SRPG Play Report - Two Sheep Dungeon

Have you ever heard of solo RPGs? I hadn't.

I decided to run a session for myself. I generated two characters, both sheep people, to run them through a dungeon. I generated the dungeon's layout and key using Donjon, which is a very nice tool for dungeon layouts, rooms, and jayquaying if you need it. I used the Mythic GM Engine to help determine what happened whilst using my homebrew ruleset as a nice solid test run. Obviously I didn't want to railroad myself, so I used a number of random generators and tables to accomplish a solo RPG experience. While some metagaming was unavoidable, I did enjoy my experience. Here's a play by play. It's very loosey goosey.

Oh and as a reward for actually reading this; I put all the tools and generators I used at the end for your own potential use in making your own dungeons, or solo-RPG sessions if you wanted.

The Setup
Two Sheeple, Belle Trustings the Rogue and Wooly Herder the Fighter, descend into an ancestral tomb of their people. Belle, was the one who put Wooly up to this. You see, she is significantly more intelligent then he is, and incredibly good at getting what she wants from people, and with her Wisdom of 3 has zero reverence for raiding tombs. Wooly isn't so sure, but with such a meager stat spread I figure he doesn't have very many opportunities in life anyway and finds himself roped into this mess.

Normally, by my own rules, I allow anyone with a modifier total of -1 or worse to mulligan, and poor Wooly here has a -2 total modifier. However, I decided to keep him, and reward him a little extra starting gear. Both characters are just treated as though they have max AC, they must have gone on adventures before and had enough money for armor.

I gave each character a random quirk beyond this setup. I figure Belle is manipulative and charming, and spurns the gods and tradition. Wooly is a bit slow, shy, and bumbling. He's strong and earnest (and sheared, so he can wear chainmail). But when the chips are down- Belle becomes Irrational and Wooly becomes Focused. I think it's a good dynamic.

Descent
Coming down the stairs into the dungeon, we can see our intrepid heroes face a door to the left, and a hallway that stretches into darkness. They decide to go down the hallway instead, knowing that some of the doors here may be trapped. They travel along until they reach a door at the end of the long hallway.

Will Wolly be careful opening the door? The oracle answered no. He barges in.

Within the next room, they find a door to the north flush with the wall, and a set of bars leading to another room to the south. More pressingly, however, is this large room. Since we can see the room number, we'll roll on a small generator I made to see what's inside.

We rolled a 1 and then a 3, so a Deadly Trap. Because this room is really big, and because I like the idea of it, we're going to use flame traps. Small pyramids dot the room, with spigots on each side. If you activate any of the traps, it fires a jet of flame. If the fire deals 4 or more damage on a hit, you get ignited and take damage again every round perhaps.

Wooly is walking through the room, is wearing chainmail, and is pretty clumsy in general. He's going to trigger it. Both sheep roll saving throws. Belle gets a total of 5. Wooly gets a 1. Yikes. The fire trap deals 1d6 damage. Both miraculously only rolled 1, so they both only take 1 damage.

They both decide the room is not worth the effort, and rush up to the door to the north so they don't have to pass through the whole room. The door is locked, so Belle gets to work with her lockpick. It only takes a turn of downtime, and then they open the door.

Oh what the fuck. This dungeon sucks.

This is what they've seen so far. I'm kinda doing this on autopilot. They come to another door. (Donjon likes to put down a lot of those). Does Wooly barge in again? The oracle says Yes.

They enter the room. Let's use the generator to see what's inside. We rolled a 5, 4. So Mysterious Terrain. This room also has a secret door on the right side, with a door on the far wall to the sheep.

We'll say this room has several large square pillars, each framed with reliefs of past sheepish ancestors, and fields of swaying grass. Belle haggles Wooly to start prying the copper reliefs off the wall, which he does after a moment of getting brow-beaten.

