Alone in the Dungeon

Shadowdark Live Play Session 2

Fri, 10 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Intro

Full disclosure, I killed 16 characters between the end of session 1 and the end of session 2. Originally I was going to just move on to the new characters, but after killing all the ones I rolled up, I just went back to the original four and played on from the end of session 1. So what you are reading is the version of the matrix where our original four don't all die to an ochre slime in a dank corridor.

Killing those 16 characters was a blast, and even with the knowledge I acquired it was still a challenge to make it out of this gauntlet with any living characters. Cry of the Stingbat is 10/10, do recommend. I just wanted to be clear about just how many deaths I actually had playing it, and I had that many deaths because I had not fully embraced the OSR way of playing, but now I am locked in baby.

With that disclaimer, let's get on to the story.

Shadowdark Season 1, Session 2

Pocketing the mirror, the halfling moves into the larger chamber and pauses a moment for his companions. Once everyone has assembled, he again darts off, finding another chest and bringing back 2 torches and a pole (rolling a 1, 3, 1 on a d4 according to the starting gear table). Passing the torches out, the others search the room and find a barricade at the western exit of the room and begin clearing a path.

The first round of clearing goes poorly, but in the second round the goblin and half-orc both find a weak spot and are able to quickly make a hole large enough to get through (rolling nat 20s). Walking through the caverns, with the half-orc in the lead, the party quickly becomes disoriented and finds they have arrived right back at the barricade. The goblin, taking the lead, walks right through the next cavern with no issue. Looking back at his party in amazement, he can see a fine mist and shouts to the party to throw him the rope so he can lead them out. The half-orc ties an iron spike to the rope and throws it, but it doesn't reach the goblin. They spend another round trying again, and this time it connects (rolling with advantage).

Through the caverns of confusion, and avoiding any random encounters (kept rolling above a 1), they come to the foot of the steep ledge. It takes the half-orc 4 rounds to climb the ledges, and then he throws down the rope for his struggling companions. Even with the rope, it takes another 2 rounds for the rest of the party to make it.

Now keep in mind, since I am playing solo rules, instead of 4 hours I have a hard 40-round limit on everyone making it out. I think that adds even more difficulty to this adventure. So by now it's round 21 and I am getting nervous.

The party proceeds to an intersection and, after rolling on the oracle, decides to go left. They find a long-dead prisoner chained to a wall, along with a scrap of paper that teaches them about the Sect of the Proboscis. They also find a ritual dagger in the room. The half-orc pockets the dagger with great interest, taking care to wrap it in the loose garments of the prisoner, as it seems to be covered in stingbat venom.

Backtracking, they arrive at a corridor of ochre jellies. By this point the ochre jellies are now more bodies than jelly. They recognize their fellow townspeople floating in them. An intelligence roll and an oracle roll enable the party to not only realize they have to use fire and can't chop the jellies, but also notice the torch wall sconces and begin lighting them to push the jellies all the way back down the hallway until the jellies fully retreat into a lake of mud.

The party sees no way forward but to swim through the mud lake. To handle this room mechanically as a solo player but still keep myself in the moment, I rolled a d3 to pick whether the party swam to the northern chamber, the southern chamber, or continued straight ahead, and luckily I rolled a 5. Then, every round, for each character I rolled the required strength check and an oracle roll to see if they became lost in the lake. Back to the story.

The half-orc is the first to start treading into the mud, the rest of the party following close behind until they realize they can no longer reach the bottom and need to swim. The half-orc makes it through to the other side with little issue, but the goblin and the bookish halfling struggle for a few rounds before making it through. The party waits, costing several rounds, but their fourth member never emerges from the swamp. A screech rings out; the stingbats are starting to return to the cave. Grim-faced and without a spoken word, they decide to move on. (The halfling ranger rolled a 1 on his first swimming stat check.)

At round 29, the party enters the flowstone terrain. They can see the pink light at the end of the tunnel; sunrise is approaching and the pressure is on. Mechanically, this tunnel is a race to make DC 16 climb checks. The half-orc uses the rope and grappling hook and takes a round to secure a foothold with it. He climbs up first and then helps the remaining party members up.

I was frantically rolling these dice to make these checks and get this party out of the tunnel. Sweat beading on my forehead, the party scrambling up the shaft, having to rethrow the rope once, they made it out at the end of round 39.

Our party scrambles into the sunlight just as they hear the cries of the stingbats' return.

Soon there is another sound, as a second group scrambles out of the opening behind them.

Three of them, filthy and shaking. The half-orc gets to his feet, and he knows one of them. A human. They walk toward each other and grasp forearms, hand to elbow, a grip with a hitch in the middle of it that would look like nothing at all to anyone watching.

"We are the only ones that made it out."

Here is the magic I love. Both of those characters rolled cult initiate on the background table, and neither player-facing part of me had thought about what that meant until they were standing in the sunlight looking at each other. They were both down there the whole time. Had either one known, they would have gone in together and the whole night would have gone differently.

The other two are a human woman, an herbalist, and a dwarf who won't say much about why he isn't welcome wherever he came from. Greetings are exchanged fast and shallow, the way you do when the thing you just crawled out of is still screeching behind you. Six of them now.

Nobody wants to stand around at the mouth of that cave. They put it behind them with haste and push into the next hex, and being lost and half-blind with exhaustion they walk into the wrong one (rolled randomly). They make camp in daylight, sleeping through the sun with a watch set, which is exactly backwards from how they'd like to be living.

While they're setting up, our original three tell the newcomers what they learned down there. The scrap of paper. The Sect of the Proboscis. A cult in their own town, devoted to the things that ate their neighbors. They decide, sitting in the dirt with their boots still wet with mud, that they're going to find the leaders of it and drive them out.

What if the village elders are in it? They come up with a plan: get home, act normal, tell no one, regroup in the morning.

Then I rolled a 1.

A forest dragon comes through the camp. I asked the oracle whether it was aware of them and got a no, and I love that answer more than a yes. This thing is not hunting them. It is furious about something else entirely, somewhere else entirely, and their camp is simply in the way of it. Everyone rolls a dex save to get clear of a creature that never once looks down.

Five of them make it. The dwarf does not. He is under it and then he is part of the forest floor, and it's gone through the trees before anyone can shout his name, which is fine, because nobody had learned it yet.

Another day's travel gets them home without further trouble.

They split at the edge of town. Everyone to their own bed, a real night of rest for the first time in what feels like a week, and they'll meet in the morning to decide what to do about the cult.

Except two of them don't go home. The human and the half-orc walk a different way, to a different door, and report to leaders of their own.

Where we're leaving it

That's the session. They're out of the gauntlet, which means they're finally level 1, and I get to name them, roll their stats properly, and write down who they actually are. I'll have all of that at the top of session 3. In terms of real game time I am about 5 hours in, I had a lot of back and forth with the rulebook and I did a few things wrong with combat I think, but otherwise loving the system and really looking forward to playing with real characters at level 1.

Five survivors, one plan, and two of them are already lying about it.

Shadowdark Live Play Session 1

Wed, 08 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMT

How I was led into the Shadowdark

I'm pretty late to the Shadowdark party, I have to admit. Spending my career in marketing and sales has really disillusioned me on hype. The more I see something hyped, the more skeptical I am of it. I also already had a pretty extensive OSE collection. So I just let the Shadowdark wave pass and kind of forgot about it for a while. That is, until I read an old Substack post by Castle Grief. After reading this I had Shadowdark in the back of my mind, but as I am deep into Kal Arath, I didn't want to split my focus. So, once again I let the Shadowdark itch pass, until two days later I found myself with 30 minutes to kill before picking up my kids from an activity that was right next to my favorite game store. I popped in, not expecting to buy anything, but walked into hundreds of RPG books laid out across their gaming tables. I apparently caught a massive customer trade-in that had just finished, and the workers let me dig through them before putting them on the actual shelves.

I begrudgingly passed on a 1st edition Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay book, but as I put it down, I saw a new and still shrink-wrapped Shadowdark, Solo Dark, and Cursed Scrolls volumes 1–3. All priced at 50% or less because they were trade-ins.

I think this is probably the best luck I have had in a while, but still I was forcing myself to wait to start because I had Kal Arath going on. I read through the books in my spare time though and quickly saw why the hype was there at launch. This is one of the rare cases where the hype is real. Shadowdark is the magic that happens when you have something that is actually good AND good marketing, and that totally explains how it blew up. I regret not picking this up sooner because it's exactly what I have been looking for.

Determined to stop my habit of project hopping and leaving things unfinished, I still didn't roll up any characters, but then last week, my phone was crunched in half by an RV recliner. This meant no recording, and because of 2FA I have been locked out of YouTube and Discord and a ton of other stuff. At the time of writing I have had about a week of a forced digital detox and I am actually thankful for losing my phone, for which I will finally receive an insurance replacement later today.

