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The Escape From Demon Castle Dracula is a PDF with 18 pages (free/pay what you want at itch.io). You can play this fantasy game with a deck of cards and one six-sided die. As you explore the castle, you are laying out the cards on the table. I used this as my adventure, and I used Fantasy Mercenary and this supplement as my RPG system (34 plus 6 pages at DriveThruRPG). This RPG is a hack of D&D Fifth edition, but I did need to reference the D&D books during my adventure. I created a thief, a werewolf, and a conjurer as my first level heroes. I used The Solo Adventurer’s Toolbox (Bimler) as my Solo Engine. The objective of the adventure was to escape the castle. They did run into the vampire. They survived one round of combat with it. The vampire did not like the werewolf, so he did not hang around for more combat. My characters were able to explore 31 rooms, kill 8 monsters, and find three magic items and 53 gold pieces. One of those items was found in the vampire’s treasure vault. This plus one mining pickaxe was used to “open” a magically locked door that had the symbols of a diamond, opal, ruby, and emerald on it. Behind it was a hallway which led out of the castle. It was a good thing my conjurer could cast healing spells, otherwise they all would have perished in the castle. Give this supplement a try!
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The Escape From Demon Castle Dracula is a PDF with 18 pages (free/pay what you want at itch.io). You can play this fantasy game with a deck of cards and one six-sided die. As you explore the castle, you are laying out the cards on the table. I used this as my adventure, and I used Fantasy Mercenary and its supplement as my RPG system (34 plus 6 pages at DriveThruRPG). This RPG is a hack of D&D Fifth edition, but I did need to reference the D&D books during my adventure. I created a thief, a werewolf, and a conjurer as my first level heroes. I used The Solo Adventurer’s Toolbox (Bimler) as my Solo Engine. The objective of the adventure was to escape the castle. They did run into the vampire. They survived one round of combat with it. The vampire did not like the werewolf, so he did not hang around for more combat. My characters were able to explore 31 rooms, kill 8 monsters, and find three magic items and 53 gold pieces. One of those items was found in the vampire’s treasure vault. This plus one mining pickaxe was used to “open” a magically locked door that had the symbols of a diamond, opal, ruby, and emerald on it. Behind it was a hallway which led out of the castle. It was a good thing my conjurer could cast healing spells, otherwise they all would have perished in the castle. Give this game a try!
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The House on the Corner (7 pages, free/pay what you want at DriveThruRPG) is a fun adventure for 1000 Stories RPG (18 pages, DriveThruRPG). This adventure does include some solo tools. I took my keywords from Night’s Black Agents (234 pages, same place). I used three PCs from the RPG, made a few changes, and added Tod White. These four PCs created The Monster Hunter Club. Usually when they go out hunting, the problem is a coyote, feral cat, or a runaway. But not this time. They heard a story about this place and entered it from the back door. This put them in the pantry and they smelled smoke and hot oil. They walk into the kitchen and see a thrall frying fish in a skillet. They talk with him and he is obviously hiding something. Tod steps into the dining room and sees a woman sitting at the table with her head down on a dirty plate. She has blood on her neck. She is a blood doll and she is not moving (asleep). Tadeesha, the pyromaniac reaches for the gas stove, the thrall steps back, and Nate shoots and wounds the thrall. They then question the thrall and he admits there is a vampire in the house.
The PCs tease LeighAnn. They say the only reason that they found a vampire was because she brought a wooden stake. They take the stake from her and make her guard the thrall. The other three then explore the first level of this house (12 rooms). They do find two kinds of ammo, but not the right kind for Nate’s pistol. Tadeesha has a memory of a bloody bathtub nightmare. Next, they explore the basement (7 rooms). Some of them are locked. One of the unlocked ones has a 19 year old woman chained to the floor. So far, no keys have been found. They now go up to the second floor (11 rooms). It is up here that they fight the vampire. The wooden stake attacks fail. Acid does get into the vampire’s eyes. He is doused with gasoline. He hurts Tod, but the vamp catches fire because of Tadeesha (yes, she is having a good time). The fire spreads. The three PCs head back out but see a note for them on the back door exit, “Where is LeighAnn?). Yes, the thrall, the blood doll, and LeighAnn are missing. The PCs call 911 and hide their stuff in the bushes. When the emergency vehicles arrive the house is already engulfed in flames. The captive dies. The PCs are questioned. But the question IS, where is LeighAnn? Give this a try! The attached image is from the adventure module.
