I've only been playing for a week with the base rules + world builder so maybe I'm missing something or misinterpreting it.
My adventurer has completed the 5 training quest and his first WB quest and proceeded to scout around his home city.
He stumble upon the Den of the Goblinoids Side Quest and two rooms in, stumbled upon a green dragon.
So... first house rule: when spending a life, automatically fail the quest and respawn in the hex.
After recovering from that ordeal, my adventurer continued scouting and was attacked by a blue dragon...
So... addendum to the first house rule: when spending a life, also exit combat and remove the monster from the combat track.
Now my adventurer has 2 life left and is quivering from fear, unwilling to explore or do anything that would provoke an unmodified roll on the encounter table.
Not to belabor this but I thought of this after I posted above…
As Martin said, you can always pass on a side quest.
Again, getting into the real “role-playing“ of this great Solo RPG…
Using my imagination, I am a novice traveling sorcerer with a few adventures under my belt when I meet someone who tells me of a “side quest…”
Is it a small HOLLOW with an “easy” monster with no chance of running into anything too nasty for just a little coin that you can get in and out of quickly?
Or is it the DEN of a tougher creature that you’ll be well paid for but has a 10% chance of running into some unbeatable buggers?
OR is it the LAIR of something tough that’ll pay you handsomely and have bards signing your praises to increase your Reputation… but a 40% chance of crossing paths with the big baddies…
You can always say no thanks.
Pretty tough luck running into a couple dragons so early on, especially as a clumsy sorcerer with few magic spells yet.
I would however recommend you try to play the game by the unmodified rules as written. Oh, I know the temptation to house rule, and I have certainly done some house ruling of my own. But having played this game several years now, I can assure you the rules as written are actually very well thought out and balanced. In fact, for a “simple” pen and paper solo RPG, it really provides a “realistic” experience. I mean, let’s face it, if you actually were a novice sorcerer with poor dexterity and few spells in your spell book, running into a couple dragons would most certainly be lethal. Just using my imagination, which is why I play (and where I think this game truly shines)…
You are just five or so adventures in, maybe getting a little cocky, and you stumble across one of these unforgiving dragons. You try to escape and trip over yourself, maybe you drop your spell book, then can’t remember that spell off the top of your head, fumble with the incantation and boom - you’re dead.
To me, that is just as fun of an experience. Oh, I’ve had a couple adventures die early on which made me sad. And if you are really attached to your adventurer you could always just play benevolent god and give them an extra fate instead of making a new house rule that you’ll have to note somewhere and try to remember if you want to be consistent.
Bear in mind that as your Adventure grows in skill and gains spells, that house rule may make then things too easy for you. Or take away from the realization that you need to work on your lousy Dex, or try to avoid situations that rely on it, or specifically hunt for better spells, etc.
I guess it all depends on the experience you’re looking for. I’ve rolled up I think 8 adventurers now, and played with my son as well as solo. There is incredible depth to this game as written. Try not to be discouraged. Give your notice sorcerer a blessing or two and keep playing as written and I believe you will love this game as much as so many of us do.
Thanks for the tip, I didn't check the tables ahead of time and wasn't aware of the Invisibility spell, that's certainly a game changer!
Yep, was out of fate (might have misspent it) and my adventurer is a sorcerer with 21 DEX, so he died trying to escape. I've trudged along and cleared a Pit of the Giant Rats, no dragons this time and stumbled on the Manipulate spell... can it really be used at any time, on any roll (except an already manipulated one)...
Unlucky rolling I would say, but if you have some fate, you could have re-rolled the 9 for the encounter roll. If you didn't have fate, you could have tried escaping; however, if that wasn't an option, you might be better off, not trying those side quests.
Maybe it's a bit early for this and I should give it more time and go through a couple of adventurers but I'm already thinking about some mitigating systems:
1) Have settlements provide an Encounter Modifier for encounters and quests spawned within their hex and adjacent hexes (not retroactive, if the quest was already there, it keeps it's old modifier).
ex.: a city might give a -40 modifier in its hex and a -30 modifier in adjacent hexes, a town might give a -30 modifier in its hex and a -20 modifier in adjacent hexes, ...
2) Instead of having a single adventurer, having a stable of adventurers (maybe based on the highest Rep, so start with one adventurer and when you get to Rep 2, create another one). Only adventure with one at a time but when they meet up in a settlement have them exchange equipment and gold.
Again, maybe I'm exaggerating and should just continue as is or maybe go on one of those campaign in the other books.