This has all been a roundabout way of saying how the stars perfectly aligned for me to play some Shadowdark after having no real intention of ever doing so, and how I have already fallen in love with it. So thank you to the muse for leading me down this path.

I was pleasantly surprised to see that Runehammer had made two adventures for Shadowdark, so I spun up some level 0 characters and jumped into his gauntlet.

I will be sticking to the core Shadowdark book, Solo Dark for the oracle, and of course the Cry of the Stingbat adventure. A note on the oracle: instead of 1 always being no and 20 always being yes, the higher number will be the beneficial yes or no depending on the situation, so that rolling high is always good, and rolling low is always bad.

The Cry of the Stingbat

The half-orc rolls over, wipes the mud from his face and takes in his surroundings. A group of villagers from the nearby town are waking up just as he is. He sees three corpses, with obviously broken necks. Looking up he sees the night sky through a hole a few hundred feet up. He quickly rules out climbing up. While the townsfolk bicker and cower in fear, he gets up and moves to the corpses looking for anything useful on the bodies. He finds a club and a shortbow and manages to salvage some arrows (rolling a 12 on the oracle die roll and then a 2 on a d4, then rolling for two pieces of gear from the gear table in the Shadowdark rulebook). He's soon joined by a goblin who checks the other corpse and comes away with a shortbow as well; across from him a halfling comes up empty-handed from the third corpse.

"Hey, stop that. You shouldn't desecrate the corpses!"

"We will all be corpses if we do not escape here. We've only a few hours 'til sunrise and they return. We need to find a way out, we clearly can't climb."

A torch springs to life.

"I think I found a way out of this chamber." Another halfling stands, holding a torch at the mouth of a tunnel covered in slime and filth. The half-orc moves to stand at his side, quickly followed by his fellow looters. Not waiting to see if anyone else joins, he takes a step into the tunnel and hears the sound of heavy feet slurping in the mud. Holding a hand out, he draws his bow and signals to the others to ready any weapons they have.

The party creeps up through the tunnel until they are able to see their prey. A group of beastmen carrying an unconscious troll down the tunnel toward them, but unaware. The half-orc releases an arrow and sinks it right into the skull of the leading beastman (rolling a nat 20), the goblin follows suit but misses, the torchbearer drops the torch (but it doesn't go out) and hides in the shadows at the entrance to the tunnel. The second halfling, who had awoken at the bottom of the tunnel with his bow intact, also sends an arrow flying and hits a beastman but does not take him down.

The beasts, initially caught unaware, drop the troll they were carrying and race down the tunnel toward the party.

Trying to quickly release another volley of arrows, the goblin and halfling miss their shots, their nerves getting the better of them. The half-orc, however, draws his club and charges into the beastmen with a roar. He is surefooted and crashes into the first beastman he finds, killing him immediately (rolling a 20 on the oracle roll to see if he slips in the mud of the tunnel, then an 18 on his attack roll, and rolling 4+3 damage).

The beastmen surround the half-orc, but he is able to fend off their attacks. The melee is at a standstill, with the half-orc unable to land a blow himself.

The goblin steadies his bow and sends an arrow into another beastman, but the halfling, still rattled, misses the mark (rolls a 2 on the attack roll and then 6 on the oracle roll to see if he hits his companion) and his arrow lodges in the back of the half-orc (bringing his HP down to 1 from 2).

The beastmen, caked in mud from trying to carry the troll down the tunnel, still miss their attacks. The half-orc, now enraged, kills the wounded beastman, triggering a morale roll on the remaining two beastmen; one fails the willpower 15 check and flees down the tunnel, but one remains, pressing the half-orc back but still unable to land a killing blow.

At the start of round 5, a new encounter is rolled per the Cry of the Stingbat book rules, but I rolled a 4, so no new encounter comes.

At the start of the round the goblin sees an opening and stabs the remaining beastman in the leg, giving the half-orc an opening to smash the beastman's head in. The half-orc looks down and nods in appreciation. The two halflings, finally realizing the reality of their situation, approach the group. The archer apologizes profusely to the half-orc, stumbling over himself.

The half-orc waves a hand, reaches up and pulls the arrow from his back and hands it to the halfling.

"Next time, you will not miss."

A flash of teeth that might be a smile from the half-orc.

"I found something." The three look at the end of the tunnel as their 4th member stands over the troll who is still unconscious (oracle roll), holding a mirror with broken glass (treasure loot table roll — this halfling only rolled a single torch as his starting gear and a magical apprentice background).

The group steels themselves to leave the tunnel and enter a larger chasm.

Next: Shadowdark Live Play Session 2

Links & resources mentioned in this article

Rolling Up Thorek Duskworn, the Apostate Cleric of Convergence

Mon, 06 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Last time I cast the bones and read the tarot for the whole Convergence party. Tonight, the first of them gets a real Dolmenwood character sheet: Thorek Duskworn, dwarf cleric, apostate.

The video is also a full flip-through of the Dolmenwood Players Book — kindreds, classes, magic, the works. If you want the page-by-page tour of the book itself, that write-up lives over on Hobbinomicon. This post is about Thorek.

The Problem With Thorek

Dwarves are not in Dolmenwood.

The Players Book gives you breggles, mosslings, grimalkin, elves, woodgrues, and humans — no dwarves anywhere. Thorek comes from Old School Essentials, because he's a figure and a character I've loved for years and he was forcing his way into this campaign whether the kindred list allowed it or not. Everything else about him is built by the Dolmenwood book; only his kindred is imported. And honestly, the mismatch is the hook. People of the wood have never seen anything like him, and I can't wait to roll those reactions.

If you know his story, you know why cleric is a loaded choice. Thorek was a priest whose god went silent when it mattered most. He denounced the heavens, tied a dead child's doll around his neck, and walked away from his faith. He's not a holy man anymore. He's a man trying to find out where the power actually comes from.

The Stats

These were rolled 3d6 down the line back in the unboxing video — because we're not cowards — and they were so perfectly Thorek that I refused to touch them when we did the bones and tarot session:

Strength 11 (+0) — sturdy enough
Intelligence 7 (−1) — a little dopey
Wisdom 17 (+2) — there it is
Dexterity 13 (+1)
Constitution 14 (+1)
Charisma 6 (−1) — the wood will not find him charming

Dolmenwood has a rule I didn't know about: you can lower a non-prime ability by two points to raise a prime ability by one. I stared at that 7 intelligence and thought about shaving dexterity to fix it. Then I put the pencil down. I'm resisting the urge to min-max. A 17 wisdom sitting next to a 7 intelligence is a character — a man with deep spiritual insight who is not, strictly speaking, clever. That's Thorek.

The Cleric Chassis

Wisdom is the cleric's prime ability, and with a 17 Thorek earns a +10% experience modifier. He needs 1,500 XP for level two.

Hit points are 1d6 plus constitution modifier. I rolled a five, plus one: six HP, the maximum possible. Given how the rest of the party's stats came out, our failed priest might genuinely be the tank.

Clerics can wear any armor including shields (nothing arcane or fairy) and use any weapon except arcane ones — which is a quiet gift, because the figure is modeled with sword and shield, a combination clerics often can't legally carry in old-school games. So the sheet matches the miniature: chain mail, shield, long sword, and a holy symbol. His holy symbol is the doll. It was always going to be the doll.

An Apostate at the Gates

Here's where the Dolmenwood rules lined up with Thorek's story so cleanly it felt arranged:

Alignment. Clerics must be lawful or neutral. Thorek enters neutral — he's turned his back on the gods of his homeland and owes nothing yet to anyone else's.
No spells at level one. Holy magic only comes once a cleric has proven their devotion, at level two. Thorek walks into Dolmenwood with a silent heaven and empty hands, exactly as his story demands.
Holy order at level two. You don't pick an order until you level. So the wood itself gets to decide what Thorek finds faith in — the Pluritine Church, something older, something stranger. I get to discover it in play.

It's almost like it was meant for us to have a dwarf from outside Dolmenwood, so he can arrive before any of these decisions have to be made. Something in that first adventure is going to reach for him, and I don't know what it is yet.

When the spells do come, they'll land harder for how Dolmenwood writes them: every holy spell has an associated saint and a prayer name. He won't cast detect evil; he'll speak a benediction. For a man who stopped praying, the first prayer name out of his mouth is going to matter. As for clerical tenets, I suspect he lands on sanctity of life — the rest of it he just doesn't vibe with, and a man carrying a child's doll around his neck has already told you what he couldn't forgive.

The Planets Stay in Play

One carryover from the esoteric session: Thorek's planetary influences — the Moon, Mars, and Venus major, with Mercury and Saturn watching — go on his sheet. For ordinary rolls he'll use the Dolmenwood dice, but when a moment feels like the powers are leaning in, the matching planetary dice come back to the table. It keeps the deities in the game for a character whose whole arc is about which of them, if any, deserves him.

One down. Rollo, Triste, Garreth, and Eloryn still need their sheets — and then the party walks into the wood.