We'll say they could get really lucky and stumble across the switch by accident. To simulate this, we'll ask the GM oracle with a "very unlikely" odds, and it's expectantly a No. They don't find the secret switch. Wooly is now loaded down with a couple of big copper reliefs; so we'll increase the chance of getting attacked by wondering monsters by +1, and speaking of which, I feel like they've been down here long enough to warrant a roll. Plus they're making noise. (And I forgot to do one earlier when they were unlocking that door up top lol)

We rolled a 14, so no random encounter. They continue on.

They come to a hallway with a split. They can see an arch of stone at the end of the hallway; an entrance to a room with no door. Does Wooly blunder in? Yes- according to the oracle.

We rolled a 3, then a 3. So a Hostile Trap. What's different about a Hostile Trap versus a Dangerous Trap or a Deadly Trap? No idea. So let's make something up.

Wooly walked into the room first, and he rolled a 12 on his saving throw; too low. So he gets caught up into the trap. There is a loop of rope that closes around his hoof, and pulls him up towards the ceiling in a counterweight. He's upside down and helpless. At the same time, a large number of stones crash into the floor from the counterweight; creating a great clattering noise. Time to roll for a wandering monster. We got a 2; so yeah, this one actually worked.

The group has attracted the attention of goat witches. We roll 1d4 for the number of them, and there is only one. So Goat Witch singular. Because they're the ones who made the noise, there is no way they can surprise the goat witch. So we'll say the goat witch surprises them. Belle runs over to help Wooly and combat is initiated.

We're using team initiative, with an ability to roll class HD to see if you act whenever surprised. The Witch will automatically go first. Belle and Wooly both get to roll 6 or higher on their HD to see if they get to act this first round.

Belle gets a 1, she's too distracted. Wooly gets a 5, so he can't notice it either. The goat witch comes into the room while the two are distracted.

We'll say she has a random 1st level attack spell. She got Devastating Pattern. She'll use it on Belle, since she's closer and standing up. There's no saving throw for this spell, and the witch rolled a 2. Belle now takes 2 Wisdom damage AND gets a -2 on her next saving throw. Ouch- worst stat for her too.

The witch used her surprise round. Now it's normal initiative. The Witch instigated the fight, so let's say she goes first too; not much the Sheep can do here. She draws her dagger and attacks Belle with it. She only got a 6, so she can't hit Belle's AC.

Belle turns around. It's her turn now; she strikes back with her own dagger. She gets a 13, which is enough to hit, even with her low strength! She deals 2 damage, and the Witch has 4 HP, so she has 2 HP left. Belle cuts the witch along the face, causing her to bleat in surprise.

It's Wooly's turn. He's still tied up for the rope. Instead of trying to attack the Witch, he just cuts the rope above him with his sword. He's freed, but has to spend this round getting back up out of the trap.

Now it's the Witch's turn again. She knows that Belle is weakend because of her curse, so she hooks her leg around the girl and pushes her to try and knock her over. Belle has to save at -2. Belle only rolled a 2, so she certainly fails. I'll go so far as to say she knocks her head on the ground too, since she's so cursed right now, and takes 1 damage.

It's the group's turn. Wooly stands up. Belle stands up.

It's the Witch's turn. The Witch slashes Wooly now, since he is clearly the bigger threat. She only gets a 7, and against his chainmail it isn't going to do much. It misses.

It's the group's turn. Wooly is tired of this goat bitch and slashes the shit out of her. But he only gets a 4! Even with his Fighter bonus, that's a miss. She manages just barely to hop back and out of harm's way.

Now Belle attacks. She gets a 17, far more then enough. She does 3 damage, which is lethal. The sheep steps forward into the Witch's range and stabs her right in the throat, pushing in her dagger with all her strength her little body can muster. The Witch dies.

Belle searches the Witch's body and finds no treasure. She is very frustrated; she is totally closed off to any kind of spiritual matters. She lacked precedence before coming to this place, now with her Wisdom drained she's practically a beast. Wooly finds a magic charm on the Witch's body and takes it; he knows this place is haunted and they will need all the help they can get, spiritual or not.

