Castle of Memories - Fight Your Way Back to Yourself

You wake up, alone in a castle with no memory of who you were... That is the plot of the solo TTRPG we are exploring today on The RPG Goblin called Castle of Memories!!

Inspired by Castlevania and Dark Souls in Castle of Memories you explore themes of memory loss and horror as you travel through this castle and fight "demons" that come from the shadows, and discover who you were!
Emily is our guest for today's episode and she talks about their experience with Castle of Memories and their love for solo TTRPGs! 

So join us and explore this amazing game of self discovery! 

Where to find Emily:

Dice Account:
https://www.instagram.com/paradice.made/

Art Account:
https://www.instagram.com/nypheus/

Where to get Castle of Memories:
https://arnivold.itch.io/castle-of-memories

Transcript

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Imagine you wake up alone in a castle with no memories. That is the plot of the TTRPG that we are gonna be exploring in today's episode called castle of memories. This is a solo TTRPG where you are exploring this castle with zero memory of who you are. And as you go through this castle, you fight demons to regain fragments of your memory and remember who you were and why you are in this castle. And can I just say, this game is so freaking cool? It's inspired by dark souls Then Castlevania and some other really good TTRPGs, but it stands out on its own as being so interesting with self discovery and finding out who you are. And it just makes me really excited. And so I can't wait for you to listen to this episode of the RPG goblin where we explore this very game with Emily, who we bring back on to the RPG goblin once again, and it is such a fantastic time. So if you're ready to start exploring this TTRPG about getting your memories back, let me stop talking, and let's get into it. Welcome everyone to the RPG Goblin. I am your host, Willow, and this podcast is all about, this is a TTRPG podcast all about, exploring TTRPG games and making it fun and easy for you to learn them because It's difficult when you look at a whole world of games, thousands of them out there, and we're like, hey. I don't know what this one's all about. That's basically what our podcast is. We just talk about these games, each with a dedicated episode, and you get to hear all about it and how awesome it is. And in today's episode, we are going to be Talking about a game called castle of memories, which I believe is our 3rd solo game that We're talking about on the RPG Goblin. And if you don't know what a solo RPG is, it's basically a role playing game that you play by yourself. It's only for 1 person, so if you don't have a whole group to play with, it's perfect to be able to tell these stories and use Dice mechanics or whatever interesting mechanics they have to tell a story. And I can't wait to talk about this game and hear all about it from our special guest, Emily, who is coming on once again. It's been a hot minute since you've been on here, but I'm so happy to have you back, Emily. And if you would like to introduce yourself to everyone who's listening and tell us who you are, what you any and everything about you. Thanks, Willow. Yeah. Hi. My name's Emily. I am a creature that wears a very long cardigan with lots of pockets on it, and each of those pockets has a different solo journaling game tucked into it. So, this is my my 2nd pocket full of goodness that I have to air. So glad you can share it with us. I am so happy to be here. I'm I've just got, like, a little list. I'm gonna bother you once I get to play Kuriko and Yes, please. I have things well, I'm gonna have so many things to say I can feel it. I'm waiting until I get my physical copy of the book to play it. I'm so excited. I can't wait either, and I actually got a recent solo, RPG called 7 murders till midnight, which I don't know if you saw it. About. Yeah. I was reading about it after you shared it in the chat. I totally recommend it, but yes. I can't please bother me anytime you'd like. I will. A 100%. I met Willow because I am a question mark, a dice maker. I'm currently on hiatus while I'm dealing with Some, health difficulties and trying to get some things in order from when my health was significantly worse. I loved Myself a lot of stuff to untangle. So if you wanna find me on Instagram, I am at paradise, par a d I c e, Dot made, m a d e, paradise made. And I've not posted for more than a year Now, but I am occasionally active in my stories. I like sharing other dice makers' work and boosting their sales to the, like, 100 people that look at my story. So if you wanna be one of those, you're more than welcome to come join. I also do check messages if you wanna Talk to me about a solo journaling RPG. I wanna hear about it. I also have an art account, which is at nypheus, n y p h e u s. I recently have been doing a lot of art, and I had posted older stuff on there previously, and I have archived all of it, so it looks empty. I promise I I do have art that I just need to get brave enough to Sure again. Yes. Please share it because we've been, sharing some of it in the Discord here, and it's been so cool to see. I just love your colors. Thank you so much. Yeah. That's one of my favorite things is always, like, making everything bright and beautiful, which is, Not maybe not in theme of castle of memories. It's a, like Willow said, it's a solo journaling TTRPG, so it's set meant for 1 player. And the, the game itself was developed by Adrianne Loom or Adrianne Lum. I got it on Itch in a bundle of, TTRPGs for trans rights in Florida. Yes. So if you happen to buy that bundle and you haven't noticed, you've got Castle of memories waiting in there for you. It is yeah. It's I'm so excited. It's so good. It's actually inspired by some media that I personally have loved for a long time. The Castlevania series, which I'm so excited for the next Castlevania, like, anime That is gonna be coming out. Oh, I didn't know when was coming out. Yeah. I think it's delayed, I presume, by all of the strikes and stuff, which is, like, It'll be worth waiting for a 100%. I I'm glad that the strikes are finally happening and that negotiations are underway. Absolutely. The Castlevania series of of games, of course, and then, it's also very thematically fit to the anime, if you enjoy the anime, the dark souls games Mhmm. And then, kingdom hearts chain of memories specifically. So that's a fun combination. Yeah. I know. Yeah. Yeah. So those video games, it states specifically are the inspiration for this. And then the tabletop games, the Errant RPG by Ava, Mork Borg by Pala Nilsson, which I think you're familiar with. Right? Yep. Yeah. I've never I've never played it, and I I have no idea how it works, but knowing that this game is inspired by it makes me wanna dig into it more that and seeing you guys talk about it in the server, I'm like, Dang. I need to look into that Yeah. To see what it's about. Those 2 and then Iron Sworn by Sean Tompkins. Another fantastic game. I haven't gotten to play it, and I haven't read the whole book, but I've heard amazing Things about that. And even to the point where people say, like, if you get burnt out on TTRPGs, try iron sworn. Oh, wow. It will help you kind of, like, just look at them differently. It's it's really good. I need to check it out then because I like, I've not I'm not familiar with Errant RPG, Mork Borg, or Ironsworn. Mhmm. And I just I saw them in the in the sort of, like, Forward of this game. And I was like, oh, that's interesting. I need to I've only ever even heard of, but I've not tried any of any of the 3. And so they're on my list to check out, but hearing that about Ironsworn is really, really exciting. Yeah. And especially, Ironsworn, the PDF for it is completely free on the website. So you can read the entire book, which is, like, over a 100 plus pages. And it's really, really cool. And it also does a fun thing where you can play solo co op or like with a GM, which is fun. And Merkborg Merkborg, however you wanna say it, is also really great game. The actually did an episode, 2 episodes about it on the podcast with Zachariah, which was really fun because that game is insane. It's basically like Death around every single corner, but in a fun comedic way. Oh my gosh. That sounds so good. That sounds so exciting and fun. Yeah. It's it's an absolute blast, but that's super interesting to hear. Like, all of these have inspired castle of memories. And so I think the first sort of question I have for, this episode is Can you explain what castles of memories is? Yeah. For sure. So aside from being a single player TTRPG, Like, that's the that's the bones of it. Right? The premise, I do wanna