Recently, I soloed my way through The Cradle of Madness. It is an interesting D & D adventure for characters of levels 3 to 8. I turned it into a level one adventure. It can be found in Dungeon Magazine issue # 87 (archived on the internet see the attached image). The two systems I used to play it were #1 Deathtrap Light Preview (24 pages and free). It is not a complete game (for example, there are no rules for combat). So, I combined it with #2 Ordure Fantasy a six-sided die system (19 pages). The solo engine that I used was Loner (12 pages and free). The three documents (not the magazine) are available at DriveThruRPG.

My five characters picked up the quest on the first day. Owen wanted his daughter to be rescued from the Nightmare Syndicate. A ransom needed to be paid. Owen and the characters went to the designated spot on the second day and the fight was on. The characters let one fighter live and gave the ransom money back to Owen. They then followed the wounded fighter through the wilderness. After a giant beetle encounter they arrived at the ruined keep. They had some problems getting in there. So, they decided to “lay siege” and force them out when they needed supplies. On the sixth day three fighters came out using a “new” bridge. The PCs killed them, entered the keep, and then went down the stairs. They had to get past three traps, four guard dogs, and more bad guys (cultists). After some looting, they ran into the daughter Lyza who was obviously pregnant and in love with some cleric guy. Well, my characters were not going to interfere with that. So, they headed back to town (a quiet trip) and gave Owen the bad news. Will this play out differently when you give it a try?

Recently, I soloed my way through The Cradle of Madness. It is an interesting D & D adventure for characters of levels 3 to 8. I turned it into a level one adventure. It can be found in Dungeon Magazine issue # 87 (archived on the internet). The two systems I used to play it were #1 Deathtrap Light Preview (24 pages and free). It is not a complete game (for example, there are no rules for combat). So, I combined it with #2 Ordure Fantasy a six-sided die system (19 pages). The solo engine that I used was Loner (12 pages and free). The three documents (not the magazine) are available at DriveThruRPG.

My five characters picked up the quest on the first day. Owen wanted his daughter to be rescued from the Nightmare Syndicate. A ransom needed to be paid. Owen and the characters went to the designated spot on the second day and the fight was on. The characters let one fighter live and gave the ransom money back to Owen. They then followed the wounded fighter through the wilderness. After a giant beetle encounter they arrived at the ruined keep. They had some problems getting in there. So, they decided to “lay siege” and force them out when they needed supplies. On the sixth day three fighters came out using a “new” bridge. The PCs killed them, entered the keep, and then went down the stairs. They had to get past three traps, four guard dogs, and more bad guys (cultists). After some looting, they ran into the daughter Lyza who was obviously pregnant and in love with some cleric guy. Well, my characters were not going to interfere with that. So, they headed back to town (a quiet trip) and gave Owen the bad news. Will this play out differently when you give it a try?

For the last few days, I have soloed my way through Quantum Entanglement (A Jumpstart for Trinity Continuum: Aeon) (a total of 57 pages available at DriveThruRPG). This Sci-Fi system is based on a pool of 10-sided dice (World of Darkness). I used the Mythic Game Master Emulator as the solo engine. This comes with five PC characters to use and I did change the stats so that they could use bladed weapons. So, for most of the first day the characters did their investigations. In the evening they ended up in the “dungeon” for their first combat. They won and went back to their base to heal. The next day they went back to the same spot looking for the problem. This resulted in combat and back to base for healing. On the third day they found “the problem” and took it out (combat). Anjel went down, but he was healed and they all survived. They are now heroes and ready for their next mission. - - - - This document includes 19 pages of game rules, a 14 page adventure, 5 NPC stat blocks, 3 monster stat blocks, but no map. Give this exciting adventure a try!

Recently, I soloed my way through the adventure Past Overlooked. It is free at this site (Never Ending Dungeon), but you do have to sift through the advertising. It is a D&D 5E fantasy adventure, but the RPG system I used was Marvellous Magic A Magical School Roleplaying Game (at DriveThruRPG – free/pay what you want). I used Perilous Intersections as the solo engine.

