Break + Update 4/24/24

A Much-Needed Break and an Update

Photo by Tim De Pauw on Unsplash

Hello readers of PWM. No new Actual Play post this week. I got back home on Sunday after a very long flight and went straight back to work Monday. I’m still feeling jet-lagged, stressed about work and am unable to fuel the creative juices to get going on a new game and post. I did take a look at “im sorry did you say street magic” and while I like the rules which probably work great for a group, the idea of playing it solo isn’t filling me with excitement. At least not right now. I’ve blitzed through so many world-building games in the past few months, perhaps I’m feeling like I need something different.

So instead I made a better map of Kol Noth:

I didn’t like how close the continents were on the previous map. The continents didn’t drift, this map just better shows the distance better than the previous one. I’m calling this the Third Era because this is after the set of games I’ve played most recently. Turris have become a sailing community after being pushed out of their home during The Quiet Year. The Deep Forest is now shown in Zuid. Ongann has become a city-state in the ruins of Manu and Ledera is a fractured empire at this point, although I didn’t really capture that on the map. I like this map much better than the previous one. Should this really count as a new era? Probably not but oh well, time periods are fuzzy like that.

I also did a quick and dirty version of Feor Llen:

Made with Hexfriend

What else?

I’m currently designing my own game/hack of Kal Arath. It borrows heavily from the mechanics while adding a couple of my own and shifting the setting to a post-apocalyptic mix of Roadside Picnic and Stalker (film and Video games). I’ve had an idea of this setting in my head for over a decade and have half-started a novel based in it half a dozen times, before recently realized maybe it’d be better as a game than a novel. Reading Kal Arath’s simple yet provocative rules and tables inspired me. It’s slow going but I’m enjoying it. Oracle tables are harder to make than you might think.

Also, Shawn Tomkins of Ironsworn/Starforged (fantastic solo games!) fame has ‘released’ Sundered Isles in a final-ish form for Kickstarter backers, his Starforged hack based around sailing the high seas in a sort of Pirates of the Caribbean style setting. It’s gorgeous, the rules are solid, and the tables are fantastic, as to be expected. (Find out more info here)

I’m considering taking a break from world-building Kol Noth and starting a solo campaign as a change of pace. I haven’t quite decided what I want to do, as I’ve also thought about getting into a lengthier solo-journaling game like Apothecary.

For now, I’m not going to commit to one thing or another. Feel free to suggest things in the comments.

Other Solo-Related Stuff

Actual Play: Four Against Darkness

Eric Dill is playing Four Against Darkness and writing about it.

Session 2.4: Nightmarket

SGH is playing Blades in the Dark solo on PTFO and it rules. I really need to catch up.

Studded Leather: Post Apocalyptic ODND

Castle Grief is creating an awesome game/setting called Studded Leather.

Hexcrawl Flower - A Hexcrawl Mechanic for filling in those hexes.

BuddhaRandom is making very interesting and in-depth rules regarding hexcrawling among other things.

---

This is a small sampling of the growing niche of solo-gamers and creators on Substack. Check who I follow and recommend for more.

Thanks for reading.