mention that there is a general content warning at the beginning of the game. Mhmm. It has elements of amnesia and memory loss, trauma, violence, and some elements of horror. The book itself, I feel, is very light given the source material that it's inspired by, especially The Castlevania series. I think, like, it could be a lot scarier between Castlevania and Dark Souls, like, having that energy, I think it I was expecting it honestly to be a lot scarier, or have a lot more horror elements than it does, but I did I acknowledge that especially if you are sensitive to themes of amnesia and memory loss. This I love that you're here, but this this might be an upsetting, episode of the podcast to listen to if you are upset by that stuff. I'm not gonna talk about it in-depth, but it is the core conceit of the game because you play As a single person with amnesia who wakes up in a dark castle alone. Oh. And you are intended to play it as you read through the book. I skimmed all of it because I love spoilers, and that was when I first got it. So I kind of like, I read through it, and My own memory is actually abysmal. Like, it's always been bad. I have ADHD, and then my health problems have, like, made it Even worse. So now I'm like I I honestly I actually started playing this because I was interested in, like, a little bit of catharsis for that. And it's honestly, it's really helped. It's been it's been interesting to be able to play my my little my little dude. She I'll tell you about her in a second, but you are in it's intended that you keep a journal to record your character's thoughts and the general happenings, of the events that occur within the game. Right? If you want to just roll and, like, keep it in your head as you go, you can, but that does Defeat the the journaling part of solo journaling TTRPG, but but fun to have a fun little journal that you you found with everything. Yeah. Exactly. I actually am going to extol the virtues of OneNote for this specific game Mhmm. Like, as an organizational tool. I also really, really like writing, so I'm using this, like, more as a writing exercise than just a journal. So when We talked about over the mountain. I wrote that in journal format Mhmm. From the first person view of legend, my my character. Of legend. I I really, really appreciate. I think about you every time I open that journal. Oh. Because I'm like, oh, because you're able to rename her. So, this one can Conversely. Yeah. It makes me it brings me so much joy to look at it and just be like, oh, Willow. This game, I decided that I wanted to do as more of, more of an exercise in writing 3rd person. I write 3rd person limited. Yeah. If if we have any, like, grammar nerds in the in the audience. So with a a narrator that does not have omniscience of what has happened to, my character or how she got here or anything like that because I don't know. Mhmm. So it's kind of, kind of forced into that. And I'm guessing that, like, when you're playing, that's at least one of the big things that you're trying to figure out is why you're here. Yeah. Exactly. Yeah. You it's a it's about self discovery, and, of course, your character is discovering themselves as they regain their memories, the process and mechanics of which we'll talk about in a couple minutes, but then you as the player discovering who your character was. Right? Because you meet them sort of in media res where they're already stuck here. And you know, logically, they've, As a character, they've had a rich life, but you, even their creator, don't know what that's been, and I find that really cool and exciting. Yeah. No. That is really cool. I think it's I think it's neat. It's a cool, like, it's a cool conceit of any media, in my opinion. I love Stories of self discovery like that and being able to go through that with a TTRPG character, I think especially in a solo game, kind of takes the burden off of playing an amnesiac character Mhmm. And giving the DM all of your like, The control over who they are and where they came from and all of that stuff. I think that is really, really cool. And if you have a DM who would be into that, then that would be fun. But I also am the kind of person where I'm like, dang. I would be asking them to, like, literally, basically, make all of the most emotionally laborious parts of my character for me. So I've always kind of shied away from that. But Castle of Memories playing somebody who just wakes up in this dark castle, you get to explore that Through the framework of the game. As far as the materials yeah. I know. Right? It's it's so cool. So we already talked about having a journal or in my case, a OneNote with about 11 different tabs. You need a deck of tarot cards. A character sheet is provided. It gives you a form fillable PDF, the design of which I love. I think it's so cool. And then if you're a mapmaker, you have the option of, drawing your castle's map on grid paper or whatever map making software you want. So Oh, that's what that Right. Yeah. Yeah. So the way the game itself oh, you do also need a set of dice, and it does recommend The full set of 7 polyhedral dice d 4 through d 20. I haven't gotten into anything needing d eights or d tens yet, I don't think, but I I don't know if they're in the game later than the point I've played to now or if It's just you do need a d 12 because anytime you get, like, a new weapon, you roll a d 12 to see what it is. So I feel like it's hard to find a Hell yeah. Yeah. I think it's I I love it, especially rhombic d twelves. Mhmm. I'm Oh, those are so good. I am obsessed with the way they tessellate. If you have multiple of them that are the same size, I encourage you to put them together and look at how Visually satisfying, they are. But even that aside, like, Beautiful stacks of d twelves. I think it's hard to find a single d twelve unless you're a unless you're a dice collector who will Buy a random single, but, like, I know I, as a dice maker, would probably never put a single d twelve up in my shop because Nobody needs d twelves. I feel like only my only my fellow barbarian players need a d twelve. I've I I think I've put up a few D 12 pairs before, but they usually don't sell the best because, yeah, who who's using the t 12? Unless you have, like, a really cool system that uses d twelves like that, then you have an excuse. But I am curious. How long have you been playing castle of memories for so far? Let's see. I started it on June 1st this year, so almost 3 months. Oh, hell yeah. That's great. And so Over 3 months of play, how much have you like, how many I guess a rough estimate of how many pages have you done? Because I know that, At least when it comes to solo games, it is usually up to the person playing them of how much or how little they write. Mhmm. And I'm just curious of how much you've accumulated over this time. Yeah. Let me look, actually, because the first several pages of the book are Your how to play Mhmm. And then the explanation of how you craft your memories when you discover them, and Then it kind of guides you through, so I'm in chapter 2. I haven't yet it breaks the castle into zones. Mhmm. And I have not yet completed my 1st zone. I think I've written my character going through 4 rooms. Mhmm. I think, and she hasn't met any other people yet. Only monsters. Oh, no. Which is I know. I know. So the the structure of the game is such that you wake up in A room. And it sort of walks you through building your character as you look around, you find Something in the room, and you roll dice to see what you find. So you don't even know what you What you grab in the in the starting room. Mhmm. I Personally, thought it would be really cool if since this is, like, a castle in which her memories are lost. I thought it would be neat if I let the things that she found along the way dictate who She is or feed into who she is. I like that a lot. That's a that's a really fun way to interpret it. Thank you. And it makes it easy on me too because then I don't have to make that decision independently. And so when you find things, you do roll the dice. Are you, like, rolling on a table for something specific? Yes. So Do you have dice handy? Oh, I can. Give me one moment. I forgot to warn you that I was gonna ask you to roll again. I like making you roll for things so we can see what happens. Dice have been grabbed. Roll me that beautiful d twelve. Roll a beautiful d twelve. Alright. This one's pretty beautiful. 7. 