Epic BECMI Dungeons and Dragons Solo Campaign

An Interview With Wizard Deadloss

I’m just going to dive right in here:

I have a love/hate relationship with watching TTRPG solo actual plays - most of the time the good ones don’t last or sputter out, and the ones that are available…aren’t great.

There are a few noteworthy exceptions to this, like Chaoclypse channel,
Matt Jackson’s excellent White Box games, and a few others.

But the one I’ve recently discovered and been binge-watching ever since (I just caught up last week), is the channel of one “Wizard Deadloss,” who has undertaken the mega-challenge of running a solo BECMI campaign from Level 1…to Level 14, by using a pre-planned series of Basic and Expert adventure modules from the days of yore.

From the way he sets up his sessions with a nice mix of solo roleplay and storyline, to his relaxing narration voice and excellent editing skills, the way he recaps and put his thoughts together regarding the modules he’s running…

It’s just a gold mine.

I’ve also used his run-throughs to familiarize myself with some of these modules for my own table, like his terrific (if a bit of a grind) run through of the classic B2: Keep On the Borderlands.

For anyone looking to get a really good feel at how much fun can be had from a solo campaign that lasts - this is it, right here.

You can check out his videos right here - they are all neatly organized into their own playlists by module, and I highly recommend going through from the beginning and enjoying the ride.

I got in touch with the Wizard themselves to ask a few questions, and they were gracious enough to take the time to answer.

Here goes - don’t forget to subscribe to my humble newsletter here, and hit me up if you’d like to see me do more interviews or if you have any suggestions for future articles!

1) The first and most obvious question I suppose is - what made you decide to embark on this (quite frankly) Herculean solo endeavor?

During all that pandemic stuff a few years ago I got into watching some guys online playing a AD&D 2e version of Rime of the Frost Maiden - I think. It was an Icewind Dale setting. The channel is called Dungeon Musings. And everyone involved seemed really down to earth and enjoyed playing. They had long sessions of over 2 hours and there are hundreds of sessions on that channel.

I then started searching Solo Play and there is a lot of stuff out there. Solo Dungeon Crawler and Artichoke Dip are two favourites. SDC's stuff is set in the BECMI world of Mystara. I thought I'd like to try this too. I didn't set out to do something different (it's not that unique), I just had my own itch that needed scratched. As for the Herculean endeavour - I completely underestimated how much work and time was involved. Very, very naive.

2) What informed the decision to go with BECMI as opposed to B/X or AD&D?

Well, this is the whole premise of the project.

I had bought the red Basic and the blue Expert books back in 1983/1984. I got probably about 2 hours use out of the Basic book playing with my little brother and a cousin - and that was it. They went onto a shelf to gather dust. Only to be opened occasionaly and flicked through, while dreaming of being able to play. I was not a very sociable teenager - to put it mildly.

So recently, one day, I thought, 'I'm going to play this'. Why am I so drawn to this game? Why did I keep these unused books for so many years? Why am I letting time tick by without doing something about this? And that's what kick-started the whole thing. And why I choose that system. The books I use in the videos are my originals from 40 years ago…being used for the first time.

3) Is this your first experience with solo roleplaying? How did the decision to film and share it come about?

Yes. It's my first experience roleplaying in any form.

I bought 'Horror on the Hill' way back then. Never played it. Saw lots of other folk reviewing modules, and I thought: I want to play them. And that's really all there is to it.

My primary goal is to play the game and play the adventure modules. I'm exploring the game from the point of view of a new player. I don't see myself as an entertainer. I do like writing some of the 'role-play' narratives. And others seem to like them too.

I think if you invest in a character then there is an imperative to play well and keep them alive. That adds tension to the actual dice-rolling part of the game.

The decision to film? I enjoyed other people's work.

I wanted to try something new. I wanted to 'get out of my comfort zone': I'm not a natural public speaker. And also - I wanted to make the kind of videos I'd want to watch. There are some fantasy shows on TV. But there's not really been a classic D&D TV series where you follow some wanna-be heroes on a series of adventures in that style.

4) What’s been the biggest challenge of the experience so far? What has been the most rewarding aspect for you?

Time! That's the biggest challenge.

The cleaning up and the editing of the videos takes a lot longer than I thought. Recording 45 mins of footage takes only 45 mins. No surprise there. But there's the cleaning up of all the awkward pauses, the falling sheafs of paper, the phone calls, the braindead Umm and Ahhs, trucks reversing outside...

Tidying things up takes off usually 1/3 of the recording. What's kept is very much what happens in front of the camera. And just making myself comprehensible. Honestly, pre-edit, I sound like an asthmatic sucking a gob-stopper. And then there's all the prepping where you have to get the next encounter all written up so you can be both DM and player and run the combat as smoothly as possible. Even after 8 months I'm finding ways to improve the admin.

The comments have been the most rewarding part. I've had hundreds of comments and only 1 arsey, belligerent one. It's been overwhelmingly positive. There are people who comment regularly and these are the bulk of the responses. I don't have a huge audience at all. But the people who do watch an entire video to the end do seem to engage. I'm glad to that it entertains them. That's always a good feelilng. And the comments have been the best teacher.

Between good advice and having my errors picked up on, I owe them all a lot for the free education.

5) What’s your favorite classic adventure module so far?

I've just started 'Night's Dark Terror': a highly regarded classic. Just flicking through it, prepping it, is enough to put it at the top of the list. I enjoyed 'Horror on the Hill' more than I thought. It played a lot better than it seemed from just a read through. But then, I'm sure that's a skill in itself - being able to see a module being played from just reading it. I'm also looking forward to the classic 'Isle of Dread'.

6) Realizing that this is an undertaking that will last quite some time, have you had any thoughts of what you might like to do once you finish this?

Well, I've said several times already in recordings, 'If I were to play it again, I would do...' So it's tempting to do the whole project again with different adventure modules and a different party. And a much more educated DM. Season 2, so to speak.

I'm glad I set a clear cut-off goal: that my party would reach level 14. Recently, with 'Blizzard Pass' and 'The Veiled Society' I played 13 sessions with the party gaining very little XP. I'm hoping that Expert modules will accelerate that and things won't drag on forever!

However in both those games I took liberties and re-wrote a lot of it. And I enjoyed it. I'd be tempted to create a complete 'fantasy novel' that's written whilst playing the game.

This is not a new idea - several people have done it, such as Tales of the Manticore. I'd be tempted to use less randomness than these guys do. His catch-phrase is that the dice decide everything. I would like to try a proper plot. It has just occured to me that this is what video games have become: a structured narrative with gaming inbetween.

7) Anything you’d like to say, anyone you’d like to shout out or any advice or words for anyone reading this who might be considering solo play or a big creative endeavor like this?

Do it! And watch all the Youtube content about playing solo so you can see what's out there and what other people are doing. Some are using books, which I think are called Oracles, that have tables of plot devices: and the player rolls randomly from these to build the story. I use the modules.

And if you want to put it online then practice first, for about a month.

And a shout out to all those solo players online with the good advice and entertaining adventures. Thanks.

And thank you for the questions.