[Solo] The Magnificent Adventuring Circus: Introduction

In 2021, I played a solo game, focused on the (mis)adventures of a travelling circus of adventurers. It was a part of a shared sandbox game, The Pit, where participants all played their own solo sessions, then updated the global hexmap with new features. It's a great setup, because you create your own stuff, but also crosscheck the existing map and you can visit stuff that other people generated. You can follow up on rumors that others posted. I don't participate any more, but the game is still going on, and you can join if you are interested! Here's the invite link (Discord server), it's a nice and welcoming community.

Like most people on the server, I relied on

• Basic Fantasy RPG as the ruleset,
• The Hexcrawl Adventures supplement by Luke Kennedy (CptClyde), a very solid framework for soloists and hexmap generation (and there is a tutorial/example of play on youtube),
• an assortment of random tables, like the Tome of Adventure Design,
• & the fate of the dice and my imagination!

I went into the game with no particular expectations. Just rolled up a party of four 1st-level characters, picked a starting point and a destination a bunch of hexes away, and travelled. New hex - check for weather - check for feature - check for encounter, rinse and repeat...

But here's the beauty of old-school play: from this baseline procedure, a cool story emerged! I played 10 sessions altogether, took notes, wrote reports, shared them with the others. It was a lot of fun! 

As I still have these reports, I thought I would share them here on my blog as well. So from now on I will be posting it in installments. 

This is the intro post and "table of contents".

The Troupe:

The Magnificent Adventuring Circus! Their shows are re-enactments of their daring adventures that totally happened. They ride around on a garishly painted stagecoach (still paying off the debt on that one…).

Julia Maxima, the Bearded Lady (Dwarf Cleric 1). Stern leader and cook of the circus.

Pointy Kid, the Knife Thrower (Halfling Thief 1). Sly acrobat with a pipeweed addiction.

Callisto, Master of Illusions (Human Magic-User 1). Archmage of the Highest Order, Keeper of Forbidden Knowledge. Obviously, he has a creepy ventriloquist dummy.

Sheila, the Odalisque (Elf Fighter/Magic-User 1). Exotic dancer and all-around cool girl. She won’t agree to be sawn into two halves.

...and their adventures:

1. Session 1: The Road to Abazar
2. Session 2: Well- or Ill-met in Abazar?
3. Session 3: Wheels & Waterfalls
4. Session 4: Carnies in the Mist
5. Session 5: The Wolfman's Turn
6. ...to be continued!