This article is very interesting. When I first heard we were getting a solo adventure I thought that perhaps it would be an adventure that could be run for an individual player - you know one DM one Player.
This article could be used that way, but that isn't the intention. This adventure is actually an adventure that you play by yourself. You are both the DM and the player. At first I didn't like the idea, but I figured that I may as well give it a go. I'll give you my impressions of it, and try not to spoil anything in the process.
First lets talk about how the system works here. You play as both the DM and the PC's - so going into it with a mindset of "let the dice fall where they may" and a very firm "It's too late" rule in place is really the only way to play this thing. During combats they give you a section that details the options you have during that combat, things like knowledge checks and objects to interact with. Each of these options has a corresponding paragraph in the back of the article that tells you what happens when you do that thing, or make that check. This felt really good actually, like I had a DM who knew things I didn't. All monsters have a set of basic tactics that they follow in lieu of anything more interesting, and then each individual monster has specific tactics they follow when possible. If you follow these as close to the letter as possible, running the monsters becomes pretty quick and easy. Then at the end of each combat there is a conclusion section that basically gives you your next steps - like a "Choose Your Own Adventure" book. These choices also refer you to the back of the article, which then directs you to which part of the adventure to read next. Rinse, Repeat.
The adventure starts when you find yourself and your trusty companion Splug, a cowardly goblin, waking up from a dead sleep in your adventuring parties camp and being attacked by these mottled black roots. Combat ensues. Without giving anything away after that, Splug follows you as you delve into a small dungeon filled with all kinds of baddies, but you had better be nice to him or he wont put up with your crap, and trust me you want Splug with you because as long as he is cringing behind you, your character gets to make additional attacks in his stead. This is an interesting mechanic, and one I rather enjoyed. It gave me more actions so that I could stand up to the baddies, but it wasn't just "Oh and because you are in a solo adventure you get two standard actions a round." It worked and it really made me feel connected to Splug by the end of this thing. Plus this way I didnt have to run all the baddies, and two fully fleshed out characters. I think this mechanic makes the whole thing a viable system really.
So when I started to think about a character for this adventure, the article says to play whatever you want. In all honesty I wanted to play Splug most of the adventure, his abilities and stats are actually pretty good. But he is a support character and I made sure to follow his directions as close as possible. So I played a class build that I have never seen in action - more out of curiosity than anything else - I played a Dragonborn Cosmic Sorcerer. The ability to deal damage to enemies that start adjacent to my character proved to be invaluable...
As I started playing it felt a bit like playing chess with myself. But once I got into it I was able to effectively split my mind into "me and them" and a few times I actually ended up finding out that I had moved my PC into an non-advantageous position and the monsters rejoiced in that mistake.
Anyway, long story short - I got to the last enemy had him bloodied and on the ropes before I died. Thats right my PC lost. TPK. But actually, it was still a hell of a lot of fun, and I may actually play through it again with a different PC. The whole thing took me about 3 hours, including character creation and setup. I used Maptool (http://www.rptools.net) for my maps and pieces, which I will post for you guys in another article once I get them put together enough to be used by anyone but me.
So after everything is said and done, it was a great time, and I would suggest it if you have a few hours to kill and want to try out a new character build.
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