Story-Mode is Story-Driven

 The difference between a role-player and a story-teller has always been particularly vague for me. Oftentimes I try stories as a game, or a solo-game becomes a story. Since the "Covid-Solo-Revolution", (where we all stayed home, baked sourdough, became insane, and threw dice for a table of none-existent players) solo-games & tools have cropped up in abundance.

Yet many of them, if not most of them, get in the way of the writing. If using traditional RPG's as a solo session, you can almost forget about brain-storming (think about how much you have to look up if you play AD&D solo). Or the rules are too static to write anything about the story (the case against “Four Against Darkness”. Which I do love, especially for dungeon maps).

Further, while heroic fantasy is a great read, I grew tired of solo-playing from one point of view. I would become disinterested, even tired very quickly. This is one of the biggest reasons why I tended to not get
into “Ironsworn”. Given, I consider Ironsworn to be one of the, if not *the*, best solo game of all time. Thanks to Shawn Tomkin for leading in the CSR. I just need to think up “Party-sworn”.

I have always been in search of a tool, a set of rules, which can focus on one group, not one main one character. Along with that I wanted a set of rules that don’t get in the way of the writing.

Thanks to Matalina on Github, at https://story-mode.just-us.net/, I may have found the Shangri-La of Story-driven/Group-driven Solo. It has everything I would want except for one small thing.*

Taking inspiration form the Cypher Rules, Matalina has created an online "desk" that allows for a multitude of writing actions, and inspiring things. At the center of the system is scene difficulty. Rather than giving each action in a scene a difficulty task, Story-Mode gives the whole scene a difficulty. This eliminates not only a lot of game-clutter, but also a lot of game-thought. Game-thought, worrying about stats, looking up rules, and character sheets, are perhaps the major obstacles to "Writing with Dice" (the fusion of writing and RPG).  

Cutting out all the block red tap, Story-mode also it eliminates all stats. Too much? Are you hanging on to your RPG security-blanket-stats? Not to worry you can add or subtract as much as you want for an action using the buttons provided. You have control but have the joy of randomness to keep that noodle in your skull busy for hours (as you can see from the example).

This results of this scene difficulty were truly liberating for one who writes with dice. You look nothing up, everything is in front of you. There isn't the need to think and rethink, the muse just ignites you. 

And, there is an oracle- smartly represented by a crystal ball.

I played with this thing for hours and hours. I opened it on my laptop to expand on a dream I had the night before into a story. Then later, I started another called 'Time Vikings. On every occasion Story-Mode was a companion, that helped and inspired, never getting in the way. 

Given, stories and setups cannot (currently) be migrated from device to device (a procedure far beyond this humble enthusiast) but you can copy the entire session and paste it anywhere 

and it appears like so (font choice was my own...)

(The following and the picture is an expansion of a dream I had. It focuses on a setting and series I have in mind called Rivermoon)

`RIVER & ARCANA\
Notes: I know the language- the accented. It is New Orleans but dangit have some fun, open stuff up, Make Jackson Square La Plaza de Armas again.

*Players in constant danger, anything could happen*\
**Scene Status:** Insane 5 (15)

Scene Difficulty is Insane!

**Do:** Does the Elixir come at a Vodoun Shoppe, there in what is to be the District or something?\
\
**Fail, but** \[5(15) → 4]\
Goods, Stray, Slice

No but the ingredients are from there, a slice of this good, and something stray.

**Q:** No doubt, I will figure that out. Now to ask the oracle, what major event comes at that time, what is the first thing in other words?\
\
**No, but** *(1d20: \[9] = 9)*\
Son, Priest, Dream

**Do:** The man, fideous fench, we shall call him, thinks it is a dream, and appears on a bench in front of what he thinks is the St. Louis Cathedral. But damn it is NOT the Cathedral. Is it daytime?\
**Fail, but** \[5(15) → 7]\
Love, Command, Song

`No it, is night but there is a couple at the other bench looking at him really weird, like New Orleans there is a song in the air. He thinks it is nothing but cosplay.`

This makes for no more RPG accounting mess. Hell, no more rule-books or character sheets. Story-Driven is literally one place for everything, one scene fixes ALL.

*And what is that small thing? Just give me the ability to hit <return> when I write something down, rather than having to use the mouse. 

