C1 S3 - Sleuthin’ & Drinkin’ at King’s Gate

This session played June 6, 2025.

Skalvin D9 Market (Neutral) - Day 2 Morning

Above table: New house rule: Shadowdark RPG rules say to treat CHAOTIC settlements/districts as RISKY for purposes of triggering random encounter checks. I’ll expand to say NEUTRAL is UNSAFE and LAWFUL is SAFE.

@ Party moves from Skalvin Market (Neutral) to Skalvin Artisan A (Lawful).

? Random encounter check

d: 1d6: 5 → Clear

@ Party moves through Skalvin Artisan A (Lawful) and out of Skalvin to the north.

The muggy swamps of Skalvin give way to drier terrain where the marshy wetlands collect into a widening river. The boardwalk leading north out of Skalvin terminates in a well-trod dirt path along the east bank of the river that leads a short distance to a sturdy but modest palisade wall.

? Random encounter check

d: 1d6: 2 → Clear

The gate is guarded but open; we’re welcome to come and go as we please.

D9 King’s Gate - High District (Chaotic) - Day 2 Afternoon

We enter King’s Gate and pass a City Watch outpost. A guard courteously welcomes us but warns us to keep a hand on our pursestrings, as there’s been a recent uptick in petty crime.

Several larger and nicely-constructed homes, painted bright colors. Street is bustling but not chokingly crowded. We see the Crimson Dragon, a clean-looking tavern.

@ Party enters the Crimson Dragon.

Carlsby is behind the bar. We all order House Ales (free).

? Solodark oracle - Does Carlsby know about the cloaked woman?

d: 1d20: 5 → No, but …

→→ … the description reminds him of the garb of a cult he thinks is based far to the northwest. Says we should ask at one of the temples here in town.

@ Party also asks if he knows where the Silver Blade is.

→ Carlsby directs us north toward the slums. Yikes.

? Random encounter check

d: 1d6: 1 → Hit!

d: High District Encounters 1d100: 79 → A weeping bard singing a tragic ballad follows the PCs.

? Solodark oracle - Is this guy a thief?

d: 1d20: 17 → Yes, and …

→→ … he’s not alone!

@ Denton WIS check to see through the bard’s ruse.

d: 1d20: 15 + 3 (WIS) = 18 vs DC12 → Success!

→→ Denton remembers the City Watch guard’s warning and realizes they’re being played.

@ Daeniel WIS check to notice the hidden accomplice.

d: 1d20: 10 + -1 (WIS) = 9 vs DC12 → Fail!

@ Denton confronts the bard and starts arguing with him.

@ Ryarn WIS check to notice accomplice.

d: 1d20: Nat 20!

Above table: The natural 20 here will mean Ryarn notices the hidden accomplice, and the jig is basically up. Thieves must pass a flat DC15 check to commit to the bit and attempt to mug the party. Let’s give them disadvantage, too.

N Thieves gooned-together “morale” check.

d: 1d20 (dis): 5 → Fail!

→→ The thieves are well outmatched without the element of surprise, and flee as the party draws our weapons and makes some noise, attracting attention.

Above table: Just for fun, let’s say one of them drops something as they run.

@ Brolga WIS check to notice what the thieves dropped.

d: 1d20: 6 + 1 (WIS) = 7 vs DC15 (busy street, general commotion) → Fail!

@ Denton, same check.

d: 1d20: Nat 20!

→→ Denton notices a small pouch on the ground!

Above table: Keeping it simple, let’s say 1d4 gp.

d: 1d4: 4 → Denton gains 4gp!

@ Party decides to head toward Temple District A to ask about the cultist.

? Random encounter check

d: 1d6: 4 → Clear

D9 King’s Gate - Low District B (Lawful) - Day 2 Afternoon

No encounters (safe district). We cross a bridge over the river into Low District A.

D9 King’s Gate - Low District A (Lawful) - Day 2 Afternoon

No encounters (safe district). We cross a bridge over the river into Temple District A.

D9 King’s Gate - Temple District A (Lawful) - Day 2 Afternoon

We arrive in the district mid-afternoon. The two largest structures here are a stone meeting house to the west and an imposing cathedral overlooking the river to the east.

