AFF solo - Part II: The abandoned tower

Travelling by night through a strange land with no equipment would be suicidal, so they decide to make camp on the beach. Ksandajja finds enough dry drift wood to make a fire in the lee of a stony hillock. Valganadd is charged with kindling the flames. Lisk collects some edible seaweed for their repast; it is unpleasant but sustaining.

[Q: Anything useful wash ashore? Doubtful (6): O5 C3 - No, but... might be able to  search when waves subside & tide goes out

Fishing, Hunting, or Sea Lore (at -1) to forage: Lisk 2d6=5 < (7-1=) 6 skill, success.
Unmodified Sea Lore to find dry driftwood for a fire: Ksandajja (6 SKILL) 2d6=6, success.

Q: Night encounter? 1-2 on d6: Yes. Out of the Pit has a handy sea shore encounter table.

It occurs as (1d3=) Valganadd is on guard. He needs to make an Awareness test to avoid being Surprised; Skill 4 + Awareness 1 = 5, +2 for the ambusher's movement cancels the -2 for bad light, but 2d6=9, failure.]

That night, as Valganadd keeps vigil, a squamous green SEA TROLL emerges from the surf. The ravenous monster sees the wretched trio round the campfire, and squelches up through the darkness to snatch up a tender morsel.

SEA TROLL   SKILL 8   STAMINA 9
2 attacks

But as it fantasises about the taste of raw, delectable human, it loses sight of its surroundings. As it makes to spring upon the hapless wizard, its foot gets caught beneath a rotten board from an old shipwreck, and the troll flops onto the ground with an almighty thud.[It rolled a natural 2 on its attack, a Fumble; it will need a full round to stand].

Valganadd wheels round at the noise, and seeing the horrid troll before him unleashes a blast of magical force into it [Force Bolt, for 1d6=3 damage]. He blasts it a second time [4 damage], then the troll loses its nerve and runs back into the sea.

[Q: Does the troll retreat? 50/50 (4+): O6 C5 - Yes.]

Ksandajja and Lisk awaken groggily. "What was all that noise?" asks Lisk.


* * *


In the morning, the weary travellers scan the horizon. "How far are we from Ângu?" asks Lisk.

"I do not know," replies Ksandajja. "But if we head south we're sure to reach it. Eventually."

"Are you certain?"

"If we keep the sea on our right, we surely can't get lost."

[Q: Is the nearest city far? 50/50 (4+): O3 C1 - No, and... less than a day's march.

1d6=no encounter

Q: Is the weather good? 50/50 (4+): O2 C2 no, and...
+Event: (random picture) find ruined tower]

After choking down a few scant mouthfuls of seaweed that Lisk has provided for their repast, they set off to the south. The coast is jagged and rocky, and they soon must leave the beach to make their way over scrubland and round rocky hills.

"I wish we could find some water," says Ksandajja.

Half an hour later, she's almost sorry she'd said it, for the winds blow fierce and the heavens open up, so that the travellers struggle to advance against the driving rain. But blind luck is with them, as they soon stumble across the ruins of a stone watchtower that should provide some shelter from the torrent.

[1d3-1= 0 floors remain. Tower is inhabited by 3d6=IMITATOR]

The tower itself provides but little refuge; the wooden floors and roof have long since rotted away, leaving only the stone shell. The ground inside is already a maze of puddles, but a narrow stone staircase leads down into the earth.

"This way," says Lisk. "We'll be safe down here."

Lisk leads the way down the slick stone steps. At the bottom is a short, low passage ending in a stout wooden door, which has been spared the ravages of time and tempest. Lisk grasps the iron ring, and his hand is stuck fast. The door's surface begins to flow, extruding a long tendril topped with a clenched fist. This is no door, but an IMITATOR! Before anyone has a chance to react, the great fist pummels the hapless rogue. There is a sharp crack as it smashes into his sternum, breaking several ribs.

IMITATOR   SKILL 9   STAMINA 8

[I'd rolled 1d3 to see who went first. The Imitator rolled a natural 12, a critical hit. Criticals do double damage and reduce the target's Skill by 1 (which requires a week's rest to heal). Lisk takes 6 damage, reducing him to 6 Stamina and 6 Skill.]

[Round 1]
Valganadd unleashes a blast of raw magical energy into the creature [Force Bolt for 6 damage, reducing it to 2 stamina]. Lisk attempts to fight back with his dagger [at -2 for being stuck], but takes another solid punch [3 damage leaves him with to 3 Stamina]. Ksandajja feels useless, as there is no room in the narrow corridor for her to join the fight.

[Round 2]
But it is all over in a moment, as another mystical blast from Valganadd ends the horrid creature.

Lisk is free to scrape the sticky monster off his hands at leisure.


Scene 2

Chaos: Average (d10)

Setup: explore dungeon

NPC List: Lisk the rogue, Valganadd the wizard

Threads: Quest, travel to Ulq

[Advanced Fighting Fantasy comes with a very simple dungeon generator. It's perfectly adequate for giving a GM the outline of a dungeon to develop, but as a solo tool it is a bit sparse, roughly on par with the Moldvay Basic D&D dungeon stocking rules. As this was my first go with it, I adhered to it pretty closely in order to give it a good test run.

It suggests that a typical dungeon level should have 1d6+6 rooms, but that seemed a little excessive for the storerooms beneath a watchtower. I went with 1d6+3=5 rooms. For each room, a d6 is thrown onto a piece of paper, and read as a d3 for number of entrances/exits. Corridors are then drawn in linking the rooms, to produce a rough schema.]

behold, the elegant map!

Beyond the false door lies an old store room [room 1 - room numbers on the sketch map are circled, the numbers in the rooms were the d3 results for number of exits]. Barely any light filters down from outside, but with careful searching the travellers are able to find a tinderbox and candles on the old quartermaster's desk. By candlelight they are able to conduct  proper search.

[Q: Is there anything useful here? 50/50 (4+): O5 C7 - Yes.]

An old weapon rack contains some rusting but still serviceable swords [will break if doubles rolled in combat (hit or miss)]. Ksandajja and Lisk help themselves to these. Valganadd finds the haft of a spear to answer for a staff. They help themselves to a couple torches out of a barrel and, propelled by curiosity, set off down the rude tunnel deeper inside.

At the end of the corridor, the travellers enter the tower's food store [Room 2]. Rows of wooden shelves stretch floor to ceiling, upon which are heaped the end products of decades' worth of decay: mummified sides of beef, barrels of vinegar, sacks of sludge, and round fungal colonies which were once wheels of cheese. The pungent odour is beyond description, though not entirely unpleasant.

[Rolling for an encounter reveals there are 6 FLESH GRUBS here. The PCs must Test their LUCK to avoid them; only Valganadd makes the roll.]

They hasten across the room to the far exit, but as they do, horrible glistening worms begin falling from the shelves, and they must run to avoid being covered in the things. Valganadd emerges into the corridor unscathed, but his companions each find three of the awful vermin have latched onto their flesh by their greedy sucking maws. Gobbets of skin come away as they pull of the slimy creatures and stamp them underfoot [detaching each grub inflicts a point of damage]. Valganadd is able to staunch the bleeding and bind Lisk's wounds, but his ministrations on Ksandajja are less successful, and her bandages are soon wet and sticky with blood seeping through.

[Valganadd used his Healing special skill to restore 2 Stamina to Lisk; he failed his roll for Ksandajja.

Since I generated the map in advance, the PCs will move randomly when faced with a choice of directions.]

Continuing forward, they come to a T-junction, and go down the left-hand fork which ends in an iron door [Room 3]. Ksandajja pushes it open with her foot. She doesn't feel the magical energies surrounding it until too late, and with a flash of sickly green light she feels a heaviness seize her limbs. [She failed a Second Sight (special magical skill) roll to detect the enchantment/trap and was blasted with random spell: Weakness (-1 Skill for the next fight).]

Undaunted, she leads her companions into the room, which is dominated by sagging (and empty) bookshelves and a collapsed table in the centre. Ksandajja is about to examine the ragged parchment on the table when a pair of animated SKELETONS step forth out of the gloom.

