The Phase Trio

Lets pause for a minute and look back at our phantom players and their characters. We have one "player" who wants planning and riches. We have a second who is into physical struggles. The last character, has been transformed into our primary character and he is all about finding out how and who gave him "the bug" and then he wants to get even. These motivations will can all come together in our Phase Trio.

Peaking into the Fate Core Rules we see that each player should start off their adventure then hand it off to the other players. Now as a solo player you have a couple of choices, but I still want the phantom players to contribute randomness to the process. So lets head back to Mythic and see what hooks we can derive from some random word pairs when combined with what we know about the characters.

Adventure Tone: Hard Lethal
Animal Action: Imitate Mysterious
Action: Support Misfortune
Army Description: Weapons Disorganized
Character Combat Action: Loyal Assist
Location: Fancy Clean
Plot Twist: Necessary Disaster

Private First Class Stan Wilburn
Private Wilburn is sneaking into a change cult gathering. These psychos follow one of the rich infected and they believe that the Bug is the next step in human evolution. Most of them have been infected and the spy that the FBI had implanted found out they plan to each go out and infect as many people as possible before they are "martyred to the cause". At least that was the information provided before the agent fell off the radar. The decision to burn out the hive came down from the highest channels. That is why the bomb he has strapped to him has both a counter and a dead man switch. They were taking no chances.  He checks room to room looking for any servants or kidnap victims. None are expected, but the publicity will be bad enough without the extra "heat". Technically this isn't part of the plan, but Private Wilburn is a soldier, not a murderer. The rest of the squad gets it even if the brass doesn't. So, when he peaks in and sees a room full of teens he hits his panic button. He is unaware one them hits one as well. 

Aspect: Soldier yes. Killer no.

now we swivel the camera to Private Owen
From a near by van Private First Class Owen is monitoring Stan's progress through the mansion. He is worried about the extra time a room to room is taking. Stan's panic button and the signal to the security firm this rich bastard uses go off almost simultaneously. Floodlights illuminate the property like it is high noon. Just like that the situation changed from a clandestine assassination to a raid. Back up is on the way from where they are stationed in a safe house near by, but Stan needs immediate assistance. He looks up at the Lt., who gives the nod. At that point he puts the van in gear and guns the gas. The ornamental gate and tire shredders barely slow the van down. He wonders briefly if they front doors will

Aspect: Drives like a Maniac, but in a good way.

and now we take a look at Mission Specialist Lewis Brian
Was the mission a success? Yes and no. It certainly didn't go as planned, but frankly the plan was a stupid reactionary mess, clearly made in a panic by people who only read reports. Not to mention that attacking a US citizen on US soil with intent of mass murder was way beyond the squads paygrade, much less their morals. In a way it ended better. There were deaths of course. And there were interments of the infected that were already showing, and a medical prison for those that weren't. 

Only one of the youths had died, and he was attacking Private  Wilburn. Turns out she was a cultist with a young face. The teens were intended to be the first "Receive the sacrament" from the newly changed. Sort of an initiation. The idea of it chills my blood. 

This cell was neutralized and its "priest" was detained for interrogation.  Every scrap of paper, every computer, every cell pone, and everything in the "ritual chambers" had been brought out, before the terrible fire. The fire department was artfully detained by spontaneous traffic congestion. 

Now I had to earn my keep. I took journals, cell records, testimony from the youths (for all that was worth), and all the rest of the evidence and poured through it. We knew there were other such cells, in fact they were spreading faster than anyone would like to believe, but somewhere there was mastermind. The cult formations were too uniform, and showing up amid too many social and ethnic groups. This new form of terrorism wasn't random, and was very dangerous. Let me find the first string to pull and I will unravel this. And please God let me find it before it spreads out of control.

Aspect: Won't leave a job half done.

(I realize at this point doing all three narrations will make this blog post way too long, so I am going to do the rest off screen and just post the aspects. Here you can see the process. Each character gets a three act play in which we learn more about who they are, what drives them, and what they are good at. A good aspect can be a positive or a negative. Private Wilburn balks at unnecessary violence. Private Owen drives well, but recklessly.  Mission Specialist Brian just won't give up on a chase. In some cases these are positive qualities, in other cases they will cause complications.)

W.D.

High Concept and Trouble

Character creation in Fate has two main phases. In the first you define your character with two Aspects, a High Concept, a Trouble, and a name. The High Concept is central theme of the character. It says who they are and what they do. Trouble is just that, a persistent problem, either stemming from the character or its circumstances. In a group game the players would pick these out, but as our players are phantom players, we are going lean into Mythic to define most of them. I have been so intrigued by the mystery of Player 3 I have decided to take him over as the primary character. Who doesn't love a good mystery?  

The second main part of the character creation processes is the Phase Trio. In this part you take a character and put it in a dangerous or adventurous situation, then two other characters will be involved in its development and its resolution. That will be show in depth in the next article.

Because I am letting Mythic do the inspiration for the characters of Players 1 and 2, I start by generating a few of random word pairs. Just enough to launch the imagination.

Description: Combatively Powerful
Background: War Humble
Skills: Mechanical Intelligent
Personality: Humble Angry

I had intended this for Player One's character (PC1), this feels more like Player 2's interest, so lets start with that character.

Character creation is part of world building, and the words "Combatively Powerful" put me in mind of dangerous animals. We have an illness that changes people into feral animal hybrids, so on the fly I decide that in addition to the High Concept and Trouble, we should have a one word Animal Aspect at character creation. Thinking of animals that are combatively powerful I decide on Bear. Because i like bears, and I know more about them than I do Tigers. 

Moving back to the High Concept, we can see Humble comes up a lot, and we have War and Mechanically Intelligent as well. Lastly we have Anger as part of the personality. 

Lets try this on for size for the Hight Concept and Trouble.

Name: Martin Owen (Private)
High Concept: Humble mercenary mechanic infected in the line of duty.
This HC tells us he has a military back ground, he is good at building or repairing things, and how he was infected, which is a pivotal moment for all the characters. 

Trouble: Likely to throw the first punch. 
I had considered "Short Tempered", but this gives us a bit of guidance as to a lovely problem that will cause a lot of trouble. 

