Recently, I soloed my way through The Haunting of Abbeyham Priory! (A Jumpstart for They Came From Beyond the Grave!) (50 pages). This RPG is set in the 1970s and the characters are in a movie. I did use the five characters that are in this set of rules as my PCs. To solo this I used Betrayal at House on the Hill with a yes/no/maybe oracle. So, the adventure started out with the PCs arriving at the English priory and being forced to deal with some vocal villagers (there was no violence, only talking/scene one). Sister Faustina gives the PCs a tour (scene two), but things change when they discover a secret trapdoor. The PCs climb down through it and start to move through a crawl space. The Sister hits them with a sleep spell.

Scene three is a dream sequence. Diana gets damaged by a beast and her damage carries over to the real world. In scene four, three PCs wake up before the others. They are on the ground, but get kicked in the face and go unconscious. When all of them wake up, they find themselves tied to chairs, sitting at a dining room table. There are more conversations and the PCs realize how much trouble they are in. Next, they are put to sleep with Chloroform. In the scene five dream sequence, they explore a different version of the priory. Rowland the professor finds a lucky stone. He slips it in his shirt pocket and it does carry over to the real world.

In scene six, the PCs are tied to wooden racks down in the basement. Their feet are elevated higher than their heads. They wake up, struggle against the ropes, and are lacerated. Their blood is collected by the devil worshippers, the lucky stone slips out of the pocket, hits the floor, and then Rowland hears a voice in his head. It is the voice of Sister Fortitude. She instructs him to repeat a spell if he wants him and his friends to survive this. He does so. The PCs bleed out. Their blood is taken upstairs. The dead PCs wake up. They are now zombies. This time they all hear the voice, “You are mine”. The zombies break the ropes, and follow a large black cat out of the priory. The PCs have escaped the priory, but what plans does Sister Fortitude have for them? The next adventure will answer this question.

Give this a try! All the rules you need for this exciting adventure are included in this Jumpstart.

Rift Runners Ruins of the Earth (120 pages, free at DriveThruRPG) is a fantasy RPG. I created four human healers and put them through four days of adventuring. For the first adventure, I used The Great Academy Caper. For the second adventure, I used Cultist Monastery. I used the Solo Adventure The Dungeon Oracle (Bimler) as the solo engine. The adventure started with the four seventeen year-olds at the academy where they were trained. They will graduate in a few weeks. They heard about some trouble around the school, but were not allowed to leave their dorms. On the second day they were able to sneak into the library where something was going on. The PCs killed eleven goblins. The goblin shaman wanted to talk. He explained why they were there. The PCs talked with the teachers and they gave the shaman the scroll that he wanted. It had been taken from his tribe. The PCs rested on the third day.

On the fourth day they heard about some local cultists causing trouble around town. They went to a monastery which had been taken over by cultists. They explored nine rooms total and killed eight cultists. However, things took a turn for the worse and they were forced to retreat. As they exited the monastery, they heard the sounds of the two portcullises dropping into position. My PCs are now third level. Give this RPG a try!

A few days ago I soloed my way through Eulalie’s Curse : A Backwater Solitaire (38 pages, free/pay what you want at DriveThruRPG). It is an exciting solo adventure for Backwater: Southern Gothic Horror Tabletop Roleplaying . I used the Quickstart Guide & System Reference Document for Backwater as the RPG system (54 pages, free at DriveThruRPG). I used the Zathrum Solo Engine as a way to answer questions that could come up. I did change two lines of text to get a possible “maybe” result. I did use the sample character that was included in the rules. The setting is described as a post-apocalyptic future (horror) with a tenuous social order. For this adventure, a mutant was not encountered.

So, most of the adventure took place around an old manor. What I liked most about this adventure was exploring the manor. It was definitely creepy. My seeker (ranger) PC (Adel) found three clues and had a run in with poison ivy (damage taken) and a plague (passed save). Adel was able to figure out the history of the family that had lived there. Adel had two dreams while staying in the manor. She also had to deal with the boss and that was quite a battle. Adel was able to hit it twice and her pet wolfhound damaged it twice and killed it. So, Adel and her pet survived the encounter. She was able to sell an item at the end of the adventure and received 200 coin for it (and she made it to level two). Give this RPG a try!