7. You found a whip. Oh. Yeah. I know. So there's a there's a d twelve table of weapons, and your, your starting weapon will come from that table, and then in the future, if you find any weapon around the castle, it will also be rolled from that table. So For my little creature, I rolled a 10, a 2 handed sword. I love that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And fighting unarmed is also an option. Mhmm. So there's none there is no option on the table that's, like, not Oh, weapon or anything like that? It's not like they put shield for one of those. That's not how they did it. They actually put 12 unique weapons on here. Everything from the sword to morning star to pistol to crossbow. So if you wanted to write this in a In a scenario where guns haven't been discovered yet or you think your character wouldn't know what to do with a gun, you could just reroll. Yeah. And that also feels like it would be really easy to customize to different settings too. Mhmm. Like, if you wanted a specific theme for the weapons or, like, you know, guns not being discovered yet, that not being a thing, that would be easy to just do a list of 12 weapons even for yourself. Yeah. Exactly. Yeah. If you didn't like the options that are given. And if you want your character to be something in particular, you could also just choose. Mhmm. Right. That's also the that's kind of the cork and seed of a solo journaling game is if you have an idea for something or you see something on your On the table, and you're like, oh, an axe. I really I really want them to have an axe. I hope I roll an axe. Like, you can just decide that they're gonna have an axe. Yeah. You have full control over the situation. Exactly. Yeah. There's is almost to just be like that third Parties such as a a GM that will give random things and random things to the world. Yeah. So you roll, for your starting weapon. You got a whip. My my little dude has a 2 hander, and I decided After the next roll, I'll tell you what I decided I wanted her to be. Roll me a d four. Volud 4. And this is kinda the this is the first part of, like, creating your character and getting introduced in the game. Right? Correct. I love it. I love when you roll for these types of things because it's just fun to get a random character. I got a 3. A 3. You find some pieces of armor that you can fashion into a makeshift Sue for some protection. It reduces damage taken by 1. Oh. Yeah. So that's actually the same thing that I rolled, and so I was thinking, like, Okay. She knows how to use a 2 handed sword. She knows how to use pieces of armor, because I decided When I set off to play this game that these were the only things she was going to find were going to be things that are useful to her, which then also challenges me to include it in her narrative. Yeah. Right? So, thinking through, like, a big sword and Pieces of armor. I decided that I wanted to do a sort of stereotypical, like, 13 and 14, maybe 1500, night. Yeah. After. That's what I was thinking in my mind. I'm like, whole on night. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. Because it's like, oh, a suit of armor. So I, the way I wrote it was she woke up in in this room. All of the furniture is covered. Everything is kind of put away, but not dusty. Mhmm. And then On one of the tables, she saw this a shape under, like, the dust cover. And when she lifted it up, it was a sword. I love that. And so when describing that, are you deciding what this room looks like, or are you following a specific prompt that the game is giving you? I think let me see. Let me go back and see how much flavor text it Give me. Yeah. Because I know it can definitely depend on the solo game. There are ones that give you very clear prompts, some that are very open to Reputation, like, here's just basic things, so I'm curious. Yeah. Okay. So, I actually for the in the interest of writing it the way I wanted to write it, I obfuscated the way The game is designed to introduce your character at the very beginning. I didn't want her to know immediately Who she is, I wanted to work that into a little bit of a flashback. Love it. So thank you. That's kind of it's in the game, but it's the very, very first thing Mhmm. In the game, and I wanted her to find some things That would remind her of herself first. So the way it's written, you wake up in a dark cold room, the walls and floors are made of stone, and you realize that you are in a castle, and you have no idea how you got here. Mhmm. I'm obsessing that is the starting point. Right? I know. That's just it's such a good hook. It's like it Sets you up for that innate desire to discover and get the answer to that question because I think that's one of my favorite things about Solo TTRPGs is that, like, you get to find out along the way Mhmm. With your character often because, like, Oops. Sorry. Go ahead. I was I was gonna ask if you would say that solo RPGs are good for people who like that self discovery type story. Because that's what I'm kind of hearing as you're talking here. And I love that as like an idea in general. Like, if you want if you like These stories about discovering yourself or even playing through interesting ideas such as, like, amnesia, like solo RPG seem to be a pretty good route for that. Yes. A 1000%. And there are so many out there even stepping back from castle of memories. If you don't feel drawn to this one in particular, There are games like Over the Mountain where you're helping, a little town of people. We're getting to know a little town of people. Which we have also done a episode, if you want to listen to that. Yes. Highly encouraged. I rambled A lot, and I I made Willow help me roll for another day in my character's life. It was so good, though. It was So exciting and intriguing. It's a that's a great game. I also haven't made a lot of progress on that one because I'm, like, I'm savoring it, so I just do them, like, little by little whenever I want a little treat. And that's another good thing though. If you're listening to this and you you're like, man, this these solo games sound fun. Yeah. But, like, I don't want to commit to this all the time. I can't write a full thing all the time. Well, first of all, you don't you can write as much or as little as you want. You can write a sentence to a full paragraph to, like, a full, like, story just with these different sections Or or, like, you know, you can write as much or as little as you want. And on top of that, you can play as much or as little as you desire. You don't have to have, like, a weekly commitment to this game that if you don't show up at this time and and on this day, you miss out on the game. No. If you're Just sitting there, and you're like, man, it sounds like a good time to to make an entry into my over the mountain game. Do it. And I love the flexibility there. Me too. Yeah. Definitely. It's hard, I think, especially being an adult. Mhmm. Right. Getting into you know, you have to work around, like, your work schedule, your maybe your family life, if you have a very active Family life, social life, I feel as we get older, more and more TTRPGs, like, unless you have a very tightly knit group, Which I'm I am very fortunate to be a part of a couple very tightly knit groups, but even still, even though I know We're not gonna stop playing together anytime soon. There are sometimes weeks at a time where the true BBEG of tabletop games Scheduling conflicts will just get in the way. And so then, like, I I really, really thrive having a structured schedule. Mhmm. So even having a regular session canceled can kind of leave me feeling a little sort of on Tethr. Mhmm. And this is a really good way to sort of fill that void to be able to just sit down and say, okay. I can't play my regular D and D game, but I can sit down and I can take some time to myself, and I can still, You know, get into my imagination for this. I can still roll dice. I can still have fun, and the only person that you Need for that for games like this is yourself. Mhmm. Which is great and such a fun way to tell a story too because What at least what I think is yeah. Sure. You could write. Like, you could just straight up write a story, but Why we love these games is because there's randomness. And because it's not just us telling the story. And when you have these solo games that give you Prompts and ways to basic basically, like, simulate that randomness through tarot cards or dice rolls and stuff like that, and Let you write a story without being the only one involved is really, really fun. Yeah. Absolutely. Love it. Yeah. And it's it's flexible. You get to make whatever you want out of the results that you roll. Mhmm. Which I think is awesome. And that's why I do really like your approach with I'm going to randomly roll the things first and then create a story from there. And So during this opening segment, you know, you you get your starting weapon and you get the whole armor thing is, And you introduced the room and the concept. Are there any other elements