Using Tarot Cards & Casting Bones to Create Deeper Roleplaying Characters

Mon, 06 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Cleaned up Transcript

This is the weirdest video I've made, and one of the most valuable exercises in my whole hobby. Before I roll up the Convergence party on proper Dolmenwood character sheets, I take each of them through my own esoteric prep: a bag of bones, a tarot deck, and dice sorted by planetary color. The method is built on the character creation ideas in the Book of Antithesis, with a little bit of my own razzle-dazzle on top.

The goal isn't to build a character. It's to clear your mind, get your subconscious working, and let the muse (or Carl Jung himself, speaking from the grave) hand you someone who already feels alive.

The Method

Three tools, used in order:

The bag of bones. A little sack of collected objects that each mean something to me. The important ones are seven coins (grymkin coins from Warmachine) that correspond to the seven ancient planets — Jupiter, Mars, Mercury, the Moon, Saturn, the Sun, and Venus. Shake the bag, cast the coins, and whichever land face up are the influences on this character. Each planet carries a color, an element, and a list of influences — wealth, luck, memory loss, protection. Think of it as astrology for your characters. The influences aren't necessarily personality traits; they can be deities, factions, or forces working on the character from outside.
Colored dice. Every planet has a color, and I keep matching dice for each. Whichever planet claims the character decides which 3d6 roll their stats, straight down the line. Fate gives what fate gives.
A three-card tarot spread. I use the Rider–Waite–Smith deck. First card is the past — what they've recently overcome. Second card crosses them — their current challenge (always read upright, since it lies sideways). Third card is what the future holds. Pick a significator on vibes if one fits.

The whole point is to embrace whatever comes up. The synchronicities start immediately, and they're what make it work.

Garreth and Barrow

Garreth Vale is the real test of the process — the other characters had backstories written and ready, but all I had for Garreth was a model I've loved for years and a note about how he meets the party.

I cast the coins and every single one lands face down. No influence at all. I've made a lot of characters this way and never seen it happen. He's a true independent, outside it all — so he gets the clear dice. I only own one clear d6, so it's three rolls per stat: 13 strength (respectable for a grizzled vet), 6 wisdom, 11 dexterity, 9 constitution, 13 charisma — and an intelligence so bad I broke my own rule and rerolled it up to 8, blaming the sharp-edged die that wouldn't bounce. Otherwise he wasn't even going to be able to talk to the party.

His spread: the Knight of Cups behind him — arrival, a proposition, an invitation. Which is exactly the backstory already written: Triste enticing him into a mercenary job escorting a mage into the forest. The Nine of Swords crosses him — failure, delay, deception, despair. Something to keep in my pocket as I DM for him. And before him, the Fool — a choice of vital importance, the supreme adventure about to begin. With that intelligence score, he is certainly a fool. An old vet about to walk into the adventure of his life.

Barrow the hound gets his own quick read: Five of Wands (the battle of life, now behind him), Two of Pentacles (new adventure, and he's down for it), Ten of Cups (true friendship and happiness to come). He's just a happy boy who gets to poop in a new forest.

Rollo

Rollo is a Monkstone Miniatures figure whose given name I loved too much to change. When I shake the coins, one literally jumps out of my hand — the wanderer coin, who happens to be a deity in my homebrew world. No need to throw the rest. The Wanderer corresponds to Mercury: water, luck, gratitude, memory, divination, poverty, memory loss.

Mercury's color is yellow, so the yellow 3d6 roll his stats — and the first roll comes up 6-6-6. Eighteen strength. A little guy ready to smash. That's what happens when you start messing with this kind of thing. The rest fall into place with eerie sense: low wisdom (he spent his whole life underground before being called to the surface as a warrior of the sun), 9 dexterity (he's carrying that big shield), modest constitution, and 16 charisma — a little cutie with a heart of gold.

His significator is the Knight of Swords, rushing headlong into destiny. The spread: Seven of Cups reversed — determination, a project about to be realized — right as he's just clawed his way to the surface. Six of Swords crossing him: passage away from difficulty. And the Two of Swords reversed ahead: caution against dealing with rogues. He'd better keep an eye on somebody in this party.

Thorek Duskworn

Thorek is the one party member with real table history — I played him in a campaign that fell apart before he got his destiny. His first cast comes up with five planetary influences pulling at him. Five influences, three dice — so I cast again to see who really holds him, and get exactly three face up: the Moon, Mars, and Venus as major influences, Mercury and Saturn watching from the minor.

I don't reroll his stats. The numbers we rolled in the Dolmenwood video were so perfect for him that he was clearly forcing his way into this campaign, so those stand. His significator is the Hierophant — if you know his story, the failed priest who denounced the gods, you know why. His spread: Seven of Swords reversed, the Wheel of Fortune crossing him, and the Ten of Wands reversed ahead.

Triste

The camera died partway through Triste's session, but the dice were recorded in the notes: 9 strength, 7 intellect, 9 wisdom, 6 dexterity, 6 constitution, 4 charisma. Yikes. She's a young elf — maybe that's exactly what those numbers are telling us.

No significator felt right, so she stands for herself. Her spread is heavy with royalty: the King of Wands behind her — honesty, nobility, an unexpected heritage — the life of elven leisure and wealth she left behind to go experience the human world. The Five of Cups crossing her: vain regret, loss, an inheritance not up to expectations, the rejection of pleasure. And the Queen of Wands reversed ahead: opposition, jealousy, deceit.

Eloryn

The mage. The only thing we know about Eloryn is that he's hunting an artifact in the middle of this forest. His first cast: everything face down — but where Garreth's empty cast read as independence, Eloryn's reads differently. He has five minor influences circling him, and when I cast again to narrow it down, all of them land face down again. Nobody will give up their stake in him. Everybody wants a piece of the mage.

So that's how we play it: 5d6, keep the best three, with each die a different planet fighting for him. Watching the rolls, a pattern forms — the Sun and Venus run consistently high, pushing him forward, while Mercury and Jupiter run low, doing their best to hold him back. He comes out a monster: strong for a mage, dextrous, the tankiest constitution in the party, and 17 charisma. He presents very peaceful, very do-goody. I might suspect ulterior motives. I might.

His spread: the Hermit behind him — of course it is — silent counsel, a meeting with one who will guide the seeker toward material or spiritual goals. The Six of Pentacles crossing him: philanthropy, charity, prosperity shared with others — not what I expected for him, and worth sitting with. And the Queen of Cups reversed ahead: a good woman in some ways, but perverse; dishonesty or immorality. The dishonesty is exactly what I've had in mind.

Those planetary dice aren't done, either. When a big roll comes up in the campaign and Jupiter and Mercury are trying to stop Eloryn from doing what he's doing, those dice go in the box with the rest. It keeps the deities in the game.

The Party Converges

So here's where the readings leave us: Eloryn hires an escort through the woods to recover an artifact to "further his studies." Triste talks her longtime companion Garreth into the mercenary job — he's out of the army, late thirties, aimless, and doesn't know what to do with himself. On the road through the forest they come upon Thorek, who has just healed Rollo after finding him torn up on the forest floor by something the little knight wasn't prepared to face.

The party is together. Their adventure begins soon.

This one fills my bucket back up in a way even painting doesn't. Painting pours something out of me; this pours something back in. I just created five people. The bag of bones will absolutely return in the solo play as an oracle, and the cards are always here with me. Thorek already has his Dolmenwood sheet — next up: sheets for the rest of the party.

Eloryn

Sun, 05 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMT

The mage calls himself Eloryn, though few know whether that is his true name or simply the one he offers to strangers. He carries the reputation of a wandering scholar, soft-spoken and endlessly curious about ruins, civilizations, and the ebb of history across the ages.

He dresses the part well. His robes are worn at the seams, his books heavy with notes, and his voice calm enough to suggest a life spent in dusty libraries. To most people he seems harmless, a man more interested in forgotten lore than the raw practice of magic.

This version of himself is a lie he has cultivated with care.

The Hunger Beneath the gentleness lies a mind consumed by hunger. Eloryn does not seek knowledge for understanding, only for leverage. Every relic, every glyph, every fragment of arcane theory is another step in the hidden work of his life. He is shaping a path toward something far beyond the reach of ordinary mages.

His staff, which he calls a tool of study, is in truth an anchor for a ritual he has been constructing for years. With each each shard of magical essence he gathers, the staff draws closer to becoming the key to his final transformation.

Eloryn intends to ascend. Not as a metaphor or spiritual ideal, but as a shedding of mortality itself. He wants to abandon the limitations of flesh and take a place among the greater forces of creation, no matter the cost to himself or anyone else.

He hides this ambition behind mild manners and thoughtful smiles, but the truth sits coiled beneath every word he speaks.

The forest holds something he needs. A component tied to a disturbance in the weave of the world, potent enough to fuel the next stage of his work. He cannot retrieve it alone. He also cannot reveal its nature.

