Saturday, August 16, 2025

Mythic Worksheets Index, Word Mill Games Resources Page

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This probably should have been my starting point rather than ending point, but it is my blog and I can do things backwards if I want to. The following are a whole cornucopia of worksheets (some even fillable). You can find all of them at Word Mill Games - Resources, but I am going to go ahead and list them here by category.

Mythic Game Master Emulator Second Edition

Adventure Journal Sheet (Form Fillable)
Adventure Lists (Form Fillable)
Adventure Features List (Form Fillable)
Thread Progress Tracks (Form Fillable)

Mythic Magazine

Deconstructed Adventure Sheet (issue #50)
Mythic Game Loops Sheet (issue #43)
World Creation Sheet (Form Fillable) (issue #38)
News Feed Sheet (issue #35)
Solo Journaling Worksheet (issue #30)
Mystery Matrix Sheet (issue #6)

Mythic Role Playing Game

Mythic Character Sheets
Mythic NPC Worksheets
Mythic Scaling Boxes Sheet
Mythic Wounds Sheet
Mythic Questions Sheet

The Adventure Crafter

The Adventure Crafter Adventure Sheet
The Adventure Crafter Adventure Sheet Form Fillable PDF
The Adventure Crafter Lists Sheet
The Adventure Crafter Deck List Sheet Form Fillable PDF

The Location Crafter

The Location Crafter Form Fillable PDF
The randomized Location Crafter Known Elements Region Sheet Form Fillable PDF

This concludes the, "Get all the worksheets where we can find them" portion of the project. The next step is a master list split by topic that will help you locate any worksheet in nearly any Word Mill Games book or, as in the case above, official webpage. Should more be added to this page I will update it accordingly, and once the master worksheet list is complete it will remain a live document.

Thanks if you stuck it out this far.

(If you enjoyed this article, check out the Blog Index for more content that may entertain or inspire)

Mythic Worksheets Index, Mythic Magazines 49 through 56

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(This has two extra magazines over the standard 6 per article, because the remaining two only had one worksheet a piece. When a couple more come out I will split 55-60 into their own article)



Volume 49

The Society Crafter

  • Society Sheet, pg. 5
A Guide For New Solo Roleplayers
  • Adventure Frustration Reducing Checklist, pg. 46

Volume 50

Deconstructing Prepared Adventures for Solo Play
  • Deconstructed Adventure Sheet, pg. 12

Volume 51

The Mechanics Crafter
  • Mechanics Crafter Sheet, pg. 7
  • Mechanics Crafter Rules sheet, pg. 13

Event Crafter Collection
  • Event Crafter List Sheet, pg. 21
(Mythic Magazine 52 has no worksheets)

Volume 53

Mythic As A Board Game Opponent
  • Mythic Board Game Sheet, pg. 22
(Mythic Magazine 54 has no worksheets)

Volume 55

Galaxy Creator
  • Galaxy Map, pg. 6

(Mythic Magazine 56 has no worksheets)



(If you enjoyed this article, check out the Blog Index for more content that may entertain or inspire)

Tuesday, August 12, 2025

Mythic Worksheets Index, Mythic Magazines 43 through 48

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Volume 43

Creating Game Loops In Solo Play

  • Mythic Game Loop Sheet, pg. 9

Volume 44

Running Solo Slice Of Life Adventures
  • Character Keywords worksheet, pg. 44

Volume 45

One-Page Character Crafter
  • One-Page Character Sheet, pg. 8

Volume 46

Star System Creator
  • Star System Chart worksheet, pg. 21


Volume 47

One-Page Mystery Crafter
  • Mystery Matrix worksheet, pg. 10


(Mythic Magazine 48 has no worksheets)

(If you enjoyed this article, check out the Blog Index for more content that may entertain or inspire)

Mythic Worksheets Index, Mythic Magazines 37 through 42

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(Mythic Magazine 37 had no worksheets)


Volume 38

Solo Setting & World Creation System
  • World Creation Sheet, pg. 9

Volume 39

NPC Evolving Motivation Rules
  • Evolving Motivations Sheet, pg. 7

(Mythic Magazine 40 has no worksheets)

(Mythic Magazine 41 has no worksheets)

Volume 42

3-Act Structure For Mythic Adventures
  • Mythic 3-Act Story Structure worksheet, pg. 16

(If you enjoyed this article, check out the Blog Index for more content that may entertain or inspire)

Monday, August 11, 2025

A Bundle Scene Starters sans Context: Part 3

(A brief tutorial on how to use the numbering system is given on pages 1-2)

1-2


3-4

5-6

1-2     The PC either stumbles upon or is sought out by a (colleague, friend, family member) to research the mystery of a series of victims of a strange (poison, disease, mental affect, irrational impulse) that has struck with in the (region, kingdom, city, business, royal family). A suspect is in the custody of (the police, the palace guard, a crime syndicate, a rural sheriff) who used the (poison, psychic device, infectious meme, spell charm), but he claims that he doesn't know who is producing this weapon, but can give you the name of his supplier, for leniency. Do you take up the Mystery?

3-4     At a gathering to make peace between warring factions of (gangs, nations, fighting school, religions) the third party mediator is (shot, poisoned, burst into flames). Each side blames the other, not even considering that it could be the work of a third party. Why is your character here? Did the mediator die? What actions do you take?

5-6     The PC's reputation is scandalized causing the loss of (social status, a valuable contract, a land grant, a much needed loan) The accusation is a perversion of an action the PC has taken. Who spread the rumors? Why do so many people believe them? What personage of power have you offended?

7-8     During a routine activity in the late evening (guard work, an evening stroll, time at one's favorite playhouse or theatre, the PC discovers a (magical hour glass, bomb, booby trap). It is clearly counting down to something and that time will end soon? How does the PC react; what will happen when it reaches "0", what do you know that is worth killing over?

9-0     Enemies from past adventures catch up to you at a social function, a powerful person from your local scene shows up to scorn them and offers you their protection, as many of their lackeys appear on the scene bolstering your numbers. But no good deed is free, they want something from the PC. Something valuable and in short supply. What is it they want? Why do they think  you can get it? Can you afford to say no?

