One Page Solo Engine

Another round of playing using the Glaive RPG rules that I got from backing a kickstarter. The last time I used the rules to play solo and my character was killed in his first encounter. This time things went about as smoothly as you could possibly hope.

I used the same setting of Frostmarch. In fact, this is a continuation of the events in Brem Lonetree's story. This time I used the One Page Solo Engine written by Karl Hendriks that I found online somewhere. These rules are exactly what you would expect from the title. A single landscape page pdf that encompasses all you need to play solo. Those familiar with other oracles will find it is very similar. The big plus of these rules as they have everything you need on one page. Scene setting, yes/no oracle, Complex questions using a regular deck of cards, NPC reactions, and finally a simple dungeon crawler.  I tried out as much of the tools as I could jam into one session.

It worked well. I really like these rules. Especially how compact they are.

Arven Reed’s Story

It was another freezing cold day. Reed chopped wood just outside the tower. The wood chopping had the benefit of keeping him active and warm, and if he chopped enough, he could keep the tower warm the entire night. He dropped the ax on another log splitting it in half. Reaching down to pick up the wood he thought he could hear something. He paused. The wind was not very brisk today, but it was cold.

“Reed!”

Reed definitely herd his master Zoquill this time. He picked up the ax and jogged quickly into the tower. Zoquill’s tower was very tall with a room for Reed at the base and a long stair up the inside of the tower to the three floors of rooms near the top where his master lived.

“Reed get up here!”

Reed was out of breath when he finally made it up the forty feet of steps to the lowest level. There was no sign of Zoquill in his bed-chamber so he continued up the stairs to the workroom and on up to the study just under the roof of the tower. Zoquill was here looking out a window with his telescope.

“Stupid Messenger is in trouble,” Zoquill said and gestured for Reed to look. Reed carefully looked through the telescope making sure not to bump it. Through the blurry glass, he could make out a dark spot on the snow in a clearing. “I don’t see anything master?”

“Humph, be that as it may. The messenger from Greenvale with our supplies and more importantly my books was waylaid by goblins. You need to go retrieve the supplies.”

Reed glanced at the sun through one of the windows. It was a few hours from setting. “I will set out first thing at dawn,” he said cautiously.

“You will go now and come back with my books or do not come back at all.”

Reed's heart sank. He had heard that note of finality before. There was no use arguing. He went back down to his quarters and grabbed the heavy blanket he used when out in the cold. Drawing it over his head. He also belted on the old sword he had owned for years. Finally, he carefully buckled his three spellbooks to his belt. The last thing he grabbed was a covered lamp. It was going to get dark soon.

Reed sets out into the Thin Thorns Forest

Scene 1 Travel: Find the Messenger

Is Reed able to find the messenger (unlikely)? Yes.

Are there any supplies remaining at the scene (unlikely)? No.

Are there tracks he can follow (likely)? Yes.

Arven Reed manages to find the spot in the snow in an open clearing where the messenger from Greenvale lay dead in the snow. The man is already starting to freeze. There was a look of surprise frozen on his face. Looking about Reed sees that all of the supplies have been taken. The sled appears to be intact. Tracks lead off into the trees of at least two goblins. Reed briefly looks at the dead man wondering who he is and what he wanted out of life. This is no time or place to bury the body so he salutes the body mutters an apology and follows the tracks left by the goblins.

Reed follows the tracks left by the Goblins. It grows dark and cold. Ahead he sees a cave.

Have the goblins left a guard (likely)? Yes. 

Two goblins guard the cave entrance. Reed opens a spellbook and casts Sleep on the two guards. They both fall into slumber (they failed their saving throw and will sleep for 1 turn). He is unable to retain the use of the spell (Reed has the talent Manifold Cerebrum which gives him a chance to retain a spell after casting it).

Scene 2 Dungeon Crawler: The Goblin Caves

Reed sneaks up and enters the cave. There are two tunnels heading in opposite directions. 

Can Reed see any recent tracks (likely)? Yes. 

He heads down the right tunnel which appears to have seen more traffic. The tunnel enters a cave that looks like a living area. There are two exits including the one he entered. A human dressed in leather armor is seated on a stool at a simple table. The man spots Reed and jumps to his feet. “Who are you?” Thinking quickly, Reed says, "Relax, I am here for the same reason you are." (I rolled a 5 on the encounter which is neutral or friendly NPC).

Open-ended question - (Creating, Social). 

"What? I thought I was the only envoy that was sent?" Reed answers that he is here to pick up something. The man seems suspicious but Reed is able to move past him and down the new tunnel. The man moves to follow but then thinks better of it and sits back down.