@ Party enters the cathedral.

This is a temple to Ord. Denton, as a Seeker to Ord, is immediately calmed, and approaches one of the many prayer altars lining the nave to offer a prayer. Out of respect, all party members donate 1gp to the charity box at the entrance.

A Haruspex of Ord approaches, noticing these sugns of respect, and greets the party warmly.

@ Denton bows.

@ Party asks the Haurspex if she knows anything about the cult in the northwest, and specifically about a cultist traveling through the area some years ago.

? Solodark oracle - Does she remember the cultist?

d: 1d20: 18 → Yes

The Haruspex says the temple has long been aware of the cult but had never met one of its members before—so it was pretty memorable when the young woman came into the temple in search of a safe place to sleep. She stayed in the rectory for several days and was a good and respectful guest of the temple. Came and went several times. Seemed very stressed out, ate little, conspicuously sweaty even in the autumn cool. All of a sudden she was gone, leaving nothing but a generous donation behind.

? Solodark oracle - Does Haruspex remember clearly enough for details of the cultist?

d: 1d20: 2 → Nope

→→ Just a young woman, never shared her name.

@ Party thanks the Haruspex and leaves.

Above table: Housekeeping! Party should have earned XP as well as gold as a group for that cash drop from the thieves. Whoops. All PCs get 4gp. A “bag of gold” is considered “Normal” loot, so +1XP all around.

The day is almost over. Let’s find Kieren, deliver the letter, and see if there are beds for us there.

@Party heads to the Slums (Neutral) via Temple A, Low District A, and Low District B (all Lawful).

D9 King’s Gate - Slums (Neutral) - Day 2 Evening

We arrive at the Silver Blade Tavern just as the sun is setting.

? Random encounter check

d: 1d6: 4 → Clear

The Silver Blade is an upstanding establishment with a diversity of patrons. The evening crowd is thick and good-natured. Tasty smells from the kitchen door behind the bar lead the party up to Kieren. No space at the bar, so it takes a minute to catch her attention. Kieren soon spots us and brings a round of ales.

@ Ryarn pulls Ginny’s letter from her pack and hands it to Kieren.

Kieren is delighted! Says it’s been hard for them to see each other lately because of dicey conditions along the palisade (crime, etc), and it means a lot we were willing to help.

Above table: For delivering the letter, we’ve earned Ginny’s discount! +1XP all around.

Kieren assumes we’re not heading straight back to skalvin, but if we check with her next time we pass through, maybe we could deliver a response?

In the meantime, Kieren says we should make ourselves at home, free rooms for the night as a thank-you.

@ Party hangs out & socializes.

@ Party buys dinner: 2x cheese & bread, 2x rat-on-a-stick, 4x more ales.

→→ -2gp & 16cp

? Solodark oracle - Does anyone here know the way to that weird cult? Let’s retcon a name for them: The Oath of Frost.

d: 1d20: 13 → Yes, but …

→→ … not for free. A patron challenges one of us to a round of Wizards and Thieves. If we win, he’ll mark the safest route to the Oath’s village on our map.

? Solodark prompts - What if we lose?

d: 2d100: 88, 48 → ACQUIRE DARK

→→ He gets to try and knock me out with one free punch.

Note for the blog: Wizards and Thieves is a tavern game described in the core rules for Shadowdark RPG that I was excited to try out. I’m going to omit the log of this game for three reasons:

• Gambling games are a lot more fun in a group rather than solo.

• The written log of a gambling game is hella boring to look at.

• I completely borked the rules anyway ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Suffice to say, the game happened, and near as I can tell, the bar patron won.

? Solodark oracle - Is the bar patron serious about fighting?

d: 1d20 (adv): 12 → Yes

→→ Bar guy socks Daeniel in the face.

Above table: I’d make it a combat encounter but neither party is interested in dying and Daeniel will just get his HP back when they rest, so mechanically let’s call it a wash.

Daeniel takes the hit. The small crowd that gathered to watch the game cheers with raucous laughter. Daeniel shakes it off and Bar Guy helps him up. They shake hands amicably and Bar Guy says he has no idea how to get to the Village of the Oath.

Jesus, probably time to turn in. Thank goodness for full bellies and free beds.

