Actual Play / First Time / Custom "Rules"

Actual Play / First Time / Custom "Rules"

So while I was home this summer away from my usual game groups I was itching for a game. To that end, I experimented with solo RPG and found it surprisingly satisfying. I developed something close to a structure that worked for me. So, I thought I'd share my experience and see if it mirrored anyone else’s. I'll put notes about choices I made for design/play in bold I’ll include the fiction in italics.

I used Blades in the Dark, a system I'm very familiar with. One of the things I like the most about it is that it forces the players to engage in a discussion about how strong a character's fictional position is. I wanted something where the fiction mattered. I chose to simply ignore all of the underlying structure for crews, factions, etc. This was the first choice I made. I essentially took the core mechanics of Blades because I was familiar with them and I like their focus on fiction. I ignored everything that didn't apply. I used Scarlet Heroes general Oracle to answer questions that I had, but mostly I was able to solve things on my own.

I wanted to do something with a S&S flavor rather than the core Blades experience. I decided I would be playing Makoto, a wandering monk exiled from her order due to monastic politics. Here I broke with the rules of Blades and did my own thing. I set up my stats, but I didn't choose any special abilities. Instead, I decided I would have 3 slots for "Facts" about my character. I would discover these through play. In the style of Blades, I left gear blank as well. Instead, I set a load limit of 6.

I figured it wouldn't be a S&S adventure if it didn't include a good snake cult. To represent this I chose 3 aspects to represent the snake temple I would purge of evil cultists: Swamp, Cultists, and Cursed Architecture. I gave each of these aspects 2-5 tick-boxes. When I brought one of these aspects into play, I would tick a box. When all boxes were ticked that aspect had been fully explored. This was the second choice I made. I decided that an adventure would have a certain number of aspects and each aspect would have a finite number of uses. This is, in essence, the "Dungeons as Monsters" method from Planar Codex (World of Dungeons). Basically, this gave me a short hand for determining how big the dungeon was.

Next, I set a starting scene this consisted of describing, quietly to myself, the scene as I would as GM. I took some quick notes and wrote down the images.

Room 1: Stone arch and broken buildings open to the night sky. Mangrove trees drive their roots into massive stone faces and knots of carven snakes. The whole place is hip deep water and smells of rot. Tiny paper lanterns float on the water and in the distance, we can hear the chanting of the cult.

Here was another important choice. I took quick notes on the scene so I could pick up the game whenever I wanted and also enjoy the act of creating scenes. I used the basic technique of describing senses and images that leaped to mind. I used paper, but recently I've experimented with Google Keep.

I checked one of the "Cursed Architecture" boxes and noted that this dungeon's geography was actually writhing and shifting like a snake to stop me from finding my way.

Now it was time to act as GM. So, I asked myself "What do you do?" As the player, I needed to find the cult in the maze of the dungeon, so I used the rules of Blades to find my way. I chose an Action, set difficulty and effect, etc. The ins and outs of Blades isn't the purpose of this post, but something I did do something important; I played honestly. I set the difficulty for tasks the same way I would as a GM, but I didn't have anyone else to work with, so I had to take responsibility for how I saw the fiction.

I decided Makoto was going to Attune (use magic) to try and find her way. My position was risky (this was possible, but hard) with zero effect (I was a single adept and this was an ancient dungeon with an active cult that was resisting me). So, I needed to spend some resources to make things easier on myself. So, this character was largely undiscovered so I decided to fill in some of the empty spaces I had to meet these challenges.

I decided Makoto had a bunch of paper talismans in her pack. I wrote that down on her gear list. Because they were small and light I decided they only took one slot. They could have taken 0, but they since they were magical I determined they were rare and therefore, limited. Play honestly. I thought how I would light them and instead of just a torch I decided that Mokoto was ½ Kitsune (a fox spirit) and she would light the lanterns with magical fox fire which would guide her way as they floated out on the water. Here’s another thing I did. I went with the first cool thing that leapt to mind, as long as it didn’t violate the “Play Honestly” maxim. Between this and Pushing Myself (another feature of Blades) I was able to bring my effect up from zero to limited.

So now we have this moment where Makoto folds a tiny paper lantern out of one of her talismans. She holds it to her face and blows on it until a tiny green flame sparks to life. She places the lantern on the water, with the rest of them. We see the lanterns gather on the surface of the water. The green ones drift against the current, deeper into the tunnel. Makoto follows them into the darkness…

Having set up my position, I picked up my dice and made the roll…

And this was the moment that I thought was interesting. This is the reason I play RPG’s. I love setting up the perfect gamble. I love setting the stakes and getting the moment tuned just right so that no matter how the dice fall I will enjoy the result. Usually, this is a collaborative process I share with my friends. But here I was forced to do it all alone. It still worked though. I still got the joy of creating images and characters. I still got to manage resources and fall in love with a character. It was slower, surely. It was more taxing, in some ways. But that moment was still there.

I failed that roll. Rules dictated that a complication occurs. I knew exactly what it was. Say the first cool thing that comes to mind and play honestly.

Just as Makoto steps through the archway a massive serpent bursts from the water, wraps her in its coils, and drags her under…