Animal Aspect; Bear

Getting back to PC1 I make a snap decision that I want something very different for his Animal Aspect, so I decide on Rat. The word pairs give us the rest.
Appearance: Aromatic Eyewear
Description: Very Empty
Abilities: Natural Environment
Traits and Flaws: Weaponless

I stopped there because an image popped into my mind of a sneaky but skillful scout who avoids using noisy guns, is always hungry and never gains a pound, who always looks scruffy and dirty and wears an old pair of night vision goggles around his neck at all times. A truly ratty individual.

Name: Private "Ratty" Stan Wilburn
High Concept:  Sneaky mercenary scout who is at home in the dark,

Trouble: Insatiable appetite for all of life's pleasures

Animal Aspect: Rat

Lastly we get to our mystery man. So now lets build PC3. I am taking him over as my PC, but that doesn't mean I can't use some inspiration.
Appearance: Hairy Eyewear
Animal Actions: Follow Mysteriously (Wolf maybe?)
Army Descriptions: Skilled Lacking
Plot Twist: Repeat Unknown

I added Army Description, because the other two were mercs, and I decided that they were all three part of the same squad. I like Wolf as an Animal Aspect because he is community minded, and I want to build him up as an investigator and that is similar to a good hunter. Hairy is a good one, because it could show how far his illness has progressed. 

Here we are looking at three mercenaries that where were cut off from help during in a mission to curb a pack of the feral changed. Two were bitten, and picked up the illness, but the third was uninjured and not only has started showing symptoms, but they seem to be developing faster. 

Name: Lt. Lewis Brian
High Concept: Mercenary Field Forensic Scientist who will turn over every rock for answers

For trouble I thought about focusing on the fact he is slipping towards feral faster, but that is more of a big plot aspect for him and isn't very actionable for Evoking. Still, I feel I can extract from his illness and personality a good trouble.

Trouble: Will take any risk to find a cure

Animal Aspect: Wolf

These three Aspects will be Evoked to produce Fate Points, which is a bit beyond the scope of this series. Check out Fate Core Chapter 4 for more details. Drivethru RPG: Fate Core PWYW

The next step is the Phase Trio, where we get a slice of adventure for our trio of characters, develop more aspects.

W.D.

Faces and Places

What we are working on here is essentially a sandbox setting. So we will need things to go into the sandbox. We will discover a lot of people, places, organizations, etc. as we play, Mythic is excellent for providing new characters and obstacles. Still, in our Fate game we need a few bits and pieces for every character from the onset. 

Looking back at the phantom player's interest for this game we see Player 1 wants to focus on making plans, and making money. Well plan making could be helped along if we had a couple of well informed people to go to. We will need a couple of well informed NPCs for that character to have a relationship with. Likewise, unless these plans generate their own cash flow, he will probably need at least one person to sell things to. 

Player 2 wants challenges to over come. This could be as simple as a gang rivalry he is part of (and I think that would be a good addition), but how about a place that could provide rough and tumble adventure.  I am thinking that there is a zone in the very center industrial space in which those that have gone to feral are exiled. 

Player 3 has a mystery to unravel. Firstly, he doesn't exactly know how he was infected, and he needs to unravel this mystery to get his revenge. That makes experts on the illness, such as the doctors and scientist at Project Remission, of interest to him. We also have to keep in mind the players other interest, Transform. I read this two ways. A concern about growing more feral, and an urge to make the most of his life before the illness robs him of his humanity. So, in addition to Project Remission we will need people he can interact with. I see this as a great way to insert people who are just trying to make a living in this desperate place. Maybe a community gathering point, like a make shift diner, and the people who populate it. 

Now is a good time to list out all of these Faces and Places before they are lost in the sea of words.

NPCs

• A fence/fixer (information and receiving stolen goods)
• A pedicab driver who likes to talk, with a little incentive.
• A violent gang that is pushing into the relative calm of this community.
• The Exile Zone
• A doctor and a scientist from Project Remission (which I believe will have its most important station near the PCs neighborhood.
• The Come As You Are all night dinner (including several regulars, the owner-cook-bouncer, and a waitress).
  

Deciding to put the PCs in an area of relative calm means we also need the peace keepers. I see this as two fold. There are police from the city who have the job of protecting the clinic/lab, and on the edge of the zone there are a couple small gangs that have a truce, but work together to keep other gangs, especially more violent gangs, out. We will need at least one police sergeant who is permanently stationed here, and a few gang members who are have some feeling of responsibility to their neighborhood, but who still may not be very nice people.

• Police Sergeant
• A gang member from each of the local gang factions.
  

Knowing we need all of these places and characters is enough for now. We can use the tools available in Mythic GME2 to fill out the details as we run into them, that way there is maximum surprise as we play. 

The next step, is detailing is making Characters for Players 1-3, and of course our own solo character. Since we are sticking to Fate all of them will play important parts in the primary characters back story during the Phase Trio.

W.D.

Solo Fate and phantom players.

Fate is a peculiar because it is a collaboration between several players and a game master. Without that collaboration you don't quite have a Fate game. You merely have Fate mechanics. There is nothing wrong with using the Fate mechanics that way, but I want the full Fate experience. 

So I need 3 players to give their input. No worries though, because Mythic can provide those players as well.  Looking at the categories of Meaning tables we see something that is perfect for our needs: Character Motivations. Except for us, they will be Player Motivations. 

Player 1: Riches/ Plan
Player 2: Physical/Struggles
Player 3: Transform/Revenge 

Now to interpret these player motivations in context of our adventure setting.
Player 1 likes a game where there are plans and rewards. Maybe he would like heist games.
Player 2 is all about that physical combat and struggle. 
Player 3 is looking for a more character driven game where the character can transform, and we already knows one of his character motivations: Revenge. 

In accommodating these game desires, we will be in a good position to further develop the setting. Player 1, as we mentioned would enjoy a heist type story, so there have to be things to steal and people to sell them too. Player two wants physical struggles to play a major role in the setting so we have to have challenges that need brawn to over come and probably a lot of heads to crack. Player 3 needs and individual or organization to gain revenge against and the setting has to have personal elements that will lead to character transformation, so no mere backdrop setting. 

We still have a solo game in mind, but I have already put my stamp on the setting at inception. By fitting in the needs of Players 1-3, I am adding an element of "otherness" to my own creation. 

