Solo Adventure #1: Kargan Blacktusk

I can’t draw at all, so I asked a buddy at work named “Junior” - real name is Tommy.

Today I am testing out my own system, called D8 anywhere, it’s a very simple system that uses d8 dice. That’s it. I wanted something simple. So here is some solo play.

I wanted a lone warrior. No prophecy. No chosen one. Just a man who survives because he refuses to stop. This is the start of a solo game, written as it happened at the table. Dice out. Notes rough.

His name is Kargan Blacktusk.

Kargan is a killer. He drinks too much. He fights first. He takes what he wants and leaves when the ground is slick enough to remember him. He does not apologize. He does not reflect. He survives by breaking things before they break him. People call him cruel. He calls it honest.

He wears a scarred mail shirt taken from a dead mercenary captain. It stinks of rust and old sweat. He carries a notched axe that has split shields and skulls. No name carved into it. He has a broad knife at his belt for work up close. He keeps a wineskin and a pouch of dried meat. He trusts steel more than people.

Here is Kargan built for play.

Name: Kargan Blacktusk
Concept: Brutal wandering sell-sword
Edge: killing faster than fear
Trouble: anger never cools
Drive: get paid and keep moving
Stats
Might 2
Agility 2
Wits 1
Heart 0
Skills
Fight
Intimidate
Track
Survive
Gear tags
Heavy
Armored
Special
Once per scene, re-roll one die
Hits: 8
Stress: 3

Before play, I set a simple d8 oracle. I roll when I do not know the answer.

1 yes, and it is worse

2 yes

3 yes, but it costs you

4 unclear

5 no, but there is an opening

6 no

7 no, and things get worse

8 something unexpected happens

The game opens on a road at dusk.

Kargan walks alone through low hills. The sky is red. The road is old and cracked. I ask the oracle if there is trouble ahead.

I roll a d8. It comes up a 7.

No, and things get worse.

There is no obvious threat. No ambush. No bandits stepping out of the rocks. That is the problem. The silence is wrong. The road is empty. A cart lies overturned ahead. One wheel still spinning.

Kargan does not slow down. He grips the axe and steps closer. I decide this is risky. Something could still be alive.

I roll using Might plus Fight, plus Heavy gear. That is 2d8 for Might, 1d8 for Fight, 1d8 for gear. Four dice.

The roll gives me one 7 and nothing else.

Weak success with a complication.

Kargan kicks the cart aside and finds a dying merchant pinned beneath. The man grabs Kargan’s leg and begs. Bandits took his daughter. Rode east. Not far.

The complication is stress. Kargan marks 1 Stress. He hates this part. Begging always sticks to him.

I ask the oracle if Kargan helps.

I roll. A 3.

Yes, but it costs you.

Kargan frees the man and takes the direction. He does not promise anything. He does not ask about reward. Helping means blood tonight. He feels it already.

This is where we pause. The direction is set. The cost is coming.

Paperwork Section

Current NPCs Met:

• Dying merchant (alive but severely injured, pinned under cart)

• The merchant’s daughter (captured, taken east by bandits)

Possible Threads:

• Bandits who attacked the merchant and took his daughter captive (rode east, not far)

• Rescue mission for the merchant’s daughter

• The merchant’s fate (will he survive?)

• Kargan’s mounting stress and internal conflict about helping others

• The unnatural silence and emptiness of the road (something drove others away)

• What lies to the east where the bandits went

Oracle

d8 oracle. I roll when I do not know the answer.
1 yes, and it is worse
2 yes
3 yes, but it costs you
4 unclear
5 no, but there is an opening
6 no
7 no, and things get worse
8 something unexpected happens

Character:

Name: Kargan Blacktusk
Concept: Brutal wandering sell-sword
Edge: killing faster than fear
Trouble: anger never cools
Drive: get paid and keep moving
Stats
Might 2
Agility 2
Wits 1
Heart 0
Skills
Fight
Intimidate
Track
Survive
Gear tags
Heavy
Armored
Special
Once per scene, re-roll one die
Hits: 8
Stress: 3