And with that all my rule are condensed into one site, one scene-many actions, infinite inspiration. 

Review: MiSO RPG

I confess I have an "envy" book, a book I wish I had written. The book is 'American Gods' by Neil Gaiman The moment I read through its pages, the moment I experienced the caress of pantheons of gods joining me here on earth, I felt a literary tear in my eye.

I am here to also confess that I have an envy role-playing game. The game is Minimal Solo RPG (MiSO) by Sophia Brandt and it is quite brilliant in its simplicity- serious "why hadn't I thought of that before!".

Inspired by Bivius RPG by Riccardo Fregi's strict binary choices, MiSO assigns a die of differing faces to one of two choices. Like reaching a fork in the road and assigning the high sunny road a (d20) and the low dark road a (d4) (I mean wouldn't you?) and rolling. The winning fork continues the journey that is the story/ game.

As many of you know that are still reading this blog or follow me on G+, I am always looking for a system, or a machine, that fuels both my fantasy writing and my solo gaming. That fusion is what most of my fiction (sparse that it is) stems from. MiSO is the perfect choice for anyone with gamer's/writer's block. Nearly an oracle, I have even given MiSO some real world choices:

                -watch another episode of Star Trek (d12) 

                 -vacuum the living room (d6) 

                 (wouldn't you believe that I vacuumed!) 

Expanding (or branching) on it, I have assigned characters, enemies, or things, a heavier die based on their skills or experience; much like The Window RPG. In the future I will be writing up a session where I use MiSO to knock out one of my fatal writer's blocks.

Conclusion: The rules are straightforward and clearly written for the storyteller-gamer in mind. The examples given are all about branching the story, and thus the creation of other sub-stories. So I would definitely recommend it. In fact, every time I read through it, I feel that tear on my cheek. A happy muse that something great was lying right there on the road less traveled (d4).

Ocular Viewing #6 A micro viewing or so I thought

[For those not familiar with these chronicles, via the oculus and its machination within my iFruit, I am following the adventures of a dungeoneer named Murkstav through what professionals would call an extraction mission, though many times the man just seems to be CRAWLING through a subterranean world, a DUNGEON for the senses]

REASSURE, REWARD

The hero, the man with the sword, a dungeoneer, needed to be reassured of his reward, needed to make a break and cut bate, make a profit. He noticed the alchemist’s room about him, with an iron furnace and pipes and loads of ingredients around. There was a pumper, a giant iron engine that coughed, Murkstav looked around, bitter with the oil dropping like butter from the ceiling.

Disgusting as the ooze flowed, the subterranean warrior sick with sweat and oil, like heated butter about him, turned and observed his surrounding for anything of value. Everything in his core could not let him return to his TENSION ALLIES with an empty hand. Strange how his guild needed proof for these strange adventures, these dives into the deepest of realms.

Murkstav got his bearings, checked the dressing on his wound, which seemed (7) no better or worse than before. He looked about and wondered if anything, anything at all in that place would somehow salvage this situation.

DungeonWords PORTAL, LOOT, SPIRITS

The man looked up to an archway, wide with a stone trim, complete darkness beyond. He looked at a few carrion tables filled with strange liquors, when smelled scented of simple spirits and liqueurs. He never met an alchemist that was not a drunk, as if the human body itself was a catalyst for simple metals turning valuable. He looked under the tables, seemingly scientific and found a wealth of loot. (MONOLITH) Bars of silver, gold and platinum, perhaps too large to carry but sometimes in extractions, you don’t have to know or make your way back. He clasped two platinum and a gold and snuck them into his backpack. He noticed upon the treasured monolith strange symbols, strange images of a FANATICAL cult, the bars were so inlayed the dungeoneer wondered if there would be more money in trading them to the dwarves. Placing the bars in balanced pockets, he hoisted his backpack over his shoulder, and did not mind the extra weight.

Extra weight for extra pay, not a problem.

Looking to the portal Murkstav looked up into the shaft, knowing full well that he really had no where else to go. The fire above did not look like it had any intention of letting him pass any time at all in the near future. With that he strode into the portal...

NECROMANCY, ACOLYTES, NET

(The thing that troubles me about this method of ocular observation, using a mechanical device rather than a scroll, is the fact that one uses more than one lens. In the referral of dungeonwords I notice I use all three words, but it is the way it is happening, and who am I to question the ocular oracle?

