Artwork for podcast Lonely TTRPG
Lonely TTRPG EP 35 - Doors and Sconces by BDDC
Episode 35 • 16th December 2022 • Lonely TTRPG • Black Dragon Dungeon Company
00:00:00 00:26:38

Share Episode

Shownotes

Doors and Sconces is a GM-less tabletop roleplaying game for 1-4 people. You play a lost soul in the vast libraries of Wikiped. The library has gone dark, but you have the opportunity to bring light back to these dusty tomes. To play, you will need access to Wikipedia and a set of polyhedral dice.

You can find Doors and Sconces at https://blackdragondungeoncompany.itch.io/doors-and-sconces?ac=pEV55vHqdvG

or

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/420226/Doors-and-Sconces

Find our merch at https://my-store-d24802.creator-spring.com/

BDDC logo by https://www.instagram.com/craftyteapotfox/

You can find us on Twitter @bddc_pod or Tumblr @bddc-pod

You can support us on Patreon https://patreon.com/blackdragondungeoncompany for early releases and exclusive content.



This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:

Podcorn - https://podcorn.com/privacy
Chartable - https://chartable.com/privacy

Transcripts

SteelStash:

Greetings, weary wanderer and welcome back to Lonely T T R P G,

SteelStash:

the Solo Actual Play and Review podcast.

SteelStash:

This week we are playing Doors and sconces, a brand new game from

SteelStash:

the Black Dragon Dungeon Company.

SteelStash:

By me actually.

SteelStash:

So Doors and sconces is a GM less, tabletop role playing

SteelStash:

game for one or four players.

SteelStash:

You play a lost soul in the vast libraries of Wikiped.

SteelStash:

The library has gone dark, but you have the opportunity to bring light

SteelStash:

back to these dusty tomes to play.

SteelStash:

You'll need access to Wikipedia and a set of polyhedral dice.

SteelStash:

So to play the game, you are going to start by determining how long you want

SteelStash:

the game to last by deciding how many sconces must be lit to return home.

SteelStash:

Now each story has two sconces.

SteelStash:

You can do this as pairs or total number whatever.

SteelStash:

For this gameplay, we are going to do pairs with mixed success, only

SteelStash:

lighting one of the two sconces.

SteelStash:

Next, you're gonna load up a Wikipedia page.

SteelStash:

Now as you approach a door roll, a one D 10 on a one through nine, you're

SteelStash:

gonna click on the random article button that number of times on a 10,

SteelStash:

you get a safe room where you can take a rest without complication.

SteelStash:

But be advised, these safe rooms, the sconces will not light.

SteelStash:

So it doesn't help you get home.

SteelStash:

When you've selected your article, briefly skim it to determine

SteelStash:

the challenge in that room.

SteelStash:

These challenges can be as difficult or as easy as you would like, or you

SteelStash:

can roll a one D six to determine how many successes you need to achieve

SteelStash:

in order to complete the room.

SteelStash:

Use your skills in any items you may have to overcome the challenge or retreat back

SteelStash:

into the relative safety of the hallway.

SteelStash:

You can always take a rest, but be warned, something is moving through

SteelStash:

the halls, extinguishing the lights.

SteelStash:

If you take a rest outside of a safe room, roll one D four on a one.

SteelStash:

this creature of shadow and ignorance has snuffed out one of your sconces.

SteelStash:

Now this game is based on breathless a product of Fari RPGs.

SteelStash:

If you remember, Fari RPGs is the ones who made nomadic great game.

SteelStash:

Now this is not pure breathless.

SteelStash:

This is actually a hack that I did to use a little bit more dice and kind

SteelStash:

of change things up a little bit.

SteelStash:

Hopefully I fix the s r d up in the next couple days and get that out.

SteelStash:

But for now, We will just be using it as it appears in this game.

SteelStash:

Now, of course, before you start anything like this, make sure you define what

SteelStash:

lines should not be crossed, especially when playing with other people.

