Switching to Mythic

I am generally a bit “open” in my relationship to gamemaster emulators and related engines for solo play — including a favorite of mine: “just wing it, why not?” — but I have a long-term soft spot with the the Mythic GME which used to dominate my games before this blog but has always kind of danced in the periphery since I started posting most of my actual plays here. There are reasons and the largest reason is that I just like to try out things and virtually every campaign has been an experiment. The Bloody Hands, for instance, has three different eras as I used fair different play structures and “The Stone Crack’d” switched a few times in the middle, being briefly Mythic before going to a slightly less structured Gamemaster Apprentice Deck assisted “just winging it, why not?” situation.

The second largest reason I will discuss in the next session.

When I started this “1995 Johnny Blue” and then it morphed to “1992 Johnny Blue” branch of The GLOW there was initially a sense of a few scenes and then one of a “few more than few” scenes. There were a couple of strong plotlines and then a third. Only the third changed shape almost immediately. And there were a few more being folded under. During most of this, the relative simplicity of Tricube Tales Solo was working just fine. It remains one of my biggest recommendations for people who need a solo-engine. It just is no longer quite fitting the scope of this campaign arc.

There are a lot of ways to handle this fact but I think it would be nice to bring back Mythic. It’s been about seven months since I last used it.

But to explain a bit why I miss it, I have to explain a couple of ways I have misused it. Heh, pun.

Two Ways I’ve Played Mythic Wrongly

Let’s start this section with a caveat: I am almost always on the side of descriptivism when it comes to roleplaying mechanics. I appreciate that there are words on the page and following those words is part of why you pay cash money for the right to touch the page that holds the words but in practice every single group interpreting those words are going to make changes to the meaning and find a common ground with each other over 100% specific attachment to the words. Sure the most common way this occurs is by spending more money to buy more words that allow you to say, playing a half-dragon mystic songweaver without Vancian magic pools, but in principle there are a many versions of handling encumbrance rules as there are groups playing out hex crawls. “Nah, man, you have to count each and everyarrow. You know this! What do you mean: how much do the wheels weigh when you floating this across the lake? Eh… let’s say 100 coins.”

The first main argument I tend to hold against such descriptivist tendencies is that you need to know the rules and their structure to know where to break them. Shifts in rules tend to work better over time rather than just guessing that you can rewrite the rules without some familiarity.

The second main argument I hold for stauncher rules lawyering is in group play where changing the meaning of rules potentially infringes upon the shared experience. Forcing the spell-caster to keep track of dozens of spell components while hand-waving other characters’ equipment puts too much stress on a player or two unless there is a clear-cut reason besides GM-fiat. What if one cleric-player wants to make daily prayers part of the table talk while the other cleric-player wants to make it something entirely background? Different groups find different balances but a lot of the times starting with stricter adherence to the rules is a good way to find out where balance is needed rather fleeing back to them after the fact.

It is towards this second argument that solo play makes the experience a bit more nuanced. Without need for table balance among multiple players, the chief focus is on player agency and enjoyment. This can even result in a player — like me — changing up some things on the fly — or at least between sessions and sections — to better fit the game I want to play that specific session. No one gets hurt. I never throw the rules completely away, I just find a way to satisfy what I want in the moment.

However, going back to the first argument, it can behoove a solo player to give a fair shake to the rules and mechanics so they know what they are breaking or adjusting. It is not a requirement, more a exploration.

In that light, some of my Mythic-using games have had a broad pair of flaws. The first is that I often play my solo games with a vague framework in mind. Meaning it’s not uncommon for me to set up a starting spot and to have kind of an idea of an ending spot [even if said spot will change before I get there]. I’ve talked about this elsewhere — using the words “scaffolding” and “gravity” — which is perfectly fine way if you want to use such a device and can help with things like juggling expectations but it has brushed poorly up against Mythic in the past. When I roll with the alterations and interrupts it can lead to frustration when I am too focused on getting to a specific end goal. This is entirely on me. Both in having too rigid end goals to appreciate the experience but also ignoring some of the tools in place that can help bring about end goals more properly.

The second is that I have tended to overload my Threads and Character lists. Again, this is not truly a problem but my experience is that it starts to infringe upon my enjoyment when I am spending too much time figuring out why some minor thread is closing when trying to do something completely unrelated to that minor thread. It got so “bad” in my old Advanced Fighting Fantasy games that I created a whole mythos in-world about how reality was shifting and bending across multiple canvases. That was fun. Juggling something similar in a more real-life scenario like Eustace + Hitomi or range spanning like The Bloody Hands had much more mixed results. Again, there are ways I could have used the tools at hand to play it better but it also would have made more sense to only bring some elements to the table rather than every element in the game world.

While there are twenty-five spaces in the Threads and Character lists, in practical terms I have found that more than four or five of the former and more than maybe ten or twelve of the latter can cause a lot of strange bookkeeping. I’m sure others have juggled it better than me, but still.

