A long time ago, I decided to get serious in doing a campaign for a game called Fabletop, a virtual tabletop that uses its own built-in universal RPG system. However, the site I published it on no longer has any sort of functionality. So, I decided to reboot the Fabletop Campaign for this blog.
We’ll start in a tavern where we’re introduced to our protagonist, Red the Rogue. Character creation is rather easy since you just select what sort of class and feel of the character you want to make.
Anyways, the tavern has four different people. Two guards, a drunk, and a bartender.
[Q: Are the guards on their time off? Purpose: To Knowledge. A: 65, Yes. Surge goes to 1.]
Yep, the guards are on their time off so Red doesn’t need to worry too much about them, so sneaking past them will be an easy check.
How the game is that you’re given three stats: Might, Agility, and Wisdom. The numbers on the stats will allow you to roll that many dice, but you get bonus dice if your rolls apply to either your class or an archetype. For instance, since Red is an acrobatic rogue, he would get two dice if his roll relies on nimbly running.
In this case, only his rogue part applies since it revolves around stealth.
[Roll: 2 Stars]
Instead of numbers, you get stars, which have a 1-in-3 chance of appearing. Because I needed only one star, Red sneaks past the guards just fine. He approaches Gorm, the town drunk, since he has intel on something. What is that something? We’ll find out now:
- NPC Mood: (We’ll assume Red and Gorm are friends) 63, sociable.
- NPC Bearing: 3 & 5, happiness.
- NPC Focus: 92, weapon.
So, Red is after a special sort of weapon that is locked away by nobility and Gorm is the sort of person who knows everything and is too drunk to keep secrets. Red will try to speak in Thief’s Cant to code his message so as to not alert the guards.
[Roll: 1 Star]
He gets some of the message across, but Gorm isn’t that knowledgeable to know what he’s talking about.
[Q: Does the Barkeeper know? Purpose: To Knowledge. A: 32, Surge bringing it down to 30. Surge goes up to 2]
No, so he can’t even get help conveying what he means. He’s gonna have to be blunter, but must whisper it out lest the guards find out.
[Roll: 3 Stars!]
He manages to succeed with flying colors as he’s not only able to indicate he’s after this weapon but does it in a way where even the barkeep doesn’t know. Gorm manages to tell him exactly where he needs to go and Red slips a gold piece before going on his merry way.
In keeping with how I did the old game, I’ll be doing the traditional tally rather than recap. Bolded text means a new addition:
- Red
NPCs
Threads
- Steal a sword from the Kingdom
Factors
[Scene Roll: 4]
And random event time!
- Event Focus: 55, Close a thread.
- Thread Focus: 1, Steal a sword from the Kingdom.
- Event Meaning: 79 & 70; Intolerance of Extravagance
Luckily for Red, he has someone in the Kingdom who he can trust: White the Paladin. However, White tells Red that he’s too late in getting the info because the sword is in the process of being transferred to another place for safe keeping. Of course, Red is not deterred by it and asks where it’s being transferred to.
White replies that it’s going to a sacred vault where it’s much harder to crack. Red’s idea? Steal the sword in the process of transfer. This would be rather risky though, so they need to recruit someone else to their cause.
Our scene will end there as we update our chart. Chaos factor remains the same though:
NPCs
Threads
- Steal a sword in the process of transfer
Factors
[Scene Roll: 1, Altered Scene]
The duo try to go to the local shop to recruit some people, only to find a druid having chained up the shop with vines. Red goes up and asks her what is up with this, to which she responds that the shop is selling byproducts of endangered plants.
I’m gonna see if White knows anything about this:
[Roll: Nothing]
Nope, so Red is gonna wing it, saying how it’s all the Kingdom’s fault for letting the shop sell the plant product in the first place. He’s gonna have to roll well on his deception.
[Roll: 1 Star]
And now she needs to roll higher than 1 star to see through the lie. She’ll add her Nature trait to add four to the total.
[Roll: 1 Star]
She’s skeptical, but when Red tells her how she can stick it to the man, she is interested, opting to come along with them, introducing herself as Green, and ending the scene.
PCs
- Red
- White
- Green
NPCs
- Gorm
- Barkeep
- Soldiers
Threads
- Steal a sword in the process of transfer
Factors
- Chaos: 3
- Surge: 2
- Turmoil: 0
[Scene Roll: 3]
The group go over to where they find the hideout that Red and White chill at, as well as where their base of operations, a small dwelling, is being raided by soldiers… But why is that the case? Red managed to sneak in and get his information…
But seems someone else slipped up and now the soldiers are raiding it. However, their leader, Black, manages to handle the soldiers no problem and even rolled a Moon, which in this game is usually when good twists happen. He hobbles over and asks Red what the hell happened and if he was sold out. Red is just as confused and they have no idea who was compromised.
In the meantime, Green tries to heal Black using some salves she made, but she only rolls a Moon, which means it’s not a success.
