Solo Gaming Using Mythras Part 3: The Blood Money of Yahina

Here it is, the actual solo adventure where I teach myself how to play Mythras and how to do a solo game. It'll be complete with story, mechanics in italics, and my thoughts on how I did, what I liked, and what I'd change. If you want to know the set up, here are the first two parts here and here that detail the setup.

The Cast

Mucario: The main solo character, a Sulano fisherman with some fighting and casting skill
Ana: One of the pregen characters, she's a tan Okulek warrior trained in the spear and shield
Kara: Another pregen, she is the sister of Ana and a priestess of Amuzencab, goddess of medicine and community
Kju: The last pregen, he is a nomadic brave from the plains of the northern continent looking to make his fortune
Captain Abraham Spalding: The captain of the ship Kayaben, looking to break the Curse of 65 Coins

Act 1: Revelations and Superstitions

Day 13 of Alexan of Her Holiness's Course

We begin aboard the Kayaben, a large carrack cutting through the clear blue sea, sailing towards the island of Yahina. The island has a cursed past, where the village on it was raised to the ground years ago during the Great Island War. Most of the natives and colonists believe that the spirits of those murdered years ago haunt the land, hunting and devouring any that land on the shores. Most boats avoid the island at all costs, wishing not to anger the ghosts or be reminded of the terrible war.

I rolled a Locale on this and got a critical. Mucario has heard of the stories behind Yahina and is rightfully nervous, yet excited, about going to the island.

While Mucario and his compatriots were told of the destination by Captain Spalding, the rest of the crew were kept in the dark about it. Spalding finally reveals the destination of the Kayaben about three days out, and the crew are none too pleased. Whispers of cannibalism and angry spirits fill the decks until three sailors decide they have had enough and try to stage a mutiny.

The bodyguards are near Abraham when three sailors approach him with clubs. "We are turning this boat around, whether you like it or not cap'n," one of the wind beaten shiphands says.

Mucario tries his best to reason with the mutineers, but the older and exhausted sailors brush past the naive boy and attack the captain.

Mucario tried to roll Influence to dissuade the mutineers from fighting, but with only an 18%, he fails it spectacularly and is ignored for not knowing what he's talking about.

The first two sailors try to beat down on the captain, but only one is able to land a solid hit on Spalding's right arm. Mucario, frustrated with being ignored, loses his temper and strikes at one of the soldiers. His spear lands true and slices the shiphands's ear clean off. The pain is unyielding and the blood gushes from the wound as the sailor cries out.

"Back away from Abraham, or it'll be your other ear next!" Mucario shouts, hoping the sailor finally takes him seriously. The man balls up, clutching his severed ear, and yields to the adolescent.

Mucario got a lucky critical against a failed parry. Mucario went for Scar Foe and Compel Surrender, and did enough damage against the head to bring it to a Serious Wound. The sailor can't attack for 3 rounds and further more, he failed his Willpower Roll and now capitulates against the teen warrior.

Kju joins in the fight, firing an arrow at another sailor, but his bolt flies passed the man's shoulder and into the mast. 

"Dammit!", the proud brave mutters under his breath. He can't let the younger fisherman outshine him.

The remaining two sailors become furious at the maiming of their friend, and realizing the youth meant business. turn their attention to Mucario, They try to get past the range of the spear and within reach of Mucario, but are unable to keep up with Mucario.

"You'll have to do better than that if you want to hit me!" Mucario taunts the men

The two sailors flat out fail their Close Range action and Mucario doesn't spend an Action Point to press the advantage.

Ana moves up to one of the sailors and prepares to strike. Mucario finds a great energy from the adrenaline rush and presses his luck, attacking the next sailor. His spear lands on the chest of the second sailor, but the blow was softened enough that it only bruised the hardened sailor.

"You don't know what you are doing, kid!" The sailor shouts at the fisherboy. "This island will kill us all if we land there! No amount of money is worth that!"

Mucario landed another spear blow, but this time the sailor was able to succeed in blocking it. He parries it for half damage, then his armor brings the damage down from 4 to 1.

With the melee slowing becoming a bloodbath, Captain Spalding tries to talk some sense into his crew.

"You may or may not lose your lives on the island lads, but you will surely lose it here if you keep fighting. Lay your arms down and you will be spared a mutineer's death!"

Seeing no other course of action, the sailors drop their clubs and capitulate, not wanting to be keelhauled.

"Old man, you know nothing of the old ways," one of the sailors shouts as he is being shackled by Ana and Mucario. "Your greed will be the death of us all, mark my words!"

"I know of the cruelty and terror of your old ways... more than you'll ever know," Abraham's mind wanders for a brief moment before he shouts at the rest of the crew. "Take these traitors down below and keep them there until we leave Yahina. Anyone else that has a problem with this can join them in the brig!"

After dealing with the three traitors, Captain Spalding turns to Mucario.

"I'm grateful I didn't make a poor decision in hiring you," the captain chuckles a bit. "You're not half bad with the spear, though I hope to see it done to the ghosts on Yahina next time..."

"I hope we don't end up running into any of the dark spirits there," Mucario says with a nervous laugh. "Why are we going to Yahina? There hasn't been anything there in decades."

Captain Spalding's demeanor becomes more serious, "It is not the shield's place to ask why, but to protect. I am grateful for your service, but you need to remember your place in this world, boy." Abraham storms off, leaving behind a bewildered Mucario.

End of Act 1

My thoughts

This was my first combat in Mythras, despite running M Space. A bit more complicated since I am using melee weapons with Size and Reach, rather than ranged weapons that don't really need to worry about such things. It took me a bit to get through this first combat, though I'm happy to say that it gets faster as the adventure continues. At least until I get to magic.