[armed with (1d6): 1 axe, 2 mace, 3 sword, 4 shortsword, 5 spear, 6 polearm: 2d6=sword, spear]

SKELETON    SKILL 6   STAMINA 5
Skeletons only take a single point of damage from edged weapons

[Rounds 1-3]
Valganadd tries to call upon arcane forces [Force Bolt] to destroy one of the horrors clacking across the stone floor. But in his haste he trips over the syllables of the words of mystic might, and begins to hiccup uncontrollably as the untamed power courses through him [he rolled a natural 12 on his casting roll, a critical failure. This required a roll on the Oops table for spell fumbles, resulting in hiccups lasting 1d6=3 hours, for a -4 penalty on all spellcasting]. Valganadd begins the spell anew, this time letting the energy build up within him slowly as his companions do battle.

Ksandajja faces off with the first skeleton, which wields a corroded battleaxe. Despite the Curse of Fatigue, she maintains the upper hand, though it barely seems hampered by the chips of bone she strikes off with her sword [hits thrice for 3 total damage, dropping it to 2 Stamina].

Lisk's opponent wields a rusty, iron-tipped spear. Twice he slides in under its guard, his  sword no more effective than Ksandajja's. But the undead fiend is a cannier fighter than he anticipates, and he is skewered. He collapses from shock, bleeding profusely over the dusty stone floor [he hit twice for 2 damage, then the skeleton hit, reducing him to 0 Stamina exactly].

[Rounds 4-6]
Valganadd feels the magic build to a crescendo, and intones again the mystic syllables [+4 for 2 extra rounds of casting cancels the -4 penalty so he has his usual 9 (Magic 7 + 2 wizardry special skill), but 2d6=10]. But at the last moment, a hiccup shakes his frame, and the blast of energy comes as but a tiny wisp of smoke.

Ksandajja now faces two undead foes [and each gets +1 to Skill for attack for superior numbers], but as the spear-wielder stumbles forward over the fallen Lisk, its loses its balance, dropping its weapon at Ksandajja's feet [it fumbled 2 rounds in a row]. She does not waste her advantage, striking swiftly and surely at the other, which soon falls to the ground in a clatter of bones with an axe betwixt.

[Round 7-9]
Valganadd watches calmly as Ksandajja makes short work of the other skeleton.

As she catches her breath (or --less charitably-- once it's entirely safe), Valganadd looks to his fallen companion. Lisk yet lives, and with a minimum of ministrations is brought round [First Aid check succeeded, bringing him back up to 2 Stamina].

"Dare we ›hic‹ continue to explore?" asks Valganadd.

AFF solo - Part I: Terror at sea

"I tire of this voyage," thought Ksandajja as she stumbled wearily out of her cramped cabin and made her unsteady way down the narrow gloomy corridor, doing her best to sway in time with the pitch and roll of the ship. "The sailors are a loutish rabble, and my fellow travellers a boorish city-dweller who fancies himself a charming rogue and a wizard who thinks advancing age has somehow rendered him wise. The captain has forgotten to rouse me for mealtime. And -- phaugh! -- someone's spilt oil all over this ladder."

But when she climbed up to the deck, and her eyes adjusted to the bright, overcast day, a vision of horror met her eyes. The crew had all been reduced to white skeletons, clad in tatters and glistening with a sheen of running fat. The only two souls left alive were Valganadd, the old wizard, and the young rakehell, Lisk, who were huddled together on the deck. The wizard gave a flask to the rogue who greedily drained the healing elixir within. Ksandajja watched as the magic coursed through him, growing back the flesh of his ruined arm.

"You're alive!" exclaimed the rogue. "You may be the only one left. Look what happened to the crew. What almost happened to me! Something touched my arm down in the darkness of the hold, and the flesh ran off it like hot wax. What was that thing? What can we do?"

"We kill it," said Ksandajja, drawing her sword. "You were fortunate it didn't grab your arm any tighter. This carnage is the work of a FLESH MELTER."

Scene 1

Chaos: Average (d10)

Setup: random picture (above)

NPC List: whoever those two in the picture are

Threads: some Quest or other

[I prefer to start posts with narrative rather than game mechanics. My notes are much less elegant. Here's how I arrived at the above:

To set up the first scene, I opened up my folder of unsorted pictures and did a random slideshow until I got one that fit the game and seemed to have something going on. The caption under it originally said something about kissing a holy relic to dispel the evil phantoms, which is a pretty poor start to an adventure. So it was better to make a random table to play off of:

Q: What caused this? (1d6): 1-2 monster, 3-4 disease, 5 curse, 6 phenomenon

But before I rolled for the cause, I had Ksandajja Test her SKILL to see if she could divine what happened. Her SKILL is 6, and she gets a +2 bonus for knowledge skill use from Learned talent, so she must roll 8 or less on 2d6 in order to succeed: 2d6=5, success. 1d6=monster.]

"What are you doing now?" asks Lisk with feigned bravado. "Why do you just stand there? Not afraid, are you?"

"I shall let it come to me. Better to fight up here on the deck then down below where there's no room to manoeuvre."

Ksandajja takes position by the hatch whilst the other two hang back out of harm's way. She hears movement coming from below, but to her disappointment, it is the hatch all the way at the other end of the ship which is thrown open. The beast has flopped up onto the deck before she can make her way across to it.

The flesh melter has the general form of an octopus crowned by a head which is neither swine nor dog nor reptile, but an unholy amalgamation of the three. Its slavering jaws snap and drool, and the whole body glistens with a greasy sheen, every pore exuding the toxin that reduces flesh to tallow. It is smaller than Ksandajja had anticipated for a creature of such fearsome repute, but she fears it no less than it deserves.

[Combat is broadly similar to the Fighting fantasy gamebooks, but there are a few enhancements such as variable weapon damage, armour, situational modifiers, criticals, fumbles, and special manoeuvres.

For the slippery deck, I ruled that fumbles would take place if the dice came up 2, 3, or 4 (instead of just 2). In retrospect, the rough sea should also have been worth a -1 penalty to actions, but for a straight fight, the -1s cancel out so the effect is the same.

Since the monster is something I just made up, I gave it Skill of 1d6+3, and 2d6 Stamina.]

FLESH MELTER  SKILL 9  STAMINA 5

[round 1]
Ksandajja and the Flesh Melter face off as the ship rolls beneath them. She makes a few tentative swings with her sword, and the monster responds with a few half-hearted swipes at her face, but neither come close to a hit.

[Combat is simultaneous. Each combatant rolls 2d6 + SKILL + weapon special skill, and the higher roll hits.
Ksandajja: 2d6=7 +8 (skill 6 + 2 swords spec. skill) =15
Flesh Melter: 2d6=6 +9 (skill) =15
When the totals are equal, no hits are scored]

[Round 2]
The elastic thing has a longer reach than she'd expected, and Ksandajja nearly gets slapped across the face by its suckered tentacle, but she ducks under it at the last instant and draws her sword across its blubbery midsection, opening a deep and gory rent.

[Ksandajja rolls 8+8=16 vs. its 9+6=15, hitting. Each weapon has a little chart with 7 boxes, against which a d6 is rolled. Modifiers can bring the roll to 7+ (the last box) or down to a minimum of 1 (the first).

Published adventures often use a shorthand form, which for a sword is 2,3,3,3,3,4,5 (i.e. a roll of 1 does 2 damage, rolling 2-5 inflicts 3 damage, a 6 does 4 damage, and 7+ inflicts 5.

Ksandajja has no damage modifier, so hits it for (1d6=4) 3 damage, leaving it with 2 STAMINA.]

[Round 3]
The flesh melter lets out an ear-piercing wail as it feels the bite of sharp steel. Its eyes narrow in an almost human expression of rage, and it makes a desperate lunge at the meal which was so foolish as to hurt it. Ksandajja responds with calm and forethought, and the swift arc of her blade splits the hapless creature's skull nearly in twain. It flops dead at her feet on the greasy deck.

[She rolls a total of 17 vs. its 16, hitting for 3 more damage. NPCs can usually be considered dead at 0 STAMINA, so the Flesh Melter is vanquished.

It never hit, so I didn't have to work out how much damage it does. For flesh melting, it should probably inflict damage equal to Very Large Bite/Claw (despite its size), but armour rolls (only; not shields or dodges) receive +1 against it as less flesh is exposed to be melted.]

