Zenith Solo

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Solo Roleplaying Coriolis

INTRODUCTION. Solo Roleplaying rules and suggestions for Coriolis. These rules are intended to
help new and inexperienced soloists get started with solo play.

by Peter Rudin-Burgess
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Introduction The words do not need to be taken literally, and the

Once upon a time, solo roleplaying was a very niche
aspect of our hobby. In the past couple of years, it has
been pushed into the mainstream, and more games
than ever now arrive with solo as part of their core
rules.
Coriolis was released before this shift in awareness
of solo play. These rules add my take on solo playing
Coriolis.
These rules are intentionally simple, and they
repurpose rules that you will already be familiar with
if you have read the core rules or played a character
already.
meaning can change from scene to scene. The word
fire could mean literally burning flames or the order
to shoot or threaten to end your employment. The
context is the most important element when
answering these open-ended questions.
Regular games are normally organized around
sessions of several hours. Just like Coriolis, solo play
is more commonly organized into scenes. A scene
could be anything from a few minutes to several
hours of play. Before you start each scene, you will
make a few dice rolls to help set up the scene. Solo
games are intended to be far-reaching and surprising,
with prompts taking your stories in directions you
may not have considered before.

e How does Solo play work?

Solo play works by offloading some of the decisions

made by a human GM to simple dice rolls. If you have
played the role of GM before, you will be familiar with
having to improvise on the players' actions. Solo play
is very much about improvising based on dice rolls'
results, and inspiration prompts.
Inspiration prompts are two or three words that you
combine into an idea. You then try and insert the idea
into the current scene.
Solo play is not just telling yourself a story, nor is it
just daydreaming. Your games will use all the rules of
Coriolis, just as when playing with a group.
One of the cornerstones of solo play is asking
questions. Simple questions that can be answered
with a yes or no are resolved using the same rules
that govern skill tests. You will roll a pool of dice, and
the more successes will mean, the more emphatic
the answer.
Questions that cannot be answered yes or no, use
inspiration prompts. The prompts are arranged in
D66 tables, each with a theme. You pick the lists that
have the most bearing on your situation and roll two
or three words. You then use those prompt words to
inspire your imagination.