Accommodating Player 1 means that we need to be close to urban centers, so this isn't a wilderness enclave of infected but one near to a city. I am seeing an inner city industrial area that has been closed into an internment camp. Food and medical supplies are brought in by armed guards but are ultimately in the control of gang and warlords. The presence of rival gangs (perhaps split by the animal features?)  manifest plenty of room for Player 2's physical struggles. 

Player 3 needs some community to interact with and something to gain revenge against. Rather than have a gang leader or self serving corporation be automatically to blame, what if the character doesn't start knowing who should be the recipient of his ire? He could be an atypical infected who has no clue how he got the disease. He could part of a handful of mystery cases that suggest his infection was not the act of a mad animal, but the act of a careful plotter. Now we have a mystery to grow with our game. 

We now have plenty of gris for the mill, so lets look at the Fate Core setting creation steps and fill in those blanks.

Fate Core instructs us to define the game scale first. Well this is clearly a local scale, and it may never grow out of that. Local scale is good though. It means little changes made by the characters could go a long way. 

Next we need to distil the setting down to Current and Impending Issues. Current Issues are problems that are unfolding right now. Considering that we have multiple gangs struggling over an increasingly dwindling habitat, intergang conflict is makes a strong Current Issue. We can record this as "Constant Gang Wars".

Now we need an Impending Issue. For this I want to involve the world beyond the fence. The fact that there are carriers of a very dangerous disease in the middle of a major urban metropolis would be a very frightening prospect. While there are plenty of people beyond the fence that acknowledge that the interment is very tragic, there is a growing feeling that perhaps everyone should be shipped off to a wilderness camp, far beyond the cities boarders. Only the fact that the population submits to medical and magical testing with a goal to end the epidemic, spares them that deportation. So, our Impending Issue is "Everyone will be deported when the medical trials are defunded", a problem that is constantly on the horizon. 

The  next step is to make Issues into Setting Aspects. To those not familiar to Fate, Setting Aspects are descriptive phrases that can be invoked to for advantage or disadvantage by players and game masters a like. 

For our Current Issue lets go with "Constant Gang Wars are Taking Their Toll"
Our Impending Issue can be summed up with "Rumors of Project Remission's Ending Evoke Constant Dread".

So, now we we have a couple avenues to explore during our game. Who are these gangs and who leads them, and what is going on with Project Remission.

W.D.

The Moreau Bug

At any time I am working on one to three blog post to go up here. I tend to bite off more than I can chew, so usually only one in three get through enough drafts that I post them. 

This morning, I woke up just wanting to do some setting design from scratch. I am sure this will come as a surprise to no one, but I love Word Mill Publishing's Mythic GME 2nd edition. One of its delightful features is a collection of tables covering all kinds of specialized topics. I also love the RPG Fate Core, and I haven't played it in ages, so I will use these two tools to make the game.

Starting with a blank index card and the Mythic GME app (available for Android devices and Kindle tablets), which has the same collection of tables as the Mythic GME 2nd Edition, I started creating word pairs until I had enough that my imagination took over. Take a look at what came up, and I will tell you how I used them to create the quick setting for a Fate Core game.

Adventure Tone: Modern/Hard
Magic Item: Danger/Average
Spell Effects: Pain/ Attack
Description: Mechanical/Soft
Location: Frightening/Helpful
Characters: Animal/Bold
Action: Change/Illness

You can see by the choices I made in picking out tables, I had some idea of what I wanted. Primarily I wanted a world that was Adventurous and Magical.  Everything else just rounded out those details.

Now we start with the Mad Libs. 

The first thing that caught my eye was the first thing I randomly selected: Modern/Hard. So I decided the setting is essentially just the Earth we all live in everyday, but set on hard mode. That reminded me a bit of the old World of Darkness games, as they were made in the 90s, so I tucked that insight away just in case it would be useful later. 

What we have is a world is a lot like our own, but people have it a bit rougher. There is a stress not found in the real world that makes it harder. That dragged my eyes all the way down to the bottom: Change/Illness. That tells me there is some sort of illness in this world, which can change people, and that this is constantly at the back of everyone's mind. 

Looking at the Characters results I see Animal and Bold suggested that the illness has something to do with animals and is probably spread by biting, much like rabies. Paring that with Change/Illness we start to get a clearer picture. Spell Effects being Pain and Attack finished the picture. 

There is a magical illness that causes people to, quite painfully, take on animal aspects. It is passed on by the bite by someone already carrying the illness. I immediately thought of one of my favorite books, The Isle of Dr Moreau, and though the process was quite different in the book, the name of the game was right there: The Moreau Bug. 

Still, the list isn't used up. Description gave me Mechanical and Soft, which reinforced my idea that most people depend on a lot of technology in their lives, that probably leaves the no need to "toughen up".  So most people have cars, cell phones, computers, Fit Bits, tablets, and everything in their house is mass produced. 

Glancing back up to Magic Item Description, Dangerous/Average, I think this falls into an either/or category. Objects of power and wonder exist, but tend to a danger even to experts. But, object made by magical craftsmen can be picked up at high end department stores, and no one thinks much about it. 

Magic casters are as rare as microchip designers, but magical items are as common as microchips. There is probably a touch of magic in the process of making all high end goods, even if it is just to make clothing resistant to tears and dirt or a common glamor on your, very expensive, electric toothbrush that really does cause you smile to gleam. Truly powerful magic items, like clips with endless rounds of bullets, or miracle cures used by specialist, exact a cost on the user, which most wouldn't find worth it. The very rich can afford to pay someone to take those chances. The very poor maybe desperate enough to try it themselves, but most people stay well away from powerful magic items.

The last couplet on our list is Locations: Frightening and Helpful. From this I extracted the last thing I needed for the game. Those who contract the Moreau Bug and can't treat it or hide it are forced out to the edge of society. (I believe this is where we will find our protagonist).

In these wilderness camps and urban slums, they either lose control and degenerate, or they form communities that, while ruled with tooth and claw, are still useful. It is somewhere to fit in, if you are afflicted, and somewhere to recruit if you are willing to take the chance. (Maybe there is a touch of Shadowrun in the flavor of this game as well.)

Ok, that setting looks good, but we haven't yet cracked open the Fate Core rule book. 

