msjx: [ShadowDark Solo] Rufus & Silas, session 04

Monday, September 23, 2024

[ShadowDark Solo] Rufus & Silas, session 04

Session four, things start to get exciting and very dangerous! Let's go!

Product I used this session:
ShadowDark RPG (link)
SoloDark (link)
https://questingbeast.itch.io/knave-second-edition

The trio head out and have an on the trail encounter they opt to pass up. Here I grabbed the Knave 2e travel tables to get some interesting and I think, not atypical encounters. Midjourney also came up with some amazing visuals.

Continuing along they come to the first tower and discover that the last part of the journey is going to be more difficult than they expected...then I roll check for an encounter and things start to get dicey. Here I switched back to the ShadowDark encounter tables.

Ok, here goes. Here some solo peeps are going to cry foul, but oh well. I am running the game with two PCs, so I reduced the number of baddies encountered from the basic table. Why? While I want this challenging and interesting, I do not want to die constantly and repeatedly. I expect to play the PCs smartly and there will certainly be death, but I do not want to stack the deck against every single encounter. If I was DMing a small group and rolled this encounter, 3d6 - potentially 18 freaking hobgoblins - is a lot for a 2nd level party to take on and I would likely reduce that.

Anyway, it's my game, suck it.

Unfortunately these guys are not in the chatting mood and charge immediately (much to their leaders woe) the trio, and to top it off, the party is split!

I struggled here a little, I wanted a map to help visualize the situation and, as a mapper I wanted to draw one, but I wanted this to be quick and not get swept up in drawing a map and delay the game. So instead I hopped on Google and typed "topographic map" and then looked around until I found something with a ridge and some steep hills. Took all of five minutes to locate and drop into GoodNotes. I think it worked out great, helped visualize the area but looks pretty damn cool 'taped' into the page too. ;-)

I also wrote up our friend Gaspard as well.

The trio win initiative the first round but it dawns on me quickly that this could go badly. Luckily I had given Gaspard a bow so we have ranged attack ability besides just Silas' sling (which oddly is not listed as a weapon in ShadowDark...wtf???)

Just a quick side note: all of the remaining pages in this session were played while seated in a very crowded, and very delayed, American Airlines plane in the air. I used my iPad, the PDFs, and a die roller app on my phone. Worked perfectly in a small, crowded space.

The first round goes fairly well and we also win the second round of initiative. The second round goes just as well, heroes inflicting damage but receiving none!

The third round the trio loses initiative but luckily the bowmen are blind and unable to hit. The Hobgob leader though nails Rufus for 5 damage, a solid hit. The trio suddenly break the lines of Hobgobs and drop two of them, causing the remaining to fail their morale check. We they are on the run!

The fourth round we drop the last bowman and the leader, now realizing he is in deadly trouble, sprints for the ridge hoping to escape.

Round five, Rufus thinks a moment about sparing the leader, maybe questioning him, then changes his mind and drops him.

The battle won, the trio take a breath and assess the situation, trying to figure out what to do because they are still split. Silas crosses back, grabs the rope, and returns to the tower side. I rolled these with advantage, assuming that having done it once, it would be easier the second and third time.

Once Rufus was over they searched the area. Gaspard stayed with the horses, providing overwatch with his bow. A few attempts later, Silas finds the top safe and looks into an open trap door in the roof as Rufus climbs. Inside, Silas discovers a body laying on the floor!