Ryuutama: The Swamp Witch

This is a continuation of the journey from Millane to Frog Hollow. James didn't make it this time, but we had two new players. The start of the session involved creating and equipping characters for Geoff and Tony, and levelling up Mickey and Sasha's characters who'd made the journey last time.

I'd mapped the area around Frog Hollow, and built in some potential quests and destinations. It made for a bit of extra work, since I wasn't sure where they would decide to go, but I prefer to give the players a choice rather than tell them "you're going here." I didn't actually get the time to fully detail all the quests, but I had enough of an idea what was going on that I could wing it.

In many of my games, I've set up XP so everyone gains experience and levels at the same time regardless of whether their character has been present or not. For games such as Savage Worlds, it's more important for everyone to have similar capabilities so they can face the same challenges and contribute meaningfully to combat. However, in Ryuutama experience is directly tied to the number and difficulty of journeys undertaken, and I think it fits the style of the game better to have characters gain XP and level separately based on their individual experiences. The exponential XP requirements mean that hopefully regular players won't get too far ahead, and the increases in capability are mostly fairly subtle.

• Geoff plays Walker, a Merchant/Magic character based in Frog Hollow. He knows Summer magic, and his personal item is a broken pocket-knife.
• +Michael plays Yamahaki, a Minstrel/Attack character. His personal item is a silver flute that he can't play, a gift from his father.
• +Sasha plays Nisonoya, a Hunter/Technical character who wants to see Frog Hollow's zoo to catalogue many different creatures. His personal item is a necklace.
• Tony plays Adelric Heathcraw, a Noble/Attack character and disreputable scion of the small noble family that rules Frog Hollow. He wields a katana and wakizashi, and his personal item is a cracked monocle.

Mickey acted as the party's Diary Keeper, and wrote up his own Actual Play too.

Since James wasn't present, I said that Karin had separated from the others when they arrived in town to deal with her personal pilgrimage. Yamahaki and Nisonoya go to the tavern, where they meet Walker and Adelric, and sample the local specialty, Froghollow Ale.

The local brewmaster offers them a job. A witch in the swamp is turning people into frogs, which is hampering their ability to harvest Froghollow Ale's secret ingredient - in fact, they are down to the last few barrels! He offers 500 gold each if they can go into the swamp and stop the witch!

Since he is also enthusiastically discussing the menagerie, Nisonoya is approached by a man who works there. He mentions that the menagerie is always after new creatures, and they'd heard tale of a dangerous creature roaming the rocky wastes some days to the northeast. The zoo would pay 4000 gold for a live creature!

Since the swamp is closer, the group decides to deal with the witch first. The next morning, they set off into the swamp during a sweltering hot day. Everybody suffers from the hard journey, and the confusing environment and loud calls of frogs and insects disorients them and they make poor progress.

By evening, only halfway through the swamp, they come across a mysterious forest of giant mushrooms. Adelric has heard tales of this mysterious place, said to confuse and disorient travellers. Yamahaki takes the lead in setting up camp; at Nisonoya's suggestion they carve a hut into the stalk of a giant mushroom, and despite the environment they enjoy a superb night's sleep!

By morning the party is fully refreshed, but their condition is mostly low apart from Adelric who always seems to be in tip-top shape.

Geoff had to bow out early at this point, so I said Walker was feeling a bit under the weather. While still able to follow along, he wasn't able to participate in skill checks or combat. We basically had him following along with the pack-chocobo.

The travellers head into the imposing mushroom forest as it starts to rain. They make excellent progress, but at one point find themselves in the company of four large Poison Toads! The creatures leap to the attack, surprising poor Adelric and managing to poison Nisonoya as well! Adelric revises his stance and the combat starts to turn in their favour. Although the front-line fighters make good progress against the Toads, it's Yamahaki's crossbow that finishes most of them off.

 By noon they reach the centre of this mysterious forest that, by all rights, shouldn't even fit inside the swamp. They come across a clearing with a massive toadstool mansion in the centre, and knock on the door. A young witch on a broomstick flies out of an upper window and asks if they've come to be turned into frogs as well! They negotiate, discovering that the witch has turned people into frogs because they have been taking too much rag-weed from the swamp and damaging the ecosystem. In the end they reach a compromise - the villagers can harvest one cartload of rag-weed a month, and the witch will return the townsfolk that have been transformed.

