A Blade Against Darkness
Continuing the thread from my original post I’m using World of Blades, Whitehack’s “Facts”, and some rules of my own to experiment with solo roleplaying. I’ll post the adventures of Makoto in this thread in the comments below. I will also talk a little bit about how I make my GM and player moves. Fiction in italics. GM talk in bold.
Makoto Prowess 1. Attune and Skirmish
Stress: 0/18
1/2 Kitsune: Can Attune to evoke and control fox fire.
Monk: Bare hands are weapons. Can spend stress for cool martial arts stuff.
Inventory (6): Paper Talismans (spent)
So the last move was Makoto trying to Attune to the magical energies of the dungeon so that she could track down the snake cult living she had chosen to drive out.
So now we have this moment where Makoto folds a tiny paper lantern out of one of her talismans. She holds it to her face and blows on it until a tiny green flame sparks to life. She places the lantern on the water, with the rest of them. We see the lanterns gather on the surface of the water. The green ones drift against the current, deeper into the tunnel. Makoto follows them into the darkness…
This was a Desperate position (+1 XP!) because Makoto is a single (relatively new) acolyte and the entire magical dungeon with an active cult resisting her. It beats her on Scale, Potency, and Quality, so she has Zero effect. She pushes her self (spends 2 Stress) for Limited effect. She has 2 dice (1 to start with +1 for Attune). I take a Devil’s Bargain that a giant snake takes notice of her. +1 dice brings us to 3. *Roll is a failure. Now I have to figure out what the consequence is. It’s a desperate position so, it’s gotta be pretty bad. It seems obvious that the giant snake doesn’t just take notice, but grabs her and drags her under the water.
This is just what seems obvious to me as GM. I have to be honest about this. I make the move as I would against another player.*
The massive snake bursts from the stagnant water and with a lightning movement wraps Makoto in its coils. She has just a moment to gasp for breath before the water closes over her head. She tries to lash out at the beast with an elbow strike but it already has her arms and legs pinned. Worse, the air is pressed from her lungs as the snake crushes her in it’s coils. She can hear her ribs creak and then begin to crack. Pain lashes through her like a repeated hammer blow to her chest.
So we’re in a pretty bad spot. Underwater, trapped in the thing’s coils. I decide to Resist the being underwater. I don’t know how she’d fight if that were the case. I pay 3 stress to resist because it’s a desperate position Now we’re merely caught up the thing’s coils…
Makoto gets a foot underneath her and kicks off, throwing herself and the snake to dry ground before she begins trying to fight the thing off.
Maktoto tries to Skirmish the thing. All she wants to do at this point is escape, not really damage the sucker. As GM I start a clock for the snake’s HP (six segments). Its a Desperate roll (+1 XP) because it’s got her all tied up. It’s got zero effect (the snake beats her on potency (tied up) and scale (giant predator)) She pushes herself for limited effect. 3 dice (1, Prowess, Skirmish). Roll is a 5, partial with consequences.
Maktoto manages to pull an arm free and with a wicked elbow strike she stuns the snake long enough for her to slip from its coils and leap to her feet
I’m kinda going for a South-east Asian flavor in my mind, so I figure Makoto is more Tony Jaa /Muay Thai than Shaw Bros Kung Fu. She’s got rope wrappings on her hands. The ropes are made from the rags worn by saints and threaded with the finger bones of her master. This is a pretty cool weapon, but rare and powerful, so I determine it takes one load slot.
Makoto Prowess 1. Attune and Skirmish
Stress: 7/18
1/2 Kitsune: Can Attune to evoke and control fox fire.
Monk: Bare hands are weapons. Can spend stress for cool martial arts stuff.
Inventory (6): Paper Talismans (spent), Rope Gauntlets,
At this point I realize, even though I’ve doubled my stress for a single character, I’m over a third spent and I haven’t even made it out of the first scene. Blades is rough on a lone PC… That being said, I’ve made my moves honestly based on how I see the fiction. In a game with other players, this would be a discussion. We would talk about why this or that position was ruled as it was. Here I have to be my own judge. One way or another, I might need to adjust the rules for Stress. Its okay. We play to find out what happens and this is just a test.
More as it develops…
Lone Wolf Roleplaying 