for, like, kind of starting the game that we haven't covered yet? Yeah. So right off the bat, as you are in this room, you find your weapon. You find maybe your armor, maybe a shield. Mhmm. You are attacked by a by a creature. Yeah. The game calls it a demon. A I made it, like, a shadow, a shadowy creature, like, literally from The shadows of the room because I described it being very, like, dark and dim and sort of uneasy Feeling, very oppressive because I wanted it to be that this demon was watching from like, Not only watching from the shadows, but also being the shadows. I love that that trope for shadow monsters. I think them, like, melting off of the wall and then coming up and forming into something more corporeal is such a good visual that I really wanted to evoke that in how I I wrote the combat. And Oh, good. If you're not much of a writer, you just wanna go through the story with your character, you can just take general notes, Or I think I said earlier, you don't have to write anything at all. Right? Again, this is up to you how much you wanna do. You don't have to be extra like me and write Thousands of words. But if you do wanna write thousands of words But if you wanna write thousands of words, yeah, highly inspiring. Because it like you say, like, it's about crafting a story. Mhmm. And you could sit down and write a story on your own. Right. Whenever I do that, I have a hard time keeping interest. Right? It's my it's my ADHD brain. I like, I'll come up with an idea, and I'm really excited about it. And I'll start writing it, and then inevitably, I get distracted. I don't do a formal outline or anything. I just write for fun. But to my detriment, sometimes I will start something that I'm really excited about, and then as time goes on, I have other ideas that I am more excited about that are fresher and newer. And whatever I started previously just kind of falls by the wayside because I don't have that External motivation sort of pushing me, whereas the sense of discovery in solo games really, really drives me to write a lot more than I do for almost anything else with the exception of, like, writing things for my d and d characters. I love that so much, and I love how it's like it almost is like finding your place within the storytelling world. Like, yeah, this is what works for me, and I think that's amazing. It helps a lot. So if if you are somebody who really likes, writing or storytelling and you struggle to sort of generate ideas or come up with something that you can write in the long Term, the framework of a solo TTRPG does that for you. Mhmm. And then you get to just write, which is Cool. And discover a cool story. That's why I can't wait to play 7 murders till midnight. Mhmm. And I'm I'm not one. I usually love to read through, like, game books so much, and that is one where I read the introduction section and the rules, And I stopped because I'm like, I want to play this so bad that I'm not even gonna spoil myself for the content that is within the actual story because I won the prize. Yeah. That's one of my favorite things about castle of memory specifically is that it's not written. It's So it's randomly generated as you roll. So aside from the 1st room that you wake up in, there's a monster there, demon monster, Shadow creature. It says you must fight it to survive. So there is an element of combat in castle of memories. You theoretically could obfuscate it, but you would be departing pretty heavily from the mechanics of the game because after You roll your way through the combat, and for that, I will just, like I'll roll the whole combat, And I'll make notes on what happens, and then I'll write it out in a narrative representation after I know the outcome. And, like I love that. Yeah. Whether, like so, my my little knight lady, Her name's Fia Metta, and she managed to not get hit at all by the shadow creature that came for her. But she also missed about every other swing that she took, so that was kind of a long, Laborious combat to roll through, let alone to, like write through. Yeah. Well, how does the combat, actually work? Is there stats for this demon creature? Do you have stats that you're using? What what are, like, the mechanics for that? Yes. So your character has 4 stats. You roll 44 Four times, and you write them down in order. So, then after you do all 4 roles, you record them in order, you can SWAP two values, and it indicates, like, strength is your character's physical might, agility, your ability to move quickly, presence, your grace, Concentration and composure, and then mind is your mental faculties and your affinity for magic because there is magic in this game as well. I love that. Also, just to clarify, is it is it is it, like, 1 d four for each stat, or are you rolling all 4 d fours You roll 44, so you get a maximum of 16, a minimum of 4. Very interesting. That's actually a fun way to do that. And then, like, you have to roll them. So you roll 44, and whatever you get, that's your strength. And then another For that's your agility, and you have to record them in order. And then at the end, you can switch 2 of them for like, to work with whatever your character concept is. I adore that. Yeah. Hell yeah. That's a fun that's a fun way to have that randomness, but also still have a little bit of control depending on the character that you do want. Exactly. Yeah. Because, Fiametta, I actually rolled a 9 for her strength, and I was like, but she has a 2 handed sword. Something doesn't add up. Yeah. So, her stats in order now are that she has a 15 strength, A 12 agility, a 9 presence for, like, grace and focus and ranged weapons, And then she has an 11 mind. So, she is above average in her strength, Especially, she's almost at max on her strength, which is Very good at that. Yeah. I that's my Beefy sword lesbian is, my one of my favorite archetypes, and so even the dice do not betray me In playing a game like this? I mean, again, like, we still have to try and figure out how to do a game of thirsty sword lesbians together because want to so badly. I I mean, I may have some things that could potentially make this possible. Like, at at least give me an excuse to run a game that's not just the games I run weekly. I wish you could see the way I'm wiggling my eyebrows right now. Yes. I I will definitely, I'll talk to you I'll talk to you about that after the So because everyone has to wait. You we'll wait to see what the project is. We'll we'll get to it at some point. Maybe even by the time this episode comes But, so yeah. You have, you have stats. You know, those stats, you know, mean mean things, for what you can do in the game, and then the combat. So how does that work? Yeah. So you roll 2 d 8 to determine your HP. P, you record that on your character sheet. That's your max HP. Perfect. And, It tells you up front that the monster that you encounter first has 6 HP. That's a bit of a sliding scale because there are monsters of varying Difficulty that you can roll to encounter later in the game. Mhmm. But the very first one, the the book just tells you right up front, 6 HP. Perfect. And this is actually a d twenty roll under system, so that's been super interesting where, like, Tia Metta, Her strength is 15. So if she wants to make an attack with her strength, I have to roll a d twenty. It has to be a 15 or lower. Okay. Yeah. I like that a lot. Gives me into the odd vibes. I love roll under d 20 systems. They are really fun because it's like I just it's so cool. I love the nat one being rewarding. It it's just a it's a silly little thing, but it makes me happy on the inside. I know. I know. It helps sort of change the Change the mood of seeing that one roll up where it's like instead of being upset. You know, you get to be excited about it for once, and that's such a weird Change to switch 2 is like, no. Wait. No. That's good. But then, conversely, if you roll in that 20, it's like that initial, like Yeah. Wait. Oh, no. This is this is the wrong game. No. I love that so much. And so Rolling to yeah. I love it. Yeah. Rolling under to be able to hit and achieve the actions that you're doing. Absolutely fantastic. How do you figure out the damage for the weapons that you have? They're static. Every weapon does 2 damage unless you're fighting bare handed, in which case your fists Stew one damage. Oh, I love that. And so you don't have to keep track of like, oh, this weapon does that. That weapon does this. It keeps it, like, straight and easy across the board. Yeah. Exactly. So you just know if you roll under your strength or if you're using a ranged weapon, your presence, You do 2 damage, period. And then, actually, instead of the monster rolling against you, you roll Agility to dodge. I like that too because