Postcard Adventure: Something in the Hole (Dark Peak Solo RPG)

A dark parallel world you can walk into alone — now, for free. The murk rolled in off the moors three days ago and hasn't shifted since. Three nights ago, a courier dropped something into the Hellsborough Hole — the dark pool beneath the road bridge where the Loxley runs slow and black under Walkley Lane. The rats have gone quiet. The cats aren't coming back. You've been paid to retrieve a small oilcloth package before dawn, or at least find out what took them. Field notes by Pip Rippon. Do not linger. --- WHAT'S INSIDE - One Dark Peak location: Hellsborough Hole, Walkley Lane, S6 - Three creatures from the Bestiary — the Hexikid, the Morivarid, and the Syncarid - One page of reusable rules (OSR-adjacent, 2d6, no prep required) - A 2d6 Encounter Table — 12 results, none of them reassuring - Three endings: success, taken, absorbed - Pip Rippon's field notes throughout Format: A5 PDF, 8 pages. Murk Rating: II (see hellsborough.com/murk-rating for what that means) --- BEFORE THE LEGEND This is what happened at Hellsborough Hole before Van Hallam ever set foot near it. Readers who already know The Legend of Van Hallam and the Loxley Kraken (free at hellsborough.com/myths/loxley-kraken ) will recognise the location. You don't need to have read it first — but it'll hit different once you have. --- NEVER PLAYED A SOLO RPG BEFORE? HERE'S A COMPLETE GAME. Most solo RPGs make you build the world before you're allowed to play in it. This one doesn't. Here's the whole thing, start to finish, so you know exactly what you're getting into before you spend a penny — because you won't spend one; it's free. Step 1 — Make your character. You have three stats: Grit, Wit, Murk. Assign 3, 2, 1 between them. You have 6 HP. Step 2 — The goal. Walk from The Lane to The Bridge to The Hole, pick up the package, walk back. Do it in 6 Encounter rolls or fewer. Step 3 — Move to The Bridge. Roll 2d6. You roll 7. Result: "The murk shifts. Nothing happens. Add +1 to your next roll." Safe. Note the +1. Step 4 — Move to The Hole. Roll 2d6 plus the +1. You roll 5. Result: "Hexikid on the bridge. Roll Grit 7+ to stay upright." You roll 8. Success with cost — you stay up but hit the rail and make a noise. Roll again. You roll 9. Clear passage. You're at the Hole. Step 5 — Pick up the package. Roll Wit 7+. You roll 8. You have it — but your foot slips. Roll the Encounter Table immediately. You roll 2. "It knows you're there." The Syncarid surfaces. It attacks your Murk, not your HP. Roll Murk 7+. You roll 11. You force it back under. Run. Step 6 — Get back to The Lane. One Encounter roll left. You roll 11. "A boot. Inside, 3 ¢hits." Grab the coins and keep moving. You step into The Lane. Done. You deliver the package at dawn. Pal nods from the bar. The rats are still quiet. Five things to remember: 1. Moving between zones = roll the Encounter Table. 2. The table tells you what happens — sometimes nothing, sometimes a creature. 3. Creature appears = roll 2d6 + Grit or Murk to resist. 4. Hexikid and Morivarid damage HP. At 0 HP you're dead. 5. Syncarid damages Murk. At 0 Murk you walk into the water and it feels warm. No GM. No group. No problem. --- ABOUT THE WORLD Hellsborough is the dark matter parallel world of Sheffield, S6. Accessible through the pentagonal junction at Hillsborough Corner — the most liminal place in the universe — it is a desolate, fog-drenched, post-industrial wasteland populated by twisted denizens, organic computer networks, and the occasional barghest with hunger management issues. The Postcard Adventures are standalone solo RPG scenarios set in Hellsborough and The Dark Peak. Each one is a different location, a different set of creatures from the Bestiary, and a different very bad night. This one's the place to start. More: hellsborough.com --- Published by Demonspawn Books and Games, Sheffield S6, South Yorkshire. Written by Pip Rippon. Managed by Bull Stuart. See every Postcard Adventure, not just the newest four — free account: hellsborough.com/signup Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0).