✨Markdown + Text Expanders demo for Solo TTRPG Actual Play
This post describes using Markdown, Dataview and Text Expanders as solo TTRPG tools. The text adds more context and links to complement the video.
Timestamps
00:00 – Start of video
00:15 – Markdown as plain text
00:45 – Formatted version
01:50 – Auto-tracking gameplay
03:05 – Text expanders
Markdown and Obsidian
I mostly take notes using Markdown format when I play digitally, using the note-taking application Obsidian(unaffiliated). It’s handy because I can quickly type in plain text, but when I look at it later or share it with others, it already has formatting.
For example, I might type: **Gameplay**: Sampaguita used the move *Try Your Best* , and when I change views on Obsidian (or publish it to my Wordpress site), it now looks like: "Gameplay: Sampaguita used the move Try Your Best".
Contrast that approach with working in a WYSIWYG editor, where you need to fiddle with buttons to achieve the exact look you want. For my use case (and many others), it’s pretty easy to focus on typing and rest assured that it will look good enough when you switch views (or share).
I use Obsidian for many things, by the way. Recording my solo TTRPG gameplay is only its latest use case for me. I should make a post about Obsidian in general, actually!
How I personally use it is that when I log my gameplay, I link to ‘affected’ notes as I play.
What do I mean by that?
As an example, if I add or remove an item from my inventory, I link to my PC note in the line it happens. (> - **📦 Inventory:** Change: ➖ [1] Beeswax Earplugs [[PC-Sampaguita#Backpack]]). Through a Dataview query in the PC-Sampaguita note, this entry is immediately tracked/logged there. So I am able to keep track of the changes happening in-game, in one place, even if the changes are being tracked in multiple notes.
Some things I track this way:
New characters
Interactions with characters
Adding/reducing Favour
Adding/reducing Satisfaction
Progress towards Promises
Times I have explored a Location
Obsidian has introduced a new built-in feature called Bases (which some say make Dataview obsolete), which I have played with. But at the moment I am happy to stick with Dataview for recording gameplay progress. If needed, I can try and move my setup to Bases later on. 🥰 (I do already use Bases for other things like tracking which of my zettels I have published online…)
Text Expanders / Text Expansions
Using text expanders
If you have ever experienced your keyboard magically changing what you typed into something else, then you already know how text expanders work. Except instead of replacing your colourful tirades with ducks by accident, you can use text shortcuts to go from ttyol into "Tea Time with Your Orc Lover" or insert the current time or add multiple paragraphs with Markdown ‘formatting’.
Here’s an example that I use pretty often. When I type ;iv-act while playing Iron Valley, below text is inserted into whatever programme I am using.
Action Roll (1d6 + Relevant Stat + Relevant Skill/s) vs 2d10
Result:
Action die: + + =
Challenge dice: []
That makes it easy for me to quickly record the mechanics of the game and acts as a handy prompt for me. I think to myself "I want to do an action roll now", and I only need to remember the shortcut, and the expanded version tells me how to check if an action roll is successful.
So above turns into below for example:
Action Roll (1d6 + Relevant Stat + Relevant Skill/s) vs 2d10
Result:
Action die: 3 +2 Wits +1 Brewing = [6]
Challenge dice: [4,1]
But above was actually triggered as part of a larger chain of text… so it might end up being part of something like this:
[🎮GAMEPLAY]
🎥 Move: Try Your Best 🎲 Dice: Brew potion for Dany?
Action Roll (1d6 + Relevant Stat + Relevant Skill/s) vs 2d10
Result:
Action die: 3 +2 Wits +1 Brewing = [6]
Challenge dice: [4,1]
Result: 1<4<[6]. Strong hit! +2 Promise. No time passes.
From above example, I only typed the following manually:
3 +2 Wits +1 Brewing = [6]
4,1
1<4<[6]. Strong hit! +2 Promise. No time passes.
This might seem like overkill, and I hear you. I don’t need to use this system for all games. But I think it’s handy for mechanics-heavy games that rely on a lot of dice rolls to progress the story.
It makes it easy for me to remember things, avoid copying-and-pasting and do things quicker.
Text expander tools I use
On my laptop computer, I use Espanso (Free and Open Source), while on my Android phone (Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra–yeah, it’s getting old, but I still love it) I use Texpand (Free/Paid).
What else?
🎥 NEXT VIDEO:
[Actual Play] Iron Valley x Wandering Tea Garden – Solo Roleplay Episode 1 Part C – VISUAL Actual Play? What’s that?!
I’m working on making my content friendly for folk who are hard-of-hearing, low visibility, and dyslexic and anyone who can benefit from easier access. Thanks for your patience! 💖
Ngā mihi nui, Pat
(Kind regards, Pat)
(Mabait na pagbati, Pat)
Definitions
[Markdown]: "a format for writing plain text with special punctuation that can be converted to more explicitly meaningful or richly styled text like HTML, and is used by many IndieWeb tools and sites for authoring posts." – IndieWeb
I made a Yes/No Oracle in te reo Māori because I’ve been playing tabletop roleplaying games solo (I’m that person haha). Any grammatical errors are my own. Feel free to use.