Satisfied with the deal, the travellers return and camp at the mushroom hut they carved the night before.


Since the "mushroom hut" was the result of a Critical Camping Check, I let them have the result of a standard Success on their Camp Check this night without having to roll for it.


The next day they manage the hard slog through the foggy swamp and make it back to Frog Hollow by lunchtime, bringing with them a few villagers they found wandering around having been returned to human form. The brewmaster reluctantly accepts the deal they've brokered, coming up with plans to cultivate the rag-weed in the town and maybe turn Froghollow Ale into a boutique microbrewed product. He also pays them an extra 200 gold each to keep the secret ingredient a secret.


We wrapped the session up there, with the group looking at capturing the dangerous wild beast for the menagerie next time. Adelric and Walker advanced to Level 2, while the other two are most of the way to Level 3.

I did have my Ryuujin, Gerubera, written up and following the party. She's a Green Dragon, but her goal is to see the travellers gain strength through adversity so she doesn't like providing much direct help. I chose the Bénédiction "Elite Enemy", which I would have used on a Poison Toad if they'd ended up fighting the witch. I also would have used it on the mysterious monster that the menagerie wants, if they'd decided to do that quest first. Her Réveil is "Gift of the Dragon" which provides extra food and water, something they haven't needed yet. As it was, I didn't have to intervene at all, so Gerubera remains at a distance.

I wanted to see the travellers dealing with very difficult terrain, and also wanted to make it more than a day trip to the middle of the swamp and back. The magical mushroom forest was a "space within a space" that I used to make the journey a little longer. They only had to travel half-way through the swamp, then half-way through the forest, but because they got a little lost it ended up being a three day round trip.

They actually fared pretty well despite the Topography difficulty on all three days being an 11. It was hard going, and most of the time people lost half their HP from Movement, but they did OK. It might have been a different matter if they'd battled the witch and lost more Health.

Condition and Statuses featured more heavily this time, thanks to the Poison Toads' attacks causing Poison 6. Since several characters happened to roll a low Condition that day, I was actually able to see a Status effect sticking. Nisonoya was affected by the poison straight away, and remained poisoned the next day partly because his penalised Strength made it harder for him to roll a good Condition. Adelric was hit with Poison 6 while he had Condition 14 so it had no immediate effect, but only rolled Condition 4 the next day - so apparently it took a while to set in.

I wasn't sure how the game would fare, dealing with small side-quests from town hubs, considering it's built around three-day journeys between towns. I wasn't sure how to deal with Town Threats like the witch as part of a standard journey, unless the standard Ryuutama setup means I'd make them go through the Swamp and have them run into the witch then. However, doing a short day-trip there and back makes the journey about the same distance as a regular journey, so it all worked out pretty well.

I'm looking forward to the next session, although given the episodic nature of the game it is eminently suitable for picking up and putting down on a whim.

>>> To be continued!

Ryuutama: Millane to Frog Hollow

Due to player availability, I ended up starting a three-player game of Ryuutama instead of continuing our Apocalypse World game.

The party's Diary Keeper has posted an account of the journey, so I'm going to focus more on how I prepped and ran the game.

GM Preparation

Ryuutama normally relies on the GM to plan out the journey over about three days, including the weather and encounters. Day 1 will be Rainy Grassland, Day 2 will be Cloudy Hills and an encounter with five Mob Beasts, and so on. This allows the difficulty of the journey to be tailored to the capability of the party.

However, I like the idea of giving players a choice over their route, so I made up a simple hex map. Unlike my solo game though, it was designed with a Level 1 party in mind rather than being entirely randomly generated. To get from their starting town of Millane to their destination of Frog Hollow, they'd mostly have to pass over Grassland. I put in an area of Hills and Woods, but the main feature was a Swamp. The group would have the choice of a three-day journey if they went through the Swamp, or a four-day journey to go around it.

