Exemplar core draft 1

 Exemplar is a derived from the classic D&D rules that have been around in one form or another since the mid 70s, but with changes to express the solo nature the intended game. The power level of characters is higher in resistance to damage and rate of success, and the game is simplified down allow for less complexity when a person is both the player and the GM.

The core mechanic is a d20 over a target, which is familiar to most RPers at this point. The difference is that the target are derived from the character seven stats. In this way it has a similarity to roll under games such as the Black Hack, White Hack, and SS&SS (Sharp Swords & Sinister Secrets), but instead of rolling under the stat is “inverted” by subtracting it from 22 to generate the base target.

The six original D&D stats are employed, but renamed to express their expanded use. Here we are drawing from the idea of Approaches as was first suggested in Fate Accelerated Edition. Each Ability Trait (Replacing the more well known ability score)

Forceful - Strength. Actions such as fighting or athletics or intimidation

Skillful - Dexterity. Stealth or Archery, but also anywhere else a body of knowledge meets manual expression

Resolve - Constitution. Resistance of the mind and body

Cunning - Intelligence. Actions, such as solving math problems and recalling obscure lore.

Intuitive - Wisdom. Actions like sensing danger or spotting a detail at a glance.

Presence - Charisma. Persuasion, and magnetism, whether used by a leader or a conman

Lastly there is a seventh stat

Fortune- A heroic luck and ability to push fate in a preferred direction.

Examples will follow  but here is a a stat block of a PC.

Forceful 14/8

Cunning 11/11

Skillful 13/9

Intuitive 9/13

Resolve 16/6

Presence 10/12

Fortune 13/9

If a PC wanted to attack an unmodified foe it would be a d20 roll against an 8. To walk a tight rope, assuming he is skilled, it would be an d20 dif 11. To randomly pick right between two options (say picking of two cards) it would be a luck check against an 8.

The original stats are kept because they are the target of opposition. Someone trying to push a PC down a flight of stairs would roll against Con (for resistance) of 10. Trying to sneak past them would be 16 (assuming no advantage), and trying to best a PC with a logic puzzle would be a 9. As you can see the offense and the defense come to the same odds, which is fine, as many rolls will be more convenient if player facing. (Naturally whether the player character or NPC are acting you would apply all applicable bonuses to either side. See opposition document and examples to follow). Note that Skillful Ability Trait is Bold. That is because it is the Exemplar trait. Any roll using this trait gets an automatic Advantage to the roll. This doesn't have to be the highest trait, or even a trait associated with the Class or Culture of the character. It is just a field of action which the Exemplar is above and beyond.

This is the base core to the game. Simple. The goal at this point to to add satisfying complexity.

A glossary of useful terms (Draft 1)

 Traits

Traits are a collection of descriptions that explain aptitudes, skills, knowledges, possessions, experiences, and other qualities that are a permanent part of the character. The most commonly used traits are Ability, Culture, Archetype, and Class, but as the PCs' experiences grow more will be added to the list. Traits after character creation are developed from roleplaying and story rewards, but guidelines will be provided to make that an easy and fun task. A traits primary purpose is to grant Permissions.

Permission: Permission is a concept closely tied to traits. A permission is the ability to take an action that is given by possessing a trait. If you can’t suggest through some trait, how to take an action, even badly, you cannot attempt the check.

Ability Traits: 

Ability Traits are the core traits that describe the capabilities of characters. Rather than define a specific skill or aptitude, they describe the natural abilities to go about solving problems and expressing other traits. These traits are derived from those originally given in the 1970s version of the world's most popular RPG. To that is added one more, Fortune, which is especially useful for the solo gamer.

Forceful: This replaces Strength in the classic game and is used in all situations where the Character is exerting themselves using some aggressive quality, whether combat, a stare down, intimidating another character, or standing up to bullying with a show of forceful resistance. It is also useful in athletic situations which are defined by aggressively hurling oneself into it, such as competitive sports like football, or a foot race, or a chase. 

Cunning: This replaces Intelligence from the classic game and is used in situations where intellect and quick thinking rule the day. This is a combination of bringing to mind the knowledge base that is provided by background, class, culture, and character development in the most useful fashion possible, but it has other applications as well. When the ability to put together clues that are available (rather than unseen factors which is covered by intuitive), in a Holmesian way, such as a crime scene examination, a tracker, or someone looking for a secret or concealed door, Cunning is the most useful approach. When concepts like coding, or academic magic are in question, Cunning is also most useful.