"Not bad," says Lisk. "Not bad at all. Where'd you learn to use a sword like that? The Great Arena of Port Skull?"

"Do you mean to insult me? Everyone knows the gladiatorial schools of Port Skull teach inferior swordsmanship than those of Zthaan."

"I-- No! I meant merely--"

"It was a joke... no matter. Fetch some ropes. I want to drag this thing overboard. Before it starts to smell."

Once the oozing carcass has been pitched over the side, Ksandajja turns to her companions. "We seem to be adrift. I don't suppose either of you knows anything about sailing?"

[Q: Does either NPC have Sea Lore special skill? Unlikely (5+): O2 C3 - no, but...they are willing to get stuck in.]

The old man looks briefly as if he is about to speak, but then does not. The young rogue seems unduly interested in examining his own boots.

"Right, then," says the daughter of the desert, "I shall be our captain."

[Five minutes into my single-PC-against-the-world campaign, and already there's a party of three. So I quickly threw together 2 more starting characters.


Valganadd the Effulgent
SKILL 4  STAMINA 10  LUCK 9
MAGIC 7  Magic Points 19
Talent: Attuned (able to identify magic items by touch)
Special Skills: Language - Ancient Allansian 2, Underground Lore 2, World lore 2, Magic-Wizardry 2, Staff 1, Magic Lore 1, Craft 1, Etiquette 1, Awareness 1
Spells: Thunder (1), Flash (1), Weakness (1), Breathe (2), Force Bolt (2), Levitate (2)


Lisk
SKILL 7  STAMINA 12  LUCK 12
Talent: Swashbuckler (dodging reduces damage when hit)
Special Skills: City Lore 3, Sword 2, Con 2, Sneaking 1, Dodge 1, Brawl 1, Bow 1, Evaluate 1, Bargain 1


Ksandajja must test her SKILL to pilot the ship safely to port. She doesn't have the Sea Lore special skill, but her Learned talent gives her a +2, for an effective Skill of 6+2=8. But rather fittingly, she rolls a natural 12: disaster!]

Ksandajja takes the rudder, and barks out commands to the other two, who attempt to wrestle with the sail. They manage to catch the wind, and soon the ship is once again speeding along the coast towards their original destination, the port city of Ulq.

The clouds grow ever darker, and the wind increases in strength. Soon the rain begins to fall, hammering the deck of the little ship. It is all Ksandajja can do to keep the boat sailing in the direction of the city. She grips the rudder with all her might, forcing the boat to travel parallel to the coast. But so intent is she on maintaining the heading that she doesn't notice the rocks ahead, protruding just above the choppy surface of the frothing waters.

The sound of the hull splintering beneath them is louder even than the roar of the gale. The three travellers are thrown to the deck...

[To avoid injury they must each Test their LUCK (rolling 2d6 less than or equal to their current Luck score). Lisk has 12 Luck, so cannot fail (no crits or fumbles for Luck rolls), the other two need to roll 9 or less.

All three succeed, so suffer no damage.

Every time Luck is tested, it is reduced by one, so eventually a PC's Luck will run out. Luck is (usually) replenished at the end of an adventure, but Luck potions and fortunate events can also restore Luck points. It occurs to me as I am typing these words that random PC Positive events (via Mythic) would be a good way of deciding when to restore Luck without having to resort to GM-mode. This probably means I should stop re-rolling them for once.]

...but other than a few bruises are unhurt. Not so the little ship, which is even now falling into a pile of shattered timber beneath them. The three survivors scramble over what's left of the deck and hurl themselves overboard. Ksandajja and Lisk swim towards the shore, somehow fighting their way safely past the rocks through the churning waves. Valganadd lets himself sink down to the seabed, having invoked the Fourfold Power of the Endless Void, allowing him to breathe without drawing breath. He trudges along the sandy bottom, moving slowly but resolutely against the current. The other two had just about given him up for drowned by the time he walks out of the surf.

[None of our heroes have the Swim special skill, so Ksandajja and Lisk needed unmodified Skill tests to swim to shore.

Valganadd cast the Breathe spell before jumping overboard. To do this, he needed to roll under (or equal to) the total of his Magic (7) + Wizardry special skill (2): 2d6=6, success. The spell cost 2 Magic Points (leaving him with 17). I ruled he could make Swim rolls (against his Skill of 4) until he either succeeded or rolled a natural 12.

They all made the rolls they needed (Valganadd after 4 tries), so no one was swept out to sea.]

The three of them stand on the beach, taking stock of their situation. Valganadd has nothing but the sodden clothes he wears. Lisk has his dagger, which he dashingly carried in his teeth. Ksandajja has only the purse at her belt, containing seven gold coins and a set of nose plugs (necessary for one of her spells).

"Night will soon be upon us," says Ksandajja.

AFF solo - chargen, campaign setup, and matters arising therefrom

Typically desultory proœmium

I'm about to be very busy again, and won't have the time to devote to writing up Lycinia's dungeon adventure for a couple weeks at least. But May is the Spring Has Sprung: Try something new! event (link - link) in the Solo RPG community, so rather than letting my blog lie fallow, I present the first part of a new campaign/game I started a while back but never got round to posting.

This game began as a conflation of vague ideas which I'd been ruminating over for years, but had never managed to realise in any workable way. I'd made a fair few false starts, none of which I mentioned on the blog, but it finally seemed to be coming together.

In fact, there were actually two separate campaigns I'd been trying to figure out, but having started one it seemed that combining them was actually the answer that had been eluding me. The first idea is just a non-Tolkien, non-D&D fantasy campaign: grim sword & sorcery leaning heavily towards the hallucinatory bandes-dessinées end of the spectrum, but without being too gonzo. The second idea was actually inspired by a painting, Waterhouse's Mariana in the South (see above), which gave me the idea of a lone PC held hostage in a fairy castle.

Other inspirations in no real order:

• Tales of Telguuth
• C.L. Moore's Jirel of Joiry stories
• that one old Conan & Red Sonja comic in French translation I found in a charity shop
• Leconte de Lisle's Poèmes tragiques
• Nerval's oneiric works
• Théophile Gautier's more orientalist tales
• Mœbius
• Die unendliche Geschichte
• this really spooky cartoon version of 12 Dancing Princesses I saw on Nickelodeon in the late 80s
• something else that I have invariably forgotten to mention

From a game perspective, I was looking for something different than my usual fare. I'd considered both OSR and BRP games, but neither of those avenues felt right. Essentially, I wanted something that could support a single PC (and occasionally a small party, since it always seems to come to that), had some built-in rules for social interactions, and would allow me to develop my idea of eventually running a dungeon adventure with little or no combat. So it seems almost ironic, given that last point, that I settled on playing Advanced Fighting Fantasy.

Now, time to set up the campaign.


Step 1 : World building

Just kidding. I'll figure it out as I go. It might be set on Titan, it might not. I'll use all the baseline assumptions in the 2nd edition Advanced Fighting Fantasy (hereafter AFF) Deluxe rulebook, including the pantheon of Gods. If I need an area map I can whip up something with Hexographer in 20 minutes or so.

What's really important is...


Step 2 : Character

My vague setting ideas came first, but the character's wanderings though the world are going to be the lens by which everything about it is revealed, so this needs a little more thought. I had a vision in my head of a lone rider on a strange mount in a bizarrely coloured wasteland, so I decided to keep that thought in my head as I moved through the character generation process.

Indeed the first thing mentioned in the Character Creation chapter is character concept. I'll go through the rest of the steps in order, and try to summarise the rules as I go. I direct interested readers to the free Quickstart, which has  a good, if slightly simplified, overview complete with sample characters and an adventure.


Characteristics

There are 4 characteristics (attributes). All PCs possess SKILL, STAMINA, and LUCK. Magic-using and priestly characters possess a fourth characteristic, MAGIC.

Skill is used as the basis for all skill rolls and actions, Stamina is hit points, Luck has a variety of uses, such as finding clues, avoiding traps, and resisting magic, and Magic is a measure of arcane power and skill.