So he hires an escort under the guise of a research expedition, presenting himself as a harmless scholar with too many books and not enough survival skills.

Triste, with her effortless charm and wandering spirit, makes the perfect front. Garreth, steady and sharp-eyed, completes the illusion of a simple scholarly trip. Neither knows that Eloryn watches them with the same quiet calculation he applies to his runes and diagrams.

He studies people too, learning how to move them, how to use them, and how to keep them unaware.

For now he walks with them through the tall trees of Ruhar, polite and inquisitive, thanking Garreth for every small act of vigilance and listening with interest to every observation Triste offers. But behind his eyes the truth remains unchanged.

He is not here for discovery. He is not here for history. He is here to gather the final pieces that will allow him to rise beyond the world they know.

And when that time comes, no one in his company will see it coming.

Garreth Vale

Sun, 05 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Garreth Vale now moves through live with uncertainty. He came from an ordered world where every dawn brought a command and every night brought another name to remember. Now he lives in the spaces between those memories, drifting from place to place with only his hound for company.

The dog, Barrow, follows at his heel with easy loyalty. Garreth talks to him more than he talks to anyone else. Some days Barrow feels like the last proof that Garreth is still connected to the world at all.

The weight of his chainmail rests on his shoulders with the weight of regret. It is familiar, grounding, and impossible to fully set aside. He wears it not out of duty, but because he no longer knows what he is without it.

He is no longer sure what he lives for, and the forest seems content to let him wander until he figures it out.

Except that he is not entirely alone, not really. Triste finds him whenever she wishes, appearing in his camp or on the trail walking in the rays of moonlight. Barrow greets her with a thump of his tail, and Garreth feels the same tug he always does. It pulls him toward motion, toward purpose, toward a world he thought he had left behind.

She never explains how she locates him, and he never asks. Some things are better left unspoken.

Garreth does not know what she sees in him, or why she keeps returning. He only knows that when she steps out of the shadows and smiles, he feels the faint spark of something he thought had burned out long ago.

And so he packs his things, gives a quiet command to Barrow, and follows her into whatever comes next.

Because when Triste calls, he answers. It is the closest he has come to meaning in years.

Rollo

Sun, 05 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Rollo was born in the stone-buried stronghold of Kraaz’Duun, a remote Svirfneblin settlement carved into shimmering caverns far beneath the surface of the world. His people lived among crystal-lit halls, winding tunnels, and the ever present chorus of murmuring stone. Most deep gnomes felt an unbreakable bond with the dark places of the world, trusting in shadow, silence, and ancient earth-magic.

Rollo, felt called by something else entirely.

From childhood, he would gaze upward toward the unreachable ceiling of the caverns, imagining a great world of open space, wind, and light. While his kin feared exposure and wide horizons, Rollo found himself yearning for them. He believed that somewhere above, a life of clarity, courage, and honor awaited him, even if no one else in Kraaz’Duun understood.

He crafted makeshift shields from rotten wood, drilled with polished stones shaped into practice blades, and modeled himself after half-remembered tales of surface heroes passed down in whispers. His elders found his aspirations eccentric. His peers thought him strange. Yet Rollo held fast to a code that came from somewhere deep within. Tell the truth, protect others, stand firm against wrong, and seek the light wherever it may be found.

A vortex of magical power rent a jagged crevasse in the heart of Rollo’s homeland, plunging downwar from the surface world. Through that wound spilled something few Svirfneblin had seen:

Sunlight. True, golden sunlight.

It poured downward in a beautiful, terrifying column, scattering dust in glittering motes. The people of Kraaz’Duun recoiled, fearful of the unknown radiance. But Rollo stepped forward, entranced. The warmth on his skin felt like a blessing. Like a calling.

In that moment, he knew with absolute certainty that the light was meant for him.

Determined to reach the surface, Rollo traded nearly all he owned: family keepsakes, glowstones harvested from sacred caverns, tools he had shaped with his own hands. He acquired the two things he believed marked a defender of justice:

A sword and a shield.

Simple. Iron. Surface-forged. And to him, priceless.

He strapped his remaining possessions to his pack: a bedroll, a simple leather sac, his favorite cast iron cooking pot that was his only remaining family heirloom, and a small polished stone to remind him of home. Though his people tried to dissuade him, Rollo climbed toward the crevasse, ascending through broken stone and twisting fissures that smelled of earth newly woken from sleep.

He did not look back.

The surface stunned him. The sky stretched endlessly overhead. The air tasted alive. Colors were too bright, too sharp, too real.

He made camp in the forest where he emerged. Towering trees filtered the sunlight into shifting patterns he could watch for hours. The forest creatures eyed him curiously, and though they differed from the burrowing beasts of his homeland, he found he could still sense their emotions, still communicate in quiet, druidic ways learned from the spirits of stone and earth.

Here, in this strange new world, Rollo practices with his sword each morning, reciting the virtues he swore to uphold. He prays to the sun in awkward, earnest whispers. He listens for guidance in rustling leaves and chittering animals.

He waits for a quest worthy of his heart.

Because deep in his soul, Rollo believes the world fractured so that a single beam of light could reach him. And now he must become worthy of it.

Thorek Duskworn

Sun, 05 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMT

He was a young priest tending to a fevered child. He prayed, begged, reached for the divine. Yet nothing came. The heavens had gone silent. The child died in his arms, and with her death, his faith.

He cast aside his vestments, denounced the gods, and bound the child’s doll around his neck as his only symbol.

For decades he wandered as an apostate, healing through herbs, poultices, and stubborn will. A healer without blessing, a priest without faith. He donned sword and shield and survived as best he could.

He walks the broken world as both heretic and healer, haunted by the child he failed and guided only by the fragile flame he has found in himself. It has led him to the forests, where he meets a badly injured Svirfneblin. In the face of death, his hands burn with light again.

Not from any god, but from within.

He now believes divinity was never the gods’ alone. Mortals have always carried it.

Triste

Sun, 05 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Triste is a young elf whose presence always seems to drift a half-step ahead of anyone trying to understand her. She moves like moonlight slipping through branches, soft in voice and impossible to pin down. Although she has been alone for as long as she can remember, and not a member of the various Elf families of this world, Triste carries that same quiet strangeness, as if she is listening to things no one else can hear.

A Seeker of Experience.

Curiosity rules her life. She seeks experience for its own sake, not gold or renown. Old ruins, whispered legends, forgotten relics, and reckless journeys appeal to her far more than comfort or safety. For reasons she has never explained, she often chooses to bring a companion along, tugging him into danger with nothing more than a smile and a spark in her eye.

That companion is Garreth Vale, a grizzled hunter and former soldier whose past has been carved into him by hard years and harder choices. Garreth is steady, practical, and slow to trust, but Triste disarmed him from the start. Somewhere along their shared travels, his loyalty grew into something deeper. He has not spoken of it, and she has never asked, but their closeness is evident in quiet glances and the way they move in step without thinking.

Whether she returns his feelings remains a mystery. Her affection is gentle and constant, but her inner thoughts stay carefully veiled.

Recently Triste learned of torrent of magical power that ripped a chasm deep into the earth. Something about it calls to her, singing her name as if beconing her home. Instead of revealing her true interest, she discovers that a traveling mage is also searching for the source of the magical outburst and is looking to hire protection for the journey. Triste convinces Garreth to take the job, offering nothing more than the promise of a curious path ahead. Garreth agrees because when Triste asks, he rarely says no.

Now the three of them walk beneath the tall boughs of the forest. The mage mutters over his notes, Garreth keeps a hunter’s watch, and Triste guides them with unobtrusive nudges whenever the forest seems to shift around them. She knows they are drawing closer to what she seeks.

Their path changes when they encounter two figures in a woodland clearing: a dwarf with the look of someone carrying old burdens, and beside him a small wanderer gazing upward at the sunlight with childlike wonder. Thorek and Rollo seem as surprised as anyone, though Triste feels a faint stir in the air, as though the world itself has begun stitching their stories together.

She steps forward with her usual serene smile, Garreth only a half-step behind her, ready for whatever comes next.

Dolmenwood Appendix N

Wed, 01 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Here is the list of inspirational media listed in the Dolmenwood Player's Handbook. The Dolmenwood Appendix N, if you will.

Books

Title	Author
The Charwoman's Shadow	Lord Dunsany
The Fellowship of the Ring	J.R.R. Tolkien
Goblin Market	Christina Rossetti
Gormenghast	Mervyn Peake
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell	Susanna Clarke
The King of Elfland's Daughter	Lord Dunsany
Krabat	Ottfried Preußler
The Ladies of Grace Adieu	Susanna Clarke
Lud-in-the-Mist	Hope Mirrlees
Lyonesse trilogy	Jack Vance
Mio My Son	Astrid Lindgren
On Fairy-Stories	J.R.R. Tolkien
Smith of Wootton Major	J.R.R. Tolkien
Stardust	Neil Gaiman
The White People	Arthur Machen

Films

Title	Director
The Green Knight	David Lowery
Labyrinth	Jim Henson
Legend	Ridley Scott
Princess Mononoke	Hayao Miyazaki
Spirited Away	Hayao Miyazaki
The Wicker Man	Robin Hardy

Television

Title	Creator
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell	BBC
Over the Garden Wall	Patrick McHale
Twin Peaks	Mark Frost & David Lynch

Dungeons & Dragons Appendix N

Wed, 01 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Below is the exact text from Gary Gygax on page 224 of the AD&D Dungeon Masters Guide (1979).

