Solo Core

Solo Playing 2d20 System Games

Credits
Written By Peter Rudin-Burgess
Based Upon the 2d20 SRD 2022 edition by N.
Dowdell, © Modiphius Entertainment
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Solo Core is copyright © 2023 Parts Per Million
Limited, International House, 12 Constance Street,
London E16 2DQ.

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Table of Contents
Credits .............................................................................. 0
Introduction .................................................................... 5
Chapter 1 Solo Core ....................................................... 7
Scenes .......................................................................... 7
Set The Scene ......................................................... 8
Traits ....................................................................... 9
Random Traits ....................................................... 9
Random Scene tables .......................................... 10
Difficulty ................................................................... 12
Threat .................................................................... 14
Threat Formula ........................................................ 15
Complications ...................................................... 15
Success at a Cost .................................................. 16
Fortune/Determination ..................................... 16
Flashbacks ................................................................. 18
Chapter 2 Characters.................................................... 20
Fortune ...................................................................... 21
Sidekick Creation In Play ........................................ 22
Declarations .............................................................. 22
Chapter 3 Action and Conflict ................................... 23
Zones and Terrain ................................................... 24
Harms ........................................................................ 24
Defeated You ........................................................... 25

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 Stealth, Tracking, and Observation ....................... 25
Observation.......................................................... 26
Chapter 4 Equipment .................................................. 26
Requisition Flashbacks ............................................ 27
Vehicular Combat .................................................... 27
Chapter 5 Adversaries and NPCs .............................. 29
Quick NPCs ............................................................. 30
Quick Tables ............................................................ 31
NPC Reactions .................................................... 31
Social Attitudes .................................................... 31
Combat Actions .................................................. 32
Momentum/Threat Spends ............................... 33
Chapter 6 The Gamemaster Emulator ...................... 34
The Yes-No Question Tool ................................... 34
Maybe .................................................................... 36
Yes ......................................................................... 36
No ......................................................................... 36
And… ................................................................... 36
But… .................................................................... 37
Complications ...................................................... 37
The Open Question Tool ....................................... 38
Words.................................................................... 38
Pictures ................................................................. 39
Source Material .................................................... 40

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 The Drama Dice ...................................................... 41
Gamemaster Emulation .......................................... 43
Adventures ................................................................ 44
Random Adventures ........................................... 44
Published Adventures ......................................... 48
Chapter 7 Tables ........................................................... 52
Traits .......................................................................... 52
Type of Scene ........................................................... 53
Terrain ....................................................................... 53
Features ..................................................................... 53
Difficulty ................................................................... 54
Random Attributes .................................................. 54
Complications ........................................................... 55
Quick NPC Table .................................................... 55
NPC Reactions ......................................................... 55
Social Attitude .....Error! Bookmark not defined.
Combat Actions ....................................................... 56
Momentum/Threat Spends .................................... 56
The Open Question Tool ....................................... 57
Image Prompts ......................................................... 59

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Introduction
In most game sessions, you have one player who is the
Gamemaster, and everyone else controls one, or
sometimes more, characters. The players make the
decisions for their character, roll the dice, and engage
with the world through their character. Each player
only must do the paperwork and maintenance for that
single character.
The Gamemaster serves as the link between the
characters, the players, and the rule system. They set
up the initial situation and arbitrate everyone’s
interaction with the world they have created. They
resolve rules, make rulings, and play everyone else.
They set difficulties, and when the game risks
stagnating, they move the game on.
No one wants to take on all those responsibilities
when we are solo playing. So what we do is offload
some of the work to dice rolls. Dice rolls tend to breed
tables, and tables breed sub-tables, which is why RPG
books look more like
maths texts than the
source material that
inspired them.
All those dice
and tables and
the rules on when
each is
used become
known as either a
Game Master

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Emulator [GME] or a Solo Engine. They try to make
your life easier by taking some of the burdens off you,
the solo player. The sum of this book builds a GME
or solo engine for 2d20 games.
Increasingly, solo layers are turning to AI to provide
an ‘on-demand’ Gamemaster. These rules do not go
into that. I don’t ‘do’ AI. If I wanted the computer to
tell what happens next, I would play a computer game.
Although I tend to play on my laptop, I am essentially
just a digital pen and paper player.

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Chapter 1 Solo Core
Scenes
The scene is the basic unit of play for solo gaming. As
soloists, we only need to get some of our friends
around to run a session and all the scheduling conflicts
that often entails. So, we can pick up a game whenever
we want and play for as long or as short as we want.
The scene then becomes the smallest functional unit
of play. You can play one scene or many, but because
they all have a beginning, middle, and end, they don’t
tend to leave you with excess stuff to remember for
next time.
I want to introduce you to a new sheet for recording
your scenes.
There is no one way to record your games. I have
settled on using a variation of Cornell Notes over the
years. These use a page ruled onto three areas. The
first thinner column is used for notes and reminders
for you to deal with after the game or later. For
example, you may mention a warlord while roleplaying
a scene, but you haven’t created
that warlord or their band
beyond just their name. You can
reference that warlord in the
right column with any facts you
have established, then create
more details after the game, but
ensure to keep to the established
fiction. For example, if the
Warlord is renowned for their

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horse archers, you must keep that fact intact once it
has been established.
The main area of the page is used for recording just
the current scene. It is large enough to hold the basic
combat stats for foes, sketch maps, bullet points of the
action in the scene, questions, and answers. This is
where you will record any Traits that apply at the
beginning of the scene. It is useful to highlight Traits
as you create them, so they stay visible.
The final space at the bottom of the page is for a one
or two-sentence summary of the scene.
When you want to come up to speed or get into
character at the start of each session, you only need to
read a few of the most recent summary sections to get
a clear idea of what had happened in the previous
scenes.
If you keep one scene per page, although some
important scenes may spill onto the back of the page,
you can insert scenes into your story. Why would you
want to insert scenes retrospectively? We will talk
about Flashback scenes below.

SET THE SCENE

This is one of the most powerful improvisation
techniques in any game, group, or solo. At the start of
each scene, focus on the one thing that will grab the
character’s attention. It could be a noise, an imposing
sight, a location, or something iconic from the game
setting. Then, focus on that thing and imagine how it
looks or sounds, its impact on its environment, how

8
others react to it, and if anyone else is there. Is it
moving? How does it move? Is it one thing, like a fly
crawling over the face of a corpse, or more complex,
like a ruined chest in a dungeon treasure hoard, and
everything you can see spilling out of them?
Once you can imagine this ‘thing,’ you can avoid
asking many questions because you have already
answered them. But it can also inspire all those little
details that can help you answer questions later.
You can also think about whether this ‘thing’ implies
Traits. For example, does it shed so much light that
sneaking will be difficult or so noisy that you could
drop your sword, and no one would notice? Does it
give cover? Any Traits at the start of the scene should
be noted and highlighted on the scene sheet.

