The Original Solo Campaign Idea

A fragment campaign stuck in limbo

When it came to investing into a campaign idea I've had for the longest time it never was written on paper nor recorded. It was stuck in my mind sort of on a loop that reminded me this was something I've wanted to play out.

There was a first attempt. In fact it was using Whitebox Fantastic Medieval Adventure Game! Well... it was a short-lived attempt because like most Old-School D&D games out there. Lethality was frequent and often an aspect to avoid in combat. So Master Otis and Jason Covenrock were "dead" during their first expedition into the catacombs locating clues leading to the big bad one. I dropped it instantly yet I should've known better to look for a less lethal system for this kind of campaign to emerge in the future. 

Now fast-forwarding to 2025 I've been using Pits & Perils to play out my solo campaigns since it was my go-to system to running medieval fantasy games. Most importantly it was also due to the flexibility of the system that didn't instantly "break" the moment you changed something. Also it did have lethality, but not as deadly because you didn't roll for hit dice every level. most damage was 1-3 hit points unless the traps are dangerous that could instantly kill a character. 

So did I ever give up on the campaign idea? well to some degree yes, but It meant during that mental state I was all over the place trying to get these two characters to become an actual person involved in the game-world I wanted to play out. So I took some time just playing Pits & Perils war-game style until I was ready for the big thing.

Jason Covenrock's Legacy

Initial Idea of Jason Covenrock as a King

The story behind Jason Covenrock is that a civil rebellion against the town of Lonburg's lord was happening. He lost both his parents from a Juvenile rogue who stabbed them by surprise only to be accused of the murder. He was sent to the castle dungeon and eventually made his escape with one of the prisoners helping him. Afterall the town was in chaos and order was barely kept intact. 

So he knew that his grandparents were outside Lonburg and made his retreat to them. His grandfather was a professional soldier during his prime. So he had learned from his grandfather the sword techniques to survive this grim reality. a few years later as he became of age to learn as an apprentice for mentors. He stumbled upon the weirdly social mouse no adult would believe it was capable of speaking. 

Master Otis, the "last" of mouse-folk to have created this world before humanity existed. In fact in this world mouse-folk were the descendants of humans. though for most people who read fantasy stories and novels would find this to be odd, but I guess the fantasy genre of story-telling never made sense at all. 

This was a dark fantasy world just like Berserk, but toned-down of demonic entities existing and the planes outside the human realm. Though Dark Souls 2 motivated me to rethink this as I got something out of playing this game multiple times. It was also approaching the classic/heroic fantasy genre that I wanted to capture from this campaign. 

What Happens Now?

The roadmap? I never had one. It was clear to me this idea wasn't gonna be played out and slowly fade away. Which it did, but I guess as you get older and think of the past it was enjoyable to play it out. Those years during covid were memorable as I played solo and didn't question it one bit. A few times I overthink little things that shouldn't be the end of the world thoughts. Though I kind of grown over it now.

Bubble World as the campaign title would've been is now in a stasis pod waiting to be open and set Jason Covenrock free from it's frozen state. I've been thinking of setting the campaign in-between the late 13th to 15th century of Italy as I own books to get some ideas going. I'm not sure how im going to do it, but I guess it's better than not doing anything. Stay Tuned!