that then at least when it comes Two normal t t r p g games. I've been really enjoying ways to modify them to make the players roll for stuff more because, like yeah. I love rolling dice. I I love dice in general. Don't get me wrong. But if I can make them being the more active party as much of the time as possible, they're gonna be more engaged in the game. And so having you roll to dodge instead, really, really cool. Yeah. And I think that goes a long way too to making it a GM less System. I think that helps. Right? Because then rather than having to manage all of the different stats, like, okay. These are my My character's attack stats, these are the different monsters. It's like you just roll to dodge, and it is again, it's Elegantly reliant upon just your character and their stats. Good. And so how much damage do the monsters do to you? Also 2. Oh, again, keeps it nice and simple across the board. You don't have to keep track of a 1000000 things. Exactly. And so both our characters rolled to have little to have, like, Partial armor. Mhmm. So we would only take 1 damage instead. Mhmm. Perfect. If we were to roll a 20 On a dodge check, our armor would break. Oh, no. Yeah. Yeah. As you know, it'll be a good goodness. Yes. Yeah. It does have As grits, you are punished for rolling a nat 20, which is heartbreaking, but you're also rewarded for rolling a nat one. On an attack, you'll deal double damage. And on a dodge roll, you'll actually get a free counterattack. Oh, that's Fun. I like that. To roll to leverage it, but You have to roll to still try and hit with your will counterattack, but you get to you get to shoot your shot off of your turn. So Yeah. Please get a chance, and that's that's more than some games will give you. So I think that's great. And like you said, you just end up Taking notes of the exchanges that happen and then do a basic, like, summary of the fight? Yeah. I've because I think It can be really laborious to write and to read a blow by blow combat unless those Every like, unless every blow is significant, which it rarely is. So, I instead, I kind of obfuscated it a little bit. I didn't say, like, you know, she swung her sword 11 times or whatever she dodged Twelve times. So I kind of just wrote it in a more a more narrative fashion, and it does give you the option. Right? Because you can, like, air quotes, you can, like, die. Mhmm. Right. I'm doing heavy finger quotations around that because if you do drop to 0 HP, You wake up in that same room with the same weapon. Your HP is restored to full, and the creature will Immediately attempt to attack you again as soon as you're ready. So yeah. So It's almost like a video game, it feels like. Yeah. That's kind of what I was thinking is, like, there's the influence of the Castlevania games. Mhmm. Right? It's like you die, and then you immediately respawn, and you're right there in the Think of it. It literally says, the creature will attempt to attack you again. Be ready. That's so good. And so when it comes to actually, so when when it comes to finishing that first fight, What comes next in the story? Because this is, like, just a little introduction section. This is getting you, you know, into the game. This is getting you into the story. What comes next? So when you vanquish your enemy, as the book says, you actually find that it It contains a mode of light, which you absorb, and that's your first memory. That's when you draw. Yeah. That's when you draw from your tarot deck. Hey, everyone. It is time for the mid episode break. I hope that you are enjoying listening to this episode so far. Please make sure to rate the RPG Goblin wherever you listen to your podcast. Give us a 5 star review if you enjoy. That really helps me to know that you are enjoying the podcast and helps keep it going Because I love doing this so much in every little bit of support and people showing that they enjoy it makes my absolute day. So please make sure to do that. And yeah. So in this little midpoint, we're gonna talk about the next episode that will be coming out of the RPG Goblin, which will be happening October 13th. Very fun. Oh, it's actually Friday 13th. This is actually gonna be a day after my birthday, which is also exciting. I'm turning 20. And, yeah, this is actually gonna be a really cool game called neon shadows. This game went up on Kickstarter in the month of September. The Kickstarter ended up failing, but this game is amazing and the Creators are still going to be pushing through and releasing it out to itch for everyone to play. And it's just it's so Fun and the lore of the world that neon shadows is based in is really cool, and the different ways that different people can take this game and interpret it is genius. It's based on the wander home system, which I believe is called belonging outside belonging. Don't quote me on that. And it's just really, really cool and has a mechanic of playing cards. All kinds of really cool stuff. So that's gonna be the next episode of the RPG Goblin. Again, coming out Friday, October 13th. Now time for our promo for this episode. We are gonna be promoing Friend Info Adventure Co, AKA, Riley's podcast, who is absolutely amazing. If you don't know who Riley is, Riley is the BM for a bunkers and badasses actual play Joe, and has actually come on the podcast to talk about Bunkers and Badasses AKA a Borderlands TTRPG. It's so cool, and so let's get into the promo for their very own show. Are you looking to fall in love? Meet Vault Hunters near you with Friend and Foe Adventure Co, A deadly sniper that'll nat twenty your heart. I'm Topgwn Brittstone, and I came here to do 2 things, get wasted and start a fight. And I'm Loomyst. How's this? An ex lawyer mech pilot that won't raise any objections. Subpoena, I hardly know her. Am I right? Mercurius here. These days, I enjoy long walks on the beach with my combat mech, pancake. Let loose and go crazy with a psycho. I'm a student of the magical arts. I don't believe in wind. Ants are taking over the government. Vote for Good Boy is a vote for, wait. What was this, Oregon? A siren infuser that will set your heart aflutter. I'm Faylion. This is my hummingbird pigeon, and we're both really uncomfortable with this ad. Get rowdy with Friend Info Adventure Co, a Borderlands Bunkers and Badasses actual play podcast. New Episode's out every other Tuesday wherever you listen to podcasts. So when you vanquish Your enemy, as the book says, you actually find that it it contains a mode of light, Which you absorb, and that's your first memory. So that's when you draw. Yeah. That's when you draw from your tarot deck. I'm obsessed. This is amazing. It's so it's so cool. So, anytime you defeat a foe, they are what is holding your memories. So So it's like a slaying your demons type thing. Uh-huh. Yeah. Fighting your way back To yourself, which I think is a really good, like, inherently powerful narrative. Mhmm. And also, like, discovering who you are through that, like, very grueling process and knowing, like, What you're fighting for, I think, is really cool. Yeah. I love that. And so how does figuring out what that memory is how does that work? So it actually goes by the type of card. So the card you draw determines the nature of your memory. Mhmm. And it's separated into groups by the major arcana. Right? So if you're Not familiar with tarot, that's, like those are the famous very, like, named cards, like the lovers, the wheel, the hanged man. Yeah. So any of those major arcana are major life events that are important to you. Something that's, like, changed The course of your life or who you are fundamentally as a person. Uh-huh. Court cards, which are the kings, queens, knights, And pages represent important people in your life that you share a bond with. Mhmm. And then the minor Arkana, which are the, like, aces through tens, those are mundane everyday memories. And then it says you have 2 ways of interpreting the cards. I always I try to draw a fine line between, like, talking about the system and sharing too much because This game obviously deserves your support. It is available on itch. Io. It's $10 for the PDF. That's And it is absolutely worth it. Yeah. Because this game has you could, theoretically, you could do A mega dungeon out of this game. The structure would allow for it. You could use it as a framework For a game like, to build a dungeon Mhmm. If you're running a group game, you could use this to kind of, like, build The castle that your party has to go through and that kind of thing. So it's like and then, of course, the endless replayability. Like, you roll a new character at the beginning. Yeah. It's it's someone new each time you're discovering a different story each time. I love that. And when it