So, being compromised, the band of thieves begin to discuss the possibility that their plan is compromised too, hence why they were transferring the sword somewhere else. Red shares his info about the transferring of the sword and they realize that chances are likely that it’s mostly bait for the thieves.
Green asks why they need this sword and Red replies that someone wants it for a heaping amount of money. Now we need to plan out how to get around this.
On one hand, this sword will end up being stored in the vault forever so they need to act quickly. However, they also know this is a set up and they might get killed.
However, Green brings up how they’re expecting thieves, not a druid. Green requests a cut of the money, however, if only to fund possible recovery of the forest. Black accepts and they go off to basically spring their trap. Chaos and Turmoil go up in this scene.
PCs
- Red
- White
- Green
- Black
NPCs
- Gorm
- Barkeep
- Soldiers
Threads
- Steal a sword in the process of transfer
- Find out how they got compromised
- Restore the Forest
Factors
- Chaos: 4
- Surge: 2
- Turmoil: 3
[Scene Check: 4]
Scene Interrupt time.
- Event Focus: 71, PC Positive.
- PC Focus: 1, Red.
- Event Meaning: 26 & 21; Procrastinate Messages
Okay, so this is a net positive, since the message that the soldiers were killed has been delayed, resulting in fewer knights guarding the sword (and a blue coated mage). This gives the group an advantage in sneaking in to grab the sword. Red elects to sneak in and grab the case containing the sword.
[Roll: Skull and 2 Stars]
Red successfully takes the case… However, the blue-coated mage snaps his fingers and suddenly…
BLAM!
A trap is sprung and the case blows up in his face. Thankfully, he got away in time that he only took one damage. The knights turn their swords and now it’s combat. The group goes in and takes on the two knights, chipping one damage from each of them. Green tries to cast a spell but Blue counters it.
[Q: Do the knights know who their leader is? Purpose: To Conflict. A: 79, Surge bumps it to 83. Yes, Surge going to 3)
Yes, they do, and they prioritize their attacks on Black. However, Black stands on one health. While the group deals with the knights, Blue proves to be a formidable opponent and distracts them long enough for more guards to come and arrest them (I rolled a lot of moons for him and a lot of skulls for the party).
PCs
- Red
- White
- Green
- Black
NPCs
- Gorm
- Blue
- Barkeep
- Soldiers
- Knights
Threads
- Steal a sword in the process of transfer
- Find out how they got compromised
- Restore the Forest
Factors
- Chaos: 5
- Surge: 3
- Turmoil: 4
[Scene Check: 8]
The group is put on trial before the king. Here, we get a good idea of what is going on:
Black, Red, and White are part of a notorious yet backyard thieves’ guild called Les Terriblés. Recently, they’ve been conflicting a lot with the Kingdom of Fantasia, robbing countless artifacts to sell to the highest bidder, who are normally Fantasia’s enemies. Their attempt to steal a priceless sword of great power was the final straw. Green seems rather pissed at this…
However, Red and White share their side of the story. That the Kingdom of Fantasia is one of those kingdoms that only benefit the higher classes. With Les Terriblés, their goal is to make enough money to uplift the lower class and bring them on equal footing.
This does make me wonder though…
How did the crew get sold out?
- Detail Check: 12, Disfavors NPC.
- NPC Focus: 5, Knights.
- Detail Meanings: 4 & 16: Fight Love.
This basically means that White inadvertently revealed himself to be a thief to the other knights as while he infiltrated the knights. They sussed him out because he got too in character in being a knight and talked about fighting for love. Ideals like that aren’t practiced in the kingdom and so they quickly figured out who he actually is.
Meanwhile, there’s a yellow-clad jester who constantly interrupts Red and White whenever they try to plead their innocence (they rolled only one star each while the jester, Yellow, rolled two). The King passes his sentence: Exile. But not to any old kingdom since who knows what sort of allegiances they have with the rival kingdoms.
Rather, they will be exiled to another plane of existence. Blue comes in to chant a spell. This will be their last fight…
Red breaks out in defiance, but Blue shoots a magic missile right at Black, knocking him down. Shocked by this, Red tries to get Black up, but it’s too late… Blue casts his spell and the four are transported to parts unknown…
PCs
- Red
- White
- Green
- Black
NPCs
- Gorm
- Blue
- Barkeep
- The King
- Soldiers
- Knights
Threads
Steal a sword in the process of transferFind out how they got compromised- Restore the Forest
- Find a way back home.
Factors
- Chaos: 6
- Surge: 3
- Turmoil: 4
And that wraps up the session. Everyone gets 6 XP for the six scenes they went through.
My overall thoughts is that this went in a completely different direction than how it originally went, yet it still kept some of the same elements: the thieves want to steal something from the Kingdom, the Kingdom is under threat from a rival Kingdom, and the party ends up in a different plane.
The differences though is that Blue is now a villain, Black is part of our party, and we now have Green. From here, I can hopefully do a complete second session set in the new universe they got sent to. But until then, Bon Voyage, Gamers.
Solo RPG Voyages 