Above table: Want to clean up / rewrite the context for Bar Guy. Bar Guy is a trader working for a major trading corporation. The corp jealously protects its routes—especially those that traverse dangerous roads—and it could cost Bar Guy’s employer dearly if that knowledge becomes public. That’s why nobody else raises a hand to help—the route is secret. Bar Guy was just drunk enough and just cynical enough to bet that knowledge on the game. We’re accepting the loss and not attempting to intimidate Bar Guy because A: we’re not assholes, even though our quest is serious, and B: it’s likely Bar Guy travels with an armed entourage and we don’t want trouble. Maybe try to follow, or track?

C1 S2 - The Fortune Teller of Skalvin

This session played June 4, 2025.

Skalvin D9 Market (Neutral) - Day 2 Morning

There is no real entrance to Skalvin; we simply have to walk through wetter and wetter mud to reach the nearest dock/walkway. Close by is a large meeting-house on one side and some smaller structures on the other. Shops?

Nestled between two shops is a small platform with a lean-to on one side. An old round table is set in the center with two chairs. There’s an old woman sitting on a cushion under the lean-to. A fortune teller!

@ Party investigates the fortune teller.

→ Fortune teller singles out one of us.

d: 1d4: 3 → Daeniel

→→ Briinpil (the fortune teller) says the cattails speak only to Daeniel, and only in exchange for gold.

@ Daeniel pays 1gp to Briinpil to receive a fortune.

Daeniel: Will we be successful in our quest to find the elves’ heirloom?

? Solodark Prompts

d: 2d100: 8; 90 → RESIST ORDER

Briinpil reaches to one side and cuts the head off one cattail. She squeezes it over the table, releasing a rusty-colored fluid, which she smears across the surface with the remains of the cattail. Discarding it, she sits and considers the smear of fluid, smelling and sampling its viscosity between her fingers.

Briinpil tells the others to move away, and then speaks to Daeniel.

Briinpil: Your quest is noble, but will come with unintended consequences. Be wary of the corruption all power brings, and be skeptical of all those who seek power for themselves. Ask yourself: why does the elf that would be King not defend his birthright himself? Why send not one, but both of his heirs in his place?

The cattail juice bubbles on the table and evaporates.

@ Daeniel thanks Briinpil uneasily and rejoins the party.

Ryarn notices a shop, The Village Lantern, and wants to pop in to see if we can find a lead on the heirloom.

@ Party enters The Village Lantern.

Inside, the shopkeep, Ginny, is dusting artifacts displayed on a few shelves and tables. Another customer is in the rear of the store examining some books—we can’t see his face.

@ Party greets Ginny and asks about the heirloom

Above table: Okay let’s take a second to figure out what this is.

Gen: Shadowdark RPG - Mundane Items

d: Unique Feature 1d20: 20 → Historic/Famous

d: Luxury Items 1d20: 15 → Dragonbone

→→ It’s a polished dragonbone signet ring that’s been lost for generations.

? Solodark Oracle - Has Ginny heard about the ring?

d: 1d20: 6 → No

? Solodark Oracle - Does the idea of polished dragonbone jewelry sound familiar?

d: 1d20: 18 → Yes

→→ Ginny remembers someone coming into the shop looking for dragonbone artifacts several years ago.

? Solodark Oracle - Was it the cult in overland hex A6, or the sorcerer in overland hex G6?

d: 1d20: 10 → Cult

→→ Ginny says it was a young woman carrying an odd-looking fur-lined cloak. She was sweating, and seemed in a rush. When Ginny couldn’t help her, the woman seemed frustrated but thanked her anyway, and left without incident.

? Solodark Oracle - Is Ginny aware of the cult in A6?

d: 1d20: 6 → No

→→ Ginny says they’re pretty isolated in Skalvin and don’t get a lot of visitors, so she’s not as worldly as she’d otherwise be. Says we may have better luck up in King’s Gate since it’s a much bigger city on the river.

We thank her for her time. As we head for the door she stops us.

Ginny: Could you please deliver a letter for me, if you’re headed north anyway? It’s to Kieren, bartender at the Silver Blade.

@ Party agrees and accepts the letter.