comes to describing things in the game, you can be as Big as possible because, yeah, I go support the artist. Go check out the game itself, which there will be a link in the description of this episode for you to actually Check it out and get it for yourself because support creators, please. Yes. Absolutely. So they actually give you a very handy, Set of, like, reference guides Mhmm. That's got all of the tables that you need to roll from, whether it's, like, your weapons, The process by which you discover more rooms, you can purchase things with your XP. There are NPCs Oh, they're so fun. Yeah. And the tarot, also Dictates who the NPC is that you meet, and I haven't met an NPC yet. So I don't I can't really speak to that part of the game. They'll have to just play it themselves to figure out how that works. Yeah. Exactly. Exactly. And then let me know if you speed run it because I am in a weird Monsters only run of this game, it feels like. It's just the way my dice have have shaken out. It's just finding out who you are. I mean, that's the thing, though. Like, it's not it's not punishing to not find any people Because even though you're just finding monsters, you are gonna be able to build on and reveal information about this character every single time. Yes. Yeah. It's really exciting. So as you discover memories, again, you draw from the tarot, and, Like, what card you draw dictates the kind of memory that it is, and each of your memories also gifts you a spell. Mhmm. So You it's up to you if you think, like, it's only in the castle of memories in this weird metaphysical, sort of liminal space that my character can do magic, or I decided that Fiameta can do magic in general. I decided Her, like, medieval fantasy setting in which she is a knight also has magic and is friendly ish to magic practitioners. So, like, for the first memory that I drew, I crafted the spell, which you make up the memory, and then you make up the spell because the memory Self dictates the qualities of the spell. Mhmm. It's well, part of it is the emotion That's generated by your memory, and then the other part is the suit of the card. So I'm I won't say what I what I drew, but, I ended up making I decided it was a happy memory because the well, I'll tell you what I drew because then I can explain. I drew the 7 of pentacles which is, symbolic of, like, hard work paying off Mhmm. Basically and based on the logic of the game, the system, that's supposed to be a mundane memory, so I decided, like, it was going to be Fia Metta having a very, like, satisfying experience in the training yard with the other knights, which was something that she would do on a daily basis as a knight, Right. Just to train. Yeah. And so, a happy but not necessarily remarkable or fundamentally Changing memory. So then I worked the spell into it as her practicing her battle magic while dueling with 1 of her fellow knights. And him, like, letting her do her magic on him because he's a bro. But, yeah, it gives you some examples of the different types of spells you can craft, And the contents and possibilities of those spells, again, are dictated by the Emotional quality of the memory and the suit of the card. So, I decided it was a happy memory, so joyful, and then pentacles. Each of those gives you a few different options. Mhmm. And of the few different options, I paired together transform and other. So she has the spell transform other. Was her first one that she remembered. That's so fun. Yeah. It's so cool. And then Once you put your verb and your noun together, you decide what the spell itself does encompassed by That concept. So transform other. Good. I love that. And that's so much just flexibility within, like, a magic system. I love it when it's not like a set list of things that you can do, but you can, like, you know, just putting oh, that's so cool. I love it. Yeah. Alright. Go ahead. No. No. You're good. I I could go on and on about the flexibility of design in this game and how much I love it. But I decided that transform other would allow her to, like, insight And effect in combat, and there's a list of recommended, combat magic effects. So There's one that's cause an enemy to deal minus 1 damage for the remainder of a battle. So rather than doing, like, a because because I was trying to think. Right? She's a knight. Yeah. Since I decided she's not a hardcore like, she's not a mage primarily. She just has Spells that I think are, like, minor magic may be considered hedge magic or light battle magic. Mhmm. I didn't want her to be able to polymorph Somebody. Yeah. I mean, that would be great. That would be a bit much for her. She's got a lot of other stuff to work on, so I decided that the effect of transform other would be to weaken Mhmm. Your opponent or strengthen your ally. So if she uses it in combat against a monster, then the monster would do minus one Damage. Mhmm. So, basically, as long as she didn't break her armor, and she hasn't yet, I haven't rolled I Haven't rolled any nat twenties on my dodge checks. My armor is still intact. She basically doesn't take any damage if she chooses to cast That spell and they are finite resources. Uh-huh. You can only cast each spell that you have, like, quote, prepared, once between rests in safe harbor rooms. So you're not something that will completely go away long term. It's just a great resource. Yes. So yeah. Then after you obtain that memory, the rest of the castle kind of opens up to you, And you start rolling on tables to determine, like, what you find next and where you go and stuff. Mhmm. Perfect. Hell yeah. And so, I mean, you don't obviously have to say what's on the tables, but if you wanna describe maybe some of the places that you've gone in this game based off of, obviously, the results of the tables, I think that would be awesome. Yeah. So I decided that the room Fia Metta woke up and was like a a drawing room Mhmm. Type of thing, like a salon. Yeah. Just a big Empty space with a very nice floor and some, like, plush furniture covered in those sheets. She took her armor from a suit of armor that was standing in the corner. So, like, some of it was rusted through and, like, the leather straps were rotten or whatever because it's only supposed to be a partial. I've been trying to keep with the sort of, like, dark souls esque. Like, nothing is really in particularly good condition. Yeah. I mean, I would hope so because, like, I mean, that kind of feels like the theme around this game is kind of a bit gritty, a bit dark, a bit kind of despair. Mhmm. Yeah. Exactly. And I, personally, I decided that I was gonna work on gradually lightening The tone, the more shadow monsters she defeated, the more she began to remember about herself. Yes. I love that. Again, just the interpretation there makes me so happy. Thanks. So, yeah, that's like I haven't gotten Too far, so it's still pretty pretty grim and dark. So she started in the drying room. She got her sword. She remembered Her name, and she put her armor on, and then she fought that creature and got her first, like, solid memory back. And then she went about, like, continuing to traverse the castle, and so outside was a long hallway. Mhmm. And as she's sort of, like, snuck through the castle, she's found, the kitchen, Which is her safe harbor, because I rolled immediately after her first, like, combat in the initial room. I rolled, the long hallway and then a safe room, basically, for her that has, it's Narrated as a place that is safe. It's got, like, food, supplies. You basically, it's a long rest room, Like, from d and d. I love that. And, also, it still kinda feeds into that video game vibe too where it's like, you know, you have a safe room. This is where you can relax for a moment. You're there's not gonna be monsters here. Yes. This is your save point, basically. This is your campfire in dark soul. You save, your grace in Elden Ring. It's like You get to stop here. You get to rest. You get to replenish your resources, and this is also where you can swap out your cards. So you can only have 5 spells basically active at any given time. So once you start fighting through, especially if You roll like I do and encounter a lot of monsters. I think she's had 4 combats total Mhmm. So far. So I have, like, I have four Separate memories and spells that I have developed for her. Goodness. Sorry for the hiccups. All good. So after you get to More than 5, you can only have 5 spells actively and quickly accessible at any given time. So when you're in a safe harbor room, you can kind of trade those out. You can restore them. And still things that you know, you just don't have them active. Yeah. You don't have them held at the front of your mind. Okay. Something like kind of how, like, druid