So I happened upon a YouTube video of a person playing a solo D&D game (a game by themselves) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2nVilB8QeY] using The Solo Adventurers Toolbox, which immediately made me think of story generating ideas and writing. And playing D&D of course. It looked like fun and probably a bit of work. Here’s what I’ve come up with.
[ah hell, first person narrative]
I’m a PC, I don’t know what class, race, or whatever yet. I guess I should do that first. Enter Random D&D 5e Character Generator (https://tetra-cube.com/dnd/dnd-char-gen.html). I’m Orilo “Skywatcher” Katho-Olavi (I’m gonna change that name probably). Goliath, fighter (rune knight), soldier background, female, 35 years old. Occupation: artisan or guild member [brewer]. Trait: “I’ve lost too many friends, and I’m slow to make new ones.” [so I drink] Bond: “Someone saved my life on the battlefield. To this day, I will never leave a friend behind.” [not that I have many left] Specialty: Cavalry [maybe elephant cavalry, because goliaths are not small]. I became a soldier because: “A relative of mine was a soldier, and I wanted to carry on the family tradition.” [My uncle, Captain Brillo Skinscratcher Olavi]. High ability: Dexterity. I’m lithe, agile, graceful. Low ability: Constitution. I’m sickly, pale. [really? a fighter with low constitution. Well, maybe I stopped being a soldier because I got sick after being wounded and am still recovering from that. During my recovery, I started brewing beer.] Interaction trait: Hot tempered. Flaw or secret: Shameful or scandalous history. [I disobeyed my father and ran away to the goliath army when I was a teenager (underage) and had to sleep with the personnel officer in order to join up.]
I’m in town to enjoy the brewfest. The town is called Stoneglen, which is in the foothills that rise above the grasslands. When I get into town, I pass a house that is all boarded up, the gates locked. A passerby informs me that this is the house of a local nobleman who hasn’t been seen in years. It’s rainy. When I get to the local bar (the Blessed Scoundrel) (because where else would I go?) I hear from a fellow traveler that the brewfrest is being threatened by tyrants.
How does that work? Well, reasons for not wanting a festival celebrating brewing to happen should be explored. It could be a Mothers Against Drunken Slaying group or a local religion’s edict of sobriety or if the brewfest is a competition, maybe one brewery is angry that another was chosen to be the host of the event? Maybe foreign brewers are taking over and moving and threatening to turn this brewfest and competition into some sort of mass-produced beer sponsor thing – think Coors or Budweiser running a craft brew competition (I have nothing against either company, but local brewers – microbrews – and beer aficionados are not usually supportive of mass production). Maybe it’s a combination of all of those. So, in searching for motive, means, and opportunity – who has the most to gain by disrupting the brewfest?
Also, timing of when the brewmaster disappeared – when did that happen? Before or after I arrive at the festival?
I rolled up some random NPCs. There’s a female half-elf who is a cartwright. She’s well-off, but she’s afraid of something. She’s also lawful evil. Her name is Jastira. There’s a female half-orc herbalist who’s cocky, who is financially just getting by. She’s lawful neutral. Her name is Sharn. There’s also a male dwarf commoner who is unemployed – yet he’s extremely wealthy and frivolous. He’s lawful good. His name is Tinbull. And finally there’s a female dwarf adventurer -warlock, level 4, who is neutral evil, malicious, and extremely wealthy. Her name is Hildagold.
The toolkit also has verbs. Yes, verbs! If you recall, some years ago I attended a writing conference where the speaker was all about verbs (Damon Suede, Verbalize). The verbs I randomly rolled were aid, apprehend, betray, assassinate, and annoy. The toolkit didn’t indicate what to use the verbs for – but to use them in answer to whatever question might come up. For example, what am I doing ? I’m going to AID the brewfest organizers by finding out who is trying to ruin the day. I will help the local police APPREHEND the culprit or culprits. Someone has BETRAYed/will BETRAY someone. Maybe someone has ASSASSINATED someone – maybe that missing noble from the house mentioned earlier? And I’m sure someone is going to ANNOY someone or me or something during this process or maybe I’m going to ANNOY someone.
Because this is D&D, there has to be some monsters – so not just your average person behind the tyrants or as part of the tyrants. This boss monster should be fought. Other monsters should be a part of this. So the brewmaster has been kidnapped, in an effort to halt the brewfest. The brewmaster is being held somewhere sinister, surrounded by traps and puzzles and monsters. Maybe its a green hag? https://roll20.net/compendium/dnd5e/Green%20Hag#content
an Annis hag? https://media.wizards.com/2016/dnd/downloads/D10_Volo_Hag159.pdf
I suppose I shouldn’t figure that out yet, but as a satisfying story, I want to know who my BBEG (big bad evil guy) is.
So – lots of possibilities. Maybe I’ll play this out using the toolkit. It sounds fun.
I hope you all have fun too!