On the mythic GM engine, you can roll to see if a scene is altered in some way. I rolled on this and got an alteration; NPC focus. Keywords were Vengeance Fears. I decided to incorporate this as Wooly being deathly afraid of retribution from the spirit of the witch that Belle killed. He asks her to do something about it; but in her deadened spiritual state, I put the odds as being impossible. The response was "Extreme No".

Belle pushes Wooly into the wall, practically spitting on him. "We're going to get this treasure, and you think one little witch is going to stop me?!"

He sweats nervously. He's never killed anybody, Belle has. She's gone off the deep end. He follows her dutifully, picking up his torch off the ground, and they continue onwards.

They come to the last door they can explore without having to return to the fire trap room. Because of the little spat earlier; Belle is now leading the way. She isn't some idiot like Wooly, so she takes a peak into the room quietly. We'll roll to see what's inside. We got a 2, 7- so a dangerous magic item or object.

I liked the sound of that, so I used the 50 Random Items table to see what it was. It was 39, or heavy metal plates. There is a pile of metal plates in the room. Given the situation; I'll say that Belle is likely to force Wooly to touch them. I use the GM emulator to ask to see if Belle will ask Wooly to touch them, set to "Likely". I actually got extreme no. So her greed has overtaken her completely I'll say. Also makes sense she can't sense the danger, since her Wisdom is so stunted. She reaches out to touch the plates, prompting a saving throw.

She gets a 16, -2, +1, means 15. That's a pass for a standard save. She grabs the plates without them triggering their Frothing effect, which was rolled on the d1000 random effects table. The metal plates are packed away in her bag, her being totally unaware of their poisonous quality.

The door to the South is locked. Belle lockpicks it, taking one turn. We'll roll a random encounter. We'll say the plates don't encumber, but Wooly's copper reliefs still do. We got an 11, so no encounter.

Through the next door, they find a short dead end and then a very long hallway. Wooly begs them to turn back before they get lost, but Belle isn't having it. He can't help himself to follow her.

There's a fork in the road. Do they go left or right? I just used a random coin flip for this. They choose right.

Oh no- a stairway! Belle begins to descend greedily. She knows deeper floors harbor more treasure. Wooly is extremely nervous at all this, but can't really resist her. She's going to get both of them killed, he just knows it. But if he leaves, she'll die on her own for sure.

FLOOR 2

Wooly and Belle travel down a floor. He's nervous, and the air down here feels more suffocating then the last level. Is it because this place is more sacred, or farther way from the blessed sunlight and grass plains that gives the troubled young warrior peace?

They decide which way to go randomly. Left.

They come to another locked door. Let's see how they do on wandering monsters- a 4. That's going to count as an encounter- as they have an encumbrance value of 1. (I've also been skimping on the fact he's wearing chainmial, which should increase it by +1, my bad.)

Oh no! It's the Sentry Warden. It must stay on this floor- a powerful golem construct designed to protect this tomb from trespassers- like our two sheep. It appears like a golem made of many small stones, rolling together and discharging static electricity between its shining stones. It looks quite dangerous. Perhaps it is simply on a patrol path though; we're going to say that the party and the monster have an equal chance to surprise. The party rolls a 6 on a d6, the monster rolls a 5, so the party gets the first move. The monster is surprised, and as such the party gets 1 round to attack.

I decided to use the GM oracle to see if the scene is interrupted by an event, and it was! My response was; Focus: Ambiguous event. Meaning: Lie outside.

So in the distance, the two sheep hear a moaning, echoing call of some kind of spirit. The event does not stop the combat from happening. Because of how tight this corridor is, it seems to snap something awake in Belle, who has just finished unlocking the door as the sentry rumbles closer without noticing the party yet.

Belle is smart enough to know she can't contribute to this fight with her short dagger in this tight corridor, so she reaches to Wooly and takes his crossbow as he readies his sword and torch, without asking. She aims and fires. It's a miss. She struggles with the mechanism to load another shot while Wooly steps in to attack.

He attacks out of nowhere, to the sentry ward at least, and gets a 9. +2 for his bonuses, that's an 11, which is just shy to actually harm the ward. His sword bounces off its stones without displacing them enough to do any damage. That's rough.