The use of tables, dice, cards and more as Oracles to add randomness to play are central to solo roleplaying. Without these, you’re leaning more towards writing a novel, daydreaming, or orating an epic story. None of those are bad things, but the randomness helps make the game into a game!
I found that I kept stopping play because I was trying to wrap my head around what I could mechanically do next, instead of just endlessly narrating. The latter suited me when I was using just Wandering Tea Garden because it’s a solo journalling game, which does lean towards using prompts only to spark a general direction. But I wanted to play something with more mechanics, to help push the story forward. And that’s where Iron Valley came in!
But I kept tripping up on "Well, what can I do next? What should I do here?"
This may not be so obvious when I finally release the actual gameplay for Episode 1 because I also ended up starting another Iron Valley game in the same world setting, and that’s when I wrote up a flowchart that described the gameplay loop.
I. LOVE. FLOWCHARTS.
I like being able to visually identify how components interact, and using Mermaid code and Excalidraw to mock up a flowchart is super easy. I know I need to update this flowchart, so I will make a separate post with the Mermaid code included soon.
Anyway, having the gameplay loop open on my laptop while I played (or as a handy tab to reference on my mobile) made playing the game a lot smoother. Then as I became more familiar with how gameplay progressed, I relied on the flowchart less and less. ✨
What else?
🎥 NEXT VIDEO:
[Actual Play] Iron Valley x Wandering Tea Garden – Solo Roleplay Episode 1 Part B
I’m working on making my content friendly for folk who are hard-of-hearing, low visibility, and dyslexic and anyone who can benefit from easier access. Thanks for your patience! 💖
Ngā mihi nui, Pat
(Kind regards, Pat)
(Mabait na pagbati, Pat)
I’m working on making my content friendly for folk who are hard-of-hearing, low visibility, and dyslexic and anyone who can benefit from easier access. Thanks for your patience! 💖
Ngā mihi nui, Pat
(Kind regards, Pat)
(Mabait na pagbati, Pat)
[Actual Play] In Search of Love and Riches 001: When it rains, it pours
This is an Actual Play of the Hawker (Alpha) solo tabletop roleplaying game (TTRPG). It’s a merchant-themed hexcrawler that allows you to draw out a map of a world while going on adventures! I saw an Actual Play video of someone playing this, and it piqued my interest. Also, I saw that the game creator hangs out in the M Kirin Discord server, which reminded me that I wanted to play this game.
Ummmm. By the way, I am so new to TTRPGs; I started playing roughly two weeks ago. My only other experience is a single one-shot Dungeons & Dragons adventure about 15 years ago. I know nothing, but I’m having fun anyway. Please feel free to correct me and give me advice. 🥰
The dates use the calendar system in Iron Valley, to make it cross-compatible with that adventure. That’s the thinking anyway!
Setup
Game
The game is Hawker Extended, and I am using the Alpha playtest version.
Playtest Rules
The rules captured below may no longer apply by the time you read this, by nature of being part of a playtest.
In fact, the rules have changed or have been given clarification already since I originally posted this. ⭐ It is unlikely I will be able to keep updating my comments on mechanics in this Actual Play episode over time, so always refer to the latest version of Hawker Extended.
I am playing this game digitally on my iPad, using the Obsidian app, along with my Apple Pencil (for writing and doodling!) and often a Zagg bluetooth keyboard (for easier typing).
Obsidian plugins:
Solo RPG Toolkit
Excalidraw
Dataview
Setup basic background
My Player Character (PC) is Bayabas Sr. I’m trying to decide whether this is the same Bayabas who is a NPC in my Iron Valley/Wandering Tea Garden adventure called Tea Time with Your Orc Lover. I’m hoping emergent gameplay will reveal whether it’s the same Bayabas or his father (or grandfather!).
Bayabas Sr is a masculine gnome of indeterminate age who is at least a young adult. We’ll figure it out more as I play!
Setup attributes:
I read through the attributes and decided to assign values as follows. I don’t think this is necessarily the best build, but I thought it made sense for the character.
Body
Charm
Wits
Sense
🦾
👄
🧠
👁️
3
3
3
4
Setup skills:
Once again, I read the descriptions and picked based on the character. If I could do the game over and pick again, I would! (You’ll see why soon)
Skills
Level
Attribute
Force
1
Body
Craft
2
Body
Presence
1
Charm
Flattery
1
Charm
Lore
1
Wits
Insight
2
Sense
Discovery
1
Sense
Setup renown:
Blank slate—Start with zero.
Rolled for starting cargo
I drew three pairs of cards using the Solo RPG Toolkit plugin to determine what Goods my character will have as starting cargo.
*I needed to redraw to replace 10♣️ because that’s a Tier 3 value. For starting cargo, only Goods that are Tier 1 or Tier 2 are allowed.
I picked 9♣️ and 9♠️ for my starting cargo because I figured these had the highest values!
Each suit corresponds to a type of Goods. You’re meant to write down what each card value corresponds to, but I cannot think of what these items would be, so I’m avoiding committing to something until it’s absolutely necessary.