Reed walks down the tunnel and comes to an intersection. One passage heads back toward what he suspects is the other tunnel coming from the entrance. There is also a goblin here sitting on a stool. But the goblin is dosing (again I rolled a neutral encounter). Reed sneaks by him.

Reed quietly enters a larger cave. There are several wooden crates stacked against the wall and one is the crate from Greenvale that he is trying to find (I rolled a location for a specialized purpose). The light from his lamp startles a goblin rummaging through an open crate. The goblin puts his hands up to show that he has no weapons (amazingly I rolled a third neutral encounter). Reed takes out his spellbook and casts Charm. The goblin fails a saving throw and  Reed retains charm in his memory.

Reed tries speaking to the goblin but the creature does not understand him. He checks in the crate and sees that most of the food is gone but the books, magic components, and writing implements remain. He checks through the other crates and sees blankets, clothing, and other winter gear. Taking two blankets he wraps up everything in two bundles. He also grabs a small pouch he spots that has four gems in it. Reed hands the two bundles to his new goblin friend and waves at the goblin to follow.

He heads out what he is certain is the more direct route to the exit of the cave (the dungeon crawler indicated one exit leads to an area already mapped). His goblin friend follows carrying the two bundles of gear.

Are the goblins at the cave exit awake now (normal)? No.

Thankfully the goblins at the cave are still asleep. Reed calmly walks past them and heads out into the night with his goblin friend. After 10 minutes he casts Charm again to keep his goblin friend under control, (success) and makes it all of the way to the abandoned sled. Realizing the goblin is going to snap out of the charm soon. Reed points the goblin back towards its home and waves goodbye. Reed sets out pulling the sled. The goblin happily waves until disappearing from Reed's sight.

Does he make it to the tower without further trouble (likely)? Yes. 

Reed makes it back to the tower before the sun rises. Zoquill is asleep so he unpacks the supplies in the blankets and heads to his own bed to sleep.

Reed and a friend leave the Goblin caves

Glaive RPG Rules

 On a whim, I backed the Glaive kickstarter and got my reward a few weeks ago. It is a booklet sized physical produce coming in at 30 pages. Given that it is based on the Knave RPG it is actually a fair bit more detailed (my version of Knave is only 7 pages).

Glaive takes the Knave rules and mixes them with some old school D&D rules. The first change you notice is character creation is that the six attributes are just modifiers (+1 to +3 to start) with no Defence numbers like you have in Knave. The characters choose from 2 talents to start and can have as many as five in play. Talents are arranged by old school classes but they do not have to be chosen that way. You could choose the warrior’s Hack and Slash talent (roll of 18-20 you perform a stunt), and the magic-users’ spell-casting ability. You can gain more talents as you level but you can only have 5 at a time. You can actually drop talents to change it for a new one.

Hitpoints advance with level. You reroll your entire hit points at every level increase (they cannot go down). Hit points are d8 for everyone. Combat feels a lot like D&D. You have d6 initiative and roll a d20 + your ability modifier (Strength for melee) and hit if the roll is greater than or equal to the opponents AC. You can regain 1d6 hit points if you pause for a turn and eat rations. Almost like a computer game. I am not certain about this rule. Given the rules on encumbrance, you are limited in how many rations you can carry.

Character creation also has similar traits (personality, background, etc) to Knave. There are also a lot of random charts included for gear. Inventory is done like Knave with it based on Constitution and you have a set number of slots (10+ CON bonus).

In an interesting choice, magic spells are provided but they are not grouped by level. They are all level less but some scale depending on your level. They are also no healing or offensive spells. The rules note this is to prevent magic-users from being healing bots or artillery. But the rules also provide magic-users the ability to turn any spell into a burst of offensive magic that does damage based on level. Ohh, and the kicker is that each spell is in a single book and each takes up one inventory slot. So Mages need high CON. I can understand the reasoning here but I think I would prefer if it was intelligence-based. Maybe all the spellbook takes up 3 slots and the number of spells is based on intelligence.

The rules do not include monsters but OSR monsters can almost be used as written and the rules do provide an explanation of how to convert monsters or create your own.

I found the rules interesting, I do not like all of the choices but I am willing to give it a try. Since my online Swords & Wizardry game takes up most of my time I am not going to try running Glaive online at least not right now. That leaves playing Solo. I decided to use Mythic as the Solo engine since I have the Mythic cards and want to get them into more use.

The (Brief) Adventures of Brem Lonetree

Scene 1 Cold Start: Close Thread, Disrupt, Friendship.

