Perils on the Borderlands

Just for a lark, I decided to play some solo rpg today. I wanted to try Pits & Perils in solo play and the adventure I selected is….Keep on the Borderlands! So, with that in mind, I give you the game notes to “Perils on the Borderlands”!

I created four 1st level PCs, rolling randomly for abilities.

Arden, Level 1 fighter (charisma), great sword, leather armor.

Corwin, Level 1 magician (intelligence), staff, dagger, spells-fire bolt, fear, and call.
He has a black cat familiar named Nicodemus.

Thane, Level 1 dwarf (intelligence), crossbow, hand axe, leather armor.

Martin, Level 1 cleric (wisdom) (templar-in-training) morning star (2 handed!), chain armor.

I was hoping for strength or dexterity, but took the rolls as they came.

The PCs began their adventure at the main gate in late afternoon. The corporal inquires what their business is in the Keep. I had all of the PCs make a reaction check with the corporal. Thane the dwarf failed his check, but Martin smoothed it over with a good reaction from the corporal of the guard.

[I made note that the corporal would be watching the dwarf until he shows himself to be a trustworthy fellow. (-1 to all reactions for the dwarf, but Martin receives +1)

The evening was spent settling down at the inn, gathering some rumors, meeting the tavern keeper. The Sgt of the Guard was in the tavern, but was not real interested in talking with the PCs. Arden bought him a drink and Corwin even tried some minor magic, but nothing.

I am still trying to find my way with some type of oracle, a couple ideas I am using now are the solo gm rules at the tiny solitary soldiers blog and also I have found some excellent solo mechanics written by Sophia Brandt, check her work out some time. She is really a great source for all kinds of rpg stuff. Her rules are Miso RPG.

Meals and drinks are bought, I made careful recording of the silver spent (I changed everything to the silver standard, cause that’s how I like it.) Thane the dwarf had to borrow a silver piece from Arden or else sleep out in the cold. He’s an honorable dwarf and vowed to pay him back.

There were five mercenaries in the tavern and the party was able to hire two of them for now. Handsome Brune (sword and leather) is an ugly fellow, youthful, and reckless, and Meklin R’bonic (leather and club), a farmer turned mercenary from a distant land, missing several fingers.

If you’d like to have a list of hirelings with some fun names, here they are, enjoy!

The hirelings needed more equipment but that would have to wait until the morrow…

I will write more of the Perils on the Borderlands sometime soon. In all, I ran three days of game time with the party and had a couple combats…more on that next time. Using Pits & Perils was so easy to run and really enjoyable. I didn’t know if the whole solo rpg thing would be my cup of tea, but I can tell you that I was truly entertained, mainly because I didn’t know how it would turn out.

More soon.