TRAITS
As you set the scene, you will be creating new Traits.
These are your starting Traits. You can also develop
traits because of your character’s actions or the action
in the game. Whenever a new trait comes into play,
add it to the scene sheet and highlight it, so it does not
get lost. In a group game, the Gamemaster often
writes traits on index cards so all players know what is
in play. We do not need to do that, but highlighting
them serves the same purpose.

RANDOM TRAITS
When creating a scene, you can roll against any of the
tables below and use the suggestions to include traits.
The suggestions, such as Place, Person, or Object, are

9
intentionally generic. It is your task to think, “How
would this prompt look in this scene, and why will it
create a trait?” The intention is to push your
imagination into creating traits you may not have
considered.
Scene Traits
d20 1-5 6-10 11-15 16-20
1 Acceptable Incapable Unimaginable Imperial
2 Appreciable Inevitable Unmistakable Physical
3 Available Inhospitable Unpredictable Personal
4 Breathable Inscrutable Unreliable Loyal
5 Capable Interchangeable Unstable Financial
6 Comfortable Invaluable Unstoppable Social
7 Considerable Malleable Unsuitable Technological
8 Desirable Personable Usable Official
9 Detectable Pleasurable Valuable Political
10 Disposable Profitable Significantly Artificial
11 Enjoyable Questionable Venerable Rival
12 Fabulous Recognizable Vulnerable Vital
13 Favorable Reliable Quickly Moral
14 Formidable Remarkable Perfectly Fanatical
15 Habitable Stable Truly Concealed
16 Identifiable Suitable Deadly Fatal
17 Immeasurable Unbearable Family Brutal
18 Impenetrable Unbreakable Holy Martial
19 Implacable Unfavorable Safely Legal
20 Incalculable Unforeseeable Formally Influential

RANDOM SCENE TABLES

The next set of tables is intended to generate ideas for
what a scene includes. You can use none, some, or all

10
the tables and then see if they inspire an overall picture
of the scene. The biggest contributor will always be the
context of your adventure so far.

Type of Scene
Scenes
1 Stealth
2 Action
3 Dramatic Environment
4 Movement/Travel
5 Social/Knowledge
6 Sorcerous/Technological
Terrain
Terrain
1 Hindrance
2 Clear
3 Hazard
4 Obstacle
5 Clear
6 Hindrance
Features
Features
1 Something beneficial
2 Something hidden
3 A hindrance
4 It’s a trap
5 A challenge
6 A safe place

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Difficulty
The default difficulty is always one, but for the main
task in the scene, roll for a difficulty class. This will
give you a range from DC0 to DC5, with most
challenges in the DC0 to DC2 range.
01-05 Simple D0
06-10 Average D1
11-14 Challenging D2
15-17 Daunting D3
18-19 Dire D4
20 Epic D5
If the difficulty is greater than you expected, use the
Cause Traits that may be the cause. Then, roll on the
table and use the idea to justify the greater difficulty.
01 Roll Twice More
02-03 Lighting
04-05 Terrain
06-08 Distraction
09-11 Gear
12-13 Noise
14-15 Weather
16-18 Motion
19-20 Social
The intention of the random Difficulty is twofold. The
first is that it removes the burden of deciding how
difficult each task needs to be. The second intention
is to encourage you to insert ideas and Traits into the
scenes you didn’t think of. These traits may make
things easier than expected or harder, but you still
must account for them.

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Tasks and Skill Tests
The DC of a test is only part of describing a skill test.
Unless your scene describes an obvious challenge,
such as moving a huge boulder out of a cave mouth,
you can use random tables to choose a governing
Attribute. That can give you an idea of what sort of
challenge to create.
In some respects, this process can be like looking at a
list of ingredients in a recipe book and then having to
name the recipe. If it is a DC2 test made harder
because of the poor lighting but requires Insight, it
could be that that boulder is balanced just so that it
can be easily levered out of the way even if it is near
impossible to lift.
1d6 Attribute
1 Agility/Speed/Balance/Precision
2 Brawn/Fitness/Endurance/Hardiness
3 Coordination/Accuracy/
4 Insight/Awareness/Perception/Comprehension
5 Reason/Intelligence/Intellect
6 Will/Presence/Personality/Charisma/Self
Discipline

Random difficulties and the other parameters of skill

tests will encourage you to spend and generate
momentum. It is easy to fall into the trap of designing
challenges your character will excel at. A table of
random attributes will mean that no attribute can be
considered a ‘dump’ as they will all come into play.

13
Allowing for an unconscious bias towards attributes
your character is strong in will have you accumulating
Momentum much faster than the game system
intended.
The biggest challenges are likely to be created during
the Set The Scene stage, and these are not random and
will probably favor your character’s strongest
attributes. This is only logical if you want to play an
apocalypse survivor that has survived on their wits; the
kinds of adventures and scenes you create will likely
favor their Insight and Reason over Brawn.

THREAT
Threat will be generated in the same way as normal.
When you need to spend Momentum you don’t have,
you can add Threat to the Threat Pool just like in a
traditional game.
In Chapter 6: The Gamemaster Emulator, you will
learn about yes-no questions. One of the questions
you will ask at the top of each scene is, “Do I spend
Threat here?” If you roll a yes result, you should spend
some threat against your character, use it to increase
the difficulty of a challenge, or give bonus dice to
enemies. The answer will suggest that you spend 1, 2,
or 3 Threat during the scene.
It is useful to make a note of how much Threat the
dice suggest you spend on the Scene record sheet and
then cross it off when you have spent it.
Alternatively, this simple formula will try and push you
into spending threat.

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Threat Formula
• If you have more than 3 Threat at the end of
the current scene, you should spend 1 Threat
in the next scene.
• If you have more than 10 Threat at the end of
the current scene, you should spend 5 Threat
in the next scene.
• If you have more than 15 Threat at the end of
the current scene, you should attempt to spend
it all in the next scene.
These guidelines aim to keep the Momentum-Threat
economy moving and stop you from forgetting about
unused Threat.

COMPLICATIONS
Some skill tests will leave you with Complications. If
the complications do not immediately present
themselves to you, you can use the following table and
cross reference a d20 roll with the governing Attribute
of the skill test that created the complication. For
example, if you generated a complication on the skill
test to move the boulder, you would be rolling on the
Reason column and roll a d20. A 1-3 may mean that
although you move the boulder, complications do not
turn successes into failure; when the boulder comes to
rest, it has blocked your way out.