Also in the spirit of hexcrawl, I noted down the weather forecast for a few days. Regardless of where they are each day, there will be specific weather in effect for that day. I started out with Rain, then Cloudy, then Fog, then any additional days would be Clear. I set it up this way so on the second day, if they kept to the Grasslands, they'd have to ford a swollen stream. If they took to the more difficult Hills it would be drier.

Lastly, I made up a simple random encounter table. Each day there's a 1 in 4 chance of an encounter. Since I wasn't sure how much of a challenge I could throw at the party, I picked one Level 1 or 2 monster for each type of terrain, along with a random number encountered.

Characters

Making character is pretty quick and easy, but equipping them takes somewhat longer! I prefer to go with the full equipment options rather than the simplified "Picnic" rules, so everyone spent a while shopping for gear and supplies.

• James plays Karin, a Healer/Technical character on a family pilgrimage to Frog Hollow. Her personal item is a pink scarf given to her by her mother before she set off.
• +Michael plays Yamahaki, a Minstrel/Attack character. His personal item is a silver flute that he can't play, a gift from his father.
• +Sasha plays Nisonoya, a Hunter/Technical character who wants to see Frog Hollow's zoo to catalogue many different creatures. His personal item is a necklace.

I made them take one bad attribute on their free starting weapon, so Karin has a gross great-axe (covered in gore), Yamahaki an uncool crossbow (with fluffy dice), and Nisonoya a gross wakiszashi (the handle is covered in sticky goo from a slime monster). Karin managed to buy a suit of gross uncool smelly light armour, although I forgot to ask what that was like. Nisonoya ended up with a pair of smelly climbing shoes. Apart from that, they managed to buy most things without having to take any negative tags to reduce the cost. They even pitched in to buy the Party Kit, including a pack animal (chocobo).

I meant to make up a Ryuujin, but was so busy assisting with character creation that I forgot! It's definitely a Green Ryuujin, but is obviously following the characters at a safe distance this time around. I don't think the Ryuujin can do much to affect the first journey anyway, unless it spends Life Points, since they usually don't gain slots to put powers in until Level 2.

Town Creation

I established a few details about their destination - the village of Frog Hollow (pop. 300) was founded where a swamp meets grasslands. I then wrote down the other town questions on scraps of paper and each of the players chose one to fill in. I then fleshed out the remaining answers.

The players decided that Frog Hollow featured a zoo, a church, and a brewery. The local specialty is Froghollow Ale, made with a secret ingredient. The town is threatened by a witch in the swamp who's been turning people into frogs.

I concluded that it was an Aristocracy, ruled by a small local noble family. The town is permeated by the dark bluish-black of swamp mud, but highlighted by the friendly golden glow of lanterns. The funky smell of yeast and rotting vegetables lies over the village like a blanket.


Day 1: Grassland / Rain

The characters are all inhabitants of Millane, a town with cobbled streets, windmills, and white plastered houses with terracotta roofs, surrounded by lush farms, fields, and boundless grasslands. For various reasons, they have come together to travel to the village of Frog Hollow which is about four days away.

Shortly after they set off, it began to rain. Yamahaki had a fairly low Condition roll for the day, but as I experienced with my solo game Condition didn't really become a factor throughout the journey. They succeeded on all their Travel rolls (some only just), and even tracked and defeated a poor solitary Mob Beast.

Day 2: Hills / Cloudy

Since the plains were still sodden from the rain yesterday, the group decided to head up into the hills. They found their way okay, although Karin got a bit worn out from travelling. Although they avoided the flooded river on the grasslands, I put a landslide hazard in their path. Luckily they spotted signs that the hillside was unstable, and hung back just as the earth gave way and slid across the path! Using rope and climbing gear, they managed to cross over the landslide and continue safely on their way.

Day 3: Grassland / Fog

From the hillside, the group could see out across the swamp. Frog Hollow lay on the other side; they could get there by evening if they went straight through the swamp, but they opted to take the longer route around through the grassland. Nisonoya had been catching small game as they travelled, so they were in no danger of running out of food.

