Loodie Fayfriend and a Pixie - Legends in The Mist solo adventure

My next project will be a solo Legends in The Mist adventure, and so far I created my character and a back story. Her it is:

Loodie Fayfriend is the last living member of a highlander tribe that evolved in the highest mountains, far removed from the rest of humankind.

The tribe were strict herbivores, a fact still visible in the shape of Loodie’s teeth—clearly different from those of valley folk who eat a mixed diet. They moved through the mountains like goats, crossing sheer cliffs and narrow ridges with effortless grace. Harsh elements barely touched them: cold, heat, wind, and snow were simply part of life.

Each family lived in a sacred pact with the pixies. Every highlander traveled with a tiny companion, a “pocket pixie,” ever present and ever watchful. Together, they were one with the mountain and its spirits.

Then something came.

An unknown force hunted the tribe and wiped them out completely—save for one.

Loodie escaped the mountains and fled into the valley, carrying nothing but his knowledge and his pocket pixie. As a skilled herbalist, he is generally welcomed wherever he goes. Pixies, however, are not. Fay folk are feared and distrusted in the valley, so the pixie stays hidden whenever possible.

But the hunt did not end with the fall of the tribe.

Whatever destroyed the highlanders still follows them. Loodie knows that staying in one place for too long invites disaster—not only for himself, but for anyone who shelters him. Towns, villages, and hosts would all share his fate.

They are tired of running.

Now, Loodie and his pixie seek a way to end the hunt—

one way or another.

Jorlin’s Journey: A Grimwild Adventure

As final version of Grimwild is released, I decided to start the campaign from beginning. This story uses also mechanics from Alone in the Grimwild, soon to be released support booklet for solo play.

Story	Mechanics
Jorlin, an elven priestess of the Trinity of the Path, wandered through Stribor Forest when she noticed something deeply unsettling—an entire section of the forest had vanished overnight. Determined to uncover the mystery, she began searching for clues.	Character Stats: Brawn 2, Agility 3, Wits 2, Presence 1. Major Magic: Wright. Minor Magic: Divination, Dominion. Talent: Iron Will. Background: Drifter. Story Arc: Stand united against chaos. Character arc: Get the humans out of Stribor Forest. Story Roll: 6d – (6,6,2) → Critical Setup (+1d on next roll).
She examined the air where the trees once stood and found it shimmering strangely. Stepping forward, she realized that the missing forest still existed—just beyond a rippling barrier.	Wits Roll: 5,5,3,1 → Messy. Crucible Roll: Restless Crevice. Impacts Chosen: Wits marked (reality distortion), Start 6d Danger Pool (something will emerge later).
Recognizing the danger, Jorlin sought divine guidance. She reached out to the Trinity of the Path and received a vision. She had stumbled upon a chaotic portal. The portal could be sealed, but it required a rare component—the hair of a Yeti from the distant Peak of the World.	Divination Roll: 4d → 3d (6,6,4,1) → Critical (secondary effect unlocked – info how to close the portal). Crucible Roll: Distant Peak. Requirement: Perform ritual using Yeti hair from Peak of the World.
The journey to the mountain would take days, but Jorlin knew of a faster way. A teleportation staff, a Major Arcana, was kept in a temple in a nearby human village. She resolved to retrieve it.	Story Point Used + Drifter Background → Justifies existence of teleportation staff in nearby Trinity temple. End of scene.
As she neared the village, an eerie noise filled the air—the ancient cry of the forest calling for aid. Rushing towards the source, she saw a woodsman fighting off a swarm of chaos-spiders and two chaos-wolves.	Start of scene. Story Roll: 3,1,1 → Grim. Crucible Roll: Aged Beacon. Chaos-spiders are 6d mooks. Chaos-wolves are toughs.
Without hesitation, Jorlin called upon divine wrath, causing the ground to split open beneath the creatures, swallowing many of the chaos-spiders into the depths.	Wrath Roll: 6d → 2d (6,5,3,3,2,1) → Perfect. Mook Pool: 6d → 2d.
She then loosed arrows at the chaos-wolves, striking one dead instantly. The second took an arrow too, but it diverted enemy attention to Jorlin.	Agility Roll: 6,1,1 → Perfect (First wolf killed). Agility Roll: 4,4,1 → Messy (Second wolf killed, but impact applied).
Chaos-spiders swarmed her, forcing her to abandon her bow. Entangled in their webs, she struggled to break free while protecting the woodsman.	Impact 1: Change approach – no more bow use. Impact 2: +1t to next action due to switching weapons.
With a blade, she struck at the spiders but only managed to slow them. The woodsman tried to help, but they were overwhelmed.	Brawn Roll: 6,1 (8) → Perfect cut to Messy. Mook Pool: d2 → d2 (0 dropped so +1d on next roll as woodsman will help). Impact 1: Roll for Cravese Pool (6d → 3d). Impact 2: Spiders attack Jorlin. Agility Defense Roll: 5,5,2 → Messy (Agility Marked). Brawn Roll + 1d assistance: 3,3,2 → Grim. Impact 1: Roll for Cravese Pool (3d → 2d). Impact 2: Spiders attack Jorlin. Brawn Defense Roll: 4,4 → Messy (Brawn Marked). Impact 3: +1t to next action
The chaos-spiders wove tighter webs around her, binding her completely. As darkness overtook her, she realized she had lost.	Brawn Roll: 5,1 (7,8) → Messy cut to Disaster. Jorlin is fully entangled. Character Dropped. End of scene.
Jorlin awoke in a cavern—lair of the chaos-spiders. The woodsman lay nearby, still alive but unconscious. She had one chance to escape.	Start of scene. Story Roll: 3d (6,5,2) → Perfect.