(If you enjoyed this article, check out the Blog Index for more content that may entertain or inspire)

Mythic Worksheets Index, Mythic Magazines 31 through 36

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(Mythic Magazine 31 had no worksheets)


Volume 32

“Gather A Crew” Mythic Adventures
  • Gather a Crew Worksheet, pg. 5
Dealing With Time Pressure
  • Random Events and meaning Worksheet, pg. 19

Volume 33

Mythic Mass Combat System
  • Mass Combat Faction worksheet, pg. 16

(Mythic Magazine 34 had no worksheets)


Volume 35

News Feeds
  • News Feed Sheet, pg. 25

Volume 36

Location Based Adventures
  • Home Location Worksheet, pg. 5

(If you enjoyed this article, check out the Blog Index for more content that may entertain or inspire)


Saturday, August 9, 2025

Mythic Worksheets Index, Mythic Magazines 25 through 30

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 (Mythic Magazine 25 had no worksheets)

Volume 26

Running Solo Procedural Dramas
  • Procedural Drama Worksheet, pg. 5
(Mythic Magazine 27 had no worksheets)
(Mythic Magazine 28 had no worksheets)
(Mythic Magazine 29 had no worksheets)

Volume 30

Mythic As A Solo Journaling Game
  • Solo Journaling Worksheet, pg. 14

(If you enjoyed this article, check out the Blog Index for more content that may entertain or inspire)

Tuesday, August 5, 2025

Mythic Worksheet Index, The Adventure Crafter, The Location Crafter, and Mythic Variations 1

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(I have opted not to do the Worksheets from Mythic GME1, as they are reproduced and improved upon in MGME2

The Adventure Crafter

Chapter: Lists and the Adventure Sheet

  • Plotline List, pg. 11
  • Character List, pg. 11
  • Adventure Sheet, pg. 12
The Location Crafter

Back Matter
  • Location Crafter Region Sheet, pg. 19 (use of explained through out the book)
(The Monster Crafter had no worksheets)

Mythic Variations I

Mythic Themes
  • Custom Theme Focus Table, pg. 18
(The Mythic Variations II had no worksheets)


(If you enjoyed this article, check out the Blog Index for more content that may entertain or inspire)

Mythic Worksheet Index, Mychic Magazines 19 through 24

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Volume 19

Crafting Solo Horror Adventures
  • The Horror Progress Track, pg. 15

Volume 20

Conclusive Adventure Conclusions
  • Thread Progress Track, pg. 9
Turn Any Show, Movie, Or Book Into A Solo Adventure
  • Location Crafter Pre-filled Region Sheet, pg. 26
  • Keyed Scenes Record Sheet, pg. 35
Volume 23

Creating Complicated Campaigns
  • Adventure list, pg. 12
Volume 24

The Event Crafter
  • Event Crafter List Sheet pg. 7

(If you enjoyed this article, check out the Blog Index for more content that may entertain or inspire)

Thursday, July 31, 2025

Wizard Dads Workshop: Layering games for a richer setting.

I love to play all kinds of games. I run the gamut from cozy mysteries through dark dystopian sci-fi. I also love setting building. Whether it is taking a the skeleton of simpler written prefab setting (Like the grey box set of Forgotten Realms circa 1987 or the orange original Numenera setting from 2013) and building on it, or coming up from scratch with my own original setting I love adding details, characters, plots and intrigues, interesting places to explore, and discovering the game world.

Back in my GMing days this was the bread and butter of my gaming life. Mind I loved running for my game group, and letting them add their own little details from character history, mentors, or just suggesting what would make a cool addition to the game. Sans game group now, as a solo player, I still reach out to gaming friends for suggestions and advice. In fact, me and three other friends have been tinkering around with an OSR setting, mostly written by me, but with a lot of input from them, for over 5 years. We rarely play it, we just love the act of setting building.

But, it is as an individual solo gamer I want to talk right now. 

In most solo games from scratch you start with a nearly blank slate. A cool idea seed and a character, and you let it take off from there. That is a great way to start, and I have done it dozens of times. In fact for the techniques I am going to discuss below that is exactly how I would suggest starting. The only drawback is the world comes to you through one set of eyes. Which isn't necessarily a problem, and for many players it is definitely feature not flaw, but for me that doesn't truly satisfy that world building itch.

In a prior article, "West Marches on one character a day, or a Crosshatch Campaign", game suggestions for running a stable of characters over the same geographic and chronological areas so that the events of one character would cause ripples that other characters would have to deal with. I still use that method with nearly every full campaign I run. It builds up a series of events an rumors that effect every character that comes after it.

Another method I use is borrowed, and slightly altered, from the Mythic Magazine article "Deconstructing Prepared Adventures For Solo Play" (found in MM vol. 50, pg. 3), but instead of applying it simply to adventures (which it does exceptionally well), I apply it to whole setting books, novels, and lately an entire 11 book novel series. (All you need to make this work is a random number generator that you can easily access from any search engine.) 

Using both of these together has given me an exceptionally rich game world, where I can start a character from rat catching newbie to visiting lord and have not trouble having piles of context to run my game from.

For the last month, I have been doing something a bit different. The background scenario I am using, and you could use any variation on this you like, is that I have a cozy mystery solving character (a librarian in fact) in a fantasy setting (though this would work for any setting that allows for action adventures), who has her own daily affairs and small, relatively safe adventures where she solves crimes and tends her library, but she is also surrounded by many unread and un catalogued books. Now, this is a private library with a taste towards the exotic, so it wasn't unusual that it acquired a set of diaries from a former treasure hunter, discussing his travels and the many strange and frequently unsolved mysteries he found along the way. This is a high fantasy setting, so the journals of a the treasure hunter are full of close calls with monsters, strange societies, and magic. 

Rather than simply roll a few random plot hooks from the themes of the journals (which would be a perfectly reasonable option), instead I am playing out the treasure hunters adventures using the techniques found in the article "Mythic As A Solo Journaling Game" (found in MM Vol. 30, pg. 10). To actually play out the treasure hunt in Journal style. When the treasure hunter finds his treasure he moves on, leaving in his wake several unsolved mysteries, and a lot of game details about the setting. 

Now, my cozy librarian, while she wields a little magic, doesn't have a single skill that lends itself towards life as an adventurer, so she takes all the little mystery strands and finds people who do, leading to the third level of layering: one shots. 

