White Box Dungeon Adventures is out!

 

Out now! Go grab your copy!

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/560236/white-box-dungeon-adventures

Session 0 & 1

I have started playing a little White Box game during my lunches and whatever free time I can muster during the week (which is not much due to idiotic college courses I decided to sign up for). I will chronicle the game here as well as on Substack for those interested for as long as the game goes.

I have now played three short sessions and we jumped right into the middle of an adventure with our two heroes: Wilton and Godfred, as they enter a small nearby tomb in search of treasure.

I am using the best system ever White Box and whatever tools I have handy to run the game, documenting the game in Goodnotes, my usual Freedom Oracle, with ChatGTP generating images (going for feel and tone versus accuracy due to the short time frame), and Infinite Painter to draw the maps as I go along.

Njörun’s Altar: Map26.01

Njörun's Altar is a small temple facility hidden in the foothills. This unique temple is dedicated to the goddess of dreams, multiple rooms are said to be powerful conduits for accessing the dreamrealms. The place is also said to be haunted by Dreammaidens, translucent being that feed on the dreams - and nightmares - of people entering the temple. Once used to help visitors empty their minds of nightmares and fear, now they have become starved and malicious.

Skorn & Hefna (solo rpg)

Having not played anything for quite a while, and after listening to my friend Bill go through the same situation, I decided I needed to force myself to play. I have spent far too long looking for a system to use, a setting to play in, and frankly just wasted MONTHs thinking about playing but not actually doing it. Then yesterday I came across this video on the 'Tube and it really got me thinking:

And he was right, just freaking do it. His experience is just like mine, I worry too much about the system, making it look cool for you (and me) to look at, making pretty maps, character sheets, etc....

SO, like him I initially thought about using Shadowdark, going as far as creating two characters. I hated it, all the fiddly bits of if I have this ancestry I get a +1 here to do this, if this class a +1 to that, a +1 here for this...ugh

So I went back to White Box.  ;-)

I made two characters quickly, omg so quickly. I love WB.

Then, I decided that two characters will never survive and I needed some companions, so I opted to use a method Bill shared with me a few days ago from Chaoclypse's substack, a really neat and quick method for generating quick companions:https://chaoclypse.substack.com/p/system-neutral-rpg-companions Within minutes I had a fighter and a porter to join our adventure:

I decided to utilize a small thing I tossed together, just a few paragraphs for a base of operations but I did not want to get bogged down with this so I limited the time I spent and also how detailed this was:

I decided I wanted to explore a small barrow and what better tool to use than the great Barrowmaze Complete book I got a few years ago. I tracked combat on top of a Lowes gift card I got for Christmas and some extra tiny dice I had laying around. Improvise and continue was the motto here.

We ventured into the Barrowlands, and quickly we ran into an encounter. What follows are my notes on the game, taken as I played. They are not neat, organized well, or meant for any one else but me to track the progress of my game, I merely post here to show others how I played and how it is great to just stop thinking about playing, and actually sit down and do it.

All told, I spent about two hours creating (then recreating) characters, collecting my tools, and running through the session. I randomly determined which barrow we discovered and then used the entry in the book to describe it. I did reduce the number of badguys because wow, 6 mimics with each almost having 20 hit points is a little overpowered for my band of two adventurers and two companions.

All told, I had fun, it was easy to get going and I could easily continue this if I so wish. My little video on this session:

White Box, new character card

Been playing around with different card cards and I decided to rework my old White Box character cards. I am really liking the direction on this one. The top one would fit on each side of an index card. The one below fits three to a letter sized page (works perfect in Goodnotes for me). Still playing around with it...you can see the HP, AC etc are different as I am trying to figure out which I prefer.

The Curse of Ardwyck

In the works for months....and finally released!  

Your players stumble into a village with a problem. An old cursed church has been a dark cloud over the lovely village of Malmesbury, ruining it's chance of being a happy little vacation spot for travelers and Mayor Windencroft has had enough! He needs a group of stalwart heroes to adventure into the cursed place and rid it of all the nasty things that have moved in. 

