Chimerical Realm

Now that I've got a rough idea on my setting, Cresthaven , I need to get some more details in place for it.   First, I've been thinking a bit more about Mardok's Rangers. The "mercenary takeover" idea is a decent one, but their sheer size and power is a bit alarming. What if they're not a merc force, but instead the military forces of a more established power. Perhaps their a forward force of Free Quebec, or the dreaded Splugorth Slavers (servants of the Lovecraftian entity that rules Atlantis), or a band from the Federation of Magic or something else? Are they a Mercenary Band? (50/50 | 6[d10]) Yes, but... But, they have a secret of some sort, something else going on with them. I make a note of this, but decide not to explore it further--something to discover in game. Now, let's look at the questions I had from last time: * Who was the Protector? * What are the "dangers" around Cresthaven, and why is Mardok so unconcerned about them? *...

I feel like I haven't been gaming as much as I would like lately. Part of this is just the time of year, as life and work tend to become quite hectic around now. But, it's also a matter of focus. I've been doing a few games here and there, but each has ended with the rather unceremonious death of the PC. Well, I want to get going again, but this time I want to approach things a little bit different than I normally do. In most of my Solo games, I've started with the PC first, and then tried to build the story and the world around them. Or, I've started with a module or something like that. For this game, I want to try building up a setting first, give it some degree of detail and conflict, and then create a character to part of this world. If they die, perhaps the setting will outlive them, and the initial PC's death will simply become part of the background. Of course, not everything will be "known" right from the start. What details I create are int...

Owls Go Hollywood On Silent Wings Over the towering skyscrapers of New York, three silent figures glide overhead. Slowly, they approach the waterfront, wings gently flapping, as they cross the roofs of crumbling old word buildings. Then, a towering, high tech fortress looms over the water like a sullen giant. The Owlmandos are approaching the headquarters of SoloChem , a violent crime cartel. Over the past few weeks, an instantly addictive designer drug called “Blue Ice” has been hitting the streets. Det. “Bulldog” Payne, their liaison with the New York Police, has traced its manufacture to the top floors of this very respectable-looking, though heavily fortified, building. Mass shipments are due to leave tomorrow for destinations around the country, where they will be given away as “free samples,” creating hordes of instant addicts.  Bribes from SoloChem boss Fred Porcelain have kept the cops away, but the Owlmandos have no such restrictions. They have been charge...

Thousand Year Old Vampire is a Solo Roleplaying game, in which you chronicle the centuries of existence as one of the undead. It was launched as a Kickstarter on October 24 th , 2018.   As part of the Kickstarter campaign, a set of playtest rules were included with the campaign. The following Actual Play was based on these playtest rules. The story follows the existence of Roman politician Lucius Casius from the end of the Republic till the Italian Renaissance. I do not wish to spoil too much about the game, or the playthrough below. I will simply say that Thousand Year Old Vampire was a unique and impactful game; something many games strive for, but few succeed. If you are discovering this on or before November 15 th , 2018, I strongly urge you to support the Kickstarter here . If afterwards, look for the game on drivethrurpg.

Welcome back. In the last post, Lucius went, well, let’s be honest, a little mad. But, perhaps it was for the best, as it drove him to reconnect with Aurelia, and the two reuniting. If not as lovers, at least as friends. I feel time needs to pass, so I set this in the 15 th Century. The Italian Renaissance is in full bloom Let’s see what happens next. I roll a 5 and a 3 , giving me a 2 . This leads me to event 71. An Immortal Character has been destroyed by Mortals. How did you come to find out about this? What did you lose? Create a Skill based on a Memory. Create an Immortal if necessary. There are four possible contenders for this. Semnai (1), Aurelia (2), Antenor (3), or Marcus (4). I roll a d4 and get a 2 . Aurelia and I spend the next few centuries together, as companions and friends. We are eventually discovered, though, by hunters. She urges us to fight back, I insist we flee. She follows me, but so do the hunters. She is caught alone one night, and destroyed. In...