Acting now as the quest giver, she finds an adventurer whose skills and style would mesh with the needs of the mystery (" “Gather A Crew” Mythic Adventures", MM Vol. 32, pg. 3), and they go forth and untangle the mystery. The advantage to the one shot approach is that you get to play over the course of several mysteries, many character types, and even drift from your normal RPG to something you have been wanting to try out. It won't tangle with the rules from your primary game because it is encapsulated, and along the way you add yet another layer of word building to the setting (and probably create yet more adventure hooks for your primary game along the way). 

A solo game can be a fun one off, or a long campaign, but it also can be a creative opportunity to make a vibrant and uniquely personal world for your imagination to wander, and for me that is the biggest pay off of all. 

(If you enjoyed this article, check out the Blog Index for more content that may entertain or inspire)

Wednesday, July 30, 2025

A Bundle Scene Starters sans Context: Part 2

(A brief tutorial on how to use the numbering system is given on pages 1-2)

1-2 

3-4

1-2  A transport carrying captives (slaves, prisoners of war, criminals, dissidents), one of high priority (former noble, bandit leader, enemy officer), is blown over releasing the captives. The locals turn on them in a frenzy, (whether they are guilty or not). There is no obvious reason for the crash. An armored transport (armored man on a war steed, reinforced jeep, VTOL drone) swoops in and takes one of the captives, but not the one of high priority. Your PC(s) is close enough to witness the event. What do you do?

3-4 While travelling in a new area the PC(s) inadvertently enter a secret war zone (trade war, labor dispute, gang territory dispute, freedom fighters using gorilla tactics) between an established power and a local resistance. A group of "terrorist" have been captured by the dominant side after an attack on a civilian establishment, with many injuries and possibly deaths. The underdog call it a false flag. Does the PC(s) get involved?

5-6 While attending a regular social gathering (open mic night, weekly market square, local band performance) an important community leader (well loved religious heterodoxical leader, district councilor, well regarded political activist), is spirited away from the crowd as if he disappeared. A local radical group opposed to their ideals takes credit, and makes outrageous and unfulfillable demands for the release. 

7-8 While on the lamb (running from some authority or powerful figure) for reasons that are either good or due to a mistake, the PC(s) take refuge in a out of the way small rural setting (a farm town in the Midwest, a forest hamlet, a semi permanent oasis village). While they arrive coming down from the north (or south, or east, or from off planet) another unknown person cloaked (perhaps literally) in mystery arrives as well. This hamlet in the wilderness is the secret home of a powerful but respected recluse, loved by the community, until the stranger begins his whispering accusations, that the villagers listen to far to readily. Why is this stranger so influential, and what are there feelings about the recluse?

9-0 The PC(s) is called to a the site of a crash (air plane, space ship, minivan, caravan wagon) by an old but important acquaintance (mentor, parent, friend, old enemy), the crash ends, or at least pauses, an old feud (family argument, boarder war, personal grudge), but soon after the PCs arrive old secrets are revealed that call both sides of the dispute into disreputable light. Every one expects the PC(s) to sort it out. What do they do?

5-6

(If you enjoyed this article, check out the Blog Index for more content that may entertain or inspire)

Monday, July 28, 2025

Wizard Dad's Work Shop: A Bundle Scene Starters sans Context: Part 1.

First, let me give credit where credit is due. The inspiration and primary tool I will be using for this project come from various Word Mill Games products, with perhaps a few other randomizing tools thrown in. I am only going to be giving outputs so I don't believe the I will be doing the authors any injustice using there tools. With that said, though I don't this caveat will be necessary, please don't reproduce this article in whole or in part for commercial use.   

The primary tool I will be using is The Adventure Crafter Deck, which I have found be extremely useful in coming with with starting scenes or pushing a game forward when it seems to be running out of steam. 

I will probably get some minor use out of The Game Master's Apprentice: Base Deck. It is especially useful when you need a little more inspiration to tease out detail about a scene.

What I am going to do is make generic, context-less, game hooks, that can be used as rumors, catalyst, or mid game jump starters. I will provide a little who and what, but the context of your own game will determine what that finally looks like.

If this is popular I will do the same with NPCs and Locations, but there is no point in either of those without some reason to go there. 

In the first few hooks I will provide a fantasy, fantastic modern, sci-fi, and pulp adventure  interpretation just to show how it works."

This is a bit of an experiment, in sharing with others, but having random hooks, NPC, items, and locations with no context laying around has save a huge amount of time in my own games. 

The 5 hooks provided alone do not have to be used alone, you can randomly roll several and combine them for a more dynamic scene. I may string several of these pages together into a mega table, if there grow to be enough of them. 

How it all works. Roll a d6 on a 1-2 use the hooks from this page. On a 3-4 or 5-6, scroll past the current list and you will find links to those pages. (I think we will wrap up this chain of starters on pages 9-0). After you have your page roll a d10 and jump into the scene with your own character and game context. Feel free to add several together, and make a unique start or continuation of your game.)

1-2 

1-2 Some exotic [monster, alien, a person in a Halloween costume] character springs forth unexpectedly from an unpredictable direction [shadows, a parallel dimension, from behind a cloaking device]  and from and threatens, perhaps even attacks, your PC(s), but with no intention to kill, but very loudly, while from behind a concealed [shrouded in darkness, protected by a blur module, simply very stealth] and skilled co-assailant seeks to steal the most valuable thing to be seen [a wallet, briefcase, weapon, jewelry], after which both fade back into the back ground [magically vanish, mundanely run into the dark]


3-4
Social: At a popular celebration [Christmas Parade, Harvest Festival, Coronation], , in which your PC(s) have a front row viewing, in a major urban metropolis [New York, Fanatsy New York, Sc-fi New York, Metropolis (which is New York)], the local leader's [Mayor, King, Archbishop, Celebrity] body guards vanish from the scene, while he/she/they are giving a speech.

5-6 The PC(s) are approached, a well informed quest [ giver (but not one familiar to them) to assist them with the investigation of a strange and violent crime, that seems to have no rational motive, that is within the realm of expertise of your character(s). They bring all the case information and hold nothing back.

7-8  The PCs are drawn to a back water district after hearing of a friend/allies death (or wounding). The PC (or one PC if there are multiple) is the target of a failed assassination attempt by the lieutenant of a new local warlord/crime boss, to remove he/her/they as a potential complication before they can settle in. 

9-0 Something that has upset a formerly known NPC has come back from the PC(s)'s past to haunt them. The NPC now is powerful enough to exert threat over a distance. The PC's must avoid bounty hunters and/or law enforcement until they can either clear up/make amends/disappear.