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Answer A Simple Question
The simple question is the cornerstone of solo play.
When you normally ask a human GM a question to
clarify something about the scene you are in, you
would ask a question of the solo rules.
It is a three-step procedure.
1. Think of the question. Word it in such a way
as the yes answer is best for your story if
that applies.
2. Consider what a yes and the no answers will
mean; what would that look like to your
character?
3. Roll 5d6; if any dice show a 6, that is a yes.
If you roll more than one 6, the yes answer becomes
more emphatic. Thi sis using the same technique as
a basic skill test, with successes replaced by the
strength of the yes answer. You can interpret
stronger yes's as more than you were expecting.
For example, if you asked if there were any
Legionnaires on the promenade, one yes may mean
there is one legionnaire that can be obviously seen.
Two successes may increase their numbers. Three or
more could mean an entire squad, with an armored
personnel carrier parked to one side.
Any question that can be answered with a yes or no
can be answered in this way.
Always have a clear idea of what both the positive
and negative answers mean. If you cannot imagine
one or the other, don't ask the question, the answer
you can imagine must be the reality.
e Controlling NPCs
Sometimes you will want to play a single lone
character, your avatar, in the world of the third
horizon. Other times you may need NPCs to help you
out. Being completely on your own limits your ability
to take on some challenges. No character can do
everything, and flying a ship single-handedly is
difficult.
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When you control more than one character, you can
give them more autonomy by deciding on a couple of
courses of action in the current scene and then
asking if the character does the most sensible thing?
That will give you a yes or no answer.
e Not All Questions are Equal
Rolling 5d6 gives you a 60% chance of rolling at least
one 6. The question-and-answer rules are skewed
towards positive answers.
Not every question is likely to be biased towards yes.
If you had asked an NPC to go back to your ship and
grab some excavating gear, chances are that they
would go and get the gear. But, what if you had had a
series of acrimonious conflicts with that NPC? There
is a fair chance that the NPC could think, "Get the
stuff yourself," and go off to have a tabak cigarette
just to get away from you for five minutes.
In this case, the less likely you think any question is
to be a yes, reduce the number of dice rolled.
4d6 gives a 52% chance of at least one yes.
3d6 is a 42% chance of a yes.
2d6 is a 32% chance of a yes.
1d6 is a 17% chance of a yes.
You can also increase the number of dice rolled when
the chances are much more in favor of a yes answer.
You can add +1 to +3 dice for more certain questions.
e Questions vs. Skills
I suggest rolling skills first before asking questions
that relate to them. Before asking if you can see any
tracks on the ground, you should roll an Observation
check before asking the question, for example. If you
fail the Observation check, you don't need to know if
there are tracks or not. These questions are not a
replacement for the built-in skill system.
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Answer A Complex Question
A complex question cannot be answered with a yes
or no. If you want to know what someone wants, what
they are prepared to trade for, or anything of that
nature, you are dealing with complex questions.
For complex questions, we use inspiration prompts.
These are two or three words which when combined,
should suggest an answer.
You need to consider your story so far, the current
situation, and the words you rolled for, and then find
something that would make sense.
e CULTURE IS EVERYTHING
The word lists on the following pages have been
collated from the Coriolis Third Horizon rules. This
means that they are heavily flavored by the setting of
the game.
Each list is themed to one or more aspects of the
game.
To answer a question, you would pick two or more
lists and roll d66 against each one. This will give two
or more words. You then consider the adventure so
far, the current situation, and the words you have
rolled. Try and create an interpretation that answers
the question.
Example
An alarm has sounded on my ship, and I head down
to the hold to find out what is wrong. As I climb down
the ladder, I look around. What do I see? I choose to
roll on the Events, Object, and Skill columns. Rolling
the dice, I get 53, 25, 46. Looking up the rolls on the
lists gives me Hits + Armor + Cryptography. The Hits
can be interpreted as damage, the armor I will
interpret as the ship's hull or a bulkhead, and the
Cryptography as a key or code panel. As I enter the
ship's hold area, the keypad to the hatch in the
bulkhead is sparking and arcing with electricity. I
have found the problem, if not the cause.
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Scene by Scene
The scene is the basic building block when playing
Coriolis. At the start of each scene, use the word lists
to find two or three words. You can then incorporate
these ideas into your scene.
Using the word lists in this way will push you to
include ideas you may not otherwise have thought of.
It is important to remember that you do not have to
include every word you roll. If something clearly
doesn't fit, you do not need to use it.
Example
Having docked at Coriolis, I need to find someone
who can carry out the necessary repairs on my ship.
I start a new scene as I enter the shipyard owner's
office. I roll on the Lore, Place and Object lists,
coming up with Al Ardha + Shipyards + Technology.
I interpret Al Ardha as a piece of art behind the
owner's desk. Shipyards seem obvious enough. This
office has windows on every wall looking out over the
working shipyards. I decide that there is a piece of
gear on the owner's desk (Technology). To finish the
scene building, I roll some Characteristics for the
owner, and a Skill, which will help me decide what this
piece of technology on the desk is. The owner turns
out to be pale and sweaty, and the gear on the desk
is part of a comms unit.
NPCs
During solo play, you will create a lot of NPCs
spontaneously. Some lists are designed to help
create quick NPCs. I suggest rolling 2 or 3
Characteristics, a Skill, and a name. You can go
further if you wish. Try to limit your rolls only to things
that your character could possibly know at the first
meeting. You can always add more details later. The
less you know, the more you have to discover through
your play.
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Adventure Structure
The Coriolis rules suggest a structure of Prolog, Acts
I – III, and an Epilog. This is essentially a 5-Room
Dungeon, a technique developed by Johnn Four of
roleplayingtips.com.
The adventure structure looks something like this.
e Prolog
There needs to be a reason why your character is the
right person for this job. A guardian or challenge at
the start of the adventure is a good justification for
why the problem has not been solved already. Also, a
guardian sets up early action to engage your
character and energize a session.
e Act I
Make Act I a puzzle, skill-based, or roleplaying
encounter, if possible. If you are running more than
one character, Act I can shine the limelight on a
different character to your Prolog.
e Act II
The purpose of this Act is to build tension. Do this
using a setback to your character(s). For example,
when you think you have defeated a gang of
syndicate enforcers to release a hostage, you
discover the hostage has been moved elsewhere.
e Act III
Act III is the big showdown. It's the final combat or
conflict encounter of the adventure. Use all the
tactics and complications you can imagine to make
this encounter memorable and entertaining.
e Epilog
Your Epilog is a chance to reveal a truth, throw in a
twist in the tail, or signpost to another adventure.
You can also turn the tables on your character, or
their nemesis escapes to return another day.
The Epilog doesn't always represent a complication
or point of failure for the PCs, but it can. You can have
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a happy ever after and collect your reward if your
adventure needs to make it satisfying.
Once you know the structure of your adventure, you
can place the scenes to follow that basic outline. This
is the loosest possible structure and does not confine
you in any way. You can even swap the contents
around to place your showdown at the end and have
the mooks on Act II trick you in Act III.
Each stage of the adventure is then broken down into
several scenes. Each scene should have an objective,
one that moves the story forward. At the start of each
scene, you will use the word lists to inject ideas and
elements that you may not have considered
otherwise.
e Journaling
It is useful to keep a journal of your solo games. A
record of your adventures is an aid that helps you get
back into character before you start to play. It also
helps you keep it straight in your mind, who each NPC
is, what has happened so far.
What format your journal takes is a personal choice.
It could be a long-format document or a video.
You can either separate out the game mechanics or
mix them in with the character play. For many months
I used just bullet points of the key facts as a memory
jogger. More recently, I have used word processor
documents with footnotes for the game mechanics
and the document's body just for the narrative.
There are no right or wrong ways to record your
games. Documents, lists, memory cards, anything
that works for you is good.
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Word Lists
These word lists are themed into fourteen categories.
There is intentionally some crossover between the
lists. It is not my intention that you take these words
literally. They are intended to be an inspiration for
your improvisation. If the word fits as is, then fine, use
it. Don't make things more complicated for yourself.
I suggest drawing three words at the start of each
scene and when you need to answer a complex
question.
Words that do not seem to fit your question or
situation can either be discarded or keep a list of
these unused words and try and work them into
future scenes.
If you have an idea of the game you want to play, you
can start developing your own specialized word lists.
You can also make themed lists from other Coriolis
sourcebooks, as they detail more of the third horizon.
These lists are just a starting point.

