Now, I told you all about why I named my site Solo RPG Voyages, but I never told you the story behind the inspiration. The session I had made out of a simple D6 system (Snakes on a Plane-style) and the Rory’s Story Cubes dice will now be told to you all. If you guys wanted a full-on session with the mechanics in tow, I apologize. This is just me retelling the story of my game.
I used Nine Questions as a driver for the game. I made my character an adventurer with these stats:
- Guts: 6
- Nerve: 6
- Cool: 7
- Wits: 2
- Charm: 4
With my newly purchased Voyages version of the Story Cubes, I began to tell my story. My character was an aspiring adventurer who went to the jungle under reports of lost treasure. Because the Story Cubes were literally out of the box, I decided to go with what was already in the box instead of rolling it. My first question was answered with an amoeba, which I interpreted to be a disease.
So my character is infected with this disease and his attempt to heal himself fails. However, with his Cool, he has his resolve to move on. Though despite his success, the disease eats at him, taking away one point at random. This is when my low Wits score bites me in the ass, as I am now on a short timer.
The next question is answered with a mountain to climb up. His attempt to climb fails because of his disease. Fortunately, he lost his nerve. However, the second try was somewhat successful. Question 3 helps flesh out my disease. As it turns out, my character has a rare case of Mad Elephant Disease. As it turns out, Sherpas were climbing down the mountain with elephants that were also infected with MED.
I also reveal that this is taking place in Australia (because everything wants you dead in Australia) and I have no care for whether or not Sherpas are in Australia. I broke out the UNE and made a conversation. A Sherpa is suspicious of my character and asks what he’s doing. It’s revealed that there’s a pathway that he could have gone.
He attempts to charm the Sherpa into thinking it’s none of his business, but he shouldn’t have insulted the elephant. He decides to tell the truth and tells the Sherpa that he’s out for treasure. Unfortunately, he lacks the knowledge of there being treasure. Though then again, he doesn’t really care. He had a Mad Elephant to attend to. Which he sics on our hero.
I wonder if now’s the best time to tell you all that this was all off the cuff without any time to look back and look at what were the problems. However, our hero dodged it like a pro and ran. He took Charm as damage. Question 4 introduces a rival character who lends down a ladder. Who happens to be a thoughtful gypsy. Commence the Hunchback references.
Turns out she is trying to help him get the treasure and do a 50/50 split. As it turns out, this gypsy was actually the hero’s inspiration for becoming an adventurer, as she saved his life at one point. The hero, as it turns out, is pretty shy around her now. And unfortunately for our strapping young lad, she’s manipulating him.
Though he saw right through her charm. However, his disease kicks in and loses a bit of his nerve. It’s revealed that he is trying to find the Fountain of Youth, which can heal him of this disease. And the two head off to go to the Fountain. Question 5… Okay, now is a good time to tell you that this was all off-the-cuff and improvised.
For you see, Question 5 had the hero and the gypsy come up and see these guys guarding a campsite. For those who are confused, those are the Kurokage Troopers from Kamen Rider Gaim. In short: our antagonist was now Yggdrasil. This is the turning point of the story. This is gonna take a bit of an explanation. And heavy Gaim spoilers.
In Kamen Rider Gaim, there’s this alien forest that’s slowly invading humanity day by day. Yggdrasil, along with trying to prepare humanity for the inevitable day when this forest will take over the world, takes its time to research on the forest. That’s the basic gist without getting into the intrigue and gritty details of just how they’re preparing humanity.
They’re also a world leader in biotech and pharmaceuticals so our conclusion was that they were after the Fountain of Youth, which is in the forest. Fortunately, our gypsy is… well… a gypsy, and so she goes to distract the troopers. As they are distracted, our hero runs to the entry way into the forest. She soon follows.
Unfortunately for us, this attracts the attention, in the form of Question 6 of the Overseer, Takatora Kureshima. Not only that, but it turns out that the gypsy was part of Yggdrasil as well, trapping our hero. This was the moment where I practically yell at myself: “How do I get out of this puzzle!?”, as I’m cornered. I actually had to convince Takatora that I just need to heal myself.
Of course, it takes some convincing from the gypsy for him to let our hero pass though. Of course, he’s sworn under secrecy and a promise to join Yggdrasil, but hey, so long as he’s on his way to getting cured. However after Mad Elephant Disease ate a bit more at his nerve, I had to get the job done ASAP. Question 7 has snakes curled up in a mating ball near poisonous fruit. Takatora’s pretty much freaking out because these fruits…
Let’s just say if the snakes ate them, it’d lead to a TPK. Or maybe just my character. But Takatora’s a pro and quickscopes the fruit. But, the way Takatora warned my character about the fruit, I just have my character automatically assume he was a crazy dude. The next problem is getting the snakes out of the way.
Takatora doesn’t want to kill the snakes because he wants to get them out of the forest. This… winds up in him using his sword as a makeshift golf-club and punt the snakes back to Earth where they are promptly killed by the troopers. Have I mentioned this was all off the cuff without any time to reflect? Question 8 has our hero find the Fountain and drink.
However, Takatora and our hero realize that at the end of the day, the hero’s definitely not joining, especially since the latter thinks the former’s crazy. So a final battle ensues. I think I gave 9’s to all of Takatora’s stats. However, he botched his roll and I go first. I attempt to push him off a cliff, but fail. Takatora easily kicks my ass and the damage was a double loss of my nerve. So, I almost died.
Almost. I actually reconsidered a few things, like killing off my character, turning him into a monster and in the end I asked the Mythic GME one question. One question that is almost bound to be less of a question and more of an inevitability (remember that intrigue I mentioned before?): Does the gypsy betray Takatora?
With the likely answer of yes, she back-stabs Takatora. But it’s not because of ulterior motives or intrigue. It’s because she legitimately cares for the hero’s well being. Even if she stands by Yggdrasil’s cause, she isn’t willing to sit by and watch someone be forever silenced. And with that, she easily kicks Takatora’s ass and knocks him off a cliff. Though I managed to add that he’s not dead and that he’s still alive.
We get out of the forest and the encampment by feigning that the gypsy was taking the hero in as a prisoner. The Kurokage Troopers don’t buy it (probably because of the lack of Takatora to verify) and they try to kick her ass, but she wipes the floor with them. Question 9’s answered with the heroes selling the Fountain of Youth for tons of money, they get married, and have kids who also become aspiring adventurers.
And that was the story in a nutshell. I recorded myself playing the game, hence why I remember a lot about this game. The problem is that it’s a bit loud on the ears, there’s abundant swearing, and it contains a lot more Gaim spoilers than this summary provides. However, this was the stepping stone that led to the creation of Solo RPG Voyages.
Solo RPG Voyages 