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Creator Reply: |
Thanks for the fun review! Glad you enjoyed the game. |
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The House on the Corner (7 pages, free/pay what you want at DriveThruRPG) is a fun adventure for 1000 Stories RPG (18 pages, DriveThruRPG). This adventure does include some solo tools. I took my keywords from Night’s Black Agents (234 pages, same place). I used three PCs from the RPG, made a few changes, and added Tod White. These four PCs created The Monster Hunter Club. Usually when they go out hunting, the problem is a coyote, feral cat, or a runaway. But not this time. They heard a story about this place and entered it from the back door. This put them in the pantry and they smelled smoke and hot oil. They walk into the kitchen and see a thrall frying fish in a skillet. They talk with him and he is obviously hiding something. Tod steps into the dining room and sees a woman sitting at the table with her head down on a dirty plate. She has blood on her neck. She is a blood doll and she is not moving (asleep). Tadeesha, the pyromaniac reaches for the gas stove, the thrall steps back, and Nate shoots and wounds the thrall. They then question the thrall and he admits there is a vampire in the house.
The PCs tease LeighAnn. They say the only reason that they found a vampire was because she brought a wooden stake. They take the stake from her and make her guard the thrall. The other three then explore the first level of this house (12 rooms). They do find two kinds of ammo, but not the right kind for Nate’s pistol. Tadeesha has a memory of a bloody bathtub nightmare. Next, they explore the basement (7 rooms). Some of them are locked. One of the unlocked ones has a 19 year old woman chained to the floor. So far, no keys have been found. They now go up to the second floor (11 rooms). It is up here that they fight the vampire. The wooden stake attacks fail. Acid does get into the vampire’s eyes. He is doused with gasoline. He hurts Tod, but the vamp catches fire because of Tadeesha (yes, she is having a good time). The fire spreads. The three PCs head back out but see a note for them on the back door exit, “Where is LeighAnn?). Yes, the thrall, the blood doll, and LeighAnn are missing. The PCs call 911 and hide their stuff in the bushes. When the emergency vehicles arrive the house is already engulfed in flames. The captive dies. The PCs are questioned. But the question IS, where is LeighAnn? Give this a try! The attached image is from the adventure module.
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Valorn’s Tomb is a dangerous adventure for EDGE Core Rules (295 pages at DriveThruRPG). The adventure can be found in the Edge Starter Set (96 pages, free/pay what you want, same place). To create my solo engine, I changed ten lines in the Adventurer’s Lexicon Dungeon Edition (48 pages, on sale at the moment, same place). I did use five of the characters that are included in the starter set adventure. The adventure started with a “Halo Jump”. Rashak the hunter ended up being separated from the others, but he was able to join them. They found the tomb, Slick the rogue took the lead, and started exploring. Let’s face it, the lead is not the best place to be. He took electricity damage from a statue and aetheral damage from a mirror. They killed six skeletons that day and they did find a “safe room”.
On the second day, Slick took damage from a ballistae. Well, they were not going back to that room again. They also killed four stone crawlers and a primal ancestor (he was nasty). On the third day they killed another ancestor and the day after that too. On the fifth day they exited the tomb. They headed in the direction of town and were attacked by a crimson wolf (big and bad). They killed it. The PCs were tired of eating iron rations (five days in a row), so Rashek showed them how to properly cook a wolf. He even used his special herbs and spices. It was an awesome meal. They did make it back to town to sell two pieces of armor in excellent condition, one sundering ring, and three repelling rods. Time to relax. Give this a try!
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Valorn’s Tomb is a dangerous adventure for EDGE Core Rules (295 pages at DriveThruRPG). The adventure can be found in the Edge Starter Set (96 pages, free/pay what you want, same place). To create my solo engine, I changed ten lines in the Adventurer’s Lexicon Dungeon Edition (48 pages, on sale at the moment, same place). I did use five of the characters that are included in the starter set adventure. The adventure started with a “Halo Jump”. Rashak the hunter ended up being separated from the others, but he was able to join them. They found the tomb, Slick the rogue took the lead, and started exploring. Let’s face it, the lead is not the best place to be. He took electricity damage from a statue and aetheral damage from a mirror. They killed six skeletons that day and they did find a “safe room”.
On the second day, Slick took damage from a ballistae. Well, they were not going back to that room again. They also killed four stone crawlers and a primal ancestor (he was nasty). On the third day they killed another ancestor and the day after that too. On the fifth day they exited the tomb. They headed in the direction of town and were attacked by a crimson wolf (big and bad). They killed it. The PCs were tired of eating iron rations (five days in a row), so Rashek showed them how to properly cook a wolf. He even used his special herbs and spices. It was an awesome meal. They did make it back to town to sell two pieces of armor in excellent condition, one sundering ring, and three repelling rods. Give this a try!
