Gaming Primitive RPG - Planning a Solo Game with a Non-Solo RPG (2)

The last post gave a basic outline for the first scene or adventure in my solo game play of Gaming Primitive RPG. In this post, I have added a description of the Snow Warrior, and even consider how to use one as a player character. I then developed a Snow Warrior random name table for male and female names, and the names of Snow Warrior places and deities. In the spirit of keeping this part of a light rules system, it is a d6 table. All of this will start to bring the Escape from Dlatanes scene closer to the gaming table.

So, what exactly is the new anthropoid I called the Snow Warrior? In the Foes section of Gaming Primitive on page 42 is a description of Apes which is at least useful to describe the physicality of Snow Warriors. Since I was going for something more akin to the sophistication of a Neanderthal, the description is lacking in some areas. The Snow Warrior is not a jungle or tree dweller, but more of an archaic human of human-like ancestor. It lives in tribes complete with a chief, a shaman, and a religion centered around Hrawyy, the goddess of winter. Snow Warriors are well adapted to cold cave dwelling environments, living in extended family units with men moving to their wive's home after marriage. They subsist largely on the spoils of organized hunts, and have mastered the use of fire. They are generally stronger than average humans, though humans with training are often faster than the average Snow Warrior. Arcane boons are even rarer amongst Snow Warriors than Humans. In general, the Ape stats on page 42 describe Snow Warrior combat skills well, but Snow Warriors will be in possession of items such as spears, daggers, furs for armor, and generally Treasure type A - meaning that their combat and defense may better than regular apes, and they will have the added addition of keeping non-magical treasure.

Since our hero Mux was raised by the Snow Warriors, he may encounter several that he knows before he can escape. Having names for the Snow Warriors is therefore fairly important in a scenario where your character might know them as Mux does. 

There is even a possibility of house ruling a player character as a Snow Warrior condemned to death, and so generating a Snow Warrior name would be essential. Such a Snow Warrior would begin the game with Strong +2 and Wise -1. The low initial Wise score does not make Snow Warriors necessarily foolish. It is said they are more insular than humans, and less capable of adapting new survival strategies to change. But most communities of Snow Warriors have a very bright shaman to aid their tribal leaders. A well traveled Snow Warrior would doubtless in time become very wise. Next, players making a Snow Warrior character would then have 2 more points to allocate to their Aspects (Fast, Strong, or Wise) with Strong being allowed to be raised to a maximum of +3. This will allow players to leave the low Wise score at -1 or raise it to 0 or even +1 if they so choose. However, such a character would be limited to choosing only mundane Boons as it is extremely rare for a Snow Warrior to have an arcane Boon. Almost all Snow Warriors are illiterate and speak the Low Speech. 

Using the death sentence table in the previous blog post, the reason for being condemned to death could be (1d6 roll): 1-2 for gaining too much favor from one of the chief's wives, 3-4 for accidentally disturbing an ancient ancestor's grave while foraging for food, or 5-6 for making the chief jealous of your superior hunting skills. The objective of escape would be the same, and perhaps the player may dare to try to seek a life in exile at a human settlement.

The random Snow Warrior name table below can be used to determine male and female names, place names, and the names of deities. To roll a male name, roll 1d6 two times using the "1st Sound" column and then the "2nd Sound" column. Die rolls of 5 and 1 would give the male name of "Sduk." For a female name, a third dice would be rolled in the "3rd sound" column. If I rolled a 4, I could change the male name "Sduk" to a female name by adding "ot." The female name would thus be "Sdukot." 

The Snow Warrior being well tied to the land sees land as deity and most deity as land. To determine the place names or a deity name, simply roll a fourth die using the "3rd sound" column once again. If I rolled a 1, I could add "us" to the female name "Sdukot." The resulting deity or place name would be "Sdukotus."

As we will later see in Scene 2, the area called the Winterlands to humans follows the same naming convention, and is known as "Hrawanan" to the Snow Warriors. The caves themselves follow this place name / deity naming convention and are known as the "Dlatanes" to the Snow Warriors. While humans usually call them Snow Warriors, Snow Warriors deify their own name in their language - believing they are the chosen people - destined to overtake humans to eventually spread out and people the Winterlands and beyond. In the language of the Snow Warriors, they call themselves Hrukotlo, literally meaning "the Snow Chosen People."

Random Snow Warrior Name Table

Roll d6            1st Sound        2nd Sound        3rd Sound

1                        M                    uk                       us

2                        Dl                    at                        an

3                        Gr                    ok                       es

4                        Z                      ux                       ot   

5                        Sd                    ek                        y

6                        Hr                    aw                       lo

In the next blog post, I will write a way to make a map for Scene 1.

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