Rotvalan Reveries Ep21: Semi-Solo Play

 Run Date: October 27, 2024

PCs
Lysalia: Lv3 Witch

Hench
Julius: Master Blacksmith
Hurriya: Lv1 Explorer
Leighann: Lv1 Bladedancer
Dhaivol: Lv1 Ruinguard

Semi-Solo Play

Only one player today. I left it up to Lysalia whether or not we’d run something or skip the night. We ended up running wilderness exploration and doing some stocking.

Lysalia set out from Rotval (the city) to explore a hook from a local merchant about an opal mine. The cash on offer was something like 100gp for information and clearing it out if there were issues, and a 10% stake in the mine. However, the merchant didn’t quite note its exact location.

I’d been slacking a bit so between this session and the last I threw some labels onto the various woods and whatnot in the area to help with hooks and organization. The area Lysalia went hunting in is known as the Horned Hills. That said, Hurriya took point and the group set out.

Wilderness exploration can take a bit of time when generated at the table. A few automated spreadsheets have been made to speed this up, but the major bottleneck ends up being my waning imagination. Nonetheless, here’s the skinny: Hostile Hippogriffs sent the group into a screaming fit and they ducked into some thick overgrowth. Not today monsters! This followed with some confusing navigation as the Explorer found herself getting off-track (Natural 1 or something). She thankfully caught herself before wandering too far out.

Next was a series of landmarks and other oddities including

- A hollow of ancient, but tended trees and a stone circle. Currently unidentified, possible Faerie grove?

- A crumbling spire consumed by thick brambles and thorns. Desiccated, almost mummified corpses are spread throughout. “No way I’m goin’ in there, boss.”

- A small step well connected to an open air temple of tall columns and green stone. The columns are serpents with human faces staring down at an altar of an ouroboros.

- The entrance to an abandoned mine in which goblins and an ogre have set up shop. Scouting shows a solid setup of workers and valuables currently being mined.

Lysalia’s crew retreated before the enemies at the mine engaged, and soon navigated back to town. Prior to that, Lysalia swung uproad to see about an odd wasteland hex (on the map) and discovered the desolate hills. Is there a backstory? Guess she’ll have to ask someone else.

Once returned to Rotval, Lysalia attempted negotiations with the merchant for some time. The merchant was pretty irritated by the end of it, and tried to strongarm Lysalia a few times. The group only secured a measly 10gp or so with an added, “This deal won’t float forever. There are plenty of other adventurers out and about.”

Rewards (Totals)

Negligible

Afterword

Stocking hexes is a lot more interesting with more than one party, but it is also a process in itself. I tend to run with a more or less blank map with some premade stocking rolls throughout a region that become more filled in as the party adventures. However, I have discovered that my workflow has its own weaknesses. This is especially difficult when I feel the need to make every POI a dungeon of some sort. Case in point, the step well is now a 10-12 room delve (spoilers) instead of just a Magical Place. It’s fun, but currently doesn’t scale (either with my time or imagination).

Busy month or too many mistakes? I’ve run single person sessions in the past and they are great for scouting or side-ventures, but they are sometimes a herald. I think I’m growing accustomed to failure, for better or worse. The bright side is that my work is reusable in other scenarios or future games; something that was less true of some of my storygame/5e prep from years back. I’d call that progress of a sort!

That’s all for now. Take care.