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 Brawn Coord Will Agility Reason
1-3 Bruised Tired Angry Awkward Complicated
4-6 Exhausted Gauche Conflicted Constricted Confused
7-10 Flanked Inferior Distracted Hurt Misinformed
11-13 Injured Outsider Frightened Slow Overthinking
14-16 Stunned Rude Intoxicated Disconnected Uninformed
17-20 Disarmed Vague Unfocused Uncoordinated Tongue-tied

All these entries are simply suggestions; if a different

one catches your eye, use that instead. As with all these
tables, in a traditional game, the Gamemaster would
create complications, but you don’t have that second
person to bounce ideas off, so the tables are there to
give you an idea to work with.

SUCCESS AT A COST
This is a useful option for solo games where you do
not want to block yourself into a corner. A group game
will have more characters, more skills, and focuses,
and symbols can assist in helping someone defeat a
tough challenge; a solo character cannot do that as
easily. Success at a cost lets your character progress,
but you can throw another challenge at them as
payback. The tables above can help create what that
challenge is.

FORTUNE/DETERMINATION
Fortune or Determination is another tool normally
distributed by the Gamemaster. The general rule is
that Fortune/Determination resets to 3 per character

16
each session, but solo games do not have to be played
in multi-hour sessions. You could play for 10 minutes
one day and an hour the next.
Try treating Fortune like Momentum in that excess
Fortune leaks away if unused. If you have more than
3 Fortune at the end of the game, you lose 1 Fortune
through leakage, and at the start of any game where
you have less than 3 Fortune, you reset it to 3 before
you start playing.
You do not have a Gamemaster to award you with
bonus Fortune/Determination for being particularly
clever. However, there is a way of marking milestones;
see Chapter 6, Gamemaster Emulator for more on
Adventures and the three Acts.
Using the yes-no question tool, you can ask questions
about whether your character’s Truths will be invoked,
if possible, and as a result, gain Fortune during play.
Of course, this will depend on the scene and the nature
of the Truth. It can work well with a manipulative
villain who knows just how to get under your skin.

17
Flashbacks
Normally, scenes progress linearly from the
introduction to your adventure to its conclusion.
There are times when you may feel the need to jump
back in time to play out something that you would
have done if you knew then what you know now.
Some Gamemasters would say, “Well, tough, you
didn’t think of it at the time.” That is fair enough in a
group game with a Gamemaster-prepared adventure
or a bought campaign. In a solo game, a lot of the
details are generated on the fly, and some problems
simply didn’t exist earlier, so you could not have
prepared for something that didn’t exist.
If we accept that our characters probably know more
than us, would they be better prepared or think of
contingencies that we miss?
A Flashback scene allows you to ‘fix’ things that you
feel your character would have prepared for, or at least
tried to.
They are not only for fixing things. You can make
flashbacks an integral part of your gameplay. This can
be difficult to do with a group game, but it works really
well in solo play.

18
To run a flashback, you take a blank Scene record
sheet and Set The Scene as if it is a regular scene.
Flashbacks are restricted to a single scene and a single
skill test. What you do not want to do is create an
entirely separate timeline where your story progresses
along a different path because you changed something
in the past. You also do not want to die in your own
past!
Once you have set the scene and you have a clear idea
of what you want to achieve in the flashback, play the
scene and make the skill test. Once the success or
failure is known, you snap back to the present and
continue playing.
Flashbacks can create interesting and non-linear
adventures. For example, you want to break into a
complex, and there is a checkpoint at the gate. You
could then jump back in time to the night before and
try and bribe the gate guard. Once your efforts are
resolved, you can then play out how the gate scene
plays out. Does the guard give your fake ID just a
cursory glance and then wave you through, or do you
have to hope they do not recognize you this morning?
At the end of the Flashback, you fill out the three-line
summary at the end of the sheet and insert it into your
game notes. Then update any Momentum or Threat
spent.

19
Chapter 2 Characters
Normally, characters are divided into Player
Characters and Non-Player Characters. This isn’t too
useful in solo play, as you will be playing everyone. I
suggest dividing characters into four categories:
Player Characters: These are created using the rules as
written in the game of your choice. You may want to
run just a single character in a true solo game, this fits
in well with the Barbarian hero genre, for example.
You can also try and run an ‘away team.’ There are
different ways to control characters, but if you are
going to create them using the player character rules
and take direct control of your adventures, they are
Player Characters.
Sidekicks: These are also created using the player
character rules, but you do not take direct control of
them most of the time. We can use the question tools,
see Chapter 6, The Gamemaster Emulator, to control
what they do or don’t do. You can momentarily jump
into control of a sidekick if they would naturally take
the spotlight in a scene, but they exist mainly as a
supporting cast.
Non-Player Characters: These do not need to adhere
to the character creation rules. They exist only to
provide you with roleplaying opportunities and
challenges, often simultaneously. Many NPCs will
consist of a single attribute and skill, just enough to
produce an opposed test.

20
Bystanders: These are non-player characters with no
attributes or skills but have a role. They are assumed
to be competent; your chauffeur can drive, the
blacksmith can fit horseshoes, and the forensic
pathologist can tell you the cause of death. Bystander
characters always succeed at their professional roles;
you never need to roll for them.

Fortune
Most player characters start with five
fortune points during character
creation. These can be spent to
buy additional features during
the creation period. If

intending on playing a
single hero, rather than a
party, you can increase this
to 6 or even 7 starting
Fortune. This
will make your
character a little
more capable
and rounded and
more able to
survive as a
lone hero.

21
Sidekick Creation In-Play
The creation in-play method, where you only assign
the first [highest] to stats from the standard array and
define your sidekick’s two Truths works well for
creating your sidekick. You can fill out the rest of their
attributes, skills, talents etc., as you play.
This method tends to give you a sidekick that
compliments your character as they end up with the
skills that you lack.

Declarations
You may use the Declarations option once per session
for your character and your sidekick but not for any
other NPCs that may temporarily be part of your
party/away team/diplomatic mission, etc.
For declarations to retain their impact, you need to
have some emotional connection and investment in
the character; a declaration may well end up getting
them killed, so it is not something to be taken lightly.

