Solo Variant: "The Legend of Arcadia"

This is a solo variant I call "The Legend of Arcadia." It is a combination of Chronicle rules & Solo rules, and is designed for players who have a large collection of cards, but it can be played with proxy cards. The objective: complete every Quest, in order, for TWH first and then for KIM. Following the Quests in this fashion tells you the "story" of the game. And by the way, you have a limited time to complete each Quest...

What you will need:
All 25 Quests for both sets (total of 50)
All Leagues (use proxies for ones you don't have)
The Arcadia Map on this site for reference (this is your "game board")
As many Waylays as you can get, seperated into TWH & KIM decks
A deck of Flaws to represent the magic of Tiberius.
A character (can be from either set) with Merits (and Flaws if desired)
Quest treasures of your choice
White Dice for your rolls
Red Dice for your opposing rolls
Solo rules, with modifications found here
A counter to keep track of days (pen & paper, D20, etc.)
Database or card test list for any proxy cards

To begin:
Ardenmore and Middlemarch, when layed out together, are probably far too large of a gaming surface. Lay out the complete map for Ardenmore first, using proxy cards if necessary. Set up the TWH Quest cards in a deck, starting with Quest #1 (Prove Yourself) at the top, and in order down to #25 (Middlemarch Invaders) at the bottom. Shuffle the TWH Waylays and make sure the deck is placed face down.

Set the following cards aside (you will not use them as permanent Merits, Quest Treasures, or Waylays): The Wyldstone, Splendourscale, Sir Wrathgar, Duke Bane, Lady Sophia, Assjack, and Tiberius.

Choose your base camp - it may be any League that is at least 4 Leagues away from Eidolon. Your character starts here. Select the first Quest, place your treasure and begin. Remember, you will not be alternating days with another player, so keep track of the days - you must complete the Quest in a certain number of days. Move your character, resolve any exit or entry trials. Draw the top card of the Waylay Deck; if it can be played on the League, you must play it. If not it goes to the bottom of the Waylay pile, still face down. You cannot exceed the Waylay rating of your Quest, so terrain and cost will be a factor as to whether you can play the Waylay or not. For instance, if you are playing Prove Yourself and you've already drawn 12 points of Waylays, if you then draw a Waylay of 3 it cannot be played (only a 1 or 2 would work).

Treasure and Experience
As you complete each Quest you gain 1 XP, but for every 2 XP gained, Quest Waylay values increase by 1 (this does not affect the number of days to complete the Quest). As you gain XP, you may spend it on Merits or Permanent Treasure before starting the next Quest.

Quests
Quests will need some slight modifications. Follow the instructions on the Quest card, except where they differ as follows below. Each Quest is listed in order, with cumulative XP, adjusted Waylay values (based on XP earned), and Days allotted to complete each Quest. Don't forget to reset your day counter after each Quest.

Prove Yourself (XP = 0, Waylay = 14, Days = 14): Follow the rules above, except that type is now a factor. Move from League to League, drawing Waylays. You must complete one Waylay of each type, so you may discard a Waylay with a type you've completed and keep drawing until you get one you can use. After completing 1 Waylay of each type, you must be sure to return to Eidolon by the end of the 14th day.

Marauders (XP = 1, Waylay = 15, Days = 15): Defeat 4 combat Waylays. You may discard non-combat Waylays and keep drawing until you get one you can use.

Scour Darkreach Mountains (XP =2, Waylay = 13, Days = 12): You must travel through at least 4 different Leagues, one of which must be Darkreach Mountains.

Slavers (XP = 3, Waylay = 11, Days = 10): You lose all treasure and allies, and your other Merits are exhausted. Starting from Darkreach Mountains, you must travel at least 3 Leagues before you can start playing Waylays. Claim 1 treasure or ally for each Waylay defeated (you must claim at least 3), then return to Darkreach Mountains and defeat the slavers in a Combat Waylay. Any that you do not reclaim are lost.

Seek the Oracle's Advice (XP = 4, Waylay = 12, Days = 10/6/6): Travel to Sibylline Swamp from Darkreach Mountains and complete the requirements. You may place the treasure card but it must be at least 2 Leagues away from the Swamp. The journey from Darkreach Mountains to any League that is a marsh with an Entry Trial counts towards the 10 day time limit; you must pass the entry trial by the 10th day. You then have 6 days to get from the entered marsh League to the Sibylline Swamp. Finally, you are granted an additional 6 days to recover the treasure card and return to the Sibylline Swamp.

Amnesia (XP = 5, Waylay = 12, Days = 6/10): Place all your Abilities and Arts merits under different Leagues of your choice. You must recover as many as you can and journey to Raxis. Any you do not recover are lost. You have 6 days to move to a League that is not a marsh. Then start the 10 day time limit to get to Raxis.