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Creator Reply: |
Nice!
Seems you took out the big bad and his mobs too. :)
Glad you enjoyed it! Check out the other one-shots too, they're a lot crazier than this one! |
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For the last few days, I have soloed my way through Yours to Keep: A Changeling: The Dreaming: 20th Anniversary Edition Jumpstart
(44 pages, free at DriveThruRPG). I used Tourniquet: Solo rules for Vampire the Masquerade (same place) as the solo engine. I did use the four characters that are included in the RPG rules.
So, during the first scene the PCs are all together and they receive the mission: a “new” changeling came into the area and then disappeared. The PCs go to the beach/boardwalk/carnival area, describe the missing guy, and get some positive results. The PCs are pointed in the direction of a particular warehouse that can be seen from where they are at. What the PCs don’t know (and I am surprised to discover) is that this was actually an illusion. The PCs get to the warehouse, go in, and quickly notice that the guards are not carrying weapons. Erissa uses her high charisma and the conversation gets going. He was never there. The female guard closes her eyes, and then tells them that she can see him holding a small mirror and he is looking into it (yes, I was surprised again).
The PCs go back to the carnival and enter the mirror maze. In the middle of it, they are attacked by four temporarily-enchanted individuals. The PCs knock them out and find Joshua all tied up. He then tells them about the Unseelie causing problems. The group now heads toward the beach. On the beach, they are forced into another fight, this time with the Unseelie. The PCs win that one too, and move on towards their freehold. There they encounter more Unseelie and Erissa goes into diplomacy mode. She tells the Unseelie that they can have a portion of this beach town. They agree and leave the area. Actually, she is not authorized to do this, but this problem can be sorted out at another time. Give this interesting adventure a try! The solo engine was fun.
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The Long Hall (10 pages, free/pay what you want at DriveThruRPG) is a fun adventure for OSR RPGs. I used Scoundrel (1 page, from Link-boiZ and ScoundreL, same place) as the RPG. To create my solo engine, I got out my D&D Player’s Handbook 3.0, and changed seven lines. I did have to add some rules to Scoundrel because my PCs had to make a Fort saving throw, and my cleric had to make a Will saving throw. I used six first-level characters : cleric, ranger, fighter, rogue, sorcerer, and paladin. They entered a shrine-mausoleum to explore it. A religious group had invaded it and was trying to convert all of the priests in there. I did not have any major problems until room # 12. My cleric cast his third healing spell and then a diety attempted to convert him to the diety’s religion. Rez did make his saving throw. After they rescued four people, they exited the structure and headed in the direction of town. At dusk they were attacked by three hobbits (yes, I was surprised too). So, they killed a total of 12 enemies that day.
On the next day, the PCs tried to convince three of the rescued priests to join them for the trip back to the temple. The priests did not like the sorcerer, so they said “no” (He has three eyes. He can not help it, he was born that way). On this second day the PCs killed 4 adepts, a giant ant, and then the avatar (boss). This boss fight was a tough one. Both the paladin and fighter went down. Soon, all of the healing spells were used. At this point my six PCs exited the structure. They did not explore every room. They were done for the day and had enough loot from two days of exploring (four scrolls, one magic item which has an expiration date, 698 silver pieces, and 159 gold pieces). Maybe you will find more loot. Give this a try!
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Creator Reply: |
Thank you - I always appreciate hearing about my adventures out in the wild. |
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A few days ago I soloed my way through Winner Winner Chicken Dinner. It is a fun OSR adventure that is in Dan Dies in the End no.1 (36 pages, free/pay what you want at DriveThruRPG). The RPG system that I used was Wretched Bastards Quickstart. I used the FlexTale Solo Adventuring Toolkit (same place) as the solo engine and to make the adventure longer. I created six characters including one cleric. You will need a cleric. This gets bloody.
The quest is to get a golden egg. It is huge, not made of gold, and it is needed for a recipe. My PCs explored the 14 rooms of the lair. They found 18 silver/gold coins and a wide variety of loot including 5 talking carrots, 12 burritos wrapped in aluminum foil, two Wheeling metal trash cans, and a golden spatula ( a magical weapon). The PCs did make a lot of noise with those trash cans. It did trigger a combat encounter. They killed a total of 8 monsters. Five of the PCs did have a problem with the other PC Marl. He is a rogue and does not follow instructions. When they all got back to the inn on the second day, they did take a bath and rest. Marl met a woman and went on a date. He was able to check out her place. He had a great date. The next evening at 11:45, he broke into her place and stole her valuables. He was not seen or caught. What a guy. You do not want these PCs to be your friends. They are not nice. Give this a try!