Ginny blushes as she hands over the envelope. She says she’ll give us a discount at her shop next time we’re around.

C1 S1 - Why are we here?

This session played June 4, 2025.

Before I dig in, a quick word on notation. In my handwritten logs, things are, well, informal. Over time I have developed some formatting conventions to keep things somewhat readable, but my pages are incredibly dense, and that well-intentioned formatting not uncommonly falls by the wayside.

To make things a little more palatable here, I am going to try out a slightly modified version of Lonelog by Zeruhur, a solo roleplaying notation system that seeks to maximize legibility and searchability without slowing down the pace of the game (notetaking can be a real mood-killer). I’m adding my own indentation conventions, and am replacing the “->” and “=>” used for dice results and consequences, respectively, with “→” and “→→” since Squarespace autocorrects “->” to “→” and I definitely don’t want to spend my time re-correcting it. Additionally, I’ll limit the use of this notation to game mechanics, e.g. dice rolls. When I relay fiction, there won’t be any special syntax for that, and I’ll handle dialogue sort of like a screenplay format, the way I do in my handwritten logs. That’s it! Let’s get to it.

? SoloDark Oracle - Do I start in a settlement? → No

→→ Start in a random location

? Roll for starting hex:

d: 1d8: 2 → Column B

d: 1d20: 13 → Row 13

→→ Starting at hex B13 Unsafe Forest.

? SoloDark Oracle - Why are we traveling together?

d: 2d100: 30, 16 → CAPTURE INFORMATION

? SoloDark Oracle - Is this a personal quest?

d: 1d20: 19 → Yes, but

→→ … the information has value to someone else as well.

We are traveling together in search of evidence that proves Ryarn and Daeniel’s father has claim to the throne of their homeland.

? SoloDark Oracle - Why are Denton and Brolga involved?

d: 2d100: 40, 21 → AVOID FAMILY

→→ They are connected to the pretender to the throne!

We travel to the eastern coast following rumors of an ancient elven heirloom that will certify Ryarn and Daeniel’s royal bloodline.

LET’S FUCKIN’ GO.

B13 Forest (Risky) - Day 1 Morning

Party elects Brolga as navigator. This means it’ll be her INT modifier which determines whether we get where we’re going, or get lost. She has us following a narrow stream to stay close to game, and hopefully lead to civilization.

@ Party moves northeast.

? Random encounter check

d: 1d6: 2 → Clear!

@ Brolga wants to keep following the stream.

d: Brolga INT 15+2 = 17 vs DC 9 → Success!

C12 River (Risky) - Day 1 Afternoon

Brooks and streams gather into a widening river. Treees thin out. Foothills to the north and west; fields to the east.

@ Party continues northeast.

? Random encounter checks x2

d: 1d6: 5 → Clear!

d: 1d6: 5 → Clear!

To the north, the river floods out into inhospitable looking marshes. To the northeast, we see a small town with homes and small buildings on stilts built over thick swamplands. Buildings connected by docks and wooden walkways. Few lights burning as the daylight fades.

Looks pretty iffy. Denton votes we camp here beyond the border of the town and head in during the day.

@ Party consumes 1 ration apiece and sets up camp.

? Overnight random encounter checks x4

d: 4d6: 3; 4; 4; 3 → Uneventful!

C12 River (Risky) - Day 2 Morning

@ Party moves into town - D11 Skalvin.

Approaching from the southeast, we enter town in the Market District, Skalvin D9 Market (Neutral).

End of Session 1

C1 S0 - First Cuts

This session played May 29-30, 2025.

First, we roll up four characters!

*For now, I will keep information that changed over time (e.g. HP, AC, Talents, Spells, and Gear) abstract, since I did all that bookkeeping with a pencil & eraser on the same sheet of paper. TBD if one day I’ll start recording that data; we’ll see if it’s fun or not.