To Be Continued...

 

Way of the Iron Pact

Grimwild 0.5 + Symbareum

Played one character solo.

Jorliin is a young hot headed summer elf Cleric of Iron Pact. Hunter and Sage backgrounds.

Stats: BRA 2, AGI 3, WIT 2, PRE 1.

Jorlin selected a part of Davokar forest to call his own, but recently some Ambrian settlers founded a village of Queen’s Light in the south most region of his domain. At the same time, packs of corruption beasts are noticed advancing from the north. Jorliin wants to scare humans to abandon Davokar, but he also knows that he cannot defeat corruption beasts alone.

SCENE 1

Elf decided to start by investigating corruption on the north.

Story roll with 3D – 5  messy.

Traveling north, Jorliin noticed that forest is different than usual. Old tracks he used to walk no longer existed. Animal behaviour is strange. Using his Hunter background, he investigates to find out what is happening (no roll due to background, straight to GM Crucible)

Hidden Strife

Everything is different because forest fights its own battle against corruption advancing from the north.

Elf casts potent divination spell to reach the corruption source – 6 perfect, drop from 4 to 1 die.

Dwindling Boundary

Forest lets Jorliin pass to the corruption portal standing in a clearing. Several lesser corruption beasts looking like deformed spiders the size of the average dog are coming out of it. As soon as the last creature exited, portal closed.

I use story point – as Sage, Jorliin knows that such portals open at the same time periodically. It is 4D pool – on depleted portal will open again.

Elf decides to create a shelter close to the portal spot, in order to be close when it opens again.

With roll – 5 messy. Corruption energy influences Jorliin’s mind – mark on WIT.

Roll for portal pool – 4D to 1D.

Elf tried to disregard corruption energy and to concentrate on the prayers. PRE roll, 2 – grim.

He cannot concentrate. Furthermore, he misses the moment when the portal opened. 4D worth of monsters are coming out of it.

Elf casts potent Wrath spell with 2 thorns due to lack of concentration. 5 – messy (no cuts), spell pool drops from 6 to 1.

Portal explodes, and the force of impacts drops elf to the ground – mark on BRA. 

Corruption monsters are upon Jorliin. He rolls save with AGI + 1 thorn – 4 messy (no cuts).

Elf avoids first attack, but has no time to take out his bow, combat will be at close quarters.

But Jorliin has another trick in his sleeve. He casts Warding spell to protect the zone around him. Double 6 – critical! (spell pool falls from 4 to 3).

Lucky break > forest comes to elf’s rescue and wild animals attack corruption. Enemy pool falls from 4 to 2.

Jorliin jumps into the fray with his knife – BRA roll + 1T for mark, 5 – messy, no cut.

Enemy pool 2D->1D + deleted mark.

Last corruption creature runs away into the night. It will start to create trouble after 6d time period.

