Rollohi-chapter4-episode03

--/-- Welcome to SoloBickering, the podcast where I—an aging Kiwi with too many dice and not enough players—explore solo TTRPGs, variant rules, and the occasional philosophical meltdown. Today, we journey into the world of Rollohi: a PG-rated realm of fantasy, where a party of eight attempts to survive the wilds. I hope it becomes a full drama, with discovery, treasure, and arguments I lose with myself. Whether you’re here for the rules, the roleplay, or just the bickering—there’s always something brewing in SoloBickering.

--/-- Still in one piece! Now it's time to take a keelboat around the seigneur's villa, beach north, and see if the party can surprise the buccaneers besieging it.

Script: https://larrymannplayssolobickering.blogspot.com/2026/05/rollohi-ch403-script.html

--/--Background sounds attribution: Joel Steudler: www.joelsteudlermusic.com

--/-- SFX: "firewood burning sound" thanks to Pankaj Yadav on Pixabay

--/--background fire and lakebirds FX from BBC sound archives

May 2026, includes a specific warning about mature content.

Intro music acknowledgment: Thanks to ADMFreeMusic: https://pixabay.com/users/admfreemusic-34079374/

April2026 plug for SRPN

https://larrymannplayssolobickering.blogspot.com

Transcript

Welcome back to the world of Rollohi, where in this episode we discover what happens with the buccaneer assault on the Seigneur's villa, as we shall choose to call it. 

Meta

Before we go any further, I'd like to just underline what it is I'm trying to get out of this variant rule test. Up until now, I've really focused on melee combat; and not worried at all, really, about missile combat. But now, with so much of the action taking place at range, I hope to explore the variant rules as far as range combat goes. 

To remind you, dear listener, what the point of the variant is, it is to avoid rolling a d20 to hit, and simply use the roll low but high nature of a normal damage die to decide whether a hit is made on reducing armor class. If armor class is plate armor, for example, it has a standard value of three. That means a roll of only one or two would bypass that plate armor, resulting in a wound, and it would be a light wound, except that rolling a one, a natural one, offers the chance for a crit. Having thought a little about missile combat, I believe most rolls will be using 3d6 per attacking character, so that if it's rolled at a disadvantage, I can choose the least good option, and if all three d6s are ones, then I can take the crit immediately rather than painstakingly re-rolling. 

A small number of weapons do roll d4, and I'll try to take account of those at the time. But under OSE rules, most missile attacks are D6s, whether it be longbow, crossbow, or shortbow. 

4.03.01

Having explained that, let's move on to the Buccaneers. 

Setting aside the enormous losses they sustained last episode when an uncoordinated pursuit occurred on the water, the roughly 140 Buccaneers are led by the Chaos Lord's level 7 fighter. His name is Kopje. By rolling a normal Oracle D6, I've also ascertained that his mage is directly appointed him by the Chaos Lords, and that is a level 5 magic user. His name is Caxton. That command duo is supported by three level 4 fighters. One of those fighters is a female, the other two male. 

Kopje's nature is [oracle] calculating. He does not bother cursing as he sees a large proportion  of the inhabitants of the ferry fleeing to the villa he can see less than an eighth of a mile distant. Instead, he redirects the buccaneers. And at this point I'll ask the question: Does he slaughter those who lit the fire? [oracle] No. His cold nature is such that he makes allowances for the chaotic nature of the men he's dealing with, and having promised them lashes, if they do not perform in the battle ahead, he redirects the buccaneers towards the walls of the manor house. It is in effect a fortified villa.

Lugging what bounty they have taken already with them, the Buccaneers move off, not knowing that a large proportion of their number have moved the other way. Do any of the fighters, the lieutenants of Kopje, notice? [oracle] No. All three level four fighters, the Mage Caxton and the leader, have their attention firmly fixed upon the villa. By the time it comes to spread men out around the walls, though, they must begin to realize that something has gone wrong, for only sixty-four buccaneers remain under their command. On the other side of the wall, the seigneur, whose name is Sir Fuire, has at his command six armored bachelor knights or men at arms. On their own, they perhaps are not enough. But those in turn will be supporting warriors. As it is just now spring, have all warriors been fully assembled. [oracle] I roll a six for yes and. So the villa is very well stocked with armed men compared to the normal size of Sire Fuire's retinue. Having discovered that, I think I can check that off as being able to keep the buccaneers at a distance and deal with the exploits of our own heroes. 

Let's make a roll on wisdom to read the weather, gain some advantage, and discover how best to beat its way upwind in effect. I roll a 12, and that's certainly below the wisdom of Ingle and Xantu. 

"This is where we take to the boat, I judge," Ingle says bravely, for he is no swimmer. Keeping his head above water if things go wrong will be all he can do. 

"I don't mind using the ring if someone else will take the sweep," Eryn volunteers. "By doing that, I imagine I can pull a boat along against the wind as fast as anyone here."

 Kylie looks at her fellow adventuress approvingly:

"I shall take the sweep," she offers.

Xantu says nothing. He is no boatman, and chooses to rearm crossbows that are to hand.

"I say, Ingle," Jack mutters, "Are those raftmen going to be okay? One of them was very badly hurt."

"As to him, I don't think there's anything I can do. His life has ebbed. But for the other, I've bandaged him. And used the power of the staff. "

Jack nods. That's really all they can do in the emergency. Hopefully that won't change the nature of the transactions between they and the people of Lake Town, if and when they return. 

With Kylie plying the long sweep at the rear, those who know how to work an oar helping on the oars, and Eryn marching ahead on the end of a rope, towing the little boat as fast as she can, the keelboat makes good speed across the lake. 

Eryn has had little to guide her other than the direction of the wind and the general advice of everyone that if they make up wind, they'll soon see the jetty. And she's rather relying on the sight of those who in the boat are slightly higher than she is at lake level. 

