Right, so to contrast Cactus’ solo RPG, I’m gonna play a simple RPG to show that you can solo just about any game. This game is called Lasers and Feelings, a game so simple; the rules are all on one page. Lasers and Feelings is a sci-fi game about a group of ragtag sci-fi archetypes fending for themselves after their captain is taken out by a cosmic entity and is recovering in their medbay.
It, like Hope Inhumanity, is a far better game with friends than solo, as the game is made for humor in mind. An example is that one game had my character, a spherical robot, end up sliding into a hole made just for him (Yes, nods to Amigara Fault were made by yours truly) only for it to be revealed to be a time portal in a space ship that housed the three Great Scotts, of them including Scott Pilgrim.
So yeah, it’s one of those crazy RPGs you play with friends over beer. But, this is Solo RPG Voyages, not Group RPG Hangovers. This path is a path that only one may go. This is the path of the Voyager.
With that said, let’s make our easy to create character. We have two sets of six options, which leads to a pretty wide array of character options. The first set has four descriptors and two races, so while you could play a human being, you could also play an android or alien. You also have a role your character plays. Most of them are stuff people do on the ship, like be a doctor or a scientist… but then you have the Envoy.
You can play as someone that would normally be an NPC. A diplomat. Now, it could be because I’ve seen lots of sci-fi movies like this, but usually an envoy is more akin to someone that the heroes escort. Yeah, you have envoys that kick ass like Princess Leia, but I find it a bit odd. Eh, I’ll bite. I’ll be an Alien Envoy. If only because I just watched Ghidora, the Three-Headed Monster a while ago and so I wanna play up my character like Selina Salno and be possessed by a Martian (or Venusian if you want to go to the Japanese version), warning people of the dangers to come.
Next, I’ll choose a number from 2-5. A high number meaning that I’m good at Lasers (logical thinking) and a low number means I’m good at Feelings (emotional thinking). I’ll go with 2 for the best chances of succeeding at Feelings checks. And for my character name… Vena Venice. Her goal is to explore new worlds.
Now we’ll make the ship by picking two features it has and one weak point that it has. I’ve decided on the ship being fast and nimble, but with the problem being that Captain Darcy is in the only medpod. And now, we begin… Although, before we begin, let’s decide on our Engine.
[Roll: 4]
Sweet! It’s been a while since I played a game with Mythic. The game also has a plot generator, so we can use that as a Driver.
[Rolled out]
Alright, we have our plot. One question and we’re set.
[Q: Are Vena and Darcy the only ones on the ship? Odds: Unlikely. A: 32.]
Yes, they are the only ones on the ship. So now we begin our game. So, this is just after we had fought the entity. I have another question, actually.
[Q: Is the Entity inside the Comet Cloud? Odds: Likely. A: 25]
Yep, so we wanna be far away from it. Using the galaxy we rolled up in Instant Galaxy, we know that the immediate next place would be a Metal Dwarf, which due to certain conditions, can’t sustain life. However, because it’s a metal planet, I’ll say Space Pirates are mining for resources.
[Q: Does Vena know about the pirates? Odds: Somewhat Likely. A: 12]
Not only does she know of the pirates, she knows them on a personal level. She’s of their same kin.
[Q: Are the Space Pirates human? Odds: 50/50. A: 19]
[Q: Is Vena also human? Odds: Likely. A: 10]
So her pirates are, or rather were, her bodyguards, for she is of the royal Venetian blood. She’ll head over there to see if they can help with Captain Darcy.
Thus ending our prologue scene. Things are going our way.
- Chaos Factor: 4
- Threads:
- Find New Worlds
- Save Captain Darcy
- Avoid The Entity
- Plot Thread
- NPCs:
- Captain Darcy
- The Entity
- Space Pirates
- Plot NPC
And now we do Scene Roll.
[Scene Roll: 9]
We’re good. So we arrive on the planet with nary an interruption.
[Q: Is Vena and the pirates on good terms? Odds: Likely. A: 90]
Nope. As soon as she gets on, one of the space pirates starts to pull her in and interrogate her on what she is doing there. I’m gonna attempt my Feelings to dissuade the situation.
Task resolutions are easy in this game. For Lasers, you need to roll under the number you chose, while Feelings requires you to roll over. In this case, my number is 2. I’ll say she’s an expert on talking to people (she’s been doing it all her life) and I’ll ask if she’s prepared for this.
[Q: Is she prepared? Q: Very Likely. A: 20]
Yep. She is. Alright, so because I’m an expert and I’m prepared, I gain two additional dice for this roll.
[Roll: 1, 5, and 6]
Alright, so that means I have two successes, which is a normal success for this game. So, the Space Pirate is calmed down and is explained the situation. He escorts me to the Space Pirate [flip coin] King and our scene ends with it going our way.
