Rough Beasts: Pt. 3
I’ve been making a set of solo RPG tools to help me rapidly prototype games I want to play. It is heavily based on Ironsworn and also borrows parts of Blades in the Dark.
A Quick Recap
As much for myself as for any readers here’s a quick recap:
When we left off we had agreed to retrieve supplies from the church for Helen, a member of The Church who has hidden with her flock in the catacombs under the city. She told us that Lady Sofia, the young woman we had come to rescue had gone mad when her fiancé had been killed by The Red Death (our world's version of The Plague, Mustard Gas, and the T-Virus all sorta rolled into one). She had locked herself in her estate and her secret police had started rounding up "Traitors" around town.
Because Maria (called Black Maria because of her plague doctor garb and spec-ops skills) is a kind person she agreed to get Helen the supplies she needed so she and her lot could escape. From a player perspective, I had wounds that needed to heal and I hadn't chosen my motivation yet, so I chose a motivation that let me get the most of the situation. I often just leave things blank and discover them through play. We play to find out what happens. I get to cheat exactly once, and as the story's “reader” I get a cool reveal. Now its set and we have to live with the result.
Upon entering Beggars Square where the church is located Maria was pursued by a massive hooded figure with a huge ax. We're going to call this monster The Headsman. Maria managed to evade The Headsman in the ruins of an old hospital adjacent to the church by climbing up to the second story. When she get to the top she hears a set of foot prints running down the hall. Also at the top of the stairs here we find a secured door, something like a safe room. Maybe a supply closet, bolted and locked. And it is here, at the top of the stairs, where we pick up….
Picking Up
So when I last left this project I wanted there to be a mysterious and potentially helpful figure on the other side of this door.
Ask the Oracle: Who is on the other side of this door? For this I’ll use Scarlet Heroes NPC generator.
Name: Lorentine (chosen from a random Prussian name generator)
Memorable Traits: Mysterious voice on the other side of a door
I actually just added this one on my own, because it’s obvious.
Ruling Temperament: Fearful
Immediate Desire: Selling an Object
Well, we came here for medical supplies and it seems to make sense that what she would have to sell would be exactly that, if she’s locked in a supply closet.
Maria is stopped by a voice calling from the other side of the chained door. “No, don’t go! You need this…” Maria pauses. Hesitant as the voice calls out again and it is a moment before she realizes that the voice behind the door is addressing the footsteps that have retreated down the hallway and into the darkness.
Maria approached the door and announced herself in a whisper, hoping not to attract the attention of The Headsman.
One of the things I have to remember when I do solo RPGs is that I’m not writing a novel. Although parts of this might be good practice for writing fiction, that isn’t the point here. The point is to play the game. So I’ll fast forward through the dialogue here. Maria introduces herself. Maria can tell there is clearly something odd going on here. Lorentine, this voice on the far side of the door claims that she was a nurse at the hospital attached to the church. She locked herself in the supply closet when the madness struck. Since the supply closet was locked up like an old safe she is largely secure. She will trade goods for food and money, as she is hoping to escape the town at first opportunity.
I haven’t really bothered to track money, it’s not really often something in the source material I’m drawing on, and in the world we’re playing in with the war having rendered most of the nation-states irrelevant, money is probably pretty meaningless. Gold and gems are valuable, but barter is probably more useful, even valuable, on a day to day basis.
I’ll say that Maria has Barter (2). This is small useful things like bullets and rations she could use to trade with. She doesn’t have much and she has it Packed. Side note, this is why I need this blog. It pushes my game into places I would never have considered and forces me to come up with solutions.
Alright, since we’re cribbing from videogames I love let’s have this character offer us healing items. We’ll say that with a few minutes a they can heal heal two wounds. They don’t work instantly and they leave the user euphoric and druggy.
“I have some herb poultices,” whispers the voice on the other side of the door, oddly sibilant. Some part of the local accent? “Someone with your training could probably work wonders with them.”
Ask the Oracle: What rare item with strange effects does she have on offer?
A roll on the Ironsworn Action/Theme Oracle gives me Transform Survival. Maybe a jar of leeches that can draw out corruption…
“I also have one last jar of leeches,” the voice continues. Maria detects a note of… affection? “I have been feeding them. Carefully. Little drops, when I can. But I could part with the little dears.”
Personally, I almost never buy the weird items in video games. Honestly, I’m one of those people who ends up hording all my BFG ammo and Phoenix Down for some rainy day that never quite comes. But healing items are always useful. I’ll buy one. It can’t hurt. Especially as harm is freaking brutal in this game. But I’ll buy the jar of leeches here, because, frankly things are only as interesting as I make them. I’m interested in rare items and what makes them cool and unique and they only become that way if we focus on them and explore the results.
Maria pushes a ration through a slot in the door while pulling out a package of dried herbs. She can’t smell them through the long beak of her gasmask, but she can tell by their color that they are fresh, the buds not yet blossomed into the yellow flowers they will have when they mature. The leeches come out in an old flask and Maria uncorks it and takes a whiff of the coppery scent. Holding it up to the light she sees a mass of slithering… somethings in the bottom.
Real quickly, I want to ask about that who the voice was addressing. But we don’t know if it’s a secret or something that this person is willing to share. I’ve mentioned this before but I’ll say it again for any new-comers. For the Yes/No oracle I use Scarlet Heroes as I like it’s process and procedures. I’ll convert it to something that uses IS style dice when I package this whole thing up to share with folks.
Ask the Oracle: Will Lorentine tell me about who she was talking to?
Unknown: 9 No but… I could probably earn her trust.
It makes sense that the way I would help her do this would be to help her with what she wants, which right now is money.
Going to make this a little shorter. My goal is to do make shorter posts more often so they are easier to create and consume.
Let me know what you’re interested in seeing next time!
