Roses & Wyght - Setup

Intro and Setup

Game System: Adventurers!

Tools: rpgsolo.com solo engine; playeveryrole.com solo engine; fantasynamegenerator.com; other random generators

My First Solo Game

I don't recall how, but a couple of months ago I discovered Tunnels & Trolls and their solitaire modules. While looking for other solitaire resources I ran across information about solo role-playing using various GM Engines and random generators. I really saw myself getting into that, and ended up diving in hard.

For this story, I’ve decided to use the Adventurers! game system. This is for a couple of reasons. First, I’ve never used it and I was interested in giving it a try. Second, it seemed simple enough to not get in the way of the story-telling, yet with just enough complexity to keep the game mechanics interesting.

Story Idea

While I understand much of the fun in solo roleplaying is discovering things as you go along, I have thought much about this story before actually beginning. (In fact, I'm not entirely sure how to start a session without having at least some idea of the direction in which it is going to go.). Because of that, I'll admit right up front that the first two or three chapters might be more narrative than roleplay. But I do try to throw in some randomization and I'm sure the roleplaying will pick up once I get past my initial ideas.

Character Creation

If you are not interested in all the minutiae of how I am creating my characters, feel free to skip past this section and go directly to the “Character Summary” where I will list the results and begin the proper story. Or just jump to the next post and begin the story. On to my main character.

Characters in Adventurers! have 7 stats, three assigned by the player (Strength [STR], Agility [AGI] and Mind [MND]) and 4 derived from the first three and other factors, such as weapons and armor (Attack [Att], Defense [Def], Endurance [End] and Heroism [Her]). You are given 6 points to distribute any way you want between STR, AGI and MND. I wish to randomly assign these quantities so I will be rolling dice.

Since I don’t want a 6, 0, 0 situation, I will begin by rolling a d5, assuring I have at least one point in another stat.

3 = 3[d5]

That leaves 3 points left to distribute.

3 = 3[d3]

That’s all my points. So my stat amounts are 3, 3, 0. Now to assign these number to stats. For the first “3” I roll a d3: 1=STR 2=AGI 3=MND

1 = 1[d3] STR. That’s good! For the next “3”: 1=AGI 2=MND

2 = 2[d2] MND. That leaves AGI with the final stat of “0”

Don’t worry. These stats act as roll modifiers, so a zero doesn’t mean that character has no agility, only that he doesn’t get a bonus on any agility rolls, whereas he will get bonuses on STR and MND rolls.

Now for the derived stats.

Attack (Att) depends on weapons and skills, so we will leave that blank until we have some skills and weapons.

Defense (Def) depends on AGI and is modified by armor. So his base is 0 with a modifier TBD later.

Endurance (End) is basically Hit Points. This is calculated STR+AGI+3. Our character has 6 End.

Heroism (Her) is a limited number of points a character has that can be used to either add a modifier to a roll or to completely reroll a check. This is as the lowest stat +1. Therefore, our character has 1 Her (0 AGI+1).

Next, our character gets to choose some skills. He can either have two basic skills or one advanced skill. In my backstory for this character, he is a simple villager whose life has mainly consisted of helping his father with the family business. (Random occupation generated at PlayEveryRole.com: trap maker. Full disclosure, the first two occupations were completely inappropriate for this character [baron, diplomat] and I discarded them.) I’m going to assume he only has basic skills. Using the list of skills from the Adventurers! rules I choose:

Crafting Appropriate for a trap maker.

Mobility (Randomly Generated) Mobility requires a focus and I will obviously choose mounts.

Skills allow a character to roll 3 dice instead of two and choose the two highest numbers when facing a challenge that involves that particular skill.

I think it’s about time I came up with a name. Using some lists at fantasynamegenerators.com and a randomizer I come up with:

Bhartram Rosemight Probably calling him Bhart.

I also need to come up with a Concept for the character. Concepts are made up of a description and an archetype, such as brave sailor. Concepts give characters advantages and other perks when they perform tasks or handle situations that relate to them. I will hold off on assigning a Concept until I flesh out Bhart’s background. Except for some filler, that about does it for Bhartram. Using the same method I will roll up the other two characters and be back with the final character summaries.

