Seems like such a long time since we’ve been here, doesn’t it? Well, it actually has been a minute. December of last year. Whoa. I am trippin. What in the world are you doing, Servant? Get wit da program mayne!

Okay. In part one of this, I failed my roll at spotting Adam who had just called me on the phone right before I was about to get into a taxi.

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Well, its been a little bit of a minute, hasn’t it?

It’s not that your boy has just been doing nothin. Oh, contraire, mon frere. I have been puttin in work and you will see this as we continue together in SRC.

Now, technically, we are still on Episode 1. Before we get into that, because we left on a bit of a cliffhanger the last time, I want to take an interlude and talk a about a recent video I did over on my YouTube channel.

This latest video outlined eight solo RPG tips to take into consideration when preparing for your solo RPG sessions. As I am wont to do, I went where most folks do not tread, covering tips most people don’t think about. Some of y’all know how I do things. Before we go in with Jacko, I want to set this up by focusing on the number one tip in that video.

When I mean number one, I don’t mean it’s at the top. I mean it was literally the first tip I covered. That tip is to set up your environment.

Yes. This is tied to this episode. Roll wit me here.

The reason I want to start there is because I think it is important to set the mood and to get you in the proper mindset, whatever you plan to tabletop RPG solo. I want you guys to see how I implement that in Crosshairs & Conspiracies.

Like all tips, you can take or leave it. But I strongly suggest you take it. You’ll thank me later. 😉

Going to the Mat

The first thing I want you guys to see is the playmat I have set up.

When I first created Jacko, I had him have a favorite rifle that he uses — a beige Barret M82. This is an actual picture of the gun IRL.

The idea I had from the beginning for creating SRC seasons was to have themed mats that fit the genre and game I play. The first season did not count since it was an experiment to see if I would even pursue SRC regularly. Since that decision was made, I decided it was time to get busy.

Here’s the kicker on finding this mat.

I just looked for it and it was there. This is not custom made (you can have them custom made, but I did not). I started searching for the right size mat and BAM — there it was. The color was even right.

Folks, that’s not luck (because there is no such thing). That’s Providence. 😊

As of the writing of this post, that mat is out of print. I went back to my cart and no where to be found.

Now, technically, it is not an exact replica. But man! C’mon son. Tell me that’s not its long lost brother? Perfect for the theme for Crosshairs & Conspiracies.

This is what I’m talking about. Doing little stuff like this and going the extra mile to set up your solo campaign play area. It gets you in the mood and proper frame of mind to dive in.

If you are wondering, that set me back $10.00.

This Is to Die For

The next thing I did was I went ahead and grabbed and cleaned up my dice tray. The plan was to get the themed dice for Outgunned proper.

Well, this is where I ran into a little bit of a snag.

2 Little Mice, the publisher’s of Outgunned, are based out of Italy. The game is being distributed in the United States by Free League Publishing. However, they do not have these dice. I cannot (and still can’t) find these dice online. So, I had to improvise and get some similar dice that carries the theme.

These are also no longer available (you can’t make this stuff up. 😄).

These carry the book cover red and also has a special death mask symbol for the number six. That fits nicely because remember, Jacko is a sniper. They come in a set of ten, which is plenty for any dice pool you need in Outgunned.

This Is How I Roll

But that’s not the best part. 😉

The creme de la creme with the cherry on top are my bullet dice.

Okay. These are not cheap (this retails for half a Benjamin). I received them from CZYY to showcase on my channel and they obliged me with a set. I wanted them specifically for Outgunned and similar games like Twilight 2000 4e and classic games like Top Secret SI. I’ve had them for a good minute now, and I wanted to big reveal them in the campaign.

Well, here we are.

What makes this so nice is that these specifically are sniper rifle bullet dice. C’mon son!

Are you getting the feeling that I should be playing this game?

Now, of course, these things are optional. You do not need them. But it helps in fostering that RPG Elite mindset when playing your solo RPG session.

However, these next ones are non-negotiable.

Looking for Mr. (or Miss) Write

You need to keep a journal. This is a no-brainer. This can be in a regular spiral notebook, moleskin, or something special like the vintage leather journal I’m giving away next month to people who are part of the Leet Squad.

If you would like to be part of that giveaway, you can join the Leet Squad here.

Join the Leet Squad

Normally, I keep a regular notebook for specific games. I have an RPG buddy who uses moleskins. You could use your phone and a note taking app like OneNote or EverNote.

However, there is something to be said about actually writing out your journal and the benefits of doing it. I’ll write about that in separate posts.

Obviously, I do not need to do this with SRC because I have a video record and a written record here on Substack. The video record is on my YouTube membership, the Elite Division.

Come to the Light

Proper lighting is essential. You don’t want to strain your eyes looking at your solo system and core book. When I made the video that’s the compliment to this post, I had five lights on. That was just for the video. Normally, it would be three if I wasn’t recording.

When you’re trying to do this to just go on that mental vacation, any well-lit area in your home works. If you can go outside on the patio and play at a table, do it. Get that vitamin D in your eyes in the fresh air.

It’s All About Comfort

Last is making sure you are comfortable. That may mean sitting your butt in a comfortable chair like the GT Player (formerly GT Racing) gaming chair you see in my videos (super comfortable chair. I love that thing).

This is all worth mentioning because it all goes to your enjoyment. The one thing you shouldn’t do is settle when playing solo. There’s absolutely no reason to do that (even if you are playing with a group. More on that in future posts).

Playing tabletop RPGs is not escapism. It’s a mental vacation. An intellectual massage. Your environment should be conducive to making that a reality.

So, now we’re ready to go and see what happens with Jacko.

Catch you on da flip in Part 2.

Peace 5000. ✌🏿😎

Well, it’s over.

No. I’m not talking about Solo RPG Chronicles (c’mon, son!). I’m talking about the vote for the cinematic interpretations I spoke on in my last post.

Here are the results.

So, it looks like those cinematic interpretations will be full animations.

I kinda figured that would be the case.

So, after the long wait, it’s time to get back to business with Crosshairs & Conspiracies. I’ve already recorded that session and it should be up on the Elite Division (more on this is a minute) soon, God willing.

However, I also wanted to let you in on a little sumthin sumthin that you wouldn’t be aware of otherwise. A couple of things actually.

It Is Better to Give

I consider myself a tabletop RPG evangelist. If you watch any of my YouTube content, you would get the idea they are more than just games to me.

That’s because they are more than just games.

Whenever I have the opportunity, I talk to people about TTRPGs. I’m not trying to keep it to a fringe crowd who are weird, anti-social, crash-out types (I’m just keeping it a Benjamin). My desire is to crush that stigma.

In my effort to do this, I have some good relationships with publishers and game accessory creators to give away some great products in 2026.

Here’s the caveat. You have to be part of the Leet Squad.

I’ve mentioned this before, but the Leet Squad is the RPG Elite community represented through an email list and private chat server over on Element (similar to Discord but better).

Hundreds of people get Leet Squad email updates on what’s going on with RPG Elite, early access to behind the scenes projects, and giveaways.

This month is the first month of giveaways for 2026.

Weird, Creepy, But Cool

The first item in our giveaway is CZYY’s Dice Spinner.

This is a novelty 20-point dice spinner you have to manually stop because if you don’t, it will go on forever. Crafted from high-quality zinc alloy with nickel plating, it is a solid tool that comes with a storage bag and a box.

Just being part of the Leet Squad enters you into the giveaway.

This is just the beginning.

If you want to go beyond Substack and don’t want to miss out on any of these giveaways, hit that orange button to join the Leet Squad.

Sign Me Up for the Leet Squad!

The Solo RPG Chronicles Broadcast

In my last post, I laid out how I was doing these cinematic interpretations for the italicized sections of the posts. However, there’s a video version of everything now. If you want to go beyond just the test on the page here, consider joining the Elite Division.

The Elite Division is my YouTube membership where the real tabletop RPG intel lives (I love that military motif).

It has three tiers you can join.

Whether you’re joining as Support Crew, stepping up as an Elite Operative, or going all in as a Command Unit, there’s a tier for where you are right now if you want to support the work I do in the RPG Elite Network.

But wait! There’s more (gotta love the shameless plug which I believe is completely worth it).

Then there’s The Vault.

What Was Is Once Again

The Vault is my classic tabletop RPG deep dive series. It wasn’t called The Vault. It wasn’t called anything except Classic Tabletop RPG Friday. Not too original but you knew what you were getting into. I did it every Friday and it used to live on the public YouTube channel (check out my Gamma World series).

Not anymore. I’m bringing it back exclusively for Elite Division members.

This is going back to one of the pillars of the RPG Elite Network which is classic tabletop RPGs. We’re talking RPGs that are 20+ years old, getting granular, creating a video core book essentially. Rules, lore, history, mechanics. The full Monty.

Yes. We keep it on brand with that also. That means non-fantasy, alternative genre tabletop RPGs.

If you’ve ever wanted to understand the classics the way vets do, and learn a little tabletop RPG history, this is your access pass.

Again, The Vault is for Elite Division members only.

So, if you want go as deep as the rabbit hole goes in this RPG Elite thang, the doors are open, soldier. Come get your access.

Join the Elite Division Today!

An Acquired Taste

RPG Elite and the Solo RPG Chronicles are not for everyone. It’s not trying to be. It is for a particular subset of people.

Seth Godin says in his book Tribes:

Trying to lead everyone results in leading NO ONE in particular. Great leaders DON’T try to please everyone.

RPG Elite has never tried to please everyone. It has a mission its following. That mission is not to get as many people to like me or what I’m doing. Lost cause. It’s to find my tribe, those people in the world who agree with my approach. My tribe.

Whenever you put yourself out in public, it’s inevitable. There will be haters. They are not your audience. You serve your audience. You connect with them and think about them because you are already on a similar wavelength.

Criticism is part of the territory. There are people who scream up and down about what I can and cannot do. They seem to have been under the impression that I asked for their permission. I didn’t. They are not that important.

However, you are important to me.

I love what I do. I’ve learned a lot and I’m still learning. I look forward to creating content for you and now, we have some very cool things that I only dreamed of when I was younger in junior high school. I’ll tell you about it sometime. Remind me.

I appreciate the opportunity to serve you here on Solo RPG Chronicles, and I pray I am able to do that for a long time coming.

Yes. It has been some time since my last post (January 24th to be precise). It’s not because I have just let this Substack languish. You know how it goes. People get excited about starting a new endeavor, figure out it takes work, effort, and commitment, then drops it.

We’ve all been there. However, that is not what has happened here.

This post will be a long-un. Strap in.

How It All Started

Last year in May (almost a year now), I was turned onto Substack by one of the members of the Leet Squad. For those of you unaware, the Leet Squad is the RPG Elite private community which you can join by hitting this button.

Join the Leet Squad Here!

I’ve been hard at work at something behind the scenes and it got me in that tunnel vision mode for a bit. I’m stepping back from it because I feel I have neglected you guys.

Plus, I got off track from what my goal was for Substack this year. I had to step back, reframe and refocus. I create projects for the imagination and life. I need to keep on point when it comes to that. That’s my jam.

So, here I be. Back in the saddle doing my thang, once again. 🙂

This post, like the last is not directly continuing Jacko and his adventure in Crosshairs & Conspiracies. A brotha is working on that. I’m looking at my other screen as we speak with what I have so far for Part 2. That’s in the pipeline and coming.

However, I wanted to talk about something that I’ve talked about at RPG Elite HQ. So this is a little cut & paste and re-edit of something I wrote over there. However, it’s something very relevant in our culture today.

I know. The title of this post seems like something far out of place for a Substack about playing tabletop RPGs solo. Indulge me for a bit if you please.

For those who are new, you’ll get something out of this. For my subscribers, same deal.

2026 - A New Year On the Horizon

We have less than four hours before we are into a new year. It’s around this time many people make New Year’s resolutions. The most common ones according to a Forbes Magazine poll of 1000 people, are:

• Improved fitness (48%)

• Improved finances (38%)

• Improved mental health (36%)

• Lose weight (34%)

• Improved diet (32%)

There’s nothing wrong with any of those things. They are actually very good.

