Continuing a playthrough of British RPGs with something different, my first journaling game with English Eerie from the 1980s, using Tricube Tales. The intro covers a look at English Eerie, Character Intros, Character Creation and first look at Journalling.
British solo - all solo | english eerie | dragon warriors | warlock | troika | dungeoneer | wfrp-1e
English Eerie solo - intro | start | partway | finish
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Rolling Solo with English Eerie
rpg intro | characters | chargen | journalling games
This is a completely new game to me, and also a new format as I've not done any solo journalling before,
English Eerie is a pay-what-you-want 36 page pdf by Scott Malthouse. There is also a paid English Eerie Second Edition, but I'm using the first one for this playhrough.
It's a storytelling game about horror in rural England.
There are few game rules as such, as it's a writing game and not a traditional RPG. You'll need a ten-sided die (d10), some tokens and some playing cards.
The game talks a bit about playing rural horror in England, then defining your character. Characters have two attributes, which are Resolve and Spirit.
Resolve can be spent to help overcome obstacles, and Spirit represents your characters thoughts, feelings and physical well-being. Having 0 Spirit at the end of the game bodes badly.
Setup involves making a deck of 15 cards (3 x queens, plus all the 4, 5, 6, 7 cards), with 3 Grey Ladies representing tension and an event in the narrative. The deck is divided into 3 sections, each with a Grey Lady at the bottom. It's also recommended you play at night by the light of a candle or lantern.
The game revolves around revealing a card, resolving the scene and challenge that card represents, and then. Hearts represents trouble for a secondary character, clubs and diamonds are obstacles of secondary characters and the environment, with spades being a minor clue! Every couple of cards revealed represent a day in your story.
Obstacles will vary depending on the scenario, but are overcome using a d10 roll. When a Grey Lady is revealed, it increases the tension, sapping Resolve or Spirit and making future challenges harder.
There are five scenarios included, so you have options for different stories if you like the game. There's also an example of play to give a reference!
As I'm from rural England I can relate to the setting! And while I'm not a great fan of horror I have been listening to The Three Ravens, a podcast on English Folklore. So that's my preparation!
Introducing the Character
rpg intro | characters | chargen | journalling games
Character creation is quick for English Eerie as it's a journalling game! As character is so tied to the scenario for this, I also randomised which one I'd be playing. I got The Beast on the Moor, a classic.
Giles Chesshaw
Resolve 3, Spirit 7
Giles drifts from place to place, investigating interesting heirlooms and antiques. Sometimes he visits his family at the village of Chesshaw before moving on.
Being fixed in one place isn't the life for him.
For the scenario Beast on the Moor, Giles is an antiquarian visiting a friend in an old manor house in Derbyshire (which I'll probably change to Devon)
Character Creation
rpg intro | characters | chargen | journalling games
Character creation in English Eerie is pretty minimal.
You get 10 points to split between Resolve and Spirit, with minimum of 3 in both. Then you choose a name and maybe thing about a living and a little backstory to help inspire the scenes.
That's the lot.
Journalling Games
rpg intro | characters | chargen | journalling games
Jounalling is popular for solo gaming, with games such as Quill and Thousand-Year Old Vampire. There's a journalling section in the solo titles guide
I've listened to a few playthrough of journalling solo games on podcasts, and it has a very different feel to traditional rpgs such as Troika or solo rpgs such as Ironsworn.
There's less of a game in it, and more of exploring your character and the scenario they are in. I've no idea how my writing will turn out!
I'll be exploring more of these games in the future.
Finishing Up
Excited to try out some journalling!
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