[Whistling as time passes]

Character Summaries:

Bhartram Rosemight (Diligent Trap maker)

STR:3 AGI:0 MND:3 Att:3 Sword/0 Dagger  Def:0  End:6  Her:1

Gear: Sword, Dagger, Common Clothes (Tunic, trousers, boots)

Skills: Crafting (Basic) I assigned this skill to fit Bhart’s Concept, Mobility [Focus: mount](Basic) Random

Background: Bhartram is the 21-year-old son of a trap maker. He is essentially his father’s apprentice, prepared to take over the family business when his father grows old. He has one sister, Leira. Being the older brother, he is protective of his sister. In particular, he is wary of Harper Wyghtwing, a hunter who Bhartram grew up with and who is interested in courting Leira. While he has no formal combat training, Bhartram has learned some swordsmanship from the locals. He is a quick learner and likes to interrogate travelers who pass through the village for news and other bits of knowledge. He enjoys riding and is very adept at handling a horse. He is clean-shaven, of medium build, with a mop of shaggy brown hair.

Leira Rosemight (Charming Pickpocket)

STR:0 AG:1 MND:5 Att:1 Dagger  Def:1 End:4  Her:1

Gear: Dagger, Common Clothes (blouse, shift, leather bodice, boots)

Skills: Charisma (Basic) Assigned to fit Leira’s Concept, Perception (Basic) Random

Background: Leira is the 19-year-old sister of Bhartram Rosemight. Since their mother’s passing a couple of years ago, Leira has become the woman of the household, doing the cooking, cleaning and other chores their mother used to handle. However, she longs for excitement, always preferring to play outdoors and escape to the woods whenever she can. Another favorite hangout of hers is the local inn where she meets all types of travelers. She is slender and very attractive with tight blonde curls that fall several inches below her shoulders. She is charming an easily draws the attention of men and women alike with her personality. Over the years, she has learned to use this to her advantage, becoming a bit of a pickpocket and thief, taking small items while her “victims” are distracted. Bhartram knows about this and attempts to discourage her, but it is a losing battle. While she is aware of Harper’s interest in her, she is not ready for any commitments and simply maintains a friendly, yet flirtatious relationship with him.

Harper Wyghtwing (Confident Hunter)

STR:1 AGI:2 MND:3 Att:2 Bow, Dagger & Sword  Def:2  End:6  Her:1

Gear: Bow, Dagger, Sword, Well-Fitting Leather Armor

Skills: Ambidexterity (Basic) Random, Weaponcraft [Focus: Bow] (Basic) Assigned to fit Harper’s Concept

Background: Harper grew up in the same village as Bhartram and Leira, but had a more adventurous spirit than the other two. Unfortunately, the village offered little in the way of adventure and Harper was not of an age or means to take off on his own and travel the countryside looking for “dragons to slay.” To offset this, he took up hunting as a hobby (assigned, as opposed to random, for narrative purposes), and later as a profession, believing exploring the nearby forests for wild game was as close to adventuring as he was going to get. Bhart’s father makes all of Harper’s small game traps and he is at their house/shop often. While Bhart’s demeanor toward the hunter is rather cold, Harper still enjoys coming around since it gives him an opportunity to spend time around Leira, with whom he is smitten. Unfortunately, for him, however, Leira currently is only interested in a friendship, though she certainly doesn’t mind the attention and will use the hunter’s feelings to her advantage, should the need arise. While Harper, at age 20, is technically younger than Bhartram, they differ by only a few months and, because of his confidence and a wider variety of experiences, Harper tends to treat Bhartram as though he’s the younger. He is rather muscular and several inches taller than Bhartram. He is also clean-shaven and has medium length jet black hair.

One final note before beginning the story. My plan is to detail any out-of-story mechanics that help move the narrative forward, such as Oracle questions, random story prompts, combat and skill dice rolls, etc.. However, when I simply use a random generator to fill in details, such as names and descriptions, I will just mark the item in the narrative with the notation [RG] for randomly generated, for the benefit of anyone interested in the “inside baseball” side of things.

On to our tale . . .

(Continued at Chapter 1)