The Journey Begins. (Ryth & Eri Part 1)

Hi everyone? Is that how blogs start? 

I'm the dev/owner of the SRPG-Toolbox. Its a fairly basic tool, out of the box it doesn't really offer much content. I built it to hold all my tables, macros, character sheets and logs and present it in a mobile friendly interface to play Solo RPGs on the go. 

This blog will basically be covering my SRPG game. I'm going to assume you know what a solo RPG is, as well as oracles and such. As the title of this blog may suggest, I will not by shying away from ERP and will be messing around with different solo mechanics to play into those scenarios.

So where does one start? Some players might tell you that you can just start rolling dice, look up random charts, and interpret oracle results and world build on the fly. I've tried it. Not a fan. Essentially you end up with a character that has no relation to the world they're in and just goes about bashing monsters because that's their only purpose for existing.

I recommend picking a setting that you're familiar with. It can be your own creation (as long as you develop it before starting to play), or you can lift one from some other media (Eg. TES, D&D, Diablo, Fallout, whatever...). The main thing is you should be familiar enough with it that when it comes to interpreting oracles you can off the top of your head relate them to some faction/NPC/location/event, that is relevant to the setting.

I'm just going to set my game in the Homebrew D&D setting that I ran for my players some years ago. It might be cool to run into some for my PC's and NPC's from games past... But lets see what the oracle throws at me.
A brief crash course of the setting: to the south of the main city there's a settlement of greenskins that have a ritual of raiding the farmers every few years. The only gods are the 4 gods of chaos. Khorne (God of the Harvest, war, and tributes), Tzeentch (God of Magic, Seasons and Fate), Nurgle (God of Flora, Fauna, Fungi and Protection), and Slaanesh (God of Culture, Creation and Fertility). Theres not much developed outside of the two civilizations, only because my players never ventured beyond that. (They had an inclination to get friendly with the goblins).

Now I have a setting, I'm gonna roll up some random characters. I wanted to try playing a party mainly so I could play around with the social mechanics...

I made some adjustments after randomization. Eri was a Half-Orc, I made her half-elf instead, and her class was "Commoner" I changed that to "Bard" as she's a PC after all. Ryth I didn't really touch.

I asked the DM what their relation was. I got "Friends" and "Neighbors".

So Eri's motive was to "Bolster War",  she's an Entertainer, Ryth apparently in the Militia. They're both Half-Elves, probably bastards. I'm gonna say they were both orphaned, grew up on the streets together and conscripted into the city militia. 

They both seem to be pretty dumb though, lets try roll up another character to fill that gap.

Whos this... "Neat" "soft body", "Dainty, Professional"... seems like some hoity-toity noble to me.

How is he related to the other characters? "Acquaintance" makes sense. And his motive to "Avenge Relic" what's that about? "Enact Destiny"...

Pulling it all together, Prunt has just inherited his fathers farm ("Beekeeper" lol). His father was a hard working man and often made tribute to an Idol of Khorne that blessed the farm land to yield a bountiful harvest to those that put in the blood, sweat and tears.

But after inheriting the land, Khornes blessing quickly faded as Prunt was not one to do physical labor or make tribute. Investigating the lost productivity Prunt found that the idol of Khorne was actually missing, and now he is out to restore it and his farm to rake in the money and go back to living his lax lifestyle.

In my city the Temple of Khorne is actually right next door to the Militia Barracks and the two regularly train together. Often members of one are also members of the other. I would say the story starts with Prunt going to the temple of Khorne looking for answers, and meeting up with the two half elves.

That'll do for now. somehow just rolling characters and their backgrounds I've come up with a story arc as well.