Skillful: This replaces Dexterity in the classic game and is used when a combination of thinking and movement are necessary. It encompasses grace, mechanical aptitude, hand eye coordination, and the ability to do complex things under pressure. It differs from Forceful as it isn’t about drive related tasks but skill related tasks. It differs from Cunning in that it isn’t about manipulating a body of knowledge, but a body of techniques. Though it could well be used to express a graceful martial arts kata or the ability to do a precise long range shot, it would be hard to maintain this poise in the heat of battle, especially when damage begins to pile up.

Intuitive: This replaces Wisdom from the classic game, which has always been something of a nebulous term. Here we refer to the ability to glean insights subconsciously, whether from the environment, or from a character's own internal or animal instincts. The way a ranger understands the intentions of an animal, an actor, the mood of a crowd, or any adventure the danger lurking up behind them is ruled by the Intuitive trait. While some conclusions drawn by Intuitive and Cunning would be the same, they represent two different approaches. A Cunning investigator could present his chain of evidence, but an Intuitive cop would just know he is on the right path. This would be a prime skill for priests and psychics drawing power from that which cannot be understood, only accepted.

Resolve: This trait replaces and expands on Constitution from the classic game. Resolve does cover physical resilience, but not just as health, but also as a reservoir of internal strength that allows it to be used equally well resisting the charming eyes of a warlock or the poison of a snake bite. Likewise, exhaustion from sleeplessness or physical exertion. Here we see the qualities of willpower that were once given to a Wisdom ability. If your character has some power from an internal reserve his Resolve will effect that. If you resist a bully or a charging brute by planting your feet or planting your gumption Resolve will cover that as well. A monk chi’ or a dwarf hardiness and magical resistance would spring from their Resolve.

Presence: This trait replaces the classic trait of Charisma, and serves a very similar purpose. It is a combination of gripping noticeability, and the ability to manipulate the emotions and actions through that magnetism. Fast talking, slow cons, working a room, gathering followers, or inspiring the troops would all be done with the Presence trait.

Fortune: This is the only trait that is not based on a classic ability score, but it is one of the most important features of Exemplar. The Fortune trait is only possessed by Exemplars and other Exemplary characters. Fortune is a luck trait and a fate trait.  By rolling against it you can determine how well or poorly things are going for a character. By draining it off, which does raise the chance of ill fortune befalling you, you can manipulate the strands of Fortune. When misfortune befalls the Exemplar the Fortune score can mitigate it or, if accepted, it will swell the Fortune Pool (which we will discuss later). The Fortune trait is how a single PC can stand, with some cleverness, against all the trials of the world.

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Other Traits

A Character is more than just its aptitudes. They are also where they come from and what they have learned along the way. Your other core traits will help to define these qualities. 

Culture: Everyone has a past, and for RPG characters sometimes it gives them a leg up in the world. Whether you are a young wizard from a secret wizarding subculture, or from a farm town in Iowa, where your character comes from imparts a certain character to them, and if far enough removed from their starting point it will give them a collection of advantages and disadvantages.
Define the culture of your character in the context of the game you are playing. If you are in a human centric world, but are an alien species, that is going to have a lot more importance than whether you are also from a farming community, as the two different views of farming are probably worlds apart. But if your character is playing in the same city he was born into, just like all the NPCs, then the subculture of the character will play a much bigger role.

The biggest role of your Culture trait is to grant permission to do the skills that are common to your culture, species, or training, but if they would grant an extraordinary benefit they can have a positive effect on Ability Trait Checks. On the other hand if you are a skater boy from Chicago, you won’t know how to replace a wagon wheel unless you learned that skill elsewhere. Thus the Culture trait can also close doors when appropriate. 

Concept (formerly archetype): If your Culture trait is broadly where you come from, your Concept is broadly what you do. Depending on the genre of the game this could be as mundane as, cab driver, (or better yet hot tempered plucky cab driver) to as exotic Queen's Champion. A Concept  describes your character's profession or lifestyle, and to some degree their outlook. It also gives you a collection of shadow traits that are implied in the phrase. These give permission and sometimes expertise. Like culture they can also offer restrictions, but mostly through the perceptions of others. Some people don’t like the Queen, so her Champion may not be welcome. 

Class: A thing that separates an Exemplar from other talented persons is their professions. A class trait is a broad collection of extraordinary abilities that makes an Exemplar uniquely suited to a life of adventure. The most common classes are Warrior, Mystic, Specialist. But these are too broad of definitions to be much fun. Instead you may be a Weapons Master, a Fire Master, or an Infiltrator. A character's Class trait gives them a certain expertise and a certain generality. It shows that they can do all the basic adventure things, such as searching, jumping, hiding, and dodging, but it also grants permissions to do extraordinary things, like conjuring fire, shield disarms, and opening high tech security safes. 

