Daniel (@dungeondive) begins a new series demonstrating how to play Shadows of Brimstone as a full solo RPG using hex crawl, custom rules, and a homebrew Oracle system.
Playing two characters — cowgirl Cornelia and Indian Scout Eli — Daniel establishes a campaign in the town of Lustina, which he deliberately designates as haunted by a Spirit of Apathy rather than rolling randomly. This executive GM decision immediately generates a cascade of narrative: Father Matteo hires the posse to perform an exorcism at Clayton’s Ravine, where Cornelia lassoes a Dark Stone Hydra and finds the powerful Gravedigger shotgun.
The spirit escapes when the exploration splits across branching paths (using Daniel’s Advanced Exploration house rules), destroys the church, and possesses the preacher — creating the campaign’s central antagonist. The townspeople blame the heroes, who flee as wanted fugitives.
Daniel demonstrates his abstracted combat system inspired by Folklore: The Affliction’s skirmish mode — enemies are represented by tokens placed on character sheets at range or in melee, eliminating map tiles entirely. He discusses his ongoing struggle with combat pacing, including removing hold-back-the-darkness rolls during fights and adding initiative-based escape checks.
The episode covers hex crawl travel to Larburg’s Landing, rolling up the jobs board (“Dirty Cheats” and “Acquisitions Incorporated”), and using the game’s unused orange tokens as improvisational story-generating components.