Lone Horizons

Join me for a deep dive into Wrath of the Wyvern: Sons of Rivesk, the solo deckbuilding RPG from LionBanner Games. In this video I open the rulebook, create a character, and see just how little of the rules you really need to read before you can start playing a new solo RPG.

Here's a recent video I made about the Blackoath Entertainment game Salvage & Sorcery: Scraphounds of Cygnus. In a new format for this kind of video I first give an overview of the rules, then show you an animated mission report from my campaign, and finally do some gameplay on camera.

I recently made this YouTube video where I talk about the fun that results from weird and unexpected plot twists that oracles throw at you in solo RPGs. I'm also inviting everyone to leave their own solo RPG stories in the comments under the video so I can read them out in a future video.

I've started playing the classic D&D Basic/Expert campaign Night's Dark Terror (written by Jim Bambra, Graeme Morris and Phil Gallagher) in Scarlet Heroes. I'm playing as Beremud Hilt, my level 4 fighter-cleric who featured in the Scarlet Heroes videos over on my Youtube channel. See the previous blog post for details on that. Beremud is a level 1 fighter, level 3 cleric who serves the god of honour and duty, Riramet. I played the previous campaign, Tales From the Skieg River in the area from that trilogy of adventures, and I've decided that the Grand Duchy of Karameikos lies just to the east of that region. I've converted the calendar to that of the Known World from BX D&D. This will be less verbose than my older campaign journals as I'm trying to make shorter notes in order to speed up play and get through adventures faster. I'm pasting each entry in here from Obsidian, which is what I'm using as a solo RPG journal now. I'll also be using m...

Just a quick note to say I've released a new zine, this time for Scarlet Heroes. It's called Under Western Skies and it's a series of weather events tables more suitable for a western European-style fantasy setting. There are tables for Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter instead of Wet, Cold and Dry seasons. You can download it for free or pay what you want from both Drivethru RPG and Itch.io. https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/561032/under-western-skies https://lonehorizons.itch.io/under-western-skies

  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...