Author: Spencer

Wisps of Time is the intersection of my passions for games, family, writing, and the web — a place where I can explore these topics for my own enjoyment and share them with you. When it comes to our interests, it’s not about “having” time, it’s about making time. I hope I can help you to make time for these things in your life, too.

Rolling Solo – Appendix A: What Now?

Appendix A: What Now?
Spencer 2017-11-23 12675 2 Comments
Resources

So you read through the Rolling Solo series and learned how to engage in solitaire role-playing — great job! I hope you enjoyed it. But, if you were left asking yourself questions like “That’s it???” or “Now what???” or “Help!!!!?“, I don’t want you to think I’ve left you hanging. Wisps of Time got your back. But, what should I do now?? If I haven’t said it enough already: whatever you want! It’s up to you! But, if you’re like me and often want or need a little more direction when faced with such an open-ended response, I  have some suggestions for you. First,…

How I Format Actual Plays (and How You Can, Too)

Spencer 2017-10-10 3993 Comments Off on How I Format Actual Plays (and How You Can, Too)
Community

Not much to see here, I just wanted to point you to my latest community contribution: ap_shortcodes.js. It is a drop-in JavaScript solution for easily formatting your actual play reports with custom BBCode/WordPress-style “shortcodes”, such as [story] to wrap your narrative elements, that get replaced out with HTML+CSS to consistently style them across your site. Check it out at the link, and also check out the GitHub project, where you can contribute code or to the Wiki (or, dare I say, report bugs). I don’t actually use it to format my posts here, but I do basically the same thing with…

Rolling Solo – Chapter 6, Part III: Vincent Versus the Volcano

Vincent Versus the Volcano
Spencer 2017-10-08 8804 3 Comments
Rolling Solo

  Firstly, apologies for the title — when I sense and alliteration, I always go for it. It’s automatic. Nextly, I’ll reprise what’s happened before this post, as usual: For this final installment in the series, I’ll be using an old-school-inspired “sword & sorcery” game called Sharp Swords and Sinister Spells (Pay What You Want) alongside the Mythic Game Master Emulator — the “gold standard” of solo engines. Chapter 6 has been broken up into 3 parts: Mythic GME overview, SS&SS overview, and this, the Actual Play example putting the two together. If you’re only interested in the action, you’ve…

The Wheel of Fate: a Mythic Fate Chart Alternative

Spencer 2017-09-28 10747 Comments Off on The Wheel of Fate: a Mythic Fate Chart Alternative
Resources

The Wheel of Fate is a volvelle representation of the Mythic: Game Master Emulator’s “Fate Chart”. A volvelle is also known by other names: wheel chart, “dial-o-matic”, info chart, dial chart, calculator, and more. While the term originally referred to such tools created for astronomy (and became rather popular in the Middle Ages up through the twentieth century), volvelle seems to be the universal term for them now. You’ll find them employed for everything from baseball stats to oil filter selectors. To use the Wheel of Fate, one simply turns the “dial” to indicate the current Chaos Rank, and then…

Rolling Solo – Chapter 6, Part II: Sharp Swords & Sinister Spells

Spencer 2017-09-26 10955 1 Comment
Rolling Solo

  I’ll be using an old-school-inspired “sword & sorcery” game called Sharp Swords and Sinister Spells (Pay What You Want) for my final solo play in this series. As talked about last time, we’ll also be stepping up to the Mythic Game Master Emulator — the “gold standard” of solo engines. Chapter 6 will be broken up into 3 parts: Mythic GME overview, SS&SS overview, and an Actual Play example putting the two together. If you’re only interested in the action, you can jump over to the actual play. If you don’t know what solo role-playing is, you may want…

Rolling Solo – Chapter 6, Part I: Mythic Game Master Emulator

Spencer 2017-09-22 12070 Comments Off on Rolling Solo – Chapter 6, Part I: Mythic Game Master Emulator
Rolling Solo

  Here’s our first step into the big leagues with the Mythic Game Master Emulator — the “gold standard” of solo engines — which I’ll be using alongside an old-school-inspired “sword & sorcery” game called Sharp Swords and Sinister Spells (Pay What You Want). Chapter 6 will be broken up into 3 parts: Mythic GME overview, SS&SS overview, and an Actual Play example putting the two together. If you’re only interested in the action, you can jump over to the actual play. If you don’t know what solo role-playing is, you may want to start with Chapter 1, which gives…

Rolling Solo – Chapters 4 & 5: Still Learning & Aeryn Reborn

Spencer 2017-09-14 8394 2 Comments
Rolling Solo

  Once again I’ll be combining two “chapters” from my notes, Chapters 4 and 5. Chapter 4 is a bit of me just rambling on, so if you’re interested in the Actual Play portion, jump down to Chapter 5. If you don’t know what solo role-playing is, or aren’t familiar with the Hero Kids game, you may want to check those out first. (Yes, I did use a kids’ RPG for my re-introduction to tabletop games and as my launch pad for solitaire play.) Chapter 4: Still Learning Time for Round 2! I’m going “off-module” this time and I’ll be…

Rolling Solo – Chapters 2 & 3: “Tutorial Mode” and First Solo

Spencer 2017-09-09 9657 1 Comment
Rolling Solo

  Welcome back! If you didn’t read Chapter 1: Beginnings or aren’t familiar with solo roleplaying tactics, you may wish to check that out first, as it will give you some startup information on what follows below: my first solo “actual play” report on this site, which also happens to be of my first ever solo play session! I’d done my research and knew roughly what to do, but it was my first attempt, so I’m sure I made plenty of mistakes and could’ve done things differently or better in more places than one. None of that changed the fact…

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