Solo Roleplaying Session 0 Part 1: Intro to the System

Crown and Skull

Today we’re talking about something I love—Crown and Skull. Really it’ll probably end up being a big ad for all things Runehammer.

Brandish Gilhelm, a man of many names. He makes passion projects. You can tell he puts a lot of love and care into them.

The Products

• The backdrop map of the North Holds (the setting)
• Troll Mers dice kit—standard D7 set, very high quality, very thick boys
• Binary skull dice, directional dice, D4 prisms
• Special Crown and Skull dice: defend, attack, and AoE attack

Newtonian Solids Only

One weird thing about me: I only use Newtonian solids. No D10s, no D4s.

For a D4, I roll a D8 and divide by two. For percentiles, I roll a D20 twice—first for the tens, second with the one dropped.

A little extra math, but adding that esoteric aspect is just more fun. The original D&D didn’t have D4s or D10s—they used what they had.

Why This Works for Solo Play

All roles in Crown and Skull are player-facing. Although the game wasn’t designed for solo play, with just a small amount of work it’s well suited for it. I’ve DM’d two different groups for Crown and Skull, so I’m excited to go my own path.

Monster AI Built In

Every monster has built-in tactics. Example: Needler has two tactics per phase. Roll the dice and the behavior is determined—normal attack, AoE attack (Blinding Shot), etc.

I don’t have to worry about gaming the system. I spawn them in, they follow their tactics, my characters react however they want.

Zero Prep Required

Each hex has roll tables. Example: Party leaves Thrin and enters Greyfoot Forest hex. Roll for location (Crumbled Ruins: curved pillars and cobble stairs of an elven temple). Roll for event (Sunlight Lance: find an heirloom lance perched on a ritual stone).

There’s lore throughout the world, but it’s vague enough for my own thing. My goal when solo roleplaying is to tell a story—write a novel with extra steps.

The Quality

This book is leather bound, gold foil. I’ve flipped through it hundreds of times and it still looks great. The pages are thick, fibrous, feel good to touch. This is an artifact. The map is very thick, high quality.

Why Crown and Skull

The adaptability pulled me in. I can make any character, do any kind of magic, within the confines of the system that makes the game fun.

Crown and Skull 2 introduces new material but continues the story from book one. Runehammer’s actual group events form the next book—it’s a living world you exist inside.

Coming Up

Next step: generate a party. There’s a free character builder PDF and an official online character builder.

Also: Dolmenwood campaign coming when I finally get my Dolmenwood. Stay tuned for that.