22
Chapter 3 Action and Conflict
Action and conflict are the absolute core of
roleplaying games. Without the goal of overcoming
odds stacked against your character, games can
become flat. You cannot ‘win’ a roleplaying game, but
you can win individual fights and great battles and you
can defeat foes. All of those require you to resolve
combat.
The 2d20 system uses rounds, and everyone gets at
least one major and one minor action. We can use the
yes-no tool to decide on the actions of NPCs. You
start with what you would expect them to do, such as
taking cover, advancing with weapons drawn,
throwing themselves on your mercy, or dropping their
weapons and putting their hands up, and then asking
the dice if that is what they do. The nature of the yes-
no question will then decide whether that is what
happens or something different.
You can apply the same method to selecting attacks
and targets. If an opponent has more than one attack
option, pick the one that you would consider their
default and ask the yes-no tool if that is their action. If
it says no, then they are using a different attack form.
You can also use this method for picking their target,
which they would logically go for, and then test that
assumption.
The default round says that the Gamemaster chooses
a character to go first, and the action alternates,
barring momentum spends, between the player
characters’ side and the opposing side. In a solo game,

23
there is only one star, your PC. Without the
Gamemaster to choose who goes first we can say
unless there is an obvious first action, your character
acts first and then alternate from there.

Zones and Terrain

You don’t always need a map for your conflicts and
battles. One option is to quickly sketch something out
in your scene notes, but you can also use yes-no
questions to test whether specific terrain or assets exist.
Most of the lay of the land is often decided in the Set
The Scene stage. By describing the ‘battlefield,’ you
can make your quick sketch from that. The specific
details, such as whether you can reach the cover or
whether you have line of sight, can be decided by the
yes-no question.

Harms
You can make your character a little more robust by
allowing them to suffer four Harms before becoming
Defeated. At the same time, you can reduce the
number of Harms that minor foes can withstand to
just one, but not pulling any punches during combat
means that foes will still be dangerous but easily
defeated. The advantage is that it stops conflicts from
becoming long, drawn-out affairs.
You can pick out foes from the game you are playing
and see which can withstand having their Harm
reduced while still remaining true to their nature; you
do not want 1 Harm dragons, and you shouldn’t
weaken them in this way. This is mainly a technique
for goons, mooks, or minions.

24
Defeated You
At some point, you are going to lose a fight. Defeat
does not need to mean death or the end of your
adventure. The first option is once you are defeated,
you elevate your sidekick to a full character by taking
direct control of them and see if you can rescue the
situation, or if they can drag your fallen body to safety.
If you sidekick can save the day, you live to fight
another day.
The other option is ‘what happens next?’ Rather than
defeat leading to death consider if you could be
captured, beaten and left for dead, or an equally bad
outcome. This is really Success At A Cost but applied
to combat. You don’t win the battle, but the success is
not dying. The cost is that you are in a bad situation
from which you now need to escape or recover.

Stealth, Tracking, and Observation

Sometimes the yes-no question and skills can come
into conflict. For example, you could ask if there were
any tracks leading away from a crime scene. Once you
know they exist you may be tempted to decide that
they are so obvious that there is no need to roll for any
skill check to find them, or bias your skill test, such as
giving yourself a free or easy retest should you fail.
The alternative is to make the skill test before you ask
the questions. If you make the still test, then you ask
if the tracks exist. If you fail the test, you don’t bother
asking the question as you will never know if there
were tracks there or not.

25
The principle of test first, question second applies to
all knowledge-gaining skills. You always have the
option of spending Momentum to learn extra
information. Then you can ask the question to learn
the truth, without having to make the test.

OBSERVATION
We can avoid having to roll many observation tests,
when your character is trying to use stealth by using a
drama countdown technique [See Chapter 6 The
Gamemaster Emulator]. Each time you generate
Threat, or fail a stealth test, the countdown die is rolled
and there is a chance of you moving from Hidden-
>Detected->Revealed.

Chapter 4 Equipment
Many games will assume that the player characters
belong to some larger group or network with the same
goals, who can supply the PCs with tools, equipment,
and other useful resources for their adventures. Your
player character is likely to have an assortment of
personal items they routinely carry or use, provided
during character creation, as well as items collected
during their prior adventures, but access to an
assortment of items from an agency or a group of allies
is always useful to supplement that personal gear.
Solo games often have smaller parties of characters
and, therefore less ability to carry equipment. An easy
fix for this is to provide your character with a vehicle,
if that is thematically possible. It could be an away
team’s shuttle, a war horse, or anything in between.

26
What a vehicle does is give you more scope for small
items that are ‘on-hand’ rather than carried. This gives
you more flexibility with breaking the encumbrance
rules for whatever game you are playing.

Requisition Flashbacks
If you suddenly discover that you really need a piece
of equipment, but according to the game so far you
don’t have it, you can try a requisition flashback. You
play out a single scene where you ask your mission
handler, superior officer, or village elders etc. for the
‘thing’ that you need and see if they give it to you.
Most 2d20 games have some form of supporting
network and requisition system. If it exists, you do not
have to think of everything in advance of starting your
game.

Vehicular Combat
Vehicular combat, and
most commonly
space combat, is a
staple of sci-fi media
but is dissatisfying almost
every time in roleplaying
games. The issue is that one bad
roll or set of rolls and you have a
Total Party Kill [TPK] on your
hands. If you have players that enjoy
playing characters that are more
supporting roles in combat, they can be
completely excluded from battle sequences.

27
These problems disappear in solo games. You are
always the star of the show, and even if you are the
chief communications officer, you are still on the
bridge and engaged, and the combat is played out from
your point of view. If a flurry of bad rolls blows you
into atoms, it was at least you that made the bad rolls.
One of the strengths of solo play is that you can build
very specialized campaigns that explore niche areas of
game rules. These can be hard in group games because
they can exclude some players or may not appeal to
everyone. I recently played a game based on the
movies Top Gun and Top Gun Maverick. Having all
the action focus on individual fighter pilots and deep
diving into the dog fight action was exciting for a
single player, and it could have worked for maybe a
two-player game with a lead and wingman, but for a
party, the risks of one hit and you are out were very
high.

28
Chapter 5 Adversaries and NPCs
Normally, NPCs are divided into Adversaries and
Allies. The main difference in game mechanic terms is
that Adversaries spend Threat in place of Momentum,
and Allies generate Threat in place of Momentum.
Which side of the Threat divide any character is on is
based on their actions. It can be a case of the NPC
changing sides during a scene and from that point on
they go from spending to generating Threat.
Sidekicks do not count as NPCs in this instance. You
can jump into a Sidekick at any time if they are more
central to your story so they exist in a gray area
between NPC and PC. Sidekicks generate and spend
Momentum as you wish, and they can have talents that
can let them use Momentum in different ways, just as
PCs can.
All NPCs are controlled mostly via the yes-no
question. You choose what is the most logical thing to
do, and then ask the yes-no question to see if that is
how they behave.
If you have sufficient dice, you can roll multiple
questions at once. For example if you had four
distinctive d20s, you can pair them up and roll all four
and decide how two NPCs react at the same time.
At each iteration you can consider what is the logical
thing for this character to do, and then test it.
Sometimes you can use the open question tools, See
Chapter 6 Gamemaster Emulator, and use its

29
suggestions to color the NPCs reactions. This mostly
happens during social conflicts or simple roleplaying.