Even Dragons Pay Taxes (XP = 6, Waylay = 13, Days = 10): You select the League where Splendourscale (counts as Quest Waylay) is to be placed, but it must be at least 3 Leagues away from Raxis. If take the treasure option, roll to see which treasure the dragon keeps and return the other treasure to Raxis. Discard Splendourscale at the end of the Quest.

Royal Cartographer (XP = 7, Waylay = 14, Days = 11): you must travel to 6 different Leagues, then return to Eidolon. One of the Leagues must be a Border.

The Flower Quest (XP = 8, Waylay = 20, Days = 16): travel to the Orchid Isle and return to Eidolon.

Peace Mission (XP = 9, Waylay = 13, Days = 9): from Eidolon, travel to any League that is a town, but the town must be in a League you have not traveled through yet.

Conscription (XP = 10, Waylay = 19, Days = 14): place 3 allies and your Quest treasure under different Leagues. If you don't have 3 allies, make up the difference with any 3 of your choice, but you do not get to keep these "new" allies, and you may not use their abilities. Starting from the Peace Mission town, recover all allies and return to Eidolon.

Save Rosewood Keep (XP = 11, Waylay = 19, Days = 14): Place Sir Wrathgar (counts as Quest Waylay) on Rosewood Keep. Journey to Rosewood Keep within the time limit. Hold it for 4 consecutive days, drawing a Waylay the first 3 days. If the Waylay rating of the Quest has been exceeded, continue to draw Waylays but they must be 2 or less. On the 4th day you must defeat the Sir Wrathgar Waylay. If you do not hold the keep for the first 3 days or do not defeat Sir Wrathgar, the game is lost. Discard Sir Wrathgar when the Quest is finished.

Escort Lady Sophia (XP = 12, Waylay = 24, Days = 18): Place Lady Sophia on Rosewood Keep. Journey from Rosewood Keep back to Eidolon. At least half of your Waylay points must be Combat Waylays (representing Duke Bane's forces). Discard Lady Sophia when the Quest is complete.

Victory Over Duke Bane (XP = 13, Waylay = 20, Days = 14): Place Duke Bane (counts as Quest Waylay) on Bane Tower. Journey from Eidolon to Bane Tower. You do not face Duke Bane there; instead, move to Irondeath Fields to encounter Bane. If you fail to defeat him, you have one last chance by moving to Dark Reach Pass, unless you run out of days. Discard Duke Bane when the Quest is finished.

Royal Wedding Gift (XP = 14, Waylay = 20, Days = 13): you may place the treasures, but they must be at least 3 Leagues from Eidolon. Return to Eidolon after recovering the wedding gift.

Courier for the Court (XP = 15, Waylay = 20, Days = 13): travel from Eidolon to Ebonlique and return to your base camp instead of Eidolon.

Capture the Traitor (XP = 16, Waylay = 22, Days = 14): Place Assjack (counts as Quest Waylay) on Eidolon. Travel from your base camp to Eidolon. You will not encounter Assjack there - roll to determine where Assjack is placed after you expose him in the throne room. Travel to where Assjack is hiding and defeat him. If you fail, Assjack is moved 1 space (roll to see where) and try again. Continue this until Assjack is defeated or you run out of days. Discard Assjack when the Quest ends.

Assault on Ebonlique (XP = 17, Waylay = 16, Days = 8): Place Tiberius (counts as Quest Waylay) on Ebonlique. Travel from Eidolon to Ebonlique. Draw from the Flaw deck until you have 1 Weakness Flaw costing 1, 1 Weakness Flaw costing 2, and 1 Weakness Flaw costing 3. These are used against you when facing Tiberius, so they must be Combat or Resolve related. Discard Tiberius when the Quest is done.

Quest for Knowledge (XP = 18, Waylay = 24, Days = 15): Travel from Ebonlique to any 3 Leagues with Ruins, stopping on the third League with Ruins.

The Wyld Hunt (XP = 19, Waylay = 25, Days = 16): Travel from the last League with Ruins you stopped on during the Quest for Knowledge, and journey to another League with Ruins that was not one of the three you just visited. Place The Wyldstone (counts as Quest Treasure) on this new League with Ruins that you have chosen. Pick 6 different character cards and roll a D6 to select one of them. During your travel, if you are on a League that did not have Waylay, you face the chosen character. The opposing character is a Waylay based on its highest type; if more than one type are the highest, select the type that is your lowest, and roll if you still cannot pick a test. For example, if you face a Male Imp it would be a Savvy Test, but if you face a Male Mer, it would be a Savvy or Resolve Test, whichever is your lowest, and if your Savvy and Resolve are the same, roll to choose one. This character may challenge you on a maximum of 3 different Leagues, even if you defeat it each time. When you recover The Wyldstone, you will keep it for the next Quest. Return to Eidolon from the Ruins. Do not discard The Wyldstone.

