Resources for Solo RPGs

 I'm still on an RPG kick, but find myself playing solo. I have been discovering some useful resources.

First, I have been watching a YouTube series called Me, Myself, and Die.

In this series, Trevor Devall (the voice behind Rocket Raccoon), plays a solo roleplaying campaign.

I am intrigued by the various resources he uses to randomize events and characters. I am familiar with some but others are new to me. I am investigating some of his other resources for use in my own campaigns.

One of these resources is The Perilous Wilds, a supplement for the Dungeon World RPG. It is pretty much system agnostic, providing a bunch of charts to randomize adventures.

Alas, I tried creating a dungeon using the rules and found it very boring (it turned out to be very short and without any combat). My current method of randomizing the adventure actually works better for my purposes. Yet there are still some good ideas in there.

Ultimately, I want to come up with my own random tables, inspired by TPW and other randomizers. Right now my goal is to create a simple table to generate the adventure theme. Interestingly, a while ago I did a very simple one for my sci-fi skirmishes. I'd like to do something similar for my fantasy RPGs.

Stay tuned. I'll be posting more RPG musings. 

And when will I get back to miniatures? I wish I could say, but I have to follow my GADD (Gamer's Attention Deficit Disorder).

Illustrating RPGing

 One thing I've struggled with on my blogs is how to illustrate my role playing games. I've tried a number of methods:

I tried miniatures in different scales.

25mm

10mm

But these did not work out because I did not have figures for all the different monsters

I tried virtual

But it was a bit of work to create.

Eventually, I would just write up the report and find a picture or two from the internet

But that ended up being a wall of text.

Lately I've been pondering a different approach - 2D. The concept is similar to that used by the video game Darkest Dungeon. Show the heroes and monsters in a two dimensional manner.

To that end, I have begun a collection of monster tokens. I purchased a Pathfinder Bestiary Pawn Box, which includes over 300 2D monster tokens.

Sample tokens on a flat surface

They are intended to be placed in holders and used like miniatures, but my plan is to create a dungeon wall background and lie them flat on it.

I just need some heroes. Pathfinder had a nice set of NPCs, but it is out of print. I did pick up a PDF version. There is a new PC set coming out in December. Time to save up.

By the way, my cat who likes to game,

Trying to roll the dice

absolutely LOVES the Pawn box

Tweedle Against the Undead

A Tweedle Adventure Using Swords & Six-Siders 

After his previous success the villagers piled gifts upon Tweedle - bags of farm produce and even a goat. It wasn't bags of gold like in the stories, but it was still treasure in Tweedle's eyes. Alas, they gave him more than he could carry! But there was one farm boy named Dunh who was quite impressed by Tweedle.

"I want to be a famous adventurer, just like him!" he was saying at Tweedle's feast. 

When Tweedle asked for help carrying his prizes, Dunh immediately volunteered. He armed himself with a rusty boar spear, a cheaply made wooden shield, and a padded vest. Picking up Tweedle's bags with ease (he was a well built youth), Dunh set off after his hero.

After a couple of days of travel they arrived at an isolated village. When Dunh went around telling everyone that Tweedle was a "famous hero," the whole village wanted to hear about his exploits. Tweedle briefly relayed the story of his rescue mission (conveniently skipping over his failure at the pirate cave), then claimed that he did not want to say more because he did not want to brag. Naturally, the villagers praised his humility.

Then the mayor spoke to Tweedle. "Perhaps you can help us. There have been reports of foul doings in the graveyard. Strange lights, and some of the graves have been opened!"

The rest of the village chimed in with their pleas for help. Reluctantly, Tweedle agreed. But he feared to go alone. Then an idea struck him.

"This sounds like a two-man job," Tweedle declared as he turned toward Dunh. "Perhaps you would like to accompany me, Dunh?"

Dunh's eyes shone with wonder and excitement. It was his dream come true!