UPDATE: I’ve checked in with the game author, and you can have multiple Goods corresponding to each card. So I think that’s less pressure!
At the beginning of the game, you can only carry max 5 Goods, by the way.
Starting Cargo:
9♣️ Tier 2 Tool
9♠️ Tier 2 Craft
Rolled for starting coin
Starting Coin amount is determined by rolling two 6-sided dice (2d6) and multiplied by 5.
d: 🎲 Starting Coin
2d6[6] * 5
=> 30 Coins
Starting Coin: 30
Rolled for supplies
Supplies are what your character use to survive each day; you basically consume at least 1 supply per day.
🥰 Yay!
And that’s it for the setup. It took some time, but I’ve been told prep is play! But… here’s the roleplaying part next.
Start of Roleplay
UPDATE Renown
You are supposed to award yourself Renown for each session played, and you earn +1 Renown for doing notable things. When I played this, I didn’t give myself any Renown. I’ve double-checked the rules with the creator and actually Bayabas should have been earning Renown.
I have updated my Actual Play to reflect that!
Spring 1
6am — Start of day
📝 New day
You need to roll for weather at the start of the day, which may have an effect on certain moves.
If you plan to travel to another hex, you likely also need to roll for the terrain. The results for the 2d6 dice roll depends on the hex you are travelling from.
I actually wasn’t sure how to determine what the ‘starting’ terrain was, so I just picked Plains and pretended I was travelling south.
? 🔮 Weather?
-> 1d6:[5] Cloudy: No effect on travel.
? 🔮 New hex terrain (South)? Assumed starting from Plains.
-> 2d6:[6] Hills.
Shorthand directions
Going forward, I will likely interchange writing out compass directions in full and initialising them. South for S and vice versa like NW for Northwest.
[📖ROLEPLAY]
Bayabas awoke to a new day, and on a whim he made the decision to head south. As he chewed on his meagre breakfast, he took stock of his belongings one more time. 30 Coins—it will do. Supplies for two more nights—not ideal. One craft and one tool available to sell. Bayabas sighed. The gnome hoped to find a settlement soon or some opportunity that changed his luck.
The aspiring merchant packed up camp and stretched his arms over his head, yawning. It was time to venture forth, whether he was fully awake or not. Absentmindedly, he wondered how far his short legs would take him today. Then, bowing his head, he whispered to the wind and hoped that Pigeons will carry his prayer to the Gods. Then he started to walk.
When travelling to a new hex, you need to check that you can find your way there. The check uses the Nature skill, which has Wits as its underlying attribute. I don’t have the Nature skill (which I have just realised is very important, and I am very silly and full of regret), so I roll 3d6 based on Bayabas’ Wits value of 3.
Of my three dice rolled, one die was a six, so that’s an immediate Success.
Success means I make it to the new hex! (I travelled one hex south)
> 🎥 Move: New Hex — Bayabas reaches the hills
? 🔮 Point of interest? 1d6≤5[1] -> No.
? 🔮 Encounter? 1d6≤2[6] -> No.
? 🔮 Settlement? 1d6≥5[2] -> No.
📝 Nex hex, now what?
After travelling, you must roll for an Encounter.
If you moved to a hex for the first time, you can also check if there is a Point of Interest you can explore and/or a Settlement you can visit.
To generate a Point of Interest, you need to roll a 5 or higher from 1d6. I didn’t, so no POI.
To generate a Settlement, you need to roll a 5 or higher from a different 1d6. I didn’t, so again, no Settlement.
To get an Encounter (which could be good or bad!), you roll 1d6, and if it’s 2 or lower, then you roll for an encounter. No encounter for me.
[📖ROLEPLAY]
Before him, the even ground of the plains began to slope and steepen. All around him, he saw only hills. He had hoped to come across a settlement, but to no avail. Bayabas began to climb the hill, keeping his eyes open, and decided to see if he could take advantage of this new area. His pack was light on his back, a reminder that he needed to find something to help with his travels.
I wanted to Forage for supplies, so I tried my luck.
Forage also uses the Nature skill, so again I rolled 3d6 based on the underlying Wits attribute.
I rolled a 6, so that’s a Success.
Then I rolled 1d6 for what I found while foraging: in this case, [6] is 4 Supply or 2x 3♥️.
I picked 4 Supply because, well, I need the Supplies.
[📖ROLEPLAY]
Bayabas grinned as he arranged his pack. As luck would have it, he found supplies to tide him over for four additional nights, as he made his way up the hill. Maybe he could find something else if he pressed on.
I tried my luck again, and this time I got a miss. No 6’s and no matching values of 4 or more. 🥲
I had to roll on a foraging hazard using 1d6.
My result reduced the value of one of my Goods. Which sucked, lol.
[📖ROLEPLAY]
The gnome gritted his teeth. Not only did he not find anything, but when his back was turned something had pilfered through his pack. His tool would now be much less valuable when sold. At least his supplies were untouched…
8pm
> 🎥 Move: Camp — Bayabas settles down for the night
- 📦[5] Supply = -1 Supply from evening meal
d: 🎲 Nature 3d6[1,5,1] => Miss => Campsite hazard in AM.
d: 🎲 Rest? 1d6≤2:[4] => Uninterrupted rest.
