The Heroes of Bisset, setup

 

By the time Graggar's stories had finished, I was looking at if I could incorporate solo gaming with my IRL gaming group. Might solo gaming be a type of prep for a group game? I had run a few friends through the "find out what happened to Graggar" section of the solo adventure, and while I thought it went well, my players (being used to AD&D, and some D&D 5e) were looking for something with a little more crunch and options than World of Dungeons. Fair enough.

The Heroes of Bisset was a first pass at making a solo or group game using mostly Scarlet Heroes but mixing in BFRPG combat and character creation. One thing I struggled with was the re-skinning of the familiar D&D spells into Scarlet Heroes names. I seem to have used the names interchangeably so apologies for any of my confusion that seeped onto the page.

Systems and references:

Basic Fantasy RPG - https://www.basicfantasy.org/index.html

Scarlet Heroes - https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/127180/scarlet-heroes

Mapper: "Hexcel" - https://goblinshenchman.wordpress.com/excel-mapping/

I hacked around with "Hexcel" until it was essentially a blank hex map, and filled it in using Scarlet Heroes random tables. The hexes are oriented with the flat sides E/W instead of N/S but this was something my poor old laptop could handle, and as a group GM share (eg as a Google doc) with my players - which as it happened was a useful feature, as a player could be designated "mapper" and update it instead of the GM.

Setting:

I had a blank map, and really no thoughts beyond the idea that the party would go out, explore, and help the town grow by killing monsters, clearing hexes and donating treasure. I rolled a few "features" which would give an idea of the town flavour.

Type/Name: Village of Bisset

Headperson: Scarlet Ree

Notable NPCs: Master Thief

Recent Event: Great fire. Abandoned by original occupants. Repaired by refugees.

Valuables: Tobacco crops (Hex QR18)

Facilities: Labourers, Public Well, Blacksmith, Brothel, Tavern, Shrine

Goals: Secure the future of the settlement by rebuilding and growing, making land safe and re-opening trade routes.

Character Creation:

Homebrew BFRPG (The 6 D&D stats, 3d6 with some bonus/switching, HPs as per AD&D1e)

Vidan the Deft (Male Human Magic User)

STR 13 (+1) INT 16 (+2) DEX 10 WIS 14 (+1) CON 10 CHA 9

Skills: Superb Balance Arcane Study 1 Blacksmith 1 Physics 1

Spells: Amber Sleep, Detect Magic, Daifu's Mantle, Least Alchemy

Roil Eagle Eye (Male Dwarf Fighter / Cleric)

STR 10 INT 10 DEX 7 (-1) WIS 13 (+1) CON 16 (+2) CHA 13 (+1)

Keen Vision Dwarf Senses 1 Toughness 1 Sergeant 1

Spells: Cure Light Wounds

Sleine the Sly (Female Elf Fighter / Magic User)

STR 14 (+1) INT 15 (+1) DEX 16 (+2) WIS 11 CON 9 CHA 10

Skilled Liar Elf Senses 1 Elf Resist 1 Survival 1

Spells: Amber Sleep, Detect Magic, Shield, Charm

Omarn Strider (Female Shou-Blood* Thief)

STR 14 (+1) INT 11 DEX 17 (+2) WIS 10 CON 15 (+1) CHA 5 (-2)

Skilled Liar Elf Senses 1 Elf Resist 1 Survival 1

Distance Runner Resist Tide 1 Appraisal 1 Steady Hands 1 Bandit Scout 1

* Shou-Blood = essentially a half-orc.

"The Heroes of Bisset" begins in the next post!