Just One Torch

This is a 46-page toolkit compiled and edited together from several sources to help a solo player experience Old School Revival (OSR) games like Basic Fantasy or Old School Essentials or other 0D&D inspired games.

This toolkit includes:

1. Updated character creation rules
2. A short list of moves to provide opportunities for "soft" GM intervention or manipulation to make the game more tense or exciting, but are not necessary for play.
   
3. Sources of inspiration like Shawn Tomkin's excellent Action+Attribute+Thing tables from Dragonbane, Twist mechanics from FORGE by Oliver Fradgley, and travel moves inspired by The Angry GM.
4. New combat mechanics that take a different approach than the classic "1 hit can auto-kill multiple 1 HD enemies" where the damage you receive is modified, but the damage you deal is not. This makes it harder to kill you, but also harder for you to kill your enemies, helping to retain the OSR feel
5. Survival Mechanics inspired by Kevin Crawford that includes Exposure, Illness, and Exhaustion. As well as Gear Degradation and Repair that forces you to decide just how much punishment you're willing to put up with before retreating from the dungeon.
6. Solo Magic rules involving Focuses (expensive) or Blood Magic (dangerous) in case you dont want to play a Mage. 
7. Encounter tables that will help you design encounters on the fly that are appropriate for your level, but not necessarily survivable if you decide to slug it out. Includes an expanded "what are they doing?" table and a Trouble table to build a narrative encounter beyond just combat.
8. A Combat Actions table inspired by Shawn Tomkin's in Ironsworn Delve (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) in case that narrative involves your death.
9. A d100 Dungeon Design set of rules that helps you explore a dungeon as you go. Includes:
   1. Adventure site names inspired by ShadowDark
   2. Generic Dressing
   3. Expanded Dressing specific to a location
   4. Adventure Site Design to get an idea of what the place looks like
   5. Expanded Contents table to include room Events rather than just encounters
   6. Detail tables to fill out the rooms with more stuff!
10. 2 page investigation rules inspired by Brindlewood Bay to give you more to do than just dive into dungeons

And more!

This is a free toolkit published under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 to help people enjoy this hobby as much as I do. I feel some adjustments I made to other toolkits I have seen make the game run smoother, and provide more opportunities for roleplay. I wanted a system that helped capture the quintessential OSR feel: a normal person against abnormal odds.