End of scene 1.

Blades in the dark

 

I kickstarted BitD all the way back in 2016, but this is the first time I finally decided to print the rulebook and play it.
Created a cult with two members - a Whisper and a Lurk.

For the first score, I decided that some dock gang stole a box from one of the nobles traveling on a ship, and that cargo contains a book that might be worth a fortune to some of the occult bands.

Battle plan was to direct a flock of ghosts through the warehouse where cargo was kept. This will spook the guards and make them run away. Our boys will then waltz in and take a book without anybody noticing.

The first part of the plan went OK, ghost flock entered the warehouse and scared the guards, but then ghost went rogue and decided to stay inside instead of moving forward.

Time for plan B. Whisper attuned to to ghost field to detect where the ghosts are, but he also found out that some government ghost hunters and policemen are coming, so that our heroes need to hurry and finish the job before they arrive (6 parts clock, 2 ticks).

Lurk surveyed the situation and decided the best way they should move to attract as little of ghost attention as possible.
Team tried to sneak past ghosts, but they failed, and ghost stampede right through our heroes causing some serious psychological damage.
Additionally, that ticked off the 6th part of the clock, so police arrived.

Team made desperate run out, failing the mission. Additionally - the heat was super high, giving them wanted level.
Beaten and wounded, our heroes return to their empty home....
THE END

I really enjoyed this one.
But, also I finally understood why I like one shots.
To make it interesting, I really like to keep my characters at the edge of survival and success, on a razor edge, as that is what makes an exciting session for me.
So, after that first session, they are usually too beaten to continue into the next mission, or next mission has to be light to give them chance to recover, and therefore boring. And then I lose interest to continue the campaign.

Therefore, I will be sticking to one shots.

Vaesen: Into the Mithyc North

During the Halloween season, Free League offered Vaesen PDF for free, so I had to grab an opportunity. I purchased the official solo rules and jumped into mythic north....

 My character is called Hal Jansen, and he is a writer.

Hal got a letter informing him that somebody poisoned all drinking water in the village Illustad. 

Attached to the letter was a doll, normal looking, like any girl would carry.

After traveling to Illustad, Hal talked to local bard and was informed that water is like this because people stopped respecting Vaesen. Bard knew nothing about the doll.

Then he went to speak with farmer who discovered the issue. Farmer gave our hero a special coin that was once forged by local blacksmith and thrown into the spring to please the local Vaesen. But since old blacksmith died of old age, his successors are no longer forging such a coins.

Together, they visited the local spring that was poisoned, but Hal could find no further clues. Instead farmer dropped sick on him. Hal tried to cure him but failed and farmer died, while Hal got Exhausted from effort.

With no other idea, Hal visited young blacksmith, son of the old master. He is a talkative fellow, so it was easy for Hal to inspire him into teaching our hero how to forge a mythical coin, even if Hal ended Afraid, as part of his soul was forged into coin. Blacksmith even spill out that someone in town once killed a Vaesen, and burred its body inside now poisoned spring.

But asked about the doll, blacksmith refused to talk, even though he obviously knew its history.
Hal tried to read his body language to learn why, but blacksmith kept calm, until Hal got Angry (pushed roll), when blacksmith also broke and confessed that there is another Vaesen in village - a Nisse connected with Smithy that helps him in forging. If he says too much, Nisse may leave, and the business would be ruined....

Hal then decided to investigate a doll, and he discovered that strange fluid is dripping from it, smelling on sea weeds....

Hal now has a rather good idea what he might be dealing with, but he needs to confirm it. So, he decided to go back to the stream for another investigation round, but this time he will be looking for a small grave.... 

 

 

This time, Hal had no issue to find the burial place. He decided not to act alone, but called local priest. Together they dig the shallow grave and found a body of a little girl. While at first remains looked human, remains of swimming nets between her fingers revealed the truth - she was a Sea Child, daughter of blacksmith and a Mermaid.

Priest buried girls remains on holly ground and Hal left her a doll with her. That should keep her spirit in peace, village has enough trouble than to deal with the restless ghost too.
Next night, Hal broke into the smithy, looking for clues. He found out that Blacksmith never knew that he had a daughter form his affair with the mermaid. 