Shadow Traits and Overlapping Traits: While every trait listed above has some very obvious applications, all of them imply more than they say. A Weapons Master Dwarf who is the Queen's Champion has an incredible implied list of abilities that a Fighting Smith Monk Dwarf would. Though both are Warrior Class Dwarf Culture the entire feel is different. These traits that are hidden in the depth of a Descriptor or created by two crossing descriptors are Shadow and Overlapping Traits.

Hinderance Traits: This is another trait that may be implied or it could be spelled out. A hindrance is when a Trait works against a character. Some are implied, such as a person who just can’t stand Wizards and you happen to be one, then there is an implied Hindrance to Presence Ability Trait Checks. Others are explicit. If you have a wound on your right leg, and right leg actions would have a Hinderance Trait which would reduce their effectiveness.

Why solo play? Why now?

I have been a GM or gamer for about 35 years. There is no hobby like it. There have been times I played all the time. Other times I would just sit around and read the books, but at no point has it been far from my life.

I also had the amazing good fortune that about 28 of those years I had the sort of stable gaming groups that are the dreams of GMs everywhere. Then life happened. Circumstances that happened to involve a major hurricane, the near loss of my online job, moving across a state, semi homelessness, and starting a new life elsewhere, made my old style of gaming impossible. I didn’t have the community connections and didn’t live in a time or lifestyle that would allow me to form them.

Like so many gamers in that later circumstance I turned to gaming online. I tried the Roll20 VTT, I worked with some play by post (PbP) sites, and I played with some excellent people on Discord…. And none of it quite worked. I had some good scenes, but no good games. Part of it is I am an old dog and new tricks are HARD, but a much bigger part was the general instability of life.

Then the pandemic hit a couple years back and suddenly everyone was talking about solo RPGs. I took to them like ducks take to water. I realized I had been half doing them in game prep and daydreaming for years. Soon I realized something else. In their own way they were as much fun as a group RPG yet very different.

Well, the pandemic is passing, but I am still a busy middle aged man with a family, and I am still solo playing primarily. That is no problem though because I enjoy the hobby in this new phase as much as I ever have. Not better, but not worse: different.

One last confession. I am diagnosed with a difficult chronic illness. This has made it very difficult since I moved to my current town and rebooted my life to go out and meet other gamers.

With the finding of the solo gaming community this has become a non problem. There are many reasons people player RPGs solo, but as a whole the community has been friendly, inviting, and helpful.

Well now I want to do my part as well. I, and my generous cohorts, are embarking on a project to make a solo gaming platform to help people, who are less experienced at spinning the gossamer threads of imagination, to build their own castles in the clouds.

Exemplar will be a simple game specifically designed for solo play. It will be supported by robust modular setting pieces, in various genres (eventually), which will allow people one place to find and play their games. Should it work out as planned, players will be able to play their games, build their campaign settings, and share their ideas. Maybe your playground, or a clone there of, will be where other people want to play. And then you too will have given back.

-Hob

Project Updage: We are Off!

Our talented technical director Mr. Peel has made us a fillable character sheet. The next step is a glossary of terms, and then the basic play rules.

This is just the beginning. The next step is more challenging. We are working on a series of prompts and modular content so people can have good quality pieces to make their own solo rpg campaigns.

It will be a step by step process, as all things are, but this first step means a lot.

In addition to my stepson Jack, Mr. Stern is coming on to playtest, and assist with modular content creation. So there are four of us. That is four hundred percent growth.

I would say sky is the limit, but I don't see the point in limits right now.

Thank you Graham. Thank you Bill. Thank you Jack.

Thank you to all that have shown interest.

I am shooting for a first playtest in a month, and at least one to two blog posts a week.

-Hob

The Green Ghost and the Night Star

 

The Green Ghost and the Night Star

During a time of stress and strife the green ghost a appeared in the nigh sky. It was a point of unseeable darkness surrounded by a green glowing cloud. Some pointed telescopes at the sky and called it a comet. For most it just felt like a nightmare. 

In its wake the dark became the nightmare, as creatures of myth and legend, or at least the darkest of them, crawled out of abandoned places, holes in the ground, and cracks in our minds. The impossible became possible, and we lived as if damned.

One year later another apparition appeared in the sky. This comet was brilliant white, and as it bore down on the earth it cast a cold radiance. The astrologers with their crude instruments were baffled, as it acted as if were made of pure light, with no mass, but moved like a slow astronomic body. Rather than hit the earth it passed around it thrice and streaked off into the wake of the green ghost.

Then came the Exemplars. Men and woman, and sometimes beings as if from a fairy tale, who raised arms and arts against the Ghost-spawn. The impossible became possible, and and we cheered.