Looks like this maybe a two or three part article. 

If you read this far thanks for that.

W.D. 

A Simple d6 GME Table of Content

Listed below are links to the 5 essays that make up my simple and inexpensive GME.
For one die you can pull from any boardgame, a handful of index cards, a simple notebook, you can GM yourself in any system you prefer.

Other writers have systems that are more dynamic and fleshed out. This is just the simplest of frameworks, but it plays quick and can fulfill all of the roles a live GM, excepting imagination, which you are quite capable of providing yourself.

Do You Want to Play a Solo Game?

Digging a Little Deeper. Weighted Oracle Results and Generating Roleplaying Encounters

Questions and Context: Extreme Yes and Extreme No Answers

Campaign Organization: Lists and Cards

Scenes and Adding a Touch of Randomness to Your Adventure

Scenes and Adding a Touch of Randomness to Your Adventure

link to part 4

Time keeping in different RPGs vary wildly, but in a solo game it is best to think of time passing in scenes. Scenes begin when decide what you want your character to do and then add the details of the current context. To borrow a term from the Mythic GME this is the Expected Scene. Scenes end when either you resolve what you are trying to accomplish, chose to stop striving for it, and go into a new direction, or when a new dramatic situation arises to change the focus of the scene. If you resolve your current goal, or there is an unexpected intrusion that makes the scene context change dramatically, move on to the next scene, as guided by your characters new or current goals and the context of the situation. 

For example, lets say you are playing an old school dungeon delving game. You start at the known entrance to the dungeon. The games time keeping may be spans of 10 minutes at a go, but the scene will remain the same until something happens. If you walk around a corner and there are several armed undead skeletons, it is a good time to break into a new scene. You can follow the written rules of your game engine and treat this as you would any encounter, but much like with a live GM, you may want to insert something seemingly random to boost up the dramatic potential. 

Fortunately we already have the tools at hand to create wonderful random events to keep the game spicy: your trusty d6, your Random Words Generator, and your Yes/No Oracle. 

At the beginning of any scene, and at any point the tension suddenly mounts for the your character or any NPC, roll your d6 twice. If both numbers match a Random Occurrence happens. Consult your Random Word Generator, then use your oracle to refine the results within the context of the scene at hand. If both come up 1s or both come up 6s, introduce something from outside the scene. A whole new element intrudes. Just roll on your Random Word Generator and refine it with Oracle questions, but let it come from outside. 

(If you are playing a game with a morale system, like many OSR games have, you  may want to consider the halfway point in a combat, no matter who is winning, as a good time to check for a Random Occurrence, especially if the combat has been unusually tense, or you feel it is too one sided to be fun. Clearly you wouldn't do this every single battle, but it is a good way to spice up one you feel maybe lagging or conversely one that is very important. This could cause a half beaten enemy to surge forward with unexpected reserves, or to reveal an unexpected magic item, or try to flee or call for a surrender. You just don't know till you roll.)

When something random erupts on the scene, don't hold back. This is a good chance to raise the stakes and the drama. It could mean a fight, and in many RPGs that is reasonable, but it could go the other way all together and turn an otherwise violent mess into an opportunity for role playing. The interpretation is in your hands, so make sure you use it for all it is worth.

Let's look at a few examples of Random Occurrences, to get a feel for how they add drama to a scene.

You are the leader of a band of modern monster hunters, you have traveled many miles and your investigation has taken many twists and turns, but now you are at the mansion of the terrible beast you have been seeking to thwart. Up until this point it you have matched wits and firepower with its minions, but now you are at the heart of the dark web. When you enter the mansion here is a good time to test for a Random Occurrence. So you roll and get a 2. The second roll is a 2 as well. Your current context is entering a cursed beast ridden mansion. You generate some random words to give texture to the Occurrence and get (Release/Despondent/Trial) I immediately imagine some raving captive rushing at the open door (Release), wailing (Despondent). They have clearly suffered privation and violence (Trial). A bruised and battered man, with long unkempt hair and tattered clothing rushes at your party, weeping piteously. Is this a threat or is it just another cruelly used person, and yet more cause to see this monster never enjoys again the light of day.

A young yet capable wizard is exploring the ruins of an old mages tower, when she finally reaches the top floor beyond the libraries and laboratories, dangerous traps and frightening monster. There on the pedestal is the prize she seeks: The Codex of Misharam. With trembling hands she lifts the book off its centuries long place of rest. Here we have a the final moment of a quest, a moment of great tension, which seems a good time to check for a Random Occurrence. The player rolls 4 followed by 4. This triggers the Random Occurrence. The random words are Pacify, Immaculate, Freedom. Instead of some dreadful magical trap going off, as has happened so many times before, a spirit of the long dead and lost Misharam appears and imparts to her the magical words to subdue the traps in the book (Pacify) and with this good deed done a shower of golden light appears briefly and he is gone (Freedom), save for a lingering feeling of peace. In the silence that follows the Wizard realizes that she is with out wound and is unsoiled despite the difficult road it took to get here (Immaculate).

So lets now examine an extreme case. A classic cyberpunk hacker is trying to bust some ICE to get access to a rich data pool. If they accomplish it they will make more than enough credits to pay some very important outstanding debts and live fat for a few months. They are in the midst of battling a black ICE security DEMON, which if  gets through our hackers defenses, will do a lot worse than throw them out. In meat space their fingers fly over their console executing programs they are hacking on the fly. The stress is high, the stakes are high. Which makes it a perfect time to test for a Random Occurrence. The player rolls a 1 followed by another 1, triggering a Random Occurrence with an external source. The player then makes a random word selection which comes up (Fix Widespread Pandemic). Suddenly, the whole system glows red and a countdown timer appears in the upper field of the Scan programs output window. They realizes that the security team back in meat space has seen all the glitches left by their struggle to get this far (Widespread Pandemic) and is about to reboot the system (Fix), which will forcibly eject them. They have 10 seconds to deal with this DEMON and grab some pay data before they end up back in their secure flat with a very nasty headache. Time to pull out the big guns.

At each of these occurrences the addition of a Random Occurrence built the scene up beyond its initial expectations. In the first result there is neutral situation that could go any number of ways, but could include a chance to get some good intelligence on the monsters mansion, if they can communicate with the mad man. In the second occurrence the wizard is rewarded beyond her expectations for winning through to her prize.