Brem Lonetree is working as a mail carrier for the messenger guild. He works for a named Wilmar Finkel. Today he arrives in Greenvale but he is delivering the messages two days late because he got held up by snow. But he has often been late. This time Wilmar uses the contract to dock his pay. Rather than 20 crowns, he is paid only 12. In a rage, Brem curses Wilmar and vows to never work of him again.

Brem goes out and gets a room at the Wandering Minstrel Inn now that he has to leave the Messenger Guild Hall. It costs him 3 crowns for the room and a hot meal.

Is Brem disturbed during the evening? Unlikely. No.

Event: NPC Action, Malice, Dispute.

The next day Brem is minding his own business eating breakfast (down to 8 crowns now) when local tough Padon Bitsk enters the tavern and walks over to where Brem is eating. He leans over and spits in Brems porridge. Brem looks up startled. Podon chuckles and says that he was sent by Wilmar to collect him.

Brem thinks for a moment and then leaps to his feet and takes a swing at Podon. It is a swing and a miss. Podon (+1 to hit, AC 10, 6 HP) swings a punch at Brem striking him for 2 points of stunning damage. Brem takes another swing and misses again. Podon laughs and punches Brem in the stomach for 1 point of damage. Finally, with his anger boiling to the top, Brem strikes Podon right in the jaw as the other man is laughing. Podon goes out like a candle and crashes to the floor. The angry innkeeper Berstern Dobbs comes out of the kitchen and yells at Brem to stop fighting. Brem smiles and says the fight is all over. He gathers his gear and trudges out the door.

Scene 2 Expected Scene: Wilmar expecting to be offered a job by Wilmar. Interrupt. PC Negative, negligence/adversities.

Brem goes to the small hall that is the quarters for the Messenger Guild. It is empty except for Wilmar behind a table. Brem tells Wilmar that he got his message but he is not interested. Wilmar, raises his eyebrows, "Ohh, you have other plans then?" Brem shrugs. "Well forget it. You owe me money and I expect to collect". Brem is confused and argues. But Wilmar says that the Messenger guild was not paid by two clients because Brem was late. Wilmar informs him that he has been penalized for the 40 crowns. He asks Brem for the silver. Brem laughs but Wilmar shows him the penalty note on the contract. Since Brem cannot read he shrugs. He figures he can just walk away and there is not much Wilmar can do about it.

Wilmar further tells Brem there is a way for him to pay back the 40 crowns and get paid an additional 40 crowns. Brem leans in with interest. “What needs to be delivered?”

Wilmar tells Brem that they have a large delivery that needs to be made outside the town. It turns out the location is Zoquill's Tower. The wizard Zorquill’s tower is in the Thin Thorns forest, which can be dangerous. Brem knows that Wilmar is likely really desperate. He expresses concern at the danger and demands 60 crowns. They settle on 50 crowns.

Wilmar goes back to the locked stockroom and with much struggling drags a wooden crate into the room. Brem goes over and tries to lift the crate. It is heavier than a keg of beer. He goes to the stock room and grabs a sled to place it on.

Scene 3 Expected Scene: Brem delivers the crate to the wizard 5 miles away. As Expected.

Brem sets out immediately. It will be impossible to get to the wizard's tower and back while the sun is still up. At this time of year, there are only 10 hours of sunlight. So he sets out just as the sun is rising.

Does Brem encounter any difficulty passing through the Thin Thorns? Likely. Yes.

As he reaches the Thin Thorns he can just make out the tower of the wizard in the distance. Keeping the location in mind he trudges through the pines careful to avoid snowfalls. He hears some odd animal calls and realizes he is being followed. He maneuvers the sled into a protected position near some trees and ducks behind it and waits. After a few moments, a pair of Goblins carrying spears advance slowly out of the trees toward the sled. Just as they reach the sled, Brem leaps to his feet and attacks one with his spear. But the goblins are not surprised and attack as well. One spear cuts into Brem's arm. It throws off Brem's aim and he misses. As he steps back one Goblin stabs him in the side. Brem feels warm blood pouring down his side. He struggles to get away but the goblin's chop him down. Brem falls dead in the snow. The wizard will never get his crate of goods.

So that was a little disappointing. A drew up a little map (below) and everything for this solo adventure and poor Brem was killed in his first encounter. The combat was no more deadly than any other OSR game. But I rolled poorly for Brem and very well for the goblins. The encounter should have been of mild difficulty but it turns out Brem is a lousy fighter.

I will have to try something else using Glaive in the same setting.