Just when I thought I saw the smallest RPG in the form of One-Page RPGs, along comes Clones, An Arnold RPG made by Erika Chappell of Newstand Press. How small is it? Well, the rules are all explained onto one business card.

Yes.

A business card.

I knew I couldn’t pass soloing this game, so here we go. The plot is that I’m a clone of a person and that I’m wanting to take over the world. Now, the game is meant to be played with multiple people, as each of them would give a list of skills for you to do, but since I’m playing solo, I’m gonna change it up a bit.

I have the five following skills:

Animal Handling

Insight

Medicine

Perception

Survival

Now, I think the idea is that I’m imitating a woodsman (possibly the same woodsman I played last session) in order to lure people to consuming them a la Little Red Riding Hood.

This is where I’m gonna try another new thing. I use Roll20 to facilitate all my dice rolls because of how they archive it and how they make character sheets. But I’m gonna use a different site. One I think had been a long time coming.

RanDM Solo.

Some of you may have heard of this, but for those who don’t, allow me to shed some light. RanDM Solo is made by Mike Overbo and is essentially a GM Emulator system built into a web page. A couple of sites do this sort of thing, such as RPG Solo, a flash version of Mythic GM Emulator (which was my introduction to Mythic), and oneKnave, which I had recently looked at. What makes this one unique, however, is that it utilizes many different Engines, including CRGE-Kai. Yes, my go-to Engine. I like that little detail.

And so, let us begin this game with CRGE-Kai as our main setting.

I guess we begin with…

Have I successfully integrated with society as the Woodsman? (63/SC2): Yes

Okay, good. Now, I need to figure out how to start this game. Luckily, I managed to find something. On top of the RanDM Solo, I’m gonna use the Visual Mythic GM Emulator for stuff like generating NPCs and the like. This has some of the Mythic stuff built in, like the second Variations, so I’ll ask it a simple question.

DETAIL CHECK QUESTION: “What is the village like?”

⯈ RESULT: [ FAVORS PC: The Woodsman Clone]

⯈ MEANING: [FREELY: GLORIOUS]

Okay, so this means that the village is pretty care free, which explains why I was able to get into the place so easily. I guess all that matters next is to lay low and slowly manipulate the people into making me their mayor.

Speaking of…

Is there a Mayor? (75/SC4): Yes

DETAIL CHECK QUESTION: “What’s the Mayor like?”

⯈ RESULT: [FOCUS PC: The Woodsman Clone]

⯈ MEANING: [BLEAKLY: DELIGHTFUL]

So… The mayor from Halloween Town? Okay…

Is the mayor busy? (82/SC0): Yes, and

I will have to wait for tomorrow. Well, I can wait.

DETAIL CHECK QUESTION: “Where do I have the Woodsman?”

⯈ RESULT: [FAVORS NPC : Mayor Two-Face]

⯈ MEANING: [BEAUTIFULLY: EXTRAVAGANT]

DETAIL CHECK QUESTION: “How does holding the Woodsman in the forest favor the mayor?”

⯈ RESULT: [FAVOURS THREAD: Take over the village]

⯈ MEANING: [ATTRACT: DISPUTE]

This took a weird turn. So, I have the Woodsman in the woods, but it favors the Mayor because he’s in on this plan. Okay, so now all I have to do is make sure the Mayor hands his village to me.

I think we can end the scene here.

The next day, I have a chat with the mayor.

BEHAVIOR CHECK FOR Mayor Two-Face

⯈ THEME: Conspiracy

⯈ PREVIOUS ACTION:

⯈ IDENTITY: Mayor

⯈ PERSONALITY: BLEAKLY

⯈ ACTIVITY: NONE

⯈ TABLE 1: NPC ACTION

⯈ TABLE 2: ACTS OUT OF SELF INTEREST

⯈ INSPIRATION: RANDOM EVENT:

[ EVENT MEANING ⯈ OPEN : POSSESSIONS ]

[ EVENT FOCUS ⯈ NPC ACTION, TARGET ⯈ Mayor Two-Face ]

⯈ NPC ACTION: Demands More Money From Me

⯈ Mayor Two-Face DISPOSITION: 14 (ACTIVE (+2))

Of course, he demands more money for me to keep up the charade.

Do I have enough money? (8/SC0): No, and

I will need to get some from the Woodsman. So I excuse myself and head out.

New Scene: Into the Woods

SCENE ALTERED!!!

But as it turns out, the Woodsman is gone! Now I need to find him… This is where the RPG mechanics finally get to play. It’s a simple D6 roll. I need to choose one of the five skills for me to roll or make up a new one. I think Perception might help me…

[Roll: 3]

Under threes are a success so sure enough, I manage to find the Woodsman.

Is he untied? (40/SC2): No

Seems I have forgotten where I put him. I steal a few coins from him. Obviously, I had him gagged. And now I go back to the mayor.

