SoloDark 5: Of Legends, Lore and Magic Swords

Making your solo play easy on yourself and keeping things fast and fun.

Here’s a quick story recap then a look at a new mechanic I’m using and a tip to keep things moving forward in your solo games:

For those just coming to the story, Aîwar is a young man who dreams of being a hero, but his impetuous and violent nature has led him to the darker edges of life.

After starting his career in high form, saving the village of Twin Waters with a daring one on one duel with a hobgoblin champion back at Level 1, things went downhill fast.

A random carousing table roll implied he had committed an arson, and the complications that arose therefrom left him desperate and pursuing a life of crime.

He briefly attempted redemption by working for the warriors of King Tryth, god of justice and order, and adventured in the ruined city of Cernwenn an Arawn, but fled the undead menace there.

Returning to his birth city of Ygg, he became a murderer, and, pursued by the city watch, fled west into the kingdom of Valimar.

Desperate on the road for food and shelter, he was mistreated by a group of peasants - attempted to rob them and was beaten nearly to death and only barely escaped a death by hanging in the Tur Marshes.

Falling in with a performing troupe in the storied city of Narûl, he killed another person while defending the courtesan he was guarding - and realized a figure from his past is now on his tail for the bounty.

Knowing that close relationships don’t work for him, Aîwar takes the money from bodyguarding for Ana, the courtesan, and heads into the country north of Narûl.

On the road, he meets a strange, knowledgeable old woman, who gifts him a healing potion and tells him information about the ruined city he longs to return to, and how to defeat the undead there.

She sends him on a quest to kill the Redcap, a particularly brutal hobgoblin berserk who has set up in a fort on the edge of the wild north wood called Blackshaw.

Before diving into that, I wanted to share a mechanic I’ve been developing for the game, as well as a technique I decided to use that is an obvious bit useful way to get my game on track, and set me up for many rewarding sessions to come.

Mechanic: Songs and Legends.

Recently I read a little game called There and Back Again, by Ray Otus, a little simple ruleset to play in the world of the 1937 edition of The Hobbit.

In it, he presents a rule to use singing or poetry to obtain a mechanical advantage in game.

I loved this idea so much I reworked it for my Tarvannion campaign, as the obvious feel of my game is a sort of gritty Tolkien, using ShadowDark rules - a sort of “HighDark Fantasy,” if you will.

I’ve made a d20 table of single line “lore dumps” that relate to places or historical events in my campaign world - these are NOT things that I’ve really planned out or have a timeline for. Just flavorful snippets like:

“Legend of Dyfed Embattled on the Walls of Narûl - you may use this song one time to obtain +d6 to all attack rolls in a single combat when you are outnumbered by at least 2-1.”

What this creates is both an epic fantasy feel, small snippets of discoverable lore that can be found in books, dungeons, scrolls, heard in bard’s songs and so on, that act as “single use” magical items and add a ton of flavor to the game.

When I run this setting for my players, it gives them a mechanical benefit to being curious about the world and exploring it, or seeking out information, and the brief nature of these lore snippets is such that it need not even “connect” or make sense - in a similar way to a world like Elden Ring or something.

It also allows me if I *want* to develop snippets further into full blown lore for myself or players who are interested in that sort of thing.

Anyhow, fun stuff.

The second thing I’m doing in this campaign is introducing quest giving NPCs - in this last session, the crone(?), Morwen, seems to know a lot about Aîwar. She advises him to “stick to the light side of things,” and do right, after she sends him out to deal with a tough monster who has been plaguing this stretch of road.

Who is Morwen? What is her interest in Aîwar? I don’t know yet, but what she is acting as is a quest giver…I can drop her into the game if things slow down to send Aîwar into a dungeon, or some interesting and fun situation WHENEVER I FEEL LIKE IT.

My thought is that she represents some power of good - so there must be another quest giver for Aîwar who represents darkness or chaos and will present him another opportunity to choose between good and ill - we shall see!

Anyhow, Aîwar defeats the Redcap, but doesn’t slay it - maybe we will see it return in future installments, and earns the Legend of Culych and the legendary goblin slaying sword, Dawnrazor!!

Thanks for reading, let me know in the comments if there’s anything specific you’d like to see me cover in further pieces.

(Included a look at a few bestiary entries as well below)

The city of Narûl, site of an ancient battle and a spell that drowned its defenders and left the area perpetually surrounded by the Tur Marshes.

Trouble continues to shadow Aîwar (it’s almost like his armor is cursed or something - see the first installment!)

The Nyxx and The Redcap - two fell creatures for the Tarvannion setting. The Redcap makes an appearance in just a few pages…

Call to adventure for Aîwar, son of Jara!

Victory earns our hero the Legend of Culych and the legendary sword, Dawnrazor!!! (Shoutout to the goths who get the reference!)