Playing Root Solo

Why Root Works Alone

Vagabonds are outsiders by definition. A single wanderer taking jobs between the Marquisate, the Eyrie and the Alliance is exactly the story Root is built to tell, so a solo game loses less than you might think. You play your vagabond, and the dice answer the questions a GM would.

Root has no official solo rules, so everything on this page apart from the core rules is a house rule: the oracle, the scene check, the danger clock, the table for misses, the attitude roll and the sparks are tools for playing alone, not part of Magpie Games' rulebook. They all use the roll you already know: 2d6, with 10+, 7–9 and 6− as the three bands.

What you need

• A vagabond made with the normal rules (see Playbooks), with their reputation marked for each faction.
• Two six-sided dice, or the Solo Tool below.
• Somewhere to write: a notebook, or the session log built into the tool.
• A clearing and a job. One line will do: where you are, who wants something done, and why it's risky.

The Oracle

When you want to know something a GM would tell you ("Is the bridge guarded?"), phrase it as a yes-or-no question and decide how likely a "yes" is. Roll 2d6, add the modifier, and read the total the way Root reads any move.

• 10 or more: Yes. If the dice show a double, Yes, and…: better than you hoped.
• 7 to 9: Mixed. Like a weak hit, the answer comes with a twist: read it as "Yes, but…" or "No, but…", whichever the fiction makes more interesting.
• 6 or less: No. If the dice show a double, No, and…: worse than you feared, and the danger clock moves on (see below).

A toss-up is +1, not +0, because that's where the dice balance: at +1 a clean yes (10+) and a clean no (6−) are equally likely, 27.8% each, and the other 44.4% are mixed. Expect plenty of mixed answers. That's Root: things rarely go cleanly for vagabonds.

The oracle is the Woodland, not your vagabond. Don't add your stats or reputation to it; those belong to real moves.

Exact odds

Worked out from all 36 ways two dice can land.

The table is symmetrical: Likely and Unlikely mirror each other, and so do Almost certain and Nearly impossible. At −2 only double 6s reach 10, so every top-band answer there is a "Yes, and". At +4 the lowest total is 6, and only double 1s get there, so the only "no" is a "No, and".

Scenes, Danger and Misses

Scene check and the danger clock

Every job has something working against it: a patrol schedule, a rival, a lord's patience running out. Track it as a danger clock from 0 to 6. Add 1 whenever the oracle says "No, and…", and by hand whenever you waste time, leave a trail or draw a faction's eye. When the clock reaches 6, the danger arrives in full: the job goes badly wrong, and the rest of the story is about getting out of it.

At the start of each scene, say in one line what you expect to find, then roll one die. If it is equal to or under the danger clock, the scene is interrupted: the danger shows up. Otherwise a 6 means the scene is altered: one important detail is different. Anything else and the scene is as you expected.

When you miss

On a miss, the GM makes a move. Alone, you make it yourself: choose what the fiction suggests, or roll a die on this table. Make it hit hard enough to matter.

Faction attitude

When you meet someone and their reaction matters, roll 2d6 and add your reputation with their faction (−3 to +3). For denizens with no faction, add nothing, or +1 / −1 if you've already helped or wronged their clearing.

Attitude is only the starting point. To change their mind you make a real move, such as Persuade an NPC or Trick an NPC. Your reputation matters a lot here: at +0, 41.7% of meetings start wary or worse; at +2 it's 16.7%, and at −2 it's 72.2%.

Sparks

When the oracle gives a mixed answer or an "and", or a scene is interrupted, and nothing comes to mind, roll two dice and read them together: an action and a subject.

Playing the GM's Part

Real moves

Anything your vagabond does that triggers a move is a real roll: 2d6 plus the move's stat, with any forward or ongoing bonuses. Read it as the move says: a strong hit on 10+, a weak hit on 7–9, and a miss on 6 or less. When the move offers choices on a weak hit, be honest about picking the ones that hurt. The Dice Roller handles the stats and bonuses for you.

Harm, gear and reputation

Mark injury, exhaustion, depletion and wear exactly as the rules say, and keep a reputation line for every faction. With nobody else at the table these tracks are your GM's memory: they decide who will deal with you and how long you can stay out in the forest.

Drives and advancement

You still advance by fulfilling your drives, at most once per drive per session. Choose drives that pull you into trouble on your own; a drive that needs other vagabonds to trigger will rarely pay off solo.

Solo Tool

Your First Solo Job

1. Make a vagabond and a clearing. One character, one clearing, and who controls it.
2. Take a job. Someone wants something done. Decide who, what, and which faction would hate it.
3. Frame each scene. One line of what you expect, then a scene check.
4. Ask and explore. Use the oracle for what a GM would tell you, and the attitude roll for the creatures you meet.
5. Roll moves for real. 2d6 plus the stat. On a miss, make a move from the table or from the fiction.
6. Watch the danger. Decide early what happens if the clock fills.
7. Settle up. At the end, mark prestige or notoriety for what you did, check your drives, and decide if your vagabond has changed.

An Example of Play