In the room just beyond Murkstav (odd that the oculus has shifted to other people) the men waited, dressed in robes of purple and silver trim, nets in their hands to capture this intruder. There were four of them, bald with hawk noses and expressions of intense hate. They watched Murkstav stealing the bars inlaid with sacred imagery, cursing his form and planning his demise.

Murkstav took one look back, but his instincts suddenly did not push his foot forward. Something was amiss, something indeed and one would ask the oracle if the dungeoneer’s skills would tell him of an impending doom.

(yes and)

Rogue of Changes V: Solo App Tryout

For the next installment of Rogue of Changes, I decided to both play and review a curious google doc add- on called Solo Roleplay Tools by James Regan which turns the Mythic Solo Engine into a sidebar with various choices representing everything from probability questions to scene setup and the best one (since I use Fudge stats for opposed rolls) Opposed Question which allows you to plug in the appropriate scale for combat. 

I tried it out with good ol' Murk and it was pretty seamless. The only real thing I miss is the Yes, and or No, but that rpgsolo.com rolls up. Also in the Random Generators tab I would fill it up with everything from dungeon layout to random wandering monster or something of the sort. 

Other than that, it really pushes solo-ing toward writing, which is one of my goals in this blog. I plan on using this when I write, when I want to produce a story. So James Regan, great job. 

Now on to part V of our dungeon crawl:

Rogue of Changes V:
Murkstav is at the entrance to the tomb, a great maw of a cave stands to the north. He is poisoned, he cannot go back, he must go forward.

Into the Dungeon : (7) Scene Unaltered*

Nothing has changed for our hero, he is well rested but is still rather poisoned. He must find a cure.

He moves into the entrance, it looks like the entrance to a cave, giant thirty feet by twenty at the apex. The entrance is dark and Murkstav’s hand begins to tremble causing him to switch his sword to the other hand.

“Does he encounter anything as he moves in?” (Unlikely vs 5: 35%) Roll 16: Yes

What does he encounter? Efficiently Glorious .

Murkstav walks into the cave, something shines in the dim dim light. There is a pedestal just ahead of heam, gleaming a dull green. The dungeoneer perceives that it is jade, but found it odd that it was intact. He looks groggily at the floor, looking for skeletons or things that would tell him this whole set-up is a trap.

“Is there anything on the floor? ?” (Somewhat Likely vs 5: 65%) Roll 81: No

Looking to the floor our hero finds nothing of note, this only makes him more suspicious. He looks back to where he came from, the morning star lights looking very inviting right now.

No doubt about it, there is something on this pedestal something that is too glorious, too timely to be believed. It looks to be a potion of healing, a salve in a red bag tied by a brown string. The mercenary has seen it a dozen times in the stores about Rivermoon, but here it is something entirely different, something to be feared.

“Is the potion viable?” (Unlikely vs 5: 35%) Roll 19: Yes

“And is it booby trapped?” (Very Likely vs 5: 85%) Roll 83: Yes

“How likely is it for Murk to perceive the trap?” (Likely vs 5: 75%) Roll 62: Yes

Nothing in the dungeon, in the underground can be too good, there was something, a gleam that Murkstav noticed in that cavern. His skills, his instincts called for hesitation there.

What does the trap consist of? Peacefully Festive

Pardon? Gratify Dreams

Looking like a healing potion, the elixir would induce dreaming, slumber, a sleep potion. As if something wanted to make intruders sleep.

This will make the chaos factor go up in turn

What lurks herein that placed the bait? Cooly Pale

It was then that Murkstav realized that the chamber had become colder. Pulling his cloak closer to his shoulders he ignored the potion on the pedestal and kept moving into the hallway.

Let us see how this works in creating a dungeon, what is the next section? Dangerously Historical

Here I had to go to rpgsolo.com to get the layout of the dungeon, other than that I stayed with the google add-on.

RoC V: From the Mythic trial, using this to make a dungeon...according to the other thing this is dangerously historical, means nothing to me at this time:

Door on right side corridor continues.

5 = 5[d6]

(No encounter)  

At the end of what seemed like a hallway that ran 80 feet ahead are two large historically ornate doors. The one on the right is open and it is likely that there is something on the other side. Yeah its a sure thing that there is something behind that door, grabbing the door.