The grassland was swathed in fog, but even so Nisonoya found the tracks of a Mob Beast pack. They opted to track them down, and defeated them all. Karin sustained a minor injury, and also rolled the only Fumble of the journey while attacking with her great-axe. Nisonoya managed to harvest the Mob Beasts' fangs. I made him roll once for the group rather than once per beast, and as he rolled exceptionally well I granted him one High-Quality Fang as well.

Day 4: Grassland / Clear

As we were running low on session time, we skimmed over Day 4. Movement and Direction checks were both made, but I didn't check for an encounter. They arrived safely at Frog Hollow as the sun was setting.


Conclusion

We didn't have time to do any roleplaying at their destination, or do much end of session bookwork. Everybody gained 210 XP for the journey, so they'll level up before we start the next session.

I found it to be an enjoyable game, lighthearted and with laughs and cheers around the table. It made a stark contrast to our recent tense first session of Apocalypse World the week before!

I would like to see Condition come into play, so I may need to plan some more difficult journeys and do a bit more reading up on monsters so I can offer a bit more of a challenge. I have a feeling that the next session might involve dealing with the swamp witch, but although it's difficult terrain it's really only a day-trip. If I throw in some complicating factors, though, it might form a decent adventure.

Before the next session, I'll also write up my Ryuujin properly. Since I've overseen one journey, it'll go to Level 2 and actually get some slots for powers.

>>> The Swamp Witch

Ryuutama: Ashes to Ashes, Day 3

This is the continuing chronicle of my unorthodox solo Ryuutama game. The previous posts are Preparation, Day 1, and Day 2.

• I play Clover Hartfeld, a Technical-type Hunter. She's on a journey to take her brother's ashes home from the town of Polem to Feruto.

In the morning I awoke feeling completely refreshed. Yesterday's fog had lifted, but thick clouds shadowed the desolate plains. However, I knew that if I travelled well today I would make it home, so I set my resolve and began what would hopefully be the last leg of my solemn journey.


Today I rolled randomly for the weather and got Cloudy. As with the previous day, the topography is Wasteland, so my general target for travel checks will be 6. Even with my +1 from yesterday's Critical Camping check, Clover's condition today only came to 6.

Since there's only a little of the journey to go, and my MP was fully restored, I opted to Concentrate on the Movement/Travelling check and got a total of 15!


Halfway through the day I came across the tracks of some small monster. I decided to track it down rather than waiting for it to ambush me, and soon I spied two puppet-like Evil Souls from a vantage point on a low rock shelf. I leapt to the attack, skewering one in a single blow before it could react! I deftly dodged the second one's jerky attack and effortlessly pinned it to the dirt with my spear. The creatures' bodies dissolved into gas and blew away, leaving nothing behind. I was simultaneously relieved that it hadn't been something more dangerous, and disappointed that I was unable to collect any materials.


I wanted to run a simple combat encounter today, but didn't want to overwhelm my poor lone character. I initially decided to randomly choose a single Level 1 monster, since I had a single Level 1 character, but it quickly became apparent that it was no match for her so I threw in a second one to give them a bit more of a chance.

With a couple of decent rolls (plus Accuracy bonuses from using the objects in the landscape, and Damage bonuses from having used my tracking skill on them), they went down in one hit each. Initiative is used as your passive defence in combat as well as deciding action order, so it didn't hurt that I had an Initiative of 12 (2d6+1). With 2d4 Accuracy the poor little things had to roll a Critical (double 4) to hit me; actually, the rules as written don't say that a Critical is an automatic hit, either.

If I had been hit, the Evil Souls' attacks would have inflicted [Tired: 6] on me. This normally reduces Spirit by one die type, but since my Spirit is only d4 it's not allowed to get any lower.


I headed off again, eager to finish my journey. As the sun began to set behind the clouds, I spied the rooftops of Feruto. I was home.

I broke the sad news to our parents, and delivered Taragon's ashes to our family shrine. My parents were saddened to hear of their son's demise, but were relieved that I had returned safely despite the difficulty and danger of travelling alone. The village gathered a feast to welcome me home, but it was a melancholy meal. There were many toasts and tales of Taragon's bravery.

