.

6
 Sublocations in Town:
Town Square
Make friends with the villagers. All villagers accept flowers as gifts.
Action Cost: 1 per Give
Action: To Give, perform the following in order;

1. Choose a villager.
2. Give them a gift. To do so, Lose a number of required .
3. Add a to their leftmost empty .

Befriend: When you a checkbox with a you have Befriended

that villager. Immediately Gain a and a Gift from them. The Gift is
located in the upper right area of the villager’s row. To receive a gift,
immediately the gift and Gain the icon.

Shop
Buy and sell resources. This is where is mainly used aside from scoring.
Action Cost: 1 per Buy or Sell (For example, if you buy 1 and 1 , 2 actions
are used)
Action: Choose if you want to sell or buy something.
1. Buy: Lose 1 to Gain either 1 ,1 or 1 .
2. Sell: Lose 1 ,2 ,2 to Gain 1 .

Example:

Blacksmith
Upgrade your tools. The effects of each Tool are passive and change its related
Location’s action in a positive way. For example, Watering Can improve the action
on the Farm by increasing the number of checkmarks you can add to a column.
Action Cost: 1 per Upgrade
Action: To Upgrade, perform the following in order;
1. Choose a Tool you want to upgrade.
2. Lose 2 .
3. Add a to the chosen tool’s .
You must first the before you can the .

From now on, when you perform the action in a Location related to the Tool, that Tool’s rightmost effect
with a will take effect. See Tools Table for more details on each Tool’s upgraded effects.

7
 Tools Table
Related
Tool (Level 1) (Level 2)
Location

You may add 1 more to the chosen You may add 2 more to the chosen
Farm
watering can column. column.
You may add or subtract 1 to the value of one You may add or subtract 1 to the value of two
Mines
pickaxe of the you rolled. of the you rolled.

Lake Add 1 to the value of the after rerolling it. Add 2 to the value of the after rerolling it.
fishing rod

Mines When fighting a , you hit on 4 or more. When fighting a , you hit on 3 or more.
sword

MUSEUM & POND

These locations are mainly trackers and are used to track other icons specific to them.

Museum
This location tracks all the artifacts you’ve collected.
Gaining: Whenever you Gain a , you its in the Museum.
Scoring: At the end of the game, Gain based on the number of with . i.e:
Gain 3/8/15/25 points for 1/2/3/4 artifacts collected.

Pond
This location tracks all the fish you’ve successfully caught.
Gaining: Whenever you Gain a , you its in the Pond.
Scoring: At the end of the game, you Gain the sum of the value of all
with . e.g: if you have the Crab (2) and Legendary Fish (10). Gain 12 points

Goals

1. Harvest all Carrots and Flowers 2. Befriend all Villagers

the top-most the checkbox ( ) that shows a full
checkbox ( ) of all heart icon ( ) of all the villagers in the
the carrots ( ) and Town Square.
flowers ( ) in the
Farm location.

3. Fully Upgrade All Tools 4. Catch the Legendary Fish

the checkbox ( ) under the the checkbox ( ) of the
second column ( ) of all of the Legendary fish ( ) in the Pond.
Tools in the Blacksmith. To do this, you must successfully
catch it from the Lake location.

5. Defeat 5 Monsters 6. Collect all of the Artifacts

Have a total of 5 with in your Inventory. Check the checkboxes ( ) of all of
Monsters with do not count toward completing the the Artifacts ( ) in the Museum. They
goal. can be found in the Mines and Lake
locations.

8
 Score Chart

Compare your score to this chart to see how well you did

< 39
You’re new to the town and still settling in. You’re thinking maybe going
back to city life is not a bad idea.
👎
40 - 79
You’re enjoying the simple life - away from the city. A breath of fresh air fills
your lungs.
👍
80 - 119
You’ve mastered the ways of living a simple life. You’ve done so much in 10
days, you wonder what you could achieve in a year. Maybe one day you’ll
⭐
be the Mayor of this town.

120+
You’re popular amongst the villagers, your crops are high quality and your
collection of fish and artifacts grows. You were born to do this - this is your
⭐⭐
⭐
calling. Leaving city life behind is the best decision of your life.

Different Ways to Play

The following rules have two types; Plugins and Game Modes. Plugins can be combined with any
other plugins and game modes, while Game Modes can never be mixed with other game modes. For
example, you can play Standard game mode with a 2-Player Cooperative plugin but you cannot play
Standard game mode with the Sandbox game mode rules.

Standard (Game Mode)

The rule explained in the majority of the rulebook is the standard way to play the game.

2-Player Cooperative (Plugin)

Allows you and another player to play any of the game modes on the same sheet.
Rules are the same as Standard game mode except for the following changes:
Preparation:
- You must determine a minimum of 2 Goals, and get 6 dice instead of 5.
- Optionally, if your goal is not “Upgrade all Tools” then you may upgrade any one tool for free
once. (know that this makes the game easier)
Start of Day: Each player rolls 3 dice simultaneously at the start of each day. You may not share dice
with one another. (When rerolling using a carrot, only 1 is needed to reroll both players’ dice)
Day: The players can freely decide who will start each day, but one player must use all their dice (or
pass) before another player can use theirs. Two players may not use their dice simultaneously.