So, this RPG is like Harry Potter, so I used it in a fantasy medieval setting. My four first year characters were in the mood for some candy, so they put Bolt in charge of the operation. His parents are rich and he is good with money. He hired a small boat to take them to the port of Overlook. They left at six in the morning and it took them two hours to get within sight of Overlook. This is when they were attacked by four sahuagin. The young magicians turned them into ducks, but Arty did take some damage. After healing Arty they arrived at the port. They picked up the quest from the mayor and then Chelsea used her divination skill to find two locations that had something to do with pirate treasures. This led them to a cultist hideout and a pirate hideout. Both locations were lightly manned and had treasures (the duck spell came in handy again). This was followed by shopping in town. Bolt was able to buy bags of candy, spicy sausages, a stink bomb and a smoke bomb. They walked to the scenic overlook to enjoy their goodies at dinnertime. This time, they were the ones attacked. It was the rest of the cultists and their scary leader armed with a wand. They recognized him as a teacher that had gone missing from the school four months ago. Ben, Chelsea, and Arty freaked out. Bolt, who does well under pressure, used the smoke bomb. He sneaked away and then turned his three friends into bugs. All four of them managed to escape. They were able to get back to the boat at midnight and four hours later they were back to their school. So, they were not able to defeat the big bad, but they did gain candy, coin, a smoke bomb, and a story to tell.

Marvellous Magic A Magical School Roleplaying Game is 21 pages. It is a one six-sided die system and the document contains 7 attributes, 12 skills, 14 subjects (like transmutation), one weapon (wand), zero spells, and 33 spell traits (you create the spells). Give this a try!

For the last few days, I have soloed my way through Kill or Cure: Voidheart Symphony Quickstart (40 pages available at DriveThruRPG/free). I used the Mythic-Style Hex Flower Chaos Emulator as the solo engine (same place and free/pay what you want). So, this 2d6 RPG is designed for a dungeon master and several players. The adventure is NOT easy to solo. If you have a fear of needles don’t get anywhere near this. It is a modern horror game and it contains three options for dark mysteries lurking in the heart of a clinic; and full details on the Perfected Clinic and the shadow realm that feeds on the clinic’s sickness. It does include five player characters which I did use.

The adventure starts with Brook starting a Zoom meeting with her friends. She discusses her strange dream and some of the things she has witnessed as a test subject. That evening after dinner they meet at the pub closest to the clinic. Andrew gets out his Ouija board and soon a “Ergo” is answering their questions and a crowd gathers around the table. My second nasty die roll causes everyone in the pub to go unconscious and enter the shadow dream realm. Everyone is now in a tavern with a live show (sleazy entertainment). The PCs get a bad feeling and head to the streets. After a discussion with a street urchin, they discuss how to enter the castle. The entrance that they pick out is guarded by a nurse with no face and long pointy fingernails. The next problem that they have to overcome is a hazard – a canal with fast moving something (water?). They mess that up and get moved to a chamber. Here they find a sick boy in chains. He does answer their questions. Soon after this Brook finds a healing spellbook. She memorizes it, heals the boy, and gets a Fealty mark (this is bad). It also triggers an event that sends all of the pub people and PCs back to the pub. At the end of 48 hours, the PCs got a “win”, but Brook almost became the new villain. - - Give this a try . . .if you dare!

For the last few days, I have soloed my way through Dream World (1 page RPG available at DriveThruRPG). It is set in the ever-changing dream world, where settings change like the weather.

I used the solo engine that I have been testing out. Liam the inventor (his skill is crafting) has created the world’s first time machine. It is not working properly. He is convinced the solution can be found in his dreams. The dream sequence started with the battle between David and Goliath. When the battle was over, he explored the area and then ended up alone on a tropical island. He discovered a puzzle bottle, opened it up, and found a message which was the solution to his problem. So, now he had to escape dream world. His wanderings sent him to many strange places which included a historic medieval town, a ruins, a frontier area (he gets scalped), an underwater kelp forest, and finally home. The next step, fix the time machine!

Tonight when you drift off to sleep, Dream World will be waiting for you!

Recently, I soloed my way through House of Whispers. It is an interesting free third level Fifth Edition adventure at adventuresawaitstudios.com (six pages). The system I used to play it was Saga of the Splinter Realm (free/pay what you want at DriveThruRPG). I used Solo Cutz as the solo engine (same price and place). Halfway through the adventure I generated an interesting encounter. At this point in the adventure, the adventuring party had explored half of the rooms and had not seen a ghost (they did have to fight some beasties). So now, a sleepwalking girl walks onto the porch and proceeds to rock in the rocking chair. The female ghost senses her presence, walks up to her, and gently touches her on the head. The girl wakes up and runs back home. What is interesting, is that the characters did not know this even happened. - -

The Saga RPG system is 144 pages. It includes an index, bookmarks, 12 races/classes, 4 cantrips, 78 spells, 100 + monsters, 30 talents, and uses a d20 system. Give this smooth system a try!

