Playing Heavenly Debt alone

The GM's jobs, done alone

From the Codex, Chapter IV

Lost ground, in detail. - Time: if the adventure has a clock (a Night, a tide), mark 1 box of it. If not, the Scene's danger moves 1 step closer: ask the Oracle what. - An item: split the d20 among what you carry. Silver counts as 1 item, and you lose half of it, rounded up.

Example. Bai Suyin talks her way past a hostile boatman and rolls a Partial Success. She asks "Is it only Strain?" and rolls 4 on 50/50: No. Lost ground: he agrees to talk, but only out on his boat, on his water.

The solo loop

From the Codex, Chapter IV

1. Set up a Scene. Say what you want and where you go. Roll the Scene Die.
2. Play the Scene. Describe what you do. Roll when the rules say to roll. When you would ask a GM something, ask the Oracle.
3. When a fight starts, play it as a Duel. You choose your Stance; the Temperament table chooses the foe's.
4. End the Scene when its question is answered. Write 1 line in your Journal.
5. Check the Omen. If it is full, the Collector's Herald arrives.
6. Repeat. End the Session at a Checkpoint.

Asking the Oracle

From the Codex, Chapter IV

1. Ask a question with a yes-or-no answer. "Is the ferryman awake?" is good. "What is in the box?" is not: ask "Is it the manual?" instead.
2. Pick a Likelihood. Judge from the story so far, not from what you hope.
3. Roll a d20. Find your Likelihood's column, then the row your die falls in.
4. Say the answer out loud, in one sentence, before you go on.

• Yes or No: the plain answer.
• Yes, but: yes, with a catch. Something is missing, late, smaller or watched.
• No, but: no, with a consolation. A clue, a second way in, a person who might help.
• Yes, and: yes, and more than you asked for.
• No, and: no, and it gets worse. Mark 1 Omen.

Reading the "and". An "and" makes the answer stronger in the direction your question points, good or bad. Ask "Do the guards come?" and roll Yes, and: they come, more of them, or sooner. Ask "Is the door unlocked?" and roll Yes, and: it is open, and no one is watching it. No, and always marks 1 Omen: something else gets worse. If your question points neither way ("Is the boat painted?"), the "and" makes the answer emphatic and adds 1 detail: split the d20 among the details that fit, or take the first that comes to mind.

Unsure which Likelihood? Take 50/50. Asking the same question twice? Do not, unless the situation has changed.

Example. Suyin asks: "Is the night ferry still at the landing?" She left late, so Unlikely. She rolls 14. On the Unlikely column, 14 is No, but. The ferry has gone, but its wake still shows, and a fisherman is untying a skiff.

The Omen

From the Codex, Chapter IV

The Omen track has 5 boxes. It measures how close the Collector has come.

1. At the start of each Session, set Omen to half your Debt, rounded down, but never below your Realm number minus 1 (Realm III: at least 2). Heaven watches its larger debtors. At Realm VI, Omen starts at 0: no Debt can be written on you. A Fist always starts at Omen 1, whatever the Realm: the road has its own debts.
2. Mark 1 Omen when you Borrow from Heaven (marking Obligation counts), when the Oracle says No, and, and when a Scene ends with you Taken Out.
3. Omen Events. Whenever you roll the Oracle or the Scene Die and the die shows your Omen or less, an Omen Event happens too. Roll on the Omen Events table after the answer.
4. Full Omen. When the 5th box fills, the Collector's Herald arrives. Roll on the Herald table, then reset Omen as at the start of a Session. The Herald comes only when the 5th box fills during play, never from the Session-start value.

So with Omen 2, a roll of 1 or 2 brings an event. Heavy Debt means more weather. Other rolls never bring Omen Events: not table rolls, not a split to pick among options, not Duel rolls.

Example. Suyin has Debt 4, so her Omen starts at 2. She asks the Oracle a question and rolls 2. She takes her answer, then rolls an Omen Event: 7, a dog on the jetty will not stop barking at her.

The Journal

From the Codex, Chapter IV

The Journal is how a solo cultivator grows. You keep 3 lists:

• Learned: what you understood. At most 5 lines. To write a sixth, strike one out: a cultivator keeps only what matters.
• Owed: what you owe, and to whom. Duties, debts, promises.
• Hated by: who wants you dead, poor or shamed, and why.

At the end of every Scene, you write 1 line in 1 list. Roll d20 if you need a prompt:

Comprehension from the Journal. When you write a Learned line that comes from a loss (a Failure, a Wound, a Duel you lost), gain 1 Comprehension, once per Session. This is the same rule as Chapter 5, written down.

Breakthroughs. When you attempt a Breakthrough, read your Learned list aloud. Pick the line that carried you. After the Check, strike it out: you have absorbed it.

The campaign alone

From the Codex, Chapter IV

The starter campaign works the same with a GM or without one. Each Session tells you what to roll and when to stop.

Secrets

The campaign hides its secrets in an appendix of Secrets, numbered as the campaign sets them: 1 to 49 go Session by Session, and 50 and up are the deep truths. 1. Never read a Secret until the text gives you its number ("open Secret 7"). 2. Open only that Secret. Secrets do not refer to each other without a new instruction. 3. Some Secrets ask a question first ("Do you carry the Lantern's ledger?"). Answer honestly before reading on. 4. A GM can read every Secret before play. A solo player reads them one at a time.

Bosses in the campaign

The campaign's Bosses are written for a party, 1 Realm above it. Solo, set each one at your own Realm and use the procedure in Bosses alone.

Encounter tables

Each region of the campaign has its own d20 encounter table. Roll on it when the Session says, or when you travel through the region. If an encounter makes no sense, roll again once, then use the closest one.

Session Checkpoints

Each campaign Session ends at a Checkpoint. At a Checkpoint: 1. Write down your Debt, Omen, Wounds, Strain, Qi and Comprehension. 2. Write the Session's last Scene in 1 line. 3. Write in your Journal, if you have not. 4. Clear Strain and refill Qi if you rested. Heal Wounds by the time that passes. 5. Stop, or go on to the next Session.

You can stop anywhere, but a Checkpoint is the clean place to stop.

When the book and the Oracle disagree

The campaign text wins. The Oracle fills gaps: who is home, whether it rains, what the guard does. It never overrides a Secret, a Scene's set outcome, or a rule.