📝 Nighttime
Each night you are out in the wilderness, you must consume 1 Supply. Makes sense, I reckon!
You also do a Nature check to see if you successfully set up camp.
It’s another Nature check, so again I roll 3d6 for Wits.
Unfortunately, it’s another Miss. I didn’t feel like Tempting Fate, so I accept the consequence, which is rolling for a Campsite Hazard the next day.
You also need to check if you can rest successfully by rolling 1d6. A result of 1 or 2 will mean you need to roll on the Encounter table. I did not have to this time!
[📖ROLEPLAY]
Bayabas rolled out his sleeping mat and crawled into it. Time for some sleep.
Spring 1 Report
📝 By the way
I’m basically using emojis as visual signifiers. I think it helps me parse what something relates to. An image is worth a thousand words, right?
New Day
? 🔮 Campsite hazard? 1d6[6] -> Standing water.
-> 🦾 Effect: Body [2]. (-1 until Spring 4)
? 🔮 Weather? 1d6[1] -> Stormy ⛈️
-> -2 to Wayfinding, Foraging, Hunting rolls
📝 New day, what now?
So I didn’t forget, I rolled for the Campsite Hazard first. It unfortunately reduced my Body attribute by 1. Which means any rolls using Body now only have two dice instead of three (at least until the effect expires).
Then…
Roll for the weather:
This time, there is an effect on game Moves! Ugh lol.
[📖ROLEPLAY]
Bayabas opened his eyes and immediately knew he was about to have a bad day. He felt chilled to the bone, and when he turned on his side, he spied a thin layer of water on the ground around him. Cursing, he quickly made to change his clothes. He could not believe he had made camp in such a foolish spot…
Thunder cracked overhead, and he cursed again. So much for a change in luck, he thought. It would help if he could find a settlement to seek refuge in today. He doubted he would be able to set a proper course in this weather, so he decided on a direction at random. Today he would go west and hope for the best.
? 🔮 New hex terrain (Northwest)? Hills 2d6[8] -> Hills.
12nn
d: 🎲 Nature 1d6[4] => Miss => Stay in same hex.
d: 🎲 Encounter? 1d6≤2[5] => None.
📝 Wayfinding?
The effect of the weather reduced my Nature roll to 1d6. I needed a 6 to succeed because you need at least two of the same value for a mixed success.
Since I failed Wayfinding, I’m stuck in the same hex as before. Boooo.
But no Encounter, yay.
[📖ROLEPLAY]
Bayabas stared long and hard at the moss on the tree directly in front him. It was shaped vaguely like a star, and he had seen it three times already. Rain continued to pour overhead, and dark storm clouds made visibility amongst the trees near impossible. He shut his eyes wearily. Clearly he was getting turned around and was not going to make any progress today. He would have to change tack.
> 🎥 Move: Scan — Bayabas tries to scope his surroundings through the stormy weather
Look, the effects from the Stormy weather sucked, so I figured I’d avoid the other Moves for now…
When Scanning, you use the Observation skill, which has the underlying attribute of Sense. My Sense is 4, so I can roll 4d6.
In the first Scan, I got a 6, so that’s a Success! That meant I could roll for the terrain of the new hex and also pick between checking for a Settlement or a Point of Interest. I picked the former, but sadly it failed. I might be able to check again when I actually go into the hex?
Notice that the result of the terrain is based on the terrain of the hex I’m currently in (Hills).
In the second Scan, I got two 4’s. Since there are two results of a value that’s 4 or higher, that’s a mixed success. That means I can roll for the terrain of the new hex but nothing else.
In the third and fourth Scans, I miss entirely. There are matching values in the roll for Scan #3, but it’s not 4 or higher.
It kinda worked out that it showed all the results for the Scanning move? LOL.
4pm
> 🎥 Move: Camp — Bayabas winds down for the day
- 📦[4] Supply = -1 Supply from evening meal
d: 🎲 Observation 4d6[2,2,2,4] => Miss => Campsite hazard in AM.
d: 🎲 Rest? 1d6[6] => Uninterrupted rest.
📝 Camping skill check
I double-checked, and for camping it’s Nature or Observation. My Sense is higher than Wits, so I went with an Observation (Sense) check–not that it helped me…
[📖ROLEPLAY]
Bayabas looked around and felt a surge of hope when he realised that southwest from here was a settlement in the hills. He tried to see if he could make it what else was around him. To his south was barren land—he couldn’t make out if there was anything significant about it. Then any further attempts to scan the horizon ended in failure. Which made sense given the storm, so he tried to ignore the rising disappointment in the pit of his stomach.
Later, he found a spot that seemed to be somewhat protected from the pelting rain. He hastily set up camp and ate his meal. Miserable as he was, he was grateful to have a place to rest the night and that he had food to eat as well. That was at least something.
The night passed without incident, and Bayabas slept soundly through the raging storm.
