"I am an old man. I live here in this ancient house, surrounded by huge, unkempt gardens. The peasantry, who inhabit the wilderness beyond, say that I am mad. That is because I will have nothing to do with them. I live here alone with my old sister, who is also my housekeeper. We keep no servants—I hate them. I have one friend, a dog; yes, I would sooner have old Pepper than the rest of Creation together. He, at least, understands me—and has sense enough to leave me alone when I am in my dark moods. I have decided to start a kind of diary; it may enable me to record some of the thoughts and feelings that I cannot express to anyone; but, beyond this, I am anxious to make some record of the strange things that I have heard and seen, during many years of loneliness, in this weird old building. For a couple of centuries, this house has had a reputation, a bad one, and, until I bought it, for more than eighty years no one had lived here; consequently, I got the old place at a ridiculously low figure. I am not superstitious; but I have ceased to deny that things happen in this old house—things that I cannot explain; and, therefore, I must needs ease my mind, by writing down an account of them, to the best of my ability; though, should this, my diary, ever be read when I am gone, the readers will but shake their heads, and be the more convinced that I was mad." The House on the Borderland The Plain of Silence - William Hope Hodgson* Game Objective In an ancient house, a Recluse, his dog Pepper and his sister Mary must survive while exploring its mysteries, and penning a diary until the Luminous Speck appears. Solitaire game only. Gameplay A single player decides the actions of a Reclusive old man, his dog Pepper, and the Recluse’s sister Mary. Each turn is divided into 2 to 4 phases. An untold number of turns will be played. The game will end when the Luminous Speck Noise Tile is drawn. The game can end earlier if all characters are killed on the map. If reaching the Luminous Speck, the player has won well if Recluse is alive with all characters, having written an entire diary, and discovered the mysteries of the house. Characters lost, an incomplete manuscript, and unknown mysteries are less than well. Based on the book by William Hope Hodgson, House on the Borderland was published in 1908. It was among the first supernatural tales of what would be considered Cosmic Horror.