RYARN (she/her), Elf Wizard

STR 10 / +0 INT 14 / + 2

DEX 10 / +0 WIS 9 / -1

CON 15 / +2 CHA 9 / -1

TITLE: Apprentice

ALIGNMENT: Lawful

BACKGROUND: Scholar

Bought Crawling Kit (-7gp)

Bought Dagger (-1gp)

DENTON (he/him), Human Priest

STR 12 / +1 INT 12 / +1

DEX 6 / -2 WIS 16 / +3

CON 8 / -1 CHA 8 / -1

TITLE: Seeker

ALIGNMENT: Neutral

BACKGROUND: Cult Initiate

DEITY: Ord

Bought Crawling Kit (-7gp)

Bought Shield (-10gp)

Bought Longsword (-9gp)

DAENIEL (he/him), Elf Thief

STR 6 / -2 INT 11 / +0

DEX 11 / +0 WIS 8 / -1

CON 15 / +2 CHA 9 / -1

TITLE: Robber

ALIGNMENT: Neutral

BACKGROUND: Scout

Bought Crawling Kit (-7gp)

Bought Leather Armor (-10gp)

Bought Longbow (-8gp)

Bought Arrows x20 (-1gp)

BROLGA, Half-Orc Fighter

STR 13 / +1 INT 15 / +2

DEX 5 / -3 WIS 13 / +1

CON 11 / +0 CHA 10 / +0

TITLE: Squire

ALIGNMENT: Lawful

BACKGROUND: Orphaned

Bought Crawling Kit (-7gp)

Bought Greataxe (-10gp)

Then we create The World.

I built out the hexmap for my starting area by placing a settlement in the center hex and prerolling on Shadowdark’s Overland Hex Maps rules for the surrounding eighteen hexes, to give myself the lay of the land:

Rolled up a swampy mess with a METROPOLIS smack in the center.

Danger level for each hex is rolled on a d6 ranging from 1 (safe) to 6 (deadly):

Roll 19 danger levels: 2, 6, 6, 6, 5, 3, 2, 1, 1, 5, this place SUCKS, jesus, 6, 1, 5, 3, 5, 5, 3, 4, 5

Roll 18 points of interest: 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0

Consider how to start; roll for starting hex?

What am I even doing?

Welcome to my Actual Play section! The posts that follow will be my way of publishing the adventures I’ve stumbled through in my head. My journey began back in May of 2025, so the majority of my first posts here will be publishing my backlog of sessions. There’s lots of weird stuff coming down the pike, so strap in and get ready for some solo roleplaying! What is solo roleplaying, you ask? I’ll have a blog post for that.

I’m dedicated to keeping this hobby fully analog, but when bringing the logs onto the World Wide Web I’ll lightly edit my sessions for clarity and consistency. Since thinking, playing, and recording all takes brainpower, I’ve found that sometimes I lose track of my own canon as it develops; I’ll leave those imperfections (as well as bad rolls, rules mistakes, etc) intact here rather than retconning anything. Playing forward from whatever’s happening now is a meditative challenge with this hobby that I think is part of the fun.

So, it’s time to set up the first campaign! We’re playing Shadowdark RPG by Kelsey Dionne. Kelsey describes Shadowdark as “old-school gaming, modernized.” It’s fast, and life is extremely cheap (when the rules are followed, at least!). One of its differentiating mechanics is light management: torches, lanterns, or light-emitting magic are all that push the extremely deadly darkness back. Light sources are all costly and temporary, lasting just one hour of real time before sputtering out, and hanging out in Total Darkness means the player suffers disadvantage on most tasks (disadvantage: player rolls 2 d20’s and takes the lower result; advantage would have the player take the higher result), and experiences random encounters (usually dangerous run-ins with monsters) are triggered every turn. It doesn’t matter if you’re a level-zero nobody or a godlike level-10 veteran, everyone is equally squishy against the crush of Total Darkness.

In addition to the core rules, I’ll supplement with SoloDark, the official solo rules for Shadowdark. SoloDark provides oracles, some helpful random tables, and a few mechanical tweaks as well. Most relevant right out of the gate, the solo rules recommend allowing torches to last ten turns rather than one real-time hour; that allows for the slower pace and more flexible session times that distinguish solo play from traditional group play. As the campaign (and my skill at running the game) evolves, I’ll be adding and removing rules and tools to try and find a fun balance of narrative freedom and simulationist “crunch.” But for now, it’s just two books, a three-ring binder with character sheets and hex map templates, and roughly a pound of dice. Without further ado, let’s get the [adventuring] party started.