All PCs start with SKILL 4, STAMINA 8, and LUCK 8. There is a point-buy system used to increase these, but the most compact one of any game I've ever seen. You get 8 points, with 1:1 increase except Stamina where 1 point buys 2. There are maximum starting values which may not be exceeded, but these are lower than the maximums attainable through spending XP, so min-maxing isn't a problem. I wanted my PC to be skilled in both fighting and magic, so I spent my points for the following values:

SKILL 6
STAMINA 10
LUCK 8
MAGIC 5

Race

Humans, elves, and dwarfs are allowed as PCs. I chose human, as befits a sword & sorcery protagonist. Each race grants a bonus to one characteristic; humans receive +1 LUCK.

Special Skills

Special skills are areas of expertise and training, and are broadly grouped into 5 categories: Combat, Movement, Stealth, Magical, and Knowledge. They increase the character's SKILL score for relevant activities, though Knowledge skills may be used with a character's MAGIC characteristic instead (so you can make a very scholarly but not very martial wizard). 1 point is basic familiarity, 2 is competent, and 4 is a master-level of training, but most mundane special skills can be used without points allocated to them.

Default special skills are granted by race. Humans get World Lore 1, City Lore 1 (or Forest Lore, Plains Lore, etc. based on origin), Religion Lore 1, and 1 point of any Movement or Stealth Special Skill. They also get 4 points in the Language/Common Speech special skill.

Based on the image of my PC, I took Desert Lore 1 in place of City Lore, and Ride 1 for the free Movement skill.

All PCs may then assign 2 points to each of three special skills, and 1 point to six more. No special skill may be chosen twice, but these points may applied to the racial skills.

This was the point where I had to choose my PC's magical tradition, of which there are 3 major types: wizard, sorcerer, and priest. Priests draw their power directly from their deity, wizards shape the mystical energies in the world around them, and sorcerers power their spells with their own life force. I was really drawn towards wizard -- as I usually am -- but in the end I went with sorcerer just to be different. I already have a game or three going about wizards searching for new spells, so a character with a fixed list (sorcerers get all the sorcery spells, but  do not learn more) will force me to do something different.

My PC has learnt the following:
Swords 2
Magic - Sorcery 2
Awareness 2 (search, spot, listen...)
Second Sight 1 (to "see" magical effects & creatures)
Sneaking 1
Polearms 1
Language - Ancient Allansian 1
Magic Lore 1 (for analysing magic)
Magic - Minor 1 (cantrips)

Talents

Each PC gets a single Talent, which is some sort of special ability. Elves and dwarfs also get a bonus Dark Seeing talent, which humans may not choose.

I went with Learned, which grants +2 to all Knowledge Special Skill tests, even if the character has no points in the special skill being used.

I envision my PC as having learnt the arts of sorcery and swordsmanship in some immense ancient temple in the midst of a vast and trackless waste, and having devoted many an hour to study of superannuated tomes and scrolls in its cavernous library.

Finishing Off

A character's social class is rated from 0 (beggar, mercenary, criminal, i.e. most PCs) to 10 (king). Looking at the chart, I think that as a sorcerer my PC has a 4, equivalent to a clerk or witch.

Magical characters need to calculate Magic Points at this stage. Sorcery doesn't use magic points, but my PC has a point in Magic - Minor, so will need MP to power her cantrips. She gets 2MP for every point of MAGIC and every point in Magic - Minor, so has 12MP to work her little tricks.

She gets 3 cantrips (3x points in Magic - Minor). I chose Hear (lets you eavesdrop on anyone in your line of sight), Honesty (target admits one lie they have just told), and Weather Protection (does what it says on the tin).

Starting characters get a modest supply of equipment: 2d6 gold pieces, one weapon for which they have a special skill (and failing that, a simple club), a leather cuirass if they have the Armour special skill, a lantern & oil, a backpack, 2 PROVISIONS (meals; each heals 2 STAMINA if eaten), and one potion (that restores STAMINA, magic points, or LUCK).

I chose a sword and a Stamina potion. I managed to roll 12 for starting money, and spent 5 of it on a set of nose plugs, which is used for one of her sorcery spells. Unlike wizardry, many sorcery spells require material components.

The only thing missing was a name. I had a list of sword-&-sorcery-sounding names I had made during an earlier attempt at a game, so I just picked a nice one off that.

But I also wanted a character portrait. I had to find a fierce swordswoman in oriental(ist) clothes/surroundings, and neither over-armoured like a Jeanne d'Arc nor under-dressed like an Odalisque. So I did a Google search for "Judith + classical painting", and saved a selection. I think there may be some Salomés and a Medea thrown in for good measure, too.

Ksandajja
SKILL 6   STAMINA 10   LUCK 9
MAGIC 5   Magic Points 12
Social Class: Sorceress (4)   Age: 28
Talents: Learned
Special Skills: Common Speech 4 (+2), Desert Lore 1 (+2), World Lore 1 (+2), Religion Lore 1 (+2), Ride 1, Swords 2, Magic - Sorcery 2, Awareness 2, Second Sight 1, Sneaking 1, Polearms 1, Magic - Minor 1, Language - Ancient Allansian 1 (+2), Magic Lore 1
Cantrips: Weather Protection, Honesty, Hear
GP: 7
Provisions: 2
Equipment: sword, lantern, oil, stamina potion, backpack, nose plugs


So now the character was (rules-wise) ready to play, and I had a some idea of her background, but there were still a lot of gaps. What is she doing? Why was she travelling away from the solace of her temple? Upon what great Quest might she have embarked, and for whom? I think I can let that all come out as things develop during the game. If I ever make a big map, I can put a X on the far side of it for her eventual goal. It's probably the fairy castle, unless that is a random obstacle in her way, or only part of the story. Come to think of it, it's more likely that instead of a fairy king, the castle is the demesne of a vampire queen, or demon lord; this is sword and sorcery, after all.

She has enough personality and history that I have something to riff off of -- more in fact than some of my starting characters in other games -- and will avoid the pitfalls of my Magic World character who turned out less interesting than I'd hoped: sic tabula rasa, nec tamen rasior (thus a blank slate, but not too blank). But rather agonising over any more decisions about the campaign, I'm just going to play it out and see what happens.

next post: the adventure begins!

BRP solo - Part V: „Macht mir den Teufel nur nicht klein“

Lightning streaks the sky and Lycinia quickens her pace, hurrying up the lonely street away from the guildhall. She's soaked nearly through by the time she finds shelter from the downpour under an awning. She shares the refuge with a young crier. The lass looks at her fearfully for a moment, shifting her weight from one foot to the other as she makes up her mind to act, then timidly proffers a handbill. Lycinia scans the first few lines, then scowls and hands it back. "I have no desire to fight in a human war." [random encounter: baron recruiting mercenaries]

The rain, for all its vehemence, lasts but a few minutes, and Lycinia is soon on her way.

[Two more random encounters -- work gang repairing building & con artist who failed their Fast Talk (60%) roll -- were redacted. I almost passed over the encounter above, but it was a nice reminder of what else is going on in the setting.]

Scene 9

Chaos: Out of Control (1d8)

Setup: inspect the tomb

NPCs: Orezuthía the Arcane, Geredrom, importer, Terenbela

Threads: find & stop Geredrom the wizard

Ildmarch's cemetery was originally built outside the city walls, but with the expansion of the New Town now sits within the outer ring. Despite being in one of the poorest quarters of the great city, only the wealthiest citizens can afford even a modest monument in this sprawling necropolis of marble and granite.

The rain has ceased to fall by the time Lycinia passes through the imposing stone arch and into the tomb-lined thoroughfare. The air is heavy with an earthy smell, which calls to the elf's mind memories of the ancient Hill King's barrow, whence came her magical sword. So too does she reflect on the strangeness of human burial customs, so much more like those of the dwarfen folk than those of her own. She pauses for a moment, uncertain where to start her search in this immense sepulchral labyrinth...

[Q: Is anyone about in the graveyard? 50/50 (4+): O2 C3 - no, but...]

...but then she espies a light in the warden's cottage, where a candle has been lit to banish the stormy day's gloom.

The warden has a jocular mien, at odds with the circumstances of [d6=]his daily labours, though it does darken somewhat when Lycinia tells him she seeks the tomb of a wizard. He courteously points out the route to the guild's section, but unconsciously makes a sign to ward off the evil eye as he does so.