Check it out over on itch! (link)

Writing again...?

I had a good idea for an adventure using the map I previously posted, so I threw it into Affinity Publisher and started writing it up. So far I am liking where it is going and I thought I would share a few images of the wip (very early images, so lots of typos and such that need fixed.

I will likely be putting this up on my page on itch.io for free. To see all my games/adventures/tools, click right here!

Sector Nine on itch

 

Gosh, way way back in 2017 I made this zine. This was the year I retired from the Army and in August I took a new job, essentially the COO for a medical device startup. - serious money (like twice my Army salary) but also 10x the stress, global travel, managing the US operations for the company). Life suddenly became hectic and this project like so many others fell to the wayside. In digging around and looking at Star Wars options I came across this and though I should probably drop it on itch.io so others could see it. I really had a great time writing this one and putting it together with art, planets, maps, and NPCs. I even managed to run a few sessions in this setting before the world caught up with me.

I simply love the space pulpy feel of dashing heroes saving damsels (and worlds!) from vile evildoer scientists bent on world domination. 

You can check it out here.

White Box.....Star Wars???

Ok, I admit I am a Star Wars fan, always liked it far better than Star Trek's bizarre utopian dream that always seemed far less possible than space knights with laser swords. Call me silly. Anywhos, I have been running around the last few weeks reading this RPG, that one with the sexy cover, one over there, these two here....trying to something simple I could use for my solo gaming, but also something robust and loose enough that it could encompass the world of Star Wars. 

And just to be clear here, Star Wars to me is in reference to the original three films, plus Rogue One and to a degree, Solo. The rest of that nonsense does not exist. In my SW world, Leia was perfect and beautiful, loved Han with all her heart, Han was a scoundrel with a heart and would die for his friends, Luke was an incorruptible brave warrior who knew that he could not just sit around while the Empire tormented all the people.

So I have been in a quandary the last few weeks what to do. No system I looked at: Black Star, WEG d6, ICRPG, Fate Accelerated, Tiny Frontiers, etc etc etc seemed to fit my needs. So, I gave up.

Then today while out on my deck listening to the rain I suddenly had a thought. Why not just use White Box? James Spahn made White Star, which has many bits that are SW with the serial numbers rubbed off, even then I do not think I even need that much. This got me to thinking why I like White Box for my solo games, what draws me to WB? It is a simple, straightforward chassis to run games. I also feel it is easily malleable into whatever genre you might want. What is Han Solo, but a rogue with a particular set of skills. Luke, a cleric maybe? In any case, for me the first thing is visualization. So what to do? 

So I made White Box Star Wars character minicards! 

I am going to let these sit a while, do some test prints and any needed adjustments, then I am hoping I can get a solo WBSW game going!

White Box FMAG Character Cards

I have posted these before but I wanted to make sure these were not lost among my blog twenty years from now so I posted my character cards over on Itch to make sure they are and will always be available. These will print on either a 4x6 card or letter sized printer paper...sorry UK folks with your weird paper sizes!  ;-)

https://mattjackson.itch.io/white-box-fmag-character-cards

Willowford map available!

I have finished the Willowford map and uploaded to Itch.io for download, the file is available in jpg and pdf, is free (or toss me a buck if you insist). I hope you like it, and yes, my little band of dogooders will be venturing here soon!

https://mattjackson.itch.io/willowford-map-white-box

White Box Monster Cards!

 

Played around a little today to make more White Box Monster Cards. I had them in season 1 and people comments how they liked them. I like the visual connection (e.g. something tangible maybe?) on the table in front of me. 

These have all original artwork made in Mid-Journey. I am really enjoying MJ in practice, just wish I could somehow teach it that hobbits/halflings wear no shoes and have large feet. Come on!

White Box Heroes: Wilona

 The newest band member! Wilona the cleric!

Burrowmoor: in the works!

