Barony of Sanris

[jongjungbu]

I've been working on a rewrite of my 'rule a kingdom' solo. This time around, instead of leaving things up to the imagination of the player, I've chosen to go ahead and name characters and lands; and also write narrative for most of the sections (even though most of the dialogue is the village elder giving his version of advice which is usually just stating the obvious heheh).

It is much more simplified than the one I originally wrote. It is more of a traditional solo now, and actually has a mini-dungeon to explore as part of it. But, it still has some of that core principle from my first solo where you are ruling a land and the axis of the solo revolves around a random event section to determine what unfolds next.

I will either attach it to this thread if its not too big, or I'll link it to a download off of my site sometime soon.

[Hogscape]

JJB that sounds really, really intersting. I've always wanted to randomise kindom activites to generate relevant events that may or may not impact on the PCs - but otherwise give the effect of a living kingdom.

I'm sure such a solo has not been done before so I can't wait to see the results. Back to the workbench at once!

[ragnorakk]

looking forward to seeing this!

[jongjungbu]

I need to rearrange some text. It's much longer than I anticipated, was suppose to be a mini-solo. But it's not really. So I need to shift around some paragraphs and such to loosen up some slack and then I'll be able to post it.

[jongjungbu]

Okay, here's a link (hopefully it works).

Edit: Link removed, look further down for updated version.

It needs some major testing when it comes to the Loyalty adjustments going up and down and also the gold (too much or too little in cost, or too much or too little gained).

Secondly, and most obviously, errata. Who knows how many typos I overlooked, or misnumbered sections links. From my playtesting, I caught a lot of mistakes and I hope I got most of them, but I haven't had ample time to thoroughly test as much as I wanted to yet. I did double check the "mini-dungeon" to make sure it mapped out right, so I hope that those linked numbers are right haha.

All images used are public domain, just as an aside. At any rate, even if you don't give me any input, I hope you enjoy it!

[mahrundl]

Nice work, jongjungbu!

I'll comment in more detail later but for now, have an Exalt!

[jongjungbu]

Thanks, mahrundl.

[Hogscape]

Holy mamosa! This looks brilliant... Printing, playing, exalting, now!

I have only read the 'rules of play' at the moment (at work you see) but it looks mighty fine!

My boat is floated.

[jongjungbu]

Thanks!

I think some of the SR's are a bit high when adding a level or two. So in cases where it says "add a level to the difficulty", I'm suggesting ignoring that for now unless there is something further down the paragraph that modifies the roll (such as item letting you roll it at normal difficulty, instead, now that you're already doing that, roll at one lower level in difficulty).

[Hogscape]

Righto, I shall give it a good play-test.

I ran a RuneQuest game in about 2002 and used the computer game King of Dragon Pass to generate the NPCs and events that would occur over the course of the coming year. It made for a rather interesting backdrop.

[jongjungbu]

In addition to ignoring adding levels to SR's, one change to paragraph 1B.

Roll 2d6 and turn to the paragraph indicated. If you have a Horn of Tyrosi, you may roll one extra d6 and add that to the result. If your roll does not lead you to 9B, add one to your next roll here cumulatively. This bonus resets to zero when you go to 9B. Result:

Just a mechanic that increases the odds of taxes being collected over a course of rolls. This wasn't a problem during my early tests when there weren't nearly as many random events. Now that I have a sub-section of random events that spins off of the main section of random events, the odds of collecting taxes plummeted. This should hopefully alleviate the problem.

[jongjungbu]

So I've uploaded a new version (link below). Sorry to those who have printed it out already. The changes (so you don't have to reprint) are the ones I stated above and I'll summarize below.

1. Any calls for SR's that say to roll at levels higher, knock off a level on them. So if it says add one level, instead, roll it at default level. In those paragraphs, sometimes it gives you an opportunity to roll at default difficulty (usually because you have an item). Instead you roll it at one lower level (since you are already rolling at normal level).