“Is there something behind that left door?” (Sure Thing vs 5: 90%) Roll 1: Exceptional Yes

There is something cold behind that door, a giant ice golem that feeds on unsuspecting visitors, was that the reason why the other bandits had been hesitating? The door is grabbed by the immense hand and it swings open with a lurch.

This is where the app is the strongest, where the player can input the ranking of each combatant or opposing object: 

“Murk versus ice golem. ?” (My school  vs Ice Golem : 10%) Roll 73: No

“Golem Round 2?” (High vs Superhuman: 10%) Roll 13: No

“3?” (High vs Superhuman: 10%) Roll 42: No

“Last chance?” (High vs Superhuman: 10%) Roll 12: No

“one more for the road?” (High vs Superhuman: 10%) Roll 36: No

There is no way that he is going to go blow to blow with this guy, there has to be another way that he gets out of this situation, He is the hero and there has to bed something. There is an odd luck, no doubt a chaos factor, no doubt somthing else that will change the situation.

So let us up the chaos factor to 9

Considering there is nothing he can do we move onto another question.

“Is there an X Factor that Murk takes advantage of which allows him to defeat/ overcome this enemy?” (Very Likely vs 5: 85%) Roll 33: Yes

Random Event Occurs: NPC action: Disrupt The intellectual

“Away yonder heathen!” the voice boomed from behind the monster, Murk trying desperately to gain a footing, thinking he could best the giant in combat. “Take that for your smite!” it again screamed in a loud deep voice, crashing the monster’s shouders with what seemed like a fireball.

Write Up- Rogue of Changes

The floor rushed up, but pain meant life. Murk landed on his feet but a metallic taste hit is palate with equal force. He knew he was poisoned. Sweating, he watched the hall moving off to the north. Illuminated a sharp orange, morning stars hung at ten paces apart, shedding the light on the cobblestone walls. The shadows stretched outward, moving unlike the fire. Murkstav quickly took a hold of his sword, eyeing the two bandits at the end of the hall; where the passage opened to a entrance at the top of wide steps. Once again the taste of metal, seemingly green even, flooded his palate. 

“We always have damned company, Silio” the one on the left in dark robes mentioned turning as Murkstav moved north to confront them. 

“Oh and this one seems quite intent,” the other said, dressed in leather and cape. 

Murkstav did not respond. Never respond to an enemy, he thought simply meeting the sword of the caped one, taking the deep breath away from him, but giving him just enough time to pull out his obsidian dagger. 

But something was wrong, really wrong, the caped one began to infer, wave, evoke and use the prefixes of a conjuring. Blast, a conjurer, by the time one enemy was dead, there came another two. The dungeoneer knew he had to make this fast. That metallic taste drove him, and things were beginning to get fuzzy.

The conjuring continued. Murkstav felt and heard a wind at the corner of his vision. Something was definitely coming. The bandit sliced downward, Murkstav blocked and slashed his wrist with the obsidian. The man reeled, an amateur, and the dungeoneer shoved his sword in a space in the leather armor. His torso slid off the blade as Murk kicked. 

Turning, the whisp slashed at him. Murk slid and pushed his way to the conjuror, knowing well it was the source of the summoning. Not expecting the attack, the summoner fell forward. Murk kicked with his heels and struck upward with the hilt of his sword and cut the man’s thigh. Going down, Murk impaled his dagger in his neck. Exhaling the metal taste, he knew he had to do something about that taste. 

“At least this one’s dead so…” he whispered to himself. 

Yet the whisp still churned in the air, still mixed with the lights and screeched for his blood. 

Who indeed was conjuring who?

What we (need to) know so far

Here is what we know so far, these will be critical in the moments to come: 

1. Murk is hurt, perhaps critically, he will use his alchemy to cure or something of the sort. 
2. There is a corridor underneath, it is 10' wide and heads north, for now. 
3. No doubt the map points to greater things underneath, something out there, something good, something big, and hell who knows something evil.
4.  At this time I am not sure if he has his armor, maybe this is the mission where he finds it no? 
5. What or who constructed underneath the crypt?
6. Is Murkstav alone on this mission?

