SoloBickering-TTRPG-For-One
SoloBickering is a one-player TTRPG podcast where the dice roll, the rules bend, and the arguments are all in my head. Join me as I dive into solo roleplaying adventures using Old-School Essentials and other systems, testing variant rules, homebrew mechanics, and narrative twists—sometimes brilliant, sometimes ridiculous. It’s part playthrough, part design lab, and part therapy session for a GM with no players but plenty of opinions.
No party? No problem. Just me, my dice, and a thousand voices in my head. Let the bickering begin.
SoloBickering-TTRPG-For-One
Rollohi-chapter4-ep10bonus-level5gains
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
As this sits between seasons 4 and 5 I was not sure where to place it - I know some listeners like every step of level gains and others don't. This is a summary of our party's level 5 gains, without dice-roll noises. Enjoy!
Music credits:
Positive spring day: White_Records downloaded from Pixabay
Uplifting fairy tale: MakeSoundMusic (previously downloaded from Pixabay)
May 2026, includes a specific warning about mature content.
Intro music acknowledgment: Thanks to ADMFreeMusic: https://pixabay.com/users/admfreemusic-34079374/
https://larrymannplayssolobickering.blogspot.com
As I begin this particular recording, I'm quite excited to be holding in my hand an actual written document, which is the Larry Mann hack of OSE. It's just 4A5 pages long, and it covers all of the changes that I've been experimenting with for these last four seasons. As far as I can tell, the math holds up. We shall see in this next season coming up whether that's the case. I'll also be playtesting it with my face-to-face players. We shall see what their reaction to it is. One of the tweaks I'd like to test a bit further is thoughts on experience. I have a theory that I can make the OSE or BX type asymmetrical experience required for different character classes work for the modern era where the expectations of a campaign aren't that long. But we'll see. So let's turn our attention to some level gains. It gives me great pleasure to announce that Eren, after all of the levels of trying to increase her strength, has finally reached strength 16. That's going to make even more difference to her fighting ability. Intelligence 11, wisdom 9, dexterity 11. She also tried but failed on Con, which is 12, and Charisma Stay Steady at 10. She leads the party in terms of hit points at 25. And with Engel, he succeeded in neither of his attribute gain attempts. Strength 8, Intelligence 11, Wisdom 16, Dex 14, Con 14, Charisma 12. His hit points rise marginally just by the difference of his con bonus to 15. He will have to be very careful. Jack had a very good level to make up for last level gain, which was nothing. He has been trying to increase strength, and that has risen to 9. So no more strength negative, intelligence 13, wisdom 10, his dexterity also was successful, rising to 15, con 14, and charisma 8. His hit points, he had a very good level roll, are now 18. And he failed again on that one. Wisdom 12, Dexterity 11. Khan rose from 11 to 12, charisma 9. He also had a good hit point roll, and that has risen to 15. Kylie as usual tried and failed on strength, her strength remains at 14, intelligence 14, wisdom 10, she also tried on dexterity and failed, that remains at 12. Con 10, Charisma 6. To make up for all of her terrible hit points so far, she is now hit points 22. Seed and pod seem to be tracking rather differently in terms of what they're trying for. Seed continued to try for strength and this time succeeded. Her strength has risen to 15. Intelligence 13. Wisdom 10. Charisma 11. Her hit points are 20. Her hubby Hod tried for strength, like his wife, but also wisdom this level. His intelligence is 9. He was successful on wisdom, which rises to 13. That's good news if he gets in the way of a spellcaster. Dexterity 13, Con 13, and Charisma 9. And like his missus, his hit points are 20. Finally, Santu continued to push the increasingly impossible ask of raising strength. He failed, that remains at 16. Intelligence 10. He tried for and failed, which is pretty sad because it's only 10. Charisma 11. He is just the same hit points as Kylie with 22 hit points. Going to round up the level gains with spell gains. As level 5 cleric, Angle moves to 2 level 1s and 2 level 2s, so there's a new level 2 spell to roll. I roll a D8 and score an 8. Speak with Animals. It has a full duration of an hour and is phrased in generally more generous terms than 5E. Next is fifth level magic users, Kylie and Umbert finally reach that coveted level 3 spell. Let's begin with Umbert. Obviously, someone amongst his contacts in Light Town likes him a lot. He has rolled Fireball. While Kylie continues her fairly battle-focused spread with haste. The fireball is very much geared to the level of the caster, 1d6 per caster level. It has a range of 240 feet and it's save versus half. Subjects' maximum movement rates are double. Subjects may make double the normal number of attacks per round. You cannot cast more spells, and you cannot use more magical devices. Haste is an unbelievably potent spell for a force of eight experienced adventurers and a number of retainers. It's a real battlefield changer. We'll see if Kylie figures out how to deploy it.