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Characteristics Lore Emotion Events Place

11 Bows a lot Coriolis Desperately Born Jungles
12 Colorful clothing Ancient Enemy Raised Rooftop.
13 Flirty Portal Friend Chosen Street
14 Skinny Commerce Good Seizures Cover
15 Intense Cultural Opposed Loss Corridor
16 Wild eyes Wars Choice Hurls Spaceship
21 Slow thinker Songs Deadly Shot Corner
22 Vacant stare Poems Support Shake Medlab
23 Detached Books Luck Attacks Onboard
24 Pale Memories Suffered Claimed Slums
25 Twirls hair Colonized Critical Broken Planetside
26 Shifty eyes Al ardha Healing Aid Shipyards
31 Sweaty Empty Want Help Bridge
32 Slurs when angry Strange Bickering Spends Reactor
33 Humming laughter Artifact Fun Clinch Cabins
34 Tall Fate Eccentric Grapple Chapel
35 Icy stare Ruling Passive Firing Service station
36 Dominant Powers Sensitive Fire Stasis
41 Apprehensive Spacefaring Happy Disarm Hold
42 Squints against the sun Colonists Fury Drops Portal
43 Hunched posture Golden age Threatening Starts Workshop
44 Crooked smile Schism Violent Brought Cargo
45 Scratches chin Refuge Abusive Stabilize Star
46 Usually smirking Firstcome Fiery Injury Souk
51 Bites lip when worried Religious Forgiving Punctured Origin
52 Whispering voice Dissidents Fault Ram Desert
53 Gestures while he speaks Rebels Blame Hits Bazaar
54 Smacks mouth Overcrowding Guilt Create Kua
55 Rocking gait Pariah Pride Find Chelebs
56 Sharp eyes Dynasty Hubris Hunting Harima
61 Spitting and shouting Magnificent Wise Awaken Karrmerruk
62 Won't give up easily Icons Peaceful Conflict Darkos
63 Nervous Imperialism Need Charge Halgria
64 Drinker Crumble Fear Destroyed Daharab
65 Keeps a low profile Void Love Emerged Zalos
66 trusts no one Darkness tolerant collapsed Sadaal B

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Objects Culture Combat Mystic Professions Skills