Bringing Back Some “Extra” Lists

Back in the days of Eustace + Hitomi I grappled with the latter bit by coming up with a series of six new lists. It worked ok. There were roughly three competing elements going on at the time: a need for a good mystery, a need for a slice-of-life, and a need to not drag it all out for months.

I spent some time thinking of how to implement this but also was willing to run it fairly experimentally. All the game theory in the world cannot fully substitute for good old playtesting. Looking back on the experiment, I feel like I need to go a bit deeper into why I would want to use such a list of lists. As opposed to just popping stuff off the lists and putting them at least temporarily into various notes.

In my campaigns, there tends to be a lot going on. This is simply the way I like playing. A character that shows up for a scene — a gas station attendant or maybe a knight on a horse — is both fodder for that scene but also an implication of a larger world. For something like The GLOW, there is a non-zero — however scant — chance that I might choose to revisit that character or even promote that character. A one-off cop might come back for many scenes and be the focal point for contemplating the legal system of the world. A young punk might be the seed for an entire gang. By capturing little moments and ideas like this — such as the backstory for the whole various fake cults in the most recent The GLOW arc — I end up having room to play to larger story beats. I realized that we had multiple fake cults and in a previous campaign arc had dealt with hints of Lovecraftian entities. This all ended up working out towards a grand sort of world building.

Once you combine this fact with my ability to completely forget details a few seconds after writing them down, having an ordered way to call upon these details really helps. The number of times I have gone back over previous sessions and realized I had established something of importance that I had failed to actually recall within a few days is both kind of astounding but also astoundingly typical. It happens.

The lists also help me to juggle those background details in the background. In the current story arc, there is a farm where renegade psychics and potential agents are kept assuming they choose a path of redemption. A powerful relic was stolen from that farm and currently the story is following four young nerds from that farm who have taken it upon themselves to track it down. There is little reason to really play out any more scenes at the farm but nevertheless there is the potential for other characters and developments to grow out of what was essentially a single scene’s location. Maybe other agents get involved. Maybe some of the people who were closer to redemption decide to go more rogue. It will 100% be a thread in the list but it might be a thread played out not so much on the page — which is largely the viewpoint of Johnny Blue and to a lesser degree Billy Lug — but in the list itself.

This means my play style works well when there is primary focus lists — Threads and Characters — but also background & setting focus lists: Background Characters and Background Threads. Then, another pair of lists — Objects and Locations — helps to juggle important elements like that in a more controlled manner. Finally, a pair of lists can help to juggle things that don’t quite fit anywhere else — Miscellany & Oddities — and to act as a focused spark/meaning table for concepts more specific to this campaign arc itself. All told, this time around I will have six extra lists which are not quite the same as previously used:

• Background Characters
• Background Events & Threads
• Places
• Objects [Note: not necessarily tangible objects]
• Sparks
• Miscellany & Oddities

Starting Details for the Current Arc

Ok, then, let’s start populating the list. First, Threads. This seems fairly simple at this time. We have the plot to find Finley Estevan. We have the cult trying to find The Codex. We have Johnny stealing the Forked Tongue. I’d also add “Finley and Maria’s True Goal” and “Scooter Johnson’s Actual Agenda.” In the former case of this pair, there is almost definitely something up. Maybe two somethings. In the latter, I’m not sure. Either something will grow out of it or if it is never actually triggered then maybe Johnson is simply doing what’s right. Fate can decide. I am not going to add any thread about the relationship between Johnny and Maria because while it might be part of the story I don’t think it is best to be handled as a foreground thread.

The current Threads list is:

• Finding Finley “Farsight” Estevan
• Johnny Stole the Forked Tongue
• Estevan & Maria’s True Intentions
• Cult Searching for The Illuminated Codex
• Scooter Johnson’s True Intentions

Characters have a couple more wrinkles to them. There are obvious ones: Maria “Madame Sinister” Salas, Finley “Farsight” Estevan, and Raymond “Cash” Buttrey. There are others that probably should show up but how to divide them: Celia Cartier-Buttrey, Don Patrick, other cultists. I think the first two should likely be in there on their own but not the others. What about Scooter “Wisteria” Johnson. I like the idea for him just sitting there in the same way he is just sitting in the threads.

I’m pretty sure “The Kid” should show up since he will, well, show up. At least have an influence even if not in person. A slightly wrinkle to that is that later in Johnny’s life — the end of his original The GLOW arc — he hears a reference to “The Kid” as Macy Maron brings up the entity. Johnny/Jani does not react at the time. Does this mean the cult fails? I have no idea. So, like Scooter I’m going to seed it in and see where it goes rather than try and guess ahead.

Besides that, we have characters like Upton Reece and Tanya Green. Upton is currently entangled with Billy and his group. Tanya is sort of an extension of Maria. There’s the cultist Bunny who seems a bit more than just “a cultist” but also doesn’t really need to show up. And there is the spectre of Dorothy Lang at least. She might end up just being fluff but I like the idea that she is more entangled into the plot than that, despite being dead since before The GLOW was really a thing. For my playstyle, I think Upton, Tanya, and Bunny are going into Background Characters. Dorothy will go into the main Characters list just to see if her legacy comes into play.