or or cleric spell lists It's work where it's like, you can do any of these spells, but you have to pick a certain amount of them. Okay? Correct. And if you die, If you, if you find that a combat is too much for you, You can run away. You basically expend, like I think of it as expending a spell slot, but you turn one of your memory cards sideways, that means you can't use that Spell until you've rested again. Oh. Yeah. Like that a lot, actually, because that reminds me of a game called, Transistor, which is by super giants who did, Hades and and such. Yeah. And one of the mechanics in that game is you do get into fights. And instead of dying when you go to, 0 health, It will instead take away one of the abilities that you can do. And those are like that extra resource that you can burn through those. Like, I could technically die 4 times in that combat and be okay, but then I'm left defenseless. Right. Yeah. I love that. That's so cool. Yeah. So you do you expend a resource in running away, but you avoid dying because dying will return Any cards that you have active in your memory bank to the tarot deck. Oh. And so if you do die a bit later on in the game so let's Say, you die at the beginning. You don't you haven't really gained anything yet. You know, you're still at the starting room. But if you die After you've made more progress, do you start completely from ground 0 with no memories, or do you just still have those memories but start at the starting room? No. Sorry. You sacrificed 1 card from your memory spread, not all of them. I realized that I think I said all of them, but you you have to sacrifice 1. So you can choose also. Okay. Yeah. So Then that starts you back at the room within that one memory sacrificed? No. No. Just the one that you died in. Okay. Gotcha. Like, if I if I were to die in my 4th room that I went into, I would have to put one of my memory Cards back in the tarot deck. I would shuffle it. I think you can probably just put it randomly wherever you want, but I also like shuffling the cards. So it's a win win. And yeah. So the card gets returned to the deck. You can rediscover it then theoretically, right, if you draw it again. Yeah. Yeah. That means you can't use that spell Okay. Again until or unless you, discover a very Similar memory that would allow you to make the same spell over, which you could do, where you find that card again. Okay. Yes. I like that. But, again, that's fun, though, how it uses these memories as a resource, Which is really interesting in a game where it's all about trying to find who you are and regain them back. And it makes it Again, a bit more higher stakes when it does come to combats and things like that. Even though they seem Like, they're pretty straightforward, but, like, anytime you potentially lose a combat, you lose a memory. Yeah. I love that. It's so good. And then if you have no memories left and die, then that's the end, and you have to make a new character. Oh, no. Uh-huh. That's so sad. Yeah. It can be rough, but Your memories are precious. So I thought about covering quickly maybe the basics of the n p c creation. Even though you haven't encountered any, just going over maybe a bit of, like, the process of it. Obviously, you don't have to say everything. Okay. Right on. Yeah. So NPCs are in, certain rooms. You can you can roll them on the traversal table. Like, you find a friendly n p c. Mhmm. And there are some details about How the NPCs work, but basically you draw from the tarot deck until you draw a court card, a jack, queen or king, because, again, those if you remember from the memories, those symbolize the people. So if you draw a court card at random for a memory, then that memory revolves around an important person from your character's life. But in the case of NPCs, you look through your cards until you find The court card, and then you shuffle everything back into the deck, except for your spell cards. Those stay out. But the court card and then any that you drew in your pursuit of that court card, they all get shuffled back in. Mhmm. So the suit of the card actually determines their profession, so they can be, a hunter, a magician, a merchant, or a priest. Oh, that's really interesting. Yeah, and they each have different benefits for you. And, like, the magician, I think, is the coolest because they'll give you in exchange for 1 treasure, which you can find. I've found, like, Two treasure rooms, I think. So I found My safe harbor, which was the kitchen, 2 1 treasure room and 2 enemy ambushes Since my 1st room. Yeah. I had to start back through. I have little tabs in my OneNote where Like, I have the tab for the entrance hall, which is the 1st zone of the castle you're in, and then I'm breaking that down into different pages for each room To kind of separate out my writing in that sense and kind of, like, make sure that it's not in all one extremely long It's just a long document, and that makes it easier too for me to go back and reference, since I may need to consult, like, things Like treasure that I've found previously in the game. Yeah. I love that. It's a great way to just keep it all organized. Yes. Yeah. One note is the bomb. If you like binders, a binder would be awesome, or if you just get some of those, like, tabby post it notes for your journal. Or if you're a pages kind of person, no judgment from me. You could the pages to indicate, like, where each new section started if you wanted. Or you could even, like, write things in, like, the corner or something too where you can look through. Like, there's You could color colors. The corner. Yeah. Yeah. It's a moment you walk through, you see a bunch of different colors. I've actually done that with some of my own campaign notes. That's perfect. That's so good and such a fun way to organize, Yeah. And so, what actually does the magician give you before we get Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Sorry. I got excited I'm talking about organization. So in exchange for a treasure, they will give you a scroll Mhmm. Which Lets you cast a spell once as though you had it in your memories. So it's a single use spell, and you draw a card from the deck and you make a spell based on like, you make a spell based on that card. The suit of the card gives The effect, and then you just roll a d four randomly to determine the spell's emotion. Mhmm. Since you don't have a memory associated, you can't decide what the Emotional link of that spell will be. Oh. But yeah. That's super cool. Yeah. So fun. And so it's just cool as well that There are opportunities to generate these NPCs, and it just gives those moments where you can, like, write a whole, like, Conversation and interaction, the scene. So so fun. And so I do know that you need to go, soon here. And so I think there's still questions that I'd like to ask, but for the sake of not revealing everything because People who are listening, please go get this game. Uh-huh. Please get this game and play it for yourselves because it sounds absolutely fun, especially with, like, Reclaiming your memories and figuring those out and fighting those demons and discovering what's in this castle too just sounds like an Absolute blast. And so make sure to get this game and try it out for yourself. But there's a few things that I'd like to ask. And, first one is just for general, for people who want to play this game, are there any tips that you have for people to simplify the process of playing it, especially if they've never played a solo game before? Yeah. I would recommend reading through and doing each item As you read the book, right, don't try to, like, look at the character sheet and get that all figured out. Just start with the book itself. It walks you through Filling in your character sheet and coming up with your character. And, like, I have a really active imagination, And I've been playing games for a long time and writing for an even longer time, so it's like if you are playing and you're like, Dang. Emily and Willow were talking about, like, all of these, like, things that they came up with. Like, that is that's easy for me because I have a Spitfire idea generation brain. Like, it's just character concepts constantly. Like, I have a list that I have To put them down and dissuade myself from going through the effort of building them in 5 e or whatever, because I don't have that kind of time or energy, but, that way games to play in. Yeah. Exactly. I don't wanna get super invested then this character that I will never ever play, so I just write the character concept down, and I think I have, like, 40 something of them. Oh, wow. They start I just characters. That's the way my brain works. I have character creation brain. I have backstory concept