11 Technology Firstcome Firing Artificer Trailblazer Reputation
12 Airlock. Stationary Shot Trance Prospector. Survival
13 Vulcan Prayer Auto Understand Pilot Climb
14 Pistol Conglomerate Reloading Artifact Prospector Hiding
15 Knife Syndicate Ramming Clairvoyant Assassin Riding
16 M-Dose. Artifacts Cover Visions Judge Command
21 Carbine Djachroum Parrying Found Warrior Culture
22 Rifle Djinn Overwatch Locate Medicurg Observation
23 Wall Zenith Driving Exorcise Mercenary. Manipulation
24 Clip Fate Armor Spirit Corsair Dexterity
25 Armor Horizon Defending Intuition Enforcer Data Djinn
26 Suit Hand Fan Shout Question Emissaries Technology
31 Grav Bike Opor Comrade Thoughts Agitator Science
32 Missile Tabula Range Memories Courtesan Medicurgy
33 Gravcraft Arrash Bleeding Walker Musician Force
34 Proximity Sensor Murcurium Gut Sensory Poet Pilot
35 Comunicator Talisman Unconscious Experience Diplomat Infiltration
36 Dispenser Scripture Internal Prediction Analyst Mystic Powers
41 Cannon Reliquary Severed Séance Correspondent Music
42 Transponder Thurible Artery Powerful Data Djinn Composition
43 Sensors Cásula Arm Future Fugitive Dancing
44 Map Bazaar Weapons Questions Criminal Analysis
45 Tag Djellabas Leg Emotions Mystic Coding
46 Dura Kameez Jugular Mysterious Revolutionary Cryptography
51 Transactor Gallabeyas Aorta Ambiguous Peddlar Driving
52 Lockpick Kurta Pierced Premonition Guard Streetwise
53 Medkit Veils Crushed Impending Spy Disguise
54 Birr Embroidered Skull Looming Ascetic First Aid
55 C-Dose Beautifully Killed Threat Missionary Tinkering
56 P-Dose BURRA Knocked Out Forgetfulness Prophet Psychology
61 Trauma Kit Dance Ankle Telekinesis Archeologist Mathematics
62 T-Dose DHOTI Concussion Bend Technician Sculpture
63 Improvised Hood Bruised Force Engineer Gunsmith
64 Nestera's Grav Belt Dupatta Broken Move Deckhand Cooking
65 Battery Guttrah Teeth Control Dockworker Cybernetics
66 Doorway Caftan Lacerated Power Legionnaire Zero G Specialist

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Names Icon
11 Abidah The Lady of
12 Amirah Tears
The Dancer
13 Barika The Gambler
14 Botou The Merchant
15 Cantara The Deckhand
16 Dharr The Traveler
21 Dunyana The Messenger
22 Faridah The Judge
23 Fida The Faceless
24 Ghazalah The Lady of
25 Ghazi Tears
The Dancer
26 Hameed The Gambler
31 Havima The Merchant
32 Iosop The Deckhand
33 Ithar The Traveler
34 Jabbar The Messenger
35 Jibril The Judge
36 Kef The Faceless
41 Khoury The Lady of
42 Lunah Tears
The Dancer
43 Masruq The Gambler
44 Minnah The Merchant
45 Nada The Deckhand
46 Nadir The Traveler
51 Omran The Messenger
52 Qasim The Judge
53 Radwa The Faceless
54 Salam The Lady of
55 Sani Tears
The Dancer
56 Shakir The Gambler
61 Ubaid The Merchant
62 Wazir The Deckhand
63 Yaqub The Traveler
64 Yarah The Messenger
65 Zahra The Judge
66 Zinah The Faceless

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Example
Darkness Points
Creating an NPC
It is important that you keep track of the Darkness
You can use table 15.1 of the Coriolis core rules [page
Points.
343] to give your NPCs a coherent set of stats, skills,
At the end of each scene, keep a track of the
and talents. To bring them to life, you can roll three
Darkness Points that you have accumulated.
characteristics. I rolled Detached, Humming
Darkness Points are an excellent tool for adding
Laughter, and Hunched Posture. As a name, I rolled
drama to your scenes. No rule can tell you when or
Ubaid, and they favor The Judge.
how to use the GM Darkness Points against your
Example character.
Creating a Scene You will have to decide for yourself.
I am having trouble getting my ship repaired. The As a guideline, if at the end of the a scene the GM is
owner wants to take me down to the work areas of holding 5 or more Darkness Points, spend them all in
the shipyard to show me why. I roll three prompts to the next scene to complicate your story on a grand
set up the scene. I get Hunting, Trauma Kit, and scale. You may find that you end up accumulating
Diplomat. I interpret these as one worker is on the even more Darkness as you pray to the Icons to help
comms link trying to negotiate (diplomat) to get an you survive.
ambulance dispatched. One worker is on the ground I also suggest that you spend any remaining
and being tended by fellow workers and using a Darkness points during Act III, the showdown, to
Trauma Kit. More workers are searching through the make the villain of your story harder to beat.
yard as a hew ad cry, shouting things like "Can you When I wrote about throwing in complications and
see them?" or "Nothing over here!". The yard owner stings in the tail during the Epilog stage, the
explains that they have been plagued by sabotage remaining GM Darkness Points can be spent to
and attacks on his workers. This is just the most create that sting in the tail.
recent attack.
Example
Answering a Question
Looking around the shipyard, I am curious about the
other vessels here for repair. What sort of ships are
here? I rolled Engineer, Questions, and Coding. I
interpret these as three separate ships, an
Engineering platform, a research vessel, and a portal
drone.
Example
Asking if the Shipyard owner looks concerned about
his staff is not a complex question. I assume that he
will be, so roll 7 dice, 6d6 +1 for being more likely to
be yes, for the yes-no question. I rolled 1 success, so
that is a yes. He is concerned about his staff.

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