A slight break in action so that the team can re-equip and I ask some questions.

from a photo by Lexi Laginess on Unsplash

If there is one mistake I make in solo play, it is being absolutely terrible at loot. I regularly forget treasure tables, I build entire adventures where treasure simply wouldn't make sense, or just generally "underpay" my characters so that when they can shop they never have enough.

Case in point: Barston Bakersfield has to be one of the most experienced adventurers on the entire island and yet has likely never had more than around 100 gold coins total. Derron maybe around 30 gold coins. Faruin has nothing.

Thus, I tend to end up with moments where everyone is horrifically underequipped and sometimes have what comes down to "cheat-in-the-treasure" episodes. In this case, I will avoid that (ish). What I am going to do is say that the each get d100 gold coins to represent a mixture of things: Barston and Derron's adventures since Humb, Faruin reuniting with her people, Yewsforth being grateful. Then we will spend it. I will go through and make a shopping list and do a One-Page Mythic "Very Likely" roll to see if the town has it. If not, then two or so sessions from now will be going to a larger town that would 100% would have it.

  • Barston: 60gc
  • Derron: 65gc
  • Faruin: 30gc

I like all three of those numbers. Now, the shopping list. What Faruin needs is a Great Helm and a good shield. We'll say if the helm fails, there simply is no helm. If the shield fails, there is a a smaller shield:

  • Great Helm (55gp): 49, yes.
  • Large Shield (15gp): 43, Yes.

That uses up all of her gold (and 20 of Barston's and 20 of Derron's).

For Barston, the need is a bit smaller. He just needs to fill up his quiver of arrows. I won't even roll for that. That's another 3gp gone.

They will buy another 24 rations (8 each). That will pretty much wipe out their money. Yewforth folks will 100% provide food and drink while the group are in town. But now they are broke.

Man, I definitely need to be giving these characters more money.

I have been lax because of the Advent(ure) Calendar 2025 nature of things but we'll also say they have a tent and a cooking pot. Fudging just a little, we'll have them buy a second tent. This means they have now lost 4gc from what they had prior to this.

But from now on we are rolling on some treasury tables.

Also, Faruin does not have a sword just yet. That'll be a quick Sunday special.

To wrap this "pull no cards and tell no lies" session, I will ask two questions:

  • Did Fenwick come back and find out Faruin is still alive? (Likely) >> 32. Yes. The two have been lovingly reunited.
  • Did Ixilin the unicorn stick around at all? (Unlikely) >> 91. Not in the least.

Well, now let's pull two cards to see what she might have said to him before leaving:

  • 207 - Glowing Pyramid. We'll ignore all other elements though it seems to be an interesting adventure.
  • 84 - Giant Spider. Hostile.

There we go. She told him to travel...1d8 (1 = North, 5= South) >> South (away from the mountains) for 1d6 = 3 days to find a shining pyramid. Guarded by a spider. Probably related to his quest. We'll turn back into story mode tomorrow.

Faruin is 100% coming along. Faruin the Blood Thirsty has just begun. 😉

Finally, going to give Barston +20xp for the intervention last time.