"Inspiration for all the fantasy work I have done stems directly from the love my father showed when I was a tad, for he spent many hours telling me stories he made up as he went along, tales of cloaked old men who could grant wishes, of magic rings and enchanted swords, or wicked sorcerors [sic] and dauntless swordsmen.

Then too, countless hundreds of comic books went down, and the long-gone EC ones certainly had their effect. Science fiction, fantasy, and horror movies were a big influence. In fact, all of us tend to get ample helpings of fantasy when we are very young from fairy tales such as those written by the Brothers Grimm and Andrew Lang. This often leads to reading books of mythology, paging through bestiaries, and consultation of compilations of the myths of various lands and peoples.

Upon such a base I built my interest in fantasy, being an avid reader of all science fiction and fantasy literature since 1950.

The following authors were of particular inspiration to me. In some cases I cite specific works, in others, I simply recommend all of their fantasy writing to you. From such sources, as well as any other imaginative writing or screenplay, you will be able to pluck kernels from which will grow the fruits of exciting campaigns. Good reading!"

The List

Anderson, Poul
Three Hearts and Three Lions; The High Crusade; The Broken Sword

Bellairs, John
The Face in the Frost

Brackett, Leigh

Brown, Fredric

Burroughs, Edgar Rice
"Pellucidar" series; Mars series; Venus series

Carter, Lin
"World's End" series

de Camp, L. Sprague
Lest Darkness Fall; The Fallible Fiend; et al

de Camp & Pratt
"Harold Shea" series; The Carnelian Cube

Derleth, August

Dunsany, Lord

Farmer, P. J.
"The World of the Tiers" series; et al

Fox, Gardner
"Kothar" series; "Kyrik" series; et al

Howard, R. E.
"Conan" series

Lanier, Sterling
Hiero's Journey

Leiber, Fritz
"Fafhrd & Gray Mouser" series; et al

Lovecraft, H. P.

Merritt, A.
Creep, Shadow, Creep; Moon Pool; Dwellers in the Mirage; et al

Moorcock, Michael
Stormbringer; Stealer of Souls; "Hawkmoon" series (esp. the first three books)

Norton, Andre

Offutt, Andrew J.
editor of Swords Against Darkness III

Pratt, Fletcher
Blue Star; et al

Saberhagen, Fred
Changeling Earth; et al

St. Clair, Margaret
The Shadow People; Sign of the Labrys

Tolkien, J. R. R.
The Hobbit; "Ring trilogy"

Vance, Jack
The Eyes of the Overworld; The Dying Earth; et al

Weinbaum, Stanley

Wellman, Manley Wade

Williamson, Jack

Zelazny, Roger
Jack of Shadows; "Amber" series; et al

"The most immediate influences upon AD&D were probably de Camp & Pratt, R. E. Howard, Fritz Leiber, Jack Vance, H. P. Lovecraft, and A. Merritt; but all of the above authors, as well as many not listed, certainly helped to shape the form of the game. For this reason, and for the hours of reading enjoyment, I heartily recommend the works of these fine authors to you."

Three Hearts and Three Lions

Wed, 01 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMT

TLDR:

An iskai from the 1960s!

I loved this from start to finish, I was hooked immediately. This invoked such a sense of nostalgia in me in the best way. It has all the commong fantasy trope, which I think if written now would be a negative, but this book seems to me as one that help reinforce or even create the tropes. This one definitely goes on my must read list for fantasy fans.

D&D Legacy

Three Hearts and Three Lions is one of the most directly influential books on Dungeons & Dragons. Gary Gygax put it first on his list of Poul Anderson books every D&D player should read, and once you know what to look for, you can see why.

The Paladin — Holger Carlsen, the book's hero, is basically the paladin class before the paladin class existed. A champion of Law, tougher than he has any right to be against the forces of Chaos, carrying a code of honor and a destiny he didn't ask for.
Law vs. Chaos — This is the actual spine of the book, and it's the same spine Gygax and Arneson built the alignment system on. Holger's fighting for Law against Chaos, and that's the exact cosmic tug-of-war the original alignment axis is trying to model.
The dwarf Hugi — Gruff, practical, no patience for nonsense. You can draw a pretty straight line from Hugi to every grumpy dwarf companion that's shown up in pop culture since.

My Thoughts

A quick note on the audiobook itself

The narrator is 10/10. Bronson Pinchot performs different voices and accents for each character. The narration enhanced the experience for me.

I started the audiobook on my morning commute and at first I thought there was a foreword and notes about the author at the beginning of the book. I was immediately sucked into the storytelling and when the narrator announced chapter 2 I realized the story had begun and at this point I was locked in. The story starts firmly in reality during WW2 as we learn a little about the main character before he wakes up naked in a magical land.

I am immediately gripped by the imagery, and having never read this one, immediately recognize names and references from other media. It's pretty crazy actually as I get further and further through the book just how many things that I love, that this clearly influenced. I'm not an expert at warhammer history but its clear this definitely influenced Warhammer as well. This is one of those books that has influenced so many other forms of media that it feels nostalgic reading it.

I don't want to just write a bs summary, but this is a book about a D&D romp before D&D existed. I do think the ending was weak, but not necessarily bad. I don't want to spoil it.

Takeaways

In this section I will include a simple bullet point lists of things that I think could be used as inspiration at our tabletops.

This book explains the Chaos vs Lawful alignment system very well.
The explanation / way the iskai-ness of this book is explained is done very well. Spoiler Transported hero with no memories, because an evil sorceror summoned him in and wiped his memories to try and get him to do chaotic shit with her instead of be his true self.
The campaign structure of the hero's journey is fantastic, it has a realistic flow from different environments with sub adventures all built toward the final goal, but that final goal changes as the hero matures and progresses.
I love the individual characters, and they would all serve as great NPCs, pretty much every speaking character in this book will work it's way into a campaign in the future. They are pretty much NPC archetypes.

Kal Arath Episode 4

Fri, 08 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Transcript

The storm finally passes

Two days of rolling sixes for weather. Today: a three. The storm tapers to light rain. No bonus to foraging, no penalty either. That's the magic of solo RPGs. Who decides what these dice are going to roll? Not me.

They're moving. Kethris the mantis (now a real character on a real sheet) is leading Garen back toward where the battle barge crashed. No foraging today. They're in a hurry.

A hidden shrine

I roll for a place of interest while they move. Got one. But the Kal Arath oracle says flat no — this isn't the battle barge wreckage. Roll on the place-of-interest table to see what it actually is. 21: a hidden shrine.

Another cult feels like the right hook. Does this idol belong to the same cult we already tangled with? Three. Flat no. But the symbol on the idol matches the brass lantern we looted from the giant skull cave. So this shrine belongs to the cult that desecrated the original shrine, not the one we already killed cultists from.

Intelligence check on Garen to see if he recognizes the cult. 2d6 minus one, looking for an eight. We just barely hit it.

Generating the second cult

I roll up the new cult on the Kal Arath generator:

The Supreme Circle of Manifold Majesties. A hidden mystery cult.

Garen doesn't personally know about them (they're hidden), but he recognizes the symbol from the brass lantern. There are bare footprints in the dirt around the idol. He tries an int check to read which direction they lead. Minus two. He fails. So all he can say is the prints either came from the cave they slept in or were heading toward it. No useful direction.

They camp for the night.

Night encounter: angry giant

Night encounter roll. Yes. Roll on the table. Giant.

Reaction roll, 2d6 flat. Angry and hostile. He's already seen the campfire. He's coming.

Giant HP is 6d6, which should be terrifying. But these dice continue to roll terribly for the first time in our benefit. Nine HP. Small giant. Thank the dice for once.

Garen tries to fire as the giant crashes in. Misses. Giant wins initiative and throws a boulder. Garen fails the dodge. I had fate points wrong, so I re-roll. Still fails. Six damage minus four armor — Garen drops to two HP. Not great.

Garen shoots back. Misses. Mantis leaps. Strength two leaping attack. Connects. Six damage minus one armor: five. The bite attack auto-hits off the leap. Two more. Giant down to two.

Giant tries to club the mantis off. Mantis needs an eight to dodge at zero agility. Gets a nine. The mantis is a true monster. Garen runs toward the fight but can't reach to attack this turn.

Mantis claw attack. d6 damage. Roll it in the box. Enough.

Giant down, thanks to our sweet praying mantis soulmate. Garen was not going to go the distance. He's actually pretty weak for a warrior.

