This evening, I threw together a new monster that can also be a playable character race: the turtaqua. I also managed to put together a map of the Northern Reaches. Even optimized, it came out not far south of 2Mb as a PNG image. And, I posted in the Battlebeard campaign. Xav III and Crynwyth are setting out for Eastdale to take care of some business before heading south — their eventual destination the Moon Peaks.

Tuesday evening updates to Scarlet Horizons on January 02, 2024: I've uploaded maps on the Prelacy of Middenmark and of Eastdale.

I made my second post in the Battlebeard campaign. King Crumwich Ironfist has floated the idea of Prince Xav (Xavamros III) leading a push to retake the ancient dwarven settlement of Gundgathol.

G. texted. Looks like our table-top AD&D campaign is a go for Friday evening, January 05th.

I did quite a bit of work on the Scarlet Horizons related part of my website this afternoon and evening.

I reviewed Gursk Spiritspeaker's vision so that I'll keep it top of mind as Aury and Mattie continue their Barrowmaze incursions.

I've started working on a section of the website to hold information related to the forces, factions, powers, and personae that are the movers and the shakers in my Scarlet Horizons setting.

Additionally, I updated the webpage for the regional subsector map, Southeastern Stigrix, so that it now has hotspots that link to a local map — helpful for my solo characters campaign — and it shows the relationship of the Slaytonthorpe area within the larger region.

Busy day. worked, and caught snatches of time with my granddaughter in between meetings. Aury and Mattie's adventures have now passed 10,000 words and they're at almost 2,500 xp apiece. They are about to break through into their first burial vault in the Barrowmoor southwest of Helix. Their guide, Brother Jasyn, has been injured by a giant constrictor but was saved by the two Seekers and isn't in too bad a shape.

Tomorrow (real-time) they'll break into their first crypt (on 23 Oct. 204 Post Ravaging, Scarlet Horizons time), and we'll see how they fare. There are monsters to defeat, traps to survive, treasures to gain, and another level to attain. And, crucially, they must get to the bottom of the goblin shaman, Gursk Spiritspeaker's, visions about a looming undead fate for Camp Scarface that will come from the marsh.

Update: I’ve converted the XP advancement system so that it’s not fractionally based.

Of course, treasure XP may still be fractional since 1 spent gp translates to 1 XP.

If I recall correctly, a day or two ago, I began spit-balling a way to determine fractional experience values for defeated monsters in Scarlet Horizons.

Here, I refine my thinking a bit more:

0.001 (per Hit Die) If AC < 7 add 0.00010 If AC < 4 add 0.00015 If AC < 1 add 0.0002 Special ability (attack or defense) add 0.0003 per ability/quality

I've attempted to apply this to aboleth spawn.

This evening, I worked on my Scarlet Horizons combination game setting/system. I added the Cleric core class, and I'm fairly happy with it. I'm also mostly finished with the writeup for the core Thief class.

Earlier this afternoon I was able to add several Heroic Deeds to a growing list.

Work was okay. I covered a 4 pm group. No major stressors.

I continue working to move old blog posts to my new domain: bryanmiller.us.

I'm reading the Desolation RPG pdf. I'm liking what I'm reading. This roleplaying game system uses a dice pool mechanic and, thus far, the system appeals to me. I'm also perusing Scarlet Heroes for any tres-kewl mechanics or ideas.

Thus far in my mental meanderings as I continue reading, I like the simplicity of Tiny Dungeon's combat system, the Fray dice mechanic from Scarlet Heroes, and the dark fantasy, post-magicolyptic vibe of Desolation.

I want to be able to solo-play with a system crunchy enough to satisfy my itch, but of sufficiently low complexity that I don't find it laborious to use. It's still early in my reading, but thus far [i]Desolation[/i] fits the bill. In addition to searching for an RPG, I've also been reading a lot of blog posts in recent weeks regarding rulesets for solo-play. I've perused DM Yourself by Tom Scutt, and am considering purchasing The Solo Adventurer's Toolbox by Paul Bimler.

The following text quoted from the Desolation core rulebook captures what would be an appealing setting for me, for solo adventuring:

Violence is a reality of life for most survivors of the Night
of Fire. Laws once existed to protect the innocent, but
they are gone — along with the nations that gave
birth to them. Criminals of every ilk roam freely or set up
their own kingdoms via intimidation and steel. Experienced
soldiers fight over the scraps of civilization, and even the timid
have been transformed into warriors through desperation. But
other survivors are not the only threat. The Weave has twisted
creatures into crazed beasts with innate magical powers. Even
the land, sea and sky seem to be fighting against survivors, with
natural disasters occurring more frequently than Before.

Here are aspects I know I want to include in my solo adventuring:

• combat
• some form of dice pool mechanic
• post-apocalyptic fantasy setting (think Desolation)
• low-magic due to eldritch holocaust (think Desolation's Night Of Fire)
• a way to invest power into items without enchanting them
• the Night of Fire twisted some creatures into crazed beasts with innate magic
• some amount of dungeon- and hex-crawling

As I continue preparing for a solo campaign, I'm doing quite a bit of Googling and reading. Today, I've been reading some interesting things over on the Cannibal Halfling Gaming blog, about various games that are Powered By The Apocalypse. I really need to grab a copy of the core PbTA rules.

For possible inclusion in my solo campaign (taken from Good Strong Hands):

A failure earns you a box on the Skill track as you learn from your mistakes (XP for failure, pretty typical). A success earns you a box on the Spirit track as you’re bolstered (Spirit recharges pretty quickly, good to know). A success with a boon earns you a box on the Shadow track, as the Void takes notice of your heroics...

I continue journaling my journey toward a solo campaign here.