The guild's plots are ringed round by a black iron fence. The enclosure is smaller than Lycinia had expected, but she supposes that most wizards prefer grand and terrible tombs of their own -- those that do not learn to cheat death. But here the monuments are no more grandiose than those of the mundane inmates of the cemetery -- and no less.

It is but a minute's work to find the resting place of Varaniira the Seeress.

[Spot Hidden (69%): 55, success.
Q: Is there something to find? 50/50: O4 C3 - yes, but...]

Lycinia immediately notes that the space before the door to the crypt seems much cleaner than those of its neighbours, less mossy and with no overgrowth of vines. She presses gingerly against the rusting door, and is less than surprised to find it swings open on oiled hinges. Within she sees an empty marble sarcophagus, its lid lying in pieces on the floor beside.

Lycinia goes back to talk to the warden, but decides to keep news of the spoliation to herself. For though marvellous Ildmarch may be used to the presence of its wizards, but they are not so well loved nor trusted, and the less enlightened would be sure to assume the Seeress broke out of the tomb herself, as a lich, vampire, or something even worse.

[Reaction (CHAx5%) roll = 09, special success
Q: Does he know anything? 50/50 (4+): O5 C8 -  yes.]

The warden's cheerful demeanour has returned by the time Lycinia once again knocks upon his door. "Did you pay your respects to the great magicians of our fair burg? 'Tis not often they receive visitors."

"Do they not?" asks Lycinia.

"Them as is interred here don't seem to have many grieving friends in that there guild of theirs. But now you mention it, there were some folk lingering near the tomb a couple months ago. I chased them off. Nothing good never did come of normal folks hanging round the tombs of wizards." [UNE: knowing - report - knowledge]

"Did you know any of them?"

[Q: Did he? Unlikely (5+): O4 C4 - no, but... can describe one
+Event: Move toward a thread - esteem / Youth]

"Uncouth looking sort they were, at least most of them. But there was one, younger than all the rest, only it seemed he was in charge. Big mess o' curly hair and bright eyes, and this big ol' ugly windmill amulet."

Lycinia suddenly feels that her enemy has been toying with her.

[I actually didn't generate his appearance until this point, but I went back to the encounter on the road (scene 6) and inserted it in narrative there; another win for my posting-schedule lagging behind my playing.

Since Lycinia has now collected 3 clues (Move Towards a Thread results), it's time for her to make a roll. None of the clues point in any particularly strong directions, so she gets a difficult Luck (60/2=30%) roll: 90, no idea.]


Scene 10

Chaos: Out of Control (1d8)

Setup: interview apothecaries

NPCs: Orezuthía the Arcane, Geredrom, importer, Terenbela, youth with the windmill amulet

Threads: find & stop Geredrom the wizard

Lycinia's research at the guildhall has convinced her that making enquiries at the apothecary shops which the wizards frequent is the best way of picking up the trail of her quarry, either Geredrom himself or the cherubic youth who seems to be his apprentice. One of the guild's ianitores had told her of the three established shops in the Old Town (and where to find them). In a moment of perfect candour, he also did tell of two New Town shopkeeps, non-specialists to be sure, but whose no-questions-asked policies were much in favour of certain wizards who wished to conceal the substance of their Great Works from the rest of the guild. It was customary to visit these last in disguise. Will the good Elfin Lady be requiring one?

The components required for the gruesome rituals of which Lycinia read are quite rarefied, so she decides to start with the Old Town apothecaries.

[Setup: I used the d30 Sandbox Companion's Settlement Suppliers by Size of Settlement tables to determine how many apothecaries were in Ildmarch. Its population is about ~12000, (the smaller end of the Large City range), but for apothecaries (I used the magic supplies line on the chart) it uses the next column over. Thus there are 1d4+1=5 apothecaries

This scene's narrative is, by necessity, heavily truncated. Visiting a bunch of NPCs who have nothing to say in furtherance of the plot is exactly the sort of thing that gets cut out of a detective show. I have decided to leave my raw notes (including rolling up the shops with the d30 Sandbox Companion, and lack of formatting) for anyone who is interested. Scroll down past the green section if you aren't.

enc rolls : travelling peddler tries to sell trained rats, ignore

rowdy sailors, luck roll succeeds, ignored



3 in old town, 2 in new (non-specialists, but no-questions-asked. guild members visit (oft in disguise) to keep others in the dark about their research)


Old town 1
Interior: dirty
Prices: 125%
Depth of stock & C/U/R: robust 29/15/5
keeper attitude & react: poker-faced ±0

react: d30+3(cha): generally accommodating; will sell to PCs if item is in stock; will barter

reaction 65% roll:28ok

Q: Seen youth with windmill amulet? Unknown d6=4; 50/50: O4 C5 - yes

[friendly - happiness - treasure]so excited with his purchases. a model customer



encounter:town watch patrol



Old town 2
Interior: modest
Prices: 150%
Depth of stock & C/U/R: robust 29/15/5
keeper attitude/react: persistent +6

d30+3+6=31 will sell to PCs if item is in stock, and at discount (TBD by DM);
if item is not in stock, will try to hunt it down for PCs and attempt
delivery it to them (at standard price for item, plus applicable
delivery/courier fees); will barter for in-stock items

Easy react79, ok

Q: Seen youth with windmill amulet? Unknown d6=4 50/50: O6 C7 - yes

[prejudiced - partiality - superiors] didn't like him. apprentices are always blowing themselves up. but he wouldn't say who his master was!

getting nowhere. to new town...

enc lost peasant

assassin pursued by guardsmen

New town 1
Interior: dark
Prices: 90%
Depth of stock & C/U/R: average 20/6/1
keeper attitude/react: stoic ±0

react d30+3=30, will sell to PCs if item is in stock, and at discount (TBD by DM);
if item is not in stock, will try to hunt it down for PCs and attempt
delivery it to them (at standard price for item, plus applicable
delivery/courier fees); will barter for in-stock items

easy react, ok

Q: Seen youth with windmill amulet? Unknown d6=3 likely: O4 C2 - yes, and...

1d4: 1 here often, 2 seen him around, 3 at tavern, 4 elsewhere; 2

Around where? d10=new town, mercantile =this neighbourhood

Q: Anywhere specific? 50/50 (4+): O5 C1 - yes, and...
Cities random business: spice merchant

enc watch patrol

spice merchant
Interior: cramped
Prices: 75%
Depth of stock & C/U/R: average 20/6/1
keeper attitude/react: considerate +1

react+4: generally accommodating; will sell to PCs if item is in stock; will barter]


The first two Old Town apothecaries remember the strange youth, and have little real information concerning him. Lycinia decides to forego the third, and heads straight into the New Town. The first of the New Town merchants gives her a more solid lead, one so obvious she feels foolish for not having considered it herself: the youth is known to frequent a nearby spice merchant.

The spice merchant is a pleasant middle-aged [d6=]woman, though she seems completely inured to the exotic perfumes permeating her little shop. When Lycinia inquires after the youth, her face becomes instantly grave. [Reaction (65%) roll 05, special success]

"Him!" she exclaims. "Yes... I know him. I do wish he'd stay away. There's something... unnatural about that one."

"Please, go on." [Persuade (23%) roll fails.]

"I daren't!"

"How often does he come here?" continues Lycinia. "I need to find him. I'm looking into his activities on behalf of the mage's guild."

[Q: Does mention of the guild loosen her tongue? Unlikely (5+): O6 C2 - yes, and...]

"He needs a lot of melegueta pepper, and keeps coming back to buy more. I can barely keep up with his demand. He's threatened that if I any sell to anyone else..." [insane - turmoil - equipment]

"How often does he come by? Is he due back soon?"

[Q: Is he? 50/50 (4+): O4 C1 - yes, and...]

"He'll be back tomorrow."

"Good! Let me come back early and wait for him here."

Scene 11

Chaos: Out of Control (1d8)

Setup: Altered (was: waiting)
Alteration: surprize / Corse

NPCs: Orezuthía the Arcane, Geredrom, importer, Terenbela, youth with the windmill amulet

Threads: find & stop Geredrom the wizard

Lycinia returns to the shop early the next morning. It's dim inside, but a single candle still burns in a wall sconce. "Hello?" she calls. "Anybody here?"