3-4

5-6

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Mythic Worksheet Index, Mythic RPG

ToC

I love this game. It is one of the finest toolkit games every written in my opinion. All of the blank worksheets are in the backmatter of the book, so I will also list the first appearance of the the worksheet as well as what page they are in the back matter.


  • Resolution Tables Worksheet
    • First found on pg. 37
    • Back matter location, pg. 129
  • Adventure Summary Sheet
    • First found on pg. 69
    • Back matter location, pg. 131
  • Scaling Box
    • First found on pg. 79
    • Back matter location, pg. 130
  • NPC Worksheet
    • First found on pg. 83
    • Back matter location, pg. 132
  • Character Sheet
    • Back matter location, pg. 133
  • Wounds worksheet
    • Back matter location, pg. 134


(If you enjoyed this article, check out the Blog Index for more content that may entertain or inspire)

Saturday, July 26, 2025

Wizard Dad: Blog Update

As I am sure you have noticed, the blog has been on something of a hiatus, as I have a final coming up in my online courses, and like it or not the I have to focus away from the gaming table and blog.

But there are a few things that are, very slowly, in the works.

I am scaling back the Worksheet and Charts index to just worksheets. That is what I have the most trouble finding so that is what I am going to focus on. I think it will be a useful tool for everyone, so I will slap it up here. 

After that, still on the Index front, I am going to do a reverse publication order list off all articles including brief descriptions, that way if you want to peruse what is in a magazine or compellation before purchasing you will have a better idea what you are getting into. I have tragically fallen behind on (due to school) on being able to do anything but do a speed read of articles to add them to the primary Index. (this is probably going to be the slowest project I am working on).

There is a new category of articles I have in mind (with a couple of nearly finished) called "But what if we use it like this" to show alternative uses of ideas from Word Mill products, especially the Magazines.

Lastly, I am working (at a snails pace) on transferring the byzantine rules for early Shadowrun (I am going with 3e) into a Mythic and Fudge friendly format. Both are excellent toolkit games. Mythic tends to be more swingy for those wild action scenes, but if you want to play in the Shadowrun lore as more of a slice of life game (maybe between Runs), the Fudge tendency to pull towards the mean mathematically could be to your liking. I will post both, but expect a bit of overlap.

Well that is all that is fit for print. Be patient with me folks, Wizard Dad can not stand to be out of the lab for too long, so articles will be heading down the line soon.

Thursday, July 10, 2025

Wizard Dad's Workshop: The Villain's Turn: Power, Resources, Influence, Knowledge, and Personal Life

Good villains make good stories. Well perhaps it takes more than that, but a good villain can really help a story along. Just as your characters are not static so too your villains have lives in motion. I am in the camp of nothing is real till it happens in game, but that doesn't have to mean that nothing is going on behind the scenes. So, I suggest that you consider giving the bad guy a turn every now and again. I am not saying focus the lens on the antagonist like you would a PC, that would take the fun out of the discovery later on. Instead I suggest a broad view procedure that gives a sense of the type of action your nemesis is taking over a certain period of time. 

Let's say, your PC is a sword swinging, good natured, friend to the common man. Now, early in his career he encounters a manipulative lord who uses his aristocratic powers to oppress and exploit the very people your PC focuses on caring for. Sounds like you have a good foil to your actions, and a nice focus for your campaign. If your villain is doing so much for you, perhaps you, the Solo Player, should do him a nice turn as well. 

In this system (partially inspired by Mr. Kevin Crawford's very well detailed faction system in Stars Without Number) you can break the action of a powerful person into five categories: Power, Resources, Influence, Knowledge, and Personal. Each Villain Turn you will roll for the category, and roll if the action is focused on acquisition or exercise, then a second roll on for success or failure. Lastly make a check on your Oracle of choice on whether the action as an outward facing effect. In other words does it generate a rumor or news event. Even if it does, that outward facing effect probably won't exactly reflect what happened, it is just what was seen and talked about. It is important that the action only loosely be defined, because it remains an unknown to the PC, until either the PC investigates and uncovers the truth behind the rumor or the villain takes an action which reveals what is behind the scenes.

Lets meander through the list and discuss what each label constitutes, and show some examples that could come up in play.

Power is any action taken to enhance the personal power of the villain or its organization. This could be getting a new magic item it covets, increasing its magic or weapon prowess, or any other action that makes the villain itself greater in magnitude.

Resources is similar to power excepting it is outside of the villain's personal being. This could mean making an ally of a powerful creature, strengthening a lieutenant, gaining control of business, or laying hands on a large pile of money. 

Influence is social or political in nature. This could involve seducing a local lord to their side, gaining  a political appointment, insinuating a spy in an organization, or gaining blackmail material over an important individual. 

Knowledge is information that is useful to the goals of the villain. This maybe gained through books, sages, reports from spies, or personal investigation. The knowledge is rarely abstract, save for more esoteric villains, and will probably be used as an asset in the future to gain more of the advantages listed above.

Lastly, whether your villain be an ambitious business man or a demigod, all of them are people (with rare exceptions). Things of a private nature will effect the Personal Life of the villain as they do with the protagonist. Maybe they fall in love, find a long lost child, have a religious revelation, or fall off a horse and break there leg. This may sound like a skipped round, but personal experiences can change a villain (though rarely into a hero) in such a way that there goals may change, or there approach needs to be altered. Or maybe they just need to be personally benched while that leg heals. In any account a Personal Life experience will impact a villain as much as it does a PC and should be taken into account as goals grown and bloom.

Ok, that is enough philosophy.

Lets talk mechanics.

After encountering a Villain, a trusted lieutenant, or a demonstration of his power base, note them down on their own card (or word doc, etc.). Here you will add all the details that you think you know about them. These details will only solidify if they come up in game, but details you think you know will inform your decisions. (If you use a character list, such is found in Mythic GMU make sure note them down there as well, if there is a noteworthy outward display).

Next, continue playing your normal solo campaign and at the conclusion of an adventure (or after one game month has passed, which every is shorter), whether or not it involved the villain, roll for the type of action that the villain engages in during that time period. Just use a 10 sided die with 1-2 being Power, 3-4 being Resources, 5-6 being Influence, 7-8 being Power, and 9-0 being Personal Life. Note the result.  After that roll on your random word generator of choice roll the  first word (preferably from some Action table) and put it with the result. This is meta knowledge, but it will work in the back of your mind until such a time when a revelation in reasonable. 