With both party members finished their surprise round, initiative will be determined. The ward will go first. He attacks. He gets a 17, which is enough to hit even Wooly and his shiny armor. The electrical discharge only deals 1 damage against him.

Now it's the party's turn. With her lack of strength, Belle finds it very hard to reload the crossbow, but manages it. She takes a bolt from the pack she nicked off of Wooly. Her round is over. Wooly goes in for another strike. He gets a 3, it's a miss.

Golem's turn. 18! He hits again. Deal 1 damage to Wooly, again. He's at half HP now, feeling weak.

Party's turn. Belle fires, and tries to avoid hitting her companion. She gets a 19! Nice shot. Only does 2 damage though. They finally hurt the sentry. It's body crackles with energy, but it clearly doesn't feel pain. Wooly attacks. Only gets an 11 total; still a miss.

The sentry attacks. 6 total, miss. Wooly is deflecting the attacks with his sword; his doubt put aside.

Party's turn. Belle reloads. Wooly attacks. Gets a 6, miss. D&D combat is riveting.

Sentry's turn, rolls a 1. Total miss. Wooly is hyper focused and takes the opportunity to whack it on the head with his pommel, dealing 1 point of free damage. Not really a houserule, just because this is fucking slow and it fits the character.

Party's turn. Belle fires, getting a 3, miss. Careful, a 1 and you'll hit Wooly. Wooly attacks. Rolls a 19! That's a definite hit. Deals 5 damage. The powerful slash disrupts the electric energy in the golem, causing it to shiver and groan. The magic binding it together is unraveling, much like blood to a mortal creature.

The ward attacks, missing. Belle reloads, and Wooly goes in for the kill, but it's a miss.

The sentry makes an attack- it's a miss. Wooly attacks; rolls a 1. The sentry's electrical energy shocks him, causing him to drop his sword. He drops to the ground to grab it while Belle raises her crossbow; gets a 17. That's a hit. It's a killing blow, whizzing right over Wooly's head, and destroying the ward in a shower of sparks.

Wooly looks up at Belle. I used the GM oracle; NPC action. Meaning: Develop good. Neither of my characters are really "NPCs", but I've been imprinting on Wooly more this whole time, especially after Belle has almost lost her sheepmanity. 

She cracks her lips- "A-are you ok?" She asks. Her Wisdom is restored by one point; Wooly is happy that she seems to have broken her lust for treasure at least for this moment. 

The two explore the next room. For this room, we roll on our room-thing again, and get a 5,2. That's a mysterious ghost. Maybe the one who did the moan earlier? We'll roll a reaction check for this one. I was considering "mysterious" a step closer to danger then neutral, but a reaction check should work. Belle walked in first anyway, so we'll use her Charisma bonus of +2. An 11 on 2d6, +2, is pretty damn good I'd say.

I was going to use the ghost generator to make any angry ghosts anyway, but since this one is neutral/mysterious, we'll just use the ghost generator for a few things. Like the cause of death- which in this case is 1, or Starvation. So the ghost sheep looks very skinny, starved, somewhat ragged. It rings a bell from around its neck. Wooly thumbs the magic charm in his pocket, still scared of an attack.

To determine what the ghost was going to do, I used the oracle. I got Focus: NPC action. Meaning: Failure fears.

"From once we suffered, and once we feared. Without bite to eat or water for tears."
"Before you lay the corpses many, all my friends, fellows, even those enmity."
"Youth makes you strong, but seasons change. Dry desert winds may steal your rains."
"Gold and coin may make you rich, but hunger has a much stronger itch."

With the message relied, the ghost disappears. Wooly makes a sign with his hand in superstition, while Belle rolls her eyes.

This room is a tomb. Within it, are many dozens of large coffins. On each are slips of clay, the shape of grass stalks, to hurry those within to travel their way to the endless fields in the sky. Clearly, these were victims of a great famine that once ravished the land, one that may come again.