This week, I soloed my way through Carbon Grey RPG Quickstart Guide. I used the Mythic Game Master Emulator as the solo engine. It is in a unique setting - a turbulent, dystopian, dieselpunk world at war. I used the five characters that are included with the adventure (this document does not include rules for creating characters). This exciting adventure quest started off with my mercenaries being sent off to kill bad guys and it turned into a tactical rescue mission (Greta and twelve children). My team started with an assortment of weapons, but only two grenades, which were used to create traps. Greta starts off being mortally wounded. Doc was able to stabilize her bleeding. She was then carried by Moon, but he died within the first few minutes. So, the end result, the fighter and spy survived along with two children. The rest of the children were captured. My team was able to wound six guards and kill five of them. Greta did not make it. Maybe you will have better luck. I did add elves to this world. You may ask why. I will say, “Why not?”.

= = This document is 80 pages long = 11 pages for the adventure, 1 map, 15 weapons, and 10 enemy stat blocks. This RPG system uses six-sided dice. The rules for the wild die and hero points are awesome.

This week I soloed my way through NoteQuest Expanded World (DriveThruRPG), a solo fantasy hexcrawl. The random character that I got was Savvy the Lightbugster. So far, he has opened every lock he has come across. He now loves money and eating at the best restaurant in town. He became an adventurer so he could have the best things in life. On day one he entered his first dungeon. In the very first room he explored, he found five magic items. He then exited the dungeon and was hoping to get lots of cash from the items he could not use. He only got a few coins. What a rip off! For the next few days he explored outside the city. He could barely make enough money to eat. On day seven he found a ziggurat in the forest. Within a few hours he found 200 coins. Jackpot! Now he could afford an expensive meal and flirt with his favorite waitress. Life is good! –

This two dollar game is 64 pages. There are 11 races, 11 classes, 6 spells, 16 hirelings, 8 mounts, 11 pets, and rules for dungeon crawling and hexploring. The combat system is basic, but it works. The game is modular, so you can easily hack it. (I used some Talisman board game cards for some of the encounters). My favorite part of this game is making money.

Give this a try!

For the last few days, I soloed my way through The Haunter From Beyond. To play this, you will need One-Shot RPG System Rules: Modern & Horror Setting, both are free/pay what you want at DriveThruRPG. I used the Mythic Game Master Emulator as the solo engine. The adventure is in a horror/Lovecraftian/modern setting in Italy. The module contains seven NPC characters. I used Ryu and Iyana as PCs and I rolled up three more characters to use as PCs. So, the party bus is filled with five PCs and four NPCs. In Policoro they visit a club at night and Boris the bodyguard gets kicked out of there. Things really get crazy when they get to the abandoned town of Carcosa. Selma the NPC is the party girl and she promises a fun time here. She is not concerned about the wrecked military-style truck. They do salvage a Beretta BM59 from it and some ammo. In a house they find a tentacle. In the cyclopean cathedral they find a strange altar. Next, Clarine the clairvoyant has a vision of a man in a house. They find the house and search it. The man can not be found, but Jacob the journalist does take the documents about rituals. Jacob is not much fun, but he does pay for the gas, and he is armed with a Samsung Galaxy S10 phone. Later, Selma gets out her Ouija board at the cathedral and things start to get ugly. The group does get a “win”, but Ryu the PC dies and also Selma, Tasia, and Ava (NPCs). The attached image is of Clarine (She can be moody).

Give this a try!

This eleven page document includes six monsters, seven psychic abilities, six NPC categories, but there is no sanity. Instead, they use self-control.

For the last few days, I soloed my way through The Haunter From Beyond. To play this, you will need One-Shot RPG System Rules: Modern & Horror Setting, both are free/pay what you want at DriveThruRPG. I used the Mythic Game Master Emulator as the solo engine. The adventure is in a horror/Lovecraftian/modern setting in Italy. The module contains seven NPC characters. I used Ryu and Iyana as PCs and I rolled up three more characters to use as PCs. So, the party bus is filled with five PCs and four NPCs. In Policoro they visit a club at night and Boris the bodyguard gets kicked out of there. Things really get crazy when they get to the abandoned town of Carcosa. Selma the NPC is the party girl and she promises a fun time here. She is not concerned about the wrecked military-style truck. They do salvage a Beretta BM59 from it and some ammo. In a house they find a tentacle. In the cyclopean cathedral they find a strange altar. Next, Clarine the clairvoyant has a vision of a man in a house. They find the house and search it. The man can not be found, but Jacob the journalist does take the documents about rituals. Jacob is not much fun, but he does pay for the gas, and he is armed with a Samsung Galaxy S10 phone. Later, Selma gets out her Ouija board at the cathedral and things start to get ugly. The group does get a “win”, but Ryu the PC dies and also Selma, Tasia, and Ava (NPCs).