However…

When we look at the success rate of New Year’s resolutions, it is sobering.

According to Drive Research, 80% of goal-setters feel confident they can stick to their resolutions throughout the year.

But that’s not how it pans out. It’s actually in the opposite direction.

Only 20% who make resolutions will keep themselves accountable to accomplish those goals.

That’s not the most depressing part.

Some recent research has show that only 9% of people who make New Year’s resolutions keep them. It didn’t even break into double digits, folks. Let that sink in.

That’s not just sad. It’s downright pathetic.

But that’s not the end of the bad news.

By the end of the first week, 23% have dropped off from keeping their resolutions. By the end of January, another 43% will have kicked the resolution to the curb.

Ouch.

Be An Outlier

Let’s keep it 💯…those stats are horrid. Does that mean we simply don’t make New Year’s resolutions? No. It means you have to take steps to be one of the 9%.

This calls for an identity change.

It’s good to sit back and think about what has gone on before and what you want to accomplish going forward.

In fact, I would argue that New Year’s resolutions should be made before the New Year, not on or during. You need to hit the ground running and preferably start a few days prior.

Most people don’t even take the time to do that. If they do, it’s done in a very matter-of-fact way. There’s no long pause or deep thinking. It’s very sensual, in-the-moment decision making.

It’s no surprise it doesn’t last.

This type of approach is a nightmare for long-term growth and fulfillment as a human being. It’s based on feelings. Nine times out of ten, it’s utterly unsuccessful in achieving the goal that popped into your mind.

No Discipline? No Freedom.

70% of Americans will not make a New Year’s resolution. Some think they will fail, so they don’t even try (12%), or they forget (6%).

The last one can be remedied easy with a simple tactic (see below). Thinking you will automatically fail can be solved by learning how to confront false beliefs.

But the majority — over half (56%) — say they won’t do it because — wait for iiiiitttt… — they just don’t want to.

In other words, they don’t want to discipline themselves.

Now we’re getting somewhere.

Many of these cats (dare I say a majority, some which use the excuse of they will fail anyway as a cop out) are the same people who complain about life while not willing to do much of anything to change their own.

This then becomes a perpetual victim mentality which is nothing but sinful weakness (another topic, another post, another Substack).

Again, there’s a point to why I’m going down this trail. Hang in there with me.

It takes discipline and perseverance to be part of that 9%. It’s not impossible but it’s not easy either. That last part is why people fall off from keeping their New Year’s resolutions.

You can fulfill your New Year’s resolutions. However, it means making a behavior change. That starts in the mind and heart.

It is not only in how and what you do, but in how and what you think.

Increasing Your Chances of Success

I know. You say discipline today, and it’s like a four-letter cuss word for many people.

I’ve mentioned this on my YouTube channel (yep. I talk about discipline on a tabletop RPG channel. Ask me about it sometime). Without discipline, you will not reach your destination.

Here are six things you can do to increase your chances of fulfilling your New Year’s resolutions.

Show Up

Yeah. Sounds like a no-brainer. But really, showing up is where half of the work is done; being in the vicinity where you have to do the thing.

Don’t sit on the couch. Go downstairs, sit on the weight bench, and pick up the dumbbell. Or go to the gym and walk around. You’re not working out… yet, but simply being in the place where that happens helps trigger the mental muscle to propel you to go and do the thing.

You just have to show up.

Have a Why

There are many people who make New Year’s resolutions and have no idea why they made them.

Why do you want to lose the weight?

Why do you want to improve your finances?

If you think it’s obvious, trust me, it isn’t. Think deeper.

Once you define it, tie it to pain.

Yep. Pain.

Why pain? Because we learn more from pain than we do from things that make us feel good. It changes us and is a better motivator.

“I want to lose weight because it will kill me sooner and take me from my family.”

Or…

“Being poor doesn’t allow me to help my family when they need it.”

Sometimes this isn’t possible, but even then it should be tied to something that makes you feel uncomfortable.

What this does potentially is move you to do the thing because you always have in the forefront of your mind the worse result of not doing the thing. That simple reminder could be all you need.

When you don’t develop discipline, what you are saying is you really don’t want it bad enough.

Break Up Your Goals

There’s an old saying.

“How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.”

In the movie Shawshank Redemption, Andy Dufresne (played by Timothy Robbins) escapes from prison by digging his way through a wall with a small rock hammer over 17 years. His friend, Red (played by Morgan Freeman), didn’t think it could be done. Then they discovered one day that Andy was gone.

We have to break up our big goals into smaller ones. Eventually, the big goal will get accomplished over time.

A year of your life is a long time. We are unaware how much we can accomplish when we focus on something, have discipline and perseverance, and a system to accomplish it.

It’s said we overestimate what we can do in a year and underestimate what we can do in ten years.

Let me flip that on its head a bit with my own version.

We overestimate what we can do in a month and underestimate what we can do in a year.

Break up your yearly goals into 90 day segments. This helps you psychologically with small wins that motivate you to continue and doesn’t overwhelm.

Make Your Goals S.M.A.R.T.

I didn’t come up with this. It’s been around for a minute (1981 to be exact by George T. Doran). However, following it just works.

S.M.A.R.T. is an acrostic.

For example, let’s say I set a goal of getting more subscribers for SRC. Okay. That’s a horrible goal because I have no direct control over that and it is too general.

A better goal would be to write one 1500 to 2000 word post and five Substack notes weekly for 90 days to potentially increase subscriptions by 20%. That hits all cylinders of the S.M.A.R.T. method.

• Specific - one article, five notes (12 articles, 60 notes total).

• Measurable - 1500 to 2000 word article (18000 to 24000 words).

• Achievable - it takes me about an hour and a half to write a post. It takes me an hour to write five notes (rough estimate). (30 hours total).

• Relevant - this leads to more engagement and more engagement increases the likelihood of more subscribers.

• Time-Bound - I’ve set the goal for 90 days.

Now, I not only have a goal, but a plan to implement reaching that goal.

Some people like to add at the end an E.R., making it S.M.A.R.T.E.R. goals.

• Evaluation - see whether the method works or if adjustments need to be made

• Review - look back at what was learned, what could be improved, and where to go next

This is one goal. That means if you have 10, you’ll be planning forever and it will be impossible to attain. Only have a few goals per quarter. Once one is accomplished, have another on tap to fill it to continue.

Go Deep with RPGs. Join the Leet Squad.

Keep A Journal

It should go without saying that your goals should be written down, preferably in a journal.

The results of a 2007 study conducted by Dr. Gail Matthews, psychology professor at the Dominican Republic University in California, showed that 76 percent of participants who wrote down their goals, actions, and provided weekly progress to a friend successfully achieved their goals.

Even when they just wrote down their goals and skipped the rest, they were 42% more likely to achieve their goals.

Yeah.

You should also write down your whys. Keeping them in front of your eyes increases the motivation to avoid the result in them (remember? Tied to pain).

Writing down the progress or struggles of keeping your goals can help you see things you may not have seen before and help you to make the necessary adjustments.

Do this as much as possible. At least weekly, but every few days is a good sweet spot.

Get An Accountability Partner

This shouldn’t be just anyone. It should be someone who wants to see you succeed and is not afraid to point out when you’re slacking.

If you do not have anyone in your immediate sphere, find someone online.

Also, according to Drive Research, 35% of people who make New Year’s resolutions keep a journal as a method of accountability. So, there’s another reason to keep a journal.

My New Year’s Resolution for SRC

I told you my goal for SRC. I currently have 52 subscribers. If my plan works, at the end of 90 days I should have 62 subscribers.

You may not think that is much but the number is not the point. The plan working is the point. This will compound over time because Substack posts are forever.

Why do I want to do this? Because if I don’t increase the reach and number of players who play tabletop RPGs solo with an RPG Elite philosophy, the malaise of nonsense that has entered the space of this hobby I love will only spread.

I’m not having that.

This is one journal I have.

As far as my accountability partner? Well, that, my dear friends, is you.

Write a comment or hit me up in an email if I don’t make a long form post in a week. That’s your part. Hold my feet to the flame.

My part? Show up and do the thing which I have done today. Let’s see if we can keep this streak going.

Going Forward

SRC is part of my New Year’s resolution. We goin hard in da paint, and we will be S.M.A.R.T. about it.

This post is an exception. Playthroughs is what you came here for. That is what you will get…mostly. Sometimes, you’ll get a post like this. But the main reason SRC exists is for the tabletop RPG solo playthroughs and how they work. 😉

And of course, the story that develops as a result because…well…it’s about the story.

The video broadcast of SRC will be available over in the Elite Division, my YouTube membership. You can check that out here.

Check Out The Elite Division

Let me hear from you in the comments. What are your New Year’s resolutions? If you want to tie them to tabletop RPGs, great. If you want to mention something else, that’s fine too. Let’s see how we can help one another out in our personal real life solo stories in 2026. 😉

Peace, 5000. 😎👊🏿

Yes. It has been a little bit since my last update. That’s because your boy is over here setting myself up for a deep solo RPG experience. Like I said — simmer methodology. I’m going deep in da paint. 🏀

Seeing as this is our official first episode (technically, that started in the last episode), we will get the ball rolling by taking a step back to explain what we have done so far in Outgunned terms.

As always, I will explain the details of the rules so you can get in on how things work in the game. If you happen to have the game, even better. You can follow right along.

Cinematic Campaign

What I am doing with Jacko here is setting up a Cinematic Campaign. Cinematic Campaigns in Outgunned are comprised of what are called Shots. A Shot is, in essence, a mission or adventure.

For example, in the Race Against Time starter mission that’s in the back of the core book, they begin it with a Shot Summary and also call it an Introductory Shot.

So that we stay consistent and know what’s going on, this Cinematic Campaign is called Crosshairs & Conspiracies. The Shot is called The Bourbon Contract.

The titles I give each episode are just that, episode titles in line with the season motif in how SRC is set up. They have nothing to do with Outgunned proper.

For example, the name of this episode is Paranoid Genius. That’s the name I gave it.

A cinematic campaign is made up of 5-8 shots. I am not sure if it will take that long to finish this campaign. Maybe. We’ll have to see how all of this develops. Like you, I’m just along for the ride. 🙂

The Establishing Shot

Each Cinematic Campaign begins with an Establishing Shot which has the express purpose of starting a mission. If you have more than one person playing, it also is the place to iron out the relationships between the PCs, i.e. how they know each other, do they like each other, etc.

In the last episode, we did a setup for Jacko. That was the Establishing Shot which is what I normally do for all of my solo campaigns. So, that worked out just fine.

There are two other major movements during a Cinematic Campaign — the Turning Point and Showdown. I’ll explain those when we get to them in the campaign because they will work differently since I am playing solo. Speaking of which…

One Hero Army

Technically, Outgunned doesn’t have a solo play option for it. That’s not surprising. Most tabletop RPGs don’t. However, they have what is called One Hero Army in their chapter Many Heroes, Few Heroes.

This mode of play is if you have one Director and one player. Though we do not have a human Director (Mythic GME takes on those duties), I am essentially playing a One Hero Army since in each case, there’s only one PC.

So, One Hero Army is going solo with a PC. There’s just an expectation you will have a live Director.

One Hero Army gives you some extra buffs from the jump so you start your campaign leveled up more than a regular PC.

When I first saw this, I leaned towards not having the extra buff. However, since this is technically a solo mode, I decided to keep it pure and apply the changes.

Keeping Jacko in mind, for my two extra Skill points, I added one to Speech and another to Stunt.

For the extra Attribute point, I added it to Crime.

Remember, Jacko’s a sniper. I wanted him to max out on being able to hide with his Stealth.

So, the changes give him a 5d6 pool with Stunt and Speech, and a 6d6 pool with Stealth with that last point in Crime. The extra Spotlight gives me two instead of one.

That’ll work. 👍🏿

In addition, there are some special rules playing in One Hero Army mode. As always, I’ll explain those as they come up.

The Mission and Director Sheets

Outgunned has some extras I’ll use that will come in handy during the campaign called the Mission Sheet.

This sheet is downloadable at the 2 Little Mice website.

