Lone Horizons

  The Adventure Continues The handful of remaining peasants explore the dungeon under the keep. Turn 19 The sombre mood is broken by an ambush! Thick black tentacles suddenly whip out of the shallow water and thrash around. Tanti and Ibar are killed instantly, their necks broken by the thick black rubbery limbs. The others fight furiously but the thing moves three times as fast as they can, breaking bones and smashing faces in one after another. Daga and Nechta, seeing all the others cut down around them try to climb up the southern wall out of the pit but the thing plucks Daga from the wall and slams him into the ground, while last survivor Nechta loses her grip and falls. Getting to her feet, she roars out a warcry, gripping her spear and summoning all her elven bravery as she charges the monster. It rips the spear from her hands and pulls her into its beaked mouth, chomping her head off in one bite. My Thoughts Well, that's the way a funnel adventure goes sometimes. It's alw...

  The Adventure Continues The peasants continue to explore the aboveground ruins of the keep in their search for the Oracle. Turn 15 They enter a long hallway with what look like prison cells on each side, doors hanging open. Suddenly animated skeletons start running out of the cells towards the peasants. "Archers, loose!" shouts Anebrius. "Who do you think you are?" responds Tariad, sneering at him. Sabenn, Ingol, Daga, Bara and Gifu all shoot at the huge crowd of skeletons charging at them. Strangely, all the other ones rush past the peasants and out of the room. The last one slams the door behind it and they hear the rusty sliding bolt moving back into place. The ones they shot at stay and carry on fighting while the tapping of bony feet fades away down the corridors. Luckily the peasants are able to smash the four skeletons up without much trouble. Ibar the halfling vagrant runs to the door and pulls on it. "Oh no!" he cries, "We're trapped!...

  The Adventure Continues The peasants continue to explore the aboveground ruins of the keep in their search for the Oracle. Turn 11 Olnod turns the old key in the lock on the trapdoor and heaves it open. They look down into a shaft with a metal ladder on one wall. They can just about make out a stone floor about ten feet down when they light Kali's lantern. They climb down one by one and find themselves facing a stairway going down about twenty feet south. That leads to a flat landing, then turns west and goes down another twenty feet. They move slowly and carefully, checking for traps or any unsafe stairs. Turn 12 They enter a thirty by thirty foot room with an arched doorway in each wall. Do they go north, south or west? (1D3) South. They go to the south door, checking the room carefully. Olnod seems to have taken on the role of leader, so he pulls on the door but it's stuck fast. Anebrius, a rather muscular scribe pushes him aside and shoves the door hard. Strength check (D...

  The Adventure Continues Continuing the funnel adventure. Our group of peasants keep exploring the exterior of the ruins. Turn 8 The peasants go back to the upper courtyard and choose... D3: 1. The first door of the east wall. This is a ruined old kitchen with a large fireplace. The room is filled with rusty pots and pans, rotten tables and chairs and other furniture. While exploring the characters uncover a poisonous adder. Who finds it? D14: 10. Bara the soldier. Bara cries out "Snake!" as the adder crawls out from under a smashed up wooden cabinet, but Tanti the dock worker rushes over, new shortsword in hand and chops it in half instantly. The others all slap him on the back and congratulate him, then they return to the courtyard. Turn 9 They go through the other doorway in the east wall which leads to an old room covered in cobwebs. Searching, they find a scrap of paper with a fragment of text on it: "...lies beneath the north tower in the Crystal Grotto." ...

The Adventure Continues Continuing the funnel adventure. The peasants have reached the grounds of the ruined keep where they hope to find the Oracle of the Crystal Grotto, or something.   Turn 4 The peasants can see what looks like the remains of an old catapult off to the side of the keep, a few minutes' walk away. Do they vote to investigate it? D20: 7 out of 15. No, they presson to the keep itself. Approaching the southeast corner of the building they see two towers, both ruined. Between them is an archway leading to the inner courtyard. Do they investigate the south tower, courtyard or north tower? D3: 3. They head over to the north tower. Only the walls remain, the second floor missing along with the roof. Turn 5 DC8 Intelligence check to search the tower. Success. They hunt around and find a trapdoor hidden in the dirt. It's locked. Lera the barber takes out her thieves' tools and tries to get it open but it's DC15 and she can only roll a D10 as she's not a th...

Introduction Over on my Youtube channel the Dungeon Crawl Classics solo campaign is going well, but since I can't shoot the videos as often as I'd like I keep forgetting the rules and having to look them up during the sessions, leading to more editing time before I can get the videos online. I decided to start a DCC solo game in my free time, to play offline. This should help me get used to the rules and learn them a bit faster, plus I've been itching to play a traditional hexcrawl campaign lately too. This is a funnel adventure called The Ruined Keep. It's by Daniel J. Bishop and is available for free as part of Sanctum Secorum Episode 3 . I don't even know what that is, to be honest. I just googled free DCC funnels. I've already finished it but I'll transcribe it from my notebook here. The Adventure Twenty peasants of the small town of Grimbrook seek the Oracle of the Crystal Grotto, rumoured to be at the bottom of the nameless ruined keep near the town...

I made a video with some solo RPG gaming tips. Have a watch and let me know your thoughts in the comments.