Quick NPCs
Unless an NPC is to become a major player in a game
you can get away with them being a single attribute
and skill. This is enough to run opposed checks and
challenges.
You can use this quick table to pick an attribute value
and skill level for an NPC created on the fly.
NPC Quality Attribute Skill Harm
Poor 7 0 1
Basic 8 1 1
Proficient 9 2 2
Talented 10 3 2
Exceptional 11 4 2
The NPC’s description should suggest any traits they
may have, a single Trait is often enough.
When a Quick NPC is defeated, it is up to you, and
how you imaged the attack, as to if they are dead, dying,
unconscious etc.
Although Poor or Basic NPCs may not seem much of
a challenge, you can use them as teams, each with a
specific role, such as a couple of thugs, a driver, a safe
cracker, and a leader would be capable of robbing a
bank They would also get five actions to your one, so
they would not be a complete pushover if you wanted
to take a brute force approach.

30
Quick Tables
The following section has some quick 1d6 tables to
help you decide actions and attitudes for NPCs you
have created on the fly. They do not provide a great
depth of detail, but you can combine them to get an
NPC that is more than just a flat carboard cutout.

NPC REACTIONS
This simple table can help you put an immediate
motive into the mind of an NPC. You can pair this up
with the Open Question tool, see Chapter 6 The
Gamemaster Emulator for more on Open Questions.
Reactions
1 Wants something
2 Has Something
3 Not interested
4 Needs a favor
5 Deceiving
6 Working against you
SOCIAL ATTITUDES
This little table gives you a quick glimpse into how an
NPC is behaving right now.
Social
1 Talkative
2 Gossipy
3 Offers Advice
4 Aggressive or abusive
5 Lying
6 Questioning

31
COMBAT ACTIONS
If the NPC is caught up in combat, you can use
the combat table to decide from round to round
how they behave. If the NPC is on the defensive
this the defender reactions table may be of more
use!
Combat
1 Primary Attack
2 Defend an Ally
3 Primary Attack
4 Withdraw
5 Move for Advantage
6 Target a weakness

Defender Reactions
1 Retaliate
2 Retaliate/Withdraw
3 Recover
4 Withdraw
5 Sacrifice Armor
6 Sacrifice Armor/Withdraw

32
MOMENTUM/THREAT SPENDS
Most NPCs do not spend or generate Momentum,
but your sidekick does. What they can do is spend
or generate Threat. This little table suggest what
an NPC may try and do that uses or creates
Threat.
Momentum Spends
1 Create Opportunity
2 Create Obstacle
3 Obtain Information
4 Improve Quality of Success
5 Improve Scope of Success
6 Reduce Time Required

33
Chapter 6 The Gamemaster Emulator
The Gamemaster Emulator is not a ‘thing’ it is a
collection of things or tools, and you pick the one that
best fits the situation. The primary goal of the
emulator is to push key decisions away from you and
on to the dice. The point is that if these decisions are
not being made by you, you then do not know what
will happen next in your games, and so you can play
to find out.
The emulator also exists to inject new ideas into your
games, and hopefully ideas you would not have come
to on your own.
The three main tools are:
• The Yes-No Question Tool
• The Open Question Tool
• The Drama Die.

The Yes-No Question Tool

This is the cornerstone of solo playing. At its heart, it
is a 2d20 roll with a Target Number of 10. Alongside
the 2d20 roll, you also roll 1d6 or a Challenge Die.
Before you get to roll the dice you need to formulate
the question. This has to be in a yes-no format, such
as, “Are they unarmed?” or “Is there any cover within
reach?” Once you have your question you can imagine
what the positive and negative answers look like. This
is useful because if you cannot imagine both answers
it probably isn’t a good question, and you should just
use the answer you can imagine. It also means that

34
once you roll the dice you are mostly picking from the
two options, and you do not have to think “What the
heck does that mean?”
Roll both dice and check the result. One success is a Maybe
answer; two successes are a yes, and two failures are a no. If
any die rolls a natural 20, it gives a complication, and two
natural 20s give a major complication.
At the same time, you are going to roll a challenge die
or d6. This will give you either a But…, And…, or a
complication.
If you have a complication from your d20s and a
complication from the Challenge die, they become a
Major Complication.
Dice 1 Dice 2 Result
Success Fail Maybe
Success Success Yes
Fail Fail No
Natural 20 - Complication
- Natural 20 Complication
Natural 20 Natural 20 Major Complication

Challenge Die Modifier

1 But…
2 And…
3-4 No modifier
5-6 Complication
We now have some words that, on their own, don’t
mean very much, yes, no, maybe, and, but, and
complications.

35
MAYBE
This is one of the most interesting results. Whatever
the question was, it may be true or maybe not. There
is something that either prevents you from knowing
or that you need to do to clarify the answer.
Using our two example questions, “Are they unarmed?”
Maybe, maybe you cannot see any obvious weapons?
To know for certain, you would need to search them.
Is there any cover within reach? Maybe, maybe you
need to make a Move check, and on success, you get
behind the cover.

YES
This is the default positive answer. If you imagined
your possible answers before rolling the dice, this is a
positive result. Are they unarmed? Yes, they have no
obvious weapons. Is there cover within reach, yes,
there is.

NO
This is the default negative answer. If you imagined
your possible outcomes before asking the question,
this will be your negative result. Are they unarmed?
No, you can see they have weapons. Is there cover
within reach, no, there is either no cover, or it is going
to take your action to get to it.

AND…
Yes, and… is a classic device in improvisation. It suggests
taking your answer and making the best, or worst possible
version. Are they unarmed? Yes, and… you can see their
weapons are on a rack on the other side of the room. Are

36
they unarmed? No, and a couple of them have their guns
out and are gesturing about with them as they recount a
recent encounter. Is the cover within reach? Yes, and it still
gives you a good view of the battlefield. Is there cover within
reach? No, and you will make yourself more obvious and
draw your foes attention if you try and move.

BUT…
This answer is a bit like a complication. It doesn’t turn a yes
into a no, or a no into to a yes, but it does tone down the
answer to make it less good or bad. Are they unarmed? Yes,
but they have weapons on the table or within easy reach. Are
they unarmed? No, but they only have improvised weapons
like bits of chain and a chair leg. Is there cover in easy reach?
Yes, but it is only soft cover, like a bush, it obscures you but
won’t stop a bullet. No, but there is a depression in the
ground you could use to get out of sight.