The Mission Sheet is used to keep track of details during a campaign. In a multiple player setting, this is a dream. It helps you to remember those NPCs you met three sessions ago, how many shots you have completed for the campaign, and other info you’ll be glad to have at your fingertips.

The Mission Sheet is for everyone in the group. This is great for when you run into multiple Supporting Characters.

However, because this is a solo campaign, it would be better for me to also have a Director’s Sheet.

As you can see, some things are similar. The things that are different are really just two.

The first is the Enemies Tracker. When you run into goons, soldiers, guards, and the like. To have a quick reference when it hits the fan in combat is a must.

The second aspect is chases. I won’t go into detail now, but keeping track of the chases is much easier with the Director’s Sheet.

For Crosshairs & Conspiracies, I’ll start off with one of each and add more as needed.

Bringin Da Heat!

On both the Mission and Director’s Sheet is a thermometer with 12 boxes. This is the Heat Meter.

It’s a measurement of how hairy things are getting and is meant for Cinematic Campaigns, so we will definitely use it.

When something decidedly negative happens in the campaign, heat rises (get it? Heat rises? 😊).

Did the villain just get away? Increase da heat? Did the hero fail an objective? Stoke dat fya!

When starting a new campaign, the Heat Factor is equal to the number of PCs. That means I tick off one box. I’ll do this on my Mission Sheet.

Too much Heat brings negative consequences into the story.

Keeping Things On Track

In the first season of Solo RPG Chronicles, I skipped over much of the details that could have been included, taking my cues from what was inferred from the context of the adventure, for the most part.

For Season 2, I will use a Thread Progress Track.

This tool helps to keep the mission focused on solving the main thread of the Shot. I get to choose what that is. In this case, it is to assassinate Charles Harris.

During the mission, whenever something happens that moves the needle towards accomplishing this goal in a substantial way, I will mark off two checkboxes. This continues until I get to the box that says “Conclusion”. This will signal to me to wrap up this Shot. If the thread hasn’t been resolved, I will focus all my efforts to do so.

There we go. We have officially gotten all of the preliminary setup out of the way and are officially ready to get this party started. 🎉🤗

Keep in mind that for this season, all rolls, actions, and the details in between are taken from the corresponding video over in the Elite Division, my YouTube membership in the SRC Broadcast (minimum Elite Operative tier). If you want to see the visual version of this, hit the link below.

Watch the SRC Broadcast!

The first thing we need to do is determine the Chaos Factor. This always starts off at 5 for an initial scene at the very beginning of a campaign.

Next is testing the Expected Scene. To do this, I roll 1D10 against the Chaos Factor. If the result is equal to or lower, that means we have an Altered or Interrupt Scene. If it is higher, nothing changes and it will be however I envision it. MGE calls this an Expected Scene.

🎲ROLL🎲 = 5

An odd number rolled under or equal to the Chaos Factor means it has changed to an Altered Scene. An Altered Scene means it’s a variation of the Expected Scene. The Expected Scene I had in mind was this:

Jacko gave a casual salute before getting up and walking outside.

He didn’t like nor trust Alejandro. He had worked with him once or twice before but that was with his team. This was the first time he dealt with him one-on-one. The guy had a certain air about him. Sleezy. Shady.

He took a left out of the Capitol Grille exit. Intel is what he needed on Alejandro, and he knew a guy who had the chops to get it. If he headed over there now, he probably could catch him before he went into lock down.

That last sentence will not happen.

To make this a variation on the Expected Scene, this Altered Scene will happen instead.

Jacko attempted to wave down a passing taxi. That’s when he heard his personal cell phone ring. The caller I.D. on the screen — unidentified caller. Normally, he wouldn’t answer. But he had a feeling.

“Hello?”

“What are you doing hanging out with the spook?”

He recognized the voice. Adam Sizemore. His intel guy.

“Well. Ain’t that something?”

Jacko smiled, discreetly scanning the area.

Same goal, different circumstances on how we get to that goal. This forces you to connect with the story and starts the creative juices flowing in the ole noggin.

I want to look for Adam to see if I spot him. It’s the middle of the day which would normally make it a Basic difficulty. However, Adam is paranoid and an intense conspiracy theorist. He wouldn’t be out in the open. So this will be a Critical difficulty roll.

Normally, this would be a Focus (to concentrate, notice details, and to recall memories and knowledge) + Detect (find clues and intel, notice details, sniff out lies). However, Jacko wants to do this so it doesn’t look obvious he’s looking for someone. So, instead of Focus, I will use Crime (your aptitude for crime will come in handy when acting in secret or to notice incoming threats).

This is one of the things I like about Outgunned. Even though Detect is under the Focus attribute, you are allowed to combine different attributes with other skills not in the same grouping if it makes sense. This is at the Director’s discretion in a group game. Solo, you have to make an unbiased assessment.

This clearly is right in line with Jacko’s way of doing things, so this is what we’ll roll with.

This may not seem like a necessary roll. I could have easily just asked a Fate Question. However, it will change the trajectory of the story depending on what happens here.

The difficulty for this roll is Critical.

🎲ROLL (5d6)🎲= two 2s, two 5s, and a 3.

That is two Basic Successes which means I get a re-roll. I could re-roll just the one die (the 3), and try to get a Critical off of that. My chances wouldn’t be as bad as you think. However, if I reroll one of my Basic Successes, I’d be rolling more dice (3 instead of 1).

I think I’ll go with the latter option. Let’s roll dem bones!

🎲ROLL🎲= 1, 2, and 3. Bah!

That’s a failure and I lose the success I had (page 68 of core book).

We’ll continue in this episode in the next installment by looking at how you can fail in Outgunned and seeing what happens to Jacko as a result.

You’re probably wondering where I have been for a little while now since I have not posted for a hot minute here. We started Season 2 of SRC and then…crickets.

Not to worry, my loyal subscribers. I have been busy putting together something that will take things to 11, so to speak, in this season’s solo campaign. I could tell you now, but then I’d have to kill you. 🤯😉

I want that to be a reveal so we will save that for later.

Let me run it down for you for what your boy has been hard at work doing. This will be shorter than my normal posts.

New Campaign Start

I have been running a campaign in The One Ring for over six years. The version we like to play is 1st Edition. I have 2nd Edition, but it pales in comparison.

I play with my group online because I have people in different areas around the world (Russia, Finland, Canada. We full on international y’all). That means I use a VTT (virtual tabletop for those who are not hip) and the one we use is Foundry.

I know the developer of the system for The One Ring virtually. He lives in France and develops the system for both 1E and 2E. When I contacted him to see when the update for 1E would be finished to stay compatible with the latest release of Foundry, he told me at the time he wasn’t going to do that. That meant it was time to slide into another campaign.

I like to be as efficient as possible when it comes to the content I create. When looking at new games for us to play, I wanted to choose a game that already had a system for Foundry, and I could also showcase some videos of it on my YouTube channel.

When the dust settled it was all said and done, the game that came out on top was Mutant Year Zero from Free League Publishing.

So I’ve been behind the scenes getting ready for that little ditty which we will start either in January or February depending on how the schedule pans out.

The Elite Division

I mentioned a couple of posts ago about my new YouTube membership called the Elite Division. This ties directly to Solo RPG Chronicles because the videos I create there will be transcribed over here on Substack. But before I could do that, I had to finish up Season 1 content for my members which I just did.

I have a standing rule over on my YouTube channel — when it comes to my public videos, I don’t create videos longer than 20 minutes. There are reasons for that and I’ve made a video explaining it.

However, when it comes to Elite Division content, the videos are longer. Some significantly longer. Season 2s Session 0 is over an hour long.

However, I still have to do one more video which here in Substack land is called The Bourbon Contract.

In a nutshell, I’m playing catch-up, so I’ve had to put SRC on ice for a bit until I’m done with those videos.

Join HERE!

The Secret Weapon

I also mentioned I had a secret weapon for Season 2. That secret weapon has taken me some time to polish and prepare to implement for the videos I post in the Elite Division. This has taken probably the longest amount of time because when you test, you have to go back and forth doing the same thing over and over, tweaking small things to make sure it works.

She’s just about done folks. A couple more tests and we’re off to the races. I am pretty geeked. 😁

Novel November

A little known truth about me is that I’m a writer. There are a lot of people who say that so let me say it like this — I’m a published, paid writer. It’s what I do.

I have written five novels and one nonfiction book. I write the novels under a pseudonym I do not reveal to any but my family and closest friends and acquaintances.

There used to be a time where an organization existed called NaNoWriMo (short for National Novel Writing Month). Their goal was to encourage people all around the world who wanted to write a novel to do so in a month by writing 50k words, the shortest word count considered a novel in the industry. I had been part of it twice and it was a fun deal.

However, they went broke, and have fallen off into the internet ether.

A company who makes editing software called ProWriting Aid (a piece of software of which I own a lifetime subscription. It’s that good) decided to pick up the slack and put on the same type of event. However, they call it Novel November.

It has been four years since I released my last novel. I have been itching to get back at it. There’s a trilogy that needs writin, and I’m bouts to do it. I needed to prepare to get up on this and ready myself for this new Novel November.

Well…I’m a little behind on that one. However, I’m not concerned. Once I get my groove on, 50k words can be written in 10 days or thereabouts. I used to write 4k to 5k words a day on average when I wrote my novels, which is about the mid-tier range in terms of word count. I’m itching to get back to it because so much has changed that will help me reach that goal with no problem.

Business Pivot

All things RPG Elite for me is a part-time business as well as a hobby I love. It’s not something I do to pay the bills — but it helps a bit (a small bit).

Recently, I pivoted in my main business. That, of course, will take precedence over what I do on RPG Elite. That pivot has taken some time get a system set in place which I am still doing.

There are really four areas I focus on what comes the RPG Elite network and they are in this order:

• RPG Elite YouTube channel

• The Leet Squad (my newsletter)

• RPG Elite HQ (which is the website)

• Solo RPG Chronicles (in all of its different forms)

I have a presence on other social media platforms like Facebook, X, Instagram (I use this one the absolute least), and Rumble. I hardly use any of them except when I have free time. Those first four is where the bulk of my energy goes. It’s also the best place to get into contact with me.

So between those five things, I’ve been slow on the uptake in posting here on SRC.

However, once I catch up, I will have a few posts back to back in terms of days in order to catch up. I like to put myself on a schedule and my former schedule for Substack was every Thursday or Friday. We will get back to that as soon as we can, God willing.

If you don’t already, you can follow me over on my YouTube channel until I get caught up.

SRC is here for the long-term, God willing. Just hang in there with me and we’ll get all up into some Outgunned hardcore. 😉

That will do it for me for the time being. Let me gets ta gettin so I return sooner rather than later.

Peace 5000. ✌🏿😎

An Alternative

MGE has a specific way they suggest to set up your adventure with a couple of rolls on their Meanings Table, specifically the Plot Twists.

I do not do that.

I create a basic scene in my head as a jump-off point and go from there. You saw me do this in Season 1.

Today’s setup is just that — a setup. We don’t count that in our list of major scenes for the story.

Generally, how I run my solo RPG games is when I want to perform a task, I consult my character sheet and the main game mechanics. This way, if you are not familiar with the game, you can see how it would work in your campaign.

When I want to figure out things outside of that, I will use the MGE. For me, the core game takes precedence. So if there’s any way to resolve a situation using the Outgunned RPG rules, I will do so.

As always, I will explain the pertinent mechanics in play as we move through the story.

Letting It Simmer

In terms of the length of this season, I have no idea. The story will last as long as it lasts. That’s the beauty of solo RPG play — there’s no set time limit. The story (commonly known as a campaign in tabletop RPG speak) can be as long or as short as you want.

That being said, I am taking my time on this one. I went pretty fast in Season 1, I believe, with about 14 episodes. I plan on marinating in this one, now that we’ve gotten our feet wet with Season 1 — going deep with the roleplay because that’s where I live.

Remember when a season of a television show was 24 episodes? Think more along those lines, though I’m not sure if this season will be that long or not.

Integrating Subplots

One thing that makes a tabletop RPG campaign immersive is when you explore a character’s life that has nothing to do with the main storyline. Relationships, commitments, hobbies, and struggles. Side stories, basically.