brain. So, Like, playing games like this are are very natural for me. But even if it is not for you, I would encourage you to still try it because I think that is a skill that can be learned. Mhmm. Right. I learned it early on from being a kid who read, like, a book a week when I was little. Mhmm. More and then, like, playing, imaginary, like, people and animals and stuff with my friends. Like, even into Middle school. Mhmm. We would just, like, make up stories together. I role played on the Neopets boards. Like, creating and, like, Writing and stuff was intrinsic to just how I grew up as a kid. And I know that's not the case for everybody. And as an adult, I feel trying new things, Especially new things that we're not inherently good at can be really daunting. It can kind of shake our confidence a little bit. And I wanna remind you that nobody is gonna see this except for you unless you choose to share it. Mhmm. So this is a perfect forum for exploring The creative possibilities of your brain assisted by these tables that you roll on. And you don't have to Make up a narrative for your character. You don't have to have overarching themes. If you don't want to, you can just roll to fights and demons And find treasure and go through, like, the challenge rooms and and even just to make a map if you wanted. So I think whatever you want out of this game, you can get, and I think a solo RPG is the perfect opportunity to explore, like, your creative side without the Sort of daunting fear of, like, trying something new with other people watching. Yeah. I love that. And even more so, you can come in as well with a idea for who the character was and just kinda fill in the gaps of who they are when you discover your memories. Like, you don't have to come in, like, completely blank slate either. You can adjust these types of games to however comfortable you are. So if you wanna come in with with an idea, go right ahead. If you want to decide things for the story versus role, go ahead. Just it's is what makes this Whatever makes this easier for you to try it, do it because you're playing these to have fun. Yeah. Absolutely. I love that so much. Thank you for just that entire, spiel there. I think that was great. And it is scary to try new things, but, yeah, try it within the own safety of your mind. And if it takes you a while to come up with ideas based off of the prompts, That's okay because that's something I actually, I've picked up, the the the, over the mountain, and I've done a few entries for that. I've I've done it over large spaces of time where it's like, yeah. I don't really know what I wanna write for this. And when I think of an actual idea that I wanna go with, I'm like, oh, okay. I'll just do that. And so whenever the idea comes up, whether it be days, weeks, or months later, I'll just do it then when it happens. I'm not Don't pressure yourself to come up with things. And if you want to use stuff like random generators, use those tools. Mhmm. Yes. It's fantastic. And so I guess, to sort of wrap this whole thing up. I guess we'll end here with 1 last question, which is one I love to ask people, just because I love to hear the responses, which is why do you love playing castle of memories? I really love The ambiance of it, I feel it's very elegantly sort of described in both the structure of the game itself And, the little bits of flavor text that you get early on, I think the author does an excellent job of sort of setting the Scene and the tone. And I love dark souls. I love Castlevania, so this naturally appeals To those, like, dark fantasy, like, horror loving parts of me. But being able to Discover my character's story within the framework of a genre that I love a lot, but don't think I could write independently. That's been really cool and exciting, and it's really challenged me to kind of write outside side of the style that I typically rely on that I'm very comfortable with, which is sort of like A more typical, like, light to high fantasy narrative. Right? That's Pretty typical of, like, most 5e D and D campaigns Mhmm. Things like that or, like, a modern setting. This I've never written anything dark fantasy before, and I am glad that I'm starting with castle of memories because it just is so Cool and such a fun process to sort of, like, uncover who my character is along the way. Absolutely. Oh, I love that so much. And I love how I love how much you view this as, like, Not necessarily a challenge, but a way to well, yeah. I mean, it is a challenge, though. It's a way to challenge yourself in the way that you approach These types of games, and I love that you have found that with castle of memories. And it's just amazing to see this. And so thank you so much for coming on and talking about it and for, you know, telling me that you have a bunch of cool solo games to talk about because I am Very much down for that. Yes. Especially your love for them. It just makes me happy, and it makes me feel All warm inside when you talk about these games because I can tell that you just have a passion for them and you have a love for them and they hold, like, a special place. And so it's amazing. Just absolutely amazing to hear. So thank you so so very much. And If there's any last things you want to say whether it be about castle of memories or anything like that, Here's kind of the time to do it right before we wrap up. If not, then we'll just get into actually wrapping up. Yeah. First of all, thanks for having me back. It's always so much fun to be here. I loved, yelling about monster of the week and over the mountain and now castle of memories. I have so many solo games that I'm just gonna every once in a while when I'm like, I haven't talked to Willow About a solo game in a while. I'm just gonna slide them to you Yes. Across the table. I want to recommend again that you find Castle of Memories on itch. Io. The author is Adrienne Loom or Adrienne Lum, l u m m, And, their itch, username is Arnivold, a r, n as in night, ivoldasindog, arnevold.itch.io/ Castle hyphen of hyphen memories. Or I think you can just go to Itch and search Castle of Memories. I don't think there are many other games with that name, it's, you can get the PDF copy for$10. You can get 2 PDF copies for $13.50. Decents. That's USD. I highly recommend it. There are community copies. If you are not in a great financial situation and you want a game to play to help get you through the days, right, I play, I play solo t t r p g's often when my health is the worst, because it's nice to get to be somewhere else and, like, have that time also for myself, Without any of the, like, social pressure of playing a game with friends Mhmm. You can access a community copy also on Adrian's Itch. So if you can support them financially, I highly encourage it. Support and protect trans kids, Especially in Florida, but all over. They need it, and they deserve it. Again, I've got this in the TTRPGs for trans rights It's in Florida bundle, which I think is unavailable at this point, but there are bundles often for great causes made available by creators on so I recommend signing up for the newsletter, remaining aware, and know how you can support people In your community and in other communities that need assistance and protection. Absolutely. Yes. So very, very important and just keeping an eye out. And I hope that, as I kinda grow the discord here for the RPG goblin to spread the word on things like that, you know, spread the word on when there are bundles that are important to very important causes that people can support because there have been some really amazing ones. I mean, the trans kids This one was so many games and, you know, it's amazing to get these games, but also support something that That is important and that you believe in and help hopefully keep people safe. Yeah. So, yeah, I I think that is amazing. And Just to say again, the link for the itch page and where you can get castle memories will be in the description below along with Emily's social media for both Their art account and also their dice account, will be down there as well so that you can follow Emily because they're amazing, and you're just A blast to have on, and I'm so glad that we were able to do this. And I can't wait to do another solo game in the future. But, yeah, I think this then is the end. Thank you so much for coming on and talking to me about this and spending your time here. And I just loved hearing the small parts of The castle of memories experience that you've had so far. And everyone, please make sure to get the game, which again will be linked in the description of this episode. And, Yeah, I think those are all my ramblings. I think we're at the end here, so yeah. Goodbye everyone. Thank you for listening. Bye.