New Day
? 🔮 Campsite hazard? 1d6[3] -> Bed of Nettles -> 👄 Effect: Charm [2]. -1 expires Spring 5
? 🔮 Weather? 1d6[4] -> Light Rain. -> -1 Wayfinding, -1 Hunting.
📝 Argh
Another day of sucky effects haha!
[📖ROLEPLAY]
Bayabas scratched at himself, groaning. He rolled over and opened his eyes to find that his arms were covered in welts. He poked his head out his tent and discovered that in the dark of the storm, he had set up camp on a bed of nettles. Cursing, he turned to his pack to see if he had any cream. But he found nothing that would help. Guess he would have to be covered in splotchy red welts for the next couple days. The light drizzle at least soothed the itchiness of his skin somewhat. But it was still abysmal. Maybe the merchant’s life was not for him. He shook his head, now having packed up camp. Thoughts like that do not help anyone. He was going to have to pull himself together. Thankfully he had spotted a settlement southwest of where he was yesterday. If luck was on his side, he would be in an inn by tonight. Better make haste, he thought.
> 🎥 Move: Wayfinding Southwest (Hills, 6 hours) — Bayabas heads towards the settlement
I got confused and rolled 2d6 because I thought Nature used Body or Charm, which both had a -1 modifier. I should have rolled 3d6 here. Oops. I could have used the extra die too…
I could have done a Tempting Fate roll to try and re-roll, but because there was a 1, I didn’t want to risk it… I think he’ll try and forage today…
[📖ROLEPLAY]
Bayabas had climbed up a tree to get a good vantage point. He could have sworn he had already been here and that the settlement was still as far away as it had been when he first set off this morning. The gnome grumbled to himself. The cumulative effects of bad camping must be affecting his ability to find his way. He was going to have to try something else today. He could only hope he would have better luck that way.
On a Mixed Success, you do NOT roll on the Foraging Finds table.
Instead, you automatically get +2 Supplies.
I can’t remember if I’ve explained this already haha.
4pm
[📖ROLEPLAY]
Bayabas packed away his newfound supplies, double-checking that he had secured his bag. He didn’t want a repeat of the other day. These new supplies bolstered his spirits—at least he wouldn’t starve if he got himself turned around again.
> 🎥 Move: Scan — Bayabas tries to get his bearings
d: 🎲 NW Observation 1d6≤4 => [5] => Success (1 hour) ✔️
;? 🔮 NW terrain? [Hills] 2d6[12] -> Barren.
d: 🎲 NW Point of Interest? 1d6≥4 [4] => Yes! ✔️
? 🔮 Point of Interest? d66[35] -> Abandoned Keep.
📝 Point of Interest
Because of the weather, I thought Scanning would be a good move. I was able to roll a 4+ on the 1d6 for POI, so I rolled two six-sided die for a d66.
The first die is the tens place value, and the second die is the ones place digit.
So my result was [3,5] which makes it [30]+ [5]=[35].
The result was Abandoned Keep.
5pm
[📖ROLEPLAY]
Through the light drizzling of rain, Bayabas stared out into the distance. Northeast from here, he could see more barren land. Sticking out like a sore thumb, he also spied a large abandoned keep. Why someone would erect a keep in the middle of barren land, he had no idea. Maybe the climate of that locale was different eons ago. Who knew. But he marked it on his little map all the same.
I didn’t want to get a Miss because I felt I needed to Forage. So I thought I would Tempt Fate.
With Tempt Fate, you re-roll the previous roll (excluding any 1s or 6s).
So I re-rolled 3d6 for Nature. Once again, I got a Miss.
Even worse, I now had a 1 result.
Usually, that doesn’t matter. But when you Tempt Fate, for each 1 die result remaining, you suffer -1 to an attribute.
So I reduced my Wits. That was stupid because I need Wits for Wayfinding… AND you cannot regain Wits from resting at a campsite. I’m still learning the game, okay?!
📝 Poison
Then to make matters worse, I got a Poison effect from Foraging. SERIOUSLY??
9pm
[📖ROLEPLAY]
Bayabas pulled his hand away abruptly, grunting in pain. Wincing and holding his hand close to his chest, he peered closer at the bush he was attempting forage in. There was a slimy substance that he had clearly disturbed—poison, likely. He wondered if the gods were laughing at his misfortune from on high.
> 🎥 Move: Camp — Bayabas tries to put the bad day behind him
- 📦[5] Supplies = -1
d: 🎲 Nature/Observation [4,3,1] => Miss ❌
=> Roll on Campsite Hazard in AM.
d: 🎲 Rest? 1d6≤2[3] => No encounter. Rest. ✔️
[📖ROLEPLAY]
The gnome tried to ignore the itchiness all over his body as he set up camp and ate his evening meal. He tried to ignore the small voice that told him to pack up and return home. As he fell into a dreamless sleep, he tried to concentrate on what he was after: adventure, discovery, and maybe riches and love. He hoped it would all be worth it.
