Out of Character

I don't plan to play through the paths in a particular order, but rather, as they seem interesting to me. At some point in the future, I may take suggestions by readers who want to see a particular path sooner than later.

If something seems off about what a character is capable of doing, that may be because you have assumed that I am using the Pathfinder RPG ruleset edition which is closely associated with each adventure path.

I am however, actually using my own card-based RPG system, which involves a comprehensive character and class builder as well as it's own magic system and action economy.

However, it is a work in progress, though you may notice that there are similarities to common D20 class tropes. In fact, most of my character ideas come from what would otherwise be a gestalt build of two D&D, Pathfinder 1e, or 2e classes or archetypes, which I then break down into a particular vibe that I want a character to have. But I also take great inspiration and influence from GURPS, SWADE, and BRP to name a few. But to be very clear, each class is uniquely made from my system. A breakdown of each character build can be found in the lodge

For legal reasons I cannot say that it is compatible with any other TTRPG systems, but rest assured that the numerical values of my system are comparable to those of other popular D20 systems. Wherever the numbers do not balance well, I am using my self-as-GM discretion to rebalance the adventure path encounters to make them strategically interesting and fun, as they were intended to be.

Given the era of technology that we live in, it's to be expected that my writing will face some scrutiny over whether or not I have used AI to generate some part or all of the content in this blog.

The short answer is yes, absolutely I have used AI, even to write this FAQ, and will continue to use AI to write further content.

My Oath* to you as a reader, is that every ounce of written content in this blog has been refined and edited by me, whether it was generated by AI or written by my own hands. The analogy I like to think of is like mining diamonds: heavy equipment may be used to extract the raw material, but it is the work of craftsmen that turns it into a polished gem.

However, in more detail I can say that I have Github Copilot on at almost all times, which is used as a mental shortcut and aid to help me with finding the right words. I often find that when I get stuck on a sentence, just reading what the suggestion is will give the push I need to say what I really want to say. But it's not that unusual for the copilot to suggest exactly what I was thinking, and so I will use autocomplete. If the AI could not predict what I was thinking, then it would generally not be very useful.

Lastly, I will primarily be using the typical solo roleplay tools and oracles, a proper list of which can be found here. But for some social encounters, I may opt to use an AI like Gemini, Claude, or ChatGPT to generate dialogue from the perspective of the NPCs. In these cases, I will always be the one to review and edit the dialogue to ensure that it fits the context of the story. At worst you can expect that I wrote the prompt which gave the AI all the context it needed to find the right words, and at best, I didn't like anything it produced and wrote the dialogue myself, but was inspired by the AI's suggestions. Although, at very best, more often than not, I will write the dialogue myself.

Over time I think that the lines will eventually blur between what is AI-assisted writing and what is purely my own ideation, but overall I hope that you can trust that what I publish in each article is a product of my own mind, in that I find every word appropriately placed, for better or worse.

Currently there are no immediate plans to do a live stream, but I am open to the idea in the future. Though it would not be a camera-centric stream, as I have done that in the past and it is not only a greater challenge due to my available workspace, but also because as I have gotten older I just appreciate my privacy more and more. Whenever I've started to grow a following in the past, it also caused me a great deal of anxiety over feeling exposed to the public eye,

Far be it from me to ask for money, I do not want anyone to feel obligated to support me financially in order to enjoy or participate in the content I create. Not only that, but I suffer a great deal of imposter syndrome as an artist and I have the Patreon link up as way to push myself to do the best work I can. If I'm not providing the right amount of value yet to justify anyone's support, then that creates an incentive for me to improve my work or double my efforts.

There are some benefits associated with being a Patreon supporter, because that is how I can offer some immediate actionable value to those who entirely of their own desire want to contribute to the work that I do.

Eventually, the Patreon will more clearly be aligned with more than just this blog, but several planned projects which are all related under the umbrella of The Offices setting. In a rough order of priority, these projects are:

Solo RPG Narrative Blog

This blog, Path of Adventure, as well as others in the future tailored to improvisational play in my own campaign setting.

This project is fueled by my desire to play through all the Pathfinder Adventure Paths as well as stretch my creative writing skills, particularly in my ability to construct a rich narrative through improvisation and off-the-cuff dialogue.