Mantis the secret mage

Worth flagging: Kethris is technically a mage (we rolled that in episode three), but she didn't cast a single spell during the giant fight. The Man Alone Prima Materia dice told us she's still wary about revealing her magical nature to Garen. She's decided to stick around for the long haul, but she isn't ready to drop the cover yet. For now she's a giant praying mantis with claws and a leap, and the magic stays hidden.

Looting the giant

Intel check on the body. Garen passes. Finds a tattoo or symbol matching the gold cult necklace we pulled off the cave cultists. Same cult. The Supreme Circle has reach.

Loot roll on the item table: 62 — a gold necklace, not enchanted this time, worth 60 silver. Same symbol. They take it.

Kethris is a she

Garen is genuinely impressed now. Took a giant down solo while Garen sat bleeding at two HP. Time to lock in some details. Is Kethris a "guy"? Roll. Three. No.

So Kethris is a she. A lady praying mantis. Doesn't change much (she's still a giant praying mantis), but now we know.

Day six — searching for the wreckage

New day. Weather: three again, light rain. Day six. The original cult (the Hidden Mysteries) is trying to prevent the sun from rising, and the persistent gray is starting to feel less like weather and more like cult activity working.

Search the hex for the battle barge: no. Get-lost check: not lost. Forage: four, good harvest, three rations. Place of interest: no. Encounter: no. Night encounter: no. Finally a quiet night.

Day seven — the battle barge

New day. Rain stops, but the air is unexpectedly chilly. Sun still not really up. Minus one to foraging. Don't get lost. Search for the wreckage. Six.

They find it.

That's where I'm stopping. I need to figure out what's actually inside that wreckage, and that'll take some prep on my side. So this'll be the last Kal Arath for a little bit. Next time you see me, hopefully I'll have a battle barge built. Thanks for watching.

Kal Arath Live Play Episode 3

Tue, 05 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Transcript

Looting the cultists

What's up, party people? We're going to finish up our Kal Arath session real quick at the start of the day.

Rolling on the Kal Arath table for loot: one had a carved ivory idol (very cool — fits our cult theme), the other an enchanted amulet (+1 armor, I think).

Now we have our giant skull, two cultist bodies, and a desecrated shrine. Garen heads back to the skull to see if there are clues.

Reading the skull

Intelligence roll — Garen is at -1. Looking for an 8. We pass. So there is a clue.

To figure out what, I roll on the Insight table again. 2d6, up to three rolls. Got: ancient, strange, flourishing.

So Garen can tell the skull is very old. He can tell from the cave that this is an old, well-established ritual site. And it's pretty clear there's been a lot of people here lately — this cult is flourishing. They need to get out of here.

Is there anything inside the skull? Yes/no roll. Got a five — yes.

Roll on the item table: 53 — a brass lantern worth 12 silver. Maybe somebody tried to burn the skull. Bones charred. Somebody desecrated this altar.

This is why I like Prima Materia for this part — when there's a lot of rolling and table-flipping, the dice keep you in the mystical mode. Not on the fence about tables, though — Kal Arath's tables are great. They build the lore through every entry. I'll go back and forth between tables and dice because both are good.

Three threads going forward

Now we have our story:

The carved ivory idol to learn more about the cult itself
The brass lantern to learn more about whoever was desecrating the cult temple
And we still need to get out of this hex to find the battle barge crash site

Three threads. Pretty awesome for storytelling.

Out of the cave, into the wolves

These guys walk out of the cave toward the end of the day. They camp up in the forest where they can see if anyone enters the cave.

Nighttime encounter — needed a 1 or 2. Got one. There is a nighttime encounter. So they take turns keeping watch.

A new day. Embark — but the storm is still raging. We get lost. Give up. Find shelter and camp again.

In the middle of the night, they're attacked by six wolves. Garen goes unconscious. Mantis-Freddy kills three of them. Garen took down three before going down. The mantis has now eaten the wolves to regain health.

I should have been recording — I thought it'd be boring. It was insane.

Mantis vs himself

Garen's about to regain consciousness. Time to put the Prima Materia dice to the test.

Garen's been sharing his food. He's still injured — hasn't been able to molt because they've been on the run. So I roll: this is self against self. The mantis is battling his nature.

Mantises are solitary predators. He's fighting the urge to just eat this dude — instead he's eating the wolves. He's formed a bond. There's something pulling him to befriend Garen, against his nature. Unsure, but he thinks he can trust this guy.

Then I just call it Kal Arath style: does the mantis stay? Rolled a six — yes. Not only does he stay, he's decided he's with Garen for the long haul.

So I'm spinning up a real character sheet for the mantis. He's joining as a real character.

Generating the cult

I used the Twin Sun Sutra supplement at the very beginning. There's a cult/mystic order generator. I rolled up:

The Transcendent Order of the Hidden Mysteries. Their influence is hidden, mysterious, but legendary. Led by a stigmatic charlatan. Headquartered in the barbarous north, where plains give way to tree and white snow. They reside in the Hidden Iron Flower Fortress — completely made of rusting metal, adorned with skulls. Every morning, worshippers stare directly into the sun and offer prayers to prevent its rise the next day. Their current main goal: bring about the great rains, submerge all of Kal Arath beneath the waters, so that the dread ones might rise again.

How perfect is that. We're in two days of thunderstorms. I rolled all of these before the storm rolls. Dixed it. Stuck in storms two days in a row. No sun. Just rain.

Kal Arath is so good. This is from the second supplement — I want to stick to the first book for a while to enjoy it, but that cult generator was too good not to use.

Building the mantis as a PC

Made him level 1. Two strength, zero agility, two toughness, two intellect, minus one presence. He has his leaping attack from the bestiary entry. I wanted to play with magic and thought it'd be ridiculous to give a giant mantis a spell — so I made him a magic user. Rolled a d6: Pact of Blood. He has the draining spell.

21 HP from the bestiary entry, but that's probably too high. I'll knock him down to fresh-character HP and treat the high-HP version as something he was using draining for.

He has 2 points of armor from his chitin. Can't wear armor.

It'll be interesting because they don't share a language — but it's cool. Non-human party member. Not strictly Kal Arath rules, but we're playing solo. It's my show. I can do what I want. So that's how it's going to be.

Wrap

That's how we end episode three, before we attempt to leave this hex for the third time.

Got a lot of painting done, a lot of Kal Arath, a lot of 3D printing, a lot of behind-the-scenes stuff. Very excited about all of it. Stay tuned. Bye.

Kal Arath Episode 2

Mon, 04 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Transcript

Picking up where we left off

Taking a break from painting NMM on this dude to play some Kal Arath. I don't have time for a full session, but that's what makes Kal Arath awesome. I did a half session on the first video — I'll do another half now. Together they'll get us a level.

Quick correction from last time: I learned praying mantises don't live in colonies. They're solitary. So there wasn't a colony. Maybe a battle barge crashed into him — he was injured. Garen Vosque rolled a neutral reaction and helped him out.

Why I'm using the Prima Materia dice

I want to go a little more in depth as these two head back toward the crash site. That's where these little beauties come into play.

Man Alone wrote and conceived Prima Materia. Dice Nest made these amazing dice. I want to do a full review, but I want to use them more first. I've read the book cover to cover three times now and I'm still finding more.

I'm not using these because of a deficiency in Kal Arath. Kal Arath has great tables. The power in these dice is interpretation — they keep you in the story. You're not flipping to a table lookup, you're reading a cast: this die is closer than that one, so you read them in this order. If the positions had been different, you'd read them differently. That changes everything.

Plus, it's just fun rolling dice. It's not so fun looking at tables.

The mantis's motives

Let's think about the praying mantis's motives toward Garen. Because this die is closer, we interpret them in this order.

The swirly one is Fortune — but it's on the Knox die, the shadow principle. Hard to distinguish if you're not familiar with Jungian psychology. (I have a degree in psychology — Jung is the reason I have it. Then I went to school and realized they don't teach you the cool stuff about Jung. Just the boring stuff.) Fitting that I'm going on a Jung ramble with a Man Alone product.

The result symbolizes: gamble, risk, chance, loss, misfortune, uncertainty. Our little guy was hurt. He saw the campfire and wandered over hoping for help. He took the gamble.

Next is the Sizzy die — the coming together of two parts. This tells us how they relate. The symbol is within, and the other is self. So: uncertainty and gamble within himself. He had a desire, made a choice to seek out help. "I'm going to die if this post stays in me. I need someone to pull it out so I can shed this leg, molt, and go."

Are they friends?

Now that Garen has healed him, what's their relationship as they walk to the crash site? Are they going to be homies?

Roll. Fortune above Mind. Cooler than a table — in the Kal Arath rules I could have just rolled a d6 for "are they homies?" and gotten a no but. Not very fun. We want to be homies.

