Laughing Leviathan

Next up on my journey through solo rpg space is a little zine called Bucket of Bolts ( buy it here ), where you take on the POV of medium sized spacecraft, and explore its journey through time and space, cataloging adventures, upgrades, and a timeline of several Captains that have the privilege of being at the helm. It's based on another rpg called Artefact (in which you write from the POV of a sentient magic item or weapon). I had enjoyed  Artefact before, so I was excited to try this one out.  Source:  abduzeedo The game starts with you describing your ship; writing about some basic details like the type of ship, the model and make, the crew who designed and built it, as well as some defining traits like if it's sleek , or powerful , or intimidating .  My particular ship for this game was nicknamed Ladybug, and was the mid-range value model of Hyperion Industries called the Prospect-QX . Sporting the same engine and basic design as their flagship luxury spaceship l...

 I recently sat down and resolved to start tackling the mountain of rulebooks and rpgs that seemed to be growing by the week before me. That, paired with a sort of terse relationship with video games at the moment, lead me to tackle some of the solo roleplaying games that I had begun to subconsciously collect. I had played one or two before, most notably the famous and award-winning Thousand Year Old Vampire , which was a surreal experience at the least (and a profoundly introspective jaunt at its best).  Source: Dungeon Crawl Classics (seriously great game, check it out too) This week I decided to try one of the newer ones I had picked up: Lichdom (buy it here) . Thanking the past version of me that had the foresight (or the money burning a hole in my digital wallet) for backing the Kickstarter that came with the hardcover and a custom deck of themed playing cards, I cracked open the cards, uncapped a new pen, and creased the spine of a brand new journal to start playing....

 This is Part Two of my playthrough of A Single Moment RPG. Check out Part 1 here.   Artist: Vincente Segrelles CHAPTER TWO  Virtue / Pride  Key Focus / "The Promises" This is about honoring oneself and one's achievements. I remember the promise you made to my family. It was a solemn morning, thunder rolling in the distance and the skies dark and pouring down rain. The entire city mourned as one, and prepared for the Funeral of Leopold, the Sword Saint. We met that morning, in the Temple, while preparations for the Funeral March were still underway. "It's been awhile, Artrail. How are you handling things?" Tristan begins. It had been a while.  At least four years in fact.  Sure, we've seen each other while passing by, but that's all it was... a gentle exchange of words between associates.  Artrail stands tall, chest poked out, watching as some of the other members of the Legion of Judgement begin preparing for the march. Without directing his gaze up...

 This series of posts is going to be a direct copy / paste of my first game of A Single Moment . It's a roleplaying game designed for two players that tells the story of how two Samurai have come to odds and what awaits them. Check it out here . For our game, instead of samurai, we've gone with knights in a fantasy world.  The rest of this post and the series are going to be directly pulled from the game, and I'll note which players entry is from whom. The game begins by setting up a Duel between the players. Each chapter that follows reveals a moment in the past that has helped build towards this climax. Both players gain what are called Edges, Hatred, and Scars, and those fill up as Choice Tokens are awarded during each chapter at pivotal moments in the fiction. Each chapter highlights specific Virtues shared by the players. At the end of all the chapters, the players use all they've gained throughout the chapters to play through the final battle.  OPENING SCENE My na...

And so the mission begins, as the adventurers escort an archaeologist on what promises to be the biggest discovery of her career, and possibly the last. Meet the boys: Toshiro Nagi  - The sensible and practical exorcist that hails from the quiet  Tensia Town .  Furio  - A mysterious assassin with a shadowy past.  Ezo Ashara  - The lion-maned  Beastfolk who finds himself very far from home.  Rev - A heavily armored knight of few words.  And we're off with a late morning start thanks to Furio needing to sleep off some injuries, while Toshiro meets with the other two shmucks seasoned adventurers that have also been hired on as security detail: Ezo and Rev . Over brunch, Sigma Delmar , the head archaeologist and financier of this excursion, goes over the details of the assignment: after a two-day trek along the Dimnaya Stream , the group will set up shop in a newly discovered Old Architect seed-vault, where Sigma will spend as mu...

It's shaping up to be the coldest winter Brezim has ever seen, and two men find themselves far, far from home.  Meet our poor, lost souls adventurers:  Toshiro - The sensible and practical exorcist that hails from the quiet Tensia Town .  Furio - A mysterious assassin with a shadowy past.  A local researcher who specializes in old architect ruins, one red-haired Sigma Delmar , has finally secured funding from the Whiteyes Institute to investigate an old unsecured bunker near the Dimnaya stream. Our aforementioned fellows have been sent to accompany her and provide any extra security she may need on this project. Allegedly, this bunker houses an untouched seed vault left behind by the Old Architects .  Our expedition starts in the middle of the winter season, just twelve days after the Winter Solstice . Furio and Toshiro share a wool-covered snowjeepney, driven by Rufus Scarborough , an honest man who runs a taxi line from the metropolit...