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A few days ago I soloed my way through Winner Winner Chicken Dinner. It is a fun OSR adventure that is in Dan Dies in the End no.1 (36 pages, free/pay what you want at DriveThruRPG). The RPG system that I used was Wretched Bastards Quickstart. I used the FlexTale Solo Adventuring Toolkit (same place) as the solo engine and to make the adventure longer. I created six characters including one cleric. You will need a cleric. This gets bloody.
The quest is to get a golden egg. It is huge, not made of gold, and it is needed for a recipe. My PCs explored the 14 rooms of the lair. They found 18 silver/gold coins and a wide variety of loot including 5 talking carrots, 12 burritos wrapped in aluminum foil, two Wheeling metal trash cans, and a golden spatula ( a magical weapon). The PCs did make a lot of noise with those trash cans. It did trigger a combat encounter. They killed a total of 8 monsters. Five of the PCs did have a problem with the other PC Marl. He is a rogue and does not follow instructions. When they all got back to the inn on the second day, they did take a bath and rest. Marl met a woman and went on a date. He was able to check out her place. He had a great date. The next evening at 11:45, he broke into her place and stole her valuables. He was not seen or caught. What a guy. You do not want these PCs to be your friends. They are not nice. Give this a try!
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Candython (23 pages, free/pay what you want at DriveThruRPG) is a fun fantasy adventure for D&D 5th edition. For the solo engine, I used several random Talisman the Board Game cards pulled from a deck of 475 cards. I also used a yes/no/maybe oracle. The RPG system I used was World of Dungeons (3 pages, same price at itch.io). Introduction - It takes place in a universe with routine interplanar travel. Teams of teenagers across the multiverse participate in a closed course trick-or-treat competition. The team that accumulates the most candy is given an unlimited supply for life. But neighborhood politics are the same in the Material plane as the Abyss, so be careful who you befriend. Background – My two wizards have the ability to summon up demons. It is the demons who cast the spells. So, armed with orange plastic trick or treat pumpkins, I have five PCs, two demons, and a torch bearer. The map has 12 locations. My solo engine created one more: a faerie mound with sidhe faeries.
Lots of wild stuff happened during this adventure. My group ran into three lemurs. My two demons tried to make peace with them, but that did not work. Combat started and my two demons died. At one house, my group was asked to create a particular can of play. My group did a musical number instead. The candy reward was disappointing. My thief had a chance to steal apple pies. It was funny that they could not be eaten. So, at one point, they did have 4.5 pounds of candy. However, the PCs ran into a group of imps summoning the devil at the end of the adventure. Lee, my fighter, armed with her Hammer of Light was unable to kill The Devil. The torch bearer (carrying all of the candy) and three other PCs were captured. They will now have to serve The Devil. The thief managed to escape. Give this a try! Maybe you will have better luck.
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For the past few days, I have soloed my way through Variations on a Night of Blood (18 pages, free/pay what you want at DriveThruRPG). This fun adventure is for grimDARK: A Fistful of Ashcan Edition which I did use (60 pages, same place). There is a basic free edition (9 pages, same place). I did make some changes to the rules so that I could run a long campaign if I wanted to. I used Magic the Gathering cards along with a yes/no/maybe oracle as the solo engine. I created six characters to take on this adventure. It should be noted that this adventure starts with you rolling a six-sided die four times. It creates the scenario and then the game master needs to fill in all the details. Here are the highlights of the adventure.
For me, the inn was not of this realm and it wants to keep those who enter it. The PCs started with going up the stairs. On this level they explored eleven rooms, killed five skeletons, found 70 gold pieces, the fighter became a skeleton, and the thief had to make a corruption check. The riddle room separated the PCs and moved each one down to the ground level of the building. Four of the PCs were able to find each other in just a few minutes. My cleric took the stairs down and explored an underground lake, a rocky cavern, and underground vineyard, and was attacked by a Lash of Thorns (deathtouch). He died. Jax the wizard found himself in a gymnasium. Next he found some stairs leading down where he found a wine cellar. It was here that he had to fight a root monster and then a giant rat. The last room he discovered was a dwarven throne room. The dwarven king gave him a quest. Well, that will be an adventure for another day. Give this a try! One of the PCs was Gobja. He is a goblin who is an alchemical artist. He was in a foul mood because he fell into some water and most of his alchemical ingredients got ruined.