Why do I do that? Simple.

If the characters are not interesting, the story is not interesting.

If the story is not interesting, I’m checking out.

This falls in line with RPG Elite Quality #8.

Plus, this is not just for me. It’s for you too. If I can get you invested in the story and make you care about the character, you’ll want to come back, which is the point. 🙂

I know. That is probably a little much for many people because we live in a day and age where people are, more often than not, emotionally shallow.

This is especially true in tabletop RPGs, where socially inept nerds and geeks built the hobby on their backs.

Hey. I’m just keeping it 💯 .

I know for some, it’s surprising for an old-school cat like myself to get so deep into character development because that certainly wasn’t the average group make-up back in the dizzay (still isn’t).

However, this is RPG Elite, y’all. We do not do things the same as you would expect. It’s a higher standard here, hence the name. That is especially true of solo play.

Deeper Character Development

I tend to go deep in the paint with my character creation. This is especially true if I will be in a campaign for a good minute.

My go-to for a more in-depth jump-off point for my characters is the website 16 Personalities. Here is where I look through the different personality traits, choose about three or four of them, and cut and paste those traits onto my character sheet.

The first thing I do is choose a base personality type by hitting the pull down menu at the top. (just hover over Personality Types).

For Jacko, I’m thinking he is definitely a Commander personality type. When I click on that, it pulls up the details. This is a summary.

Yikes! Can you say perfect? 😁

Next, I normally read through the intro material and see if there’s anything there that I want to make sure to include. I will take one sentence here, another there, and piecemeal something together that hits at the heart of who the character is.

For Jacko, this is what I came up with from the intro.

Obviously, that’s not verbatim. I put my own spin on it knowing who the character is.

Next, I’ll mosey over to the Strengths and Weaknesses section on the left-hand side and choose two of each. For Jacko, that looks like this:

• Efficient – Jacko sees inefficiency not just as a problem in its own right but as something that pulls time and energy away from all of his future goals, an elaborate sabotage consisting of irrationality and laziness. He will root out such behavior wherever he goes.

• Charismatic and Inspiring – Jacko is able to inspire and invigorate others, and this in turn helps him accomplish his most ambitious goals, which could never be finished alone.

• Impatient – Some people need more time to think than others – an intolerable delay to Jacko. He may misinterpret contemplation as stupidity or disinterest in his haste – a terrible mistake to make.

• Cold and Ruthless – Jacko’s obsession with efficiency, especially professionally, make him fairly insensitive in pursuing his goals, dismissing personal circumstances, sensitivities, and preferences as irrational or irrelevant.

This gives me enough information to get into the headspace of Jacko when I am playing him. That’s the point of all of this. It’s not just information for information’s sake to have a cool character concept, as some think.

Nor is it writing just because I’m a writer or someone aspires to be one. That’s another one that gets pulled out because people can’t write themselves or know how to think deeply about one topic.

I’ll save that for another post. 😏

This is written to help guide the decisions I will make for Jacko during the campaign. This assures stay true to Jacko’s motivations and actions in the story, not mine. I’m not in the story. Jacko is.

You can take the test and see which personality type you lean into if you are interested in that kind of thing.

Watch Video Episodes Here!

Invoking the Past

It helps that Jacko is a character in one of my novels. This means he has a history. History allows for those subplots I talked about earlier.

Not only that, it provides a place to get full-fledged campaign ideas. These are called story seeds or prompts.

It is for these two reasons that I have players in my campaigns create backgrounds for their characters. It doesn’t have to be a 50-page tome. Just a couple of short paragraphs. A savvy GM will mine that stuff to integrate into a campaign. Doing so makes the PCs and those playing them more invested.

Here is Jacko’s.

James “Jacko Bullseye” Bellamy served in the United States Army 75th Ranger Regiment as a exemplary sniper. He has official military combat kills close to the greatest sniper of all time, Simo Hayha with 522.

His military career was a bright spot on the horizon. However, his shining star dimmed when he was accused of murdering his commanding officer, Mark Levy. He insisted he did not, but the mountain of evidence against him was substantial.

Sentenced to incarceration at the Midwest Joint Regional Correctional Facility (known as Leavenworth), he served five years before his fate changed.

While in prison, he told a prisoner named Adlai that someone had framed him. Unlike everyone else at Leavenworth, Adlai believed him. They became close friends, Adlai being one of the few people Jacko grew to trust.

That year, someone recruited Adlai to go on a clandestine military mission that could grant him freedom if he succeeded. He insisted on Jacko being part of his team.

Their mission succeeded, and they pardoned Jacko for his part. He now works as a freelance mercenary while investigating who framed him.

With all of that information recorded, Jacko is officially ready to do his thang, chicken wang.

Planting the Seed

Let’s get this started at a high-end restaurant in Washington, D.C.

The high-end restaurant hummed with the quiet clatter of silverware and murmured conversations. Jacko leaned back in his chair, dressed in a jean jacket and close-fitting collarless shirt with his signature blue denim gloves, exuding the same effortless charm that made people underestimate him.

Across the table sat his handler, Alejandro Nico, a polished man with cold eyes, sliding a glass of bourbon across the table.

Jacko didn’t touch it.

“Still chasing ghosts?” Alejandro asked, his smirk betraying amusement.

Jacko smiled, easy and slow. “Oh, these aren’t ghosts. They’re real. I’ve got time in Leavenworth to prove it.”

Alejandro chuckled, but there was no genuine humor in it. It was out of reflex, as if he had trained himself to do it.

“I’ve always liked you, Jack. You’re a likable guy. Too bad what happened to you. From what I understand, you were going places before the whole Levy situation.”

Jacko stared, his signature grin turning into a straight line across his face.

“Yeah. Well, you’re gon change that for me, right?”

Alejandro looked down at the menu on the table.

“I can.”

“Always a favor for a favor though, right?”

“It’s how the squeaky wheel gets the grease.”

Alejandro slid a sleek tablet across the table, screen dim until Jacko tapped it. The image that appeared was a face Jacko didn’t recognize.

“Charles Harrison. That’s the favor,” he said. A serious tone crept into his voice.

Jacko studied the picture, then lifted his gaze. “Why do you want him taken out?”

Alejandro’s smirk widened. “That’s not your concern.”

Jacko’s grin returned. That didn’t sit right. He liked to know why he was pulling the trigger, especially when it came to the government. But he let it slide for now. He already had a few things in play.

“Where’s the shot?” he asked, setting the tablet down.

“I’ll text you the location. Use this phone.”

Alejandro took a small flip phone out of his inside coat pocket.

“Wow. I’m moving up in the world. Fancy tech and everything.”

Alejandro ignored Jacko’s facetious remark.

“After you receive my text, burn the phone by pressing 22558.”

Jacko nodded slowly. “Copy that.”

He’d take the job. But he also had his own plans. This wasn’t just for them. He needed information, and if they didn’t want to give it, he’d find it another way.

Leaning back, he flashed another slow, Southern smile.

“Well now. Looks like I’m yer huckleberry.”

End Session Details

When you end a scene using the MGE, you have to update two lists — the Threads and Character List. These lists are more likely to be used during gameplay if you have a Scene Interrupt or Random scene. I will explain that if we come across one. Just know that a session (and in this case an episode) ends with updating these two lists.

The Threads list is for the different objectives that need to be accomplished before the entire campaign is over.

Jacko has a new assignment — eliminate Charles Harrison. So, I put that on the top line of the Threads List as Assassinate Charles Harrison.

Next is the Character List. You add an entry here when a main supporting character shows up or a character you want to be substantial for the story later on. There were only two characters in this scene — Jacko and Alejandro. I can’t add myself, so I add Alejandro to the list.

That will do it folks. This one went long. I told you I ain’t playin this season. 😉

I will catch ya on da flip in Episode 2, God willing.

Peace 5000. 😎👊🏿

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Welcome to Season 2 of Solo RPG Chronicles!

Well, let me tell ya. When I say it took me some time to choose what game I would play for this season of SRC, I’m not lying. I went back and forth on a few games, but I settled on this diddy right here and I am right excited about this one!

This is Session 0 of the Season 2s solo RPG adventure called Crosshairs and Conspiracies using the Outgunned RPG system in conjunction with the Mythic Gamemaster Emulator or MGE.

For those of you who may have just joined SRC for the first time, welcome aboard! 😊

I will refer you back to Season 1 below where I explained how the MGE works. You can come back here when you get done with that.

Why Mythic Again?

Season 1 of SRC used the MGE solo system. The vote was for me to play a different game with a different system. In truth, a different game means it will be a different system.

I tried to pick a game that had its own solo system but they are few and far between. Most solo systems are self-contained, meaning you create your characters within that system and stay there without using another in conjunction. That was not acceptable once I picked the game.

I have a copious amount of tabletop RPGs. Each system will be different on its own which should be enough. MGE is my go-to solo system. Don’t worry. There will be seasons where the solo system will be different, God willing. For now, MGE is back in the hizzy.

However, there will be some changes when using MGE this time. I plan to use some optional rules for MGE you can only find through their Mythic Magazine. I will highlight those rules when we cross that bridge.

What Is Outgunned?

Outgunned is a cinematic action tabletop RPG. Think about all of your favorite action movies and television shows — John Wick, The Equalizer, Anna, Taken, or Mission Impossible. It can be high octane off the charts like The Fast and the Furious, or a grittier, serious take like Jason Bourne. Or somewhere in between. The constant here is the action.

There’s another way you can interpret action. Many think primarily about fighting, but action comes in many forms. In essence, a movie like Titanic has some crazy action in it, as does a television show like Chicago Fire. What flave of action you like is up to you.

So you know what kind of action we will lean into this season, think along the lines of the television shows 24 or The Terminal List.

Meet Jacko

The main character this season is James “Jacko Bullseye” Bellamy. His story will be revealed through gameplay. That’s normally how it’s done in a cinematic setting. You have to pay attention to the story to find out.

If you plan to follow Solo RPG Chronicles, that is the way it will always be however long I am allowed to do this. I’m not one for introductions explaining who my character is. The story should do that as well as the character sheet when I reveal it.

Unlike Season 1, I won’t leave you hanging in terms of his character sheet. You can refer back to it during this season if you like.

What I will share is that this character is taken from the pages of one of my novels (no, I am not going to mention which novel that is. I write under a pseudonym for a reason).

I’m choosing characters from my novels because it makes getting into the gameplay easier since I am very familiar with them.

In addition, I just like this character 😊. In my novel, he is a supporting character. I wanted the opportunity to explore and expand on his story.

What’s Different This Season?

Season 1 of the Solo RPG Chronicles was a bit of an experiment. It allowed me to get used to the platform to see how it worked.

It also allowed me to understand how it could fit into the RPG Elite Network ecosystem. I learned much which has inspired me to do things differently in Season 2.

Longer Posts

This season the episodes will be a little longer. I like to cutoff my posts in reference to word count from about 1500 to 1700 words. This season, that will increase slightly from 1700 to 2000 words.

Technically, Substack does not have a word count limit on posts. However, posts will cutoff in emails if they are too long. I want the experience for those who read the email to be self-contained so they won’t have to click a “See More” ellipsis to finish an episode.

More Episodes

Another reason for the word increase is I want to take my time. There’s no rush here and though I post these for your enjoyment and tabletop RPG education, I want to enjoy it also. This translates into potentially more episodes this season as we take things at a slower pace to get all up in that story.

Video Compliment

Last season, every once in a while, I’d post s video clip of a die roll to see how they worked within a post. I recently opened up memberships over on my YouTube channel which I call The Elite Division.

One of the perks of the Elite Division is Solo RPG Chronicles in video format. What you will see here is an interpretation of those videos.

Posts here on Substack may lag behind the SRC videos as far as episodes go. That’s because one video can be several episodes here on Substack. I will work that out as I go, but if I get really into this (which I have a feeling I will), my awesome subscribers here on Substack will be playing catch up to the Elite Division content.

Because the episodes will be on video, all rolls will be recorded there.

I have an entire video for the Elite Division here:

The Elite Division Has Arrived!

If you want to join the Elite Division outright, click here.

Join the Elite Division!