Welcome back. When we last left the game of Thousand Year Old Vampire , Lucius was wandering the back roads of early medieval Europe disguised as a friar, both preaching heresy and feeding from the faithful. I feel like a time jump is coming, but I want to wait and see what prompts I get. I was last on prompt 51. Using that as a base, I roll a d10 and get a 7 . I then roll a d6 and get a 2 . Subtracting the results of the d6 from the d10, I get 5 . I add this to my current prompt of 51, and end up at 56. You begin a fantastic construction which puzzles the Mortals around you. What is it made of? Give a hint as to its purpose. Lose a Resource, gain the Skill “Visionary.” Oh, no. No, no, no. The only Resource I have is my Diary, and that is the only thing reminding me of the good years with Pelias. Damn it. I don’t think I can express how much I want to reroll, but, fine. Diary is lost. I settle down in a small town in Cisalpine Gaul, just outside of Turin. I begin work on an o...

Landon— I trust that this letter, as well as the previous one, has found its way to you. The war here seems to be on the verge of resolution—at least, the nobles are meeting with the Prince Reginald, and we all pray that the recent madness will be put aside shortly. At least, with things as they are, things seem to be picking up for us common people. The trade ships which were so long delayed for fear of piracy have at last made it to port, and all of Avalon is rejoicing.

Welcome back to the play through of Thousand Year Old Vampire . When we left off , the vampire Lucius was living in relative peace with his lover Pelias in the bustling city of Constantinople, sometime in the 4 th Century. Our last event was number 23, and Lucius had become something of a theologian. Let’s see what befalls him now. I again roll a d10 and a d6 for 10 and a 5 . Subtracting the results of the later from the former, I get a 5 , which leads us to event 28. A long dead Mortal Character returns. What do they want from you? How have they survived death? You only recognize them if you still have a related Memory. Check a Skill. There are two dead Mortals in my past, Manius and Marcus. I roll to see which one has returned and get a 2 , for Marcus. One night, a stranger grabs me on the street, a large, brutish man. He claims to know me, and desperately asks for my aid. He speaks of Rome, the once glorious City, and long nights we spent together there. I do not kn...

Landon— I am certain that this letter, when it arrives to you, will come as something of a shock. When last we spoke we exchanged words which may chairtabily be described as “harsh.” It has been a month since then, and while I certainly recal my vow to never speak with you again, our beloved sister Agatha has entreated me to write to you. If not for our sake, than at least for that of our parents. Their passing this past winter has not been easy for the family, as I am certain that you are aware. Though, perhaps, you do not feel it so keenly. You were always the favorite, after all, and what little fortune our family possessed was dedicated to you. Your education and prospects always remained prominent in our parents thoughts, to the detremint of the rest of their children. I assume they thought that you would use their gifts to give aid and succor to the remainder, particularly to our sisters. It would appear that they were mistaken in your intentions.

Welcome back to the next part of my playthrough of Thousand Year Old Vampire by Tim Hutchings. In the last post , we left Lucius alone and lost in the wilds of Greece, having fled the city of Rome from the wrath of his ex-lover and newly created spawn, Aurelia. When I started this game, I had absolutely no idea what to expect, but so far it’s been a pretty thrilling ride, even if some of the events are, honestly, pretty upsetting. At least a couple of decades have gone by, but we’re going to play a little fast and loose with the time here. I’ll narrow it down a bit based on what happens in the next couple of prompts. As a reminder, each prompt has a number associated with it, and Lucius is currently on 10. To determine the next one, I roll a d10 and a d6, and subtract the results of the d6 from the d10. This number is then added to the current count, with negative numbers moving things backwards. This time I roll a 10 and a 4 , for 6 . Added to the current count, and I’m brought ...