🎲🎲🎲

As the two heroes enter the cemetery, they see the disturbed graves. At the far end is a lengthy barrow. Long ago, according to the villagers' legends, a great king lived in the area. He chose to make his burial tomb here. Now, the duo can see that the great stone that enclosed the barrow had been moved.

The Barrow

In the first chamber (1), they see a bloody corpse lying on the floor. Dunh rushes over to help, but the corpse animate and attacks. Dunh stabs it through the eye with his spear. It slumps to the ground.

"Foul doings indeed," intones Tweedle.

When they enter the next chamber (2), they hear growling. Out of nowhere, a ghoul leaps out. It claws Tweedle, who feels a sinister chill run down his spine. He steels himself and counterattacks, but the creature dodges. This brings the ghoul within Dunh's reach. He stabs, but the ghoul sidesteps the attack and countes. Now, Dunh feels the rake of the monster's claws. Dropping his spear, he tries to reach for his dagger, but the creature has a hold of him. Tweedle takes advantage, however, and clocks the ghoul over its head. The creature staggers, releasing its hold. Dunh grips his dagger and stabs, gutting the monster. It collapses.

"Thanks Tweedle," Dunh pants as he tries to recover his breath.

"No, thank you, Dunh. Or should I say Ghoul-slayer."

Dunh breaks into a big grin.

From this room, there are two side exits (3 and 4). They try the left (3). They trigger a trap, and two arrows whiz at them. Both manage to duck. Fortunately, the other (4) is empty, as are the next two chambers (5 and 6).

As they approach the next chamber (7), they hear the rattle of bones. Tweedle takes the opportunity to cast his Mirror Image spell. Three copies of Tweedle appear. Dunh gasps.

"You are a powerful wizard!" Dunh proclaims. Tweedle and his doubles just shake their heads.

Cautiously they enter the next room. A skeleton attacks, striking one of the doubles. It disappears in the blink of an eye. The skeleton then turns on Dunh, slashing his arm. Blood wells up. Enraged, Dunh smashes the skeleton's face with the butt of the spear. The skull splinters and the creature crumbles.

By this time, Dunh has taken some serious wounds. Fortunately, Tweedle has a healing poultice given to him by the village healer. He binds Dunh's wounds. Reinvigorated, Dunh is ready to continue the adventure.

The final room (8) is the burial chamber of the king. Alas, he has been turned into a wight. It attacks Dunh and inflicts a wound. Dunh retaliates with a stab then dodges the next attack. The thing whirls madly, slashing at our heroes. Deftly, they avoid its attacks. Finally, Tweedle smashes the creature's skull. It falls to the ground.

Tweedle and Dunh poke around the burial chamber. They find a small chest with an assortment of coppers and silver. "Great king, indeed," thought Tweedle. Probably just a minor chieftain. Still treasure was treasure.

Then Dunh spoke. "Is it right to rob a tomb, Tweedle?"

Tweedle thought about it. "I don't know. They do say that 'to the victor belong the spoils.' Besides, look at this!"

Amidst rotting finery, rusted iron, and moldy leather, Tweedle pulls a shiny item. Holding it aloft, Dunh sees that it is a majestic sword.

"Ooooooooo." Dunh says.

"For you." Tweedle states as he hands the precious sword to Dunh.

"Can I keep this?" Dunh replies, desire and guilt vying with each other on his face.

"Well," Tweedle declares, "let's return it to the village. They can decide."

🎲🎲🎲

Our heroes relate their tale to the mayor. He thinks about it for a moment, then declares:

"You have saved our village from great evil. For this, you deserve recompense. Keep the spoils you have retrieved. We shall bury the king properly, and we will repay him for his lost treasures."

Impressions of Swords and Six-Siders

 Having played Swords & Six-Siders (S&SS) pretty much as written what are my impressions?

Well, the solo adventure was somewhat disappointing. It was mostly riddles; I did not have a single combat encounter although Tweedle succumbed to a trap.