Fortune is on the soul (white) die: luck, timing, treasure, prophecy, a wish, a favor, a reward, coincidence. Above means conquering over. So good fortune and reward are over Mind, which is on the black die — doubt, anxiety, obsession, fear.

When you call upon the Greeks, alchemy, intention, when you pray to Carl Jung — you get synchronicities. This is what happens.

So these two who could very much have been in combat are vibing. Walking back to the crash site as allies. Garen has ulterior motives — he wants to refurbish his own battle barge, and he pocketed the control gem he pulled out of the mantis. But it seems like he's made an actual true friendship. Now we can approach the relationship with way more nuance than just yes/no.

Hex travel

Back to the rule book. Just to be clear — Kal Arath is fully self-contained. The story-question and turning-point tables are some of the best I've seen. I'm using the dice because I think they're neat, not because Kal Arath needs them.

We're moving north toward the crash site.

Weather: rolled a six. Of course I finally roll high when high is bad. Thunder rolls in as a major storm breaks. High winds and heavy rains. No travel today. Begin the next day in the same hex. Foraging is impossible. Minus two on getting lost.

So as soon as they set out, it starts storming. Now they're bunkered in together. Good thing they're getting along.

Lost? Rolled a five. We're not lost. We can't forage, so we'll share rations.

Point of interest: rolled a five, then a 51 — a giant skull and bones.

A desecrated shrine

After rolling, we have our character and his new pet giant praying mantis hunkered down in a cave during a storm, where they find a giant's skull.

Garen investigates. Intelligence check to identify it — rolled a 9, minus 1 for stat, hits an 8. He recognizes it as a giant skull.

Insight table — I count the black die first if it's black, otherwise leftmost. Result: a sacred ruined giant skull. Maybe runes on it. It's becoming clear this was a religious site. People were praying to the skull, and something damaged it.

When you're playing solo, it's all theater of the mind and story prompts. You're almost writing a story with extra steps — pulling it out of tables, dice, and your imagination.

So now Garen and his friend run inside this cave during a thunderstorm and realize they just walked onto a cult's holy ground. The big icon — a giant skull on a pedestal — has been damaged. Now they really don't want to be here when the cult comes back.

Peek before the cult arrives

I'm going to use the Knox die for a quick peek — a single-die pull for insight into the cult.

Result: connection, entanglement, obligation, dependence, exposure, leverage, conflict, expectation. So they're going to get caught in an entanglement with this cult. Period.

Garen looks through the skull. "Hey, maybe we should get out of here." Has the storm let up enough to leave? No. And in Kal Arath, when you fail a roll you don't just fail — something worse happens.

When they try to leave, they see the cult walking toward the cave.

Drawing the cave

Two cultists. They have shields and clubs/spears.

I'm going to draw this cave fast and dirty, then go back and spruce it up. I got this method from Runehammer — draw your line, then a second line that follows but overlaps wonky. Then go back and connect everywhere they overlap.

Without really knowing how to draw, you can get a cool cave outline that doesn't look half bad. Two baddies — this guy's the leader (4 HP), this guy's the 2 HP one, the leader's sending him in first. Then Garen and the mantis in back, with the giant skull as our treasure objective.

Lightweight kit shines here. Not super tactical, but there's positioning and initiative.

Combat

Initiative: d6 plus agility. Garen has agility 2, rolled a seven. On a 4+ we go first — sidewise initiative, so the whole posse goes first.

The mantis is insane in close combat. He has a combat leap — jumps into combat then attacks with his claw. d6 looking for an 8. Miss. If that had hit, the bite attack would have been free. But I still get a second attack — bite attack, hits.

d6 damage minus 1 for the shield. Still kills the 2 HP cultist outright.

Garen moves half his distance to close on the leader.

Now the leader has to face a morale check for watching his partner die. 2d6, needs higher than 8. He passes. He's mad. Spear attack — looking for an 8. Misses.

Mantis attacks again — claw and bite. Both miss. I'm just rolling, but you can narrate this in your head: the mantis leaps across the cave, strikes down the first cultist, gets parried by the leader's spear. His leg's still injured from the battle barge — that's why his lunge missed and only the bite landed.

Garen swings his long sword, plus 1 from the warrior skill. 2d6+3 looking for an 8. Miss. Our hero is not heroing.

Cultist swings at Garen. Dodge roll — 2d6+agility. Rolled an 8+2 = 10. Just dodges. (I love the player-facing rolls in Kal Arath. Same as Crown and Skull.)

Garen swings, misses. Mantis rolls an 8, hits with his claw. d6 damage — rolled a six. Five damage after the shield. Dead.

Wrapping the session

Two dead cultists and a religious demon skull. Time for bed.

We rest up and share rations — down two on the character sheet. Next time we'll loot the bodies and roll for a nighttime encounter.

Thanks for making it this far. This is the most I've spoken in probably 30 days. The stuff the doctor gave me is working. Still not quite my normal voice yet, but thanks for being here. See you tomorrow.

Kal Arath Live Play Session 1

Fri, 17 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Transcript

A quick lore primer

All right, making a character in Kal Arath is super easy. Quick lore primer: this is heavily based on Conan the Cimmerian — that sword-and-sandal vibe. I actually just finished listening to the complete Tales of Conan when I was building that playhouse, so I'm primed, I'm ready to go. Fresh in my mind, really excited to jump into this universe.

Meet Garen Vosque

Our character is Garen Vosque. It's a name I've wanted to play around with for a while.

He's a soldier. The battle he was in is over and he's been decommissioned from the army — he's kind of out on his own. He's young, mid-20s, but at this point he's a grizzled veteran of several wars and he's trying to figure out what his next step is.

I'm keeping it vague. I have a loose idea of who he is and what he's done. I don't need to think up some elaborate backstory because we're determining who he is. He's 24, 25. He doesn't know who he is. You don't figure that out for a long time anyway.

Stats

Character creation is super easy. Five stats, four points to distribute. No stat can be higher than +2 at start, but you can drop a stat to –1 to get an extra point elsewhere.

I'm envisioning a sword and a bow. I've got four points. We're going to make presence the dump stat — used for reaction checks, charisma, lying, intimidation. Maybe he's not very sociable. We put that at 0.

Perception drops to –1 — maybe he's not very perceptive. He survived the war because he's tough and good with a bow, not because he notices traps. That –1 gives us an extra point to put in toughness.

Strength and agility get the rest. Character's made.

Skill and HP

For skills you pick one from the base book — warrior, rogue, mystic, explorer. I'm going warrior: plus one to his long sword attacks.

You also get one Fate point at character creation. Fate points let you reroll any one of your own dice rolls.

HP is a d6 plus your toughness — the only time toughness gets added to an HP roll. If you wanted to min-max you could start with a toughness of 2 and just take max HP — 8 — without rolling. We're not going to cheese it. Let's roll.

Oh, that's terrible. At least we get +1 from toughness. His HP is only 2.

Maybe there's a reason for that. Maybe he's been wandering — Kal Arath is set in a valley between mountains, kind of a desert. Maybe he got separated from his main force, or they just left him with a bag of gold and said "See you around, dude." Gold doesn't do you much good stuck in the desert. He's only at 2 HP right now because he's been out in the desert and he's weak for the current situation.

That's our character.

Equipment

PCs can carry strength + 8 items. We get 10 slots. More than that and physical rolls are at disadvantage — and in Kal Arath, disadvantage is roll three dice and drop the highest. Advantage is roll three, drop the lowest. At twice your capacity you can't move at all.

For starting gear, we roll d6 × 10. I rolled a six. 600 silver. Like I said — they threw a bag of gold at him and left him in the desert.

Kal Arath is a cool system — it doesn't give you exact prices, just item types and a flat d6 or d6 × 10 or d6 × 100 in silver, and you barter and trade depending on where you are.

Rolling for everything according to the chart: he has a long sword (200), a long bow (50), a dagger (10), medium armor (100), a shield (50), six days of rations, a tent (20), and 52 silver remaining.

The long sword on a critical dodge lets him immediately make a counterattack. The long bow can be aimed for up to three rounds — each round spent gives +1 to attack and damage. The dagger can be thrown, used when grappling, or used on a prone enemy.

Rolling the hook

There are prompts you can roll on to jump right into an adventure. I wasn't sure if I was going to use them, but I rolled and I'm going with it:

You desire to find a battle barge carcass and restore it to glory, making a name for yourself as a warlord and conqueror of settlements across Kal Arath.

That works. All he knows is war. And he thinks he's going to find a battle barge carcass — which… I need to find out what a battle barge carcass is.

Okay — just like it sounds. A battle barge is a land boat. A boat on wheels or some other movement mechanism that goes across the grass and stone of Kal Arath. That's awesome. That's what we're going for.

Drawing the map

You can see from my many erase lines that drawing hexes is actually a little harder than I thought on this grid. I'm going to not worry about the grid. Disregard the grid.

