Corsin and Pelf #1
Solo Shadowdark TTRPG play in my fantasy world of Giathos.
Welcome to the Glyph and Grok - A “weekly” blog-letter exploring topics in the tabletop gaming arena. We explore design, execution, and culture relating to anything played on a tabletop.
I’ve been inspired by other great solo tabletop gameplay reports, so here I am going to put forth my best efforts in this arena. The setting is a region known as Catastros of a fantasy world I am building from scratch with a set of Shadowdark rules utilizing a mix of Mythic, Solodark, and my own ideas.
I would love your feedback, so please comment on what you like or what you think would improve this kind of entry. Now on to the story!
Scene 1 - Intro
Corsin V. Vernal Equinox - Solmuth 20, 1671
My hand often drifts to the missive in the sown pocket of my robes at my breast. When Archmage Orluk directed me to go into the field and find answers on the new element she refers to as “Aether made physical”, I was mostly confused at why she’d picked me. I’m not a high marking student. I’m always felt mediocre with some talent in producing arcane fire…anyways, it is an honor to be on mission and I will not let her down.
Sitting across from Pelf the self-ascribed rogue as he inhales the food I bought him does not endear him to me. Of course he’s been perfectly professional in his duties of hunting down leads to gold and possibly Aether, he just seems to have a “zest” for life I do not share.
He also has the constitution of wet parchment, struggles when loading his crossbow, and mostly exhibits low cunning…though I’ve heard some of the thieves’ guild do this on purpose to keep people’s estimations of them low. I ponder this as I watch Pelf in his leathers I know he did not wash, hurriedly pushing food into maw with his beady eyes scanning the room from behind a mop of thin hair.
"Hey Corsy, I got us a lead on a payday. Jade figurine. Easy pickin’, but we need to move. Others will have heard of it as well."
"First, don't call me Corsy, it's Corsin - which you know - and Second, are you sure this one is legitimate? The goose chase we went on last week was a monumental waste of resources."
Pelf snorted. Grease streaming out of the corner of his mouth.
"I'm sure about this one buddy. I've got connections, you see, or rather I've got connections you don't see."
"Do you find yourself entertaining Pelf? Don't answer that. Maybe I should call you Perf instead of Pelf because your skull leaks brains as if from perforation."
He feigned offense for a moment, then Pelf let out one loud "HA" and finished his meal seeming to be afraid he'd never see well prepared meat again.
Pelf hand-canted for me to meet him out front or in the toilet in five minutes. He's been teaching me the unspoken signals of The Soft Touch, but it was not something I had asked for. I made the assumption he meant to meet out front and went to get my gear from the room.
Oracle
Is there good weather? (50/50) D100 => 19 - No
Is it a thunderstorm? (50/50) D100 => 64 - Yes
Narrative
Narrative Context 1D12 => 1 - Remote Event - Chaos increase to 1D4
Unbeknownst to the PCs, another small adventuring party is indeed on the way to steal the same Jade figurine that Pelf has heard rumor of.
Scene 2 - The Road
Of course as Pelf finally joins me, thunder echoes and then the sky opens above the canopy and rain begins to sheet down upon us.
"We've got to keep moving, Others may know of our quarry" shouted Pelf over the water and thunder that shrank our world to a ten foot space around us. The area was forested enough that the canopy went between providing some respite to dumping waterfalls on us depending on our luck.
I was glad for my thick robes and cloak now, but we'd been out in the downpour enough that even they were soaking through. I was sure that Pelf was chilled to his bones, but to his credit he didn't complain about it.
"I think we could have waited another day to do this Pelf" I protested loud enough for him to hear. I wasn't in a great mood now that my well oiled boots were caked in mud. At least it seemed the road was clear, the rain keeping unseemly types off the road as it led us west and in and out of the forest.
We'd been traveling for hours on the road at this point, and sticking to the road for fear of falling into some gods forsaken sink hole. All of the creatures of the woods had taken to hiding, but of course there were idiotic humans like Pelf and I still to contend with.