Nevertheless, I found it very easy to whip up an adventure at a moment's notice. The monsters are identified with a single monster level, which determines combat stats, hit points, etc. I just picked out a few monsters from a satisfyingly long list and away I went. The appendix of the Expanded Edition even has conversion charts to translate classic D&D monsters to S&SS.

Combat was quick and intuitive, similar to D&D. Roll vs the enemy's AC to hit, then roll damage if applicable. S&SS only uses a single D6 so AC is either 4, 5, or 6*. Not a lot of granularity but it makes it easy to remember in combat. Also, there are not a lot of modifiers, so math is minimized. 

* Some higher level monsters can have AC = 7, but a natural 6 still hits.

Damage rolls always use a D6 with a +1 mod for two-handed weapons. No groping for dice. An interesting facet is that body armor does not affect AC but reduces the damage roll (with a minimum of 1). This is a concept with which I have been experimenting so I like the idea. Also, it somewhat solves the granularity problems with to-hit rolls. Even if you reduce armor classifications to light, medium, heavy you potentially have a 3 point modifier, which is extreme on a D6.

Differences in fighting ability for characters with the same type of armor is modeled with the higher skilled (i.e. higher level) character having more hit points. I have quibbles with this system, which I will share at a later time, but it is consistent with D&D and does work.

Ability checks are a simple D6 roll with a target of 6. An ability of 6 gives a +1 modifier to checks while a 1 gives a -1 mod. The GM can also add half the character's level if it seems appropriate. At one point, Tweedle had to make a Dexterity check to avoid falling into a pit trap. With a DEX of 6, he received a +1 mod. His roll of 5 was a success.

I tweaked a couple of minor things during my session:

• Characters generally start with 3-6 hit points, gaining another D6 per level. Tweedle, for example, started with 3. Given that weapons do 1D6 damage, it's quite possible for a novice character to die with one hit, as happened with Tweedle. For my second test, I employed an "operatic" variant from the sci-fi version Lasers & Six-Siders, which gives an additional 10 hit points at start. I think this may be a bit excessive, but as I prefer a more cinematic style I would definitely say that characters need to start with more hit points.
• I added critical hits with resulted in double damage. I ruled that would only happen half the time on a natural 6, however, Criticals definitely helped Tweedle in the Sea Devil Cave. He scored a couple of of them (including a 12-damage crit on the boss!).

Other than that, I pretty much played as written (I did use D12s because they were handy, but I converted results to a D6). Overall, I was very happy with the results. There weren't a myriad of stats to complicate combat and the game ran smoothly. I don't think I had to look at the rules once! I can see myself adopting S&SS as my go-to RPG rules (although I probably won't because I like to tinker and design). Nevertheless, if I were starting a campaign with new players, S&SS would be my go-to system.

Overall, I heartily recommend Swords & Six-Siders.

The Fall and Rise of Tweedle

 Armed with the map to pirate treasure, Tweedle makes his way to the coast. He finds a cave mouth and enters. The old salt told Tweedle that the pirate captain who buried the treasure had a penchant for riddles. So it is no surprise that he found riddles scrawled upon the cave walls. He solves a few and misses a few (with his intelligence he probably could solve them all but he is too impatient). He finds a magical book that gives him a new spell. When he finds the mirror he expects more good luck. Alas, the image in the mirror strikes him in the face with its staff! Tweedle is out cold.

No combat, one shot from a cursed mirror, and Tweedle is dead. Well, the nice thing about being your own GM is that you can fudge!

A while later Tweedle awakens with a swollen eye and a bruised ego. He finds himself outside the cave mouth. He enters again, but he comes to a dead end! There are no passageways or riddles or anything! Stumped, he begins to trudge home.

The intro adventure appears to be mostly riddles and traps (I didn't read it all so I cannot say for certain). I wanted to test out combat so I decided to create my own introductory dungeon.

As Tweedle is heading back to the nearby fishing village, he happens upon a distraught young.

"Oh, help me sir!" she calls to him.