Drawing the equilateral part to make them look like even hexes is what makes it hard. It's not perfect, a little wonky — a little taller than they are long. That's okay. Now it's easy: just go one, two, three, four, five, six, draw a straight line down from the middle.

It took everything in me to not erase this and redraw it and get a protractor. I know I could get a protractor, draw circles, form triangles, make a perfect grid. And I would have spent an hour making a grid and spent no time at all actually doing the creative exercise — rolling the dice, playing the game. I would have spent all my time trying to make something perfect that doesn't need to be perfect.

The whole point of me doing this is accepting that things don't have to be perfect. They just have to be good enough to have fun. And I'm hoping that by releasing whatever in me demands to be perfect, I will become good enough. Because solo role-playing is a lot more than just rolling dice and having fun. It's a quest for personal development, whether you're aware of it or not. I've got to stop caring so much about things I shouldn't care about.

The watercolor disaster

This pen has waterproof ink in it — or it did. I refilled it, so I don't know if it actually has waterproof ink anymore. We're going to find out together.

We're starting in this hex. Got room to go this way. We know we want to head this direction because we're coming out of the desert.

Oh. Very much not waterproof. Immediately not waterproof. Apparently a red maroon ink. Our desert's red now, guys.

That's okay. This is part of the process. Now I've got red ink in my brush — I'll wipe it on my pants, give the tip a squeeze. I'll grab some ochre. Yellow, red, sand — we're in the desert. It works.

I can come in super loosey-goosey. It's a desert, man. We just need to know that it's desert. These hexes start becoming forest or plains. I need to go back and put the waterproof ink back in the pen, but it's okay that it's tinted red. Looks kind of cool.

Each square represents 20 miles. Because Garen is a soldier, he has a vague sense of direction. He knows over there is a forest, but I'm not going to color anything past that. We know we're coming out of the desert and heading up into grasslands and plains.

I can put some yellow over here, clean the brush out, grab some green, come over here. Got to get a lot of yellow to make a lime foresty green. We don't actually know what's in there — we just have an idea. Keeping it vague and hazy. Everything has a red haze now from the maroon ink, because right at the moment of truth I forgot that I'd switched ink in the pen. That's a lesson about why you shouldn't do that.

By the nature of the paper and putting all this wet on it, it doesn't bleed through — but it is rippled and wet. By the time we're done, this is going to be a weathered and aged book, and that book of our notes and explorations will be an artifact in and of itself.

Day 1 — the travel turn

Here we go. We're in this hex, about 40 miles from the grasslands. If we're going to find the wreckage of a battle barge we can repair, it's going to be over there.

There's a set turn order in Kal Arath. Weather first.

Weather. Rolled a four — unexpected chill. A sudden drop in temperature brings unseasonal harsh frost. Minus one to foraging. As we come out of the desert, there's a chill coming. Maybe it's winter.

Lost? After weather, prior to foraging, we roll d6 to see if we're lost. 1 or 2 means you don't leave the current hex. I rolled a five. We're good.

Foraging. If you need food, water, or other resources, you roll to find them. Weather affects this — the frost puts us at –1. He's been stretching his rations. Let's see. A six on the die, –1 from weather — a five. The land is generous to you today and you find a variety of food. We gained five rations. We're full on rations.

You only get to try for herbs on a natural 6, so with our –1 we're not finding any herbs in the frozen waste.

Point of interest. Roll d6 first — 1–4 is nothing. I rolled a three. Nothing here. We're just traveling through. The last bit of desert before the forest. Makes sense.

Encounter. Roll again, looking for 5–6. I rolled a one. No encounter. A boring day.

We spend the whole day traveling through this hex, heading toward the forest. End of day.

Nighttime encounter. Looking for a 1–2. I rolled a five. Safe through the night.

End of day one. I don't think we did anything that warrants a level-up. Time to mark where we are and move on.

Day 2

Day two. Run the whole turn again.

Weather: a three. Light rain. Showers help the flowers bloom but make the ground muddy. Nothing too crazy. We're not going to forage today — Garen sees the forest and wants to get there.

Point of interest: nothing. Encounter: nothing. I keep rolling threes. We're apparently not meant to encounter anyone.

We're moving. One hex away from being in the forest proper.

Nighttime encounter: a one. Now we're rolling the encounter table.

The giant praying mantis

It's a Ukariad — a giant praying mantis. Uh oh.

Garen is sleeping. His fire's out. A giant praying mantis has stumbled upon his camp. We don't know if he's friend or foe.

I'll use the Oracle to figure out the mantis's disposition. Friendly or hostile? I rolled a five — a flat yes. Friendly mantis. But Garen might not necessarily know that.

There's also a reaction check — a 2d6 roll. I rolled a seven. Neutral. So he stumbled on us; he wasn't hunting. Kind of neutral to Garen.

This is where the storytelling and the Oracle come in. Garen was asleep in the middle of the night, his fire's out, a giant praying mantis has wandered into his camp — friendly but with neutral reaction.

Reading the vibes

We roll on the Oracle table to feel out the situation. Two dice, one to three times. We're trying to ascertain the praying mantis's temperament and what it's doing there. Is Garen going to pretend he's still asleep and hide? Has the mantis noticed him yet? What is the mantis doing?

I rolled double-twos, then rolled three times to get more.

Courage. Okay — Garen is going to stand up and face down the mantis.
Negotiation / temptation. The mantis is going to tempt him with some kind of offer.

When you're playing solo, you don't have to have a conversation with yourself. I mean, you can — you can pretend to be a giant praying mantis. What does a giant praying mantis sound like? I don't know. But the mantis is going to be like, "Hey, I've been looking for somebody to help me do something, because I just have simple praying mantis hands. But you're a human — you could do something."

What the mantis has

There's another Oracle table for insight into people, places, and things. Let's see if Garen can get a feel for the situation.

I rolled a 54 — profane. This mantis is profane. He's going to try to tempt us. What is he going to tempt us with?

I rolled again: 41 or 14? 41 is gleaming. 14 is shining. They're basically the same. A temptation, a negotiation. Maybe the mantis is holding out a shining gem to Garen.

A shining gem? Does that really make sense? Is it a magical profane gem? Does it make sense that a giant praying mantis could even hold a gem?

One more roll: 64 — war-torn.

A gleaming war-torn object. He has to be holding a key piece of a battle barge. Maybe there's a piece of a wrecked battle barge stuck around the mantis — and he doesn't speak the same language as Garen, but he's presenting himself and pleading with his eyes and his skittering: please help me get this off me.

Reading the situation

Garen's not sure what it is at first. But the sun is starting to rise and he can see more clearly now. He sees that the mantis has an obvious piece of a battle barge wedged around him or stuck to him. Maybe a battle barge wreckage piece is protruding from him.

He has to decide: is he going to risk helping this guy? Can he help him? The mantis is neutral toward him. I think he's going to help.

Is Garen able to figure this out? I'd call this an intelligence task. I'll be honest — I haven't locked in when I use flat yes/no dice versus stat checks for smart stuff. That's a me thing to figure out.

Intelligence check. We're at –1 intelligence. Looking for an eight. Even with –1 he makes it. He says, "Hey, you're kind of stuck. I'm going to help you." He puts his hands up, slowly moves toward the mantis, and works the battle barge piece off him.

Now Garen has this piece. The specific piece doesn't really matter — just a broken chunk of a battle barge.

Can the mantis point the way

Garen tries to get the mantis to communicate. "Hey, I just helped you. Can you tell me where your battle barge is? What happened?"

The mantis can't speak English. He's profane — not necessarily a good guy. Just because he doesn't want to eat Garen right now doesn't mean he's got the best motives.

In my head I'm imagining: maybe the battle barge crashed into the mantis's colony, or drove through it, causing chaos. Is he going to send Garen at the crew that invaded his colony?

The mantis turns and points with his mantis arm in the direction of the battle barge. He looks at the broken piece, then points off in that direction.

That direction is falling off the table. So the battle barge has to be pretty close. Maybe the colony is in this hex.

Is he being honest? I rolled a five. A flat yes. So the battle barge wreckage is here. We know there's a mantis colony there, and we know there's at least parts of a battle barge.

The setup for next time

Garen backs away from the mantis. "I'll go with you — come on, show me where the battle barge is." The mantis looks at him. "No. I'm good." And sets off.

Does he go with him? Flat yes. So the mantis is taking him back.

Maybe Garen gets his battle barge already. Maybe he's being led into some crazy adventure.

That feels like a session. I'm going to call it here and get back to work.

Thanks for hanging out with me being a silly goofball. This is what Kal Arath is. This is what's awesome. This is what not being perfect is. Just jumping into the story and a narrative. I told myself a cool story that I had no idea was going to exist before I sat down to tell it. Now I have enough information to write a little short story about it.

Maybe I'll make Garen. Maybe I'll sculpt his praying mantis buddy. Maybe they're going to be homies and go on a soldier-praying-mantis buddy cop adventure. We'll find out next time — on the next episode of Kal Arath Z.