Spring 3 Report
Body
Charm
Wits
Sense
🦾
👄
🧠
👁️
1
*%
2**
2***
4
| * [-1] Standing Water until Spring 4
| ** [-1] Bed of Nettles until Spring 5
| *** [-1] Tempt Fate until Inn Rest
| % [-1] Poison until Spring 5
New day
- 🦾 Effect: [2] Body = [+1] Standing water effect expires.
? 🔮 Campsite hazard? 1d6[4] -> Bed of Nettles.
=> 👄 Effect: [1] Charm = [-1] Bed of Nettles (#2) expires Spring 6.
? 🔮Weather? 1d6[1] -> Stormy.
-> -2 Wayfinding, Foraging, Hunting
📝 The dice hate me, I think
[📖ROLEPLAY]
Bayabas awoke to the sound of thunder and the realisation that he had once again made camp on a bed of nettles. He got on with his day. What else could he do but attempt to reach the nearby settlement?
d: 🎲 Nature => Automatic fail. ❌
d: 🎲 Encounter? 1d6≤2[1] => ✔️
? 🔮 Daytime Encounter? d66[44] -> The ground ahead of you shatters and cracks unexpectedly.
? 🔮 Yes/No — Does this reveal supplies? 1d6[4] Yes, but… ✔️
=> 📦[6] Supplies = +1 from lightning strike result
📝 Wayfinding auto-failed
Wits currently 2. Wayfinding -2 due to stormy weather. 0 dice to roll…
I KNOW, RIGHT? It sucks lol.
UPDATE The creator has updated the game, so automatic fails no longer happen ⭐ (As a result of reading this Actual Play!!!)
📝 Encounter
First encounter rolled because I got a 1.
I rolled two six-sided die. It’s the same as the other d66 roll, one die represents 10s place and the other is the 1s place.
4,4] = [40]+[4] == [44] -> The ground ahead of you shatters and cracks unexpectedly.
📝 Yes/No Oracle
Usually in TTRPG, you might ask a lot more random Oracle questions. I’ve been sticking mostly to roleplaying the mechanics of the rolls (out of laziness?). But I wasn’t sure what would happen as a result of the ground shattering.
I could have rolled on an Oracle to figure out why the ground shattered. But because of the storm, I assumed it was a lightning strike.
I then asked a Yes/No question about supplies. I picked this question specifically to try and gain an advantage after all my bad rolls lol.
Oh, I received advice in a solo RPG Discord server that you should never ask an Oracle a Yes/No question you cannot afford to receive a negative result for. If I applied that here, then I wouldn’t ask "Does the lightning strike Bayabas?" or "Does the ground swallow me up?" That would be silly because if the Yes/No Oracle said ‘yes’, that would be disastrous.
(I mean maybe you wanna play that way, but I do not at this point lol.)
I should probably make a post about that separately~
📝 Yes but…
Built into the Yes/No Oracle for Hawker (and many other games or tools) is the subversion of expectations.
A ‘Yes but…’ implies that a good thing happens, and so does a bad thing.
On the other hand, ‘No but…’ could mean something bad happens, but then a good thing happens.
📝 ‘Yes but…’ interpretation
If the result had been ‘Yes’, I probably would have rolled for 1d6 number of supplies (or picked a random number, who knows; you’re the GM, do what you want).
Because it was ‘Yes but…’, I decided to interpret the outcome as being positive but being minimised. Just enough for one meal.
I could have chosen to have rolled for a number of supplies and then rolled an Oracle for a random negative event or outcome, but I felt this was the simplest outcome!
[📖ROLEPLAY]
Bayabas realised he was getting nowhere in this weather. He shut his eyes tight and decided to make camp for the day.
Suddenly lightning struck the ground a few metres in front of him, shattering the ground. Bayabas had thrown himself to the ground at impact, shaking in terror. After a few minutes, he realised he was still alive and with all limbs still intact. Then he cautiously made his way to the site of the lightning strike and peered down.
To his shock, the blackened corpse of an animal lay there. He shuddered to think it could have been him. But as the rain pounded him angrily, he decided to check if the lightning-struck animal could be salvaged for a meal. Half an hour later, he discovered that, yes, there was enough to cover his meal for tonight. Small mercies.
> 🎥 Move: Scan — Bayabas decides to look around (and hopefully keep away from more lightning strikes)
d: 🎲 Southeast? 1d6≥4:[6] (1 hour) => Success
? 🔮 Scanned Hex terrain? [Hills] 2d6[4] -> Plains.
? 🔮 Point of Interest? 1d6≥4[4] -> Yes.
? 🔮 What Point of Interest? d66[41] -> Floating crystal.
1pm
[📖ROLEPLAY]
There was a brief interlude in the storm, and Bayabas had used it to climb high up a tree and try to make sense of his surroundings. He knew there were plains to the north where he had come from. There were hills extending further to the west. Northeast, there was barren land—which held surprising promise because of what seemed to be an abandoned keep. Something to keep an eye on. South, he knew was more barren land, but he didn’t see if there was anything worth investigating further.
Finally to his southeast, there were plains. Plains would probably be good for adventuring because the terrain would be less troublesome. More interestingly, there appeared to be a floating crystal. He wasn’t sure he could believe his eyes though. He had slept on a bed of nettles two nights in a row, despite multiple checks. He would have to investigate the alleged crystal when he regained his senses or maybe it was his wits he needed. Regardless, now was not the time.