COMPLICATIONS
Just like normal complications for a skill test, these
complications do not turn success into failure or a no into
yes, or vice versa. You can resolve complications like any
other, but you can also ask the Open Question tool below
for suggestions.
A major complication may well require a skill test to
overcome.
NOTE: The Yes-no tool should not be used to replace skill
tests. You should not ask if things are true if learning that
information would require a skill test or momentum spend.
But, you can use this tool to decide if something is true if
you have made the skill test or spent the momentum.

37
The Open Question Tool
Strictly speaking, this is three tools. Words, Pictures,
and Source Material.

WORDS
The most frequently used is the word tables. The tool
has nine columns against which you can roll 1d20 on
as many as you wish. The intention is to build a stunted
sentence that conveys the answer to your question.
An open question is any question that cannot be
answered with a yes or no answer. Are they unarmed
is closed, and who are you working for is open.
The single most important consideration is context.
The same sentence could have entirely different
meanings in different scenes.
For example, if you pulled a gun on a group of thugs,
the yes-no question had told you that they are
unarmed so you stepping out with your gun drawn
gets their attention. You attempt to intimidate them
and succeed. You want to know who they are working
for. Rolling once on each column that seems suitable
comes up with “Spend Making Technical Expedition”
What does this mean? Spend no more than 20 seconds
trying to create an idea that encompasses those words.
My interpretation was that the thugs don’t know, but
they do know that the organization is spending a lot
of money on paying scientists that are planning an
expedition.” This then implies that it is either a mad
scientist-type villain or an evil organization using thugs
to raise month and fund their experiments.

38
Open question answers are always vague and open to
interpretation. I personally consider this to be the
hardest single skill in solo play, becoming comfortable
with interpreting strings of words into in-game ideas.

PICTURES
If words are not working for you, there is another
option and that is game icons. Game icons are small
images that are easy to interpret in multiple ways.
This book provides 100 icons, but more than 4000
more are available from game-icons.net. In the footer
of every page of their website is a random icon link.
This will allow you to bring up new icons at a single
click.
To answer a question, roll d20 and count down the list
that many icons. Then roll a second d20 and count on
from the first icon to find the second icon. Now take
the two icons and try and imply a meaning from them.
Each time you need a new set of icons you roll and
count on from the last icon used. When you reach the
end of the list you wrap around to the beginning again.
If we were to ask the same question again, who are the
thugs working for, we could get the following two
icons.

What do the two images mean? I am seeing a bridge

and a set of demonic eyes. I want to create a villain, or

39
evil organization called the Watchers from the Other
Side. That is the answer I get from the thugs.
Just like using the word tables, try and limit yourself to
20 seconds of thinking time.

SOURCE MATERIAL
Most games have some source material. It could be
classic novels, or even game setting books. Using this
method, you are going to use the dice to pick which
book you want to use, if you have more than one, and
then where in the book to use, and then where on the
page. Once you have found the text you skim read on
from that point and look for words or ideas that
answer your question, either explicitly or just ideas that
need interpreting.
For example, I am using Sam in the Suburbs, by P G
Wodehouse as the setting for my adventure, a
detective game set in England. My copy of the novel
has 183 pages, so I can say that each number on the
d20 represents 9 pages. I roll the dice and get 13. If a
1 was pages 0-9, 13 will be page 108 to 117. I then
follow up and roll 1d6 to pick a paragraph. I get a 4,
so I want to start reading at the fourth paragraph on
page 108 and skim until I find a good answer for who
the thugs are working for.
‘For a long instant he stood there, gaping. He saw
Kay smile. He saw Sam take her hand. He saw
Sam smile. He saw Sam hold her hand. And then
it seemed to him that he had seen enough.
Abandoning his intention of walking down Fleet
Street, he hailed a cab.

40
 “There’s Lord Tilbury,” said Kay, looking out.
“Yes?” said Sam. He was not interested in Lord
Tilbury.’
It seems that Lord Tilbury is as good a name for a
villain as any, so in this version of the game, Lord
Tilbury is either the villain or being manipulated by the
villain.
You are not looking for an answer to your exact
question but dipping in to look for inspiration to
create an answer.

The Drama Dice

The third tool in the emulator is the drama dice.
Regular group games are often spiced up by putting
characters against the clock. Putting characters under
pressure means that they often have to go with less
than perfect plans, and improvised on the hoof.
When you are both Gamemaster and player it is harder
to create that sense of will you/won’t you succeed
drama.
There is a whole raft of events that are better when
you don’t know when they will happen. If you trigger
an alarm, how long have you got before you get
surrounded? If a building is on fire how long before it
collapses? If the spaceship controls are set for the
heart of the sun, how long do you have before its
gravity well is too great to escape from?
The Drama dice is your answer to these dilemmas.

41
The Drama dice is not just a single die, it is a
combination of the event that may, or may not,
happen, a triggering event, such as combat rounds, or
minutes, or failed skill checks or rolled complications.
Finally, the Drama dice needs a starting value. This is
a number between 1 and 60.
The higher the starting number the less likely the event
is to happen.
Every time the trigger event happens you roll 1d20-
3d20 and sum the result. If the starting number or
current value of the drama dice is greater than 40 you
roll 3d20. If it is between 21 and 40 you roll 2d20 and
20 or under, you roll 1d20.
If the number you rolled is less than the current
Drama dice value, it becomes the new value. If you
roll greater than the current value, the current value
drops by 1.
When the current value becomes 1, the event happens.
For example. A character is trying to scale a narrow
ledge of snow and ice in the Alps. There is a chance of
the characters triggering an avalanche and there is a
village in the valley below. I set the Drama starting
number to 50 as I don’t want it to be too dangerous
but also a real threat. I set the trigger to every failed
Move test, and for any complications that I generate.
In the first round, as the characters edge onto to the
ledge, I make a test for my character and sidekick. We
both pass the test but generate one complication. I roll
3d20 for the Drama dice and get 32. That is now the

42
new value of the Drama dice. The characters hear the
ice shelf creak and shards fall off down into the valley.
In the second round, I fail my move test and do not
make any progress. My sidekick doesn’t get to roll
because I am blocking the way. I roll the Drama dice
again, but this time only 2d20 as the current value is
now between 20 and 40. I roll a 1 and an 8 to give a 9.
The Drama dice is now 9. The next few skill tests are
successful, so no Drama rolls are made. As we near
the far side, we generate another complication. This is
a 1d20 roll, as the current value is below 20. I roll 18,
which is more than the current value, so it only drops
by 1 to 8. After that, we are safe across the ledge, and
we did not set off an avalanche.
You can have as many Drama dice running
concurrently as you need, and any that persist from
one scene to the next you can copy over to the next
scene’s notes.