A few days ago I soloed my way through Eulalie’s Curse : A Backwater Solitaire (38 pages, free/pay what you want at DriveThruRPG). It is an exciting solo adventure for Backwater: Southern Gothic Horror Tabletop Roleplaying . I used the Quickstart Guide & System Reference Document for Backwater as the RPG system (54 pages, free at DriveThruRPG). I used the Zathrum Solo Engine as a way to answer questions that could come up. I did change two lines of text to get a possible “maybe” result. I did use the sample character that was included in the rules. The setting is described as a post-apocalyptic future (horror) with a tenuous social order. For this adventure, a mutant was not encountered.

So, most of the adventure took place around an old manor. What I liked most about this adventure was exploring the manor. It was definitely creepy. My seeker (ranger) PC (Adel) found three clues and had a run in with poison ivy (damage taken) and a plague (passed save). Adel was able to figure out the history of the family that had lived there. Adel had two dreams while staying in the manor. She also had to deal with the boss and that was quite a battle. Adel was able to hit it twice and her pet wolfhound damaged it twice and killed it. So, Adel and her pet survived the encounter. She was able to sell an item at the end of the adventure and received 200 coin for it (and she made it to level two). Give this adventure a try!

Vats of Rats (11 pages, free/pay what you want at DriveThruRPG) is a fun fantasy adventure for the older editions/variants of D&D, but I used Cat Hack (16 pages, same place). To create my solo engine, I changed four lines in Eye of the Dragon/Golden Dragon Fantasy Gamebook #4. I created five first level cat characters.

So, the adventure started when the town Reeve visited the town prison cell and saw the man-rat. He listened to the employee report. His cat Jumper was there too. Jumper joined his four cat friends and they headed north to see if they could fix the problem. They were hit with a heavy rain storm and they took shelter in a cave for an hour. When they got to the cave/dungeon complex, they started looking for the entrance that was used the most. The first room they explored was filled with food. The second room contained a human farmer locked up in a prison cell. In the third room they encountered a rat guard who attacked. He screamed to the get the attention of his fellow rats. The PC cats killed the first rat guard and the one that came running in later. Fluff was damaged and partially healed with the only two healing spells that the two cat shamans had. They discovered a rat secret door and followed it to more rooms and encounters. Another nasty encounter was with the two rat vivimancers (the two bosses). Both were killed, but Fluff went to zero hit points. She did not lose one of her nine lives, but she is now crippled (minus two on Dexterity – permanent). She regained four of her five hit points. They also had to deal with a man-rat. The cats ran into the laboratory followed by the man-rat. The cats jumped up on the tables and started knocking glass vials and jars onto the floor. The liquids mixed together which formed a misty gas which rose up from the floor. This gas stung the eyes. The man-rat cried and the cats were able to escape. Jumper still had the dead vivimancer rat in its mouth. Next, they freed the farmer. They went to his place, had a nice meal, and slept near the warm fireplace. Then next day they encountered a frog creature who did not talk to them. The adventure ended when Jumper gave his owner (Reeve) the dead vivimancer rat body. Give this RPG a try!

Vats of Rats (11 pages) is a fun fantasy adventure for the older editions/variants of D&D, but I used Cat Hack (16 pages, same place). To create my solo engine, I changed four lines in Eye of the Dragon/Golden Dragon Fantasy Gamebook #4. I created five first level cat characters.

So, the adventure started when the town Reeve visited the town prison cell and saw the man-rat. He listened to the employee report. His cat Jumper was there too. Jumper joined his four cat friends and they headed north to see if they could fix the problem. They were hit with a heavy rain storm and they took shelter in a cave for an hour. When they got to the cave/dungeon complex, they started looking for the entrance that was used the most. The first room they explored was filled with food. The second room contained a human farmer locked up in a prison cell.