In the third occurrence, it could go either way. The security team back in meat space doesn't know what is wrong. We don't even know if they are suspicious, we just know they are rebooting the system in 10 seconds. Should our hacker beat the DEMON in 5 seconds, which can be a long time in cyberspace, they will make it out more than a little richer, if in need of a very long nap, but if the DEMON bests them chances of walking away, are worse than zero.  Now, with the count down, there is a time pressure and an escape hatch all wrapped up in the same package. 

A last word on Random Occurrences. You can opt not to roll for them. If the current scene is too much fun to tamper with, don't tamper with it. Have your fun. Also  if you are in the midst of a clearly one sided challenge, like a legendary hero facing a single Ogre, and just want to get past it into a meatier part of the game, don't feel like you have to complicate it. The point of randomness is to shake you out of the expected, but there are times when the expected is what makes more sense and is more fun. 

W.D.

P.S.
This is the last rules article for my very simple GME. I wrote it to personally explore the concepts and to offer a free entry point into the hobby for the curious. I am going to type up an example using all the principles from each article as a whole rather than piecemeal, but first I am going pull the articles out onto my word processor and work on the flow, interconnectivity, and of course editing for grammar and misused words. These won't change the meat of the article, but will probably help with the seasoning. I won't be pulling anything down while I do this, and all the rules will remain the same, so if it will be useful to you before then, please take it and run with it.  

And if you have read down this far, thank you for your interest and happy gaming.

W.D.

Campaign Organization: Lists and Cards

link to part 3

Before John goes and performs grand larceny, lets pause for a moment and consider our context elements.

Context elements could be considered granular setting elements that come together to make the whole body of the campaign, but just as you recognized you have an arm or a pair of eyes, so each element in the setting is its own thing. Still the totality of the elements comes together to make the setting.

But enough theorizing and double speak, lets jump in to the gameable "bones" that will actually be of use at the game table. 

(As an aside, I am strong proponent of gameable elements, or practical gaming. If it is just theory, as much as I love theory, but adds little or nothing to the game, it probably can be left out of the body of a essays like these, and be covered in the comments. Not that I am against game theory. I love it, but this document is about something you can pick up right now and play.)

When it comes to organizing campaign content, there are nearly an endless variety of possibilities at hand: an indexed journal, for instance, or a piece of organizational software. Both of these work do a great job, but both have an investment in time and effort. If an index journal isn't upkept regularly, and it is a just a list of things that occur in chronological order then you end up spending as much time flipping through the index as you would searching back through game notes. As for organizational software, even the free ones have a learning curve that requires more than the most basic "look it up in a web browser" level of computer savvy. If you are like me, a word processor is about the limit of your software skills. 

What we need is a simple system that both organizes and hold content notes. Thus, we come to Lists and Cards.

The list is the first step. In fact it maybe the only one if you have a sharp memory. As I creep towards the middle of middle aged I don't quite trust that memory as much as I used to, so cards that contain the details that are important to continuity are essential as well.

You can divide your lists as finely as you like. Some people, places, things, or events may fit into more than one list, but I believe that there are 4 essential lists: Characters, Locations, Events, and Goals.

These can be put in a pretty notebook, or kept on your character sheet, or give their own little word processor file. They can be subdivided, arranged by importance, and numbered to use as random elements when you need a bit of context to pop up in game (more on that at the page bottom and in the next article). Two important points to keep in mind are that the lists should be easy to read and don't become too crowded to use quickly.

You will want separate list for each type of broad element described below. Also, instead of a list starting at 1 and going on into infinity, group them in clusters of 6. The first element in the micro list would be 11 and finish at 16, then start a new micro list with 21 followed by 22 and finishing with 26. Keep adding elements in this pattern until you reach 66 (which would be 36 active elements). If you get more elements on your table than that, consider pruning, but if that is not an option restart the numbering process from the first entry with 111 followed by 112 and so forth. Besides keeping list short and easy to scan, setting the lists up this way you can randomly pick an element from a list with a couple of d6 rolls. If you roll an impossible number (maybe micro list 5 has only 2 elements in it), just pick from the list the element that looks the most fun (not that you can't do that anytime you want).

Now, lets go through and discuss what goes into the four essential lists.

Characters

• Player Characters include the single PC or cast of characters you play. 
• If it is a single character put it down as such. If it is part of a troupe of characters note every character in the troupe and the troupe itself as a character
• Named NPC go on the list. 
• Not necessarily every character with a name. If you decide the barman in a one horse town that you are is named Billy, there is no reason to add him UNLESS you think he will play a part in future adventures. 
• Unnamed NPCs that really should have a name. 
• Let's be honest. We  all sometime fly through a scene and never consider the names of the characters we interact with, so when you book keep jot down who that character is, and if you feel like generating a name then, or maybe after wrap up for the day it is now a named character, and you can imagine the happy glow they get from it.
• Important off screen characters.
• This could be the local baron or maybe the common name of the dragon that terrorizes a local trade route. 
• Important groups.
• This should include the background folk that could at any point come to the foreground (local citizens, or the baronial court). It could be large groups active groups that you have not yet encountered (maybe wandering knights errant that serve out the baron's justice on the road, or a whispered about thieves guild who's actions are known, but their personage is not). Finally and most importantly, it should include groups with which you have some favor (a large influential family you saved from a curse) or enmity (a local goblin tribe you have clashed with but not destroyed). 

Locations

After characters, you will want a list of locations of importance. This could also be varied into sub lists depending on your style of play. Some important places to consider are:

• The PC's home. The building he lives in.
• The PC's home town
• The current location of the PC
• The largest city or village near the current location or home town (adventurers end up drawn to big urban areas in my experience)
• Famous or infamous ruins
• Famous or infamous natural features
• The seat of the local government and if applicable the national government (this depends on your game scale)
• and any other place the character visits or hears of that could impact their lives. (Even if you never go to the capitol city, finding out that it is suffering from food riots, may be a grim portent for the rest of the kingdom)

Events

Events are things that are:

• happening (like a rebellion), 
• have happened (like a past adventure),
• or happen regularly (like a town fair). 