Gamemaster Emulation
What you have so far are a few dice mechanics and a
handful or random tables. How do we bring it all
together?
Solo playing is a process of turn-taking. While you are
thinking like your character, imagining their words,
feelings, and actions, you are in player mode.
As soon as you need to resolve anything using the
game rules, you swap to the Gamemaster mode. In
addition to resolving the rules, you will generate
questions about the scene and the other characters in

43
the scene. This is when you turn to the two question
tools and the Drama dice.
You ask your questions and consider what the answer
looks like to your character. Context really is
everything in solo play. If someone is armed, it could
mean a short sword in one game, a phaser in another,
or an improvised spear in a third.
An NPC taking offense at something you said could
dissolve into a brawl, trigger a feud between your
houses, or have you reprimanded by an officer.
One of the most important elements of context is the
style of the game you want to play. Just as some tables
like hack and slash, and others enjoy tactical combat.
Solo play allows you to customize everything to fit
your preferences. You can play a series of one-shots if
you want to try out different adventures and styles or
jump straight in at an epic power level.

Adventures
Adventures fall into two categories. The first is
published adventures and the second is randomly
generated adventures. I will look at random
adventures first.

RANDOM ADVENTURES
Humans have an immense power to see patterns
where they do not exist. We see faces in rock
formations or patterns in the stars. You can use this
ability to generate your adventures.

44
Going back to context, you know the kind of
adventure you want to have, and the game system will
support certain styles of game.
One of the easiest starts is to launch into the action.
Movies do this all the time, and it is on a par with
having a first line of a novel that grabs the reader. We
call it In Media Res, and it means in the thick of it.
What you do is take the genre and style of game and
create a dramatic and action packed opening scene.
This triggers your Set The Scene. Focus on the big
central element.
Once you have that opening, and created any
supporting material such as finding suitable stat blocks
for any NPCs, put your character into the scene.
This will inevitably generate unanswered questions.
You could be being roughed up by thugs, thrown off
a building or trying to land a crippled plane. Who sent
the thugs, why are you being murdered or what
crippled the plane are all unknowns and give you
avenues you can start to explore.
Random adventures fall into a structure called Three
Acts.

Act I
During this act your character is reactive. This is the
time to do the most world or scene building. If it is a
crime adventure you will discover the body or
investigate the crime scene. In a fantasy you may be
defending against raids by a warlord. You could be
threatened as you approach a newly discovered planet.

45
This is a period in which things happen to your
character, and you react to those events.
When you are interpreting answers, you can use them
to introduce new elements into your adventures. You
can create NPCs on the fly and new locations that you
may want to explore. This is all part of world building
and adventure building.

Act II
This act starts when your attitude changes. Act II is
not about reacting to outside forces, it is when you
start to become proactive. In a mystery, rather than
stumbling on evidence left behind for all to see, it is
about you going and looking for evidence to support
your hypothesis. In a fantasy, having found the
adventure site you decide to delve into it.
During Act II you do not want to keep expanding the
breadth of the adventure or the cast of characters. You
can use the questions to fill in details, but if anything,
you want to start to narrow down the number of
locations and characters. You can eliminate people
from your mystery or you know who the forces of evil
are and where to find them.
Many adventures have a mystery element to them. If
you can create a theory that will account for most, if
not all, of the clues you have found so far, then you
are probably on the cusp of Act I and Act II. In Act II
you are seeking to prove your theory rather than
looking for dropped clues.

46
In a more action-based adventure, such as a dungeon
crawl, crypt exploration or temple raid, most of the
adventure will fall into Act II. Act I gets you to the
adventure site, Act II would encompass the bulk of
the exploration.

Act III
The final act is the conclusion of the adventure. It
includes the showdown with the big bad evil guy or
the end-of-level boss. The blocking of the villains’
plans or the revealing and capture of the criminal.
Act III is often short and can be over in a few scenes,
but it can also pull out into a dramatic finale.
Sometimes you can make elaborate plans to capture
your villain or have a chase scene to a dramatic final
location.
You want to use the questions and answers to close
off loose ends and unexplored threads if possible.
Unless of course, this is the start of a campaign, in
which case you can pick at loose ends to see where
they lead next.

Patterns
I mentioned seeing patterns in random events. You
can look back at your previous scenes and try to spot
patterns or connected events. If you have, by chance,
had two encounters with the police where the officers
were belligerent, does this suggest that there is a
corrupt officer higher up in the force that is working
against you?

47
If you have met several dubious bards, are they from
the same clan? A yes-no question will resolve that. If
they are, what could that mean?
If you have suffered several seemingly random attacks,
are they connected? Can you connect them?

Cast of Characters
It is generally better to have a smaller cast of NPCs
than a bigger one. Firstly, it is easier to remember the
names and traits of a smaller number of NPCs than a
huge cast. It helps to make those NPCs more unique.
If also encourages you to develop those NPCs if they
are going to be reused often.
Secondly, it helps create continuity within your game
world. If you need a particular service, you will know
who and where to find it if you are reusing the same
NPCs over several scenes and adventures. It can also
help you feel like you know the town or location better
if you know a handful of residents.

PUBLISHED ADVENTURES
There are two methods of playing published
adventures that can work. In my experience most solo
players that play published adventures will end up
refining their methods until they get to something that
is satisfying to play. Some people play published
adventures because they do not want to have to create
the adventures themselves. Others like to learn the
lore of the setting revealed through the adventures,
and some enjoy the shared experience of having

48
played adventures that are frequently discussed in
gaming communities.

Read and Commit

This method relies on you reading as little as possible
to be able to imagine the scene as described in the
published adventure. This could be any boxed text, or
just the initial text describing a scene, location or
encounter. Once you have an idea of where your
character is, you jot down their intentions. Intentions
allow you to adapt if facts turn out to make your initial
thoughts impossible while remaining true to the idea
of what the character would do. Once you have those
intentions, you read the scene, location or encounter
in full and then play that out. If you stick with your
intentions until any surprises are sprung, or sudden
changes in situation happen, you can play your
character reacting to those encounters, surprises or
changes.
This method relies on your honesty in sticking with
your intentions even if you see that they will get you
into danger or trouble. For example, if your intention
was to head for the nearest exist, and the description
tells you that the exit is trapped or alarmed.
The biggest weakness of this method is that some
published adventures have spoilers at the beginning of
the text that ruin the surprise. How will you cope if
you know that NPC X will lead you into a trap? Do
you still accept their offer of aid?

49
If your intention was to visit the tavern and hire a
guide, then you should accept NPC X’s offer because
that was what you intended to do.