There is also the “Other POV” aspect — presumably Billy and Johnny will eventually meet-up but it’s not guaranteed — so it rather than have two separate lists it might be a good idea to simply have a “Billy OR Johnny” option. If it shows up, it means the leaders of the two arcs actually somehow cross paths. Of course, Eustace is in there.

The current Characters list is:

• Eustace “Nurse” Delmont
• Maria “Madame Sinister” Salas
• Finley “Farsight” Estevan
• Billy OR Johnny*
• Scooter “Wisteria” Johnson
• Raymond “Cash” Buttrey
• Celia Buttrey
• Donald “Don” Patrick
• The KID*
• Dorothy Lang

For Places and Locations, the list is already somewhat plentiful without much in the way of complications. The one slight twist will be that for some of the places I will include the general spot and the specific sub-spot. The Waukepsie Swamp will include an entry for Estevan’s hideout. The Arbuck Medical Mall will include Madame Sinister’s and Cash’s Discount Tobacco.

• PREMIUM Motel
• Cartier Plantation
• Medical Mall
• Madame Sinister’s
• Cash’s Discount Tobacco
• Waukepsie Swamp
• Candlestick Farm
• Estevan’s Hideout
• The Cloister
• The Sherlock Holmes Statue and Playground
• Gaston
• Wales
• Highway 117

Most of the background characters have already been discussed, so:

• Upton Reece
• Tanya Green
• Bunny Roberts
• Bunny Roberts’s Unnamed “Friend”
• OTHER CULTISTS*
• Lanette Jemson
• Torey Toutsie
• Jayson Pool
• CANDLESTICK FARM AGENTS/GUARDS*

With that list, you can see a couple of paddings to provide hooks. I am not sure if there are other cultists besides the ones already named or not. Probably. Someone is harvesting pot on the Cartier Estate. Generally, activating that one will be a way of saying “oh, here is someone new.” Likewise, I don’t know if I want there guards and agents over the farm to get involved. I went ahead and put Billy’s three friends in the list though generally they will be played out as an extension of Billy’s arc.

For “Objects,” we have two things that are obvious. Currently I’d like to keep a reminder that Johnny is now missing his gun and ID as well. And we have Upton’s car which is the major evidence that the Candlestick Quartet are connected to his disappearance even if he is now willing.

• Forked Tongue
• The Illuminated Codex
• Johnny’s missing Gun and ID
• Upton Reece’s Car
• “Lost and Found” at the Playground
• Dorothy Lang’s Books

Background threads are starting to bubble up:

• Fourth of July Celebrations (Gaston?)
• Weed Farm at Cartiers
• Upton Reece Is Missing
• CANDLESTICK UPROAR*
• Raymond Buttrey’s Affairs

Moving on to Sparks. This one is a little more complicated, maybe, but some themes have definitely shown up. Truth vs Lies vs Discernment. Theft. Betrayal. Secrets. Paranoia. Heroism. Morality. The Past. Sins. The Horned Reptile icon [which has been generally used to mean “devil/demon” in this case]. Family. Affairs. I think that makes a good start. We can add in “Loyalty” and “Overlooked” as well, since that ties in.

• Lies
• Truth
• Discernment
• Theft
• Betrayal
• Loyalty
• Secrets
• Paranoia
• Heroism
• Morality
• Past
• Sins
• Demon
• Family
• Affairs
• Overlooked

The final category would be Miscellany & Oddities but there’s not exactly any that really stick out right this second. It’s the kind of story where the miscellany and oddities are the story itself.

Time to Get Started + Dixit

That is enough to get started. Since there has been a fairly long break between the last real time I sat down and cohesively played solo RPGs — nearly two months now — it might take me a session or two to get back into the full swing of things.

What I am going to do is to roll on Background Threads and Background Characters at the start of the next session and then use that to get some ideas for things to bubble up into the mix. Overall though, I am going to let go of control just a bit and let Mythic fish around in the threads for me.

Finally, as a bonus I am going to use a new resource that I have been curious about using for a bit: Dixit cards. In this case, I am going to be using the 10th set: Mirrors. It focuses on Sebastien Telleschi’s artwork featuring various scenes with a bit of a “mirrors of a modern world” theme and childlike wonder motif on the whole. The plan is to try and use these for most things. Need a color? Draw a card and see what color or colors pop out. Need a name? Draw a card and see what names come to mind based on details. Need an action? What’s the action in the card saying.

Rather than read the card as a whole, the plan is to find elements in the card and then highly interpret them to fit the question. Since this is a very visual oracle, and very copyrighted, it will be a bit trickier to share. There might be a picture or two but mostly I will try and share a few bits and my reasoning. I know most Dixit sets have a “card sheet” document. I’ll share a not altogether high resolution version of it below as an image file. Otherwise, either have the set yourself or look into official resources to get a glimpse of some of the cards.

To see the cards in a way I can share without completely infringing upon someone else’s IP, visit my Dixit (as a solo play tool) page.

The fact that the whimsy of the cards will clash with the darker themes is actually wanted at this time.