NOTE: Be aware that it is only Elite Operative level and higher that will get access to the Solo RPG Chronicles Broadcast.

Secret Weapon

I have something extra special I will implement this season. It’s still going through the test phase but when it is done, I will reveal it. Not only will I reveal it, I will share it with you. This is something that will make your solo (and co-op also) RPG experience definitely more immersive.

So, yeah. I’m anticipating this season to be a doozy.

The Core Mechanic

As I did in Season 1, I’ll start by going over how things get done in Outgunned by reviewing the core mechanic. I’ll include any terms I plan to use that’s related to the game and define them.

Attributes & Skills

In Outgunned, there are five Attributes listed in red on the character sheet on the left-hand side. Four Skills are underneath each Attribute. Next to each are three diamond-shaped pips.

Outgunned is a D6 pool system. You figure out your dice pool for an action/reaction by pairing an Attribute with a Skill. The Attributes and Skills are grouped in the most common way they are used.

For example, under Brawn is Endure, Fight, Force, and Stunt. These are normally paired with Brawn.

However, you do not have to do that.

You can mix Attributes and Skills to accomplish something if there’s a good rationale for it. The Director (GM) has final say on whether something is a good pairing.

In the second example above, a common pairing was used with Nerves + Cool. You won’t have to be concerned about whether you can use them together.

However, in the first example, pairing Smooth + Cool might have to be explained since they are not a common pairing.

I could explain that the way I want to intimidate the big guy is by keeping my cool and speaking in my charming southern accent. This would at least throw him off and make him think twice about going toe-to-toe with a guy who keeps his cool and smiles at a potential confrontation. It can make people uneasy.

Actions and Reactions

There are really two kinds of tasks you can do in Outgunned — an action or a reaction.

An action is when your PC wants to do something and they proceed to attempt to complete the task.

For example, Jacko looked down at the bar, a grin forming on the corner of his mouth. “You don’t want none of this smoke pardner.”

He turned to face the burly man standing next to him, smiling with a mischievous grin. “I’m the surprise you don’t want.”

Time to roll Smooth + Cool to see if I can calmly intimidate the guy to back off.

A reaction is when something happens in the environment of the PC that’s out of their control that they must respond to.

For example, you’re completely hidden in the ventilation system when a mouse starts walking right across your face (can you say the first Mission Impossible movie when they breaking into the CIA). Make a Reaction Roll in Nerves+Cool to not react.

Difficulty Level & Success

Actions/reactions are assigned a difficulty level. There are four:

• Basic - a quick, easy action. Jumping. Throwing. Sleight of hand.

• Critical - this is considered the default difficulty if one is not given.

• Extreme - a demanding action/reaction. Picking the lock on a secure vault (Charlize Theron in the Italian Job) or persuading a sworn enemy to team up with you.

• Impossible - crazy, wild actions/reactions. Stepping out of a car while it’s spinning in circles then shooting at a target without falling or getting hit by your spinning car (Bruce Willis in RED. Look it up).

The Director assigns a difficulty level to an action/reaction. Whether the character succeeds depends on what they roll based on the difficulty level.

The numbers on the dice do not matter. In the image, those are images on the special dice you can get for the game… if you can find them. I can’t find them for sale anywhere, so hit me in the comments if you can find them so I can edit this out and link back.

This is not poker. You just need to get the same amount of the identical face value on the dice. A three of a kind of fives is the same as a three of kind of ones — a critical success.

Re-Rolls

Last are Re-Rolls, something you want to take advantage of whenever you can.

If you don’t get a success on the first roll, you can try to achieve it on a re-roll.

You’re eligible for a Re-Roll if you rolled at least a Basic success on your first roll, or you have an ability that grants you a Free Re-Roll.

For example, if you need a Critical success but roll only a Basic success, you can re-roll the dice that weren’t part of the Basic success to see if you can pick up the Critical success or more.

Or you rolled a Critical success but you have an ability that gives you a Free Re-Roll so you attempt to get a better success.

Understanding this core mechanic and these terms will ensure you are not lost as I play through this and begin throwing around these terms.

I am excited about Season 2 of Solo RPG Chronicles, Crosshairs & Conspiracies. I look forward to this one, especially since this genre gets no love in the community much.

Until next week, God willing, your boy Servant is outtie!

Peace 5000. 😎✌🏿

The Solo Chronicles contains links to affiliate websites and receives an affiliate commission for any purchases made on or through those websites. This helps to maintain and support the RPG Elite Network and mission. Thanks for your support.

In our previous episode, everything was wrapped up in this investigation for the most part. Today we will look at what happens to Elkanah as a result of capturing the culprit of the sorceress murders.

Hero Point Awards

As with most tabletop RPGs, there’s some kind of reward system. This is called various different things in different games, most notably experience points. DC Heroes 2nd Edition doesn’t use that moniker. The reward system is called Hero Points which makes all kinds of sense, keeping with the superhero motif.

Normally, this is calculated ahead of time. However, since this was a solo joint, we have to do this in hindsight, taking what happened into consideration for each step.

Let’s take a look at the rewards and how they are calculated.

Level of Opposition

The first thing we have to look at is the overall opposition of the entire adventure. There are five difficulty levels.

Each level of opposition has a certain number of Hero Points it will award depending on the difficulty. This is taking the birds-eye view of the entire adventure for the hero(es) who are part of the adventure.

If you have been following along the entire adventure, you would know it didn’t really give Elkanah too much trouble. He barely broke a sweat on this.

That being the case, I’d say it was Inferior. That means he will be awarded 15 Hero Points.

Critical Points

Critical Points are places in the story that have to be accomplished in order to move the story to a successful conclusion. This doesn’t mean the story doesn’t move along without accomplishing them. The story could end up somewhere else entirely. It means the story flows in an expected way with the desired outcome from looking at the story overall.

For example, this story could have ended with the murders suddenly stopping having never arrested the culprit. That’s a legitimate story ending. It wouldn’t be the desired end, but it could have ended up like that. If it did, it could be because a critical point was missed.

I think there was one critical point in this adventure — Eugene’s exorcism. If that doesn’t happen, their investigation would have stalled and the villain could have escaped. Because of the exorcism, they found out what the demon lied about as well as other information that led to the confrontation with Drusilla.

Like Level of Opposition, Critical Points have a difficulty table based on the average Success number needed on average during the Critical Point.

Looking back on that exorcism, it was not a hard one for Elkanah at all. The target numbers fell into the Seldom Fails category. That means Elkanah receives three more Hero Points.

Area of Consequence

This looks at the scope of what the villain does in terms of effect. This starts with the personal and then expands outward.

This case affected the city of Chicago. That awards another three Hero Points.

Severity

How serious was the outcome if the villain succeeded? There are three levels of severity.

This case was definitely Fatal. People were dying and would have continued to do so if Elkanah and company hadn’t stopped them. Very serious from the jump. This awards another 15 Hero Points.

All of these combined is what is called the Standard Award for the adventure. In the Case of the Sin-Eater, it has a standard award of 36.

Now it’s time to distribute the rewards.

Reward Distribution

Now that we have figured out the Standard Away, we can start giving out one Standard Award for each of the following categories a player has participated in.

There are six categories.

Participation

This one is basically for showing up. This is important if you have a group but for solo play, it’s automatic. I get this reward.

Role-Playing

Consistently role-playing the PC and keeping things interesting on that front with the NPCs and the rest of the players if in a group, will give a standard reward. Yep. Roleplaying is an active reward in DC Heroes 2nd Edition. I love it.

They take roleplaying so seriously that if you violate the motivations of the character or simply don’t roleplay at all, you gets none. This would be right up an RPG Elite’s alley. 😁

You guys know good and well I was all up in this. I get another Standard Award for roleplaying.

Saving Innocent Bystanders

Sometimes during an adventure, danger imposes itself on people who are in the wrong place at the wrong time. Saving people from a collapsing building because a villain caused a huge sinkhole nearby. That would make all of the PCs who were involved in saving those lives get another Standard Award. Nothing like that happened in this adventure, so we would get no Standard Award here.

Thwarting the Villain

Sometimes the villain gets away. Sometimes they succeed at what they wanted to do and the city/world/galaxy has to recover from the aftermath (Batman No Man’s Land or Crisis on Infinite Earths is a great example of this).

The goal in this adventure was to stop the villain before they killed someone else. Elkanah did that, so he gets a Standard Award for it.

Subplots

Subplots are side stories that happen with the different PCs that have nothing to do with the main storyline. This can manifest as other obligations for the PC. Maybe a job deadline that needs to get done at the same time they are performing their superhero duties. This will be in the amount of 15 Hero Points or a Standard Award, whichever is greater.

Elkanah didn’t really have this, so he’ll get nothing for this.

Miscellaneous

These are any actions not covered above that may be eligible for an award of a certain number of Hero Points, from one up to a Standard Award, at the GMs discretion.

For example, creating an ingenious device the villain didn’t account for that changes the adventure in the hero’s favor in a major way.

Nothing like this happened in this adventure, so there will be no award in this category.

The Final Verdict

So, solving the Case of the Sin-Eater, looks like this for Elkanah:

• Participation - 36

• Roleplaying - 36

• Saving Innocent Bystanders - 0

• Thwarting the Villain - 36

• Subplots - 0

• Miscellaneous - 0

This will award a grand total of 108 Hero Points. What I can do with these Hero Points is purchase or improve new skills and powers. It’s assumed a certain amount of downtime passes by where the PC worked to develop or learn these new skills and/or powers.

The process of the expenditure of the Hero Points takes a good minute and would be an entire post by itself. We will stick a pin in that for another time.

The End?

Well…not quite. 😉

1:03 a.m.

Elkanah sat in his office, the details of the recent events running through his mind.

This sorceress, Drusilla was her name, had him concerned. The Chicago police were not equipped to handle her.

He had made sure she was sedated before they took her away from the Dugan’s residence.

That wasn’t enough. She was dangerous.

He didn’t know why he thought that. He handled her with no problem. Yet, something nagged at him. There were still questions he wanted answered like who she was and where did she learn her sorcery. Also, why did she invoke the name of Cain? He wouldn’t get a chance to ask those questions until tomorrow.

His phone rang. It was Lucy.

“Hey.”

“Something told me you would still be up.”

“For the short amount of time we’ve worked together, you’ve got good instincts. So you know I’m concerned you are calling me at this hour. What’s happened? Did she escape?”

We will put this in the 50/50 area of chances. No Chaos Factor because I’m treating this as an epilogue to the campaign.

FATE CHART ROLL = 64

“No. Just the opposite. She…” He heard Lucy take a deep breath. “She’s in a coma.”

“A coma? What happened?”

“No one has a clue. The doctor’s are baffled. She was sedated and then all of a sudden sat up like a bat out of hell, holding her chest, screaming, ‘He has my heart! He has my heart!’ She flopped back down on the bed, stiff as a board. The freaky thing about it is her eyes are wide open. She looks terrified. I almost feel sorry for her.”

Elkanah didn’t respond, staring down at his desk.

“I guess that’s good news. Who knows how long she’ll be like that.”

“Thanks for calling.”

He didn’t wait for her to respond, quickly pressing the disconnect icon.

Burying his face in his hands, he gave a heavy sigh.

A sudden feeling of dread washed over him. Elkanah shut his eyes, gathering the internal fortitude to look up.

The Spectre floated in the corner of the office, staring at him, his evergreen cloak flapping though the air was still.

Elkanah knew he was responsible for what had happened to Drusilla. That disturbed him.

He could ask him the questions he wanted to ask her. There was no guarantee he would get an answer. In the end, he sensed it would be a lost cause and said nothing. He just stared at the Spectre, resting his chin in the crook of his hands which were propped up on the table. This went on for long moments before he noticed the Spectre fading out of sight.

Elkanah had heard the words before. He wasn’t surprised when they reverberated through the empty room again.

“I am vengeance. I am the Spectre.”

Well. I guess that is the end…for now. 😊

What’s Next?

During this campaign, I put up a poll asking how you wanted me to proceed for Season 2. The results are in. I will play a different character in a different game in a different storyline.

What game will that be? I do not know definitively. I’m looking at a few games and mulling it around in the noggin. I guess the only way to find out is to be here next week.