The next step is to find out if the action had any public facing consequences. This is as simple as asking your Oracle "Did the Villain turn have public facing fall out?" Judge the likelihood based on what you know of the Villain's public persona, what type of action it was, and what the first of your word pair turned out to be.  If the answer is no, you just go on with your next phase of your adventure. If the answer is yes, take the first word and add a second or more words until you have an idea what shape that fall out took. From there build a rumor or plot hook from it, and then pick move on to your next adventure. (Though this is written for protagonist it could also be done for any non static element of your game, but I don't want to make this article 17 pages long)

Revelation 
Remember all Revelations should work within the context of the game. Merge both the context and the results to give the picture presented to the characters.

Rumor: Revelation can come in the way of an outward expression of the the action of the villain turn, in which case you build a rumor from the first word, adding as many as you need to solidify it. After you have the rumor throw away all the words save for the first rolled, as that clings to he character to be used in the second phase.

Investigation: Assuming the PC wants to take the time to dig deeper, and has the resources to do so, investigating what a rival is doing, could reveal some of the secret information, if they have the skills to do so and aren't to clumsy implementing them. If they are successful, they learn one aspect of the rival's endeavors. In that case take the cumulated words from one category and develop them into a plot device. Which very well may lead to ...

Confrontation: There will come a time when you will clash with a antagonist or some aspect of there organization. At that time take a moment and figure out which category or categories (Power, Resources, Influence, Knowledge, or Personal Life) will be on display. It will probably be obvious from the context of the confrontation, but if now just roll to see what aspect is displayed. 

At this point use the cumulated words in each category used to produce a picture of what comes to bear in the encounter. Lets toss out a few examples using the oppressive lord mentioned in the introduction.


Power: Truce: While the lord was always a smooth talker now his voice produces a calming lassitude that seeps the will to fight from you and your allies. You notice he wears a strange platinum pendent that, is that the source of his new ability?

Resources: Distrust: A well know champion of right and law is on the side of the lord. This cast doubt in the minds of your henchmen on whether they are on the right side of the fight.

Influence: A couple of the kings own knights are flanking the Duke acting as his body guards. To strike at them is the break Royal decree, is it worth it?

Knowledge: Free: Before the fight can commence the he calls for a parlay. He offers the location of your characters missing family member if you just stand aside this one time and let him have his way. He promises that if you don't that information will be lost to you forever.

Personal Life: Trust: The lord's own son, carefully kept away from fights in the past is armed and armored and standing next to his father. They look like a formidable team.

In actual play there will be several words to weave together to give you an idea of what is manifesting, but the point is to show, in a very gameable way, that your rival is in motion as much as your characters.


(If you enjoyed this article, check out the Blog Index for more content that may entertain or inspire)

Monday, July 7, 2025

Blank Page to First Scene 4: Out of the Frying Pan; Into the Fire


The last step to wrap up this little project is to jump into the first scene. Now, I could ask a series of Mythic questions narrowing it down to a final step, or I could use the method from MM38 Solo Setting & World Creation System, to sketch out a place with a little history. Instead I am going to pull another tool from my toolbox and use  The Adventure Crafter, which is a wonderful tool for inciting events. 

As a brief overview (I seriously suggest you pick this up and its deck version as well), TAC gives you a series of story elements that contrive to make up a scene. I wish to start in media res so the TAC results will be the thing that leads up to the moment I start, and set the conditions of my Fate Chart questions to determine what action is going on. 

A couple months ago I made a deck of adventure starters, and boost, for when things got slow. These are full Adventure Crafter result sets on standard index cards. They are agnostic with no context. Because a little context is needed to interpret them I am going to grab a multi genre bestiary I own and just randomly pick a monster from it to give some simple context I need. The result is futuristic and horror. Now, I am going to draw from the deck until a starting scene takes shape. To be more precise these are the events that will lead up to the starting scene, the immediate background of the adventure.

Meta: (I am holding meta results to just one, two many of these muddles a scene)
  • Character Upgrade 

Mystery: 
  • Something lost has been found.
  • This isn't working
  • The observer
  • Beat you to it
  • The Plot Thickens
  • Hidden Agenda
Action
  • Destroy the thing
  • Confrontation
  • Protector
Personal
  • Untouchable
  • Character Assistance
  • Willing to talk
Social
  • Injustice
  • A rare or unique social gathering
I may not be able to fit all of these hooks into a coherent back scene, but lets see what we can do.

Social gives us a strong location in "A rare or unique social gathering". We know the setting is both horrific and futuristic. Social also tells us that someone or some group faces an injustice. In Personal we have untouchable, which suggest my own character is considered either to exalted to touch or to loathsome to interact with. Lets go with the later, and we are going to expand that to the others at the meeting as well. We, collectively, represent a group of lone-wolf pariah gathered for a purpose.

There are two factors that would make my character unique that I can think of off the top of my head. The first is that I am dimension hopper, but we know those are very rare. The second is that I am a wizard, but I mask it in the trappings of the local system, and sense this is sci-fi we will go with Psionics. This a world where both hyper science and psionic power are present, and those who practice the later are seen as unclean. 

I am just going to interject that psychics in this setting are lone-wolf types, with no over arching organization, which shows that meeting to discuss a problem (willing to talk) and banding together (Character Assistance) to face it is almost unheard of. As a persecutor minority they probably stay as far away from each other as possible, as not to draw attention.

If, the setting has hyper tech and the typical run of peace keepers and soldier, then this must be a scenario that only psionic power can handle, and it must be important enough to gather people from all parts of this space sector. 

Looking to the Mystery section we know that something, maybe an ancient psionic artifact, has been found, but we know that the group that has gathered think it is too dangerous and should be destroyed (Acton: Destroy the thing), which will lead to a confrontation with its guardian (Protector)

Whatever it is even most psychic powers are bouncing off it (This isn't working). From seeming nowhere a character thought lost earlier in the adventure emerges from concealment, perhaps invisibility (The Observer) rushes past the combat and guardian, to seize the artifact for themselves (Beat you to it, Plot Thickens, Hidden Agenda). Upon seizing the object the power within it, that the guardian was trying to keep safe floods into our traitor, filling him with power (Meta: Character Upgraded). Which leads us to the opening scene...

A small group of psychic loners, along with Saul, are banded together, with the Protector joining them to face a seeming now much empowered psychic, who is a danger to this entire galactic sector.

