Enough for the excuses.
What is next? I have plenty of unfinished projects and solo campaigns to pick up…which I will! First, however, a plan to add a new project, one that features the flexibility of FU RPG (free universal RPG) by Nathan Russell. For those who do not know, it’s a fabulous light and elegant system, and great for trying those ideas you would like to try with your group (or alone) with no prep or forethought. As an aside, Nathan is currently working on a second edition, which I am anxious to see. Hopefully this can also help build some excitement.
I plan to post some short play reports using FU to feature and test its flexibility. Each post will center around a different short solo adventure utilizing a different genre. FU can easily do this straight out of the box with no effort except perhaps renaming the descriptor types. However, each genre I’d like to feature I will try a small surgical alteration in each to highlight the genre.
This is where you, the reader, can help too. If you want to propose an idea for a specific genre for me to try, voice it. I plan to try a cyberpunk and a swashbuckling session first, maybe followed by a Wild West session. I WON’T try a Star Wars or Kung-Fu session, because those hacks are already available.
Secondly, each session will make use of a new solo narrator with which I’m experimenting. Like most that I’ve tried to devise, this one is light, and is based on the development of a random plot generator and interspersed shifts, which I’m calling, Twist of Line.
Twist of Line
This off-the-cuff scenario generator was inspired by the space adventure creator in John Harper’s Lasers & Feelings. Twists are added through random determination.
The Setup
Roll or choose:
A Threat…
Roll Story Cubes, select a random picture, etc. or just pick.
Wants To…
| Roll | Motivation |
|---|---|
| 1 | Destroy/Corrupt |
| 2 | Steal/Capture |
| 3 | Bond With |
| 4 | Protect/Empower |
| 5 | Build/Excavate |
| 6 | Pacify/Occupy |
The…
Roll Story Cubes, select a random picture, etc. or just pick.
Which Will…
| Roll | Action |
|---|---|
| 1 | Destroy |
| 2 | Change |
| 3 | Enslave |
| 4 | Invade |
| 5 | Summon |
| 6 | Restore |
A…
Roll Story Cubes, select a random picture, etc. or just pick.
The Play
Play to find out how the characters come into conflict with and resolve the threat. Gradually assert the threat’s malevolence over the characters, motivations, and/or setting, then have the characters take a proactive stance. If the genre dictates or character motivations are not directly in conflict with the implied threat, have their actions' successes or failures push that threat into direct opposition.
This can be freeform or more structured, short or long. In a more structured approach, define the adventure in terms of:
- The Hook. The threat makes its presence known. Characters learn of the stakes and become forcefully involved.
- Action. The characters formulate a proactive plan to overcome the threat and take discreet steps to do so. This implies one or more scenes. Their successes and failures change the face of their opposition.
- The Plot Thickens. This optional stage introduces a major plot twist that changes the face/true motivation of the threat, or complicates the story, and heightens the threat’s imposition on the characters and/or setting. Fill in the twist generator below when the characters have attained at least one step toward their goal (but more likely are closer to their goal). At your option, roll a die at the end of each scene…on an odd result, throw in a twist.
- The Showdown and Epilogue. The characters deal directly with the main antagonist or its representatives in a final confrontation to stem the threat once and for all. Depending on their success or failure and its degrees, determine the impact on the characters and the setting at large.
Twist Generator
Things are not what they seem when…
| Roll (d66) | Subject |
|---|---|
| 11-13 | The Actual Threat We Didn’t Before Know Is Revealed |
| 14-16 | The Threat Just Escalated (Bigtime!) |
| 21-23 | All Appears Bleak (Really Bleak!) |
| 24-26 | All Is Lost (Goal Changer) |
| 31-33 | Fake Victory |
| 34-36 | Betrayal |
| 41-43 | That Was Part of the Plan, Fools!!! |
| 44-46 | The Threat’s Identity Changes (Wasn’t Who We Thought) |
| 51-53 | Besieged On All Sides |
| 54-56 | Side Plot Takes Over |
| 61-63 | I Wasn’t Actually Dead |
| 64-66 | Victory At Great Cost |
Pick a threat, supporting character, or thing introduced in the story so far, or roll Story Cubes, select a random picture, etc to help focus the subject of the twist.
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