Now that my character and his background are complete , I’m ready to start playing Thousand Year Old Vampire . Despite the name, there’s no official “time line” of the game, it could last several thousand years or a few decades. The rules recommend that you link various events and times based on what seems the most appropriate. I imagine the first handful of events will all be linked to Lucius’ first nights as a vampire. I open the book (well, ok, PDF) and go to Event 1 and get the following prompt: You are overcome by blood frenzy and destroy someone close to you. Kill a Mortal Character, record an Experience about it. Make a Mortal if needed. Take the skill “Bloodthirsty” I have three major Mortals in Lucius’ life. I’m not sure which would be the best victim for my frenzy, so I decide to roll a die. It could be Manius (1), Aurelia (2), or Marcus (3). I roll a d3 and get 1 for Manius. I hid in the depths of my cellar, hiding from my friends, my slaves. Myself. The night ...

I recently stumbled across a new Kickstarter, Thousand Year Old Vampire by Tim Hutchings. It’s a solo game in which you chronicle the millennia long story of a vampire, and their struggles to retain the memory of who they were and what they have done. As someone with a bit of a thing for Solo vampire games (like this one, or this one, or this one, or, hell, I really need to finish this one. ), this concept is pretty much the embodiment of why the hell didn’t I think of this combined with of course I’m fucking backing it .   Seeing that it includes a playtest version of the rules, I pretty much have to try this out. So, I’m starting a new Actual Play. Of course, as I will be using the playtest rules, certain things may differ from the final version. The game itself is something of a creative writing exercise in many ways. You create your character, as well as the circumstances which lead to your embrace as a vampire. After that, you use dice to determine what events b...

Now that I’ve decided on what game I want to play as part of SGAM 2018, it’s time to start filling in some details for the characters. As my random rolls have left me with a “Standard Fantasy” setting, I’ve decided that I might as well go with the default setting provided with All We Love We Leave Behind , a small town called Avalon. It’s a vibrant trading community, though nothing terribly large or important. The bulk of the details will be answered as the play progresses. Though, a few of these are necessary to get the game started, so I’ll be tackling those in this post. The first question to answer is, in many ways, the most important. Who is the Absent ? Who is it that has left, and why have they left. Like almost everything in AWLWLB, this is determined by a random drawing of a card from a standard deck. So, I do that first. I have a fresh deck that I’ve shuffled quite a few times. Drawing from it I get: Three of Clubs

As November approaches, we are once more coming to “ SoloGaming Appreciation Month ” (SGAM), an annual event where a bunch of Solo gamers come together to play a game or two with linked elements. Last year was focused on the work of Zach Best and shared Tarot Cards as story inspiration. This year, the theme is a bit more nebulous, “New & Shiny - Play a game or genre that you have never played before,” with a runner up of “Hybrid Game - take a small board game or card game and use it as driver for a solo RPG experience.” So, my challenge for this year is to play a new game or genre. Unfortunately, every game I own I’ve actually played at some point, in some way, even if it wasn’t as a Solo game. So, I decided to branch a bit further out of my comfort zone and try a truly narrative game, specifically one of the “Letter Writing” genre. For those who aren’t aware, this is a genre of game where you take on the role of a writer, trying to communicate with a distant character. ...

Last night, I finally got to play a GMless game. Ever since I started Solo Role-playing, I've been particularly fascinated with this variation of "standard" role-playing.  To put it simply, it's a "group solo" style game, where multiple players come together and use an Oracle rather than a GM to tell a, for lack of a better term, emergent story. It's obviously a bit of an odd duck, but one that is pretty well documented and supported with the base Mythic game. Since I love both traditional roleplaying as well as Solo, this seemed to be an excellent method to combine the two.  Plus, there's something to be said for an utterly zero-prep style of game.  Well, I managed to rope in a long-time friend of mine, D. He's been an off and on gamer for years, both as a player and as a GM. He's read along some of my Solo AP's, so it wasn't a completely alien concept to him. He still wasn't sure that he "got" it, but was will...