For better or worse, I promise that this will be the least edited content that I produce, as I want to capture the raw essence of my solo roleplay journey as if we were right at the table together.

Podcast Episodes

Theatrical audio recordings of each solo rpg article (and potentially others) will come at some point. This will take some time to get right, as I want to ensure that the audio quality is good, and each one will be available as a podcast episode on multiple platforms.

I've always wanted to dip my toes into voice acting, so this is defintely a passion project of mine.

Topical Articles

An article-based blog on various topics related to TTRPG game play, design, and possibly some technical articles related to the game development as well.

This is where my true passion lies in writing. I have a lot of ideas that constantly get written down and left to collect dust. This content will be a lot more polished than my solo roleplay blog, and will be more focused on providing real tangible advice from my experience as a solo roleplayer, GM, and game designer and developer.

Case Files

The development of a series of 'case files' which are akin to one-shot adventures in The Offices setting.

Each case file will be a self-contained adventure that can be played in one or just a few sessions, and will be designed to be played with my own TTRPG system.

Published Zine

I plan to collect the above articles and case files into a periodical zine PDF for collecting with some additional content exclusively for the zine, such as notable NPCs in The Offices, battle maps, and never-before heard of lore about Office gossip and inter-social drama over relationships or failed missions.

This is a long term goal, the exact timing of the release period will depend upon the rate at which I can produce articles.

Card-based TTRPG system

currently in development, this is the project which has kicked off all of the others. As an indie game developer I wanted to make a CRPG like some very popular ones you may have heard of (but far less ambitious). However, I felt overwhelmed by the idea of licensing a TTRPG system for use in my game, not to mention that I have always felt that every system I come across doesn't fully scratch the itch I have for expressing the roleplay experience that I want.

Thus, I decided to make my own system, and to do something different have made it card-based rather than another system that uses dice. The solo RPG blogs are very much a way for me to test the system, long before it is ready for public playtesting.

Small bits of the system will be delivered through articles, as I talk about different design decisions, but once the class-building system is ready I will release the link to the documentation website, which will be somewhere here at The Offices.

Virtual Tabletop

A Host-based Virtual Tabletop (VTT) custom made for playing the above TTRPG system. The goal is to make it with Godot, and have it available on PC and Android devices.

The idea is to have this ready to coincide with the public playtesting of the TTRPG system, so that players can participate with only the requriement of having a computer or Android device, and an internet connection.

Whether I target Apple platforms as well depends on how much effort is required to support it there divided by how much of a demand there is for it.

Computer Roleplaying Game

A video game CRPG based on the above TTRPG system. This is ultimately the longest term goal of mine. I'm currently working on building a custom game engine, but this is a multi-year project that I am not rushing into. I plan to make many games set in The Offices setting, and I want to set myself up for success by knowing every detail about how the engine works.

I just can't do that with Godot, or I should say, that as much as I love Godot, and will continue to uuse it for many of my projects, I don't like to work in C++ when I need to extend the engine, and have fallen madly in love with Zig.

As a Computer Science Major (just a few years left to graduate), I also have a desire to prove my skills as a programmer and system architect, and so the engine will be my grand technical project, where the TTRPG is my grand game design project, and the CRPG is my grand game development project which bridges the two together.

Yes. I value my privacy and that of my family, so I have decided to use a pseudonym for my writing. This is by no means a secret, as I am not trying to deceive anyone by doing so. And while I suspect there are a myriad of ways that someone might utilize to discover my real name and identity, I would ask that out of respect, those who would to please refrain from doing so. One of the only reasons I have decided to expose my work as an author (and in other creative endeavors), is because I am able to do so legally under a pen name.

The color scheme is my own design, called Chocolatier.

It's the same theme I use in Neovim, which is the program I use to do all of my written work and coding.

Though it is still in development, so you may notice some changes over time. Feel free to let me know if you have any suggestions or feedback on the colors, especially how they make you feel. It's supposed to invoke a creamy, hot chocoloate or candy bar vibe. But please focus your feedback on the github repo found at the link above, as that will help consolidate it all into one place for me to review.

There is a light-theme available in the Neovim version. If I can figure out how to get Hugo to let me support a light theme, I will post an update when it is available.