SteelStash:

Do not be afraid to pause or rewind the game.

SteelStash:

If something uncomfortable happens during a session, make

SteelStash:

sure everybody is comfortable with the direction of the story.

SteelStash:

Gameplay is gonna work like most TT RPGs, if you're playing with a group,

SteelStash:

the GM will narrate the story and present the challenges, and the players will

SteelStash:

narrate what their character does and attempt to overcome them for your checks.

SteelStash:

When there is a challenge that needs to be overcome, you make

SteelStash:

a check to see how it plays out.

SteelStash:

On a one, you fail and something wrong happens On a two to three, you just fail.

SteelStash:

On a four, you succeed, but at a cost on a five or more, you succeed with, the

SteelStash:

higher the result, the better the effect.

SteelStash:

And if you roll the max dice value on two or more dice.

SteelStash:

That counts as a complete success and will remove one stress

SteelStash:

or restore one dice level.

SteelStash:

Now remember, surviving is hard.

SteelStash:

anytime you make a roll, you are going to reduce your dice

SteelStash:

pool for that skill by one die.

SteelStash:

So for example, if you have a 3D10 , then it will become a two

SteelStash:

D 10, then a one D 10, then a one D10 eight, then a one D six.

SteelStash:

Now once you get to the D four, it is going to become a two D four.

SteelStash:

But of course, just like breathless, you'll be able to reset all your

SteelStash:

skills back to their original level.

SteelStash:

If you take a rest, and this is just a brief break in the tension, it can

SteelStash:

be done at any time outside of combat or in this case while in a room.

SteelStash:

Now, when you take a rest, make sure that the GM looks at the scene and introduces

SteelStash:

a new complication to the group.

SteelStash:

When appropriate, you can roll a D 20 in order to try and find some loot,

SteelStash:

and that loot will go in your backpack.

SteelStash:

For your backpack.

SteelStash:

You can only carry three items and one med kit at a time.

SteelStash:

Now.

SteelStash:

Sometimes you are gonna need a little bit of help or you want

SteelStash:

to use a little bit of help.

SteelStash:

And for this you can sprint when sprinting, you roll 3D 12 instead

SteelStash:

of whatever skill you have.

SteelStash:

But you can only do that once per taking a rest.

SteelStash:

If you use it, you'll have to take a rest again and stress.

SteelStash:

. When you fail, there are consequences.

SteelStash:

Those consequences are you take a stress.

SteelStash:

If you get up to four levels of stress, then the game is over.

SteelStash:

However, If you have a med kit, that will reduce your stress level by two,

SteelStash:

or you can attempt to lay low someplace for a while and clear one stress.

SteelStash:

Now remember, laying low is not the same as taking a rest, so if you're laying low,

SteelStash:

you are not resetting your dice level.

SteelStash:

For character creation, you have six basic skills, bash, dash,

SteelStash:

sneak, shoot, think and sway.

SteelStash:

So Bash is your physical force.

SteelStash:

Dash is your ability to run away.

SteelStash:

sneak is how you can hide.

SteelStash:

Shoot is any type of ranged thing.

SteelStash:

Think is how you can perceive or analyze the situation and

SteelStash:

sway will be your people skills.

SteelStash:

And with that, we are gonna go ahead and get on into the gameplay.

SteelStash:

You stand alone in a dark stone hallway.

SteelStash:

There is no sound, but the beating of your heart and the echo of your ragged

SteelStash:

breath in front of you, lies a door with two cold sconces on either side.

SteelStash:

Further down the hall, you see the same door and sconce repeating without end.

SteelStash:

Do you dare knock and brave the unknown, or do you succumb to the dark?

SteelStash:

Now I have already taken the liberty of filling out my character sheet.

SteelStash:

I am going to be playing an academic, which means my think will have a 3D 10.

SteelStash:

My dash will have a 3D eight, and because I believe in fitness, I'm

SteelStash:

gonna leave my bash at three D six.

SteelStash:

All my other skills will be two D 4.

