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Solo Skirmish The Cult of Mol’goroz A Solo Campaign for Dungeons & Dragons (fifth edition) by PAUL BIMLER CREDITS: All text by Paul Bimler Art by Dean Spencer, Liu Xishan, Storn Cook, William McAusland, Tithi Laudthong, Matthew Richmond, Stinky Goblin, DM’s Guild Creator Resources. Cover design by Paul Bimler, image by Dean Spencer. All maps by Paul Bimler Playtested by: Christopher Logue, David La Boon, Fitzgerald Limisella, Jessica Laurent Sam McClintock, Joshua Roenfeldt, John Todsen, Martin Srpon DUNGEONS & DRAGONS, D&D, Wizards of the Coast, Forgotten Realms, Ravenloft, Eberron, the dragon ampersand, Ravnica and all other Wizards of the Coast product names, and their respective logos are trademarks of Wizards of the Coast in the USA and other countries. This work contains material that is copyright Wizards of the Coast and/or other authors. Such material is used with permission under the Community Content Agreement for Dungeon Masters Guild. All otherSample original material in this work is copyright 2020 by Paul Bimler and 5e Solo Gamebooks and published under the Community Content fileAgreement for Dungeon Masters Guild. SOLO SKIRMISH – THE CULT OF MOL’GOROZ INTRODUCTION THE CULT OF MOL’GOROZ - A Solo Skirmish is for the type of player who likes a CAMPAIGN OF FIVE QUESTS bit of quick combat-based solo action. This is not a This campaign, The Cult of Mol-goroz, consists of traditional game of D&D where a Dungeon Master five separate quests, which progress as follows: tells the players what is going on and they react accordingly. In the Solo Skirmish system, an in- 1: A Devilish Dilemma (Level 1) game AI controls the action, and players respond. 2: Krond’s Stragglers (Level 2) The emphasis is on fast-paced action and combat, 3: In Search of Shardaz (Level 3) with discreet, sequential phases and rapid levelling, 4: An Unwise Alliance (Level 4) much like a tactical boardgame. Roleplay only 5: Mol’goroz Wakes (Level 5) extends so far as the players controlling characters and making decisions for them. However, with the Each quest will take 30-90 minutes to complete, range of possible outcomes from rolling on the depending on dice rolls. Your characters level up thirteen included location tables, and the numerous on the successful completion of each quest. random encounters and item table rolls, every play- Please read the following rules thoroughly. through of this campaign will be different from the last. Even more so when you take into account the QUEST POINTS wide variety of different PCs that you can run Quest Points (sometimes abbreviated as “QP”). through this campaign. help you to advance during the quest and can be Much of Solo Skirmish is theatre of the mind, gained by completing skill challenges, by defeating which makes it perfect for quick, compact games enemies, through boons, and through other requiring practically no set-up time (beyond methods. They can also be lost through unlucky creating your PCs). rolls. In order to gain a Quest Point, it must be For the purposes of this game, we have created a explicitly stated in the text. new mechanic: Quest Points. Quest Points are spent by the PCs in exploring locations and advancing towards victory. You carry SOLO OR DUO? Quest Points from location to location during a Solo SkirmishSample is played using two PCs. A single quest, but you do not carryfile them between player can control 2 PCs, or two players can quests. At any point in the game, you can trade control a character each. There are also rules for Quest Points for inspiration. playing with 4 PCs here. Use some sort of physical token to represent Quest Points, such as a boardgame token, or simply keep a tally on paper. You can never have less than zero. LOCATIONS carry your characters through these quests Each quest consists of 3 locations which the PCs sequentially, levelling up after each quest progress through, finally reaching the last location Perhaps, however, you would like to play these in where they may complete the quest. A location any order you like, just dipping into these quests must be fully explored before your characters can once in a while. In which case, you will need to depart. The Quest Point cost to fully explore a create level-appropriate PCs each time. location is always displayed next to that location, Finally, place a token or marker on the circle eg: numbered “1” on the Threat Tracker (the series of connected numbered circles) on your printed Quest LOCATION 1: Looted Village (Spend 2 Quest Sheet. You are now ready to begin the first round with the Location Phase. Points to advance). In order to advance to the next location, the party GAMEPLAY - BASIC SEQUENCE must spend 2 