Give this a try!

This fun adventure module is 44 pages and it includes two maps and several player handouts. Warning - some bad words are used and there are some scenes of extreme violence.

This week I soloed my way through TOOLBOX SOLO QUEST A2: A Drop of Venom by Paul Bimler, a D&D 5E fantasy adventure. I was in the mood for Sci Fi, so I used DayTrippers as the RPG system. The quest was to take out the producers of a new deadly poison made locally. – So, off they went into the large forest. Slim the hunter found some interesting berries. Darcy the doctor got our her organic chemistry set, ran some tests, and made a poison antidote from the juice. Next, they ran into a native Myconid (with a rifle) who was an interpreter and guide looking for employment (Murph). They hired him. When they encountered a dead giant spider he told them that he had killed it. Slim extracted poison from the dead body. After a ravine detour, they came to a lake and discovered a gold nugget. This was followed by an attack by two drug addicts who were there to look for gold. My team won, but two of the four were hit by a bullet and slim got a sprained ankle. They asked Murph if they could stay at his place for a day or two. He said yes. That night, Murph, who was really an assassin hired by the Brotherhood of Spiders, killed my four characters. TPK. My characters were clueless to the danger they were in. Oh well, I guess I will just have to try it again sometime. – the attached image is of the forest they explored.

This is an 18 page document that includes 13 charts and a keyword list. Each playthrough will be different. I liked how it started out in the forest and it had the possibility of ending in a structure. Great job Paul!

For the last few days, I have continued to solo my way through a hexcrawl using the Prophetess Shinseng. She was having trouble with the mountainous terrain even though she had ropes and climbing gear. When she ran out of provisions, she had to magically blast a Dall mountain sheep for food. Two days later she ran into a group of human miners. She travelled with them back to their village (Amsden). Once there, she stayed with the healer Scentar. This village has a monastery which is dedicated to Argentahl, the god of balance. She discovered that some of the monks were going to travel to other monasteries to trade books. So, she joined this group so that she could get to a town (she has never been to one). They did run into an air elemental, and later the air elementalist. The team won the battles and are continuing their travels towards a town.

I am using the Scrawl revised rules (170 pages). Madness on the Mountain can be found in this document - Scrawl Ultimate Edition (both are free/pay what you want at DriveThruRPG). Give this a try!

For the last few days, I soloed my way through Madness of the Mountain (a fun hexcrawl) available at DriveThruRPG (free/pay what you want). It is for one character and a dungeon master is not needed. The document is 55 pages and 26 pages of it are the rules on how to play. I played the Prophetess Shinseng. She adventured for six days and encountered a hermit, outlaw, giant fly, and some rocs (young and old). She found some coal in a cave and a total of 75 gold pieces. It takes 100 of them to buy a house, so that is what she wants to do. She could have headed back to her home village, but there are some bad memories there. She is now hoping to find a village or town after she gets out of this wilderness area.

This document contains 1 hex map, 32 hexes to explore, 36 abilities, 6 classes, 6 races, 12 spells, and crafting rules. The system runs on one six-sided die. Give this a try!

For the last few days, I have soloed my way through The Adventures of Teen Tomorrow (55 pages available at DriveThruRPG). It is a jumpstart for the superhero RPG Aberrant. I used the Mythic Game Master Emulator as the solo engine. The Teen Tomorrow team all had watch/phone/radios. They also had under-the-skin GPS units embedded under their skin (just like Team Tomorrow).

The adventure starts with the teen team taking on a gang. The complication is that their adult team leader picks up a bus of civilains and throws it at the gang. After that, he uses cars with the drivers included. Murdock quickly calls Electrum (their teacher) and says, “We are at the intersection of 7th Avenue and 8th Street. Pax just threw a bus full of passengers at a gang. Send help. I am on the move. Track me.” She tells her team members, “Help the passengers. I will deal with the gang. Don’t follow me.” So, she gets into a gun fight with the gang. She takes down three of them, but she does take some damage. She then casts an illusion which covers her with blood. The gang leaves the area. She is able to capture the three wounded gang members. Meanwhile, her team members are having trouble with the rescues and first aid. Luckily, Wrestler (Team Tomorrow) arrives and then the paramedics. This is just the first scene (seven scenes total). Later, a total of three characters get captured and have to be rescued. The teen team has trouble figuring out the mystery, they do implement some good ideas, but three members of Team Tomorrow do most of the smashing/overcoming.

This was lots of fun! Give it a try.