I realize that is vague, but this is one of the two most subjective lists. Over time and through inspirations and oracles, you can get a very hefty list of the past and the present event, but I suggest that if the event is flavor of the moment, and not useful as an adventure hook, don't bother with recording it. Certainly, play out the scene of passing through a small town fair, but if you will never see that town again then it is just a back drop for a scene, and ultimately not important enough to go on the list. 

Lists are your working tools. They do a job. Remove any useless events as they are just clutter in the list, but more on that in a moment.

Goals

The last, and probably shortest list is Goals. What do the characters whish to accomplish on the long medium and short term. I will jot down some examples below, but this is purely a subjective category.

• A short term goal could be Get to the Cave of Wonders, Survive the Cave of Wonders, or Escape the Cave of Wonders.
• A medium term goal could be pay back the loan shark who financed your dungeon dive.
• A long term goal could be, to unseat the usurper ruler and install yourself as monarch.

What goes on a goals list is anything you want to accomplish. It is that simple. It is also that malleable.

Actually, all the lists are quite malleable. After every adventure or maybe short campaign go through the lists and prune them. If the bar and barman that used to give you rumors is now part of a chard collapsed building, sad as that may be, he doesn't really need to stay on the list. Likewise if you leave a kingdom or a continent or planet or dimension, with no intent to return, then there is little reason to keep most locations and people in your prior lists. Like your campaign, your lists are living things, like a many branched bush. You will occasionally need to trim them.

(What I just said above is excellent advice and the simplest advice, but you may also want a separate list for retired game element that could boomerang back as rumors, undead, bounties, trial evidence, or any similar event.. That adds one more level of complexity, but it is one that I find useful)

Ok, I have gone over lists, now how about cards? Well if you divided your lists into manageable chunks and numbered them, those numbers can be used as tags for index cards (or digital equivalents). If a setting element has details besides a name and brief description, label an index card with its list number and name and fill it with the details. I highly suggest you hold the details to the front of the card. That keeps the reference brief enough that you can access it in game play, and its main purpose is to jog your memory about details. If you also record your games in print some where (I use Google Docs), then the back of the cards are useful for leaving notes referencing which adventure or adventures that the tagged element played an important part.

We keep lists as setting element reminders. We use cards for those that deserve a bit more attention, now we can bring in the dice. Now suppose you are in a location of some type and feel stumped on what to do next. Pick and element list that you would like to explore, and roll your d6 twice. The first roll will tell you which micro list you are rolling in, and the second roll will tell you the particular element or that list comes into play.

Lets say your character is in the capitol city trying to sell loot from your last profitable adventure. You have hit the merchants, are carrying some cash, but have to wait a while while your plate armor is being repaired. You decide not to skip time until the repair is done, but instead to explore the city. Then you draw a blank on what to do or what is going on. You could use some Yes/No questions, or random word generation, and/or you can roll on your character, locations, events, or goals tables, and work its findings into current scene. Thus immediately finding something of interest to your character into the current scene. 

This will also come in handy in our penultimate article on adding a touch of the random to your game. After all a physical GM will toss you a curveball, why shouldn't your emulator do the same. 

Attached below is a link to John Everyman's lists for an example of how to organize them.

W.D.

John's Lists and Cards

link to part 5

John Everyman's Lists and Cards

This is naturally incomplete. There is a huge amount more that could be said for the village (a name would be nice), the pub, the ranch, and especially the North Country Forest, but right now we are doing emergant game play. That is as style in which the characteristics of a setting emerge as we play them. We could just as easily predefine some characters and locations, but in some ways this can be more fun, as everything that comes up is a surprise.

Characters

11 John

12 Village citizens

13 Pub Owner

14 Terrence

15 *Morgan

16 *Ann 

21 Baron

22 Baron’s wastrel brother

23 *Ian (Deceased)

24 Foresters

25 Militia 

26 Shire reeve

31 Village Elders

32

33

34

35

36

Locations

11 Home Village

12 Plagued Village

13 *Pub

14 Morgan’s Farm

15 Ann’s Ranch

16 North Country Forest

21 Baron’s Keep

22 *Forsaken Tower

23

24

25

26

Events

11 *Ian’s Death

12 *Plague in near by village

13 *Secret Warrior Training 

14 

15 

16 

Goals

11 *Travel to the Forsaken Tower

12 *Retrieve armor and weapons from ranch

13 Lift the curse on the village of xxx if there is such a curse

14 

15 

16 

Cards

Character Cards

15 Morgan: Morgan is a retired man at arms, who was in the employ of the Baron. For reasons of his own he moved to this more remote village to start a farm. Ann knows and trusts him, but despite this trust he has trained John in the arts of combat and defense, though he knows Ann is strongly against it.

16 Ann: John's mother. A strong willed and independent woman who owns a cattle ranch near the village. After the death of her husband, Ian, she took the Baron's gift of gold and started a cattle ranch. Through her shrewd business savvy she turned the baron's sympathy and gold into a thriving business. She supplies much meat to the baronial castle and its very small standing army, composed of knights and paid soldiers.

23 Ian (deceased). Ian was a soldier turned mercenary after his 6 years in service, who was employed by the current Baron's father to protect his wastrel second son. He died in a successful attempt to protect the youths life.

Location Cards

13 The Pub. A small cramped room in which mediocre beer is sold.

22 Forsaken Tower. Rumored to be occupied by occult forces steeped in Necromancy

Event Cards

11 Ian's Death. We know that Ian met his end acting as a bodyguard for an ill favored brother to the local Baron. He was returned to his home to be buried with honors, and his sacrifice left both his arms and armor and an endowment to his widow.

12 Plague in near by village. Not the next village over but close enough to travel in a day is a village suffering from a medicine resistant pox. Everyone is afraid that those fleeing the disease will bring it to the home village.

13 Secret Warrior Training. Ian was well loved by Morgan the elderly man at arms that trained him from a simple soldier to something special. When he retired to an old abandoned farm near the village he kept a close eye on John and Ann and started training John as soon as he was able to play with sticks. He fears the day when Ann finds out and he loses a near sisterly relationship.

Goals Cards

11 Travel to the Forsaken Tower. This is a goal in which John, partially steeped in wood lore and given expert directions can attempt at a +2 roll.