That night, I was grateful to sleep in a soft bed in the safety of my home.


That's it! Journey's over. I made it home in one piece.

Level Up

Clover gained 210 XP for this journey; 200 because of the Difficulty 10 Forest on day one, and 10 for defeating a Level 1 monster. She goes up to Level 2 and gains a stat increase. I'm torn between putting up Dex (to d8) or Spirit (to d6). I'll probably go for Spirit, just so she doesn't have any obvious weaknesses.

I get 3 points to divide between HP and MP. Since Clover's not a Magic Type (and will probably add Attack Type once she gets a secondary Type), I'll put all 3 into HP for a total of 19. Her Carry also goes up by 1, to 15.

Impressions

I know I've missed out on a bunch of stuff by not playing in a group. The purpose of my test was to get a feel for the basic travel and combat rules, and see how the system "feels" in play. I'm sure it will be different with more players generating the world as a group, developing friendships between their characters, and overcoming hardships together.

The mechanics by themselves are simple and cute, and create a feeling that jibes with the feelgood, dinky atmosphere the game's attempting to create.

Looking purely from a mechanical point of view, the Movement, Direction and Camping checks are all simple pass/fail. This means that more difficult Topography makes it more likely you'll fail, but don't increase the severity of the failure. There isn't much difference for a starting character between a sunny Forest (10) and a Mountaintop during a Blizzard (19), but as proficiency increases it becomes more likely that you might succeed at more difficult checks.

On the other hand, the chance of a Critical (maximum or 6 on all dice) or a Fumble (1 on all dice) depend entirely on the character's stats and are not at all affected by Topography. It's equally likely for a character to Critically succeed (or Fumble) on a travel check in Grassland (6) as in a Jungle during a Storm (17).

The rules don't actually say if a Critical always counts as a Success, or if it's possible to roll a Critical while still Failing against the target (rolling, say, a double 6 on 2d6 against a target of 14). I kind of assume that a Critical always succeeds.

Anyway, those are only general observations about the system, neither here nor there. I think with a full party, the ups and downs will create an interesting orchestra of little successes and failures from a chorus of simple yes/no inputs.

Having completed this short "scout ahead" I feel more confident about running a game for a group. I would still like to read some example scenarios to get an idea for what might go on besides travel and the occasional combat. I guess simple social encounters, quests, problems, local obstacles to overcome (flash floods, landslides, fallen trees, bridges out), "set-piece" landscape features and the like would help to add variety and spice things up. I should also read through the bestiary and get some more ideas about where and how to use monsters in the game.

I hope you enjoyed my brief sojourn. When I run a full game, I'll be sure to post the Actual Plays (or transcripts from our Diary Keeper).

Thanks for reading!

Ryuutama: Ashes to Ashes, Day 2

This is the continuing chronicle of my unorthodox solo Ryuutama game. The two previous posts are Preparation and Day 1.

• I play Clover Hartfeld, a Technical-type Hunter. She's on a journey to take her brother's ashes home from the town of Polem to Feruto.

In the morning I was weary and stiff, but relieved to emerge from the forest onto the flat, open wastelands. Fog covered the ground, so soon I was alone in my own little world - a slowly shifting circle of desolate rock and scrubby bushes with me at the centre. The fog ate the sound of my boots crunching over the gravel, but I was grateful for the easy travel and the solitude.


I got an 8 for Condition again, but same as yesterday it didn't have any meaningful impact on the journey.

Wasteland plus Fog has a total Topography target of 7, which is a bit more achievable on two dice than the 10 for Forest. My Travel roll was an 11 including the bonus for Climbing Shoes, so no problems there!

I rolled randomly to see if Clover would run into any monsters, but nothing showed up. I think tomorrow I'll stage a simple encounter just so I can test out the combat system.


Since I couldn't see very far around me, I focussed extra hard on making sure I was headed in the right direction. By the end of the day, as the fog cleared, I was pleased to see I was right on track and only one day's walk from Feruto.


I didn't want to fail the Direction roll and add an extra day to the journey, so I Concentrated on the roll and got a total of 14! A little over the top, but better safe than sorry.


