Episode 8

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Published on:

13th May 2022

Lonely TTRPG EP 8 - A Trail of Memories by Black Dragon Dungeon Company

A Trail of Memories is a solo exploration game where you play a historian traveling along the trail of an ancient civilization. What sites do you find? What culture do you discover?

You can find A Trail of Memories at https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/394494/A-Trail-of-Memories

BDDC logo by https://www.instagram.com/craftyteapotfox/

Music by @DungeonGlitch and can be found at https://gemmedfirefly.com/pages/dungeonglitch-music

You can find us on Twitter @bddc_pod

You can support us on Patreon here



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Transcript
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Hello, and welcome to another episode of lonely TT RPG, the actual

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play and review podcast of solo games.

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Today, we are going to be playing a trail of memories by the

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black dragon dungeon company.

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So this is the most recent game to come out of black dragon dungeon company.

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And it is a solo exploration game.

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Now, full disclosure.

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It is my game.

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I did write this, , It is one of the benefits of writing games and having

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a podcast where you play games.

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Sometimes you get to play your own.

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So a trail of memories is a solo journey of rediscovering long lost civilizations.

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, it is heavily inspired by wretched and alone SRD, , which you can

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find@loottheroomdotitch.io slash wretched.

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And it is using the creative comments attribution 3.0 for licensing.

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So for this game, you play as a historian wandering through various environments.

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During your travels, you come across sites and artifacts as

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noted by stars on your map.

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As you come across these sites, roll one D four and draw that

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many cars from your deck.

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Each suit represents an aspect of daily life while each card informs what

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you found after drawing for the site, turn to your journal and write down

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your observations about this culture.

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You can use the provided maps or create your own.

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So the requirements for this game is a deck of cards, a D

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four, and some imagination.

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Now, before we get into it, I want to say, if you enjoy this

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podcast, please hop on Spotify.

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iTunes, give us a, like, give us a review.

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, hit the thumbs up on YouTube and subscribe and leave us a comment.

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I love reading those.

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It is nice when somebody reaches out and says, Hey, thank you for the hard work.

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And if you really like us, , we do have a Patriot.

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The information is down below.

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, currently we are trying to be able to afford an editor.

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, so it would be nice to have an audio editor to make this

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sound just that much better.

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Also want to give a shout out to dungeon glitch on Twitter for.

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Providing the music, , dungeon glitch has a Spotify channel,

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, under a dungeon glitch.

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So if you go check that out, he has said on Twitter that you may use any

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of his music for your podcasts games, whatever, just give him a shout out.

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And so here's that shout out.

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Thank you.

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Dungeon glitch for that now diving on into the mechanics.

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So for the.

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Like I said, your suits are going to represent the various

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different aspects of society.

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diamonds are going to be commerce clubs, military hearts, religion, and or magic

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and spades are going to be agriculture

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and each card is going to represent a certain tool or item that you find.

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So getting into the gameplay.

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All right.

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We got four different biomes.

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So what we're going to do is we're going to go ahead and roll a one D four in order

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to determine which biome and I got three.

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So for the different biomes you have forest Plains, mountains, and river lands.

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I rolled a three.

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We're going to call that mountains.

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So I'm going to go ahead and load up my mountain map.

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All right.

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So like I said, we are a historian traveling through a forgotten mountain

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path, as we attempt to find out something about the culture that we found here.

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So before we begin, let's go ahead and shuffle our deck up.

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And let's move to our first potential site, which we find relatively close

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to the opening of this mountain path.

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So rolling a one D four.

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We are going to draw one card to determine what we find at this site.

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And that is going to be the eight of clubs.

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So this is a military site with the eight representing furniture.

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All right.

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So like I said, this is the opening to the mountain path and it is a military site.

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We were finding some military furniture.

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I'm going to say that we find some.

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Field chairs and some cots.

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I'm going to go ahead and say, we find a couple of things.

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We find some field chairs and some cots.

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this appears to be an outpost or checkpoint of some type this

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is the opening to the pass.

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So it would make sense that these people would set up some type of

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military checkpoint at the start.

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So after exploring this checkpoint and discovering that this is an area

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where people would be sent, to guard and spend several days at a time, we

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were going to continue along our path, winding our way through the mountains.

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As we come across our next site.

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And that's another one, for those of you watching on YouTube, you saw that

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bounce off the side of the screen, going from four to one as well.

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Didn't you, who have thought even in the digital age, you can still see your dice.

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So five of hearts, so that's going to be religion or magic, and

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it's going to be a journal scrap.

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So we're going to stick with, we're going to stick with religion on this.

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We're going to let hearts represent religion on this.