In the third room they encountered a rat guard who attacked. He screamed to the get the attention of his fellow rats. The PC cats killed the first rat guard and the one that came running in later. Fluff was damaged and partially healed with the only two healing spells that the two cat shamans had. They discovered a rat secret door and followed it to more rooms and encounters. Another nasty encounter was with the two rat vivimancers (the two bosses). Both were killed, but Fluff went to zero hit points. She did not lose one of her nine lives, but she is now crippled (minus two on Dexterity – permanent). She regained four of her five hit points. They also had to deal with a man-rat. The cats ran into the laboratory followed by the man-rat. The cats jumped up on the tables and started knocking glass vials and jars onto the floor. The liquids mixed together which formed a misty gas which rose up from the floor. This gas stung the eyes. The man-rat cried and the cats were able to escape. Jumper still had the dead vivimancer rat in its mouth. Next, they freed the farmer. They went to his place, had a nice meal, and slept near the warm fireplace. Then next day they encountered a frog creature who did not talk to them. The adventure ended when Jumper gave his owner (Reeve) the dead vivimancer rat body. Give this adventure a try!

The Dread Secrets Of Gullcurst Cape (20 pages) is a fun fantasy adventure for Bite-Sized Dungeon RPG, but I used Hack’D & Slash’D (23 pages). To create my solo engine, I changed four lines in Chaos In The Floating Libraries (21 pages). The two adventures are included in the Bite-Sized RPG (free/pay what you want at DriveThruRPG). I used six second level characters.

So, the quest was to find and dig up a pirate treasure. My PCs were dropped off at a beach and started their journey. During the first day they fought and killed eight monsters. The friendliest encounter was with a group of Corgwn Crabs (I have never seen that before). The rogue PC Skar was invited to play in a game of volleyball. He had a good time. When the sun set, they were at the beach. They talked to a merchant and Skar talked to a wereshark. She was in human form because it was dark at that time. The two of them hit it off and had a great date. On the second day they killed five monsters, tried to dig up the pirate treasure (a god-beast ruined that plan), and set up a camp for the evening. On the third day, they killed 13 monsters when they travelled back to the pick up spot. On the fourth day they were at sea on a ship. They encountered a pirate ship armed with alchemists. The alchemists were killed, the pirate ship blew up, and the PCs did loot the bodies and found one alchemical bomb. I am sure this will come in useful.

Give this adventure a try!

Camp Kill (26 pages, at DriveThruRPG) is a fun horror adventure for Call of Cthulhu in the year 1988, and I used the sixth edition of that ruleset. To create my solo engine, I changed four lines in Dark Conspiracy Dark Races, Volume 1 (106 pages, same place). I used the five characters that are included in the module, but I did make some changes so that they could fight better.

So, the adventure starts off with three dead bodies and a missing director at a film set (location one). Thirty minutes later they were in a combat with a cultist. They severely wounded him and tried to take him to get medical attention. He died ten minutes later. The PCs went back to the “trail” to find the missing director. At location three they acquired an alien “pet”. At location four, the pet attacked a generator. At location five, they discovered a buried alien ship. In the center of the ship, they encountered four more cultists and the insane movie director. This was a bloody battle. The PC student, Josh was killed along with the PC actress Lynda. The PC team did kill the opposing team. At this point, the “pet” that had witnessed the violence and blood, transformed into a beast that attacked the remaining three PCs. The PCs killed it. The PCs alerted the authorities and the Men In Black arrived and took control of the situation. Give this adventure a try!

Ho! Ho! Ho! (13 pages, free at DriveThruRPG) is a fun sci-fi adventure for Cepheus Engine RPG, but I used Comae Engine (45 pages, same place). To create my solo engine, I changed four lines in Rocket Rangers (T.W.E.R.P.S.) by GameScience (12 pages). I used eight first level characters.

So, the mission was to deliver toys to five different worlds. The PCs had to deal with meteor showers, ion storms, and active volcanoes. One dangerous challenge was a pirate ship. Within a few minutes, the PC ship was out of control (going in a straight line). The AutoPilot, Pilot Couch, and Pilot had been destroyed. The pirate ship lost its Faster Than Light Travel. The AutoNavigator, Navigational Couch, and Navigator had been destroyed. The battle ended, and both sides worked on repairs. While on a world with tribal hostility, the main antagonist (Grrr) pretended to be a baggage handler. He was going to destroy the toys. The alien mystic PC noticed him, did a detect thought, followed with a charm person (the second spell failed). Grrr signaled his ship and it fired at the PCs on the ground. My security PCs fired back and killed him. The Grrr ship hovered in place, the authorities arrived, the Grrr ship was confiscated, and the PCs were questioned. The PCs did get released. They did get a nice reward for completing their mission on time. Give this RPG a try!