Relieved at the relative ease of today's travel, I set up camp in a comfortable bowl of sand sheltered by an overhanging rock. The manageable effort of today's travel had eased away my stresses, and I settled down for one of the best night's sleep I've had in ages.


I rolled a Critical success on the Camping check for a total of 13 (including Shoe bonus)! After losing half her HP and most of her MP the day before, Clover's had both fully restored and gained a +1 bonus on tomorrow's Condition roll!

Okay, so tomorrow it's one more day of travel across Wastelands to reach her goal, plus I'll put an encounter in her way too. I was a bit worried that she might fall easily in combat if attacked when her HP and MP were low, but today's Camping check has removed that concern - as long as I don't fail the Travel check tomorrow!

>>> Day 3

Ryuutama: Ashes to Ashes, Day 1

I'm running a solo game of Ryuutama for myself, just to test the rules out before I run a game for real. It's usually meant to be played with a small group, so my poor character is in for a hard time. In the previous post, I created my character and got equipped for the journey.

• I play Clover Hartfeld, a Technical-type Hunter. She's on a journey to take her brother's ashes home from the town of Polem to Feruto.

The morning of my departure was clear and still, and I awoke in good condition to set out. I had the daunting choice of heading straight through the formidable forest, or adding an extra day to my journey by walking around. I decided to press straight through the forest, even though it had claimed my brother Taragon's life. Perhaps I needed to prove to myself that I could overcome it, for his memory.

The first roll of the day is for Condition, to see how hale and hearty you are feeling. I got a decent 8; it didn't really affect the rest of my day, though, since it's mainly used to resist status effects.

I've come up with a random map, but didn't bother rolling for weather on day one as I haven't finalised the random weather table yet. I also haven't set up a random encounter system yet, plus I figured the big bad forest was probably enough obstacle to overcome for now.

I set my resolve and trekked alone into the dark forest. Walking around the massive trees, pushing through the thick undergrowth, and climbing over moss-strewn logs made for an arduous journey. It really took it out of me, I must admit, but I had no choice but to press on.

Forests are Level 3 Topography, so I needed a 10 on two dice (d8+d6 or d6+d6) to succeed without some drawback. Since the forest was such a challenge, I Concentrated on every travelling roll to gain a +2 bonus (normally +1, but I get an extra +1 for my Technical type. Still, I failed the Travel roll, and lost half my HP.

By the end of the day, I was almost through the forest. Despite the disorienting environment, I managed to not get lost and was true to my course! This was a small victory, but I was too exhausted to celebrate much. I threw together my camp and settled down for an uncomfortable night.

I just managed to scrape in a success on the Direction check. If I'd failed, I would have only made it halfway through the Forest and would have had to roll against the same difficulty to get out the next day. Luckily, Clover now has just two days' walk across relatively easy Wastelands to reach her destination.

Unfortunately I didn't make the Camping check, so overnight Clover only recovers 2 HP and MP. She's now at 10/16 HP and 3/8 MP. Since Concentration takes half your MP, she'll only be able to Concentrate twice tomorrow.

Tomorrow I'll roll and see if any weather influences the journey, and I'll do something about figuring out how to decide random monster encounters. The scenario guidelines suggest maybe including a fight on day 2 or 3, so it looks like basically a 33% chance of an encounter each day. If I go by the hunting rules, though, it's actually harder to find food in more difficult terrain - which includes Forests and Jungles, where I'd normally expect to find a lot of wildlife. I'm not sure if I should just have a flat per-day encounter chance, or weight it for different terrain. I suppose though, more dangerous monsters are likely to live in very difficult terrain, so things might balance out with a flat chance.

>>> Day 2

Ryuutama: Ashes to Ashes, Preparation

I put in for the Ryuutama Kickstarter last year. Although I'm not expecting a finished PDF or book until later this year, the backers did receive a Christmas present in the form of a pre-release rough draft of the rules.

It's a heartwarming game of travel and wonder, where ordinary people set off on difficult and fantastic journeys. Rather than focussing on combat, the emphasis is on the journey itself. The environment can be your worst enemy, and a bad meal or an uncomfortable night's sleep might do you more harm than an encounter with wild beasts!