SteelStash:

All right.

SteelStash:

In addition, we will need to light.

SteelStash:

Five pairs of sconces.

SteelStash:

In order to successfully get out of Wikiped.

SteelStash:

All right, so to start off, we got a two.

SteelStash:

So we will need to click on the random article button twice.

SteelStash:

And for that we got the St.

SteelStash:

Mary of the Sea College Kauna.

SteelStash:

So for our first door, we have a private college in a foreign country.

SteelStash:

And we need three successes in order to light all of these sconces in this room.

SteelStash:

Okay.

SteelStash:

So

SteelStash:

I feel like my initial problem in this room is going to be the language barrier.

SteelStash:

Now,

SteelStash:

because I'm an academic, I would say that I have studied a little bit Actually,

SteelStash:

correction, I'm gonna say that my first problem is I'm in a foreign area

SteelStash:

and I don't know anybody or anything.

SteelStash:

I don't really know what's going on.

SteelStash:

So I'm going to use my background as an academic and we are going to see if

SteelStash:

I know any of the faculty if there's been any research that's come out

SteelStash:

of this school that I would've read.

SteelStash:

So that is going to be rolling off my think stat.

SteelStash:

And

SteelStash:

I have definitely succeeded on that.

SteelStash:

I rolled a nine, a seven and a three, so my think is gonna drop

SteelStash:

down to 2D 10, but I have succeeded.

SteelStash:

So I'm going to say that, you know, with that nine, I'm gonna say that

SteelStash:

with that nine, I, not only do I know somebody here, I've actually

SteelStash:

participated in research with them.

SteelStash:

There has been some overlapping, some overlapping research.

SteelStash:

We have written some papers and so I am able to go to them for some help

SteelStash:

on what exactly is going on here

SteelStash:

and what we are going to do is, what we're gonna do is we're gonna actually

SteelStash:

head to the library and we're gonna see if we can't find anything in the

SteelStash:

library that will help out with us figuring out what's going on here.

SteelStash:

And so that's gonna be another think roll.

SteelStash:

And I got a two and a three.

SteelStash:

So that is a failure.

SteelStash:

Luckily, it's not a failure plus stress, but it is just a failure.

SteelStash:

So this is definitely, this is definitely something new.

SteelStash:

This is a very, a very weird situation.

SteelStash:

But considering the mystical and metaphysical aspect of.

SteelStash:

What has happened to me and the lack of, the lack of serious scholarship on

SteelStash:

it it's honestly not too surprising.

SteelStash:

So I think what we're gonna end up doing, I think we're going to,

SteelStash:

we're gonna use our sway, and my professor friend is going to,

SteelStash:

Take me to a, a local medium and we are going to talk with them about this.

SteelStash:

We definitely need to get more into the metaphysical research, and

SteelStash:

we're gonna say that there's one nearby that my friend, like trusts.

SteelStash:

They don't really put a whole lot into the scholarship of this person, but

SteelStash:

like they're a good person and they're not gonna like straight up lie to us.

SteelStash:

So this is gonna be a two D four roll on sway

SteelStash:

and I roll two threes.

SteelStash:

So that is another failure again, not.

SteelStash:

Take a stress failure, but another failure.

SteelStash:

We're kind of we're kind of grasping at straws here.

SteelStash:

Now.

SteelStash:

The, the medium doesn't seem to have any meaningful idea of what's going on.

SteelStash:

Especially not in any way that can be actioned or used

SteelStash:

to deal with the situation.

SteelStash:

So at this point,

SteelStash:

At this point, I think we're gonna have to turn to the religious,

SteelStash:

because this is a religious school.

SteelStash:

So what we are going to do is we're going to,

SteelStash:

We're going to go to one of the religious heads and we will do another think roll.

SteelStash:

As we try to lay this situation out logically to the religious

SteelStash:

head, now that is a seven.

SteelStash:

That is a success

SteelStash:

and this religious head

SteelStash:

actually seems to know what's going on.

