Tuesday, July 29, 2014

Oolong, the Scarlet Hero

And so I decided to start a Scarlet Heroes campaign....
First thing, I had to roll a hero.
Applying statistics as rolled, I got: Str 8 (-1), Dex 17 (+2), Con 10 (0), Int 12 (0), Wis 13 (+1) and Cha 12 (0).
With low strength, I decided to make my hero a female. She has high dexterity, so I will make her a thief (or better to say rogue). I want her to be a little exotic, so Shou blooded she is.
I would also like to make her some kind of Lara Croft, so her specialty will be Dungeon explorer (3), with other traits set on Resist red tide (2), Scholar (1), Long distance runner (1) and Superb balance (1).
After some shopping and throwing away all unneeded things in order not to encumber her too much (with -1 strength she can carry only 40 lb) Oolong  the rogue went into adventure carrying a bow and quiver with 20 arrows, a short sword, a dagger, a leather armor, lantern with flask of oil, some rope, healing pack and some scribe tools to write down her adventures. She also packed preserved rations for couple of days, she might need them in the dungeon.

For the first adventure, I decided to test The Aladdin Technique. What I want to play now could be described as:
Oolong searches [cursed] [wilderness] for [entrance] into Red Tide infested [dungeon] looking for [a book] of interest to some [scholars].
After some Rory's Story Cubes rolling, i got:
1. Word cursed to be changed to something connected with camera - so Picturesque.
2. Entrance will be trapped (bottle of poison)
3. Twist - Magic and Temple.

Therefore, new adventure seed is:
Oolong searches picturesque wilderness for trapped entrance into Red Tide infested dungeon, looking for a book of interest to some scholars. But is there some magic involved that keeps Red Tide inside the dungeon, and beautiful and peaceful nature outside?

At first, I wanted to start with wilderness adventure from Scarlet Heroes book, but what kind of old school adventure could my hero experience in picturesque nature?
Therefore, I decided to playtest a new solo tool called Bold by Zack Best from Conjecture Games (not yet publicly available, still in playtest phase). Bold uses series of tables to create links called Waylays. 3 such Waylays connected can answer a question what happen in some period of time, for example since Oolong left her home till the moment she found the entrance into dungeon.

First waylay represents exposition. I got environmental waylay connected with Adept the Wild.
Wilderness  is beautiful and peaceful. Streams are running, birds singing... But to Oolong it seems too quiet. Where are predators to hunt, men or shou cutting woods for the winter?

Second waylay explores Impassioned Accusations overcome by Avoidance.
Deep in her hearth Oolong starts accusing herself for disturbing such beautiful nature, for getting its water dirty by drinking from streams, stealing food from wild beasts by eating fruits... But she also understands that such self accusations are not natural, they have to be work of some magic surrounding the area.
Difficult wisdom check - successful. 
Aware that nature is somehow magical and that it influences her psyche, Oolong decides to stay away from surroundings and to eat and drink only rations she brought with her.

Third Waylay is climax. It is Apparently Otherworldly overcome by Act of Nature.
Suddenly, as if by miracle, forest path opened in front of Oolong. Just as if the strange force ruling this area respected her decision of avoidance and is now guiding her towards her goal. Finally, path ended and Oolong found herself in front of the entrance to the underground. It seems that it was a natural cave once, but that it was long time ago adjusted into settlement for intelligent beings. The double doors were closing the cave, and Oolong, scholar that she is, could read that the doors are poisoned, and that they should be opened very carefully.
Intelligence test to safely open the door, hard - failed.
Save against poison +1 - constitution - failed.
Defying death - Oolong loses one hit point and is left with 3.
Although feeling week from the effects of poison in her body, Oolong entered the underground, and found herself in the darkness as the heavy doors closed behind her.

For finding the dungeon, Oolong receives 1 XP.

What happened next? Find out here!

1 comment:

  1. I had not seen the Aladdin Technique before. I'm glad I dropped by and found that. I shall have to use it now. I am looking forward to reading the further adventures of Oolong.

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