Rogue in the Crypt Summary of Session 1

     Murkstav, an amateur dungeoneer, hired mercenary raised under Rivermoon, breaks out on his own. Unlike most, he selfishly decides to go at it alone. But he soon finds out why people venture into the underealms in groups. 

     Finding a map as part of the booty from a wizard (they always say, whatever you find is yours my friend, but the staff or the tome, or the mirror is mine) Murk moves northward toward a forest burial site. Stealth is not the easiest thing among the undead. 

     Chased by ghosts appearing from about the shattered trees and out of the torn and desolate leaves upon the ground, Murkstav comes upon the temple or the crypt that he had been looking forward. Even with ghost swirling around him, the aggravated thoughts of the wizard ring in his mind. He fuddles with the lock, for he is nothing but a good thief, usually hired by others, so he is used to being a sword hand a defender. He fuddles with the lock and taps it, moving the tumblers until something snaps and the gate opens, perhaps opening too easily.

     Careful when things are two easy, a paternal voice says in his mind. 

     Locking the gate behind him Murkstav crept into a 25 foot crypt divided into four chambers with a large coffin or sarcophagus in the middle. Amateur, amateur, for when Murk turned he found a witch practicing her dark arts on the floor. He goes on to learn that it was the witch manipulating the dead in defending this temple, the temple of the village idiot. 

     A battle ensues that ruins Murkstav’s bow and forces him to slay the witch with his sword as she used her powers to creep about the walls of the crypt. 

     No one was more surprised than myself when nothing emerged from the crypt in question. 

     Immediately something registers as wrong in this chapter. Why would the village idiot be buried in such an elaborate tomb? There was obviously something more to this, a secret somehow. Using his skills Murkstav, noticed smudges in the frayed map. A map drawn upon another map. Where the information lead him just to this tomb there was something, more something underneath.

     Murkstav liked underneath, away from the topsiders. The mercenary always felt better under the civilized world.

     An arrow pointing north. Or was it down? Cartographers in the continent could never really decide on one method of symbols. An arrow pointing north on a panel.

     Relishing, Murkstav heads for the panel, easily pushing it and watching it turn.

     Then a click.

     The clicks are the worst parts of this job. Before he could remove his gloved hand, a rounded blade followed immediatly after the panel opening downward. The man caught a glympse of warm orange light before his hand was sliced. Then the blade stopped with a whir and a dying crash and clunk.

     Murstav reeled back, looking at the gash in his hand, wondering if there was an ancient poison spread upon the ancient mechanism.

     And since suspense is good for the soul, this is where the session ended!

Murkstav for Solo Play

 

The term Dungeoneer has always held a certain magic for me. In my stories there have always been professional dungeon crawlers. Professional extractors usually employed by some mage or sorcery, almost always another one of my characters- Orleon Templeton, to go into the under realms, the vast subterranean world underneath the continent, and extract the most unusual of things. Always with this precept- keep what you find.

Originally I wanted to take a band of adventurers into the dungeon. With the help of +John Yorio, I had thought to make the party as character, illustrated in his blog, Then a strong craving for rogue-likes, games like Nethack, DCSS and Tales of Maj'Eyal hit me hard. I realized that I did not need, a band of characters, I just needed one. Perhaps one that mistakenly goes into the dungeon alone- and may regret it later!

Just like in a rogue-like.

So here is the "Character Sheet" for my professional dungeoneer.

MURKSTAV

+2 Great Dungeon fighter-
raised in catacombs, knows the dangers. Swords
odd jobs to get things about Rivermoon. particularly closed quarter fighting

+1 Good Thief: Locks and moving in shadows.
orphan/street rat trope.
+1 Good Archer
For his type death from afar is always better.

0 Fair … Leave this to the adventure.
Perhaps Alchemy, craftmanship, Lore

If he tries things outside of this parameter it goes down to Poor which I tend to think is more than just simply 'slightly unlikely' perhaps unlucky?

Brief Bio: Murkstav raised himself in the murky underbelly catacombs and labyrinths that lie underneath the city of Rivermoon. His odd jobs, assignments and tasks took him from stealing to outright assassination. Feeling more at home underneath the ground than above it, Murk is just now beginning to strike out on his own as a 'professional extractor' in the under realms of the Prytanian continent.