SteelStash:

We're gonna say that this is the.

SteelStash:

We're gonna say that this is the assistant dean.

SteelStash:

This is an academic institution.

SteelStash:

So the actual dean is a primarily educator, but the quote unquote

SteelStash:

assistant dean is one of the head spiritual advisors, but they, they

SteelStash:

have an idea of what's going on.

SteelStash:

They know they have.

SteelStash:

hey have heard of the Library of Wikiped it is a, it is a sacred

SteelStash:

library that most people assumed only lived in the celestial.

SteelStash:

And so the fact that the fact that I seem to be trapped in

SteelStash:

like a physical space on this.

SteelStash:

like that feels weird to them.

SteelStash:

And there is definitely something, there is def definitely something off by this.

SteelStash:

There seems to be some type of some type of issue, some type of disturbance.

SteelStash:

In the balance of the gods that has led to this library

SteelStash:

being opened up to mortals.

SteelStash:

So I think now I'm going to try to.

SteelStash:

I think now I'm gonna try to convince them to pray for me in order to

SteelStash:

help me escape from this place

SteelStash:

so that I might be able to, you know, do what I need to do to get out.

SteelStash:

And it's gonna take a little bit of convincing because

SteelStash:

again this is a very, like, this is a very sacred.

SteelStash:

So it seems like, like as an academic, I am happy to be here, but

SteelStash:

at the same time I feel the tug of this place trying to pull me back.

SteelStash:

So I definitely would like any help I can get on getting out.

SteelStash:

So this is gonna be another Sway, which is another 2D four,

SteelStash:

and I roll two, three.

SteelStash:

So we're gonna say that's a fail.

SteelStash:

I mean, well, I mean that is a fail.

SteelStash:

So we're gonna say that the Gods are not interested in my plans.

SteelStash:

They have plans of their own.

SteelStash:

I seem to be a pawn in that, but also we are going to say that.

SteelStash:

Like I said, I feel this tug and it is, it is pulling me back and

SteelStash:

I am pulled back through the door

SteelStash:

and as I stand on the other side of the closing door, I

SteelStash:

see one of the sconces light.

SteelStash:

Yeah, so I am only at one of 10 because again, I have to light five pair

SteelStash:

and I'm gonna give myself that one because I successfully completed

SteelStash:

two out of the three challenges.

SteelStash:

So now it is time to head to our next door.

SteelStash:

And we got a three.

SteelStash:

All right.

SteelStash:

And so for our article that is south of St.

SteelStash:

Louis, a late forties western film.

SteelStash:

Now, if you've never heard of this film, because it is old.

SteelStash:

That is fine.

SteelStash:

It is a Western set during the Civil War, but it focuses on the Confederacy,

SteelStash:

so we're gonna ignore that bit because I'm from the winning side.

SteelStash:

So we're gonna ignore that bit, and instead we are going to choose

SteelStash:

for our conflict the fact that we have been dropped off in the

SteelStash:

middle of a war and there are,

SteelStash:

there is a group of men attempting to illegally run some weapons, and that

SteelStash:

is where I find myself with a group of men who are attempting to illegally

SteelStash:

run weapons in the middle of a war.

SteelStash:

So I think the first thing I'm gonna do is to just try to run away from these dudes.

SteelStash:

I'm gonna use my dash.

SteelStash:

I'm gonna try to get away

SteelStash:

because I have very little interest in being around this situation.

SteelStash:

All right.

SteelStash:

So that is a success.

SteelStash:

Mild, but still a success.

SteelStash:

I forgot to define how many successes I need.

SteelStash:

Outstanding.

SteelStash:

I only rolled one and I made it.

SteelStash:

It seems like they just wanted me to see that.

SteelStash:

see that sometimes people do what they have to do in order to survive that

SteelStash:

it is difficult to survive in war.

SteelStash:

and you know, of course this is something that I had read, but you know, just

SteelStash:

experiencing like being dropped off as like opening the door and walking

SteelStash:

into the middle of these gun runners as they're being attacked by the other army.

