Scarlet Heroes Single Player

 I am running a one-player Scarlet Heroes campaign set nominally in the default setting that comes with the rules. The default setting is a scattering of islands that can have just about any climate and culture. I used my Isle of Respite setting that I used once before for solo play.

It was my first chance to try the Scarlet Heroes rules (which I really like) as they were designed to be used. The rules are meant to allow a single player to run through OSR adventures with little to no changes. When I attempted it with solo play I did not get more than a few sessions. This time, as a one-player game, we managed to make it to a 4th session. Then the player died an ignominious death.

I don't think this means the rules do not work. I just think low-level characters in OSR games are always at a real risk of dying. I did not drop the player right into a classic OSR dungeon crawl. Instead, I wanted to work up to B3 Palace of the Silver Princess with a few starter adventures. Ideally entering what I had renamed the Palace of the Jade Princess at level 3.

My player ruled up a truly ordinary hero. All attributes bonuses were zero except for a -1 Charisma. So he named his thief Genero. Genero arrived at the village of Darga on the Isle of Respite fleeing the encroachment of the Red Tide on the island on which he was born. His first adventure involved an ogre demanding tribute from the village. I used the Dungeon Crawl Classics Adventure, Legends are made, not born by Chris Doyle (2003). Things went well and in three sessions Genero had rescued the local villagers, killed the ogre, and killed the evil wizard lurking in the caves. One on one against the Ogre he actually did very well and killed it in three rounds. Here the healing rules were essential as he was able to heal much of the damage from the ogre before descending deeper into the caves.

After returning triumphantly from the ogre cave, Genero learned of the disaster that has struck Haven (Palace of the Jade Princess) from refugees just arrived in Dargo. He decided to set out overland for Haven. On the way, he met a widow who pleaded with him to rescue her two children who were kidnapped by Frog men. Here I used Lair of the Frog King from the DMs Guild by RP Davis.

Genero entered the Croaking Mire on the trail of the frogmen, met a friendly trapper who told him where the frogmen laired and warned him of a giant dire beaver in the area. Thanking the trapper, Genero pushed deeper into the mire - and was attacked by the giant beaver.

Here things did not go well for Genero and he was killed. During the seven rounds of the fight the Beaver struck 4 times and Genero struck 3 times. But the Beaver did damage on every hit and Genero rolled a 1 (no damage) twice. When Genero was down to 1 HP and was struck by the Beaver for 1 point of damage we looked up the Defy Death rules. And read them again. And again.

I am not sure I did them correctly. Genero rolled 1d4 twice as he was 2nd level. The first roll was a 1, the second was a 4. So he still died because while the first roll did no damage, the second did 2 points.

We are going to roll up another character and try again, probably somewhere else on the island.

Genero sneaks up on the sleeping ogre