Just gave it a shot via Tabletop Simulator! At first it felt pretty punitive starting with no Appeal cards, and some turns I was completely at the whims of the dice because I had used all my Appeals. However, as I kept going I felt like that kinda works in service of the light "conflict resolution" narrative. It's a neat bit of texture c:
I would have instantly lost on turn 1 if not for the grace rule! After a bumpy start, I think I got pretty lucky because every diamond Challenge I overcame happened to be right before a Charm space. I never had more than 2 Charms the whole game! I can't quite remember, but I believe I failed maybe 4 Challenges out of the 16 I encountered. Here are the Challenges I faced (in order of left->right, top->bottom):
Since I only ever had 2 Charms, the spade Appeal effect was very strong for most Challenges since it guaranteed a win for diamond/club Challenges, and pretty high odds of a winning heart/spade ones. I also definitely made use of the rule that lets me draw an Appeal even if I move backwards into a light space. I think that's another interesting way you get some of that conflict resolution narrative in there (learning more about someone/their views through a conversation with them gone poorly).
I played this solo, so I'm curious how it might feel different with more players all working on the same Challenges. For as relatively simple as the rules are there's a lot of variety to how it feels as a game, and nuance to how the narrative can come through. Maybe I'm reading too much into the narrative aspect though (or maybe I'm not reading into it enough? :p)
It very much feels like a game that could have been cobbled together by families/a community over generations (positive!). I'm assuming it is in fact a fictional thing though? Either way, cool! Nice work! I had a good time c: