In What Once Went Wrong, you portray a time traveler who “leaps into” the body of someone in the past in order to help fix something that went wrong in their life. Only when you have helped fix the problem can you leap out…and hopefully leap home.

In addition to describing the world of the game, presenting challenges to the players, and portraying various other characters, the game master also portrays the observer, a guide from the traveler’s time who helps the traveler by filling in missing information and suggesting things that might need fixing.

The game is structured such that the GM does not know exactly what change needs to be made for the traveler to leap out. They’ll discover this together as the game is played.

What Once Went Wrong draws inspiration from and is a love letter to Quantum Leap.