Gamemaster’s Seat
This is a different style of solo play. The presumption
so far has always been that you will experience your
games though your character’s experiences. That you
will ask questions of the Gamemaster Emulator and
then react to them as your character. You will ask
questions about how the NPCs act and react.
You can swap the positions were all the characters are
NPCs, and you ask questions about how they act and
react, and you play the Gamemaster. You view the
game world as if you were running the adventure for a
group of players, but the player characters are all
controlled through yes-no questions and occasional
open questions.
The disadvantage of this method is that many soloists
chose to solo play because they are the forever
Gamemaster, and they want a chance to play a
character.
The biggest advantage is that there are no spoilers for
the Gamemaster. It is particularly good for test-driving
adventures before putting real players and their
characters through the adventure.
Another advantage of this style of play is that it makes
using Threat somewhat easier. Your virtual characters
all accumulate Momentum or can earn you more

50
Threat if they run out of Momentum, but there is less
emotional attachment to the characters as you are
controlling an entire party of virtual characters.

51
 Chapter 7 Tables
This chapter reproduces all the tables from the earlier
chapters for ease of reference. It also includes the
word and icon table for the Open Question tools.

Traits
Scene Traits
d20 1-5 6-10 11-15 16-20
1 Acceptable Incapable Unimaginable Imperial
2 Appreciable Inevitable Unmistakable Physical
3 Available Inhospitable Unpredictable Personal
4 Breathable Inscrutable Unreliable Loyal
5 Capable Interchangeable Unstable Financial
6 Comfortable Invaluable Unstoppable Social
7 Considerable Malleable Unsuitable Technological
8 Desirable Personable Usable Official
9 Detectable Pleasurable Valuable Political
10 Disposable Profitable Significantly Artificial
11 Enjoyable Questionable Venerable Rival
12 Fabulous Recognizable Vulnerable Vital
13 Favorable Reliable Quickly Moral
14 Formidable Remarkable Perfectly Fanatical
15 Habitable Stable Truly Concealed
16 Identifiable Suitable Deadly Fatal
17 Immeasurable Unbearable Family Brutal
18 Impenetrable Unbreakable Holy Martial
19 Implacable Unfavorable Safely Legal
20 Incalculable Unforeseeable Formally Influential

52
Type of Scene
Scenes
1 Stealth
2 Action
3 Dramatic Environment
4 Movement/Travel
5 Social/Knowledge
6 Sorcerous/Technological

Terrain
Terrain
1 Hindrance
2 Clear
3 Hazard
4 Obstacle
5 Clear
6 Hindrance

Features
Features
1 Something beneficial
2 Something hidden
3 A hindrance
4 It’s a trap
5 A challenge
6 A safe place

53
Difficulty
If you face a challenge, roll below find the difficulty.
01-05 Simple D0
06-10 Average D1
11-14 Challenging D2
15-17 Daunting D3
18-19 Dire D4
20 Epic D5
Roll once on each table below if the difficulty is greater
or lower than expected. These are the factors that are
making your challenge more difficult.
If instructed to roll again, keep adding factors; if you
roll the same element twice, magnify its effect.
01 Roll Twice More
02-03 Lighting
04-05 Terrain
06-08 Distraction
09-11 Gear
12-13 Noise
14-15 Weather
16-18 Motion
19-20 Social

Random Attributes
1d6 Attribute
1 Agility/Control/Strength
2 Brawn/Fitness/Endurance
3 Coordination
4 Insight/Awareness/Perception
5 Reason/Intelligent
6 Will/Presence/Personality/Charisma

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 Complications
Brawn Coord Will Agility Reason
1-3 Bruised Tired Angry Awkward Complicated
4-6 Exhausted Gauche Conflicted Constricted Confused
7-10 Flanked Inferior Distracted Hurt Misinformed
11-13 Injured Outsider Frightened Slow Overthinking
14-16 Stunned Rude Intoxicated Disconnected Uninformed
17-20 Disarmed Vague Unfocused Uncoordinated Tongue-tied

Quick NPC Table

NPC Quality Attribute Skill
Poor 7 0
Basic 8 1
Proficient 9 2
Talented 10 3
Exceptional 11 4

NPC Reactions
Reactions
1 Wants something
2 Has Something
3 Not interested
4 Needs a favor
5 Deceiving
6 Working against you

Social Attitude
Social
1 Talkative
2 Gossipy
3 Offers Advice
4 Aggressive or abusive
5 Lying
6 Questioning

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Combat Actions
Combat
1 Primary Attack
2 Defend an Ally
3 Primary Attack
4 Withdraw
5 Move for Advantage
6 Target a weakness

Defender Reactions
1 Retaliate
2 Retaliate/Withdraw
3 Recover
4 Withdraw
5 Sacrifice Armor
6 Sacrifice Armor/Withdraw

Momentum/Threat Spends
Momentum Spends
1 Create Opportunity
2 Create Obstacle
3 Obtain Information
4 Improve Quality of Success
5 Improve Scope of Success
6 Reduce Time Required

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The Open Question Tool
1 Support Pushing Final
2 Attack Allowing Additional
3 Target Crossing Vicious
4 Spend Calling Normal
5 Effect Spanning Hidden
6 Use Resolving Pentagonal
7 Strike Rolling Lethal
8 Reach Making Deep
9 Command Using Beneficial
10 Signal Running Simple
11 Make Beginning Considered
12 Read Inflicting Technical
13 Control Determining Non-Lethal
14 Take Showing Quantum
15 Create Following Daring
16 Equal Understanding Dead
17 Avoid During Detrimental
18 Assist Indicating Tactical
19 Start Thinking Unintentional
20 Require Acting Problematic

1 Guild Planet Within

2 Imperial Spice Emperor
3 Many Only From
4 Home Training Great
5 Space People Human
6 Thinking Control Major
7 City Means Between
8 Machines New Life
9 Travel Without Water
10 Jihad Found Make

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11 Humanity Technology Trade
12 System Mother Primary
13 Used Time Almost
14 Class Service Secret
15 Environment Monster Held
16 Form Cannot Highly
17 Need Culture Business
18 Religion Distant Members
19 Star World Must
20 Home Live Never

D20 Event Action Focus

1 Dangerous Storm Goals
2 Creating Arrested Fears
3 Confirm Crashed Allies
4 Aware Crime Good
5 Confusing Crisis War
6 Bursts Cut Love
7 Explosive Dinner Joy
8 Arbitrary Emergency Balance
9 Abnormal Disaster Pleasures
10 Contaminates Discovered Benefits
11 Abhorrent Fire Expectations
12 Bizarre Flare Death
13 Diversion Frayed News
14 Blocking Expedition Advice
15 Chance Harassed Prison
16 Causing Hit Success
17 Confronting Investigating Jealousy
18 Clear Illegal Investment
19 Crushed Important Tactics
20 Atmospheric Meeting Misfortune

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