I have been hard at work, creating a PDF zine for the village of Burrowmoor from the Willow Valley Gazetter. This includes a new map, locations and personality write ups. I am fleshing it out to a point but leaving lots of room for DMs to add their own touch. This will not be a full 'setting' book but something you could drop in any campaign and make it your own. As I will be using this in my solo game, odds are I will add to it as we play along. I am already hoping the PCs investigate that #6 up at the top of the map!

And yes, because it will come up, the art is all created in Mid-Journey. I am sure this will cause some folks to twitch and shit, but as this will be a FREE release I am not taking any work away from hard working artists. 

White Box Heroes: Sammin

 

The infamous 'Brave Halfling' from our first season of adventure, he has proven himself in the face of danger against TWO trolls and survived. Now he has a taste of adventure, he wants more!

Burrowmoor: things are afoot

 

(a nod to Tim and his frequent ‘working in the coffee shop’ photos)

Things have begun. Thanks to Steve for some inspiration last night that helped spur the creative process. I drew up a map after Erik called me out in his video, its a map of Burrownmoor, the small halfling village where my YT solo play takes place (click here to view my channel). I decided I am going to flesh it out a little, that way anyone using the Willow Valley Gazetter in James Spahn’s White Box Omnibus will have an additional map they can use for their games. I am also toying with updating the Willowford map as the original map was drawn prior to 2012. I may even contact James to see if he could drop the new maps into the existing files on Drivethru, might be cool.

All of this, dear reader, is me getting my gears spun up again to start up my solo game. There seems to be a handful of people interested in seeing me pick it up again. 

White Box Heroes: Joseph

Here is Joseph, our band's bard. He has brushed with death a few times already but that youthful spirit has kept him alive! Below is his current character card.

White Box Heroes: Halironda

 

I have been playing around with Midjourney lately and decided to try to minic some Easley and Elmore style artwork for my YT solo game. Here is our mage, Halrondia. I like that she clearly has a fantasy medieval style to her, but casts off the typical 'sexy female centerfold' feeling. Belwo is her current character card.

Willow Valley: redux!

click for PDF

So last year I did a series of solo ttrpg play on YouTube that were moderately successful. Last week Erik Tenkar did a video about solo play and he called me out for being 'the solo guy' in a group and not posting anything in ages (it has been ten months actually). This got me really thinking.

Sidebar:
I have had a rough two-three years for those who know me. Drastic life changes, personally and professionally and this last year especially I have been frankly floundering. My pals don't really know this but have probably started easily six to ten solo games with various systems, oracles, and tools. All have survived no longer than a handful of sessions before they petered out. This last year I have bought so many gamebooks, tried so many systems and tools. Nothing just felt right to me.

Back to Erik's message, and it really got me thinking. I LOVED that game that I posted on YouTube. I did somethings on there that appeared to really help others understand and get into solo gaming (I think this is because I live by the mantra KISS and I applied it to how I played solo). So I spent this weekend rewatching those videos, noting what worked, what did not, what I liked and what I did not, and I have decided I want to go back to Willowford. I began putting all my old notes, books, and resources together and I realized somehow I had managed to lose not only the printed map of Willow Valley, but also the file I used to create it. So, I spent a good portion today redrawing the entire thing, but that's ok because I am posting it here for others to use. I have made a few changes, mainly adding two more rivers and a small lake on the right side of the map.  This is a recreation of the map from the White Box Omnibus by Mr James Spahn. Nothing wrong with the provided map, I just prefer this one.  ;-)

Now that I have all my tools, I am hoping to start recording soon. No promises, but I am hoping to start up 'Season Two' of Doom Comes to Willowford!

White Box FMAG compatible logo

TheGreenTap over on Reddit asked if there had ever been a "Compatible with WB:FMAG" logo. I did not recall one and so I went to work because, well, I love White Box. After a little back and forth I finally settled on the design below. As with the OSR logo, this is released Free Forever into the Public Domain with no attribution requirements or possibility of being revoked in the future. Long live gaming. 

PSD (can't promise this works as I do not use Adobe apps):

https://drive.google.com/