Here's Jack's perception. [d20] I roll a six, that's excellent. It's well under his wisdom. So he spots the lay of the land and it is he who first advises Eryn , calling out across the water:

"Eryn! the villa's under attack. It looks as though survivors may have fled there! Keep going north, old girl"

"Less of the old girl," Eryn mutters, but keeps plugging away - I was going to say manfully, but Eryn is no man - the keelboat arcs in to the shore quietly. 

4.03.02

Are any buccaneers available to spot their landing? [oracle] I roll a one, which is a no and I would say that means that Eryn has spotted some handy spit with trees to beach the little keelboat in among. And the party can easily disembark, ready its weapons for the next step, and Jack, well garbed and protected in his elven gear, can sneak forward first to examine how vulnerable the buccaneers are from the north. 

Since Jack is completely invisible and there's someone as deliberately looking square by square for someone in elven gear, I'm going to give him advantage on the wisdom check. [2d20] Well that's no good. My worst is a fifteen, but my best is a twelve. 

After a couple of minutes, Jack returns with an expressive shrug and wide held hands. "Well they've certainly got it under marksmanship, but they're keeping to cover. I can't really tell." CiedPod look at one another. And Cied looks closely at Umbert, who looks away, pretending not to notice that look. 

"Well, this is ridiculous," she pipes. "Myself and me 'ubby here can scout for it and get you a decent count. Trust a Harfling!"

"Aye love, trust a Harfling to do these sneakin' scouty stuff. We'll get you a count...  Uh, by the way, Jack. You didn't see any uh evil sorcerer loike...?"

"No, no, no. They don't seem to be over the wall, just sniping from cover."

CiedPod take over the scouting. Their halfling wiliness, taking them from tuft of bush to tuft of bush. 

Pod is a superior scout in terms of sneaking and spotting, while Cied is by far the better fighter of the two. 

However, before we get into the detail of the halfling sneaking, I'm going to make a little check on Caxton, for it is possible with his level 5 abilities that he has laid some kind of warding around. Has he made a warding of any type? [oracle] 4, yes, but limited to his own area. In that case, I can roll a d6 for north, west, or south. I don't see I should particularly weight the south, although that's where he came from. So it's a D3 effectively. [d3] He's to the the west, making sure the attack can be coordinated all around the villa. 

Since the halflings are sneaking from the north, there is no warding in place that might detect them sneaking. Here now is their close-up wisdom check. [d20, d20] Excellent. Cied, rather as expected, rolls well over her wisdom, but Pod rolls a 9, 3 under his wisdom. It's a successful scout. 

There is a small chance of them being detected. Only on a 5 or 6. [d6] I roll a 4, they are not detected by normal eyes. 

The two halflings return to report, but this is an extra 30 minutes on top of the 80 it took the party to get to the shore after boarding the keelboat, and that on top of the 130 minutes it took for them to get to the jetty area. Therefore, it's reasonable to ask whether the Buccaneers have had any success along the wall with their sniping. [d6] Two, no, they have not. 

Cied and Pod report that there are... [3d6 and I make that] 14 buccaneers in the immediate sector near the shoreline. 

"Alright," Ingle sums up, "I know some of you have already had the benefit of healing. Bear in mind, there's no more healing from the staff until tomorrow. 

"In your case, please be cautious." And he turns specifically to Umbert. "Umbert, don't take any chances. I know you might be tempted to use your Invisibility, but I've heard many stories of it backfiring. It's not as all powerful as you might think."

 "Not like I was going to volunteer to sneak forward and cut someone's throat," Umbert replies with a grin. 

"No, let's sort out who carries what. Everyone's got enough arrows. I won't be using my sling. I'll just be in support of keeping in cover."

Umbert: "likewise. Think of us as an extra pair of eyes behind the party, making sure we're not surrounded. "

Kylie: "I shall begin with my bow. Likewise what have you, Xantu?"

Xantu: "I well begin with crossbow. Once I've dropped a man or missed, I'll drop me crossbow and head in with me hammer."
Eryn: "I think on the whole I don't want to use my shortbow. I'll have shield and sword ready, and I'll walk in front of the halflings. What about you, Jack?"

Jack: "Well now, the choice being mine, I shall steal from cover to cover with a bow ready. You can rely on me to fade into the background and come around the flank, once the real action starts."

Ingle: "It sounds like we have a plan. Let's say a quick prayer to the Divine Eye and get ready for action."

"Why, sure Ingle, we uh we are ready for action. Next comes out fighting, right?" Pod suggests.

"Yeah, and loot!" Cied finishes. 

Meta

As our eight heroes move forward into action, let's just take account of their capabilities and reserves. Against a normal buccaneer, each character has three hit dice in reserve. All of the other characters have all three in reserve. Should they be in a fight which includes a level four fighter, they will have nothing of those hit dice to use. Eryn, 21 of 23 hitpoints. Ingle, eleven of fourteen hitpoints. Jack, thirteen of thirteen hitpoints. Umbert, nine of nine hitpoints. Cied, seventeen of seventeen hitpoints. Pod twelve of fifteen hitpoints. Kylie, ten of ten hitpoints. Xantu, seventeen of eighteen hit points. 

4.03.03 - Action!

Let's make disadvantage stealth checks from Xantu, Eryn, and Kylie. Xantu is a success. Eryn rolls a nat twenty. Total failure. Kylie is a success. It means only one character made significant noise. I'm going to give the Buccaneers a decent chance to hear noise. [2d6] No, even though I roll two D6, each is a three or four, not the five or six that a normal person needs to hear a significant noise somewhere behind them. The characters therefore move to normal range for a short bow before they unleash.