Roll for initiative. 

Thursday, June 26, 2025

Full Blog Table of Contents (a work in perpetual progress)

It has been brought to my attention that my blog isn't very user friendly, so now if you check the side bar you will see this ToC is the featured post.

It is going to take some doing to get all the project home pages up, but I am going to work from the most recent and work my way back. 

There are a few non Mythic related project scatter hither and yon. When I figure a way to group them I will pop them in a ToC and link it here, but here is a competed project chain or two.
There are a number of one off articles that I feel are pretty strong, but weren't part of a series. When I have the time I will build a miscellanea ToC and link them here.

 
I also have some legacy content from when this was an OSR blog, but I will leave off that unless someone expresses an interest.


Tuesday, June 24, 2025

Blank Page to First Scene 3: Let's Make Some Magic

Back to Toc

Looking back to character creation, you will see three magic related traits. Two Attributes Vis Pool Maximum and Current Vis Pool, and one skill Wizardry. Now lets give them some meaning. 

For the purposes of this game I picked the Latin word for power, vis, as a universal energy source. (I didn't want to use words that currently exist in actually spiritual believes of cultures I am not part of, so I picked a dead language). And though it is reasonable to think of it as a power pool, it really represents how much and how often a mortal mind can interact with an extra-mortal power source, the Universal Realty Engine. The complexity of channeling the very mechanics of the cosmos are exhausting, and can be exhausted. So, while it is easier in game terms to think of it as an actual pool of energy, the reality it is more a measure of mental/spiritual stress, thus it is derived by Smarts and Ego.

I don't what an over complicated system so it essentially has two elements. First, is casting spells using the Wizardry Skill. This is as simple as defining the spell effect you want, setting a difficulty to it, and rolling to see if you succeed. A Yes indicates a successful casting. An Exceptional yes, allows you to raise one aspect of the casting (say include more people or cause more damage). A No indicates that you failed to cast the spell successfully, but it isn't a catastrophic failure. If the spell should have been well be low your abilities, down grade the qualities of the spell and have it perform in a sup par manner (you may want to aske a Fate check to see if it is a simple Failure, but I think Wizard should waist a round casting for nothing). If it was at or even stretching your abilities then it is just a failure, but still may cause Drain. If the answer is an Exceptional No the magic gets out of hand and either backfires or produces some interesting random result (I suggest a Fate check with backfire as the probably outcome).

Whether the spell is a success, a failure or a backfire you have to roll for Drain. Drain is a roll set by the difficulty of the spell against your Current Vis Pool attribute. The question is Did I suffer Drain. If Yes lower the Current Vis Pool by one step. If it is an Exceptional Yes, lower the current Vis pool by two steps. If the answer is No then your Vis Pool remains the same. If your answer is an Exceptional No then your Vis Pool actually raises by one step indicating some insight into casting that particular spell. Make a note of that, as it may indicated a growing talent for that sort of spell (giving you a plausible reason to get a Gift easing the casting of such spells). 

(Remember when doing skill checks in Mythic RPG you set the CF to 5 for the skill check. Varying CF is to escalate role play scenes. Otherwise this magic system would get way out of hand very quickly.)

Current Vis Pool Refreshes over night to its maximum if the character gets a chance to rest in a safe environment. Once per day, the character can meditate using Wizardry skill against current Vis pool. A success raises the Current Vis pool by one rank. This can be attempted just once per day. An Exceptional Success raises it by two point. All failures simply result in no raise.

Modifiers of all sorts could be applied to this roll. A favorable environment, a failure to concentrate, some special "components" that boost magic in this dimension, etc. I will future out more about that in play. 

When I have a chance to play this system (the next installment should lead up to the opening scene) then I will drop back in here and add some examples from real play, and we will see if this system needs a bit of tweaking. 

Friday, June 20, 2025

Mythic Worksheet Index, Mythic Magazines 13 through 18

ToC

Volume 14

Emotional Quest Adventures
  • Emotional Quest Record Sheet, pg. 19
Volume 15

Randomized World Generation
  • Known Elements Region Sheet, pg 27
Volume 16

Location Crafting Random Cities
  • Known Elements Region Sheet, pg 31
Volume 17

(Highly Useful back matter)
  • Adventure Lists worksheet, pg. 32
  • Nested Characters List Sheet, pg. 33
  • Adventure Crafter List Sheet, pg. 34
  • Adventure Crafter Deck List Sheet, pg. 35
  • 2E Adventure List Sheet, pg. 36
  • Keyed Scenes Record Sheet, pg. 37
Volume 18

Adapting The Event Focus Table To Your RPG
  • Adaptable Event Focus Table, pg. 46 

Blank Page to First Scene 2: World Building 1, Paradise


World Building with the Mythic RPG is both extremely easy and rather challenging. It is easy because, with the loose idea of what you want, and the Fate chart, you can ask simple yes/no questions and start filling in the details. It is challenging because it can and will subvert your expectations quickly, which can lead to a game that wasn't what you had in mind. When an actual GM does this to his players, and he sees it isn't quite working out they can intelligently course correct, getting back on track. Mythic RPG, for all it is a wonderful system, isn't a thinking one. We bring the thinking to it. Thus, it is better to nail down anything you want to be concrete as soon as it comes to mind and NOT to leave it all up to Mythic.

There are two starting places we need the Hub, a district of Paradise, and Shadow, the term that Paradisians call everywhere else. I want to start in media res. So, I will be jumping straight into action, so I don't need a lot of details on Paradise yet, and because exploring is the purpose of travel for Saul, I don't want to go over board with the starting location either.

If you were to follow this link Setting Creation Elements, you would find that Mythic Magazine has provided us with a plethora of tools for creating setting and parts there of, but lets first look at the suggestions from Mythic RPG.

Chapter 9, World Creation (starting on pg. 85) gives us gives us a number of tools for emergent world building, and we will put those to good use in the near future, but starting with the Hub we are going to nail down some details before we let randomness take the wheel.

Mythic Magazine 38, pg. 3 gives us the article  “Solo Setting & World Creation System” (This can be found in Compilation 7). This has several tools useful for us (bonus points for us as it mentions that this or a variation of it will be used in Setting Creation in MRPG2). First off, there are lists of  Adventure Genre to roll randomly or at least consider for inspirational purposes. I like Hybrid Fantastic Sc-fi. That gives us a broad base for our local district in Paradise. Next, and just as important, not just for this setting but for the campaign at large, is Adventure Tone. Epic and Strange match our needs, but I am going to add Whimsical as well, to remind myself that this is more of a light hearted game for fun than a dash to rescue the multiverse. The penultimate tool at hand is Context. Here we are going to lay down ground rules for play in Paradise.