SteelStash:

You know, that's something like, that's something else.

SteelStash:

The sound of the gunfire, the smell of the gunpowder, the heat of the day, like

SteelStash:

all of this is starting to get to me and I will turn and hightail it out of there.

SteelStash:

Luckily, I successfully get away and find the door to get out,

SteelStash:

and that gives me a complete success on that.

SteelStash:

But my dash is now down to 2d8.

SteelStash:

However, I have successfully lit a pair of sconces, so I am

SteelStash:

now at three of my needed 10.

SteelStash:

All right, and this is gonna be my final door, and we rolled in eight.

SteelStash:

All right.

SteelStash:

And for eight, we got catch and kill, a surreptitious technique employed by

SteelStash:

newspapers and media outlets to prevent an individual from publicly revealing

SteelStash:

information damaging to a third party.

SteelStash:

All right, so this is a media technique most often used by poor

SteelStash:

media outlets where they will,

SteelStash:

by the exclusive rights to a story, using a non-disclosure

SteelStash:

agreement from an individual, but then never publish that story.

SteelStash:

So the whole point is they are buying the silence of a person.

SteelStash:

But it's not really buying the silence because that person is

SteelStash:

still telling them the story.

SteelStash:

They just never publish it.

SteelStash:

And again, used by the shady tabloids for not good people who are desperately

SteelStash:

trying to maintain a public image.

SteelStash:

And of course, a famous person to use that would've been Weinstein.

SteelStash:

Weinstein used that quite a lot but luckily

SteelStash:

he finally got caught in the.

SteelStash:

And all the catch and kill did not matter.

SteelStash:

But for us, we need to get two successes on on this.

SteelStash:

So the immediate things that jump out to.

SteelStash:

is we are, we are dropped in this situation where someone is

SteelStash:

explaining a thing that happened.

SteelStash:

So we are going to first start off with a think role to try and determine

SteelStash:

if we know what the heck is even going on, and that is an eight.

SteelStash:

So that is right off the bat our first success.

SteelStash:

So yeah, as we're listening to the story, we know what's going on.

SteelStash:

We don't like it.

SteelStash:

We're not a fan, and we are going to try and sway the

SteelStash:

publication to publish this anyway.

SteelStash:

And once again, that's two threes.

SteelStash:

I've rolled two threes on my D four s all night long.

SteelStash:

That is some baby back bs.

SteelStash:

This this supposed newspaper does not agree with the moral

SteelStash:

reasons for publishing this.

SteelStash:

. And so they will continue to run the story despite our stern protests,

SteelStash:

and we're gonna actually say that we're gonna actually say that that

SteelStash:

causes us to be pulled out of the room

SteelStash:

now.

SteelStash:

Unfortunately that practice is still happening.

SteelStash:

We did not help solve catch and kill, but fortunately for us, we did

SteelStash:

light another sconce because we did complete half of our objectives and

SteelStash:

you know, that is worth something.

SteelStash:

But again, that's where we're gonna call it for tonight.

SteelStash:

That is doors and sconces by me.

SteelStash:

I know that this is gonna sound funny, give you my final thoughts

SteelStash:

on a game I wrote, but that was fun.

SteelStash:

I enjoyed that.

SteelStash:

I really we're gonna talk about why I wrote this game and why I

SteelStash:

designed it the way that I did.

SteelStash:

That way I'm not tooting my own horn . So first and foremost, this game was

SteelStash:

heavily inspired by like a throwaway concept in the Reckless Attack Podcast.

SteelStash:

If you do not listen to Reckless Attack, go listen.

SteelStash:

It is a great actual play d and d podcast, and if you like frogs,

SteelStash:

you should definitely be listening.

SteelStash:

They have a lot of frogs, , like the whole first arc is frog based, as there

SteelStash:

were a lot of grungs running around, but later on one of the characters,

SteelStash:

who is very organized and very.

