Solo Adventure Rules

Solo adventures from Obvious Mimic are built on the foundation of Dungeons & Dragons: 5th Edition. The following rules cover how to apply that framework within the context of a solo adventure. 

Introduction

The solo adventure you are about to enjoy is an interactive narrative where you get to be the hero of the story. Through your character’s abilities and your choices as the player, you can make progress through the various challenges set before you.

This version is based on the rules of Dungeons & Dragons: 5th Edition. If you’re already familiar with the basic mechanics of this game system, most of the rules here in the following sections be a review (though you may want to check out the What’s Different? section before moving on).

If you’re not familiar with the rules of Dungeons & Dragons: 5th Edition, then we suggest you review them here: https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/basic-rules.

The Goal

Though the exact goal of each Obvious Mimic solo adventure will vary based on the story, your goal as the player will always be to reach the end of the adventure in one piece.

Know that there will be obstacles and hazards in your path that will challenge (or even kill) your character. You will have to use your character’s abilities - and your own wits - to overcome them and reach the story’s goal.

What you'll need

To play, you’ll need the following:
• A 5e character of level 1 or 2
• A set of dice for role-playing
• A Obvious Mimic Solo Adventure

Our solo adventures will work with the pencil-and-paper version and physical dice if that’s how you roll (pun intended). Or you could use a digital solution like D&D Beyond where you can create your character, roll your dice, and look up rules all on your device (phone, tablet, or computer).

How to play

As you read, you will have to follow the prompts to progress through the story toward your goal. The adventure is broken down into numbered sections that have been randomized within chapters. You will get choices like this:
To move forward, you would either flip to the section you’ve chosen (your only option if you’re reading the physical book) or click on the go to # link to jump straight to that section (available in the digital versions).

Rolling dice in the text

Many sections don’t give you the choice but instead require you to roll some kind of check (usually a skill check). It might look something like this:

In this case, your choice is based on the results of a skill check. So in the example above, you would roll a 20-sided die (d20) and then add your Athletics skill bonus as it appears on your character. If the result is 10 or more, you pass and go to section 192 to find out the results of your success. If you roll less than 10, you fail and go to section 33 to find out the results of the failure.

Other situations may call on you to roll dice for random effects like saving throws against negative effects, being damaged by your environment, or randomizing certain events in the story. These will be prompted as needed.

Advantage and Disadvantage

Some effects apply Advantage or Disadvantage to your d20 dice rolls. In both, you roll the d20 two times. When you have Advantage, you choose the better result of the two. Conversely, Disadvantage forces you to choose the worse result of the two.

Combat Encounters

Like any good adventure, you can expect to engage in combat with monsters and villains. 

When you start a combat encounter you follow these steps:
• Read the block because some creatures will take special actions before attacking.
• Roll Initiative for you and your opponent (d20 plus Initiative modifier) to determine turn order. Higher goes first.
• Choose an action: attack or use an ability (class ability, spell, etc.).
• If you’re attacking, roll attack rolls (d20 plus Attack Modifier) against AC. If the attack roll is equal to or higher than the defender’s AC, then the attacker hits.
• Roll damage rolled on the dice given by the attack plus any damage modifiers. Creatures also get an average value in case you want to skip the dice rolling.
• Repeat until either you or your opponent are reduced to 0 hp and then go to the given section.

What's different?

There are a number of things that are going to be a little different. This game is meant to capture the fun of a tabletop roleplaying game (TTRPG), but it is still its own medium. Here are a few things that work differently. 

Movement

If you’re working with some of our self-DM resources like maps, etc. then you can run combat encounters and explore environments like a traditional tabletop game. However, the game has been designed in such a way that movement is assumed throughout both the story and combat to simplify the game experience.

Inspiration

Because there’s no DM to give personalized rewards for your actions, this adventure hands out Inspiration when you’re on the right track. (In Dungeons & Dragons: 5th Edition, Inspiration is a single-use point that allows you to apply advantage to one d20 roll.)

Optional Rule: Since you are playing alone without the benefit of a party to support you in your adventure, you can help offset the challenge by saving multiple Inspiration for when you might need them.

Taking actions outside the story

This solo adventure is a static work and it cannot truly replace the imaginative creativity of a group session run by a Game Master. So how do you resolve actions “off the page?”

Some examples - like buffs or debuffs and healing - are easy to resolve. Apply the bonus or the effect to events in the story. For example, you could cast the cantrip guidance before a skill check to increase your chance of passing that check. Or drink a healing potion whenever it makes sense to recover hit points for your character.

But what about open-ended spells like illusions or enchantments? How do these resolve in the story?

And the answer is that it’s up to you. Based on the open-ended effect you’ve applied, you can determine for yourself how it affects the story and your options. So here are a few examples of what this could mean:
• Applying the charmed effect might let you automatically pass all skill checks when interacting with another character.
• Casting a distracting illusion on an opponent might mean they take no action for one turn.
• A special movement action in combat - like flying or teleporting - gives you an extra turn.
• Long-term effects (e.g. barkskin lasting 1 hour) last as long as you think is reasonable given the events of the story.

After the Adventure

Over the course of this adventure, your character will receive various rewards in terms of treasure, items, and experience. These rewards are designed in such a way that you can then take them on to another solo adventure or even join a tabletop session if your DM allows.

Your character’s adventure doesn’t have to end here, but instead treat this solo adventure as just one part of your epic journey.

Whichever direction you take when you’re done, your character can keep whatever levels and treasure you’ve found along the way.

For the Dungeon Masters

We have created an info pack for DMs who haven’t read The Wolves of Langston to integrate its results into their campaign. You can find all this content here.

This includes a summary of the events of the story, the rewards a player character might have received, and some ideas on how to use this story as part of your campaign with adventure hooks, lore, and recurring NPCs. The DM reference guide carries strong spoiler warnings.

Alternatively, if you’re a DM and would like to run this adventure for your players, you can get our full-party module here.

For more on the rules, including updates to the rules, an FAQ, and a community to ask questions you can join our Discord server here: https://discord.gg/cSv4q6PmdB.