"Context is what informs our expectations. Context
is everything we know about our adventure world,
from the genre and setting to important past
events and our Player Characters themselves." MM Vol. 38, pg.8

So, to describe the context of the campaign, and Paradise specifically I think "Madcap Genre-bending Multidimensional Adventure!" pretty much covers both the city of Paradise (or at least the hundred or so miles we are likely to explore) and gives us a good idea of the types of adventures and scenes to come.

Along with context we can set Context Rules.

"A Context Rule is adventure Context
that you elevate to a game rule. Treat it
like a mechanical element of your RPG
or adventure, like any other rule. It’s
an instruction you can refer to when
interpreting Mythic prompts and events." MM Vol. 38, pg. 10

Context Rules for Paradise and Beyond
  1. In Paradise there is no death, and very little want. If a character from Paradise dies in a Shadow the reappear in Paradise, though worse for the wear (and possible naked).
  2. If a setback can be interpreted in a humorous way in Paradise it is. Most Shadows will have more serious consequences.
  3. As Paradise holds an aspect of anything in creation, nothing is out of place there, though somethings maybe pretty weird nonetheless.
  4. Paradise is a safe haven (like a home base in a West Marches style campaign) which isn't to say adventure can't happen there, but if you put your loot in a bank or stow it with a powerful friend it will still be there when you get back. 
  5. You can reach any time or world from Paradise, as it has it cast its Shadows all over creation, it is harder to get back to than to exit from (excepting through dying of course, but that tends to be unpleasant).
The last tool in “Solo Setting & World Creation System” is a history generator. As Paradise has always existed and (theoretically) always will this would be a bit daunting, even for one neighborhood, so lets just give it one go for a brief local immediate history.  You will find the grid for generating histories in MM 38, pg. 9. (As I don't own the compilations I can't narrow it down for you there, sorry). For, those who haven't picked up this gem of a magazine yet I will briefly explain. There is a 5 by 3 grid of boxes, with interconnections by way of random d10 rolls taking you to other boxes. 1-2 may lead down to a box while the next box may have 3-4 lead right. That isn't too important right now. I am just going to run through it quickly and give you the narrative outcome.

Start>Attack Depletion>Deposit Freedom>Indulge Elements>Deny Attention>End

When Saul first came to the more or less abandoned Transcorp industrial district of Paradise it was a pretty much a slum. It was a corner that reminded him largely of the old fossil factory towns on old Earth which had been totally abandoned as soon as there was a way out, but people did live here, natives that were pretty dang close to looking like humans, and so while desolate it looked a lot like home. 

Saul had already been doing some dimension hopping for a while and in his wild rush from Domain to Domain he hadn't spent a lot of the loot. So, he arranged for a few cheap fabricators from a richer district (and by doing a few favors) and flexed a bit of his "magical" muscles and started cleaning the place up and arranging the tools the locals would need to refurbish the neighborhood. There were some clashes with various gang types, and one mob syndicate, but honestly it wasn't like the place was churning out the cheddar, so a deal was cut that it would remain something of a safe haven for people who wouldn't hassle the locals, on the condition that the locals wouldn't ask too many questions. That and bit of the vig was expected should the place turn a profit. And with that they let it go. 

To make sure that it didn't draw too much in the way of speculators and gentrification, it outer edges were left pretty rough, though the inside became a homey safe haven for locals, your more good natured banditos, and weirdos from across paradise and beyond. Saul really pushed for it to be named Saulsburg, as it was his idea, but it ended up being name Haven, about the least interesting name they could come up with. 

With the next installment we will drop Saul into some hot water, and then generate an opening scene

Tuesday, June 17, 2025

Blank Page to First Scene 1: Character Creation

Return to ToC

One of the most charming aspects of Mythic RPG, is that the character summary starts the ball rolling. I said in my last post I wanted a character who was experienced in both magic and plane/genre hopping. The character could be a researcher constantly seeking the new, or someone a little less ivory tower and more self centered, though I know I don't want to play a real ne'er-do-well. A balance of practical and academic with a streak of heroism when the cards are down sounds like just the character for me. Flipping through a popular sci-fi name generator I have decided on Saul Tane. 

Pre summary rambling
(This isn't an official part of character creation, but a little free form writing just to toss ideas on to the white space. For me after a few paragraphs of this, I have a much clearer view of who the character is going to be. This step is optional in the extreme, but without I draw a blank when I try to build a character.)

Saul Tane comes from a backwater galaxy, and in a tiny corner of that, which has barely conquered space travel within there own galactic system, much less, grappled with all the possibilities of dimensional shifts along the Parallel Axis. 

About five hundred yeas ago a couple clever monkeys (sorry, scientist) realized that while the dimensions of space may be finite, there sure were a lot of them, and most of those finite dimensions are filled with, well nothing (which is a very silly place to travel to). Considerably less were filled with next to nothing, which is also a poor vacation destination. Even after much research could they find any mathematical dimension that very full of something.

Soon after, a very clever monkey, working with an equally clever monkey with a spanner developed an engine that could launch a small craft into one of those finite, but nearly empty spaces, and on account of their emptiness (and this is where it gets weird) they could travel great distances in less time because those same universes (the ones full of nothing, or to be more precise next to nothing) would have expanded at a much slower rate, yet still shared all the same points in space. What is more, extremely dense substances, like a large class three gas giant, or as star or black hole of any size, leave a gravitational shadow, which could, if your charts are right or you have an extremely clever monkey of your own, you can "Fall" out of those "higher" dimensions into a new spot within their own galaxy. It is true sometimes a ship would fail to reappear where it was planning to go, but it was assumed that just meant they had fed a black whole they mistook for a star, because their science monkey wasn't clever enough. And most of the time that was true, but some of the time....

