This is a solo campaign using the second edition of Five Leagues from the Borderlands. See the first post for details of the optional rules I'm using. The game state is tracked on this spreadsheet [Google Sheets].
Campaign turn 2
The Scions are in the village of Hol, having decided last time that discretion is the better part of valour and retreating when they stumbled upon the lair of a large group of Brigands in the Hinterlands.
A friendly game of cards
Expensive habits (d100 = 27): a random character demands 1£ in upkeep. That wouldn't be the Avatar (Lleucu) or her Retainer (Surya), so I'll roll 1d6 to determine who it is: the result is 5, Payne the hopeful youth with the self-bow. Ouch. Do I pay him or let him go? I'll roll 1d6 to decide with 1-3 meaning he goes and 4-6 meaning he stays. The result is a 2. Farewell, Payne!
Still, there's no more upkeep to pay and nobody needs healing.
We're rather low on funds so Lleucu tries her hand at Gambling (1d6 = 5) and wins 5£ (7£ total)—blessed indeed!
Let's interact with some of the locals. We encounter (d100 = 41) a Hunter who (d100 = 52) chats politely for a short while but has nothing especially interesting to say. š¤·♂️
The Scions will embark on another adventure but first is there anything interesting at the market? Bartering turns up (2d100 = 24, 100) a suit of Full armour and any rare item at 1£ over the regular price. No thanks! However, we'd better prepare for the worst: Bandages and a Tonic for 5£ (2£ remaining).
Before they set out, the Scions recruit one of the locals. Welcome, Nikandr! As a mere hanger-on, he has a Standard weapon (e.g., short sword) but no armour. Best of luck to you, Nikandr.
Well, alright Pilgrim!
The Scions sally forth (d100 = 15) and have a roadside encounter with (d100 = 25) a Pilgrim who is (d100 = 62) Friendly. We'll nane him Bihotz. If we encounter him again in future, we'll roll for a Special interaction.
All very peaceful but where's the adventure?!?
Something smells in Plympbridg
Bihotz suggests that the Scions visit the village square to see if anyone has a job for them. There is (2d6 = 12) a contract available: (d100 = 66) the village is offering gold to (d100 = 95) investigate concerning rumours about goings-on in Plympbridg. That's more like it!
En route to Plympbridg, (d100 = 49) they have another roadside encounter, this time (d100 = 68) a Peasant who is (d100 = 68) also Friendly. Isn't that nice? He's called Laocoƶn. I'll make a note.
Upon arriving in the village, the Scions find (1d6 = 2) there has been a recent uptick in the number of Outlaws in the area—the threat level is now 5. That explains the worrying reports of merchants going missing. The Scions receive 4£ for their troubles (6£ in the bank now).
Aftermath
No battles fought but the heros "survived" the encounter, such as it was, so they each receive 1 XP.
Thoughts
I bent the rules a little—introducing contracts mid-stream even though we'd already had an encounter—in an attempt to inject some action into this episode, but it didn't work out quite as I'd hoped. It's just one of the idiosyncracies of this system that you can have relatively quiet periods like this. Not amazing material for a blog but I am trying to relay my experience as honestly as I can.
One thing I should probably mention: I have no miniatures, no terrain, and no physical space in which to arrange them if I did. My tentative plan is to simulate a play surface on a spreadsheet instead, perhaps generating terrain using Perlin noise—though that might prove overly ambitious. We'll see.
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