Ok, so. Title's kind of a lie. I'm only explaining my pyres posts, so you can understand what's going on. If you don't know what a solo journaling RPG is, check out the page where I explain it:
https://realitysoup.net/solo-j..
You can find Pyres of a Cursed Kingdom here:
https://miraclem.itch.io/pyres
Let's start with Game Stuff. This is the bit near the end of a pyres entry that kind of explains what goes before. I'll go through it bit by bit.
Game Stuff
I'm just gonna copy Day #1's game stuff:
Draw: 8 of Spades (♠). A soulless assassin.
Attribute: Steel
Roll(s): 3, 4, 10
Outcome: Success
Draw
To start off a day in Anathoria (Pyres' setting), you draw a card from a deck you've prepared. The two important things are the number and the suit. The number determines what you need to roll over to succeed, and the suit determines the type of scenario you're encountering. The two of them combined tells you the specific thing or person you encounter.
For example, the Spades suit means you encounter a Foe, and from that list of potential foes, an 8 means you encounter a soulless assassin.
Attribute
Three things about attributes:
- They determine how you approach a scenario
- You choose between two based on the scenario
- You cannot use the same attribute two days in a row
Steel means aggression and strength. Wisdom means empathy and instincts. Edge means agility and reflex. Cunning means wits and intellect.
For example, if you draw a Spades suit, you can only use Steel or Edge to approach the challenge. Bit hard to reason with a mindless horror that wants to rip your throat out!
If you used Edge the day before, you can only use Steel on that day.
Rolls
The number of dice you roll depends on your attribute. The standard array for attributes is 1, 1, 2, 3. If you have a 3 in an attribute, that means you're good at it, and roll 3 dice when using that attribute to tackle a challenge.
I won't get into the degrees of success etc. here. Just know: the more successes, the better!
Outcome
Dependent on number of successes rolled.
Day and Journal
The 'day' is just me having fun interpreting the draw and roll(s) for creative writing. The 'journal' is me actually playing the game how it's intended to be played, by writing from my character's perspective, reflecting on the day she's had.
Soul Meter
One little thing about Anathoria that I forgot to mention is that there's a massive eclipse that's consuming everyone's souls and turning them into soulless. My bad.
The player is a pilgrim on a journey to light two pyres in hopes of saving her kingdom. These pyre events (there are two of them) happen when you draw a Joker.
Whenever a pilgrim encounters significant difficulty or failure, she loses a soul point. Rolling under your soul points usually means something good happens, like recovering some soul points, or not perishing as your mind is destroyed by the eclipse.
You only ever roll against your soul meter during pyre events.
Thoughts on the game
It's fucking class. Not a particularly nuanced or insightful opinion. It's just good shit. I really like the attributes and how they're handled, and Pyres does some clever stuff with the Aspire SRD (https://mirror-lock.itch.io/as...) that the game is based on.
Reminder that you can find the game here:
https://miraclem.itch.io/pyres
Get it! Read it! Play it! Good night!