Ho! Ho! Ho! (13 pages, free at DriveThruRPG) is a fun sci-fi adventure for Cepheus Engine RPG, but I used Comae Engine (45 pages, same place). To create my solo engine, I changed four lines in Rocket Rangers (T.W.E.R.P.S.) by GameScience (12 pages). I used eight first level characters.

So, the mission was to deliver toys to five different worlds. The PCs had to deal with meteor showers, ion storms, and active volcanoes. One dangerous challenge was a pirate ship. Within a few minutes, the PC ship was out of control (going in a straight line). The AutoPilot, Pilot Couch, and Pilot had been destroyed. The pirate ship lost its Faster Than Light Travel. The AutoNavigator, Navigational Couch, and Navigator had been destroyed. The battle ended, and both sides worked on repairs. While on a world with tribal hostility, the main antagonist (Grrr) pretended to be a baggage handler. He was going to destroy the toys. The alien mystic PC noticed him, did a detect thought, followed with a charm person (the second spell failed). Grrr signaled his ship and it fired at the PCs on the ground. My security PCs fired back and killed him. The Grrr ship hovered in place, the authorities arrived, the Grrr ship was confiscated, and the PCs were questioned. The PCs did get released. They did get a nice reward for completing their mission on time. Give this free adventure a try!

In Carmine is a fun sci-fi adventure for Mothership RPG, but I used White Star: White Box Science Fiction Roleplaying (134 pages, same place). To create my solo engine, I changed five lines in Star Dogs Referee’s Handbook (62 pages, same place). I used five first level characters.

So, the mission was to travel to the Initial Point Of Replication (the “IPOR”) to collect a sample of lab-meat tissue. The PCs were dropped off at the Barrenlands and travelled for three nights (because it is sunny and hot during the day). They encountered polyps, Carminian Foxes, trees with attitude, a crashed transport, and a mouth pit. No PC casualties, yet. At the lab, level one, they encountered a polyp hidden in a hazard suit. The creature blew up and killed my alien PC Alespis. On level two, they encountered a meltmind that had polyps growing out of his face. A polyp attacked my mystic, blew up, and killed my PC. On level three, my Star Knight PC (he was forced out of the order, long story) attempted a saving throw to avoid death by infection. He did it (sigh of relief). My three remaining PCs got the tissue sample and headed back to the drop-off location. At this point, they saw the drop-off ship being attacked by an alien spacecraft. The drop-off ship was destroyed. My team just stood there on the surface of the planet, waiting for destiny to turn them into dust. The alien ship landed and the friendly aliens explained what had happened (they had felt threatened). They let the PCs come on to their ship, they took them where they wanted to go, and the PCs were able to complete their mission. Give this adventure a try!

In Carmine (9 pages, free/pay what you want at DriveThruRPG) is a fun sci-fi adventure for Mothership RPG, but I used White Star: White Box Science Fiction Roleplaying (134 pages, same place). To create my solo engine, I changed five lines in Star Dogs Referee’s Handbook (62 pages, same place). I used five first level characters.

So, the mission was to travel to the Initial Point Of Replication (the “IPOR”) to collect a sample of lab-meat tissue. The PCs were dropped off at the Barrenlands and travelled for three nights (because it is sunny and hot during the day). They encountered polyps, Carminian Foxes, trees with attitude, a crashed transport, and a mouth pit. No casualties, yet. At the lab, level one, they encountered a polyp hidden in a hazard suit. The creature blew up and killed my alien PC Alespis. On level two, they encountered a meltmind that had polyps growing out of his face. A polyp attacked my mystic, blew up, and killed my PC. On level three, my Star Knight PC (he was forced out of the order, long story) attempted a saving throw to avoid death by infection. He did it (sigh of relief). My three remaining PCs got the tissue sample and headed back to the drop-off location. At this point, they saw the drop-off ship being attacked by an alien spacecraft. The drop-off ship was destroyed. My team just stood there on the surface of the planet, waiting for destiny to turn them into dust. The alien ship landed and the friendly aliens explained what had happened (they had felt threatened). They let the PCs come on to their ship, they took them where they wanted to go, and the PCs were able to complete their mission. Give this RPG a try!

