Let’s Play Wanderer: The Shadowed Realm! Part 1: Overview and Character Creation

Let's start a new adventure of overcoming shadows, clashing swords, casting sorceries, and journeying in a world surrounded by darkness.

Table of Contents

Let’s start a new solo playthrough! This time I’m going with Wanderer: The Shadowed Realm, a solo TTRPG written and published by Cody Barr, from Sasquatch Games. The art is by the amazing Perplexing Ruins.

[...] A solo roleplaying adventure of overcoming shadows, clashing swords, casting sorceries, and journeying in a world surrounded by darkness. You play as a Wanderer, someone that has taken to adventuring across the lands helping those in need and looking to make a name for yourself.

This 56-page game uses 2D6 against a Difficulty Score (DS) to resolve checks, different dice to attack and defend, and a common deck of cards with jokers to draw on tables.

The gaming loop is very simple: we generate a Quest and roll how many Tracks we’ll need to gather to complete it.

Tracks are the clues that lead towards finishing a Quest and are acquired through Events, at Locations, and through Combat.

Then we draw and resolve an Event and a Location, creating our story as we advance. We repeat this loop until we gather enough Tracks to move to the Epilogue. After that, we start a new Quest and go over Events and Locations. Simple enough, right?

Background

You are a Wanderer, an adventurer and champion for the common folk. Born during exceptional times, you have experienced a change in your life that has pushed you outward to now take on the role of a brave and bold soul seeking adventure.

We throw ourselves in danger to keep evil at bay. Many Wanderers fall to the Shadows, but still we hold the spark of hope.

Wanderers come from all walks of life but always share the core character trait of trying to do good in a world that is struggling to stay safe. There are no racists, bigots, or fascist Wanderers in this game and they are not welcome.

Off to a great start!

The Shadows are a collection of greater evils and tarnished figures, an overarching presence that corrupts people, turning them to an evil path.

Few safe-havens still exist where the Shadows have not fully touched. One of those places is the Shrouded Realm, a large coastal region with colossal mountains, caves deeper than the seas, and ancient forests. Different Folk types, from elves to ogres, live in peace and cooperation in the Realm.

The prosperous orcs and goblins living on the borders of the realm were first to fall to the Shadows’ corruptions and now make up most their forces.

The game also states that orcs and goblins aren’t inherently evil nor more prone to it, and we can play as one if we wish. Unfortunately, there isn’t a stat table for orcs in the character creation chapter. We can always homebrew one based on the ogre, but for my first time I’ll pick an already existing one.

I think that’s enough context. Instead of exhausting all the game’s mechanics and details upfront, let’s go through the process together.

Character creation

I’ll fill in my character sheet and post it at the end.

All characters start with the same stats. The modifiers come from Folk type and the backgrounds, or classes.

Stats: 6 HP, 3 Wounds, 3 Max Shadow, 3 Spirit, 1 Fate. 0 to Combat Skill, Magic, and Wits.

All stats have a maximum of 6, except HP. I’m pretty sure that it also applies to bonuses. Magic, for instance, has no added bonuses if used above a +6.

An explanation of all stats and their function.

For Folk types, we can choose human, elf, dwarf, halfling, ogre, or Ancient One.

The rarest of all folk is the Ancient One, a being of great power from a time and place unknown. These folk possess a keen sense of leadership but are often seen as meddlers and signs of great danger to come by communities.

It’s been a LONG time since I’ve played a high fantasy game with classical races/species, and I really like them. They’re very nostalgic to me. So for my first character, I’ll pick a dwarf!

Dwarf modifiers: +2 CS, +1 HP, +2 MW.

I thought MW meant Magic and Wits, but searching on the game’s Itch page, someone had the same question, and it’s actually Max Wounds.

I’ll call him Bardin. Now we pick a background.

I’m thinking Guardian for Bardin. Classic battleaxe-toting dwarf for me.

All characters also start with 3 Rations (Recover d6+1 HP). Characters can carry any number of items, but only 1 of each equipment type—the one they’re currently using. I start with a battle axe and a ring mail. If I find a new weapon or armor, I’ll have to discard one.

I have 0 Wits, which can be a problem as all Events require a Wits test to succeed without taking damage. That can be somewhat remedied with companions!

We can start with up to 3, but I’ll go with just one for now. I could pick a Wizard to get +2 Wits, but I won’t game it too much. I’ll choose a Pathfinder, which gives me +1 Wits and the bonus Nature’s Signs (+1 Tracks when Tracks are gained).

Companions don’t have stats. They just provide flat bonuses and roleplaying opportunities. If our PC loses all HP, gaining a wound, we lose a random companion.

We’re supposed to roll on the Folk type, but I want another dwarf, a brother for our character. His name will be Borgan.

There’s a table to roll for names, but they’re all surnames or monikers like Ironarm and Dragonfeller (which appears twice, by the way). I’ll draw a card on it for the family surname:

8: Earthbasher

Nice! The Earthbasher brothers. Let’s create some backstory.

Bardin Earthbasher never meant to be a fighter, but the Shadows eventually brought war to everyone. In order to defend their way of life in the Shrouded Realm, he and his brothers took up arms.

Orcs and elves proved good mentors to the five Earthbashers. They took them to the realm’s borders for easy incursions against the fallen and the beasts, teaching them the ropes of being a Wanderer. That’s when Barric Earthbasher died.

They mourned him, but the way through the grief was helping the community. The work continued. Bardin turned into a skilled warrior. Brogan developed excellent tracking instincts.

Then a bad call from their orc captain led to Belemir’s slaying, along with most of their small company. This soured the group’s relations, and the remaining brothers decided to go on their own, despite the elven’s warnings.

“The burden of leadership is heavy, Bardin,” Melnora the elf said. “His choices have always kept us safe.”

“Until they didn’t,” Bardin replied.

He paid no mind to her counsel. Of the five Earthbashers, Bardin had always been the most foolhardy. To him, patience was a vice. He led his two brothers on Quests against the undead, werebeasts, and feral animals roaming the wilds. And his command brought them coin and reputation.

Until it didn’t.

Bardin grew too confident, too arrogant, too brash. Borgan’s protests fell to deaf ears, and he led his brothers into an ambush. They both managed to escape, but Bilmis, the youngest and closest to Bardin, fell to the Shadows.

Bardin Earthbasher finally understood the burden of leadership, and thus he cast it aside. He became a guardian to his only brother, the brawn to his brain.

Time made Bardin forget many things, but never the pain of making a terrible choice.

The brothers wander the lands serving the people and defying the Shadow’s armies, bringing steel to curb their terror.

Borgan made the calls, and Bardin swung the axe.

That’s good enough for me to understand Bardin a little and give him some flavor.

There’s also magic in the game. We can cast Magic stat + 2 spells per Quest—that’s 2 for me. We can choose up to our Magic stat in spells, so 0 for me.

I’ve seen Cody mention that a good houserule is to make 1 the minimum. I agree, but I’ll go without magic for now.

One last thing I want to mention, which is probably my favorite thing in the game: whenever we retire a Wanderer, we can spend Reputation points to create Legacies in the world!

It can be an item, location, or even the character itself. The Legacy will substitute a value in one of the game’s tables, depending on what it is, and become a permanent drawable thing in the world for the next characters. How cool is that?

The Legacy can also be something negative, in case the character was consumed by the Shadows.

We choose what the Legacy does or gives, as there’s no balancing rules for it. It’s up to the player.

I love this mechanic.

Well, that’s it for this session. Next we’re going to create our first Quest and set off on our adventure!

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Wanderer: The Shadowed Realm is available on Itch.io and DrivethruRPG. Support the creator.