I'd like my fiancée to play, but she's going to be super-busy with work for the next few weeks. I figured in the meantime I might get a better feel for the system by playing through a solo journey. Since Ryuutama focusses on ordinary townsfolk travelling overland in difficult and dangerous terrain with the ever-present threat of monsters, people usually travel in groups. For my test, I'm going to play a solo character on a lonely journey. I don't expect it to go well, but I'll follow her along and just see what happens.

Since I'm effectively the GM and the player, I've made up a random terrain chart and put together a small map to explore in "hexcrawl" style. I put a couple of settlements at hex intersections, Settlers of Catan style, so there are three ways to approach or leave a town. I may also come up with a random encounter system, so I can impartially see if I run into any monsters.

Since the GM character, the Ryuujin, gets hardly any ability to influence the journey until it's overseen at least one trip, I'm not going to bother making a fully detailed Ryuujin. By default, it'll be a Green Ryuujin with an Encyclopedia, meaning it's a game about travel and I'll be running it "by the book".

I figured a Hunter/Technical type character might be fairly self-sufficient. Hopefully the ability to track monsters and turn them into food will increase survivability. The well-travelled Minstrel class does get a bonus to all Travel checks, so maybe they would be a better choice for a single-player game, but oh well. I'll see how we go.

• I play Clover Hartfeld, a female Technical Hunter who wields a boar spear.

I went for a stat spread of Str d8, Dex d6, Int d6, Spi d4. This gives her 16 HP and 8 MP.

From her Hunter Class, she gains the ability to track monsters and inflict +1 damage on monsters thus tracked; she can turn defeated monsters into materials such as food and gear; and she can hunt small creatures when camping to increase rations. Unfortunately, this last skill is in lieu of the nightly Camp Check, so she won't really be able to use it when travelling solo.

Thanks to her Technical Type, she has Initiative of 2d6+1, a Carrying Capacity of 14, and gains a +2 bonus on Concentration checks instead of +1.


Clover was hunting in the forest near the town of Polem with her older and more experienced brother, Taragon. Unfortunately, Taragon was seriously injured in a hunting accident, and they only just made it back to Polem before he succumbed to his injuries and died.

Alone in a foreign town, Clover now has the solemn task of taking her brother's ashes home to Feruto. It's a three day journey if she goes by the most direct route, although that will involve passing through the dangerous forest. If she goes around, it'll add another day to the trip.


I opted to browse the full shopping lists rather than the lighter "Picnic" rules. Since a waterskin only holds a day's water, and there's no rules for refilling it on the way (I guess the GM could place rivers or streams along the way, and rain might give a refill opportunity), the trickiest part of solo travel is making sure you have enough water. Normally a party would have a 15-day barrel of water, but Clover can't carry one by herself and can't afford a pack animal.

Her equipment is as follows. 'g' is for Gold and 's' is for Size. Size numbers in square brackets are the Size of equipped or stowed items; such items count as Size 0.

• Boar Spear (0g, [3s]) - Chosen as her trained weapon.
• Traveller's clothes (50g, [3s])
• Uncool Normal Hat (96g, [1s])
• Gross Smelly Raincoat (224g, [3s]) - Oiled with animal grease for a funky smell. The mantle is made of sticky fur.
• Uncool Smelly Climbing Boots (252g, [1s]) - Questionably made out of an unknown creature's hide. Has big claws on the toes.
• Large Backpack (40g, 5s) - Holds 10s of gear.
• Sleeping Bag (50g, [1s])
• Wooden Utensils (10g, [1s ea.])
• Rations x 4 (10g ea., [1s ea.])
• Waterskins x 4 (30g ea., [1s ea.])
• Firestarter Set (20g, 1s)
• Used Tent (96g, 3s) - Her brother's old battered tent (Durability 2).

Total cost is 998g (leaving her 2g spare), and total Size is 9 out of her Carrying Capacity of 14.

Her personal item is the urn containing Taragon's ashes.

Well, I think she's about all ready to start her journey! Next time I'll post an Actual Play of her first day's travel. Wish me luck!

>>> Day 1