Jailbreak (XP = 20, Waylay = 18, Days = 8): Journey from Eidolon to Noria of Eternity. Discard The Wyldstone at the end of the Quest.

Balm for Madness (XP = 21, Waylay = 26, Days = 32): Travel from Noria of Eternity to Nowhere Glade, then from there to Eidolon. Gamine is only a burden from Noria to the Glade.

Gird the Realm's Heroes (XP = 22, Waylay = 26, Days = 15): Instead of searching for characters, take the treasures (one at a time) to three different cities of your choice, dropping off an unexhausted treasure and returning to Eidolon after each delivery to pick up a new treasure. Return to Eidolon when finished with the third delivery.

Reconnaissance Mission (XP = 23, Waylay = 27, Days = 16): Travel to any 3 Leagues that share a border with Middlemarch, then return to Eidolon.

Middlemarch Invaders (XP = 24, Waylay = 26, Days = N/A): Draw 26 points worth of Combat Waylays and place them on any of the Middlemarch border Leagues, one per space. At the beginning of each day after the first, move each Waylay 1 space towards Eidolon before you move. If any reach Eidolon, you lose the game. There is no time limit for this Quest. Journey to Irondew Keep to finish part 1.

PART TWO - MIDDLEMARCH

Use the Ardenmore map for the first Quest, except you replace Irondew Keep with Irondew Ruins. You will now draw from the KIM Waylay deck. Also, any new Merits (including treasures) must be from KIM. Set the following cards aside (you will not use them as Merits, Quest Treasures, or Waylays): Shrink Lamp, Blood Key, The Giant's Third Eye, Monkeywrench, Murch, Kenu, Mechopolis Blueprints, Flying Carpet, Steelwing the Steam Drake, Guthdass, Tiberius, Aldrich, General Electric, General Motors, Jacko D'Rakk, and The 4man.

Border Run (XP = 25, Waylay = 42): Travel from Eidolon to Irondew Ruins. Once you arrive at Irondew Ruins, defeat any Waylays there to finish the Quest. This will be your new base camp, a place where you can send messages to Gamine and receive instructions for infiltrating Middlemarch.

Stop play now and replace the Ardenmore map with the Middlemarch map, keeping Irondew Ruins, where you character will start the next Quest from. (Note: To enter Middlemarch from Irondew Ruins, you must go through Iron Swamp.) Now move on to Quest #2.

Hunted! (XP = 26, Waylay = 38): Travel from Irondew Ruins to Mirron. Encounter Waylays normally; do not use the "moving Waylays" part of the Quest.

The Dark Yeoman's Dream Test (XP = 27, Waylay = 38): Journey from Mirron to Nowhere Forest and Nowhere Timberlands, then return to Mirron.

Dark Yeoman's Quest: King of the Hill (XP = 28, Waylay = 35): Place the Shrink Lamp (counts as Quest Treasure) and General Electric (counts as Quest Waylay) on the Garden District. Journey from Mirron to the Garden District to obtain the Lamp, then travel to the Ant Hill. You lose the Shrink Lamp when the Quest is completed.

Dark Yeoman's Quest: Jacko D'Rakk (XP = 29, Waylay = 40): Place the Blood Key (counts as Quest Treasure) and Jacko D'Rakk (counts as Quest Waylay) on Jacko's Bog. Travel from the Ant Hill to Jacko's Bog to obtain the Blood Key. You may keep the Blood Key until the end of the game.

Dark Yeoman's Quest: Decoy (XP = 30, Waylay = 40): Starting at Jacko's Bog, journey to Bog Pits of Grey Filth to encounter the Cog Waylay. Each time you beat it, move it 1 space closer to Irondew Ruins. If you are defeated, it moves a space closer to Mirron. When the Cog Waylay is moved onto Irondew Ruins, set the Cog Waylay aside and enter the Ruins to finish the Quest.

Dark Yeoman's Quest: Cog Refinery Spill (XP = 31, Waylay = 42): Journey from Irondew Ruins to Cog Refinery, blow it up, then travel to Mirron.

The Secret of the Sleeping Giant (XP = 32, Waylay = 41): Travel from Mirron to The Sleeping Giant, then travel to Ruins of Srissan.

The Third Eye (XP = 33, Waylay = 41): Place The Giant's Third Eye (counts as Quest Treasure) on Chasm Spires. You must journey to Chasm Spires. After you recover The Giant's Third Eye from the Chasm Spires, you must journey to The Sleeping Giant. Give up The Giant's Third Eye at the end of your Quest.