2. Paragraph 1B. Partial edit at the end of the section.
Roll 2d6 and turn to the paragraph indicated. If you have a Horn of Tyrosi, you may roll one extra d6 and add that to the result. If your roll does not lead you to 9B, add one to your next roll here cumulatively. This bonus resets to zero when you go to 9B.Result:

3. Paragraph 17E should read "You must fight 1d6 cave bats" not "You must fight 6 cave bats"


Of course, you can load up the PDF I've linked below and compare. Again, sorry if you've already printed it out but I think you should be fine though with these few caveats.

Download link

[Hogscape]

Thanks for the update JJB. I've had a quick play through with perhaps 2 visits to 1B.

Would you say that each trip to 1B marks one-month in the life of the kingdom or more?

Also, the system for calculating SRs does make the solo playable for characters of all levels but it doesn't reward characters for having higher attributes. One of the benefits of high attributes must surely be that you have a better chance of making tougher SRs? I really don't think you need it.

Instead, why not just assume that a) LK SRs are twice as easy as ST or CON SRs and DEX, IQ and CHR SRs are twice as hard (because of level progression).

From there its easy to say 'right level 1 SRs are routine; 2 = challenging; 3 = difficult; 4 = ouch; and so on'.

Then look at the stat progression: take a character from level 1 to level 4 who focuses on ST. If he's human (the game is supposed to be based on humies) and starts with a ST of 13 by the time he reaches level 4 his ST will be 13+2+3+4 = 22. So he'll make level 1 and 2 SRs with a small chance of failure, needs 8+ for a level 3 SR and 13+ for level 4.

Just off for another couple of months at the helm now... ;D

[jongjungbu]

Oct 13, 2009 17:52:28 GMT -5 Hogscape said:

Thanks for the update JJB. I've had a quick play through with perhaps 2 visits to 1B.

Would you say that each trip to 1B marks one-month in the life of the kingdom or more?

Yeah, I could agree to that. I've been debating back and forth with myself between it being a week or a month.

Also, the system for calculating SRs does make the solo playable for characters of all levels but it doesn't reward characters for having higher attributes. One of the benefits of high attributes must surely be that you have a better chance of making tougher SRs? I really don't think you need it.

Instead, why not just assume that a) LK SRs are twice as easy as ST or CON SRs and DEX, IQ and CHR SRs are twice as hard (because of level progression).

From there its easy to say 'right level 1 SRs are routine; 2 = challenging; 3 = difficult; 4 = ouch; and so on'.

Then look at the stat progression: take a character from level 1 to level 4 who focuses on ST. If he's human (the game is supposed to be based on humies) and starts with a ST of 13 by the time he reaches level 4 his ST will be 13+2+3+4 = 22. So he'll make level 1 and 2 SRs with a small chance of failure, needs 8+ for a level 3 SR and 13+ for level 4.

Just off for another couple of months at the helm now... ;D

That's an idea. The reason I did it this way is so as not to eliminate low level characters who want to try it anyway (with the 10,000 gold inheritance), or it be too easy for high level characters because they may have boosted stats now of say 43 ST or 30 LK, so a Level 4 SR is going to be easy.

To do it that way, I think I would need to go back and count up all the SRs to make sure there is roughly a balanced amount between the original 6 attributes from 5th Edition. That way, characters with high LK aren't winning out all of the time because there might have been a disproportionate number of LK rolls. I do use a variety of SR attributes, but I didn't design it at the time I wrote it to have an even number of each of the different attributes tested. Does that make sense?

I'm certainly not opposed to that idea, though. But I think to level the playing field, it should be roughly even. And then I would need to go back through and decide what SRs I want to pump up and to what level (I'd do that if I had help :-p ).

Let me know if you get a chance to explore the "mini-dungeon". I think at one point, I might write a solo that is a full blown dungeon to explore, because I really enjoyed designing that itty bitty one heheh.

[Hogscape]

I will do a review of my adventures JJB. I would say there is no bias to LK SRs in this adventure - the SRs are spread across the range of attributes which is excellent. I might have to shoot off yet another exalt - this is the first truly original solo I've seen in years.

And you said you weren't a writer? Pahf.