Belle begins to loot the tombs with little regard for herself, or the dead, but isn't quite as zealously money-hungry as she was a few minutes ago. Perhaps her heart is softening. Wooly, on the other hand, is much more pensive. He's got a lot to think about.

They're in luck. The many tombs and coffins hold treasures of a bygone age; silver boiling kettles, keepsakes, great wool-needles made of gold. Belle pulls these from the corpses as Wooly stands there, carrying them all, in silent apology to the dead.

With their raid complete, the sheep begin their ascent out of the place. Wooly, as they leave the final chamber, places his lucky charm against the door leading within. He hopes that, if the spirits are disquieted, they will at least remain trapped within their tomb.

On the way out, we rolled on the Mythic GM one last time, this time to evaluate event- the pair leaving the dungeon. The event proceeds normally. This means they managed to quickly grab the treasures and escape without issue, soon on their way back to civilization.

---END---

Well, that's all I have for now. It was a fun session, though dragged a bit here and there. Using randomly generated dungeons might have also been a mistake, as they're a bit scatterbrained, obviously. Still, it was a unique experience. Now, as promised, here's the actual useful part of this blogpost; the tables!

Stocking Rooms Random-Table

#	Adjective	Feature
1	Deadly	Monster
2	Dangerous	Ghost
3	Hostile	Trap
4	Irritating	Terrain
5	Mysterious	Empty Room
6	Neutral	Empty Room
7	Neutral / Useful	Magic Item / Object
8	Friendly / Harmless	Treasure Hoard

Note: In the event of an empty room, the adjective was going to describe any graffiti, murals, corpses, etc. that were present in the room.

Sheep Tomb Wandering-Monster Table
Roll 1d6

[1] Biting Snizzards (1+1 HD, +1 AC, 1d4+1 bite, climb thru)
Morale- 11
Number- 1d6+1

These are snizzards; blue-gray snake lizards. Fast, hyperactive, and long and thin. They can squeeze through metal bars and are just in general a dangerous pest for low level characters.

[2] Giant Wool Louse (2 HD, -2 AC, save or be latched)
Morale- 13

Number- 1 or 2

Look like dog-sized giant bugs. They instinctually want to bury themselves in wool, but are too big and will end up burdening whoever they dig into. Dangerous to remove without tools and time; if hit in the dungeon, you'll be burdened by one weight unit until you get it off. Save or be latched onto. If it latches onto you, you take 1 damage.

[3] Goat Witch (1 HD, -1 AC, 1d4 dagger, can cast a spell)
Morale- 8
Number- 1d4

These Goat Witches are holed up in the ancestral tomb, knowing it has spirits and magic within it. They are quite cowardly however, and physically weak and unsuited for combat. They are magicians though, and each can cast a single spell once per day.

[4] Baaaad Spirit (1 HD, 1d4 draining touch, GHOST)

Morale- 12
Number- Just one

This is a ghost. It cannot be harmed with normal weapons and drains the life force of whoever it touches. As a ghost of a sheep, it is deathly afraid of predatory creatures and will flee from them, but is otherwise a standard spirit.

[5] Sentry Warden (3 HD, +1 to hit, +2 AC, 1d2 zap, charge up, construct)

Morale- N/A
Number- Just one

The sentry warden is a unique monster within the ancestral tomb. It is designed to protect the tomb from robbers and any ghoulish wolves who may wish to eat the interred dead. It only deals 1d2 damage on a successful hit, but each time it rolls a 2 on its zap, it gains more power and now deals 2d2 damage. If it rolls a 2 on at least one die again, it charges up, and now deals 3d2, etc.

[6] Generate a Weird Monster. Starts at 2 HD

Sheep Character Name Generator

X	Part One	Part Two
1	Wooly	Trodder
2	Frock	Weather
3	Cud	Gardener
4	Ramsy	Flowers
5	Belle	Trustings
6	Honest	Goodman
7	Fluffy	Shearer
8	Hoofsie	Lanes
9	Lamb	Herder
10	Black (also a black sheep)	“The Wolf Killer”