So as written about in session 0, 1 and 2 we are playing a GMLess D&D Campaign.
Why are we playing a GMLess D&D Game?
Simple enough, because there’s only 2 of us. My regular group is myself and 2 players, but One of my players (Brian) and I have been meeting, just the 2 of us to play other games. Normally MCP, but also we played a GMLess Pathfinder 2e dungeon crawl. We got the craving for D&D from Legend of Vox Machina and decided to go further than just dungeon crawls and do a proper GMLess D&D campaign.
As mentioned in session 1, this was our plan:
- Use the Oracles from Ironsworn to get started and create locations (and NPCs)
- Ironsworn is intended for GMLess play and has many % tables for events, actions, characters, locations and so on.
- Use the Card system from Twilight 2000 (Free League version) to answer yes/no questions and give gradients of yes no
- The basic idea is that red is good or yes, and black is bad or no, but there are also tables for locations, NPCs, encounters and so on.
But that’s a bit vague, how does it actually work?
How do you start off?
In session 1 we used the IS Oracle to give us a location and a starting event. A couple of dicerolls and we had a location and an event happening.
In session 2 we knew we wanted to be in a city. We added a city to the map and travelled to another city. We created the cities ourselves using the Oracle as a help for names. Upon arriving in the city we flipped a card for the state of the city and got a high black card which means high danger. So here, rather than rolling on the Oracle we came up with 4 possible dangerous events and rolled a d4. We used the Oracle to come up with reasons for the issues later on.
How do we deal with Locations and Maps?
As mentioned we started session 1 using the oracle. Then for our travels we used dice to determine how far away the destination was and rolled on the oracle each day for locations. The Ironsworn Oracle is great for wilderness locations, just not so much for urban ones. When we needed locations in session 2 we again used the Orcale but we also used a Solo D&D resource to choose a type of shop.
Map wise I’ve been drawing maps as we go, and we use a blank grid for combats. When we ended up in a crypt I used the Pathfinder dungeon flip tiles.
How do you handle NPCs?
Both Twilight 2K and the Ironsworn Oracle have tables for NPC personalities and dispositions and the DMG has some stuff as well. We then use the card flipping to answer yes no questions and normal persuasion (or intimidation/deception) checks to influence them.
How do you handle Combat?
Generally enemies will do the most common sense action, and if we’re not sure we’ll flip a card or roll a dice.
How do you decide DCs?
Again, common sense based on the DMG tables for difficulty. If we’re not sure, we flip a card.
Isn’t the card flipping quite limiting
It actually gives a good range from really good (Red Ace) to really bad (black Ace). The T2K tables offer more suggestions. When something seems like it should be more or less likely we can alter the card result – so a likely event with a low negative flip (black 4) becomes weak positive result.
Is it as good as with a GM?
Obviously not. Everything is random, there’s no plot development, no arcs. But we still roleplay off each other and NPCs, there are still surprises, our decisions feel like they matter. And we’re having fun, without the DM!
Would you recommend it?
As an alternative to a DMed game, No. If you don’t have a DM and want to play, yes. Bear in mind, we have been RPing for over 25 years and have both DMed so it’s pretty easy for us. I wouldn’t recommend this to new players.
What resources do you recommend?
To be honest, you just want a bunch of random tables. I’m hoping to write my own.
Ironsworn is really good and I think you can get the base text free.
And there are some good solo RPG sources on Drive thru and elsewhere.
that70sgame 