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For the past few days, I have soloed my way through Variations on a Night of Blood (18 pages, free/pay what you want at DriveThruRPG). This fun adventure is for grimDARK: A Fistful of Ashcan Edition which I did use (60 pages, same place). There is a basic free edition (9 pages, same place). I did make some changes to the rules so that I could run a long campaign if I wanted to. I used Magic the Gathering cards along with a yes/no/maybe oracle as the solo engine. I created six characters to take on this adventure. It should be noted that this adventure starts with you rolling a six-sided die four times. It creates the scenario and then the game master needs to fill in all the details. Here are the highlights of the adventure.
For me, the inn was not of this realm and it wants to keep those who enter it. The PCs started with going up the stairs. On this level they explored eleven rooms, killed five skeletons, found 70 gold pieces, the fighter became a skeleton, and the thief had to make a corruption check. The riddle room separated the PCs and moved each one down to the ground level of the building. Four of the PCs were able to find each other in just a few minutes. My cleric took the stairs down and explored an underground lake, a rocky cavern, and underground vineyard, and was attacked by a Lash of Thorns (deathtouch). He died. Jax the wizard found himself in a gymnasium. Next he found some stairs leading down where he found a wine cellar. It was here that he had to fight a root monster and then a giant rat. The last room he discovered was a dwarven throne room. The dwarven king gave him a quest. Well, that will be an adventure for another day. Give this a try! One of the PCs was Gobja. He is a goblin who is an alchemical artist. He was in a foul mood because he fell into some water and most of his alchemical ingredients got ruined.
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For the last few days, I have soloed my way through Witch: Fated Souls 2e Quickstart (36 pages, free at DriveThruRPG). This is like the TV show Supernatural, but you are playing a witch. I used Solo by M. D. Spurlock (12 pages, free/pay what you want at DriveThruRPG) as the solo engine. I did use six of the seven player characters that are included in the Quickstart.
I changed the location, so the characters started at the Oregon District in Dayton, Ohio on a Friday night. They noticed that they were being watched, so they did have a conversation with her (Lara). Their friend Jens showed up, they picked up a calling card from the ground (a clue), and John the PC went into White’s Pawn & Gun and bought a .38 Special and a switchblade. John wanted ammo for his gun, so the second location they visited was Charlie’s Firearms down by the Miami river. The third location was Decker’s Pawn Shop (they had followed the clue). Next they went back to their Coven Home. They ate dinner and then they were visited by Jens. He told them his new problem (it is a quest).
They went to their fifth location, Pearl’s Fen, a wetland. It was here that they ran into four cultists (they worship the serpent). The leader was armed with a sacrificial dagger and he wanted to use it. Mae stabs one of them, John punches one, and Diego kills two with the gun. The cultists run away. Now they have to deal with the serpent. They figure out that it used to be a naiad. Diego has a solution. He kills the serpent with his gun. They now gather up some swamp water and head back home. It is here that they heat up the water and use condensation to purify this water (now it is a quest item). Next, they go to Decker’s Pawn Shop. Lara is there again and they have a chat with her (she is not human). Jens now goes into the shop and exchanges the Water of Acheron for his soul. So, Jens is now “cured” but the forces of evil now have a magic item that they wanted. Yep, things are going to get ugly.
Give this fun RPG a try!
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Extinction Punk (117 pages, free at DriveThruRPG) is a post-apocalyptic RPG which uses 2D6. For the last part of the adventure, I used Abandoned Warehouse Hex Flower (one page, free/pay what you want at DriveThruRPG). To solo this, I used a yes/no/maybe oracle along with two encounter charts that I created. The first chart had 30 possibilities for outside encounters and the second chart had 14 possibilities for inside loot.
The adventure started with my four PCs outside searching for food because they were hungry. The ground collapsed beneath them and they fell down into a tunnel that had been created by a giant burrow worm. Within a few minutes they were in combat with a large burrow worm. They continued along the tunnel and it eventually came to an underground warehouse. They could have continued travelling in the tunnel, but they searched the warehouse instead. Inside they destroyed six security cameras and nine robots (the PCs did take damage). They found cigarettes, a watch, a handgun, handgun ammo, a fireman axe, a gasoline can with 3L of gasoline, and several silver dollars. The most useful discovery was an emergency robot ally, “Please state the nature of your emergency.” The PCs explained that they were hungry. The robot replied, “Please follow me.”
I decided that this was a good place to stop. Getting to the food is probably another adventure.
Give this fun RPG a try!
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