Honi 3 in the Caloo Subsector Introduction Arman Doyle has finally made it off Siento 1 and arrived on Honi 3, a recently settled planet with a thin and tainted atmosphere. He's been given a ship with a mortgage, the Red Devil.  To play Cepheus Deluxe solo we're using  Mythic Game Master Emulator 2nd Edition . I'm also going to use Zozer Games's  Solo .  The Adventure Scene 12 | Jaketown, Honi 3   |  3023.05.18 | Cr44,558  | Chaos Factor: 6 Arman takes a tour of the ship and meets its computer which is capable of verbal communication anywhere on the ship. The computer informs him the recommended crew complement is a captain (him), one pilot, one sensor operator, one medic, one engineer and two gunners. Seven crewmen in total. He also needs to procure a weapon for himself and ideally replace his hidden body pistol that was confiscated at the hospital in Krinnai. He asks the computer to give him an overview of where he is. The nearest monitor shows the i...

 

 

The second episode of my solo DCC campaign is now up on the YouTube channel.

It's been a while since I've posted on here because I've been quite busy working on some multimedia-related stuff for Lone Horizons. The next session of The Bounty Hunter is in the works but not yet finished, and I've just launched a YouTube channel as an extension of the blog. I've got a few things planned for it including very basic graphical representations of ship to ship combat in The Bounty Hunter. Right now you can watch the first video in a series where I use Dungeon Crawl Classics to play through Dyson's Delve , a mini-megadungeon designed by Dyson around 2010. If you enjoy the blog it would be amazing if you want to subscribe over on YouTube, as it will help get the videos suggested to more people.

  The ship Introduction After recovering in hospital our bounty hunter Arman Doyle has been whisked offplanet by the Network, safely hidden away in a cryotube on a freighter bound for the planet of Honi 3.  To play Cepheus Deluxe solo we're using  Mythic Game Master Emulator 2nd Edition . I'm also going to use Zozer Games's Solo .  The Adventure Scene 12 | Jaketown, Honi 3   |  3023.05.018 | Cr44,558  | Chaos Factor: 6 Something I keep forgetting about is Arman's experience points. He's got 2 unspent ones which he can put towards his skills. This is enough to give him level zero (basic training) in one skill. After all his dealings in the shadier side of Siento's society I'm going to give him Streetwise-0. That should help him track down rough characters who don't want to be found. Arman is awoken by noise and bright white lights. Electronic equipment bleeps, he has a sensation of extreme cold, opens his eyes suddenly and is greeted by the sight of the...

It's been a while since my last post because I've been working away in my 3D app designing the ship Arman will be taking command of once he arrives on Honi 3 and meets whatever contact the Network will send him. More on that next time, but for now let's design the ship using the Cepheus rules. Firstly I had to re-read the Cepheus Deluxe chapter on ship design. It took me a couple of goes before I fully understood it but luckily there's an example of a referee building a ship from scratch for a player, which was very helpful. I based the design on the 300 ton Corsair included in the rulebook but modified it a bit. It's got a streamlined, aerodynamic hull which means it can enter a planet's atmosphere without tearing itself apart. In Cepheus and Traveller, a ton is a "displacement ton" which is a measurement of volume rather than weight. Here's the full spec: Armour:  Light crystaliron. M-Drive: 2-G. This gives the ship maneuverability when flying in...

  Our bounty hunter Arman Doyle is recovering in a hospital in Krinnai, capital of Siento 1. While he's waiting for his impending rescue by the unofficial bounty hunters' network, we need to figure out where he's going to be dropped off when they take him off-world. As you recall we're playing in the Caloo subsector of the Outer Heaven sector which is in my homebrew setting. It's roughly similar to the Third Imperium from Traveller but without aliens and psionics. I've always thought if you have psi powers in your sci-fi setting it needs to heavily influence the entire culture in a big way, like it does in Warhammer 40K, and I can't really be bothered to think about it. I already played a short campaign in Caloo offline, with the crew of a merchant ship who might make an appearance in The Bounty Hunter at some point. I generated five star systems for that game, Siento being one of them, so let's roll up a new one now. We'll say Arman will be dropped ...

Introduction Arman Doyle has been mortally wounded and left for dead in an empty warehouse by his target Cameron Lang and their associate, Claudio Reyes.  To play Cepheus Deluxe solo we're using  Mythic Game Master Emulator 2nd Edition . For the bounty hunting system we're using  Bounty Hunter Handbook . The Adventure Scene 10 | Krinnai, Siento 1   |  3023.05.08 | Cr44,558  | Chaos Factor: 8 The chaos factor has risen by 2 due to the extreme situation. We need to find out if the sound of gunfire has drawn the attention of the emergency services. It's the busy industrial district of Krinnai, and since the planet is a police state I'll say it's very likely the police will have been alerted and sent officers to investigate. Still, it could go either way here. The rules say if a mortally wounded character doesn't receive trauma surgery within an hour they die. Was Arman rescued and given surgery at the nearest hospital? (Very likely) 7: Exceptional yes! A passi...

  Inside the abandoned warehouse. Image: Adobe Stock Introduction In last time's very short session Arman Doyle entered an abandoned warehouse looking for the bounty target Cameron Lang. To play Cepheus Deluxe solo we're using  Mythic Game Master Emulator 2nd Edition . For the bounty hunting system we're using  Bounty Hunter Handbook . The Adventure Scene 9 | Krinnai, Siento 1   |  3023.05.08 | Cr44,558  | Chaos Factor: 6 Arman climbs the first flight of stairs, revolver in hand. Is there anyone on the first floor? (50/50) 71: No. He keeps climbing. There are 8 (2D6) floors to the building plus the ground floor, so I'll ask the oracle for each floor until it says yes. Is there anyone on the second floor? (50/50) 37: Yes. Is it Cameron Lang (odd) or their friend (even)? 100: The friend. It's pretty clear that Lang's sent their friend downstairs to deal with this intruder, knowing it's probably a cop or someone they've pissed off. Let's find out what k...