[Q: Is anybody there? Unlikely (5+): O6 C6 - yes
+Event: Move toward a thread - observe / thing
Q: Who's here? (1d6): 1 corpse behind counter, 2 corpse rigged as 'trap', 3 animated corpse, 4 corpse + murderer, 5 corpse + youth, 6 animated corpse + youth; d6=4; d6=f: the murderess was generated with my Excel-based random thug generator]

She walks into the shop. Behind counter, see discovers the merchant's bleeding corpse.

The Murderess
STR 11  CON 13  SIZ 16  INT 10
POW  9  DEX 10  CHA  9
Dmg Mod +1D4    HP 15
   
Dodge 22%, Fast Talk 23%, Conceal 12%, Sleight 26%, Listen 43%, Spot Hidden 34%, Track 19%, Hide 10%, Move Quietly 16%

weapons: Dagger (54%/36%) 1D4+1+1D4
armour: hard leather helmet AP2

[Rolling the murderess' MQ (16%) vs. L's Listen (44%): 45 vs. 49...
Both failed, so the Murderess needs a Luck roll (45%) to avoid being heard:89, fail]

The floor creaks in the stockroom. "Who's there?" says Lycinia, drawing her sword. "I hear you!"

[Q: Is there a back door? Unlikely (5+): O1 C5 - no.

The murderess tries to Hide (10%): 18, failure.
Lycinia's Spot Hidden (69%):13, special success.]

There is some shuffling in the stockroom, and a shadow moves under the heavy curtain that serves as the stockroom door. Lycinia nudges the curtain aside, and sees a husky woman (nearly Brichtrethe's size) trying vainly to hide behind a wooden coffer.

[Round 1]
Lycinia tries to ensorcel the woman before she can attack, but the woman leaps at her with a dagger, and her need to parry the blow ruins her concentration. [Actually, she failed her roll to cast Sleep; -1MP for the attempt.]

[Rounds 2-3]
The woman presses her advantage, and Lycinia cannot work her magic [-1MP] under the furious assault, but neither can the woman best the elf's skill with a blade [hit,parry;hit,parry].

[round 4]
Lycinia abandons the peaceful approach, and lashes out with her sword, mangling the woman's arm. Her dagger falls from benumbed fingers at Lycinia's feet.

[L's attack roll was 06, special success, vs. a failed parry. 1D8+1=7 damage to the Right Arm. The murderess has a useless arm and only 8hp left.
Q: Does she surrender? Likely (3+): O6 C5 - Yes.]

"Please don't kill me!" pleads the woman, sinking to her knees.

"What have you done here?"

"A... a job. I needed the silver."

"Who hired you?"

[Q: Does she tell the truth? 50/50 (4+): O3 C7 - no.
d30 Key NPC = queen mother (normally I re-roll that result, but it seemed a perfectly sarcastic response]

"The queen mother."

Lycinia smacks her across face with the pommel of her sword. [1D3+2(as cestus)=3 damage] "Don't get smart with me!" [easy Persuade (23x2=46%): 22, success]

"Alright, alright! It was Boniface." [knowing - news - antagonist]

"Who's that? I mean, what does he look like?"

"What?"

"Humour me."

"Uh, young guy. works for a wizard or something. Curly hair, pretty eyes. Always wears that ugly windmill necklace."

"I need to find him. Take me to see him and I'll forget I ever met you."

"Why would you?"

"Nothing else matters."

[Lycinia's Fast talk (13%)for the probable lie: 47, failure; murderess' Insight (6%), 11 failure, she has no idea what to make of that statement.

Q: Does she agree? 50/50 (4+): O5 C2 - Yes, and...

Q: When? d24=1am
Q: Where? new town, wealthy quarter; Cities random building=scholar's house]

"I'll take you. I'm supposed to meet him tonight to collect my fee."

"Fine," says Lycinia. "I'm going to bolt the door, and we're going to wait here until then. You'd best bandage that arm of yours. And if you don't mind, I think I'll be tying you to a chair..."

Scene 12

Chaos: Out of Control (1d8)

Setup: Altered (was: to the meeting)

NPCs: Orezuthía the Arcane, Geredrom, importer, Terenbela, youth with the windmill amulet, murderess

Threads: find & stop Geredrom the wizard

As they head out into the nighttime streets, Lycinia warns her captive to keep her wounded arm concealed under her cloak; luckily it is a clear and frigid night, so it will hardly look suspicious.

[enc: merchant (& 1d6-2=0 retainers) tries to buy something from characters]

They've barely made it out of the New Town when a [d6=] man rushes at them from out of the shadows. "That sword! Just from the pommel I can tell it's a magnificent piece. What a tidy sum it would fetch on the collectors' market. I don't suppose you'd consider parting with it? I can pay handsomely. In gold, of course."

[Easy Persuade (23x2=46%) roll to chase him off; d%=13, success]

The way that Lycinia's hand flies to her weapon tell the merchant she isn't intending to draw it for display, and he scurries off into the night.

"He must've had a few too many, eh?" smirks the murderess, only to be disappointed that after nearly 15 hours together she's still not gotten the elf to respond to her with anything but cool disdain.

Before they have reach the scholar's house, Lycinia goes over the plan once more. "I will use my magic to become invisible. You go inside, pausing in the doorway to complain that your injury pains you -- making enough noise that it will mask my footsteps as I slip in beside you."

"Good plan, boss. What could possibly go wrong?"

[Casting Invisibility, taking an extra round for +INT to skill (46+16=62%): d%=56, success -4MP (based on her SIZ); Lycinia now has 6MP remaining

Q: Is the youth alone? Doubtful (6): O6 C2 - yes, and...
Q: Does he have any unusual senses or an active Perception spell? 50/50: O6 C3 - Yes, but... not any that will grant automatic success.

Some rolls--
Lycinia's Move Quietly (41-4=)37%: 76, fail
Boniface's Listen 29%: 83, fail
his Sense (10 + 1d6x10=)40%: 50, also fail]

The murderess raps a staccato rhythm on the door, and the curly-haired youth opens the door to admit her. "Thank the Gods of Hell and the Night!" exclaims the murderess as she pauses just inside the threshold. "I was afraid I couldn't get the knock right with me left hand, and I'd be stuck out here in the cold all night! Look what that cow did to me fighting arm!"

[Q: Does Boniface say anything first? 50/50 (4+): O2 C3 - No, but...]

Lycinia has meanwhile crept invisibly in behind her, sword in hand. Boniface, unaware of her presence, shuts the door firmly. An awkward silence falls over the room.

"So, uh, if you just give me my money, I s'pose I'll be off, then."

[Q: How does he kill her? d30 Phenomena (ridiculous result=weapon): strange weather]

Boniface holds out a purse of silver with one hand. As the murderess reaches for it, he stabs her in gut with a short sword. [hits abdomen, d6+1=7dmg, leaving her unconscious & bleeding with 1hp] She topples to the floor, her lifeblood forming a dark pool where she lies.

[His base stats were also a product of my Thug generator:

Boniface
STR:  8  CON:  7  SIZ:  9  INT: 13
POW: 13  DEX: 14  APP: 10
HP: 8  DM: +0
Combat: Shortsword 49%/31%, Dodge 47%
Skills: Fast Talk 30%, Insight 42%, Hide 57%, Move Quietly 57%, Listen 29%, Search 33%, Sense 40%

Lycinia is going to attempt to hit his sword arm; attacking from invisibility is Easy (x2), which cancels the Difficult (÷2) for the Called Shot. She rolls 03, Critical success. Damage is capped at 4 points (2x arm HP), which puts Boniface at 4hp.

Q: Can he suffer blood loss? unknown d6=6, doubtful: O1 C6 - no.]

Boniface stands over the dying woman, seeming to revel in his deed. Lycinia pads closer and lashes out, bringing her enchanted blade down in a high arc upon his sword arm. It neatly bisects his limb halfway to the elbow, but no blood flows from the wound. The whole of the stump shews rotten gangrenous flesh beset by writhing worms, and the smell of decomposition wafting from it causes the suddenly visible elf to retch.