Peace 5000. 😎✌🏿

I tell ya…you just can’t keep nice things. 😏

I’m a latecomer to Substack having just come onto the platform in May of this year. It has allowed me to create additional content for my RPG Elite Network which includes my YouTube channel, website, and a couple social media outlets.

As I mentioned in a previous post, I joined because one of the subscribers to my Leet Squad got me hip to what it was about. After working with it on a regular basis for the past four months or so, I decided to take the plunge and activate paid subscriptions. Like about a week or so ago.

Now, I found this out from Jay Clouse, who found out from Tyler Denk, the main guy over at Substack’s competitor, Beehiv, and settled on a more middle-of-the-road take over at Dataconomy’s Substack that…well…I’ll let you look at it.

So, what does that mean for writer’s like myself who have decided to add paid subscriptions to their Substack? Let’s just say it’s not good.

In case you were wondering, that is some heavy-handed, all bad for the creator type options (or non-options since creators have no say in this).

Man. Substack. You were doing so well.

I’ve been pretty good at predicting the direction of moves like and what it portends for my one-man operation. I did it with moving my chat server from Guilded (owned by Roblox) to a lesser known Revolt (which is revolting as a chat server) and finally settled on Element where I am very happy.

That was that smart play, especially with the controversy around Roblox and the recent congressional probe into similar services like Discord.

However, this move by Substack has me in a place where I want to go ahead and cancel paid subs immediately here on Substack.

Yes. The amount of people who would use Apple Pay to pay for a my Substack subscription may be slim to none in my case at the moment with only a handful of subscribers. Even later on, it will probably be a small percentage.

However, I see something more troubling. The loss of control of creators on the platform.

Dataconomy continues.

The last one should be a given. Rates increase over time. It’s the cost of doing business due to inflation.

That is not a concern of mine.

It’s the first and second ones that has me pumping the brakes on paid subscriptions.

How I Use Substack

Substack is a platform for writers who can use the platform as a newsletter/blog. That’s it’s sweet spot.

I use Substack to write episodic posts on how to play certain tabletop RPGs solo. More like a blog than a newsletter. The reason I use it this way is because I already have a newsletter through my email service and it gives me way more options than Substack when it comes to my newsletter.

Join My Newsletter the Leet Squad!

However, it is the perfect platform for what I do with it which is why I enjoy it so much.

My paid subscriptions is expanded audio podcast versions of the text posts. This was a perfect fit and allowed for everything to be integrated on one platform, making it easy for the subscribers.

Win/win. 😊

Until…

What This Means for SRC?

This new policy change by Substack has me reconsidering using the platform for anything paid.

When companies do this, even on a small scale, I know its the beginning of a bad pattern that will progressively get worse over time. I’ve seen it happen more than once.

Taking control away from creators is a sign they are more concerned with you supporting them, not them supporting you and making the partnership mutually beneficial. It starts getting lopsided.

Yes, they have to make a profit. I am all for that. Make yo 💲.

That shouldn’t be at the expense of limiting options for creators. Bad move.

I do not want to move to another platform like Beehiv or Patreon. I like the clean interface. I love the integration with subscriber emails (the biggest benefit worth its weight in gold). The writing experience is nice and doesn’t get in the way of my creative process.

But this new policy is unacceptable for me.

So, paid subscriptions for SRC has ended before it really started here on Substack.

Sad. 😢

A Small Shift

As a result, the couple of audio episodes I have posted will be for all SRC subscribers.

In addition, more of my posts will be for subscribers only. On average, about 1 out of every 4 posts will be available to everyone.

Look on the bright side — we didn’t get real deep into this and then have to cancel out which would have been a nightmare. 😨

What will happen to the podcasts? They are discontinued. Substack will be exclusively for text posts. Keeping it at its roots of being a writing platform.

If you wanted more things like audio and video, I suggest you join my YouTube membership, The Elite Division.

Join the Elite Division on YouTube!

I check ya in a few days with the next installment of SRC.

Peace 5000. ✌🏿😎

Read more

Read more

I feel a little weird. Out of practice. However, I’m looking forward to getting back into this story. 🙂

A New Addition

Recently, I mentioned I would open up subscriptions for this Substack. Well, today is the day.

You now have the option to subscribe and listen to the audio podcast version of each episode. However, there’s something to keep in mind.

From today and now on, the audio will be extracted from the video version which is over on my YouTube memberships called the Elite Division.

If you are listening to the podcast, I may mention some things that assumes you are watching the video. For you folks listening on Substack, you might not understand what I’m talking about. I’ll try to explain as I go and keep both audiences in mind.

As per normal, we will play through an entire adventure, break down the mechanics, and flesh out the story as we go.

Here on Substack, you’ll find separate text and audio versions of each episode. The text version is a truncated form of what I do in the video at Elite Division. I have to pick and choose because not everything fits into text format.

Just to be clear, the text version is, as always, is completely free. It is the audio podcast version that’s available with a subscription.

One note though: because this will be an actual excerpt from the weekly videos, members on Substack will be behind subscribers on my Elite Division YouTube Memberships. I talk way faster. That means a lot of words per episode. Substack has something like a 2000 word limit. I try to keep each episode to about 1500 to 1700 words. I figured that’s how it would go, and wanted to make you aware of that going in.

So if you don’t mind getting things later (eventually it will be much later as the Elite Division episodes will quickly eclipse Substack in content), stay with me here. However, if you want to see everything in action, join the Elite Division. Just like on Substack, I post weekly episodes.

Retroactive Podcasts

I want to mention one more thing.

My plan is to record the previous episodes in audio form. I will go back and record audio versions which will be a reading of the episode as it is posted though I will add some extra commentary as I go. This way, latecomers who get a subscription can listen all the way from the beginning who prefer audio instead of reading.

This will take a wee bit of time to get caught up on, so bear with me as I get all of this set up. We have over ten episodes to record.

One More Detail

As I mentioned, the text versions of Solo RPG Chronicles are free. However, I’ve added a caveat to some episodes and that is you will have to become a subscriber in order to read them.

How this will work is that the first three episodes in a campaign are for everyone, subscriber or not. After that, every third episode will be for everyone. The rest will be for subscribers only. That’s just to give a little bit of an incentive to join the fam. 😉

Recap

We will pick up where we left off in the last episode. If I remember correctly, it was about to go down.

If you’re not familiar with what happened in the last episode, check get up to speed with that episode and then come back here to continue.

We’re setting up for a showdown between Elkanah, my main character, and Drusilla the Sorceress, who’s been up to some pretty evil things (again, check out the previous episodes). It’s time for the big face-to-face moment. It’s on like Donkey Kong.

It’s time to dive into some combat!

Let the Games Begin!

The first thing you do in a combat phase (rounds in other games) in DC Heroes Second Edition is perform automatic actions.

That’s one of the things I like about this system.

There are certain powers you use reflexively, without even thinking about it. For example, defensive powers you’d naturally trigger as soon as combat starts. These don’t require a roll — they just activate.

Let’s take a look at Drusilla’s character sheet.

This is Drusilla. Remember, in the last session she got blinded with glory shine from Elkanah. He waited for her to come through the door, then boom — lit her up with his Glory Shield light. It’s this radiant shield of light that surrounds him. He triggered it suddenly to blind her, and it worked.

So she’s at a loss right now. What’s she going to do?

Drusilla has Sorcery. Sorcery is one of those powers that can do almost anything. It can mimic other powers in the mystical category, and even some in the non-mystical category.

Let’s check the book. Here’s what it says:

Basically, what I said.

This is just a small excerpt. It’s a long entry in the book — way longer than most powers. It takes up two-thirds of one page in the Character Book. This is to be expected given what it can do. It goes on, giving examples of what sorcery can do.

What’s Drusilla going to do with it? She’s going to mimic a Magic Shield, which is the same kind of thing Elkanah has with his Glory Shield (I just named it my own special thing 😊).

Her Sorcery rating is 4, so she can mimic that effect at that level. Reflexively, she puts up a mystical barrier to defend herself.

Elkanah, meanwhile, already has his Glory Shield active.

So that’s where we’re at: both combatants have their defenses up.

Get the Jump

Now we move to the next part of the combat sequence: rolling for initiative.

Initiative works a little differently in DC Heroes Second Edition.

If we look at Elkanah’s character sheet, his base initiative is over twice Drusilla’s.

So already, she’s at a serious disadvantage. But there’s still a chance she could win.

Initiative is rolled each phase by adding 1d10 to your base initiative.

Let’s roll Drusilla’s first. If she rolls high enough, she might beat him.

ROLL = 9.

Nope. Not enough. Elkanah doesn’t even need to roll — his initiative automatically beats her’s. He will act first.

Shout It Out Loud

Now we move on to declaring actions.

In DC Heroes 2^nd Edition, the initiative loser declares first, then the winner responds.

So, what’s Drusilla going to do? She already put up her Magic Shield, so now she’s panicking. She gropes around, trying to grab something in the room to throw. She’s still blinded from Elkanah’s earlier attack, which means she’s operating with a penalty.

On second thought, no — she changes her mind. She’s not going to try to throw anything. She’s just going to get out of dodge or actually literally dodge instead.

Let’s look at dodging.

A dodge increases the attacking character’s Opposing Value (the number used to hit with an attack) by +1 Column Shift for the rest of the round. So it makes her a little harder to hit.

Now it is time for Elkanah’s declaration.

Elkanah’s performing an Initiative Maneuver (which means only the PC holding the initiative can perform it) called Pressing the Attack.

Drusilla’s +1 from her Dodge and Elkanah’s -1 from Pressing the Attack cancel each other out. In other words, it’s just a normal roll.

Elkanah’s also going to perform a dice action with his maneuver by unleashing a Glory Blast. (a Glory Blast is my name for a Magic Blast for Elkanah). Let’s check the rules.

Elkanah’s Glory Blast has a rating of 7. Drusilla’s INFL is 3, and her SPIRIT is 4. That means he’s attacking with a 7 against her 3 on the Action Table.

Now, remember, she’s using Sorcery to mimic a Magic Field. That adds her Sorcery (4) to her Resistance Value. So if he hits, she’ll get extra protection.

But first things first — does he hit?

We check the Action Table. A 7 Acting Value against a 3 Opposing Value requires a roll of 7 or higher on 2d10.

ROLL = 9.

That’s a hit. No Column Shifts, since shifts start at 11. Just a straight hit.

Elkanah’s eyes glowed brightly. Thrusting out his arm, palm up, he let loose a blast of pearl white. It hit her squarely in the back, seeming to absorb into her body.

Now we go to the Result Table.

His Effect Value is 7. Her Resistance Value is her SPIRIT (4) plus her Sorcery (4), which equals 8. So it’s 7 vs. 8.

That results in 2 APs of effect.

Drusilla felt a burning sensation in her back. She yelped as a sharp pain spread throughout her body. Her legs wobbled, her body weak all over.

So Elkanah’s Glory Blast hits Drusilla, cutting her Spirit in half. She’s down from 4 to 2.

So what happens next? She’s already declared a Dodge, but that didn’t work out so well. Drusilla, blinded and hurt, wants to get out of there.

This is normally an automatic action since it is basic movement. However, she needs to perform a basic DEX check. Why? She’s groping toward the door. Remember, she’s got black splotches in her vision from being blinded. That gives her a penalty — a -2 Column Shift.

We check the numbers. Her DEX is 2, versus a difficulty of 2. Normally, that would mean a target of 11 on the Action Table. But with the penalties, it bumps up to 15.

She needs a 15 to avoid running into something while trying to escape.

ROLL = 17.

Unbelievable. Wow. See? This story is writing itself. 😉

Drusilla managed to stumble back out into the hallway looking for a means of escape. She still couldn’t see well but at least she got out into some open space.

She’s still got her shield up, but she’s wounded and desperate.

Elkanah, meanwhile, stands in the room, ready for the next action.

That is how we end Phase 1.

Well, we didn’t quite get to the end of this combat or adventure, but it is coming. We’re almost there. 😊

Be here next week for another episode. We will start Phase 2 of this combat and see just how long both of them lasts in this face off!

