Lonely TTRPG EP 49 - The Librarian's Apprentice by Dan Bronson-Lowe
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Transcript
Greetings Weary Wanderer, and welcome back to another edition
SteelStash:of Lonely T T RRP G, the Solo Actual Play and Review podcast.
SteelStash:This week we are playing the Librarian's Apprentice by Dan Bronson Lowe.
SteelStash:So Librarian's Apprentice is based off of fire lights, which some of you
SteelStash:may remember is the same system as.
SteelStash:Our friend Croaker did queen list based off of, so we're gonna breeze
SteelStash:through the rules on this one real fast.
SteelStash:Once again, just a reminder, you're gonna need some type of journal, a
SteelStash:place to build your map, a deck of cards without the jokers and 2D six.
SteelStash:Anytime you need to perform an action, you're gonna draw
SteelStash:two cards from your deck.
SteelStash:The value of those cards will be Ace one, two through 10 their value,
SteelStash:and then Jack King, queen will be 11.
SteelStash:After that, you're gonna roll your two D six.
SteelStash:Add 'em together.
SteelStash:If your two D six is higher than both cards, congratulations,
SteelStash:you're in the light.
SteelStash:If the dice is higher than one card, then you're in shadow.
SteelStash:But if it's lower than both cards, you're in darkness.
SteelStash:Now a twist on this one is you will be getting and discovering resources.
SteelStash:You can spend those resources any time.
SteelStash:Five resources will automatically find any document that you're seeking.
SteelStash:Three resources will find you a safe place to rest, which will then
SteelStash:allow you to clear all your fatigue.
SteelStash:And one resource will allow you to add plus one to any action.
SteelStash:But you have to decide before you roll, and you can do this
SteelStash:as many times as you want.
SteelStash:So you can spend five resources to get a plus five on your action, but it is
SteelStash:not the best use of those resources.
SteelStash:For the game, you're gonna start out by drawing one card and placing it face up.
SteelStash:Now, if it's a face card, shuffle that back in the deck and draw again.
SteelStash:You're gonna take a token and place it on the card to indicate
SteelStash:that that is where you're at.
SteelStash:And this is your librarian's office where you begin.
SteelStash:To add a new area to the map.
SteelStash:What you're gonna do is you're going to draw two cards from the
SteelStash:deck, and you are going to roll plus navigation if you are in light.
SteelStash:Then you get to play either card and then you can keep the other card for trade.
SteelStash:We'll talk about that in a minute.
SteelStash:If you're in shadow, you can play either card and discard the other card.
SteelStash:And if you're in darkness, you play either card, discard the other card and discover
SteelStash:a complication at the new location.
SteelStash:And then as far as where to put the card, if your new card is higher than
SteelStash:your current location, it will go above.
SteelStash:If it is lower, then it'll go below.
SteelStash:And if it is the same value, it'll go to either side.
SteelStash:Now we did mention that we were searching for documents.
SteelStash:All right.
SteelStash:You are a librarian's apprentice, tasked with finding six documents, hoping one
SteelStash:day to become a librarian yourself.
SteelStash:So anytime you add a face card to the map, a document you
SteelStash:seek is present in that area.
SteelStash:You can describe the document using the provided tables,
SteelStash:but then you need to get it.
SteelStash:So hopefully you rolled either light or shadow and you can just get it.
SteelStash:But if you rolled darkness, then you are gonna have to overcome your complication
SteelStash:for overcoming complications.
SteelStash:Your complications will have a certain value.
SteelStash:Or difficulty,
SteelStash:and you are going to have to build a stack of cards that will equal that value.
SteelStash:So when you're addressing a complication, you're gonna roll plus lore.
SteelStash:And you're gonna repeat until you stacked enough cards to match the
SteelStash:complications, value or difficulty.
SteelStash:So once again, you're going to draw two cards, roll plus lore, and if
SteelStash:you're in light, you get to stack both cards against the complication.
SteelStash:If you're in shadow, you stack either card and discard the other,
SteelStash:but you're gonna mark one fatigue.
SteelStash:And if you're in darkness, you're gonna mark one fatigue.
SteelStash:And finally, the last thing you can do in an area is conduct research.
SteelStash:Once again, draw two cards and you're gonna roll research.
SteelStash:And if you're in light, you can trade in both cards.
SteelStash:Shadow, you can trade in either card and discard the other.
SteelStash:And darkness, you'll discard both cards and discover a complication.
