I want to use this post to explain how I will proceed with the White Box Let’s Play. I will be playing this game solo. I will be using four different books and tools to run the game. They are: the White Box manual, Mythic Game Master Emulator, the Pocket Lands Geomorph cards, and the Deck of Many Dungeons. I will, of course, use the usual polyhedral dice and paper and pencil when playing a table top role playing game. The purpose of the let’s play is to show how the tools can be used together to play White Box solo in an enjoyable manner.
The story will start off with a group of four adventurers who come upon a carriage being attacked by bandits. The adventurers defeat the bandits, but the guards of the carriage run off. The driver of the carriage asks the adventurers if they will escort them to its destination, Castle Black Vale. And so the adventure begins. This let’s play is not the length of a campaign, but more of a single adventure. The party will consist of: a human cleric, a Dwarf fighter, an Elf magic-user, and a Halfling thief. I bit generic, but a good party to show how the game works. The characters are all level three, and have a few magic items that I think they would have accumulated in their adventures. This means I can throw some more powerful monsters at them.
Some of the house rules are:
- I will use the single number saving throw. In White Box, there is the alternate rule of using the saving throw matrix which divides up the saving throw by character class, character level, and different types of saving throw (for example: Death/Poison, Wands/Ray, Paralyze/Stone, and so on). I’d rather keep things simple, so I’ll use the single number saving throw.
- For the attributes of the characters, I used the system of rolling six numbers and then arranging them to fit.
- Since these characters are level 3, I had to roll for their hit points. In an OSR game, I usually have the first level of hit points be the maximum available, in this case 6 HP with an additional point if there is a high Constitution. I then rolled a six-sided die for each level for each character where needed, depending on their class. If a one was rolled, I would just reroll. No one wants to get a one when rolling for HP. My level 3 Cleric rolled high and got a total of 18 hit points.
- I’ll be using the ascending armor class system, this way I can have critical rolls.
- If a 20 is rolled when trying to hit a foe, then it is a critical hit. The damage dealt is the full damage of the weapon with an additional 1D4. So there is a nice bonus in damage, while not being too overpowered.
- If a 1 is rolled when trying to hit a foe, then it is a fumble. The character is left unbalanced. On the next round, the character has a -1 to hit, for one round only, unless the player rolls another 1.
- There is morale for enemies in White Box. The rules as written were a little confusing for me. How I will handle morale in this let’s play is when half of the enemies are eliminated in combat, then I’ll roll morale. I roll 2D6. If the result is 3-5, then the enemies will flee. If the result is 2, then the enemies will drop their weapons and beg for mercy. Otherwise, they continue to fight.
- If a character’s hit points reach zero, then they go unconscious. They will continue to bleed out, unless someone else rushes to their aid and bandages them or uses a spell/potion. The number of combat rounds a character can bleed out before death is the character’s level. Since these characters are level three, that means they can bleed for three rounds before dying.
- Magic-Users can use an ability called Force Bolt. They can essentially throw a magical bolt of force at their enemy for a small amount of damage. It can be used once per combat round. This is not a spell, so doesn’t use a spell slot. The mage must roll against the foe’s AC to see if they hit. They can use their intelligence bonus to add to the ‘To-Hit’. The damage dealt is 1D2 (1-2). If a critical hit is rolled, then the damage is 3 hit points. I don’t feel like this ability is too overpowered. It just makes the Magic-User a little more useful.
- There will be little swearing in this let’s play. I will probably allow myself to use the F-word once for a little color.
- There will be no romance or anything sexual in the let’s play.
- Additional house rules might be added while I play.
I’ve already figured out the map I want to use for the overland travel. I selected some cards from the Pocket Land Geomorph Cards and arranged them into a map.
The adventure starts in the bottom left card, outside of the town called Rockworth. It is the door-shaped icon with a question mark in it. The party encounters the carriage being attacked by bandits in the forest square to the east of the town. As the party travels over the map, the cards will be flipped over to reveal the map details. The party will travel through the swamp card to the east, then north into the grasslands card, then east into the mountain card, where they find the Castle Black Vale.
I can’t wait to get the adventure started. I hope you, dear reader, enjoy it. I have a general outline of what I want to happen in the adventure. Hopefully, it won’t go over the deep end for some reason. The writing itself will be a mix of story prose and game mechanics explanation. Some of the entries might be excerpts from the journal of a particular character. The names of the months and weekdays are made up for the world the characters live in. Below is a definition of the months and weekdays:
- January = Dawnlight
- February = Frostmorn
- March = Thawend
- April = Blossomtide
- May = Greengate
- June = Suncrest
- July = Emberheat
- August = Harvestshade
- September = Fallreach
- October = Leafturn
- November = Nightveil
- December = Winterdusk
- Sunday = Evefast
- Monday = Firstmorn
- Tuesday = Stoneday
- Wednesday = Veynday
- Thursday = Tideday
- Friday = Drakday
- Saturday = Luxday