SteelStash:

Library Minded

SteelStash:

starts describing their, the way that their mind works, and it feels very

SteelStash:

much like, you know, these long hallways full of information and listening to

SteelStash:

the description of what was going on.

SteelStash:

It was like, Hey, that would be a cool idea.

SteelStash:

You know, how could we, how could we make a game that went something like that?

SteelStash:

With the trick being, how do you, how do you like conceptualize the idea

SteelStash:

of a library into a playable format without asking you guys to go to the

SteelStash:

library and just running down random aisle ways and picking random books.

SteelStash:

and please don't do that because librarians work, very hard

SteelStash:

and their job is not to fix you throwing books all around.

SteelStash:

But Wikipedia is the wonderful solution to that, you know, because it's one

SteelStash:

of those, I was thinking I need to be able to randomly select things.

SteelStash:

, but how do you do that?

SteelStash:

well, Wikipedia has the random article button and option, so let's go with that.

SteelStash:

So we had our look, we had our design, and the reason why I went

SteelStash:

with Breathless is I like the system.

SteelStash:

I do, breathless is a great system.

SteelStash:

You know, one thing I noticed when I was playing breathless, it was

SteelStash:

a case of I didn't want to gamble.

SteelStash:

Once my, once my skills got to a certain point,

SteelStash:

I just wanted to, like, once my skills got down to a certain

SteelStash:

level, it was one of those, okay.

SteelStash:

I'm going to take a breath.

SteelStash:

We're going to stop and we're gonna reset everything.

SteelStash:

because at the end of the day, taking a consequence is a very nebulous thing and

SteelStash:

like it's intentionally left vague for a reason, but it's intentionally left vague.

SteelStash:

So that could mean a whole lot.

SteelStash:

And I was ta, I was talking with, I was talking with Rene about this on

SteelStash:

Twitter, you know, and my comment was, Yeah, breathless doesn't really,

SteelStash:

breathless encourages you to use your strong suits, but then take a break

SteelStash:

so it has that little build, you know, it has that little go, go, go,

SteelStash:

go, stop, tension, build, go, go, go.

SteelStash:

And that's not a bad thing, but.

SteelStash:

, you know?

SteelStash:

Yeah.

SteelStash:

You build that tension up a little bit, but you've reset everything.

SteelStash:

And they were showing some pictures of like the design process that led to

SteelStash:

breathless and they were using dice pools at first, and I was like, you know what?

SteelStash:

That would actually make it A decreasing dice pool would actually

SteelStash:

make it a little more interesting.

SteelStash:

A, you have more things to play with before you have to take a catch a

SteelStash:

breath, and B, it would encourage me to like gamble a little bit more.

SteelStash:

I'm definitely more willing to roll two D four than I am one D four.

SteelStash:

And so that gives me the opportunity to, that gives me

SteelStash:

the opportunity to press my luck.

SteelStash:

So, That's, that's really why I went with this hack and

SteelStash:

variation of it was for that.

SteelStash:

And so that's, that's pretty much why I designed this.

SteelStash:

I was looking for some way to have a random library and some way where you

SteelStash:

wanted to continue to press your luck, but if you enjoyed it, then you can find

SteelStash:

this on both itch and drive-through.

SteelStash:

I will drop the links down below.

SteelStash:

Just search doors and sconces or the Black Dragon Dungeon Company

SteelStash:

and you can get it for three bucks

SteelStash:

on either of those sites.

SteelStash:

And if you do, make sure you say hi.

SteelStash:

I like, I like it when you guys say things to me.

SteelStash:

I'm still waiting for.

SteelStash:

I'm still waiting for seeing comments about people randomly

SteelStash:

playing my games in the wild.

SteelStash:

But you know, one day, one day, however, I have been steel stash.

SteelStash:

The game has been doors and sconces.

SteelStash:

This is Lonely T T R PPG by the Black Dragon Dungeon Company.

SteelStash:

And remember, I mustache y'all to stay awesome.