12 Recover his fathers armor and weapons. These are in a large, but poorly locked, glass and wood case in the parlor of the ranch house. This parlor is very close to where his mother and their house keeper travel daily, so any absence will be immediately noted. 

Questions and Context: Extreme Yes and Extreme No Answers

link to part 1

link to part 2

In the last two articles in this series (links above) we discussed the basic Yes/No oracle (part 1), random word prompts (part 1), how to modify the Yes/No oracle based on context (part 2), and some elementary roleplaying techniques, which also worked with context (part 2). Today we soar to new heights or hit rock bottom with Extreme Yes and Extreme No answers.

Do you need Extreme Yes/Extreme No content in your solo game. Absolutely not. It adds a level of complexity and requires more work from that Game Master side of your brain. What is more, even if you embrace the concept fully, there are situations in which the Extreme answer adds little to nothing to the scene. Take the coin toss example from the last article. The outcome of a coin toss is a simple binary answer. It is heads, or it is tails. For another example, if your oracle says there is no secret panel in the desk you are searching, an Extreme No isn't any different than No would be. 

That being said, the Extreme answers can boost the tension and expand the context of game, whether or not the outcome is ideal for the character. Let's see how it could work. 

Your character crawls up to the edge of a ridge, so you ask the oracle if there are any creatures on the other side. A Yes answer could tell you that there is an appropriate number of, oh lets say goblins. By this we mean appropriate to your context expectation. If goblins are pretty rare for this area (maybe due to the efforts of the militia), then a hunting party of around half a dozen could be considered a reasonable Yes reply. An Extreme Yes could indicate there are a dozen or even two dozen goblins, which is too many goblins for a hunting party. Now the context of the adventure has been altered by this dangerous number of goblins being where you wouldn't expect them to be.

Taking the same question, a No answer is pretty simple. There are no creatures worth noting on the other side of the ridge. If there answer was an Extreme No, this could mean you see a dozen dead goblins on the other side of the ridge, or that the landscape on the other side of the ridge is far too difficult for any creatures to be present. The simple No answer fits in with the context of the adventure so far. The Extreme No answer changes the context. Why are there a dozen dead goblins? Now you have a mystery. If the other side of the ridge is very difficult terrain, perhaps you need to skirt the area to make headway in your endeavor. All the answers drive the game forward, but the Extreme answers can frequently alter the game context. 

Still using the same d6 lets change things a little more. On a 1 or lower the answer is Extreme No. On a 6 or higher the answer is an Extreme Yes.  

Now lets get back to John and see how he is doing.

After receiving the necessary land marks to the valley containing the forsaken tower, John heads back to his mother's ranch to get his adventuring gear.

Lets take a few moments to fill in some blanks that John will need when he reaches the ranch. 

As the member of a rural militia, he would have inexpensive and easy to use gear like leather armor, slings, and spears. Yet, we know, from the context of the character that he is trained in many different armor and weapon styles. Searching about for an answer to this query we pose the question to the oracle, "Was John's father a warrior?" There is no reason to think he was or that he wasn't, so this is simple unmodified roll; the outcome of which is a 6, an Extreme Yes.

Now we know that John's father was not just a warrior, but he was a warrior of high renown. That could mean many things. So going back to our random word generator we get the results "Exchange, Disappointing, Ward" This says to me that John's father, lets call him Ian, was a mercenary (fighting for an exchange of work for money), who was the body guard (thus he had a Ward), of a ill favored (Disappointing) brother of the Baron. 

A logical next question would be, considering that his mother is a widow, "Did Ian die in service as a bodyguard". There are a lot of ways for a man to die, but as is said, "live by the sword die by the sword". We will roll this at a +1. Another 6 raised to 7. With an Extreme Yes not only did he die to protect the ill favored noble, but in the process was given a hero's burial,  and his tools of trade (armor, weapons, etc.) would have been given to the family as keep sakes, probably along with enough cash to see they could live off of, if used wisely. 

Did Ian live long enough to train his son? With such a dangerous job it is quite possible he didn't, so the next roll is made at a -1. This comes up a 3, which is reduced to 2. Not an Extreme No, but then again would an Extreme No have changed the context here? Probably not. 

We are left with a conundrum. Who did train John? Even if there were a lot of weapons and armor in his home, he would still need instruction in their use. Going back to our random word generator we get Reward, Metaphorical, Parent. This sounds like another warrior, that is near enough to the family to be like an uncle (Metaphorical Parent) to John, settled in the area with honors (Reward), and when John came of age this warrior oversaw John's training in arms. 

A couple final questions before we make it to the ranch, does John's mother, Ann, approve of John's choice of vocations? We have no direct context that suggest one way or another, but having lost her husband to warriors work, I feel she would be strongly against it. So let call this a -2. A roll of 3, brought down to 1, indicates that not only is she against it, she is vehemently against it. 

Did John's "uncle" (lets call him Morgan) train him in secret? I would say probably, so this is rolled at a +1. We get a 5 so the the total is 6, an Extreme Yes. This once again changes the context, such that Ann doesn't know her son has been trained to be a warrior. Thus, our protagonist is going to have to sneak out with his fathers armor and weapons, and failing to sneak well he will have to face the wraith of Ann. We know she is an independent rancher, and thus probably a very strong willed woman to deal with. 

Lastly, is there a special place the armor and weapons are kept? I would argue yes for three reasons. One they are a very important keep sakes of her dead husband, of whom she is proud. Secondly they are highly valuable, and theft does sometimes happen even in the most tight knit of villages. Finally, they would be located in such a way that she can keep an eye out that John, which we established was a mischievous lad, doesn't wander off to play hero; just like he plans to do. 

Given the context, we need not roll to find out that the arms are kept in a special place, but perhaps some random words will give us an idea where they are supposed to be. We get the results, Remember, Repulsive, Merchant. I wrack my brain for a minute, before I realize that the gear is probably kept in a locked glass case (Remember) that she purchased from an unscrupulous merchant (repulsive here is being stretched, but I think will work). We can infer, thus, that the case is badly made and has a lock that can be opened with a butter knife. 

Looking back over these last three articles, we can see the details are piling up. Perhaps before John continues his adventure we will need a bit of book keeping about the campaign. This is so characters, like Terrance Forester (whom expects a bit of a tip for the knowledge he shared) don't get buried under new details as they come in. 

