Copse Caretaker

a slow roll-and-draw print-and-play game for 1 person to 8 billion people

Map by Anita for a test play.

about.

Copse Caretaker is a slow roll-and-draw, print-and-play game for every age and drawing skill level. It is about having fun and building up a little forest all your own.

The game includes the complete rules, various sizes of maps, and various sizes of score sheets. Roll your dice as a group, make personal decisions about which dice to use, and even work together to create connected maps.

Game and PDF for personal use only.

Creator: Angela Boyle
Publication Date: April 2024
Format: 11 pages, letteCreator: Angela Boyle

necessary stats.

Players: 1 person to 8 billion (that’s a joke about the human population, though if you add in the animals out there trained to draw, I guess that bumps it up a couple)
Playing Time: 1 to 5 hrs, depending on how detailed you want to get.
Age: 5+
Page Count: 11

print components.

Rules
Map
Score sheet

additional components.

3d20, otherwise known as three 20-sided dice. You can find virtual dice with a search online if you don’t have some.
Drawing tools: pencils, crayons, markers, whatever is your favorite thing to put marks on paper.

process.

aunts can be useful.
test plays!

Of course, the first couple playthroughs I did were just by myself. But then my mom and her sisters came over for a nature journaling thing and I somehow convinced them to run a test play with me. And it was a hit!

I adore how different each map came out even though we all had the same tools available. Mostly, we stuck with Marvy LePen. I also used Posca pens to fill in the majority of the space for some maps because my carpal tunnel is still acting up.

Side Note: For the curious, one of my aunts had a cough, so she had Throat Coat tea and then mint tea. The rest of a split a larger pot of Red Rose and then actual Black Rose tea (from Spice Hut). Yummy. With honey from my mom’s bees on our property!!

I tried to sneak a process pic and just got hand over drawing. Still. The tea looks good

Map by Anita (same as at the top of the page, but now you can judge her score since her map is so awesome).

Map by Carol. I love the sparse use of acrylic spot colors with the colorful drawing pens. Her nurse log is a bit nightmare inducing.

Map by Karen. Beautiful! It looks like a quilt with all the different patterns.

Map by Abe, a photographer rather than a drawer. But this colorful map turned out wonderful. No poo-poos, Abe.

My map. I tried out a monochromatic map. It was fun! It also encourage me to use more texture

Map by Grace. Using a black pen, this is such a classic, cohesive map. Though she regretted choosing stumps because a section of her forest got clear cut!

prep work.

The longer I gave myself to think about the game, the more ideas I got. Not always a good thing. The below are for some additions I made to the game.

I wanted to provide lots of sample illustrations. So I went a little nuts and did all these options.

Don’t worry, these samples are for the more adventurous. All your trees can look like delicious lollipops and it will be an amazing map.