Quest Points while at Looted Village, Solo Skirmish is not like regular D&D, or even during the Threat Phase (see Gameplay regular solo D&D. There is no freeform roleplay. Sequence, below). Once this is done, the location Rather, there is a series of locations and phases is fully explored and they can progress to the next that one progresses through, like many popular location. The party can only progress one location fantasy boardgames. The emphasis is on getting at a time. your PCs through each scenario in one piece. Once Quest Points are spent in this manner, There are four phases to the sequence of play in remove them from your Quest Points tally. Solo Skirmish. Whether in combat or not, players If you have not acquired enough Quest Points and of Solo Skirmish progress through these phases cannot advance, you continue with the sequence of for the entire duration of the quest. phases at the same location. 1: Location Phase SPIRIT OF THE GAME 2: Encounter Phase This is a tactical game, aiming to mix Fifth Edition 3: Hero Phase with elements of boardgames and other strategy- 4: Threat Phase based systems. As such, metagaming is totally fine END OF ROUND here. Just as in a boardgame, you may examine things like enemy resistances, different strategies Begin the quest by reading the introductory text (in for your party, potential enemy reactions etc, and a yellow text box, underneath the quest title), and act accordingly. This system has been built with the then start the first location phase. expectation that you will play tactically, rather than going for high verisimilitude. 1: LOCATION PHASE During this phase, players roll on the current SETUP location table for their characters, and react to the Setup for Solo Skirmish is simple and fast. events. First, print out the Quest Sheet for the quest you First, read the introductory text for the location if wish to play. If this is your first quest, we you have not already. Then find the appropriate recommend you start with A Devilish Dilemma location table. Example: In the quest, A Devilish (Level 1) and then progress through the quests in Dilemma the first location is Town Outskirts. Find the order they appear in this book, campaign-style. the Town Outskirts location table. Use the PDF You can take your PCs through this campaign from bookmarks menu to navigate to Location level 1 to level 6. Our next release in this series will Tables. be a higher-level campaign, going from level 6 to Each character rolls twice on the table, in this order: level 11. Next, create two PCs of PC 1 / PC 2 / PC 1 / PC 2 any raceSample and class at the Thisfile may be one player level specified on the making both rolls for both Quest Sheet. If you are characters (four rolls in starting with A Devilish total) or it may be two Dilemma this will be players playing a character level 1. You will only each, and making the need to do this during location rolls for those the first quest, as you characters (two rolls for each player). 3: HERO PHASE IMPORTANT: If your character rolls a result that During the Hero Phase, each character may take they have already had at this location, they may two actions of their choice from the list of options choose to reroll, but they must use the new result. below. These actions may be taken in any order Your characters react to these events as they occur. (eg: PC 1, PC 2, PC 2, PC 1). A sidekick is not a Also, unless a direction reads “any character,” then character, and so cannot take actions. Characters the character who you are rolling for is the one and sidekicks can all trade items with each other who is responding, making the checks, receiving during this phase as free actions. A character any effects etc. cannot “give away” their action to another When you have rolled twice for each character and character to take. dealt with the results, you are ready to move on to The actions that can be taken are listed below. the Encounter Phase. More detailed descriptions of each action follows the list. 2: ENCOUNTER PHASE During the Encounter Phase, the party makes a • Buy and Sell Supplies single roll for an encounter, referring to the • Free Long Rest (once per quest) encounter table on the Quest Sheet for that • Gather Information location. • Help The idea is to roll high. The lower you roll, the • Recruit harder the encounter. If a random encounter is • Remove a condition triggered, then find the battle map for that location • Rest and do battle with your enemies! A separate battle • Search map exists for every location which has a location • Scrying / Worshipping table. Also, there is a random encounter AI which • Other Actions can help to determine how monsters act.

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