[Initiative:
L 18+5
B 14+10
He attacks with (1d8): 1-3 spell, 4-6 demon power, 7-8 other (un)natural weapon: 5
Vomit Acid (40%, 1D8, range 4m)]

The angelic-faced youth laughs for a moment, a mellifluous sound at odds with the aura of corruption he exudes. Then he tilts back his head and a stream of yellowish bile issues from his throat. [Attack 40%: d%=30 hit, L's dodge (63-4=)59%: 34, success]

Lycinia's warrior instinct takes over, and she deftly side-steps the toxic stream, which eats through the overstuffed armchair behind her. She takes a swing at the demonic youth, but he just as nimbly avoids her blade. [sword would have hit, but dodged]

[Round 2]
Boniface spews another acid stream, but Lycinia has already moved aside [miss]. She buries her sword nearly up to the hilt in his chest, where his heart should be [4 damage reduces him to 0hp]. His mocking grimace vanishes as he topples to the floor. His body starts to froth and boil, quickly losing all cohesion as it melts into a noisome oily mass.

Lycinia's eyes burn from the stench, but knows she must search the house.

[Time to roll for Clue #4 (from last scene): she gets a Normal skill roll; Spot Hidden (69%) seems appropriate: 66, success.]

There is a desk piled with papers, upon which she finds a deed to an old theatre, recently purchased in the scholar's name. With it she finds old plans of New Town streets with sewer entrances marked, and the same markings on a more recent plan, showing the new arrangement of streets laid out after a fire ravaged the quarter. She also finds a ring of old, tarnished keys, one of which, she hopes, will unlock the theatre [Spot Hidden: 36, success].

[Q: Is the scholar's corpse present? 50/50 (4+): O4 C3 - yes, but... not all of it
Q: Is there any treasure? Unlikely (5+): O6 C1 - yes, and...
Boniface is TF6: jar of 250 coppers, purse with 12sp & 2gp, windmill amulet worth 658sp]

The rest of the house produces little of interest. The scholar's library is extensive, but his focus on plants and animals in the natural world has left little to excite one dedicated to supernatural studies. The scholar himself -- or rather, what is left of him -- has been reduced to a dried cadaver, laying in jumbled pieces atop his bed.

Lycinia had hoped that the unnatural, spiritual substance of the demon-youth would have disappeared into the aether by the time her search was concluded, but this unholy fiend seems firmly rooted in the physical realm. She feels the amulet could be important however, so fishes it out of the gelatinous decomposition with a fork and washes it thoroughly with wine.

She wraps the amulet in a cloth, and puts it in a pouch with the city plans, deed of sale, and the ring of keys, then slinks invisibly away and back to the guild.

[Thus concludes the investigation portion of the adventure. I think if I do this again I will hand out clues whenever they seem to fall naturally, rather than waiting for Mythic to produce Move Towards a Thread results from the Oracle. Those would make good extra, unexpected clues, though, and keep the investigation from drifting steadily and inexorably towards the most obvious conclusion. Also, mysteries work better with a small, known group of NPCs, so maybe I should have just used the Horror theme like I usually do. It worked for Call of Cthulhu...]

Next post: into the dungeon! (Click here)

BRP solo - Part IV: „Ich frage keine Blume / Ich frage keinen Stern“

"You cannot come in here like that!" protests the ianitor, Cemmeret, as the gargoyles take up position behind him with their halberds.

"But time is of the essence! I must see Orezuthía at once."

"This is a place of study and repose for the members of our guild, an august body to which you, unless I have been misinformed, do not currently belong. We aren't in the habit of allowing ill-tempered warriors in full armour and bristling with weapons to stomp inside whenever they feel so inclined. Not even elvish ones."

"Fine. I haven't the time to argue," says Lycinia. The gargoyles tense as she takes the pistol from her belt, but instantly relax as she places it carefully on the step before her. She unclasps her sword belt, which clatters down around her feet. Her miséricorde is still skittering down the stone steps as she begins wriggling out of her mail hauberk, which she discards just hastily.

"Now I will go to see Orezuthía," says Lycinia as she shoulders her sack and pushes past the sputtering ianitor. The gargoyles step aside to admit her into the hall, and she is almost certain she can see a smirk flash cross their stony, otherwise impassive faces.

Scene 7

Chaos: Out of Control (1d8)

Setup: back to the Guild

NPCs: Orezuthía the Arcane, Geredrom, importer

Threads: find & stop Geredrom the wizard


"I need a necromancer," says Lycinia, half out of breath.

"I believe 'hello' is a more usual greeting in these lands," says Orezuthía. "And keep your voice down -- that's not the sort of magic one does here."

"No, I mean in the original sense. I need someone who can speak to the spirits of the dead."

"Really? Whatever for?"

Lycinia opens her leather satchel to reveal a human head inside. "I have some questions I need to ask her."

"Oh! What a sight. But I see that my trust in you was well placed. You really are willing to do whatever it takes, aren't you?"

"Théscine once said I over-react sometimes... but this seemed the most expedient course of action." (In point of fact, Lycinia couldn't bring herself to cut off the head of the woman she found still alive, but does not see any wisdom in revealing this fact.)

[Q: Does O know Speak with Dead? Unlikely (5+): O5 C4 - Yes, but... not memorised. Can cast from spellbook.]

"I know the spell you're after, but I haven't used it in an age. Tell me everything whilst I find the book it's in."

"I would very much like to learn this spell," hazards the elf. "I found it on a scroll once, but I had to use it ere I could copy it down into my own grimoire."

"Then you understand," says the wizard, digging through piles of old tomes, "we have to prepare our questions in advance. And that we'll be limited by how long she's been dead. When exactly did she die?"

"I don't know. This morning, perhaps? Maybe last night?"

"Oh? So you didn't k--"

"No!"

"Don't get tetchy. I'm well past judging you... just intrigued. Ah! but here it is; now let's get started. Hmmm... just put that on the floor. No, leave it in the satchel. I don't want it dripping everywhere."

[Speak with Dead isn't included in Classic Fantasy, but is trivial to convert. I didn't worry about skill as Orezuthía can cast slowly and has plenty of time & Magic Points to get it right. The LotFP spell allowed the deceased a saving throw to resist, so POW vs. POW on the resistance table. As a 9th Level M-U, Orezuthía has POW of 1D8+13=18, the farm girl has the normal range, 3D6=12; this gives her a 20% to resist, but she fails the roll.

Q: Has she been dead more than a day? Certain (2+): O1 C1 - No, and... died shortly before L got to the farm (thus, they get three questions since it's within 24 hours).
+Event:  Move toward a thread - use / charms. the questions will result in a Clue.]

They discuss avenues of questioning before casting the spell. Orezuthía agrees to follow Lycinia's lead, though she herself will still need to ask the questions. When all is in readiness, Orezuthía opens her dusty tome and begins the incantation.

The head's eyes suddenly open when the last syllable is pronounced. Orezuthía sets the weighty volume aside and addresses the head. "What happened leading up to your death?"

The head's lips move sluggishly, and the voice that answers seems detached and far away. "He tricked us! We thought Geredrom was our friend, but then he put a sleeping draught in our wine. When we awakened, we were chained up in the barn, and he used our insides to form a magic circle as we yet lived..." [UNE: knowing - speech - antagonist]

"What about the delivery of serpents?" says Lycinia, and Orezuthía echoes her words.

"He didn't say. We were happy to keep them in the barn for a while. They ate all the rats." [friendly - gratitude - retainers]

"Did he say why he was doing this?"

"He babbled something about needing to appease some wicked goddess, and to trick her into reversing death itself." [hostile - death - antagonist]

The head has barely fallen silent before Orezuthía exclaims, "The madman! He thinks he can bring [d6=] her back!"

"Her?" asks Lycinia. "Her who?"

[Q: Who? 1d6: 1 mother, 2 daughter, 3 friend, 4 lover, 5 wizard, 6 demigod; d6=5]

"Varaniira the Seeress, one of the most powerful wizards of this age."

"Why?"

"To hear her final prophecy, of course! No doubt he's found a way to compel her to speak it. And avoid her curse." [hear / sentiments]

"Her curse?"

