The Seek of Sanrath [Solo TRPG play report]
3 min readSep 22, 2024
The HOW
- ODEAN D6 rules
- DIE in a Dungeon exploration rules (ie. draw adjacent rooms while present)
- typical BX room stocking (1-in-6 chance of restock when returning)
- “shields may be slipped” ¹
The WHO
- Sanrath, lv1 fighting dwarf, plate + hammer [AC1, 6hp]
The WHAT
- enters mausoleum searching for ancient dragon-dwarf statue
- heads thru to a bridged junction (it’s trapt!) falls thru rigged bridge and takes maim damage
- large room (empty)
- next, (monsters! see boxout) four of them, wary, camping in roots of tree ─ Sanrath is unseen and can sneak past (I removed the option of exploration here because the room wasn’t safe to poke about)
What CUR!
When I’m not sure what to put in any given place, I come up with three options — one common, one uncommon, one rare. These are represented by 1–3, 4–5, and 6 on 1D6 respectively. For monsters in this dungeon, my CUR was men, beasts, weird.
This first time I rolled a 3 and interpreted these men as similar opportunist graverobbers to me.
- beyond, another crossroads with another four wary men! we spot each other this time from 80ft distance; “I’m not here for you, I’m only after a treasure of my kind”; they accept and force Sanrath onwards (again without exploration)
- room beyond is a dead end (a trap! — clearly the lads before knew this and wanted to beset me (this was unrolled, just a case of me following the fiction))
- fail surprise check; am beset by all four brutes: miss, miss, miss, miss; retaliate! maim (dealing 3+1 damage) dropping the lad
- they gain initiative: miss, miss, miss; I retaliate, also missing!
- I gain initiative! maim (3+1, dropping another); they fail morale!! (CUR: stop, drop, roll (out)) and surrender “look, sorry for the ambush but there’s a shapeshifter in these mines” (they were wary before, why attack a sole character? also I’ve been reading about THE THING recently)
- Sanrath apologises, pays the bandits 2ŋ in weregild “I understand this settles this?” “Yes” (they’re genuine) {+400XP}
- “perhaps I need better supplies”, Sanrath says and goes to leave — is interrupted on the way back by the other bandits, but talks them down by revealing he’s spoken with the others {+½XP for bypass}
The WHEWARDS
- 600XP (30% to next level)
- knowledge there’s a doppelganger in the dungeon
- There’s been a long held houserule in OSR spaces of “shields may be splintered”, where any shield can be broken to stave off a deathblow. When gamed-into, we find shield-mule fighters, though honestly I’ve never seen it at a table.
- I’m not a huge fan of it as a rule, but I need something in a solo game to give a similar level of safety, thus bringing
Shields shall be slipped
- ie. you can drop your shield to avoid the deathblow
- Across the dungeon as a whole, it’ll have the same impact as the splintered version, but there’s also the moment in combat where you could spend your turn to collect your shield, which feels blissfully more desparate and thus, way in my wheelhouse