Into the Forest Dark is a fun adventure which is included in the RPG Abstract Dungeon (148 pages at DriveThruRPG, uses a large pool of six-sided dice). To create my solo engine, I changed seven lines in table #54 in the Tales From the Sorcerer Under the Mountain (248 pages at DriveThruRPG). I created a warrior, a druid, a cleric and a rogue.

The PCs picked up the quest from Sylvist in Greenport. They were required to escort her and her wagon to Morgan’s Hollow and make the woods safe again. The spent the rest of the evening questioning travelers and they did hear about a wolf in the woods acting weird (rabies?). The next morning they started their quest. In the woods they found an abandoned/attacked caravan. The PCs moved some of the contents to Sylvist’s wagon. A bit later they ran into four wolves and a bear attacking as a team. They won that battle, but then they had to deal with four thornlings and two animated stones. They were victorious again, and a few hours later they found a tomb. They killed a golem in the first room and then discovered the ghost of a druid. The cleric attempted his Rest In Peace spell on the ghost two times and failed each time. Michelle the warrior threw her magic white star at it, but nothing happened. The druid tried to turn the ghost into a mouse, but that failed too. At this point, the rogued noticed that the ghost was now casting a shadow. He killed it with his dagger. All of the PCs were wounded/weakened. The loot was a staff of fire. So, they completed the two parts of the quest and were able to rest up in the town of Morgan’s Hollow. Give this creative RPG system a try!

Gremlins Take Ostenwald (7 pages, a DMDave adventure) is a fun adventure for third level characters D&D Fifth Edition. To create my solo engine, I changed five lines in table #333 in the FlexTale Solo Adventuring Toolkit (613 pages at DriveThruRPG). The RPG system I used was Hack’D & Slash’D (1$, 21 pages at DriveThruRPG). I used five second level characters.

For the first scene, the characters enter the township of Ostenwald. Within minutes, they are in combat with five gremlins (like in the movie Gremlins). The PCs kill the gremlins. During the second scene, the PCs encounter two PCs and a dog. They gain valuable information. During the third scene, they fail an IQ check, pass a Wisdom check, kill five more gremlins, and find the apothecary’s den. For the fourth scene, they heal the apothecary, acquire a magical bead, climb down a level, and blow up 50 more gremlins. For the fifth scene, the PCs fight the Boss gremlin, take more damage, and watch as a PC kills the Boss (well, that was a surprise). For the last scene, they climb back up to ground level and encounter a fighter and his henchman. They have a chat and the fighter pulls out a scroll. There is a tense moment and the fighter explains that it is a list of quests. He marks off the gremlin quest, and reads the next quest from the list. The adventure ends when he tells them. “Let’s go!”.

Give this RPG a try!

The Ringmaster’s Husband is a fun adventure for D&D Fifth Edition. To create my solo engine, I changed seven lines in the FlexTale Infinite Adventures Volume 4 Western Realm of Aquilae (264 pages, DriveThruRPG). I used five characters: level 4, 5, 5, 5, and 6.

For the first scene, each PC made one attempt at the shooting gallery (carnival games at the circus). The cleric was the only one who won a prize (yes, it did cost him a copper piece). For the second scene they watched the performance, noticed the interruption, and picked up the quest from Kaylie. For the third scene, they tracked the beast. Four of the five PCs contributed to the success. The fourth scene was the big combat battle. A lot was going on. I should have used tokens/figures for this. All of my PCs were wounded. My cleric had 14 hit points left. And then there was a werebear and a cave bear. My PCs ran away (scene 5). The downpour probably helped with their escape. For the final scene, the PCs gave Kaylie the bad news about her husband. She noticed that they were wet and exhausted. She gave them half of the reward. She is now considering giving them another quest.