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these are not a very magical people.

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these are.

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From what we've read prior to coming on this little expedition,

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to discover some more about them.

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we understand that this is a very low magic, low magic people, pretty focused

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on survival out in the mountains, but we do find the scrap of one of the local

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religious leaders that seems to describe.

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In pieces, some of the ceremonies that the, that the people

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would partake in up here.

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, the ceremonies do, these ceremonies do seem to be ceremonies of protection.

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, living in the mountains is a very dangerous thing.

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Mining for minerals is a very dangerous thing between the narrow paths, the

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cliffs, the wildlife, that also stocks and prowls through the mountains and

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the potential for Cavan and collapsed.

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Praying to the mountain gods for protection would be a very prudent

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thing for the people, but coming across this, coming across this, and this

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means the only thing we found here, this doesn't seem like a very built up site.

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really seems more like a rest area.

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For travelers.

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So either this priest was traveling to, or from an outside region or it

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insinuates that the religious class is more of a traveling class that the

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population does not necessarily support having religious figures in all aspects.

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And that their religious figures would be forced to travel.

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But with these insights, gleamed, let us continue on our way, making our

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way up and over and down and around.

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We come across our next site

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two outstanding.

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We're finding something a little bit more substantial here.

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Let's see how much more substantial

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alright, clubs and hearts.

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So religion and military.

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So for the seven of clubs, that's going to be a building segment and the six

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of heart is going to be a small tool.

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So for the building.

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We're going to say it is a segment of a long rectangular building.

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And based on some of the, based on some of the wear patterns and some of the

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other debris we find in the area, while we can't find anything substantial.

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I'd be willing to hazard a guess that this was a barracks, that this

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was a more permanent place for the soldiers to congregate and live.

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This is further substantiated by the small religious tool, which is

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going to be a symbol of the mountain.

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God.

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, it appears to be a pendant of the mountain.

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God, , you know, something that could be affixed on the end of

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a staff or on a chain, to be worn by the religious official.

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So, while it would appear that some of the priests or some of the religious

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officials do travel, this barracks area at least had a, had a religious

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official, more prominently present, to help minister to the soldiers as

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they guarded the region and the area.

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But traveling on from the barracks, we make our way down and around

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the mountains and , we come across a small little valley basin

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and we get another two.

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All right.

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So 10 diamonds, ten of clubs, so more military and some commerce.

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And so that's going to be a full garment for each.

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We've definitely found something a little more built up a little more substantial.

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this appears to this appears to be a trading post.

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we have found the garments of the merchant class, the people who engage in the

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buying, selling and trading of goods.

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The, they do appear to have very distinct dress, to help separate them.

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, as well as the uniform of one of the soldiers, which appears

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to be an officer's uniform.

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We're going to say it's an officer's uniform.

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I'm enlisted, but we'll let the officers feel important on this

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one for any officers listening in

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congratulations, you get to be important in the fantasy game.

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So we have an officer's uniform and we have a merchant uniform and

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we have a more substantial site nestled in a little valley area.

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So I would say that we've actually found probably one of the main towns.

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I can't think of any other place where these people.

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Have someone more dedicated to commerce than a main housing area.

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And it's definitely well-protected it's definitely well-protected

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because you have to go through the checkpoint to the, at the entrance.

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You have to go through the barracks about halfway through this trail as a whole.

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So you have plenty of military checkpoints.

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So that's probably why the officer's back here lounging in the town

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and hanging out with the merchant.

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But we do have our first semblance of an actual, an actual populated

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area where the people would live, gather and conduct trade.

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But as we finish traveling around our mountain, we come across our last site

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and we get another two.

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This does not want to cooperate with giving me good sites today.

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It's alright You know, some cultures, some cultures don't leave a lot.

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This is a long time ago.

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I would say what we found has been a miracle in and of itself,

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so two and queen of clubs.

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So the two is going to be a fabric scrap and the queen

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is going to be a storage box.

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So for the fabric scrap We're going to go ahead and go with

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a scrap of hard leather armor.

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It's not the full set.

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It's not the best thing that we could find, but it is indicative of some of the

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armor that these people would have worn.

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And for the storage box, the storage box is going to be full of.

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tentage material.

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So fabrics or what's left of the fabrics what's left to the

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poles what's left of the ropes.

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so the storage box definitely appears to be what they would

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bring with them to set up camps, to set up, hasty living situations.

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So based on what we found these people.

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Did have a strong military bent to them.

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We found several sites related to the military.

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We found several artifacts related to the military.

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so whatever they were doing in these mountains, they obviously felt very

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concerned for their safety and put a high priority in their military.