Peace 5000. 👊🏿😎

P.S. If you want to see what’s popping off over with the Elite Division, hit the button below.

Check Out the Elite Division

The world can be a lovely and wondrous place. Yet at the same time, it is a cruel, brutal reality.

This past week for me has been an experience in the latter.

It will have you rethink your definitions.

I’m reminded by what the famed philosopher Bilbo Baggins once said.

“We are plain, quiet folk and have no use for adventures. Nasty, disturbing, uncomfortable things…We don’t want any adventures here, thank you!”

I’m not one to put all of my business out onto the internet and I am not about to do that now. However, I felt I needed to give a reason for my absence in posting last week.

If there’s one thing I am serious about it’s keeping my word. Keeping your word expresses love and loyalty to the people you have pledged to do something for.

This attitude is in danger of becoming extinct in our culture today. That’s not my problem. I’m still carrying that torch.

In addition, as a lover of the Lord Jesus Christ, my life is conformed to His word which says,

“But let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No.’ For whatever is more than these is from the evil one.” (Matthew 5:37)

The Reason

What happened that I skipped my post last week?

I lost someone near and dear to me.

The experience scarred me as experiences like that often do. You never get over them. You either repress, depress, or cope. The latter is the hardest because the pain lingers with every thought.

This is especially difficult when the wound is still fresh. All you want to do is nothing, to crawl up in a ball and lose yourself. You become aware of the reality that Bilbo described and believe it unabashedly.

“It’s a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door.”

Yet, that is what you have to do. You have to go out your door.

My life continues despite the disappointments, frustrations, and sorrows. I can either deal with it or wallow in it. I choose the former.

For me, the motivation is Jesus Christ. He knows my pain and then some.

For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. (Hebrews 4:15)

Last week, I dropped the ball. I could have at least given you a small heads up. I know most of you will be gracious in that regard, so thank you ahead of time.

Yet, in my eyes, it would have just taken a second or so. So, please forgive me.

Some folks see me as a hard man. I am. However, that translates into being hardest on myself. The Lord is teaching me how to temper that. 😉

It’s Not Over. I’m Not Finished.

That I am still here means my mission is not over. I am on a divine mission every day I breathe. The truth of that fills my thoughts incessantly. It is the impetus on why I do what I do here or anywhere, otherwise, it is not worth doing.

Like the great evangelist George Whitefield is known for saying,

“We are immortal until our work on earth is done.”

“Wait. Servant. Come on. It’s that serious?”

Yes. It’s that serious, and then some.

Many people do what they do on this platform for purely selfish reasons. It’s not to serve. It’s more of a “Look at me” attitude. It comes across in their writing. You can’t miss it if you’re paying attention.

However, there are others who do this to create value for others. They serve and enjoy serving others in this capacity. This is my attitude for what I do not only for Solo RPG Chronicles, but the entire RPG Elite Network and beyond.

The Westminster Shorter Catechism starts by asking this question.

Q: “What is the chief end of man?”

A: Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy Him for ever.

Part of my enjoying Christ is to use the gifts He gave me to love others in a way He would be pleased which is according to His word. That includes playing tabletop RPGs solo here on Substack.

Nothing is exempt.

How is that a thing? It boils down to this for me as a servant of Christ and a citizen of the kingdom of God.

Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God. (1 Corinthians 10:31)

We’ll get back to our regularly scheduled program next week. Thank you for your patience and indulgence.

Peace 5000. 👊🏿

This one is a special one off. If you tuned in to my latest episode, it feels as if it getting close to the end of this case. Now, I could be wrong, but it is looking like it’s going in that direction.

If I am correct (because the story could take some wild turn), I wanted to slide right into the next season. I figured the best way to do that is to get your input seeing you have been supporting my work here on Substack.

Wait…you’re not supporting my work? For shame! Just enter your email below and remedy that real quick before we continue.

Okay. Now with that out of the way, I want to focus on in da foocher (cue up Andre Braugher in the movie Frequency).

There are more than a few ways I could go after we finish up here. This is represented in the following poll:

Let’s break this down a little more so you have the info you need to make an informed decision.

Continue Elkanah’s story with MGE - keep going with Elkanah’s story in a new case using the Mythic Gamemaster Emulator.

Different system, same character - I would replace MGE with another similar agnostic system in DC Heroes 2nd Edition.

Different character, system, and game - we would switch it up entirely. Make a new character, change up the solo system we use, and move into a different game.

Deep dive system walkthrough - with this, I would not be playing a game. It would be a detailed walkthrough tutorial of a solo RPG system. I kind of do this already. The difference here is I would not skip things. With how I do it now, I only explain what’s pertinent to the story that’s developing.

Something else - maybe you have another idea on what I could do next. If so, keep this in mind:

• It has to be solo TTRPG related.

• It has to be non-fantasy, alternative genre. I explained this in the last episode The Case of the Sin-Eater.

Gotta keep it on brand. 😊

So, I am putting this in your virtual hands.

As the Alan Parsons Project is known for singing, “Where do we go from here?” You decide.

Peace 5000. ✌🏿😎

This is our official 10th episode which is a bit of a milestone. I have really enjoyed myself with this. It is a bit of a relief even though it is technically work for me. Highly enjoyable work, but work nonetheless.

I’m still getting used to the platform, but I get the gist of how things work.

On the Horizon

With this being our 10th episode, I wanted to give you a heads up on what’s coming down the pike.

I will be officially turning on paid subscriptions.

What does that mean for you? Two things.

The first is that those of you who want to get this for free, you will still be able to do so. This text version will be free.

Second, those who want a little more will be able to listen to each episode in an audio podcast format.

Occasionally, there will be a video episode. However, don’t plan on that happening until I get up to speed with these first episodes. We’ll focus on audio for the time being.

What will happen first is a reading of the previous episodes. However, when the mood strikes me, I will add some extra info in the audio version.

I wanted to give you a heads up so you can BOLO (be on the lookout) for it when it drops.

I’ll update you as we go.

We won’t roll for Chaos Factor because we did that in the last episode. Being as this is Part 2, we will use what we came in with in Part 1 of this.

The Interrogation

Elkanah sat in the passenger’s seat, lost in thought. Commissioner O’Duff’s phone call had given him a jolt of optimism that they might solve the case. A potential clue had been discovered though that’s all it was at the moment — potential.

“Penny for your thoughts?” Lucy said.

Elkanah slowly snapped out of his mental retreat.

“I’m sorry?”

“You are awfully quiet over there.”

“Oh. Sorry. I was just thinking about how significant this potential clue could be in the investigation.”

“Me too. It would be our luck that they are not in the system.”

“That’s why I’m praying Eugene will give us something.”

The pulled up in front of Chris Dugan’s house.

“This place looks familiar.”

Lucy smiled when Elkanah looked at her.

“Uncanny,” Elkanah replied.

The walked up to the front door. Chris’s car was still there. The door opened after three solid knocks.

Does Chris answer the door?

This is a Fate Question. The Chaos Factor for this scene is 6. The likelihood Chris will answer the door is Nearly Certain. That means a roll of 85 or lower is is a “Yes”.

ROLL = 6. That would be an Exceptional Yes.

Since this is a highly favorable Yes, I will say him opening the door and seeing us is something that makes him happy.

“Wow. That’s amazing.” Chris said. “I was just about to call you and here you are.”

“Why were you going to call us?” Elkanah said. “Did something happen?”

That is another Fate Question through role playing. The likelihood on this I would say is Likely because Chris was about to call. That means rolling a 75 or less is a “Yes.”

ROLL = 27.

“Yeah. You could say that.”

“Is everyone okay?”

That is, of course, another Fate Question through role playing.

ROLL = 6. Wow. The same number twice. Dat’s crazy.

Don’t think I haven’t noticed that is technically the third time I have rolled a 6 in this scene (check out Part 1).

“Everyone’s fine. That was one of the reasons I wanted to call you. Eugene remembered something.”

Well now. This is interesting.

I came up with a little something off the top of the mind. I decided to interpret what the die roll meant as something advantageous to Elkanah and Lucy. We still have to find out what that is exactly.

I can take my chances on the Meaning Tables to further define what Eugene remembered. Or I can come up with something off the top of the mind. I will do the former because I like detail and the surprise that can potentially come about through the random roll of the dice

There are three types of Meaning Tables for the Mythic Gamemaster Emulator.

• Actions

• Descriptions

• Elements

Actions are when you what to find out what someone or something does.

Descriptions are used when you want to discover what something or someone looks like.

Elements are kind of a mix of the two for a specific scenario.

For each table, you roll 1d100 twice. Take the two words you get and use them to create an interpretation for your scenario.

In my case, something happened to Eugene. He remembered something. What did he remember? Sounds like I need a description for this memory.

I could use one of the two Descriptor Tables to get my two words. However, I believe I will uses one of the Elements Tables for Visions and Dreams. That sounds right up my alley for this scenario.

Pulling out the LED dice for this one. Let’s roll dem bones.

ROLL 1 = 19. Dark. Uh oh.

ROLL 2 = 45. Horrible.

Wow. You want to talk about fitting right into the story. Good grief. You saw the rolls. That is called Providence y’all.

Chris led them into the dining room where Eugene sat at the table. When they entered, he turned, recognition in his eyes.

“It lied.”

“I’m sorry. Come again?”

“It lied to you.”

“By it, I suppose you mean the evil spirit.”

Elkanah sat next to Eugene, Lucy taking up a chair across from them.

“What exactly did it lie about?”

“I know what it told you. I sat there like a spectator as it used my voice. I was powerless to do anything, a prisoner in my own body.”

Chris walked up behind him, putting his hand on his shoulder.

“That’s okay, bro. It’s over now. Tell them what you remember.”

Eugene stared down at the table intently as if looking down into a pool of water trying to pierce its murky depths.

“I was a prisoner, a prisoner in myself. But I could see through the bars of what was going on. It made me watch the sacrifices, exposed me to the sorcery. Even when I turned away from it in my cage, it would reveal the scene to me in my mind. I couldn’t escape.”

Eugene’s breathing became heavier.

Elkanah reached out, grabbing him by the shoulder.

“You’re good. It’s over. You’re safe here. Just take your time.”

Eugene closed his eyes, taking a deep breath to calm himself, taking solace that he was among friends.

“It wasn’t just a person. A deeper evil was behind them. They dressed in black, calling on the name of another. Over and over. Qayin. Qayin.”

Elkanah sat back.

“There was more than one person?”

Likelihood is 50/50. ROLL = 86.

“No. But the demon joined in. I heard them both, echoing in my head. It used my voice. Made me part of the ritual.”

“Could you see their hair?”

ROLL = 36.

“Yes. From under their hoodie.”

Elkanah paused then spoke slowly.

“Was it red?”

ROLL = 41.

Eugene looked up from the table into Elkanah’s eyes.

“Yes. Yes, it was long red hair.”

Elkanah thought for a moment.

“Were they female?”

ROLL = 72. Whoa. Twist in the story.

Eugene looked back down at the table.

“Her voice still rings in my head. Rising and falling with that same name. Qayin. Qayin. Qayin.”

Lucy interjected.

“Would you be able to recognize her if you saw her again?”

ROLL = 43.

“I can’t get her face out of my mind. Her voice.”

Elkanah bowed his head, saying a silent prayer for Eugene before standing and moving into the living room, motioning with his eyes for Lucy to follow.

“This is huge,” Lucy said with excitement. “He is a witness. He can blow this case wide open.”

“I agree. However, we have a problem.”

“What?” Lucy said, curiosity filling her face.

“He won’t answer the call.”

Lucy looked perplexed. “I don’t follow.”

“Eugene only knew where to go because the evil spirit was called. When that happened, it led Eugene to her location. Forced him to watch. I think the sin-eating was a part of him trying to atone for witnessing the act and doing nothing. That’s just a guess though.”

“And that’s a problem because…?”

“If it calls again, Eugene won’t answer. If he doesn’t answer, our suspect will know something is wrong. I’m sure she also knows that Euguene has seen her face. She’ll come looking for him.”

Lucy nodded in understanding.

“He’s a witness. She’ll look to take him out.”

“Precisely. Is there any way we could put him into some kind of protective custody?”

