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Title: Strata Description: A solo Cypher System campaign by bss. Footer: Numenera, the Cypher System, No Thank You, Evil!, Invisible Sun, and their respective logos are trademarks of Monte Cook Games, LLC in the U.S.A. and other countries. All Monte Cook Games characters and character names, and the distinctive likenesses thereof, are trademarks of Monte Cook Games, LLC. Content derived from Monte Cook Games publications is © 2013-2022 Monte Cook Games, LLC. Full Disclaimer.

Strata

A solo Cypher System game by bss, set in the fantasy world of Etravar.

  • Cyne Valbrook is an intelligent and exiled spellsword [warrior flavored with magic] who wields an enchanted weapon.
  • Vaelor Galanodel is an inquisitive high elf wizard [adept] who wields a vast magical grimoire.

Vaelor

|> Hex map of the Queen's Reach area |: Queen's Reach, a barony on the east coast of Trezuria. {: .right }

I run this game over IRC, since that is convenient to me from basically anywhere. As such, chapters will only be brought here as fiction when I have opportunity to provide a write-up.

Queen's Reach

The campaign currently takes place in Queen's Reach, a region on the eastern side of Trezuria.

  • E11: Arrowhaven, a small village, home of Vaelor Galanodel.
  • F7: The Temple of Poros, 8 clerics and 4 guards, undertaking heretical expansion of the domain of Saint Poros, a follower of Chandathal, god of the wilds. They believe Poros is their patron, and worthy of true divinity in the Trezurian pantheon.
  • I4: Iron Blood fortress, an independent company of men defending the region, nominally allied with Greenhook, currently tasked with monitoring aganist orcs and the like to the north.
  • L7: Greenhook, one of the largest cities in Queen's Reach.

Tools and Standards

Jotting down things I'm using for the campaign that haven't yet become part of my "normal" process, such as it is, but might in the future.

Overland Travel

I am using a 3-mile hex in the "kingdom scale" maps. This is a break from where I was using 6-mile hexes, having been convinced by arguments such as Down With The 6 Mile Hex!.

Hex Unencumbered Encumbered
Easy (plains, grasslands, etc.) 1 hour 2 hours
Rough (hills, forest, etc.) 2 hours 4 hours
Difficult (mountains, etc.) 4 hours 8 hours

Unencumbered travel is travelling very light with little equipment; most adventurers with a normal amount of gear are encumbered for purposes of overland travel. Wagons, horses, and the like can make travel unencumbered if the transportation is suited for the terrain. An adventuring day is usually 8--12 hours of rest, 8 hours of overland travel, and the remaining left for adventuring.

Cyne

I started this as a writing challenge for myself, so it's a bit more "properly" written with narration and the like, but I quickly got too busy to keep up with it in this format, so I put it down for now. Maybe I'll return to it at some later point.

Session Logs/Chapters

Some style notes, my plan is to alternate between two voices and formats.

Normally-formatted text, such as this paragraph, is written in present tense, as if I was narrating GM or player thoughts live in the course of play. Since I'm both, at the same time, there will probably be no meaningful distinction between these two roles in the narration. Present tense just feels more natural to me for this right now, but maybe that'll shift over time.

Inset text, such as this, will be more about system decisions, dice rolls, asides and commentary, and so on. Probably far less structured here.

As such, the chapters will probably be a mix of session log and narrative prose.