SteelStash:Now for the trade, if you have a red suited card, you can trade
SteelStash:that in to clear one fatigue.
SteelStash:If you have a black suited card, you can trade that in for one resource.
SteelStash:Finally, the last big thing is character creation.
SteelStash:So you're gonna fill in a name and pronoun.
SteelStash:You're going to assign a plus two to the skill you are best at a plus
SteelStash:one to the skill you're good at and a plus zero to your remaining skill.
SteelStash:And remember, it is dangerous to go alone.
SteelStash:Take a familiar, pick the type, pick the skill.
SteelStash:And it will add a plus one to that skill.
SteelStash:. But by doing that, it absorbs one fatigue in your stead, but then
SteelStash:no longer provides the skill bonus until the fatigue is cleared.
SteelStash:Finally, there are certain truths to your background, community
SteelStash:and library that you can answer.
SteelStash:We will not be going over those here as that is definitely
SteelStash:for a longer play session.
SteelStash:And I do encourage, if you're gonna play this for quite a bit and really
SteelStash:explore out that library, then start paying attention to those truths.
SteelStash:But for a one shot, not necessary.
SteelStash:All right, so we're gonna go ahead and transition to our gameplay,
SteelStash:and I have already taken the liberty of rolling up all my stats and maps.
SteelStash:Now here's the thing, like I know this designed to be.
SteelStash:A little fantastical, a little whimsical, but I've been getting
SteelStash:a lot of war Hammer, 40 K lore.
SteelStash:So
SteelStash:ours is gonna be set in space.
SteelStash:All right?
SteelStash:We're gonna be set in space.
SteelStash:We're gonna be in one of the Imperial Archives doing that, which means that
SteelStash:our familiar is going to be a servo.
SteelStash:A nice little servo skull floating around beside us.
SteelStash:We have a plus two in navigation, a plus one in research and a plus zero in lore.
SteelStash:So I seem to have spent a lot of my time in the library preparing
SteelStash:myself, but not a whole lot on the actual practical applications.
SteelStash:So we're gonna see how this goes.
SteelStash:Immense ever shifting and sometimes dangerous.
SteelStash:The library exists in a space between worlds and times.
SteelStash:Among the many who call it home are the librarians and only those who truly
SteelStash:understand it may join their ranks.
SteelStash:Steel Stash seeks to do so.
SteelStash:The path of the librarians of apprentice is a long one.
SteelStash:Their current task is designed to test their skills at traversing the
SteelStash:library and finding information.
SteelStash:. Retrieve the six documents requested by the librarian before the day
SteelStash:is out and he will have completed one more step on his journey.
SteelStash:Now steal stash.
SteelStash:Within the archives are six documents that must be found.
SteelStash:Go, go forth and seek them.
SteelStash:All right, so to start off, I am going to
SteelStash:immediately pull a face card.
SteelStash:So now I need to recall that we're gonna reshuffle.
SteelStash:All right, and we got the six of clubs for our librarian base.
SteelStash:So first thing we need to do is we need to draw two cards and.
SteelStash:Roll our navigation.
SteelStash:Draw two cards and roll our navigation.
SteelStash:Luckily I got a three and a four, so this should be a pretty good navigation.
SteelStash:So rolling two D six plus two.
SteelStash:Also, I'm gonna apologize if any of these barks get through.
SteelStash:This is what I get for trying to record while everyone is awake.
SteelStash:All right, so I got a total of nine, which does handily beat both.
SteelStash:We're gonna keep that four because we only have four fatigue before we end up.
SteelStash:In a situation where we have to come back.
SteelStash:So moving down to the first area of the library.
SteelStash:So we're gonna roll two D six three times to get our descriptor.
SteelStash:And we got 4, 12, 12.
SteelStash:Actually we got 2, 2, 6, 6, 6, 6.
SteelStash:So two, two is decorative.
SteelStash:Six.
SteelStash:Six is work, be or so.
SteelStash:The descriptor is decorative.
SteelStash:The feature is workbenches and the category is written by the undead.
SteelStash:Even in death, we will continue to serve the God emperor.
SteelStash:So,
SteelStash:so this feels like a place of high valued, high skilled.
SteelStash:Books Cause we have, we have the workbenches, so obviously there's a
SteelStash:place, there's a place to try it out.
SteelStash:The, the written by the undead feels very masters of the past,
SteelStash:so that is what this place is gonna be.