- Chaos Factor: 3
- Threads:
- Find New Worlds
- Save Captain Darcy
- Avoid The Entity
- Plot Thread
- NPCs:
- Captain Darcy
- The Entity
- Space Pirates
- Space Pirate King
- Plot NPC
[Scene Roll: 6]
Our scene continues to the Pirate King, who is in charge of drilling into the earth to obtain the metals.
[Q: Does the Space Pirate talk with the King before? Odds: A Sure Thing. A: 99]
OOOOOH SNAP! He has not talked with him. I figured as such that he would feign his accepting of my speech. He’s walking me right into an ambush. So now, random event time.
- Event Focus: 67, PC Negative (EEEEEYUP! Busted…)
- Event Meaning: Work hard Leadership.
Hm… Not exactly sure how this would work, but I presume it means that there was some bad blood between Vena and the Pirate King Maru that goes beyond “she’s royalty and they’re lawbreakers”.
Maru glares to Vena, hand hovering over his sabre. “What are you doing here, royal brat?” He asked.
“I’m here because the Entity is coming and I need to hide somewhere while Captain Darcy heals.” She said.
[Q: Has he seen the Entity? Odds: Likely. A: 56]
“The Entity? HAH! That’s just a legend. It doesn’t exist. Why should I bother talking with you?” He gets his sabre out.
“Because… because you used to be my top bodyguard!” She said.
[Q: Was she prepared for this too? Odds: Somewhat Likely. A: 58]
[Feelings Roll: 6 and 6.]
We established she’s an expert in talking down people. Even if she has not prepared for the King interrogating her too, she manages to quell his anger slightly.
“That’s true. I used to be. Fine, you may stay here for the night. But by morning, you leave. Understand?” He asked.
“Y-yes. Understood.” She said.
And with that, we end the scene… I’ll say the situation was out of our control.
- Chaos Factor: 4
- Threads:
- Find New Worlds
- Save Captain Darcy
- Avoid The Entity
- Plot Thread
- NPCs:
- Captain Darcy
- The Entity
- Space Pirates
- Pirate King Maru
- Plot NPC
[Scene Roll: 0]
And Scene Interrupt.
- Event Focus: 67, PC Negative (Again?)
- Event Meaning: Expose A representative
She awakes to the sound of a spaceship landing and she gets up to see that the person who had arrived is none other than Zorgon The Conqueror, well known across space.
[Q: Is Zorgon human? Odds: 50/50. A: 42]
[Q: Is Zorgon a Rubber Forehead Alien? Odds: Somewhat Likely. A: 27]
Alright. So she knows full well that Zorgon is not a very nice guy. She also sees that Maru is talking with him.
[Q: Can she hear them? Odds: Unlikely. A: 86]
Not only can she not hear them, she only had a few moments to see what’s happening before she is escorted to her ship by Maru’s men, ending the scene. I think it’s easy to say that it was beyond our control.
- Chaos Factor: 5
- Threads:
- Find New Worlds
- Save Captain Darcy
- Avoid The Entity
- Maru and Zorgon’s Partnership
- NPCs:
- Captain Darcy
- The Entity
- Space Pirates
- Pirate King Maru
- Zorgon The Conquerer
[Scene Roll: 2]
Another scene interrupt.
- Event Focus: 60, PC Negative
- Event Meaning: Negligence Business
So the day it took for her to stay on wound up causing Captain Darcy’s trade deal, the one we were supposed to do before the Entity attacked, to go sour.
[Q: Does he wake up from his healing? Odds: 50/50. A: 55]
Thankfully not, but we have a random event.
- Event Focus: 49, Move Away From A Thread
- Thread Focus: 4, Maru and Zorgon’s Partnership
- Event Meaning: Dispute Good
In that time, Vena thought to herself about Maru and Zorgon’s partnership. She shrugged it off as them just negotiating something that doesn’t concern her. I mean, after all, they were mining the dwarf for metal, so…
Off she goes. Because Darcy is unconscious still, Vena has to pilot the ship herself. She’s no expert.
[Q: Was she prepared for this? Odds: Unlikely. A: 58]
No, she’s not. So she has to make sure she rolls a 1 in Lasers.
[Lasers Roll: 1]
O_O Okay… Well, that happened. So she’s able to fly out of the small system in the hopes to rekindle that deal Darcy made, albeit with a broken engine now once she enters the next populated system… and I guess we end it there… It’s… weird.
The plot set up is: “Zorgon the Conqueror wants to bond with the Space Pirate King which will fix everything.” However, we end it very ambiguously. We don’t know the extent of the deal other than “will fix everything” and the self-conclusion of “it’ll be alright”. Darcy’s still not awake and Vena is doing a fine job piloting the ship at the moment but is deciding to not engage further in the plot.
Had she failed, she would have to encounter the Cosmic Entity again, which will be when Zorgon and Maru come in to save her and show her “hey, Zorgon is a cool dude!” or “he’s just saving you for his evil scheme”. In either case, the game just… ends. It’s… pretty abrupt. Maybe I’ll come back to this someday and end it on a more higher note. Until then, Bon Voyage, gamers!
Solo RPG Voyages 