In the hundred years that followed many exemplars arose and died, but the nights became safe. Now there are few Goblins in the night and few Exemplars in the day, and the world has found its new normal.

Still sometimes the world needs a hero. Be our hero Exemplar.

Ok, cheesy I know, but game writing doesn't have to be brilliant. I doesn't have to be perfect. It has to be engaging and above all it should be brief. Exposition isn't as interesting as game writers seem to think it is. Above is a perfectly good lead up for a fantasy or steam punk game to explain hero's and monsters. I may even use it.

Exemplar, an Introduction

Exemplar (working title) is a solo and one-on-one RPG in the action adventure genre, which uses a strong main character guided by roleplaying prompts and structured guidelines to have extraordinary adventures.

The title Exemplar reflects that the characters are exemplary. They are very good at what they do from the beginning of their careers, but there is vast room for growth and improvement.

This is a class and level game, similar to Dungeons and Dragons. Infact it is inspired by both the that game and the literature that it grew from. But it also strives to leave behind a lot of the limitations of that game and that literturature, and allow for unique adventures. The Solo/One-on-One nature of the game is key to that.

In a group RPG, one concept has to be kept at the forefront to make the experience work for the group: Balance.

Balance indicates that each character, and thus player, gets its own share of the spotlight, and no character outshines the rest. Balance here largely means fairplay. And that is a good thing.

But what if we want a more personal story. Or an adventure that has elements of metioric rise, or maybe even world ending consequence. Or maybe we just want to tell simple homely stories,  which wouldn’t necessarily interest other people at our table. That is where the more intimate and individual nature of a Solo or One on One game shines.

To play Exemplar you will need a few things. First a character. The details of how to make your hero will be explained in essays soon to follow. You will need some funny dice or a dice emulator. Fortunately if you are using Chrome browser one is built in. Lastly you will need a starting point for your story. Either you can do this from scratch or use some of the adventure prompts we will provide.

In fact what we will be mostly offering is a framework. First with how-to’s for characters creation and interaction with the world. These are simple rules to build and resolve dynamic and slowly unfolding scenarios. 

Next we give you tons of genre special story elements for developing stories. Things like non player characters, locations, organizations,  monsters,  treasures, and much more. 

Finally we will give a narration framework, a story engine if you will, to move content blocks in front of the character,  so that the world blossoms around them. This engine will have a break and a throttle, so that you can focus in as much detail as you like, or you can even jump into the future to play out the same hero at a further point in thier career, with a few victories and losses under thier belt and more power and resources at hand. 

Don't worry that this will just be a pile of rules. We will give plentiful examples and variations along the way. 

We are just beginning but in time we will give you the tools to unlock infinite worlds, and a chance to walk, run, and fly in them. 

Hob

Working Title: Exemplar. Design Goals.

 

Exemplar is the working title for a Solo or One-on-One RPG project. Some design directives are below. Like many projects of the last 10 years it has an inspiration from D&D, and attempts to allow that style of play with some story driven elements drawn from games like FATE Accelerated Edition and Mythic GM Emulator.

Goals and directives

• The goal is to make a robust system that can support any action oriented game like those of classic fantasy (D&D) or Scifi (Traveller or Cyberpunk) or Modern Fantasy (Shadowrun), but with a single primary character.

• It should support simple conversions from modules and adventures, and have simple ability to assimilate settings.

• It should support solo and one on one play. Likewise single session games of any level as well as long term campaign play.

• Abilities should be both free form and easy to build, and most of the ideas from the source literature and inspirational games should be able to be easily reconstructed.

• It should also support free form improve as is found in games like Mythic, but move back to a structured game with little to no hassle. 

• It should have an easy learning curve (thus leaning hard into pre existing game concepts).

Whisper Whisper

So, I am going to whisper this out into the world.

I am six pages into writing a much longer project. It started as a RPG hack for playing D&D in a solo fashion, but has blossomed into a solid solo/one-on-one RPG. I said I am 6 pages in, and that is true, but it is six pages written from a hundred pages of notes, and dozens of hours of test sessions, and a lot of number crunching.

I don't expect to be the next rich and famous break out designer. But I would like to have my shot at giving back to the hobby that has meant so much to me. One-on-games have been very satisfying to me my whole life, and solo gaming not only kept me in the hobby when situations put me far away from a group, but turned out to be its own sort of delight.

On the long term I would like to provide the world with an inexpensive but flexible toy to excite the imagination. On the short term I am happy to have something to noodle with.

While I am some weeks away from anything to playtest, I welcome encouragement and questions, and should anyone be interested I will make some concept docs available in the near future.

Thanks for your time

Old Hob