He perched on a large branch and looked out into the horizon. Rain began to pour in earnest once more, and he glumly scanned the nearby vicinity. It was hard to spot anything in this weather. But on this branch he had respite from the pounding rain.
Bayabas felt the rough bark under his fingers and wondered. Maybe if he spent the night here, he could be safe from the rain, any wandering beasts and even more importantly—no more nettles, he hoped.
My first crit!!!! The two effects for Camp are:
1) Add 1d6 to the nighttime encounter roll (This is the same effect as a regular Success!). This gives you an extra opportunity to avoid an encounter.
2) Sweeten the result: Your character did it! Except, make it better than you imagined.
In this case, hmm… Camp so good that it lets him regain his Wits as if it were a night sleeping at the inn. That’s what I’m going to do!!!!
📝 +1 to dice roll
See how I rolled 2d6 instead of 1d6? That’s the effect of Success when Camping hehe
[📖ROLEPLAY]
Bayabas finished his meal and surveyed his meagre campsite atop a tree branch. He nodded in approval. Despite not having a lot in the way of amenities, this campsite looked almost luxurious somehow. He wasn’t sure if it was the illusion of wood flooring courtesy of the bark, the curtain of dark green leaves that almost completely blanketed out the sound of the thundering storm, the way he almost artfully arranged his belongings, or maybe it was the near miss with the lightning strike earlier today. Whatever it was, he was certain he would have a great night of rest. For that, it was worth tucking into bed early.
Spring 4 Report
Body
Charm
Wits
Sense
🦾
👄
🧠
👁️
2
*%
1 **x
2***
4
| ** [-1] Bed of Nettles until Spring 5
| *** [-1] Tempt Fate until Inn Rest (Remove in the AM due to Camping Critical Success)
| % [-1] Poison until Spring 5
| x [-1] Bed of Nettles#2 until Spring 6
New day
- 🧠 Effect [3] Wits = Attribute regained due to critical success from camping
- Weather? 1d6: [4] Light rain. -1 Wayfinding, -1 Hunting.
[📖ROLEPLAY]
Bayabas opened his eyes, smiling. He had been right; it was a glorious night of sleep. He wasn’t sure if he could replicate it in future, but he would chase this setup for the rest of his travels. Then he absently scratched at his hands and looked at the angry red splotches and welts all over his body. The gnome groaned. Beautiful campsite or not, there was just no getting around the effects of nettles and poison. Hopefully it would wear off soon. Maybe the light rain he could see drizzling outside would help soothe his skin.
FINALLY. I got a 6 (double 4 or 5 also would have worked)
Regaining Wits really helped me here omg
This means I finally escape the hex I’ve been stuck in since Spring 1 lol.
> 🎥 Move: Bayabas enters a new hex
d: 🎲 Encounter? 1d6≤[2] => Yes.
? 🔮 Daytime Encounter d66[42] -> 7 Hart emerge stampeding from the wilderness
? 🔮 Does the stampede leave behind an opportunity? Yes/No 1d6:[6] -> Yes, and…
-> Hart resources + random cargo.
? 🔮 How many Hart died? 1d6/2 (rounded up)[5] -> 3
=>📦[20] Supplies =+15
=>🛍️ [2] 5♦️ =+2
d: 🎴 Random cargo? Draw card: 10♠️ => Tier 3 Craft
=> 🛍️ [1] 10♠️ Tier 3 Craft =+1
=> 8 hours pass
📝 d66 Encounter
Okay, a lot happens here lol.
First, the dice said I was going to have an encounter and that it was [42]. (You know this part)
The table said that [42] is ‘2d6 Pack Animal stampede emerging from the wilderness’
Idk if this is right, but I flipped to the Beasts section and picked Hart because that’s a Pack Animal. (Wait… are all of the options pack animals…? Idk)
I rolled 2d6 and got 7. So I said 7 Hart went running (doesn’t seem like much of a stampede but whatever!)
📝 ‘Yes and…’
Okay, here’s the juicy part. There’s a stampede, right?
Because my character has been having such a hard time, I just assumed that he was out of the way of the stampede.
So I instead asked about whether there’s an opportunity for the gnome merchant.
The result was ‘Yes and…’ which means that ‘Yes’ there’s an opportunity like I’m imagining ‘and’ there’s also something in addition. So with ‘Yes but…’ you subvert the expectation, and with ‘Yes and…’ I think this is about leaning into the expectation.
I decided that it made sense that some Hart died (RIP) getting trampled in the stampede and that somehow there’s random Goods to be found.
Why? Idk it made sense to me, based on the setting.
I could have done some more Oracle rolls to arrive at a result, but I didn’t feel like it.
I then asked ‘How many Hart?’. Since there were only 7, I decided to roll 1d6 and round up. I could have done it a different way, but this is the way that made sense to me.
See, this is why I checked the Beasts section under Hunting because I wanted to basically get the equivalent outcome for hunting a Hart (assuming that I got the Oracle answer I wanted hehe).
