Playing with No one

A couple weeks ago I talked about my adventure playing a GM-less game with someone else. That didn’t work very well, so I decided to play with no one else. Just me, a hex map, some books, and some “dice.”¹

Here’s what has happened so far. Note that there's a lot of information in the footnotes.

The Character

Name	Matias de Aurélio
Class/level	Fighter/1
Experience Points	0
STR	14 (+1)
INT	8 (-1)
WIS	9 (±0)
DEX	10 (±0)
CON	13 (+1)
CHR	12 (±0)
Hit points	9
AC	16 (Plate)
Move	9”
Talents	Diplomacy Swashbuckling Wilderness Survival
Weapons	Spear Dagger Light Crossbow Quarrels (30 each)
Coins	1 gp
Gear	Backpack Rations, iron (21 meals) Rope, 50’ Sack, Large Torches (6) Waterskin

The Backstory

I am Matias de Aurélio, a young freeman who will be soon heading out into the world. My father, Sir Aurélio, is landed knight in the service of a local noble. Many years ago the land was blighted by a deadly plague that killed most of the population. Many deserted villages can be found in the wilderness.

While exploring such a village I found a magical portal and stepped through.

Day 1: March 20, 948

Daylight Hours: 5:48 AM – 5:59 PM
Weather: 47° – 62° & Windy

Journal: I went through the portal around 8 AM, and explored the strange land. Other than encountering a dozen or so wild goats in the hex marked with a bison,² nothing happened. I made it back to the portal just as the sun was setting. I will make a point to arrive earlier tomorrow.

1 meal consumed.

Day 2: March 21, 948

Daylight Hours: 5:46 AM – 6:00 PM
Weather: 38° – 64° & Fair

The dotted arrows represent fleeing wildly.

Journal: Arrived through the portal a little after sunrise. Nothing happened in the morning. After lunch I happened across lake to the south.³ On the shore of the lake was the wreckage of a ancient ship. I ventured inside. I was delighted to see a decaying sack with the glint of gold showing through the tears. Unfortunately, two huge (at least 8' tall!),grotesque humanoids⁴ were also in the ship. They spotted me before I spotted them. They looked like they were going to attack me. Fearing for my life, I fled.

Fleeing is not like careful exploration. Instead of picking a direction to travel, my destination was determined by the whims of destiny. As the fates would have it, I found myself heading north, towards the portal. I entertained the idea of fleeing through the portal, but I had not managed to shake off my pursuers. I did not want to risk them finding the way into my homeland, so I continued on.

About two hours⁵ after the chase had begun, I noticed that the monstrous beings were no longer within earshot. I fell to the ground and lay still for a long time, to be sure that I had escaped them.

When I was sure it was safe, I ventured out of my hiding spot. The area was a light forest, just northwest⁶ of the portal.

Looking at the sun, it was about 2 PM. I was too exhausted to continue.⁷ Lacking any camping gear. I needed to make a makeshift shelter for the night. Using my dagger as a survival knife, I was able to construct a crude lean-to and build a small fire.⁸ I used my rations for lunch and supper.

2 meals consumed

Day 3: March 22, 948

Daylight Hours: 5:42 AM – 6:02 PM
Weather: 41° – 73° & Fair

Journal: The lack of comfort combined with the stress of the day’s even made for a restless night. Fortunately no animals or other beings intruded on my attempt to rest.

In the morning, I ate another meal from my rations. Around noon I began to eat another meal when a panther came into my camp. I was worried that another mad dash into the wilderness would lead me further from home. I took a meal from my rations and tossed it to the beast. It worked! After it ate and just lay down and napped.⁹

I packed up camp and set out for the portal. I made it back about an hour before sunset.

2 + 1 meals consumed.

Summary

This was a nerve-wracking adventure! I was sure that the trolls would kill me. Even when I was running away it was far from a sure thing.

I had a lot of fun. I plan on continuing Matias’s adventure.

Experience Points:

In straight D&D, I would not have earned any XP. But I am using the Crowfield experience system. That means I ask three questions:

1. Was the character involved in at least one dangerous combat during this play session?
2. Did the character bring home valuable treasure during this play session?
3. Did the character explore a new place during this play session?

The answer to questions #2 and #3 are easy: No, I did not bring home and treasure. Yes, I did explore new territory.

Question #1 is tricky. I had three encounters:

1. The goats: not dangerous
2. The trolls: very dangerous
3. The panther: could have been dangerous

I ran from the trolls and befriended the panther. Seeing that no combat actually took place, I’m inclined to say “no.” But there’s a line I wrote that says “If an otherwise dangerous combat is made ‘not dangerous’ due to player planning and tactics, the players still get their XP. The idea is to reward the players for playing smart.”

Did I play smart enough for an experience point? I’m saying no for the trolls, but for the panther? I’m not sure.

You tell me! Do I get XP for the encounters?

Gear

I’ve used 6 of my 21 meals, leaving 15.

What’s Next

This wilderness is too tough for a single first level character. I need to find some henchmen or hirelings. Sadly I only have 1 gold piece, so it will be hard to pay someone. Maybe I’ll try to borrow some money from someone, or see if someone will join me as a full partner.

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1. Instead of rolling physical dice, I’m using a die rolling app that I wrote.↩

2. My mapping software doesn’t have goats.↩

3. The tables said this hex contained a lair. The lair was was determined to be a shipwreck. I came up with a few ways to make that work without altering the map, but I decided it made the most since to add a lake. I roll a die to pick one of the unexplored hexes and made that one a lake.↩

4. These are trolls, but I’m playing this as if I don’t know if they’re trolls or ogres.↩

5. The rules are silent about how long it takes to travel through a hex when fleeing for your life. I looked up some long distance cross country race results, and decided that 1 hour per hex (meaning a constant running speed of about 6 MPH) seemed reasonable.↩

6. According to the rules, you’re not allowed to map when fleeing. I shouldn’t have know what hex I was in. But I didn’t know how to handle this without a GM, so I just hand-waved it away.↩

7. The rules say “For each hex moved in pursuit, a party must spend one-half day resting.” I fled two hexes. I imagine that means I need to recover from exhaustion and minor injuries (like cuts, bruises and sprains).↩

8. I used my wilderness survival talent. I rolled a 20—a success.↩

9. I rolled the best possible reaction roll. If I knew that was going to happened I wouldn’t have wasted the rations.↩