Assault on Mechopolis (XP = 34, Waylay = 46): Journey from The Sleeping Giant and destroy Uptown, Downtown Mechopolis, The Skywalk, and The Promenade.

Enslaved! (XP = 35, Waylay = 45): Your allies and treasure are placed on Residential Mechopolis, The Market, and The Slums. Recover them and return to Irondew Ruins.

Join the Monkey Wrench Gang! (XP = 36, Waylay = 51): Place Monkeywrench (counts as Quest Treasure) on the East Watch Tower and Murch on Secret Tunnels. Journeying from Irondew Ruins, recover them both and finish at Western Watch Tower. You lose both at the end of the Quest.

Rally the Slaves (XP = 37, Waylay = 46): Place Kenu on Undercity Slave Pits. Journey from Western Watch Tower to Undercity Slave Pits, then to Irondew Ruins.

Raid on General Motor's Workshop (XP = 38, Waylay = 49): Place the Mechopolis Blueprints (counts as Quest Treasure) and General Motors (counts as Quest Waylay) on Iron Park. Journey from Irondew Ruins to Iron Park and back. General Motors moves at the end of the day. Give up the Blueprints when the Quest is done.

Stowaway! (XP = 39, Waylay = 49): Travel from Irondew Ruins to Undercity Slave Pits. Take the barge from there to The Great Dam as the Quest instructs.

Free the Waterfall City (XP = 40, Waylay = 45): Travel from The Great Dam to Kaihikaai. Once you convince the Kokua to rebel, draw until you get the 2 combat Waylays you must face to leave Kaihikaai, then journey to Omar's Tackle Shop to finish the Quest.

Kokua Raid (XP = 41, Waylay = 50): Draw from the Waylay deck until you draw 2 Cog combat Waylays; place 1 at Lastwater Fields and 1 at Splendour Riverbed (these count towards the Quest Waylay). Journey from Omar's Tackle Shop back to Kaihikaai, then to The Great Dam. The Dam must be approached from Lastwater Fields. You may not travel through the East Gate Access League.

The Floating City (XP = 42, Waylay = 53): Start Qadan over The Lighthouse, while you will start from The Great Dam. At the beginning and end of each day, roll for the movement of Qadan as specified in the Quest. A roll which would take it off the edge of the map is re-rolled, and a roll of 6 moves it away from you.

Air Assault (XP = 43, Waylay = 53): Place the Flying Carpet on Qadan (counts as Quest Treasure). Take leave of Qadan on the Flying Carpet. Attempt to guide it to the Middlemarch Airfields, then return to Qadan. At the beginning and end of every day during this Quest, move Qadan as established in The Floating City Quest. Also, if you fail to control the Magic Carpet, it moves 2 Leagues away from your intended destination. Your quest ends by landing on Qadan. At the beginning and end of each day on each Quests that follow, continue to roll and move Qadan.

The Steam Drake's Lair (XP = 44, Waylay = 53): Place the Steam Drake Waylay (counts as Quest Waylay) on the Lair of the Steam Drake. Journey to the Undercity Slave Pits, moving the Drake Waylay at the end of each day in the same manner that Qadan was moved in the previous 2 Quests.

The Slave Pit (XP = 45, Waylay = 52): Place The 4man (counts as Quest Waylay), Guthdass, and Tiberius in the Undercity Slave Pits. Start in Undercity Slave Pits and break down the door as instructed in the Quest, then defeat The 4Man. Return with only Guthdass and Tiberius as allies to Irondew Ruins. You will lose Guthdass and Tiberius but gain your other allies back at the end of the Quest.

Unwind the Key (XP = 46, Waylay = 55): Journey from Undercity Slave Pits to The Tower of King Ironheart and follow the Quest instructions.

Aldrich, the Mechician (XP = 47, Waylay = 43): Place the Aldrich Waylay (counts as Quest Waylay) on Aldrich's Workshop. Journey from The Tower of King Ironheart to Aldrich's Workshop. You must approach the Workshop through the Cog Training Grounds, defeating the Cog version of you and then Aldrich.

The Darkening (XP = 48, Waylay = 52): Journey from Aldrich's Workshop to Qadan. You must pass through The Tower of King Ironheart on your way to Qadan. Don't forget that at the beginning of each day you roll for your travel, and at the beginning and end of each day you roll to move Qadan as specified on the Quest card.

Escape the Great Caliph's Wrath (XP = 49, Waylay = 50): Place 2 treasures on different Leagues that are at least 3 Leagues away from the current location of Qadan. Move Qadan at the beginning and end of each day. Re-enter Qadan with both treasures to win the game!

In my next post I'll show a sample game using this variant.