When hunting, 1 Hart = 5 Supplies and 2 x 5♦️
3 dead Hart give me 15 Supplies and… wait, I just realised it should be 6 x 5♦️. 🫨 I initially calculated it as 2 x 6♦️. Why? I dunno lol. Mistakes… Let’s come back to this.
📝 Random Goods
Anyway, the ‘and…’ effect I wanted was a random Good because I didn’t realise I would get so much from the Harts and I wanted to try drawing a card, okay?!
I used a physical deck this time (just felt like it), and I drew 10♠️. That’s Tier 3 Craft yay! No, I don’t know what it is lol. I then put that card back into the deck after writing it down (as per rules).
📝 Cargo Limit
OKAY, so remember how I was supposed to get SIX 5♦️?
Well, Bayabas can only carry 5 Goods at the moment.
So, he keeps only some of the Goods, up to his Cargo Limit.
📝 Passage of time
I just randomly decided that it would take 8 hours for Bayabas to go through everything. There were so many things that I figured it would at least be equivalent in time to 2 Hunting moves.
[📖ROLEPLAY]
Bayabas wiped his brow as he surveyed the distance. He had climbed up a tree to check where he was, and he was relieved to see that the settlement was getting closer. Finally he was getting out of these hills. He drew a deep breath and prepared to clamber down when he felt the ground shake beneath him. Bayabas’ eyes widened and he lowered himself on the branch, holding it tight. Was this another lightning strike, he wondered as he held himself taut and tense on the tree.
A thundering crash echoed metres below him, and he saw harts racing past each other. A couple of the beasts crashed into the tree he was sheltering on, and this shook the tree from the impact. He cursed and held on. More and more hart stampeded past, and his heart thundered in his chest.
Finally, the sounds died down.
Bayabas gingerly rose to a seating position and surveyed the ground below. Branches were broken and crushed underfoot. Grass was flung all over the ground, plastered to tree trunks. Bare patches of dirt were visible where verdant green used to be. He whistled softly, the animals had made a mess.
Then his eyes widened, and after a quick glance around, he swiftly shimmied down the tree, leaving his pack there. When his feet hit the ground, he looked around again. Sensing no other movement, he rushed forward to a large shape. It was a hart—trampled upon by its brethren. He whispered a prayer of thanks to the gods and quickly began to process the beast for his benefit. As he cut into the animal, he tried to calm his pounding heart. He couldn’t believe his luck—getting to the settlement would have to wait. Hopefully there was more to be found.
Much later, he finally took a break—sitting high up on a tree once more. He counted that he now had supplies for four weeks on the road. More than that, he even had more goods to sell. In fact, there were so many spoils that he had hit his limit for what he could carry on his back. He smiled and rested his head against the tree. A short break, then he would continue on his way to the settlement.
Spring 5 Mid-day Report
Renown
+1 for session
+1 for finding trade goods in the wilderness
Body
Charm
Wits
Sense
🦾
👄
🧠
👁️
2
*
1 **x
3
4
** [-1] Bed of Nettles until Spring 5
\% [-1] Poison until Spring 5
\x [-1] Bed of Nettles#2 until Spring 6
Gaining Renown levels allows you to unlock new abilities.
Renown Level 1 lets you unlock 1 Talent and hire [1] Hireling!
- Unlocked Wayfarer I Talent
Wayfarer I
This talent lets me re-roll one d6 without Tempting Fate when Wayfinding and Finding Campsite. Which y’all know Bayabas needs this! 😂
Thoughts
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ — That’s my rating for this game! It is LOADS of fun!!!! (Even when your character is in misery!)
I’ve decided that Scene 1 ends here! I know it’s the middle of the day, but that’s fine. I played this session over a few days, and I just wanted to keep going until something interesting happened.
This reversal of fortune seemed like a good place to stop for now!
UPDATE Look at this cute Bayabas icon
This is an icon I’m using to track where Bayabas is on the hex map!
~~By the way, this is what the map looks like currently. I might come back and edit this post to format and add more ‘in progress’ hex map views. 🥰 Maybe I’ll do a video version of this Actual Play too… I could just read out what happens and depict things with images hmm… ~~
Questions for you?
What do you think of Hawker so far? Will you try/Have you tried it?
Any feedback on my roleplaying or gameplay?
What should I make the Goods represent? I have no ideas.
Do you want to see what my set-up looks like in Obsidian?
Keen to hear from you! Leave a comment, post a response on your own website, tag me on Mastodon or Bluesky, send an email or telepathically send me good vibes.
![[VIDEO] Markdowns & Text Expanders for Solo RPG Actual Play? (TTYOL Episode 1 Part B)](https://patsitive.co.nz/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/TTYOL-001b-thumbnail.png)
![[VIDEO] Choose Your Adventure: Short vs Full Actual Plays 🎲✨(and why)](https://patsitive.co.nz/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/New-videos.png)
![[Actual Play] ISOLR 001: When it rains, it pours](https://patsitive.co.nz/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/In-Search-of-Love-and-Riches.png)