A Simple Plan Scene 5 Leah hadn’t known much. Oh, she was willing to talk about everything she did know, which was mainly all the dirt she had on McGuire Woods. She just didn’t know much that I needed. She was another cog in the machine that had played me. But, she had known the cog above her. Apparently, she had mainly been working with Preston Thurges, one of the senior partners at the firm. If anyone knew what they were after at Vulcan, and for whom, it’s be the good Mr. Thurges. So, it only makes sense that he had vanished that morning. I’m sure that my visit to Vulcan had nothing to do with the sudden “family emergency” that took him away from the office for the first time in five years. But men like Thurges don’t just vanish like you and me. They buy plane tickets, rent hotels, make sure people know how to reach them. They leave a trail, and I just had to pick it up. So, I headed over to his house. Something else Leah had kno...

A Simple Plan Scene 4 Do you have any idea how many “O’leary’s” there are in the greater New Canaan metropolitan area? Five. Five damn places called “O’leary’s” or some variation. So, first I had to figure out which one my “date” would be at come midnight. I felt pretty safe ignoring the seafood restaurant and the “family grill.” It took a while, but I eventually found the one that would be open late, and sounded like a nice, hole in the wall dump. Just the kind of place “Mike” would have liked. I got there about 11, and tried to keep an eye on the place. Though, to be honest, I didn’t know what I was looking for.  I guess I thought it’d be a stereotypical “tough guy” bar, but there seemed to be a decent mix of people. Professionals still wearing their button-down shirts, college kids, and fans of one team or another--just folks out for a drink. Not something I ever did, when I was alive. Not that I was against drinking. Guess I ...

A Simple Plan Scene 3 Mikes car wasn’t anything special. Just a generic sedan, nothing that would look out of place at a typical car rental lot or outside any office building. If you were looking for it, you’d never find it. But, I already had. I knew it was part of a fleet of cars through “Morningside Courier.” I’m not sure what kind of relationship “Mike” had with Morningside. Maybe he was a courier who took a chance at something big. Maybe he was a plant. Maybe the whole thing was a front. The only way I was going to find out is by going there. But first, I had to get out Vulcan. Terry snuck in to the quarr y in the back of a work truck, so he has no ride out. The simplest thing would be for him to steal one of the workers cars, but what’s “simple” and what is “right” are often at odds. Terry is, fundamentally, a good person, and his Humanity of 7 makes such theft repugnant to him. To see if he carries through with it, he’ll...

A Simple Plan Scene 2 I got out of there as fast as I could. No one seemed to be pursuing me, and I'm not sure I blame them. I figure none of them understood what they had just seen, or why they were fighting. But, it’s not like they would just shake it off and think it was a hallucination or anything. They knew someone had been there. So, I was now screwed two ways. First, I hadn’t been able to get the files I had come here for. Two, they had seen me. Which is the biggest “no no” I can think of. I managed to make a nice mess of things, and I hadn’t even been able to figure anything out. I just wanted to get out there, crawl up back home, and put the night behind me. But as I was walking away—well, ok, creeping away—a thought hit me. What if they call the cops? What if I they had tapes? What if I had managed to screw up the Masquerade? And then I thought, what if they don’t call the cops? I knew whoever had hired me wanted information on...

A Simple Plan Scene One See, I wasn’t really sure what they were after, just that I had to get to it before “they” did. And I wasn’t even sure who “they” were, other than the lawyers. But I was sure they were a front, of some sort. Some were involved, probably, but I had no way of knowing who. Not then, at least. But, whatever, that’s not important. Yet. I had no idea how to get into the Vulcan facility, so I had to hitch a ride on one of their cement truck things. It went pretty well, got me all the way to their quarry. In through the gates, no problem. No one even thought of looking back there. Though, I suppose that’s not surprising. Have you ever been in one of those things? If it was on, or even kind of full, it would kill you. So, thanks to my brilliant plan, I was inside the gates. Of course, what I hadn’t thought about was that they don’t park the working vehicles near the office. The office gets the sedans and pickup trucks. The c...