If you stumble through space without a map looking for ultra dense materials that will leave a shadow in "hyper-space" (a term about as silly as the use of  phrase "AI" in the 21st century Earth) you can stumble upon a Transdimensional Beacon. Particularly altruistic beings, that have probably long since became transcendent or extinct, left these behind to help lost travelers get to a safe harbor. (Because the only reason they could conceive of that you would be in near null space is that they got lost). Once activated these beacons transmit the lost travelers location to The Universal Reality Engine, which then moves the ship to The Omni-dimensional location, the jewel at the center of it all: Paradise. So, far as anyone knows it is a one way trip.

Paradise is a city of infinite size that exist at the very center of all things on the Parallel Axis, and as a shadow in all dimensions and times, though it is bugger hard to get to from anywhere in particular. In fact, it is easier to get to the One Real Place accidentally, than to access it from its nigh infinite Shadows. Also the name Paradise is somewhat misleading. It is a city of infinite size, which means it also has some slums, blue light districts, and urban war zones (also of infinite size, but avoidable with a good map). In fact, it is thought that the name Paradise at one time was slang for an acronym, but at this point no one remembers it, and on the whole the name has stuck.

Summary
Saul Tane is hardly the first human to reach Paradise, but of all of those that have, he has the least desire to go back to Earth (though occasionally he visits an Earth, but more on that later). Saul Tane, was a combination, genius, adventurer, and pain in the arse. None of those things have changed in the ages he has spent in the timeless city of Paradise.

It can't be said he got to Paradise on purposes, but his studies, both conventional, mathematical, and "speculative" suggested it must be there. His mistake was thinking that the black hole in sector 1794, was Paradise. It turned out to be a Transdimensional Beacon, that transported him to Paradise.  Still it worked out all the same, and what is more he doesn't have to repay the $3 bet that the technically lost to his boss (or replace yet another ship come to think of it). He had made a second mistake as well. He thought the God Engine (more conventionally called the  Universal Reality Engine) would be in Paradise, but if it is he hasn't been able to find it. Which isn't to say he hasn't learned to access it. 

Tall, with wide shoulders that start a like a block of stone at his non existent neck, down to a near nonexistent waist, with inelegant tree trunk legs and hands like shovels, you can't say that Saul is a fashion plate in any humanoid dimension (well maybe a couple), but he is sturdy and strong, especially for an astrophysicist (most of which seem to be skinny fellows with thick glasses). Wizards come in all shapes and sizes, so he is doing fine on that front. A moody fellow (again common amid Wizard) he can be jovial or terse, and that can change on a whim, but the mood he has most of is curious, and that extends to nearly everything. Not given to fight unless there is no other option, he usually uses magic to cheat. On the whole he doesn't want to fight, but he hates to lose (though if forced to admit it, he does like the occasional tavern brawl). He is built like a brick cylinder, the moves about that well as you would expect for a brick cylinder, but he is very dexterous and steady of hand.  

What he lacks in grace of foot and common good looks he makes up for with a very keen mind and, of course, Magic.

Attributes 
Brawn:     High
Agility:    Below Average
Finesse:    Above Average
Smarts:     Exceptional 
Intuition:  Above Average
Ego:  Exceptional

Toughness: High
Vis Pool Maximum :  Exceptional

Current Vis Pool: Exceptional

(As you can see I have changed up the abilities some. To reflect that Strength is total body strength I picked a word that better reflected that to me. I switched IQ to Smarts to make it a bit more universal a term, Willpower became Ego, to reflect it is both a sense of self, thus potentially social, and a force of personality. I added Vis Pool Maximum, because a free form magic needs some limitations and Vis (Latin for energy) pool having a ceiling discourages using magic for everything. Like Toughness Vis Pool Maximum is a derived score made from Smarts and Ego. )

Abilities
Wizardry
: Exceptional(The ability to tap into the power of the Universal Reality Engine. Usually effects are mapped to the paradigm of the particular setting/genre)

Brawl: Above Average (Fighting with fist, simple, and improvised weapons)

Skullduggery: Above Average (Sneaking and besting security measures)

Tech: High (All things gadgety or buttony)

Talk: Above Average (skill set ranging from haggling,  diplomacy through persuasion, but not lying)

Deception: High (Lies, disguise, and slight of hand)

Ride/Drive: Average (getting about without using your own feet)

Athletics: Average (Anything you could learn in PE)

Know: Exceptional (Knowledge of a lore variety)

Investigate: High (Detailed searches and analyzing physical evidence)

(There are plenty of other abilities, like Shoot, Melee, Heal, Acrobatics, etc. but even a well rounded man of action can't know them all)


Strengths/Weaknesses

Strengths and weaknesses can give Rank Shift (RF) bonus or penalties. I also use them as tricks or permissions similar to the Fate RPG. With an experienced character you can expect a lot of quirks so hidden Strengths and Weakness will probably come out in play (see pg. 19 Mythic RPG).

S-Instant acclamation: Having traveled to many dimension and worlds Saul orients to new paradigms very quickly. +2RS for acclimation checks 

S- Instant translator: Through a Low difficulty spell that takes but a moment to cast, Saul can talk to any being with an organized language, which is translated by the Universal Reality Engine (mind he may still have a terrible accent). This is usually an Average check for most casters, so the RS bonus has already been included. (Most planeswalkers use some variation on this trick be it spell or hardware.) 

S- Wizard: Rather than having a limited attachment to the URE through rotes or devices, Saul has learned some of the "programming language of reality" or "True Speech". This grants permission to use free form magic. The difficulty of the spells are determined in the magic section.  (forthcoming) (depending on your local idioms)

S- Planar Compass: With a small amount of concentration Saul can track down the closest "thin" spot that will take him back to Paradise. (There are many more of these than people think.)  (+2RS to sensing the closest Thinning. More on Thinnings in the World Building article) There are spells that can simply take one to Paradise, but you have to overcome to local "gravity", and this is much easier to do at a Thinning.

W- Weirdness attractor: If it can go wrong, it will go weird (roll Fate Check to see if PC Negative Random events have a Weirdness component.) 
 
W- Mood Swings- Saul is given to powerful emotions so any extremely good or bad situation could leave him giddy or morose or enraged. Exceptional Ego roll to resist. While in the grips of a powerful mood -1RS for all social interactions (like uses of Talk and Deceive Skills). (There are two kinds of wizards in the multiverse, those that are calm, serine, and centered in its harmonies. Saul is the other kind). 

W- Curious to a fault (or Poke it with a Stick)-  When encountering anything new and unknown Saul must "figure it out". Should he chose not to for what ever reason, this triggers a Mood Swing check.


Notes.
50 Favor Points