The Introduction
My buddy Matt recently encouraged me to give Solo gaming another try. I find myself burned out on 5E; it just isn't my style of game. I looked at the 2024 edition at the local hobby shop and it just turned me off, the art especially was a huge downer for me. It looked more marvel movie superhero stuff than sword and sorcery or Middle-Earth. I'm not knocking you if 5E is your thing, it just isn't mine. Played it, DM'ed it, just no more for me. So, with that said, I have a gaming library full of stuff I want to use, mostly OSR related or even OD&D/AD&D era. Matt challenged me to run two solo sessions before I go back to work Thursday, so going to try to see what I can come up with. Basically, just going to sit down and "JUST DO IT!".
I ended up spending more than a brief bit of time playing with random tables and generating stuff before I just started play, which probably wasn't what Matt intended, but you know what? I have had a blast!!! I realized I wasn't burned out on Fantasy gaming, just 5E and whatever the apparent current corporate "modern" take on gaming is... This Solo experience has so far been loads of fun.
I've used multiple different resources for this; Knave 2nd ed., F.O.R.G.E. Anniversary Edition, Old School Essentials, Ordure Fantasy, Mythic, Tome of Adventure Design, Worlds Without Number, random online generators and more...Oh and I can't draw worth a darn, so forgive my use of A.I. art generators to give this solo campaign a bit of visual spark.
Let me introduce the party, all randomly generated. While doing this endeavor, I was listening to metal, so the character names and other bits of inspiration are pulled from songs, albums and bands.
The Party
The Gathering...
A small forest clearing, secluded within the Ravenwold, on the edge of the borderlands, an unkindness of ravens cawed in the distance. A chill breeze stirred the air, a dead leaves blowing in the wind to land on the sparse ground. A group of five had assembled, all very different, and in other circumstances might never have interacted with one another, but they all shared a bond, or rather a shared pain and a common foe!
All had their reasons to hate her, they had all lost much to the vile creature, the foul one, The Baboon Witch. Aryon had lost a kingdom, 'Grevele' his only son, Elysion the love of his life, Solace her Order and The Volturian..his people. The Baboon Witch had much to answer for, but she was cunning, and powerful, and never faced her foes directly. She would pay, but revenge is a dish best served cold.
Aryon had sent out the summons, using the last remnants of his now lost wealth, and calling in old favors and debts he had assembled this band. Not all he reached out too had responded, some were no doubt dead, others seeking oblivion at the bottom of a bottle somewhere or worse. But these had come, whether out of curiosity or something else, these others were here. Hopefully they would be enough.
It was Elysion who had gotten the tip, from some of his less than scrupulous contacts. Elysion had learned from his contacts within the Shadow Lanterns that the minions of The Baboon Witch had captured a young sorceress, Amalien the Amaranthine, and planned to sacrifice her, bleeding off her power (and life) to add to the Baboon Witch's own. Time was short, the sacrifice would happen in three days, under the full moon at midnight, typical evil type timing at a typical evil place the ancient Trees of Sacrifice.
The party discussed this information. This ritual if successful would make The Baboon Witch even more powerful. Solace, called their quest an "Iustus Vindicta"... The dwarf 'Grevele' looked confused "Excusez-moi" ?...The elf Elysion muttered an answer in his typical soft voice, "Righteous Vendetta". Aryon replied his noble background apparent in the way he spoke, "Righteous? perhaps, that is for the gods to decide, but revenge will be had upon this vile monster, though it may mean my last breath, I vow to destroy her! who stands with me?!...then as a united group, all raised their swords into the air and said with a yell "Aye!!" (Elysion merely said the words, an Elf never yells).
To be continued...
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