"What's the matter?" he replies.

"Goblins! From the sea! They stole my baby!" 

She points to another cave along the craggy coast. Tweedle is reluctant at first. His initial foray as an adventurer did not turn out too well. But when he sees the lady's tears, he decides to risk it.

He enters the cave and comes across an empty cavern (1). 

There is a winding cave (2) that leads out of the cavern. Tweedle follows the cave. As he rounds a corner, he runs smack into a sea goblin! 

Instinctively, Tweedle lashes out with his staff. There is a satisfying crunch as he flattens the goblin. Critical hit, yay!

Tweedle continues along the corridor until he comes to another corner (4). This time he encounters two fish-men. The first slashes him with a fishbone sword. 

Fear grows in Tweedle's mind. He could die! He decides to cast a spell - Mirror Image. Suddenly, five other Tweedles appear! This so startles the fish-men that one runs. The other attacks, but only manages to dispel an illusory Tweedle. Then with a single blow, Tweedle kills his enemy.

Tweedle follows the retreating foe to a cavern (5). Two sea goblins are on the far side; the fish-man has disappeared. Tweedle launches a stone with his sling, wounding a goblin. The two charge. Tweedle smacks the wounded goblin with his staff. It collapses. Tweedle manages to dodge the other's blows while landing occasional shots. Finally, the second falls.

Our hero then passes through an empty cavern (6) then comes to the lair of the enemy (7). Here, a sea devil has the baby on a bloody altar. 

It appears to be readying some demonic ritual. Tweedle lets loose with his sling. The rock wounds the sea devil. It charges and attacks, but its trident passes harmlessly through one of the mirror images. Tweedle winds up with his staff and swings. It smacks the sea devil in the head; the monster falls dead! I was expecting a more epic battle but Tweedle scored a max damage critical!

Tweedle picks up the baby and rushes from the caves. The lady is thrilled; she invites him to stay at her village. The villagers fete him as a legendary hero! Tweedle thinks "I could get used to this adventuring life."

What does the future hold in store for Tweedle? And will he discover his real name? Stay tuned to find out!

And what do I think of Swords & Six-Siders? I'll make a post later this week to discuss my impressions.

Tweedle's Tale

Beginning a Swords & Six-Siders Campaign

I previously mentioned that I wanted to try out Swords & Six-Siders. In this post, I will walk through the character creation process.

1. Choose a Race

The introductory adventure in the Expanded Edition of S&SS starts your character out as a farmer, so I figured that Human would be appropriate. Besides, humans get bonuses to their abilities.

2. Determine Ability Scores

Roll 3 D6s - I get 1, 3, and 6. I then get the complement, the score on the opposite side of the die, for each of my rolls. That gives me 6, 4, and 1. Two 1s - ugh.

Because my character is human, I can add 2 points to my scores. I'll raise the 1s to 2s so that I don't have any penalties.

I plan for my character to be a Myrmidon, a battle mage. I envision him as bright and dexterous, but not hulking. So I assign the stats as so:

ST 3, IN 6, DX 6, WI 2, CO 4, CH 2

He gets a +1 bonus for the 6s.

So bright and dexterous, but middling size. His wisdom is low; I interpret that as meaning he lacks a little common sense and tends to rash decisions. That fits with the adventure intro, as you will see below. With a charisma of 2, I also envision him as being the target of bullies. He'll show them!

3. Choose a Class

As I mentioned, I plan for him to be a Myrmidon. He can use up to medium armor and shields, and can use spells, starting with 1 spell at 1st level.

4. Choose an Alignment

He's basically good at heart, so I chose Lawful.

5. Determine Hit Points

I roll a 1. At first level, I can bump this up to 3.

6. Select Equipment

You don't have to buy equipment, just assign what is reasonable. He's a country bumpkin so I don't expect him to have much. He'll start with padded armor (light armor), a staff, sling, and dagger, plus a pack of miscellaneous gear. He'll top it off with a cook pot for a helmet.