But Hal also found evidence that Nisse from the Smithy knew it. And Nisse was the responsible one for deaths of both girl and the farmer. He acted to protect his blacksmith and their work, but no matter his motives, his course of action was doubtful. 

Hal returned to the river, and threw a coin he forged into the spring. As it contains part of investigators soul, mermaid will be able to read it and learn the truth. Hal decided to let Vaesen solve it between themselves.

Next morning, all waters in village were again clear and drinkable.

But the river started rising, and soon it flooded the area. Blacksmith was hit the most, his shop was completely ruined. He survived, and tried for a year to rebuild his business, but the quality of his work was nowhere near to the one before the flood. Only few people in the village guessed why.

Blacksmith left after the year, and another family took his place. Society took care that newcomers learned how to forge the soul coins. Tradition should be kept, and when you have Vaesens near by, one has to do the best possible to keep them satisfied and at peace.

The Zone RPG

For the first solo RPG in 2023 I selected The Zone, game inspired by Stalker and similar fiction, that was successfully kickstarted in 2022. You can try the game for free through web app available here: https://play.thezonerpg.com/

I played prototype playtest copy; final version will have better art.

 

In this session, I used 3 characters.

Ernest Hadingway – writer obsessed with pleasures of flesh

Albert Edinstain – scientist obsessed with being first to reach discovery and

Gilbert Oliver Dumas – politician obsessed with power over other people.

During the session, politician mutated receiving the voice with which he could force into obedience all other members of the expedition.

Writer saw a beautiful naked woman in the window of the mansion, entered the building and the doors closed behind him. He was never seen again.

Scientist mutated into tree man, and finally took root in the back yard of university building in the zone where he will spend eternity gaining knowledge.

And so, politician, as the last survivor, entered the center of the zone and earned the right to ask Zone for fulfilment of one wish.

He asked to rule the world.

The Zone granted him his wish, but he will not role the world he came from.

Gilbert Oliver Dumas found himself in the nothingness. He had no body, there was just his commanding voice floating in void. And so, the creature that used to be a man with initial G.O.D. said: Let there be light….

 

 

This was a great session.

I can’t recommend this game enough. It can create really great stories, within one hour session. 5 stars product.

New Starforged campaign

 Its been a year since my last Starforged campaign, so I decided to start a new one.

This time, it all begins in Agora, artificial moon orbiting Jovian ringed planet of the same name.
Moon was one of the first settlements in the Forge, used as entry point for arriving colonists.

Our hero is called Spinoza, call sign Nerd. He is PhD student at local university for xenoarcheology, working under his mentor Dr. Aristotle.
Spinoza selected for his thesis history of precursors vaults, expecting it to be a safe theoretical subject since his chances of seeing one in life were slim.
But it all changed after an accident including some kids doing illegal space ship races among planet rings.
Hidden between space debris, strange precursor's machine was discovered. It seems to be still operational, as its parts moved relative one to another.

So the government decided to send someone from the university to investigate the thing. And who would be better suited than our hero who studied precursors for so many years...

Travel to the machine passed without issues. Furthermore, vault had a clearly marked docking area for spaceships, as it was inviting people to visit it.
But behind the docking gate our hero was met with impenetrable darkness. As if all power was diverted from less important systems to maintain vaults purpose.
Spinoza fired the light on his suit, knowing that it has limited energy and that light may soon disappear.

Here, I decided to start the 6 segment clock representing power in the battery supplying the light. 

 
Next room was filled with some kind of boxes, and Spinoza had a strange wish to stay in this area longer and study them. Just as if some voices in his head wanted to keep him there forever. As his lamp used more and more power and the clock rushed forward, our hero had to fight urge to stay which seemed to come from the vault itself. Finally, he snapped out of it and managed to continue the journey.
Spinoza finally reached the core of the vault and was able to understand its purpose - vault was some kind of ice storage, a vehicle that carried bodies of dead predecessors to their final resting place.
Are the bodies still in the containers? Who knows. At the moment Spinoza had no resources to find out. It might be a good goal of some future expedition.
At that moment, our hero's main mission was to return to university alive and tell the tale. On a way back, battery finally died, light went out and our hero had to stumble through the darkness of this ancient cemetery for a while, which seriously messed with his mind. But at the end he managed to reach his ship and return home - stressed, but with no permanent consequences.