SteelStash:All right, and since things are going well for me in this room, we're gonna go
SteelStash:ahead and conduct some research as well.
SteelStash:So again, first thing we need to do, draw two cards.
SteelStash:Mm.
SteelStash:And we got the five of hearts and the nine of spades.
SteelStash:So this one might be a little more tricky, especially as we
SteelStash:only have plus one to research,
SteelStash:but we got a nine.
SteelStash:Which means only one card is higher, so we can trade one and discard the other.
SteelStash:So we're gonna keep that nine and that is going to be one of our tradable resources.
SteelStash:We'll go ahead and discard.
SteelStash:We'll go ahead and discard the five.
SteelStash:So continuing on.
SteelStash:Continuing on, we got the eight N Queen of Clubs for our new
SteelStash:area, which is very fortuitous.
SteelStash:We might find our first document that we're looking for.
SteelStash:So rolling our navigation of two D six plus two, and we got a nine,
SteelStash:so that doesn't beat the queen.
SteelStash:However,
SteelStash:we are in shadows, so we can play either card and discard the other one.
SteelStash:So we're gonna go ahead and discard that eight, and we're gonna play this queen,
SteelStash:and let's go ahead and roll up a description for this pretty lady.
SteelStash:So first up for the descriptor, we got four three, which is Labyrinth Theme
SteelStash:six.
SteelStash:Six on our feature work benches and four, three for our category.
SteelStash:Just never read Labyrinthine workbenches.
SteelStash:Never read.
SteelStash:So it would seem that at the back of.
SteelStash:At the back of the room where we had the master's works.
SteelStash:We found a dusty ladder and followed that up, and we found
SteelStash:another area of workbenches.
SteelStash:And the, the, these are all just kind of cobbled together, kind of
SteelStash:thrown about all willy-nilly, like,
SteelStash:and you know, it's creating kind of a labyrinth like pattern on the floor.
SteelStash:And
SteelStash:I mean, dust is covering everything.
SteelStash:This looks like someplace that people haven't been to in a while.
SteelStash:You can tell that the stuff here is not being taken care of.
SteelStash:It's not being read, it's not being used.
SteelStash:I mean, hell, half the benches have
SteelStash:half the benches, have those workman cloths just draped over them just to
SteelStash:try to help keep them from dusting up.
SteelStash:And let's see what type of document we might have in this area.
SteelStash:So that's gonna be two D six, twice.
SteelStash:And for the first description, we got four six, which is the pressure from.
SteelStash:And for our second one, we got six two, which is knotted yarn,
SteelStash:the pressure from knotted yarn.
SteelStash:Well, that makes sense why that would be in an area that's not,
SteelStash:not used anymore.
SteelStash:The, the pressure of knotted yarn.
SteelStash:That,
SteelStash:that seems very.
SteelStash:Very niche,
SteelStash:so I can see why it would definitely be in this area.
SteelStash:But while the rules don't say, I'm going to declare that there is a complication
SteelStash:here, we have to face a complication in order to get this document.
SteelStash:So we're gonna roll two D six for our complication table
SteelStash:just to see what complication we have.
SteelStash:And that is six one,
SteelStash:which is gonna be a gnosiphage.
SteelStash:Which is a type of creature, the gnosiphage, AKA bootlicker, a withered
SteelStash:husk of a person from the burn section steals words and knowledge from documents.
SteelStash:By licking them, the content appears on their skin, like tattoos.
SteelStash:Yeah, this is a interesting and creepy creature to be running across.
SteelStash:This definitely feels like one of those Gene Stealer Colts.
SteelStash:Trying to eat away at our, eat away at our dangled knowledge that we have here.
SteelStash:And these guys have a difficulty score of six.
SteelStash:All right,
SteelStash:so we are going to be using our lore in order to try to overcome this
SteelStash:thing, preferably without violence, cuz after all we are a librarian.
SteelStash:And we got a nine a jack.
SteelStash:Not looking good for the home team right off right off the rip there cuz we are
SteelStash:rolling two D six with no modification.
SteelStash:And we got a five total, so we're gonna go ahead and take one.
SteelStash:Fatigue,
SteelStash:bringing our fatigue up to one.
SteelStash:So next up we have
SteelStash:a five and a seven.
SteelStash:This seems much more manageable.
SteelStash:Rolling.
SteelStash:R two D six oh oh oh oh, and we got a four,
SteelStash:so that is also a failure.