Writing these are turning out to be another hard task all together. Between my inability to focus and people interrupting me at every chance, it definitely took me longer to get this written up than I had hoped. Ended up having to break it up into different acts, so I'll be sure to post more of this in the coming weekend.

Solo Gaming Using Mythras Part 2: The Character and the Oracle

Yesterday was all about the setting and system. Today, you'll get to see the character and the oracle, as well as get some good background on some of the cultures in Anacaona.

Mucario, the Young Fisherman

Mucario is the character I'm running in my solo Mythras game. He fifteen years old and is a short, lithe young man at 5'4" and 103 pounds. His skin and eyes are a dark brown and his wind beaten hair is wavy and wild, covering his ears but not quite to his shoulders. Personality-wise, he was born under the Bat star sign with an ascendant Carrack sign, so Mucario is clever and wary, but has the demeanor of a driven and reckless youth. The personality chart I use is one I've made, linking the world's zodiac to different personalities. You roll twice, once for the main personality traits (the sign you were born under) and once for their demeanor (the ascendant sign on the east horizon), the mask they put on for the outside world. I'll have to post these one day.

One thing veterans of Mythras will notice is that despite Mucario being a sorcerer, he doesn't have the Shaping skill. I decided that since he is still a teenager, he hasn't quite mastered all of the ins and outs of sorcery. So while he learned two spells, he has no idea how to master them and change them. One of the rewards I plan for him is to find a tutor to teach him more about shaping. Maybe even join the ranks of the legendary mages in the Bulgaoya, an ancient college of sorcerers in the floating capital of Locanigua, Uraya.

Here is his bio:

"Mucario is a young Sulano native from the shattered island chain of Locanigua. Like his forefathers, he is a nomadic fisherman that travels between the small islands, trawling for sea creatures aboard small canoes and living in semi-permanent shelters on the islands during the hurricane season. Mucario is an only child, living with a single father named Guabano, but a huge extended family of aunts, uncles, and cousins. His mother was killed by the Blood Phage at the end of the war 6 years ago, so he has been raised by his father and his mother's eldest brother, Suyono. While Guabano has shown Mucario the family trade of fishing, Suyono has taught the lad about fighting with a fishing spear and shield to defend against pirates and slavers, an all too common hazard in Anacaona. 

When Mucario was 11, he fished up a set of protected scrolls. Instead of discarding them, curiosity took over and the young fisherman opened them. He revealed them to be a series of sorcery scrolls that showed how to cast two spells in the Spirit of the Ocean School of Magic. It took months of learning, but Mucario learned to cast Might of Waves and Call Lak-Lak, a friendly water elemental that can heal and entertain the lonely trawler. Despite knowing basic magic, Mucario never learned how to shape and enhance his cantrips and hopes to find a tutor that can show him how. 

Mucario enters his fifteenth year and passed through his rites into manhood. Tired of life as a fisherman and consumed with a desire to both fight barbary and learn more magic, Mucario took his canoe, some of his uncle's old armor, and left to make a name for himself as an adventurer. Patient and thoughtful, but naive and innocent, Mucario sailed to the harbor city of Puerto Oro and took a job as a bodyguard to a Captain Abraham Spalding of the carrrack Fortune. The pay seems good and a merchant like Spalding should have some good connections to the arcane tutors of the islands."

And his stats

Mucario

Nomadic Free Fisherman

                                                                                      AP/HP
STR: 12       Action Points: 3                 1–3 Right Leg 0/4
CON: 10      Damage Modifier: +0        4–6 Left Leg 0/4
SIZ: 10        Magic Points: 13                7–9 Abdomen 0/5
DEX: 13      Movement: 6 metres         10–12 Chest 3/6
INT: 13        Initiative: +13                   13–15 Right Arm 0/3
POW: 13      Armour: Linen Armor      16–18 Left Arm 0/3
CHA: 9                                                  19–20 Head 3/4

Skills:
Standard: 

Athletics 45%, Boating 42%, Brawn 32%, Conceal 26%, Customs 26%, Dance 22%, Deceit 22%, Drive 26%, Endurance 50%, Evade 36%, First Aid 31%, Influence 18%, Insight 26%, Locale 31%, Perception 56%, Ride 26%, Sing 22%, Stealth 41%, Swim 32%, Unarmed 25%, Willpower 36%

Professional:
Lore (Trawling) 41%, Musician (Wind) 27%, Navigation 61%, Seamanship 33%, Survival 43%

Magic:
Sorcery: Invocation 36%; Spells (Enhance Strength, Summon Water Elemental)

Combat Style: Locinaguan Sea Reaver 45% (Spear/Harpoon, Shield, Dagger, Bow; Excellent Footwork)

Passions:
Hates Injustice 56%, Desires Arcane Knowledge 56%

Weapons:
Spear
Knife
Buckler Shield

Armor:
Linen breastplate and brass helmet

The Oracle

The Oracle I am using is a modified version of the one found at Tiny Solitary Solider's website. I roll 2d6 and 1d3, all different colors. The first d6 is simply Yes and No. Generally it's 50/50, but I change the odds depending on whether I have a good or bad chance of the answer. So sometimes, I'll have a 2/3 chance of a yes or a 1/6 chance of a no. The d3 is And, But, and Neutral. That one stays simple. The last is a twist die, where if I roll a 6, a twist in the scene happens. I either roll for it on his table, or use a tarot card or Tangent Zero's image dice for the twist. Every time I don't roll a 6 on this, I add a cumulative plus 1 to the Twist die until I eventually roll a 6 or higher.

Beyond that, since I'm running a canned adventure, I probably won't edit it too much with twists from tarot cards and Tangent Zero's story cubes. I am looking forward to sharing the adventure later this week.