New Scene: Back to the Mayor

SCENE ALTERED!!!

Suddenly, Mayor Two-Face had rallied the village and has accused me of being an imposter. He threw me in jail where I am being watched by a guard.

BEHAVIOR CHECK FOR Guard

⯈ THEME: Betrayal

⯈ PREVIOUS ACTION: Guard

⯈ IDENTITY: Guard

⯈ PERSONALITY: Gruff

⯈ ACTIVITY: Guarding Me

⯈ TABLE 1: THEME ACTION

⯈ NPC ACTION: Betrays the Mayor

⯈ Guard DISPOSITION: 24 (AGGRESSIVE (+4))

However, I managed to pay the guard to let me out. Now we return to my original plan: kill the mayor and take over…

New Scene: Sneaking up on the mayor…

It’s night time and I have infiltrated the mayor’s house. Using my perception again to see if there’s any guards…

[Roll: 3]

Do I see any guards? (40/SC4): No

I’m in the clear. So I sneak by (making the stealth skill and rolling it, scoring a 1 in the process) and make it into the Mayor’s house.

New Scene: The Mayor’s Office…

So I plan out his demise, pretending I am giving up and letting him become Mayor once again… Only for me to backstab him when he least suspects it. So, I enter his door and see the Mayor. I roll Insight to see if he’s okay.

[Roll: 5]

Over threes are a failure and I have to replace the skill with something else. In this case, politics, as I am trying to discuss matters with him.

[Roll: 4]

But my politics don’t even work so I try again, this time, with simple conversations.

[Roll: 4]

Welp, he can’t even lull him into a false sense of security.

BEHAVIOR CHECK FOR Mayor Two-Face

⯈ THEME: Conspiracy

⯈ PREVIOUS ACTION: The Traitor

⯈ IDENTITY: Traitor

⯈ PERSONALITY: BLEAKLY

⯈ ACTIVITY: In it for the money.

⯈ TABLE 1: NPC CONTINUES -2

⯈ NPC ACTION: The Traitor

⯈ Mayor Two-Face DISPOSITION: 14 (ACTIVE (+2))

Seems we’re gonna have to do this the hard way. To make a long fight short…

Do I beat up the mayor? (85/SC0): Yes, and

I kill him. And now, I take his clothes and become his clone. There’s a bunch of people who are gunning for me.

Do I put on a good enough disguise? (31/SC2): No

So it’s gonna take more effort for me to trick everyone into becoming mayor. So, I’ll hold a meeting.

New Scene: I set up a meeting.

So the town has been gathered as I try futility to convince the group that I’m the mayor. I still have some of the skills from the Woodsman, so…

Would a group of rowdy people count as animals? (64/SC4): Yes

Alright, so Animal Handling it is.

[Roll: 6]

A fail and I resort to turning it into politics again.

[Roll: 4]

Another fail. The crowd recognizes me and motions to lynch me. So I run.

[Roll: 6]

Only for me to fall on my face. The villagers grab me and torture me to death. I am the ded.

So, that was Clones. I gotta say, this game was alright. Very interesting in both design and premise. Though, rereading the card, I noticed that it seems I can succeed on a 4, just that I need to swap after…

That said, the game would have gone the same. The first 4 I rolled was when I was talking to the Mayor and lulled him into a false sense of security. I would then kill him and then we’d be in the similar situation. The only other way is for that other 4 I rolled, one where I’m taking to the village, would succeed in some way. But, let us consult the villagers.

BEHAVIOR CHECK FOR Villagers

⯈ THEME: Conspiracy

⯈ PREVIOUS ACTION: Lynch

⯈ IDENTITY: Angry Mob

⯈ PERSONALITY: Sheep

⯈ ACTIVITY: Lynch

⯈ TABLE 1: NPC CONTINUES -2

⯈ NPC ACTION: Lynch

⯈ Villagers DISPOSITION: 21 (AGGRESSIVE (+4))

They won’t stop until they see blood. I try to dissuade them by pointing out how the clone is dead, using Medicine to make the Mayor’s face look like mine.

[Roll: 3]

Okay, that’s a success. Everyone’s disappointed, but they understood and leave. I have now taken over the village as the Mayor, with some skills left over as the Woodsman. This game was almost over, but I managed to turn it around by interpreting the rules differently.

I’m assuming that 1-3 is a success, 4 is a success but switch out a skill, and 5-6 are fails. Again, wouldn’t have changed much in the game as I only rolled a few fails.

Other than that, though, it’s a fun game, but I definitely can say it’s better with more players.

As for RanDM Solo, while I do enjoy it and how it’s very simple to use, the Visual Mythic felt like a better use for me to the point where I am almost tempted to switch over to using that from now on. I can’t wait to see how both these two Engine-inspired apps change over time. For now, though, it’s nice to simply try three things out at once. Bon Voyage, gamers.