SteelStash:Bringing our fatigue up to 2 of 4.
SteelStash:So I'm gonna trade my nine spades in for a plus one.
SteelStash:So I'm gonna take a plus one on this roll because I need I, I need it.
SteelStash:I definitely need it as I got a jack and a king, so I have to beat an 11, so rolling
SteelStash:two D six plus one and I got an eight.
SteelStash:So once again,
SteelStash:Another fatigue.
SteelStash:All right.
SteelStash:My servo is going to whip in front of me on this one just to try to help out
SteelStash:which probably good because we got an eight and a queen,
SteelStash:so my servo is gonna roll.
SteelStash:Two D six plus one cuz they had the plus one in lore and they got a seven.
SteelStash:My servo doesn't help out any, but the bright side is, I am still in it.
SteelStash:This is probably the last round though.
SteelStash:Nine and a two.
SteelStash:Nine and a two.
SteelStash:I need to beat to nine though, because I'm gonna take fatigue regardless.
SteelStash:And I got an 11.
SteelStash:Outstanding.
SteelStash:And also because I mean, So first of all, it doesn't matter because I can
SteelStash:sta or I will stack the nine and the two on this gnosiphage, and that is
SteelStash:11 versus the gnosiphage six we win.
SteelStash:But because the nine and the two are both clubs and the queen that we're,
SteelStash:whose room we're in is also a club then.
SteelStash:I would be able to,
SteelStash:actually, this is important because I misunderstood the rules, so
SteelStash:it's not the val, it's not the number of the value on the cards.
SteelStash:I have to stack six cards on this.
SteelStash:So because the value of the card is the same as the value of my
SteelStash:room, the suit of the card is the same as the suit of my room.
SteelStash:Those count as two.
SteelStash:So my nine counts as two, and my two counts as two cards.
SteelStash:So I'm at four of six cards right now.
SteelStash:I'm going to trade in my heart.
SteelStash:To remove one of these resources.
SteelStash:So I no longer have any, or I no longer have any tradable goods.
SteelStash:However, I am at 2 of 4 fatigue, which may be important as we continue to do
SteelStash:this, that it does buy me an extra round.
SteelStash:Which might be good because we got a two of hearts and a 10 of diamonds.
SteelStash:And I doubt I'm beating the 10.
SteelStash:I am not.
SteelStash:I'm matching the 10, which is frustrating, but that's okay
SteelStash:because I get to stack the two.
SteelStash:So that brings me up to five of six,
SteelStash:and I'm still taking one fatigue.
SteelStash:So it's a good thing I traded in that heart from earlier.
SteelStash:And now we're on the last round.
SteelStash:Either this thing is going down or I'm going down
SteelStash:and a jack and a four,
SteelStash:which is gonna bring up a very interesting question potentially.
SteelStash:I could fail outright and then we don't have to worry about it.
SteelStash:No, I got a six, so I'm in shadow.
SteelStash:So the way, the way that the rules read is once you have achieved four
SteelStash:fatigue, you have to return back to the office, the librarian's office.
SteelStash:But that four also allowed me to accomplish this challenge.
SteelStash:So I've beat my complication, but I've hit my max fatigue.
SteelStash:So
SteelStash:we are going to ask the Oracle, because this does have an Oracle in it.
SteelStash:And for the Oracle, if you think the answer is likely a
SteelStash:yes, you would roll plus two.
SteelStash:If it is unlikely you would roll zero plus zero, otherwise plus one.
SteelStash:So I think it is about 50 50 that I would've been able to grab the
SteelStash:document before running away as this was correct, the hectic chase.
SteelStash:As I try to, as I try to get this thing towards some blank documents so that.
SteelStash:It would not be empowered by any of the, any of the words.
SteelStash:Or at least some silly documents, you know, because again, this
SteelStash:is a room that's never used.
SteelStash:The nothing in here is read.
SteelStash:So it feels very much like this also would've ended up as storage
SteelStash:for some random stuff, and I'm just kind of chucking those books
SteelStash:at it, but, I'm getting tired.
SteelStash:This thing is disgusting.
SteelStash:I am slithering way too close to the warp powers for U 40 K fans out there,
SteelStash:so right as I convinced this thing to leave, I also have to leave.
SteelStash:But am I able to get the document yes or no?
SteelStash:And again, we're gonna roll plus one against a two and a one.
SteelStash:So I really think that I got it and I rolled a six.