Since Eugene is a witness and can identify a serial killer, the police would probably bend over backwards to try to protect him. However, let’s keep in mind politics and I’d say the likelihood of this would be Likely.

ROLL = 42.

“More than likely. I’d have to call it in.”

“It may be a good idea for me to stay here tonight. Whoever she is, she’s using sorcery. No one here knows how to deal with that except me.”

“Makes sense. I should probably stay here too. Don’t want to leave my new partner hanging.”

Elkanah nodded giving her a weak smile.

“What?”

A mask of soberness covered Elkanah’s face.

“We might be dealing with something very ancient and horrible.”

“Why do you say that?”

“Because of the spirit she entreated.”

“Qayin? I’ve never heard of it. What is it?”

“Yes, you have. That’s the Hebrew pronunciation. We say it a little differently. Cain.”

Dun, dun duuun!

Well now. Isn’t that special?

This story has twisted and turned a few times in directions that surprise me. Never saw it coming there was a possibility it was a woman until I wrote that part.

Should work be this fun? 😁

A Word on Interpretation

If you have been following along, you know that interpretation is a huge part of solo play. You have to sit and think how things fit together in the story. You cannot play this like a board game. I’ve said it before and I will say it again — it’s about the story.

If you don’t already, I strongly suggest reading novels, short stories, and/or comic books. Through these you will get a sense of how a story flows. Some will be better than others, but the more you read, the more you can recognize it and then apply it to your solo RPG sessions.

I suggest these specific forms because they all deal with words, engaging your mind more than audio or video because you have to not only read the words but imagine the scene in your head, just like I’m doing here solo roleplaying (obviously comics are an exception to that, but I will address why I suggest them in a different post, God willing).

Keeping a journal keeps your attention focused hardcore in the story the entire time. You can’t play an RPG solo and not be immersed. It is the bees knees for immersion even without adding extras like sound and miniatures.

This is the end of this scene, so let’s add to the Adventure Lists.

We don’t do anything with the Threads List since we’re still on stopping the serial occult murders.

The Characters list will see two more additions to it — Chris and Eugene Dugan. This is the third time for Chris so that’s the last time. It is the second time for Eugene.

That will wrap this up folks. If you have any questions, hit me up in the comments.

Until next time, peace 5000. ^✌🏿😎

This is an interlude of SRC which I said I would post — Elkanah’s character sheet.

This one is pretty important, especially as we work our way through this campaign. You may want to stick a pin in this one (bookmark) to follow along.

The Main Stats

This first sheet more than any other is the one to reference most of the time.

I think most of this is self-explanatory. If we get to specific aspects, I will explain this in more detail. Let’s just give the cliff notes.

In the top left are the primary attributes. We will come back to this section over and over.

Powers and Skills with an asterisk are linked. Linked Powers and Skills are connected to a requisite attribute.

For example, Glory Shield is linked to Aura. That means when I use it, I will use it at the same level as my Aura.

When creating a character, linked Powers and Skills are cheaper to buy. However, they only increase in level when the attribute it’s connected to increases. That makes them more expensive to improve because raising an attribute is more expensive than if a power or skill had its own rank, depending on its level.

The second part of the sheet is for roleplaying depth. Y’all know that’s what we RPG Elites are about.

That is it. Easy peasey. 😊

Catch ya on the next episode. 😎👊🏿

Episode 7 - Elkanah’s Reckoning

Why Solo Play?

Solo RPG Chronicles is meant to get you excited about playing your own solo RPG adventures. You may not be a writer in the vocational sense, but you don’t have to be. You just need an active imagination more than anything.

Sadly, many people atrophy in that department as they get older. They focus on the more “serious” things of life, not realizing that imagination makes life lively.

But I digress (that’s for another post).

As I have mentioned, I like to write out in detail what I see transpiring in my head as a result of the die rolls. Because of how the Mythic Game Master Emulator integrates the rolls into the story, it doesn’t get in the way. There are many tabletop RPGs where the game system gets in the way of the story, a big no-no for RPG Elites. 😊

Another benefit of playing solo is how it immerses you into the story quickly and deeply. The fact you have to write down everything, whether it be as a journal or as the actual story itself as I write it out in these posts, it pulls you into the story. It forces you to think about all the things going on which drives immersion.

Why You Should Try Playing Tabletop RPGs Solo (Video)

One last great thing about playing tabletop RPGs solo is that if you’re new to tabletop RPGs, it’s a way to learn things at your own pace. You don’t have to worry about slowing things down for everyone else or missing something as everybody else goes at a much quicker pace.

What I have planned for this Substack are several different solo RPG systems played in different non-fantasy tabletop RPGs because that’s my brand.

I don’t do traditional fantasy. So if you’re waiting for that, it ain’t coming. Just sayin.

If you’re not moved by this particular solo system, hang in there and we will play several different ones. You may find one that is right for you.

With that out of the way, let’s get to this episode.

What Next?

We stopped at a place in our last episode where it seems like the story could go in several different directions. There is no obvious progression. We need to figure out what direction because the information Elkanah received, though important, led nowhere specifically.

Before we do any of that, we have to roll to see what the Chaos Factor will be for this scene.

ROLL = 5

I rolled over the current Chaos Factor so that means that it will increase by one from 4 to 5.

Now we need to determine if this will be an Expected, Altered, or Interrupted scene.

ROLL =7

I rolled over the current Chaos Factor, so we can continue on with an Expected Scene. An Expected Scene is just like it sounds — is a scene that flows in a natural progression from the previous scene or in a way one would expect, hence the name. However, as I said, we really do not have that here. We have options.

Let’s brainstorm this out.

1. We (you’re along for the ride here 😉) could go back to the police station and reexamine the evidence. Elkanah now knows that the culprit is human. This knowledge will allow him to reinterpret any former clues in a different light.

2. They (Elkanah and Lucy) could go back to another crime scene. Maybe something was overlooked.

3. Elkanah could use one of his Connections to help steer him in the proper direction.

4. He could interview Eugene to see what he remembers and if he could give him a solid lead.

I could roll a 1d4 and let the chips fall where they may. However, that’s more for an Interrupted or Altered scene. Since this is an Expected Scene, I will go with where I’m leaning in my head which would be number three.

They rode back to Elkanah’s place in silence.

He had reacted. That thing had made him angry.

No. That’s not true. It provoked him. Yes. He had decided to get angry.

The entire confrontation brought back memories. Opened up old wounds.

His mother’s death.

It was one of those things, a more powerful one, that had taken her life. What he had just dealt with was an exousia. It was not on the level of what had attacked his mother.

Pulling into his driveway, they sat there looking out of the windshield.

“Do you have some place to be?”

“No. Not in particular.”

“Come on inside and meet my wife.”

Lucy looked surprised. Before she could ask or say anything, Elkanah exited the car. She sat that a few moments, feeling awkward.

“What is going on?” she said to herself, leaving the car.

Inside, Lenora greeted her with a smile.

“Could you entertain my new partner, honey? I need to go to the loft for a second.”

“Sure. I’m confident we can survive without you.”

Elkanah made his way through the kitchen, out the back door, and into his garage loft office. Plopping down in his office chair, he sighed, looking up at the ceiling.

Whoever the killer was, they would not stop. There would be another victim or victims unless Elkanah and Lucy stopped them. But they had no leads.

He should have waited and interrogated the demon for more information. That was always dangerous territory but it would have been worth it to go there.

Lowering his head on his arm on the desk, he prayed.

“Lord. I need help. I may need to talk to Him. Please help.”

A robin chirped outside the window, warbling its melody. Other chirping joined the chorus. Probably sparrows.

Abruptly, the chirping stopped mid song. The instant silence was deafening.

Elkanah suddenly felt an overwhelming dread come over him. He didn’t want to move from his position. The heaviness in the room made him want to make himself small and retreat into the nook of his elbow.

Elkanah felt the shadow cover him. A baritone voice, reverberating, quivering, filled the room.

“Elkanah.”

Because I’m pretty deep into the story at this point, I will continue to let the writer in me go ham a bit. However, I wanted to preface that I have the temptation to do something you normally would not do in solo RPG play, or I should say most would not. You certainly wouldn’t do this in group play (please do not do this in group play).

That’s to go off camera.

In solo play, your character is always front and center. That’s expected. It is who you are in the story. But you are also technically everyone else. So you have the liberty to explore that as much as you want. This is where I could take some liberties.

For example, I could switch to Lucy and Lenora nd see what’s going on with them. That’s going off camera. In a group, this would not involve the PCs and is a big no-no. In solo play, you have more leeway.

Why would I do this? It’s a bit of world building but more about character development and discovery. It is a way to connect myself to Elkanah through the eyes of others who are in the story. It will be about Elkanah, but in a less direct way.

In summary, it’s pressing in deep into RPG Elite Quality #8 — it’s about the story.

However, though the temptation is there, we’ll keep it on lock with Elkanah.

Making Connections

There are two kinds of Connections you have have in DC Heroes 2nd Edition — High and Low level.

High level connections, if invoked, will automatically inform the PC everything they know about a particular subject. They can often be persuaded to lend equipment or direct assistance.

A Low level connection has a slight acquaintance with the PC. Maybe the PC helped them out once in the past or something. They won’t know everything or be willing to give up info they know. It just depends on the situation.

Both Connections will start off as Friendly in any interaction on the Attitude Table (or the Persuasion Table in DC Heroes 1st Edition).

* * * * *

Elkanah said a quick prayer before sitting up.

“I wasn’t sure you’d come.”

“What do you need Elkanah?”

Elkanah paused. “Direction.”

The being in front of him floated off the ground about a foot, arms crossed, staring, his skin glowing lightly underneath his emerald green cowl and cape.

“What direction do you think that I could give you?”

His voiced reverberated, sounding like it was slightly underwater.

“The next step. I’ve been investigating a line of serial murders. There was an evil spirit involved. It wasn’t the culprit. It said the culprit was human?”

“Are you surprised?”

“No. Yet is was an evil spirit. They lie as a matter of course.”

He waited before speaking again.

“Do you know who it is?”

This seems like a good place for a Chaos Factor roll. Knowing who this is, the chances are Nearly Certain, which means I need to roll under an 85 for a Yes.

ROLL = 69

“Why would you think I wouldn’t know? To answer your next question, I will do nothing until Providence opens the door. Until that time, this is your assignment.”

His eyes gave off a silver shimmer.

“What should be my next move? I don’t want anyone else to die but I’m at a loss as to what direction is the right one.”

He looked at Elkanah, his expression unchanging.

“Your next move should be the one you make. Your faith falters. Don’t let it. The Presence is with you. Have faith in that. Whatever happens, it will be what needs to happen.”

Elkanah stared down at his desk.

“I really don’t want anyone else to die.”

“Whether that happens or not is beyond me. It is also none of your concern. Your assignment is your concern. Complete it.”

The figure began to fade.

“You do not need my help. You need to make a decision.”

The words faded into nothing as he did. Elkanah found himself in the room alone.

He knew what to do.

Rising from the chair, he left the loft office, entering the main house. Lenora and Lucy sat in the dining room smiling.

“Your ears must have been itching. We were just talking about you.”

Elkanah looked at Lucy.

“We need to go talk to Eugene.”

That, folks, is all she wrote for this episode.

Let’s update the Adventure List.

The Threads List can be updated one more time with “Stop the serial occult murders” maxing that out (remember, you can only enter three of the same entry max on either list).

The Characters List will be updated with two new characters — Lenora Mason and The Spectre.

Let’s talk about that last character for a second.

The Spectre is a major supernatural character in the DC Universe. He is also a low level Connection to Elkanah (this is why I held off on posting his character sheet. Look for it before the next episode). To give you the cliff notes, he is the personification of the wrath of God. He can pretty much do what he wants and knows things. A lot of things.

Look him up online to get some more info on him.

Now, let me remind you. You may be wondering, “Where is he going with this?” because I write my interpretation in story form. Understand, I am going only where the story leads. I have no idea what will happen next. I know where we will start in the next episode, but your guess is as good as mine what will happen.

Until next time intrepid adventurers.

Peace 5000. ✌🏿😎