7. Choose Spells

Myrmidons get 1 spell at first level. I decided to give him a bonus spell for variety. I rolled Grease and Magic Eyebeam. I decide to replace Magic Eyebeam (where would he learn that?) with Mirror Image.

8. Calculate Stats

He starts with an AC of 5 due to the "helmet" and a Damage Resistance of 1 due to the padded armor. He has a +1 ranged Attack because of his Dexterity).

9. Name Your Character

The rules encourage you to name your character "something cool." But my character is not cool (yet); he's a bumpkin. Tweedle seems bumpkin-y.

Backstory

I had already read the adventure intro so I had a sense of where my character would begin. As I developed him, his backstory began to take shape in my mind. So I present you with Tweedle's story.

He did not know his True Name, but everyone called him Tweedle. When he asked his Pa about his True Name, the old man would simply reply, "You will learn it in the proper time."

Tweedle lived in the sleepy village of Shepford. It's most prominent feature was, aptly enough, a ford used by shepherds. Tweedle's family, like most inhabitants of the village, were farmers. But when he was 8, the town physician approached his Pa and said that Tweedle would be his apprentice. So with that, Tweedle found a new occupation. Alas, this, and his sarcastic wit, led him to run afoul of some of the larger boys.

Like everyone else in Shepford, Tweedle called his master "Doc." Technically, he wasn't a doctor. He was a hedge mage of indifferent skill. Somehow he found a simple living by providing some basic services to the villagers. He even learned a little medicine along the way. Tweedle began to learn what little Doc knew.

It may have been a comfortable enough living for Doc, but Tweedle was bored. He wanted a life of adventure where he traversed the wide world. After nearly 10 years as an apprentice, he got his opportunity. By chance, he met a squinty-eyed sailor at the village tavern. The old salt claimed to have a map to hidden pirate treasure. For a few coppers, Tweedle was able to acquire it. Doc called him a fool and his Ma begged him to stay, but Tweedle was determined to go.

So now Tweedle is ready! Stay tuned for his first adventure!

Swords & Six-Siders

When it comes to rules, I am an inveterate tinkerer. Rarely do I find a set of rules, whether miniatures or RPG, that I want to run as is. Swords & Six-Siders, however, is one of that rare breed.

I've been researching rules light system and came across a reference to Swords & Six-Siders (hereafter S&SS) in a thread in Reddit. I was skeptical at first; the system only uses a single D6. How could that possibly work?! But I picked it up from DriveThruRPG (the basic edition is free). And when I read it over, I was impressed. It seemed very similar to what I am trying to achieve with a D12 system.

What do I like about it?

• Character creation is straightforward and very old school. Roll abilities (e.g. Strength, Dexterity, etc.), Choose a class (and spells if applicable), pick your equipment, and roll hit points. That's it.

• While the game tracks treasure, it does not nickel and dime you to death. You don't have to purchase starting equipment; just pick what's reasonable. You also don't have to buy mundane items during play. So when you are at the tavern, you don't have to keep track of your drinks. Treasure is used to train for the next level or to buy magic items, such as healing.

• Body armor does not affect the chance to hit. Instead, armor reduces damage. Shields, however, help prevent getting hit in the first place. I've been experimenting with the same concept for my homebrew rules.

• Monster stats are very simple. The game just lists level. From this, it gives simple guidelines for determining attack bonus, AC (score to hit), damage resistance, and hit points. No huge stat blocks.

Any reservations? A few, but less than I thought:

• At first, I did not think that a single D6 would give enough granularity in combat. However, the system seems like it can handle this. You just have to accept that it 

• Class levels max out at 6. This seems a bit low for a long-term campaign. Nevertheless, I think it could work - think of it as advancing from novice to trained, experienced, veteran, master, and legend (or something like that).

I'm not going to go into more detail on the rules right now. The Expanded Edition has a solo adventure, which I plan to play soon. Then I'll write about my experience and how the rules handle the adventure