Oracle
Is there trouble ahead on the road? (Unlikely) D100+1D4 => Yes (79)
Is it Bandits? (50/50) D100+1D4 => Emphatic Yes (99)
1D4 => 4 Thugs waiting in ambush (Near)
Did they see the party approach? (50/50) D100+1D4 => Yes (79)
Pelf stopped and I almost ran into him, noticing he had his hand up canting me to stop. That's when I saw a lone hooded figure standing in the middle of the road, still as a statue in the pouring rain, about 30 ft ahead of us, barely lit by the overcast grey clouds beyond the canopy. I went to step forward as if to engage the figure in discussion, but Pelf put his hand out and stopped me.
Pelf feigns as if to step forward to with his left arm up as if to hail the figure, and then in one swift action pulls up his crossbow hanging from a leather thong on his right shoulder under his cloak and levels it at the figure, loosing a bolt.
1D20+2 => Crit Success (22) - 2D6 => 7 dmg
The bolt slams through the rain and into the eye socket of the hooded figure. Their head snaps back and they fall in a strange wheeze that sounded more like air being forced out of lungs than an actual voiced reaction. They were dead before they hit the mud, a short bow and arrow falling from their hands as they fell. Pelf then planted his feet and began reloading the crossbow hurriedly as figures being rushing from their hiding spots on either side of the road.
Three Thugs in light armor, two with long knives and one with a sling, revealed themselves. The two with the short swords charged us.
1D20+1 => Hit (12) - 1D6 => 3 dmg
Pelf is slashed across the chest and the knife bites deep into his leather armor, drawing a spurt of blood as he finishes reloading his crossbow, and he fell unconsious with a slap into the wet mud.
1D20+1 => Miss (5)
1D20+0 => Hit (15) - 1D4 => 1 dmg
The second Thug tried to slash me in the same way but he only cut rain and air. I looked up from the missed slash just in time to see a small rock crack me above my right eye, drawing blood.
Bearing my teeth and stepping forward to separate myself from Pelf’s unconscious form, I stood just on the other side of the knife-wielding Thugs. I brought my hands up and pointed my palms towards each of the assailants, the air around my hands crackling with arcane energy and I shouted angry words of incantation.
1D20+2 (Adv) => Success (19) - 1D6 => 5 dmg
The air singed and popped as rain superheated into steam near my palms, and then a roil of flame engulfed both Thugs from face to naval. They screamed as their skin bubbled, burst, and charred - Their hair, skin, and armor melted into a single chunk of unusable blood weeping gore - and they fell in death throws into the mud next to Pelf.
Pelf - Death Timer - 1D4-2 => 2 rounds
Self-Stability Check - 1D20 => Fail (1)
Thug - Morale Check - 1D20 => Fail (3)
The last Thug stares in shock at the mutilated corpses of her compatriots and thinks better of continuing the fight. She grabs the Short bow in the road as she sprints away.
Corsin - Stabilize Pelf - 1D20+3 => Success (18)
Corsin manages to staunch the bleeding and is confused by his own immense relief that Pelf is still alive. This guy is crazy. How’d he know there was an ambush? If he knew, why didn’t he try to talk his way out? For some reason, I like him…
As Pelf opens his eyes, he grunts and sits up. “Ah shit, didn’t check out yet. I guess I now owe you a debt too.”
I smiled just to myself as I picked him up and helped him start walking. “I have a feeling you’re good for it.”
Next: Corsin and Pelf #2
What I Am Up To
TTRPG Reading: Shadow of the Demon Lord
TTRPG Production: GC 2024 Dungeon/Adventure
Other Learning: Drawing?
Audiobook: The Emotional Craft of Fiction
Useful Things For Your Games
Spotify Playlist Add - Role: Baseline
I love this. Thank you, thank you, thank you for opening my eyes to the world of single player TTRPGs and using them as a tool for creative writing prompts. They inspire me to really dedicate time to jumping deeper into TTRPGs and develop my own stories and lore. You rock!
This is great! Now I need to know what happens to Corsy and Pelf. Hope you write more!