Solo Savage Pathfinder – Session 0
I bought several rpg’s on drivethrurpg’s Black Friday/Cyber Monday sale and am excited to try them out. Two that look interesting: Mythic Game Master Emulator 2nd Edition and the Solo Game Guide for Savage Worlds by Peter Rudin-Burgess. Figured I’ll throw a solo Savage Worlds game together to see how they work.
I don’t usually do much solo gaming, but I have from time to time, especially during the lockdown. It’s a good way to hone GMing skills and thinking creatively on your feet. Usually I’ve used Ironsworn, but today I want to try out Mythic. I’ll post my method for building a solo game here. To start off we’ll set the stage for the adventure and do a Session 0.
Let’s play Pathfinder for Savage Worlds. Fantasy sounds fun now and it’s a great rule system. I love the idea of level progression coupled with more freeform character creation. I own the Savage Pathfinder bundle on Roll20, so I’ll just grab one of the pre-gen characters they provide.
The wizard Ezren looks neat with the Shamed Hindrance that hints at a dark past. I’m going to change his Elderly Hindrance to something else, though, to reflect him being a younger, healthier character. Normally I’d need to remove 5 skill points if I do that (the Elderly Hindrance gives you an extra 5 skill points), but the Savage Worlds Solo Guide recommends solo characters to have 3 extra skill points to start off with to compensate for the lack of a team. So I just need to drop two.
I take the Seasoned version of Ezren, an experienced wizard with a lot of spells. Lower his Smarts, Academics, and Spellcasting one die and raise his Strength, Fighting, and Athletics one die type each – younger and healthier, but not as wise and experienced. And for the last two skill points I’ll lower his Occult and drop Riding altogether. I think that should balance out, but if it doesn’t, it’s close enough for the fast and flexible Savage Worlds character creation rules, which are designed to get you up and running quickly. A point here or there isn’t going to break the game.
And of course I’m going to change his name. After fiddling with some more name generators I settle on Ondo Baridad.
So where does Ondo start his adventuring? Let’s roll on some Mythic tables for Terrain –- “Powerful” “Defense”. Normally I’d say “castle”, but this was specifically a roll about terrain. Uh, okay, something isolated and inhospitable. Cliffs? And an island, perhaps? Roll on the yes/no table and come up with — Yes! And it could still be a castle too. A castle built on defensible island cliffs. Awesome.
I roll some more on the Mythic Names tables — “Del” “Cor”. The island of Delcor, a land of inhospitable cliffs and natural barriers.
Continuing on with the name tables for an important NPC, I come up with — “Ess”, “N”, and “Virtue” – maybe the quest giver. How about Ness the Virtuous? Sounds like a paladin. I don’t need to roll on a yes/no Oracle table to confirm this, because paladin is fine and there’s no need to get too complicated, but I’m going to anyway.
The Savage Worlds Solo Player’s Guide has a closed question oracle that’s easier to use for yes/no questions than the table in the Mythic GM Emulator, so I’m going to switch to that. You use different sided dice depending on how likely you think a ‘yes’ answer should be. It’s a d10 if you think it’s a likely outcome. The target number is always a 4, but I roll — a 3. Uh oh…so no, Ness the Virtuous is not a paladin.
“Virtuous”, huh? So maybe she’s the high priestess or something. Rolling again — a 2…so no. Okay, maybe I shouldn’t have rolled on such an obvious thing, but now I’m committed. Is she some kind of spellcaster, maybe, like a sorcerer or warlock? — Yes! Okay, cool. I could roll further, like on Mythic’s character identity and motivation tables, but we’ve spent enough time with her already and her name and profession suggest a backstory for her. Ness the Virtuous is a sorceress in the royal court of Delcor.
Now let’s figure out what Ondo Baridad is going to be doing. Ness is going to be the quest giver, so the first encounter will be her visiting him. As both powerful magic users in the kingdom of Delcor, they are undoubtedly acquainted with one another. Perhaps they’re friendly colleagues, she an insider to courtly politics and he an expert whom she occasionally consults on wizardly matters.
I’m going to go to the Savage Pathfinder Companion, which has a whole Adventure Generator chapter. The first three tables are titled: Objective, Obstacles, and Complication. And in true Savage Worlds fashion, you draw playing cards to determine your result. The card’s value determines what happens and the suit influences the reasons for it happening.
