HOW TO PLAYGoals
A traveling party needs a purpose. To generate your party’s motivation,roll on the Party Goals Table, or come up with your own. As soon as agoal is accomplished, replace that goal with another one.
Character Responses
A character’s response is their emotional, social, or mental reaction
to a situation. Whenever a character’s response is uncertain, roll
1d10 on a character’s Response Chart. Roll during encounters,
party discussions, NPC interactions, etc.
Conflict ratings
Each response and NPC reaction has a conflict rating that increases(+) or decreases (−) the tension in a situation. During every
encounter or interaction, sum the +/− symbols of the characters,animals, friends, and foes. A + and a − cancel each other out. If theend result is at least + + + +, a violent encounter begins.

1d10 Action

Tracking successes and failures
Whenever a character is successful during a Stat Check or Save,mark an ‘S’ in the Party Morale box on the character sheet.
Whenever a party member fails a Stat Check or a Save record an‘F’ in the Party Morale box. Record these results chronologically.

3-456

LOCATION SELECTION
When a Party Goal requires a random location, roll on theappropriate tables below.
Populated location. Whenever the party enters a populatedlocation, roll 1d10. On the result of 5 or lower, gain a new party
member (max 4).
1. Tack Town [B18]2. Brownbearded Cran’s Manor [B42]3. Fort Snek [W19]4. Dredgeopolis [W27]5. Old Old Town Bunker [R18]6. Order of the Broken Bread Hideout [W37]7. Brood Monk camp [T15]
8. Harborville [T28]9. Absolution Village [B15]10. Acorn Village [B21]78-9

Rustbucket
Roll 1d20 and use the corresponding hex on the Rustbucket map.
RandomRoll 1d12 for the x coordinate (count from left to right), and 1d10
for the y coordinate (count from top to bottom). If the location of thegoal doesn’t make sense with the selected hex, re-roll until it does.

What

1–2. a large item
3–4. a priceless item
5–6. a person or
1-2 Deliver…
corpse
7–8. a random item
9–10. a message

Example: The party (Stan and Goldfish) meets a trading courier.
The player rolls responses for Stan (Flexible − −) and Goldfish( Violent + + + +). The player rolls a mood roll for the Courier( Wary + +). Stan’s − − and the courier’s ++ cancel one another out, so
the total conflict rating is + + + +, meaning a violent encounter begins.
Skill checks and saves
Whenever a character attempts something risky or endures
something difficult, make a Skill Check or a Save against thatcharacter’s most relevant Stat or Save number. Follow all normal
procedures related to Stat Checks and Saves as outlined in theCloud Empress Rulebook.

ECOLOGICAL SCIENCE FANTASY RPGParty Goals

10

Find…

1–2. a missing person
3–4. an ancient relic
5–6. an important
person or rival
7–8. lost knowledge
9–10. natural beauty

1–2. of rampaging
Imago.
3–4. of the waking
Sleeping giant.
5–6. of an impending
Warn… military attack.
7–8. of slippery
weather on thehorizon.
9–10. of a dangerous
Lordling or Magician.
1-2. a stockpile ofchalk3-4. an ancient relic
Steal… 5-6. a crest
7-8. a weapons
stockpile
9-10. a tank
1–2. a farmerling
festival.
3–4. a joining
ceremony.
Plan… 5–6. a lordling dinner
7–8. a military
offensive.
9–10. a naming
ceremony.

Where
1–5. From one random
location to one
populated location.
6–10. From one
populated location to arandom location.
1–2. in the
Breadbasket.
3–4. in the Weeds.
5–6. In the Thickwood.
7–8. In the Rustbucket.
9–10. In a random
location.

A random populatedlocation.

1–5. from a random
location.
6–10. from a random
populated location.

1–5. In a random
location
6–10. In a random
populated location

1–4. From theEastern Feeding
Grounds
5–9. From theCollect chalk.
Western Feeding
Grounds
10. From a random
location
1–2. an ancient Imago in the Thickwood.
3–4. a fleshthresher in the Breadbasket.
Hunt… 5–6. a sniper–crow in the Breadbasket.
7–8. ten crab rats in the Rustbucket.
9–10. a Lordling in the Weeds.

SOLO PROTOCOL
Credits: Written by watt, Edited by Roz Leahy, Illustration: Garin(Cover). Copyright information: Copyright 2023 worlds by watt.
Redistribution without prior written consent is prohibited. Permission granted
to photocopy and otherwise reproduce for personal use. All authors retain
the right to be identified as such. In all cases this notice must remain intact.

CHARACTER RESPONSE TYPESNAME & ALIAS

00–01

Adaptive (− −)50–51

Trusting (− −)She/her

02–03

Brave (−)

52–53

Agitated (+ +)04–05

Charming (− − −)54–55

Aggressive (+ + +)06–07

Collected (− −)56–57

Argumentative (+ +)60–61

Bitter ( + +)

1.
2.