SteelStash:So yes, I was able to grab the document before I left.
SteelStash:But that's it for tonight.
SteelStash:That is librarian's apprentice.
SteelStash:So for the librarian's apprentice, I do.
SteelStash:I like the setting.
SteelStash:I like the, I like the feel and the very whimsical asset of it.
SteelStash:Now the gameplay.
SteelStash:The gameplay.
SteelStash:It is.
SteelStash:It is a fire lights game.
SteelStash:Fire lights by.
SteelStash:The Firelight system is created by Rene-Pier and Rene-Pier, I love your work.
SteelStash:Forgive me for not pronouncing the rest of your name cuz I cannot
SteelStash:do the rest of your last name.
SteelStash:But Fire Lights is a great system.
SteelStash:This is, again, this is the second game we've played in that system.
SteelStash:The first one being Queen Less, which really fun system.
SteelStash:Highly enjoy, highly enjoy the system.
SteelStash:And I think this does, I think that the librarian's
SteelStash:apprentice uses the system well.
SteelStash:It definitely makes sense that a librarian would not be doing
SteelStash:like physical combat or something like that wouldn't be
SteelStash:necessarily be getting in a fight.
SteelStash:So the fatigue system versus this game, I think.
SteelStash:Works out really well.
SteelStash:And again, I love the librarian aesthetic.
SteelStash:I love the searching dusty tomes in order to find lost or forgotten knowledge.
SteelStash:That's all great.
SteelStash:The layout of the book, look.
SteelStash:So it is a, it is a trifold pamphlet.
SteelStash:It is done as a trifold pamphlet.
SteelStash:Which is fine if you are printing it.
SteelStash:If you are not printing it and you are reading it off of your computer,
SteelStash:then the problem you always have with trifolds is page one has the first
SteelStash:thing that you would read Then, The last two things that you would read,
SteelStash:and then page two or page two would have the bulk of everything else, but
SteelStash:then you have to go back to page one to finish up on the rules and everything.
SteelStash:Luckily all said and done, this would come this comes out to two pages
SteelStash:if you actually printed it front to back four pages total for the pdf.
SteelStash:But yeah, I kind of wish that.
SteelStash:I kind of wish that they had like a straight PDF book flavor, you
SteelStash:know, where everything was in order.
SteelStash:Like I get it.
SteelStash:This is a minor gripe.
SteelStash:That's really my biggest gripe is that.
SteelStash:You know, it doesn't, it doesn't do well on the computer, you
SteelStash:know, and all my stuff is digital.
SteelStash:I do everything digitally.
SteelStash:So it's annoying for me.
SteelStash:And if that's gonna be my biggest complaint with this
SteelStash:game, then, you know, that's it.
SteelStash:But no, like I said great.
SteelStash:Feel great, feel to the game.
SteelStash:Great feel to the way everything that works.
SteelStash:I really enjoy, I really enjoy just the searching and the exploration aspect.
SteelStash:And fire lights is definitely a great system if you're trying to do something
SteelStash:exploration based and, you know, if you're just trying to play an a exploration game.
SteelStash:I highly recommend this.
SteelStash:I highly recommend this, or Queen Less is another great one, another
SteelStash:great one for exploration type games.
SteelStash:But yeah, librarians Apprentice.
SteelStash:Great game.
SteelStash:Go check it out.
SteelStash:You can find it on itch at bronsonlowe.itch.io/the-librarian-apprentice,
SteelStash:as always, a link will be included in the show notes below, and then also something
SteelStash:you may notice a little bit different.
SteelStash:The show notes will only have the links to the game now, as we do have our own
SteelStash:website up our own blog and website.
SteelStash:So if you're looking for, if you're looking for this stuff
SteelStash:actually spelled out like.
SteelStash:We used to do well then go check out Black Dragon dungeon company.com, which
SteelStash:is gonna be the best spot for you to find out about any of our past shows.
SteelStash:I will be updating the.
SteelStash:The backlog of games that we've done on there.
SteelStash:It'll also be a great spot for finding out about our upcoming games
SteelStash:and any type of lore or things that we develop for our systems here at
SteelStash:the Black Dragon Dungeon Company.
SteelStash:But go check out Librarians Apprentice.
SteelStash:Go pick it up.
SteelStash:It is only $5.
SteelStash:And if you do get it, remember let 'em know that steel stash sent you.
SteelStash:And remember, I mustache y'all to stay Awesome.