I draw a card for the Objective table — Three of Clubs, which gives the result of “Object of Power”. And clubs means that one of the hero’s Hindrances draws him into the adventure. Let’s hold on to that for the moment and see what the obstacle is.
The Obstacle — Queen of Spades – indicates a powerful elite driven by a lust for power. So let’s figure out who this “powerful elite” is. Since they’re on an island, is it a pirate? Consult the oracle (roll d6) — “Yes, and…” Okay, he’s more than just a pirate. Is he a pirate king? High-likelihood Oracle — No. Uh, a pirate…warlock? 50/50 Oracle — Yes! Nice.
Let’s give him a name – Mythic Emulator random names comes up with — “Wr” and “An”. Simple enough to combine them to “Wran”. So Wran the infamous pirate warlock.
I’m going to say that earlier result, “Object of Power”, is an artifact that Wran is using to cause trouble with. The adventure will be to retrieve it. Rolling on the Mythic Magic Item Descriptors table – “Orb” “Environment”. So maybe a spherical magic item that controls the weather. How about the Pearl of Storms. That’s an appropriate item for a pirate warlock. Perhaps given to him by his mysterious otherworldly patron? We’ll have to wait and see.
And now for the Complication – Two of Hearts – “Mistaken Identity” related to the character’s Hindrances or other source of emotional conflict. Let’s read that entry fully: “A party member is mistaken for someone else. Whether a famous hero vicious outlaw, or vile warlock, the identity comes with plenty of its own baggage.” Hmm, interesting. Not sure how that fits now, but we’ll keep it on the back burner.
Going back to Ondo – he has major Hindrance, Shamed (father’s heresy). Let’s make him younger and swap out Elderly for Driven (major). His father’s shame has stained the Baridad family name and Ondo will do anything to make it right.
We’ve already rolled two adventure hooks related to his Hindrances, so clearly this quest is going to be about atonement for the sins of his father. Wait, is Wran the pirate warlock actually his father!? Unlikely, a d4 — rolled a 3, so no. Okay, did Wran know Ondo’s father? Roll a d6 — a 4, Yes! Sounds about right – the heretical elder Baridad cavorting with warlocks. Maybe something to do with the Pearl of Storms.
So the elder Baridad could be…wait, we need a name for him. Roll — “Fah” and “Ow” on the Mythic names table. Tricky syllable combination. Owfah? Fahow? Reverse them to get Fahow or Wofah, Wohaf, Hafwo. Hmm, Owfah it is…switch it up to make it a little cooler — Aufah Baridad. Kind of sounds like a combination of “alpha” and “awful”. Both could be appropriate.
And on a whim, since the mutation descriptors table is right next to the names table, I roll on it to add some kind of nickname or description for him. A 46 — “Heat”. Heat like hellfire. The Infernal Aufah Baridad. Nice.
So some freeform thought associations here and maybe we’ll round this out a bit more by exploring Ondo’s father’s heresy. Maybe he was once a trusted advisor to the Delcorian Royal Court, but Aufah began dabbling in forbidden magic, contacting nether beings to increase his power. In the end he betrayed the kingdom and stole the Pearl of Storms. Now one of his apprentices, Wran, is using it to attack the shipping lanes, the lifeblood of the kingdom. Does all that sound good, Oracle? Roll a d6 — 4 – Yes! Perfect.
Wran needs a little more too. Rolling on the Action 2 table, we get — “Element”. Wran, Lord of the Elements! A nice grandiose title for a pirate warlock who controls the Pearl of Storms.
To recap what we’ve learned so far: Ondo Baridad is an experienced mage in the island kingdom of Delcor. He bears the shame of his father, the Infernal Aufah Baridad, a former Court Wizard who fell to dark temptations and stole a powerful artifact from the royal family. Now one of his apprentices, Wran, Lord of the Elements, is using its magic to ravage the sea lanes. Ness the Virtuous, High Sorceress of Delcor, has requested Ondo’s presence at Delcor Castle.
Ondo is dreading the meeting and is self conscious about showing his face at court, given his family legacy…
Wow, that’s a lot and we haven’t even gotten to the adventure yet! We’ll have to get to that next time.