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So that's a, that's an interesting,

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that's an interesting bit to learn about these mountain people.

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We did find some, we did find some evidence of religious practices, so they

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did have a, they did have at least a developed sense of spirituality and some

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functioning commerce, but the commerce does seem to be relegated to the more

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easily accessible secluded town area.

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So again, strong military presence patrolling the area, at the very

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least enough spirituality to warrant.

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Either traveling priests or perhaps soldiers were carrying a prayer book,

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which could be a definite possibility for that first, for that first scrap

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of protection prayers that we found it could have been dropped by a soldier.

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you know, the religious amulet found at the barracks.

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So we do have, we do have a good spirituality, a good military.

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Presence and some minor, some minor trade and economics, , at the very

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least, , some minor trade and economics preserved among their stronghold of note.

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And interesting thing we didn't find was anything related to agriculture.

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So this environment was apparently too harsh for them to do any type of

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real crop cultivation to develop any type of real strong agricultural bent.

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So.

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That would lead me to believe that they imported a lot of their staple foods and

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that they relied a lot on hunting and foraging in the sparse mountain terrains.

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So a very hard and a hardy people capable of walking these narrow trails

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and defending themselves against anyone who would attempt to come in and

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either harass or take what they have rightfully pulled from the mountains.

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So that is a trail of memories.

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So relatively short game, , it's not designed to be that long.

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, Honestly, it's designed more to be a world-building tool.

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It's designed to give you to give you an opportunity to take a look at.

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Try and build up a little bit of culture.

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it could also be used as a GM tool, something fairly

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easy to toss into your games.

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If you have players who are interested in that type of thing, or you want

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them to explore a certain area, or you want to add some exploration

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pieces to it, just some fun, little lore bits that you can toss in there.

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Have the players have the players roll a D four, pull a couple of cards and then let

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the players describe what they find or you describe what, what they find to them at

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the very least, give them the prompts and then let the players say what they think.

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Those prompts mean a nice little, the way to help engage them in the,

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engage them in the world, building and engage them in the lore that

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you're trying to get across to them.

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Again, like I said, you can also play it as a straight game.

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Now, if you are playing it as a straight game and you do want to have some more

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sites in there by all means set up as many exploration sites as you want.

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when I built it, it was more a case of, I didn't want to flood

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the player with too many options.

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But, you know, that also comes at the cost of time, as you saw, it only

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took us about what, 10, 15 minutes to roll through and play through that.

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So yes, definitely a short game as is, but it's also a case of.

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So if you can roll by those sites again, roll it.

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Roll your D four, again, pull some more cards.

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You know, you can increase the dice size to pull more cards.

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The, again, the intent is just to give a little jumpstart to the imagination,

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give a little jumpstart to the world and offer a bit of a bit of quiet

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reflection on some of these things that.

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We take for granted in our society and what that means, what that will mean later

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on years down the line, when somebody is studying us and what we believed in.

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You know, what type of, what type of tools you described fi finding is very

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indicative of what type of tools you think are important to those trades?

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what type of furniture you find is very indicative of what type of furniture

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you think is necessary and comfortable?

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I mean, yes, everybody's going to have desks and chairs and

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something like that, but.

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You know, is there any other type of furniture that you're going to see

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and that you're going to describe?

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So if you like this game, you can get it on a drive-through RPG.

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Just search for a trail of memories or black dragon dungeon company.

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And if you search for black dragon dungeon company, by all means check out

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any of the other games we currently have up there right now, such as our other.

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World-building exploration game surveyors, which happens to be

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the first episode of this podcast.

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So if you're coming to us late and you like this, but you kind

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of want to see what it's like when it is hunky ly exploring a pocket

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world, then by all means, go back to episode one, check that out.

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But yeah, you can pick this up on drive-through RPG.

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It is currently 2 99, so.

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Go give it a look at the very least add it your wishlist.

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I do sales randomly.

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and if you do get it and like it, then, again, please give us a, please

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give us a rating on drive-through so that other people can find it.

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But I have been steel stash, and I want to thank you for joining

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me on this week's lonely TT RPG.

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About the Podcast

Lonely TTRPG
A Solo Play Podcast
Lonely TTRPG is a show where I play and review solo TTRPGs.

Every other week, we play another solo TTRPG from across the indie community.

So join us as we roll, draw, and journal our way through some fantastic games.

About your host

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John Stum

Black Dragon Dungeon Company is a TTRPG podcast. We do weekly actual play podcasts and bi-weekly discussion podcasts where we talk about certain things about the TTRPG world.

You can reach us at blackdragondungeoncompany@gmail.com or on Twitter at www.twitter.com/bddc_pod