Extended (Plugin)
Allows you to play for up to 20 Days instead of the normal 10 with a few adjustments.
Rules are the same as Standard game mode except for the following changes:
Start of Day: the day on the Calendar instead of . At the end of Day 10, proceed to Day 11 by
crossing ( ) Day 1, and so on.
End of Day: Starting from Day 11 you may decide to end the game right after the End of Day.
Scoring: Lose 2 for each Day in the Calendar with .
- Relaxed (Optional): Ignore the loss of for Days with , ie: Do not lose during Scoring.

9
 Sandbox (Game Mode)
Play without a determined goal and see how high you can score in 10 days.
Rules are the same as Standard game mode except for the following changes:
Preparation: Skip step #3: Determine Your Goal
Winning & Scoring:
- You do not lose if you have not completed any goal
- After counting your final score, add 5 for each Goal that you have completed.
- If playing with Extended Mode: Lose an additional 1 for each day beyond Day 6 that
has a . Also, lose an additional 2 if Day 10 has a .

Speedrun (Game Mode)

Challenge yourself and Complete all Goals in the shortest number of days possible.
Rules are the same as Standard game mode except for the following changes:
Plugin Required: Extended (you must play this game mode with the Extended plugin)
Preparation: Skip step #4: Determine Your Goal. Prepare 1 additional six-sided die than normal.
End of Day: If you completed at least one Goal during the Day, temporarily gain 1 bonus die. Add 1 die
to the Used Dice to be used on the next Day. Otherwise, proceed as normal. If you did not complete
any Goal during the Day, and there is a bonus die in the Used Dice, remove it instead.
- If playing with 2-Player Cooperative, the bonus die will increase the dice to 7 instead of 6. This
die may only be used by one player during the Day. Decide who will take the die after rolling all
dice at the Start of Day.
Winning & Scoring:
- Game End: the game ends at the end of the current Day when you complete all the Goals in
the Goal List. Otherwise, the game ends at the end of Day 20. If you have not finished all Goals
by then, you lose.
- Scoring: Follow the scoring below, do not follow standard rules for scoring:
- You do not lose 2 for each Day in the Calendar with (Extended plugin).
- Gain 8 for each Day in the Calendar without .
- Gain 3 for each Day in the Calendar with a and without .
- Gain 5 for each with and without in your Inventory.
- Gain 2 for each with and without in your Inventory.
- Gain 2 for each in the Pond with except for the .
- Gain 1 for each with and without in your Inventory after the first 5.
Record your score and the number of days it took, to try to beat it the next time you play.

Campaign (Game Mode)

Coming soon!

Art / Asset Credits:

* Shikashi's Fantasy Icon Pack * Overworld Grass Biome
* Pixel Paper * DungeonUI * Fantasy Eggs

✉️clintghosn@gmail.com
10
 Quick Reference

Start of Day
Rerolling
● Cross the current Day in the Calendar.
Anytime in the game you may
● Pick up all dice in Used Dice area, and roll them.
Day Lose 1 to reroll any number
● Choose a location you want to activate.
of rolled dice once.
● Pay the location’s dice cost.
● Perform the location’s action.
This includes dice in the
End of Day Available Dice area and you
● Any remaining dice in Available Dice area is placed in the Used Dice area.
may do this as many times as
● If it is the 10th day, the game ends. Otherwise, start a new day. you have a to lose.

Farm ● Main source of and . Cost is 1 .

pg.5
● The value of the you used determines which column you can add a check to.
● You draw a to the bottom-most empty of that column.
● When you the showing a resource, you immediately gain that resource.

Watering Can: Once upgraded, you can now add one more to your chosen column, and if it is
fully upgraded, one more for a total of 3 in one action.

Lake ● Main source of Fish. Cost is 1 .

pg.5 ● Choose a target from a column, that is neither showing a nor a , depending on the value of
the you used. Then, you reroll that .
● It is a success if your roll is equal to or higher than the success value. Otherwise, it is a fail.
● On success: draw a on the target. On failure: if target has a , draw . Otherwise, draw .

Fishing Rod: Once upgraded, your rolled value in the Lake will be increased by 1, and if it is fully
upgraded, it is increased by 2 instead.

Mines ● Main source of . Cost is 2 .

pg.6 ● Reroll the you used. Choose one to use as a column and one as a row.
● Draw a on the cell where the column and row meet and gain all icons in it.
● If an icon is , reroll one of the . If you roll 5 or more, gain it, otherwise it in your inventory.

Pickaxe: Once upgraded, you may add 1 or subtract 1 to the value of one of the two you roll. If
fully upgraded, you may do this to both instead of just one.
Sword: Once upgraded, you defeat a on a roll of 4 or more instead of 5. If fully upgraded, you
defeat it on a roll of 3 or more instead.

Town ● Main source of and tool upgrades. Cost is 1 .

pg.6, ● Perform a number of actions equal to the value of the you used. Each action costs 1.
pg.7,
● Town Square: give 1 or 2 to villagers to gain a and a gift. (pg.7)
pg.8
● Shop: pay 1 to gain 1 resource, or lose 1 or 2 resources to gain 1 . (pg.7)
● Blacksmith: pay 2 to upgrade one of your tools. (pg.8)

Pond & ● Keeps track of the fish and artifacts you’ve collected during the game.
Museum ● When you catch a fish, the of the fish in the Pond.
pg.9 ● When you collect an artifact, the of the artifact in the Museum.
● Provides points at the end of the game.

11