Postcard Adventure: Twelve Beats Per Minute (Dark Peak Solo RPG)

A dark parallel world you can walk into alone — now, for free. The Loxley Overhang is a path most experienced crosslanders have quietly stopped using. There are several reasons for that, and if you count the pulse rate on the yellow-wagtails along the wall, you'll have a rough estimate of how many of those reasons are currently aware of you. A coordinator is paying well to retrieve an oilcloth packet from a scout's field kit, four hundred metres along the path in the canopy stretch. The kit is there. The scout is not. Nobody mentioned the curlbeak. And at the far end, where the Overhang becomes proper road, something eight feet tall with four arms is standing on the line, watching, deciding whether you are interesting. Field notes by Pip Rippon. Get the packet, get back to the junction — before the sixth Encounter roll. --- WHAT'S INSIDE - One Dark Peak location: the Loxley Overhang — the junction, the flagged path, and the canopy stretch - Three creatures from the Bestiary — the Yellow-wagtail, the Curlbeak, and the Xaexs - One page of reusable rules (OSR-adjacent, 2d6, no prep required) - A "count" mechanic: the wagtails' pulse rate tells you how many are aware of you — and stacks the Encounter Table against you when the number climbs - The Curlbeak's three-call system: the calls tell you where it was, the silence tells you where it is now - A 2d6 Encounter Table — 12 results - A warden you cannot fight, only retreat from — a soul-read that costs Murk every round it can see you - Three outcomes: packet delivered, downed on the path, or observed for a little too long Format: A5 PDF. Murk Rating: II (see hellsborough.com/murk-rating for what that means) --- WHAT A YELLOW-WAGTAIL IS A bioluminescent lure bird, smaller than you'd think for something this dangerous. It sits at the distance that reads as interesting rather than threatening and waits. The tail tip pulses in the murk — barely visible in murklight, highly visible once the light has gone. By the time you notice the pulse, the count is already running. Each bird beats once every two seconds at rest. Faster means the pack has agreed on a target. --- NEW TO SOLO RPGs? Start with Something in the Hole (hellsborough.com/adventures/something-in-the-hole) — free, and it walks you through a complete example turn before you spend a single die roll here. This one assumes you already know how a Test works. 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. 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).