We can tackle that in the next article with Lists and Cards.

W.D.

link to part 4

Digging a Little Deeper. Weighted Oracle Results and Generating Roleplaying Encounters

Link to Part 1

In the last post we discussed the four basic tools of most solo GM emulators. We will definitely check out other systems in the future, but lets stick with this for a little while. To recap, you need a Yes/No oracle (for which we used a 6 sided die or to slip into gamer speak a d6), a random word generator (which we borrowed from https://jamesturneronline.net/game-masters-apprentice/), context (in the form of the character concept and the setting), and your imagination (where all the parts come together into an image or idea). We are going to stick to those tools today, but we are going to add a little spice.

As in life in game, very few things come down to a simple Yes/No with equal odds. In many cases things aren't a 50/50 split. So ,we are going to make a simple change to our binary oracle.  If the odds favor the the outcome of question being Yes, add a +1 to the die roll result. If the odds are strongly favor the outcome of the question being Yes, add a +2. Likewise, if the odds favor No, subtract by -1, and if they strongly favor No use a -2. We are still going to use the same dividing line between Yes and No. If you roll 3 or under your answer is No. If you roll  4 or over your answer is Yes. 

Not all things require a roll. Many things will be obviously Yes or No. If we established the game takes place in a thick forest, there will be poor line of sight, no need to ask. If the merchant you are dealing with is especially known for his hard bargaining, you don't need to ask if he will cut you a deal. If you are approached by soldiers in the field, there is no need to ask if they are armed. You can ask other questions about these circumstances, but then you are expanding on a baseline. You get that baseline by leaning into the context. 

Some things, though, will still be a 50/50 split, if you can't think of a single reason that would act in favor of Yes or No. A literal coin toss by an average person may come up heads or tails, so asking does it come up heads would be a 50/50 split. If the person doing the flipping is a con artist, a juggler, or some other sort of cheater then the odds may favor one over the other. If the coin is a trick coin with two heads or two tails there is no reason to ask at all. It will always be heads or tails. 

Let's go back to John Everyman, humble fighter. Through use of your base game engine, you probably have the tools on hand for doing some research, but then again every system is a little lacking, so lets say your current system doesn't. This tower is known to the population and John was once a mischievous child, so you can ask if John knows the way to the tower already. As the North Country Forest is a dark and dangerous place you decide the odds are poor that he has, but maybe in the company of older boys he tagged along. So you roll your d6 and modify it with a -1. The roll comes up a 4 but because it is unlikely it is reduced down to 3 an answer of No. Thus, John now has to find someone who has been to the tower , and then get the directions off of them. 

Knowing the town pretty well, he decides, based on context of a woodland barony, that one of the foresters surely knows the path. Another question is , does he know a forester he is friendly enough with to ask. After all foresters are busy people. John has some military service and the militia and the foresters have a good relationship (here we are spinning some context, we could have asked, but as it is reasonable they are friendly, we are just running with it). Is there anyone forester that would know the location still in the village of this time of day (lets say it is noonish)? Sounds like a Yes/No question that could go either way, so we go back to our reliable d6 and again get a 4. Yes, he knows of a semi retired forester that works closer in to town. He needs a name, so we pick a name out of the hat and get Terrance. 

John heads off to Terrance's cottage. As we are still in town there is no reason to check for finding it or getting interrupted. Everyone is busy at midday. We could ask if Terrance is in his cottage, but that would just keep us from getting the the adventure a bit longer. So instead we decide John can head straight there and engage with him. 

We now have our first solid opportunity for Role Playing rather Roll Playing. Start with the details you know about Terrance. He is an older man, he is friendly towards your character, he is a forester in a dangerous land, so he is probably tough and brave. That could be enough details, but if you want a little extra, go to your random word generator and see what it adds. We get "Hide Temporary Treasure". This could be interpreted many different ways, but to me it sounds like a rumor. Terrance is rumored to have a little side job of hiding things in the forest for people until they need them again. That gives him a bit of a roguish touch. It also implies he knows secret places. The encounter could go as such...

John makes his way across the village. Though he is eager to begin his adventure, he knows the North Country Forest area is dangerous, and that it's easy to get lost. Growing up in the middle of the Great Forest gives John some basic skills in out door survival. John has hunted near the village, and he has been on several bandit patrols. Even so, John is aware he needs the assistance of a real expert. 

Terrance Forester is a (is Terrance a bachelor? 6. Yes) an old bachelor who never quite settled down. His small cottage is at the village edge, and though kept in good repair, it wouldn't impress anyone. Despite his age and his semi retired status Terrance seems to be doing well for himself. When his cottage needs thatch or his sheds need shingles he never lacks for coin or assistance. That is probably gave rise to the rumors that he is "a man to know", but not only are those accusations never proven, they are never even raised to the Baron's Shire Reeve. It is Terrance, everyone's friend after all, and even a retired forester is still held in high respect.

After a brief knock T- answers and invites J- in for a pint, and to find out what he has on his mind. The two reminisce a bit about bandits and tax men until J- finally gets to the point. (Terrance, being an old and experienced Forester probably knows the land within 20 miles of the village very well. So we ask the Oracle if he can give directions. Taking all the considerations together we ask the question "Can Terrance direct John to the Tower?" is rolled at a +2. With a base roll of 5 that +2 gives us a 7. So the answer is Yes, but I think a rogue like Terrance would want a little something for his help) Terrance nods and says he knows the place, but he is a little worried about the lad. Maybe, he could stop in on his way home before seeing any of the elders, and let old T- know he survived and is doing well for himself. J- get the hint and smiles and winks. Now that both of them are on the same page, T- gives J- a set of land marks and directions that will get him to the foreboding tower. 

You will note, that I didn't do many oracle rolls or roll up many random words in the example above. Instead, I extrapolated from the context at hand. If you drew a blank on the RP scene you could have cut it short to the Yes/No question, or you could have had more random word selections. Either or would have been right. There in fact is no wrong way to handle a scene, as long as you feel you are being fair to the context and (most importantly) having fun.

Also, in the RP example above the roll for "Can Terrance direct John to the Tower?" wasn't just a Yes, but was nearly has high as the roll could go. In the next section we will discuss when exceptionally high and exceptionally low have deeper consequences.  

W.D.

link to part 3