"You really don't know, do you? I am surprised word of her prophecy hadn't reached the faerie forest."

"More likely it has -- but has not been divulged by order of the council."

"No doubt. Well, her final prophecy was said to be about a power so great she dared not pronounce it, for fear of the repercussions. So she went willingly to her own death, but only after she had conjured a curse so terrible against any who would disturb her rest, that it..." Orezuthía shudders in spite of herself.

"I understand. I don't suppose you'd let me use the library?"

* * *

[And for the record, I had asked--
Q: Does Lycinia get her 'parcel' through city gate without any problems? 50/50 (4+): O6 C5 - Yes.
but putting that at the beginning would have spoilt the surprise. There were also no random encounters of note on the way back.]

Scene 8

Chaos: Out of Control (1d8)

Setup: in the library

NPCs: Orezuthía the Arcane, Geredrom, importer

Threads: find & stop Geredrom the wizard


Orezuthía escorts Lycinia to the great library. The elf can't help but look round in wonderment at the row upon row of magnificent stacks, groaning under the weight superannuated tomes, even older scrolls, and tablets of wood, clay, and stone that predate many of the ancient elvish books she was once allowed to consult in the magician's school of far away fair Feyalldra.

"Try not to look so gormless," scolds Orezuthía, "or you'll be relegated to the apprentices' section." Lycinia composes herself at once. Orezuthía strides across the room and right up to the podium behind which the head librarian, a being whose face is perpetually shrouded in the darkness of its heavy cowl, is sitting and turning the vellum pages of a codex bound in human skin with an unnaturally withered, begloved hand.

"This one's looking into a delicate matter of Guild business for me," says Orezuthía, jabbing a thumb over her shoulder. "I trust you'll afford her every courtesy you'd afford me."

The cowled figure makes a shaky, yet sweeping gesture towards a nearby wooden frame, upon which rests an oversized tome, nearly as tall as Lycinia herself. "Our catalogue," says Orezuthía. "It's easier if you know how to ask it for what you want, but I'm sure you'll make do." Lycinia once again regrets having had to use a spell from the captured scroll [Bookspeak] before she had the chance to transcribe it into her own spellbook. She suppresses a sigh, and begins leafing through the weighty book.

[Library research may be one of my favourite things in real life, but it makes for terrible storytelling. So imagine, if you will, a montage sequence of Lycinia searching through the gigantic catalogue, running her finger across the carefully scribed rows of titles and shelf locations, and her eyes lighting up as she finds a book she thinks will help. Then doing it again... and again... and again... then finally getting a stack of books to consult, and reading... reading... reading some more. To really shake things up, imagine the quizzical look on her face as she comes across a significant passage, then flips back 10, 20, 30 pages to compare it to something she'd read earlier in the book.

So anyways, she can make one Library Use (34%) roll every 4 hours; realistically, that's going to be 2 rolls.

1st roll: d%=20!

Q: What does she learn? return / existence : reincarnation as way of bypassing hereditary curse

2nd roll: d%=04! special success. She'll get 1d3=2 pieces of information

From my grimoire title generator (WIP):
   The Bizarre Night of Miscreation
   written by a dreadful king
   Spells contained: special

She learns --
conceal / air : must be done in place hidden from the sky
approach / moment : astral cycles, 1d8=7 days left

Q: Does the ritual require constant tending? 50/50: O6 C6 - Yes.
+Event: PC negative - advance / order (see below)
Q: Does it require perishable supplies? 50/50: O3 C4 - no, but... distinctive ones
Q: How long does it take in total? 20+1d100=81 days]

Lycinia spends the whole day in the great library, but when she finally stumbles back to Orezuthía's chambers she is beaming with her success.

"I know what Geredrom is doing," says Lycinia triumphantly.

"Tell me before you collapse," replies Orezuthía.

"It all makes sense now. It was all there in this ancient grimoire I found. Have you ever read The Bizarre Night of Miscreation?"

"Oh, honey, I'm just not that sort of girl!"

"I'm being serious. The ritual in there... all described... I may never eat again."

"Intriguing!"

"He's... not exactly resurrecting her, and it's not precisely re-incarnation either. He's... it's like he going to regrow the flesh round her bones and have her, well, reborn. The serpents were just there to harvest their skin, and the other thing, the ritual to appease the Mother of Carrion, it was...."

"You'd better get some sleep before you fall over."

"I'm afraid of my dreams..."

* * *

But sleep she does, and when she wakes the next morning she resolves to set out into the city on Geredrom's trail. But as she leave the guildhall, she does not realise she is being followed.

[Time for the Event from above (PC negative - advance / order); another guild member moves against Lycinia due to her connection with Orezuthía.
1d8: 1-2 O's rival, 3-7 apprentice of O's rival, 8 non-wizard guild servant; 5
d6=f

Terenbela, initiate of the 2nd circle
Apprentice wizard

Personality: Shifty, Lucky

STR 11  CON 13  SIZ 11  INT 15
POW 13  DEX 12  CHA 14
Damage Mod +0
Hit Points 12

Spells: fools' gold, light, burning hands, hopelessness

I have some random NPC generators I made for Magic World & RQ3 that I've been using for stats, and adjusting skills etc. as needed. Someday I hope to redo them properly. Until then, I'm assuming 1d6x5% increase in skills that seem plausible, and INTx2 + 1d8x5% for beginning spells (to be rolled as needed).

Terenbela's Move Quietly (36%): 17, success
vs. L's Spot Hidden (69%): 74, she doesn't notice]

Terenbela is one of the younger apprentices, but has taken to the cutthroat internal politics of the guild like no other; there is no doubt amongst the master wizards that she shall have a long and fruitful career in their venerable institution, though possibly at the expense of one or more of them, should they not be careful. But today she is content to do the bidding of her [d6=]master, and further his schemes against his rival Orezuthía by striking at her associate. Terenbela has never met an elf before, and wishes the circumstances were otherwise, but she is certain she can best the fairy princess in guile and cunning, if perhaps not any other way. The dagger concealed under her cloak is but little comfort today; for an elven lady is never without her sword.

She swallows hard, and once she is certain the elf is far out of earshot, she begins weaving a spell upon her. [She casts Hopelessness (100m range); skill 60%, 42 = success.
POW vs. POW to resist: Lycinia has a 45% to win the contest: 25!]

Terenbela bounds up the narrow path after the elf, meeting her right before the iron gate. "Hey! hey, wait a moment," she calls. "I don't know what that old witch has got you doing, but it seems pretty hopeless."

Lycinia turn to see the breathless young woman opening a money pouch and pouring out a fortune in [fools'] gold coins into her hand.

"I feel bad for you," continues Terenbela. "Really I do. Here, take this. You can use it to get out of Ildmarch, start a new life, m--"

"Cast another spell on me and those coins will be paying for your funeral." [Persuade fails]

"Huh. You're a better magician than I thought. Especially after what they've been saying about you. You know, with what happened last time you were in Ildmarch." [UNE: mysterious - obscurity - last story.
Fast Talk (30%): 01 critical vs. L's Insight: 05, special success -- the Critical is thus reduced to a Normal success (=lie believed for 5 minutes)]

"Last time? What have you heard? What are they saying?"

"It's not my place to say. But after what happened with Itragad..."

"Yes... well..."

"and then, the...."

"and what?!"

"It's not my place to say."

"Just what is your place?"

"I'm an apprentice! But, y'know, at least the wizards aren't all whispering behind my back. I don't envy you at all. Sure you don't want my help? This money will get you pretty far in the human lands."

"I-- no! I have things to do. I suggest you get out of my way."

"Things to do? I just hope you're up to it, is all." [scheming - compromise - skills]

"Be off with you!" shrieks the elf.

[Q: Does Terenbela follow her? Unknown 1d6=4 50/50: O1 C1 - no, and...
+Event:  Ambiguous event - surprise / heaven]

But Terenbela does not hear Lycinia's words, for a that moment a peal of thunder resounds in the heavens, and the wind comes in greater gusts. Terenbela takes a look up at the glowering black clouds, then hurries back inside the guildhouse, leaving the fuming elf to cool her anger in the shower of rain that begins to fall.


next post: grave robbers, murderers, and apothecaries