12–13

Creative (− −)62–63

Broken (+ +)14–15

Decisive (−)

64–65

Brutal (+ + + +)16–17

Deductive (−)

66–67

Critical (+ + )18–19

Direct (−)

68–69

Dishonest (+ + + )20–21

Ethical (− −)70–71

Emotional (+)

22–23

Flattering (− − −)72–73

Frightened (+ +)Give your traveling party a name and record it.
Generate 2–3 characters using the character creation
instructions in the Cloud Empress Rulebook. Record eachcharacter's stats, saves, AP, and some high-level details of
the character's gear on a Solo Protocol character sheet.
Roll 1d10 for each party member’s outlook. Their outlook
determines why a character might leave the traveling party.
Fill in each character’s Response chart. To create eachcharacter's chart:

3.
4.

First, roll 1d100 to determine the type of response.

Flexible (− −)74–75

Guilty (+)

26–27

Friendly (− −)76–77

Haughty (+ +)28--29Heroic (−)

78–79

Haunted (+)

30–31

Honest (−)

80–81

Idealistic (+ +)Repeat this process, each time outlining the next section of thechart, until the entire circle has been divided into different responsetypes. If your d6 roll exceeds the remaining number of segments,
simply outline the remaining segments.

32–33

Humble (− − −)82–83

Jealous (+)

34--35Inspiring (−)

84–85

Jumpy (+ + +)36–37

Knowledgeable (−) 86–87

Manipulative (+ + +)Example: You roll a 62 (Violent + + + +) and a 5 (50% probability)
for your character, Goldfish. You outline the first half of the circle
and write “Violent + + + +” inside that outlined section. Then you
roll a 31 (Guilty +), and a 3 and record the result. Finally, youfinish the chart with a roll of 24 (Creative − −), and a 4, outlining
just the remaining two segments.

38–39

Mercantile (−)

88–89

Obsessive (+ +)40–41

Observant (− −)90–91Protective (+)

42–43

Patient (− − −)92–93

Stealthy (+)

44–45

Practical (− −)94–95

OUTLOOKS

46–47

Prepared (− −)Optimist. This character leaves the party upon thecompletion of 3 goals.
Pessimist. This character leaves the party whenever theparty fails three times in a row.
Wild card. This character has no set response profile.
Roll 1d100 from all available responses in eachencounter and interaction. This character leaves theparty when they die or the party is disbanded.
Follower. This character is devoted to another party
member and will leave when they leave.
Protector. When another party member would die orleave the party, this character leaves instead.
Ambitious. This character leaves the party whenever theparty succeeds three times in a row.
Thrill-seeker. If the total number of successes andfailures are ever equal, this character leaves the party(min. 5 each).
Self-preservationist. If this character ever has twowounds simultaneously, they leave the party.
Half-hearted. When the party achieves its next goal,
this character leaves the party.
Craven. When this character would die from a wound,another character dies instead.

48–49

Professional (− −)

1d10
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
910

Critical(+ +)JOB

Deductive(-)

Trusting(+)
Guilty(+)

724–25

Then, roll 1d6 to determine the probability of that response,
outlining that many chart segments. Write the response nameand conflict rating (the number of +’s or −’s next to it) in thatoutlined section.

13Arrogant (+ +)Confident (−)

OUTLOOK

102Compassionate (− −) 58–59

10–11AGE

Self-Preservationist Sellsword

PRONOUNS

808–09GENERATING YOUR TRAVELING PARTY

Full Grown

4Cloud Empress Solo Protocol enables you to play the Cloud
Empress Ecological Science Fantasy Roleplaying game on yourown. With the Solo Protocol you play as an entire traveling party
simultaneously. To play, you’ll need a copy of the Cloud Empress:
Rulebook, the Cloud Empress: Land of Cicadas setting book and a
Solo Protocol character sheet (downloadable at cloudempress.
com). Take the group actions (travel, hunt & gather, rest) just as you
would in a multiplayer game.

Gem the Wise

1d100

9SOLO PROTOCOL

65MIND

22HEART

19REALITY

22DAMAGE

FEAR

25

WOUNDS

Suspicious (+ +)30
SPEED 48

BODY

56

STRESS

96–97

Unforgiving (+)

JOB CONDITION:

98–99

Violent (+ + + +)NPC MOOD TABLE (SOLO)

1d10 Roll on the Mood Table whenever an NPC’s attitude
is uncertain.

ARMOR

STRENGTH

0

When friends see you Panic, theymust make a FEAR SAVE or they
PANIC too.
SKILLS:Blades, Street Savvy, Singing, Medicine

1Generous (− − −)2

Friendly (− −)3Curious (−)

4Needy5

Disinterested (+)

6Wary (+)

7

Afraid (+ +)8

Defensive (+ + +)Notes, spells, and consequences:9

Aggressive (+ + +)Escaped from a Cloudling prison,

10

Cruel (+ + + +)GEAR (max 10):

Prison rags (0 AP), ankle manacles, 2 stolen
military hand bombs (1 Wound), a radio
emitting dental implant, a stick of chalk.

Spells: Sleepy Clone Shape, traveling with amassive Imago drinking horn
Printable character sheets at CloudEmpress.com