You wake in a cave, with amnesia. While you explore, you slowly discover who you are, and how you became lost. The broken and dangerous cave system reveals part of a temple to a lawful good goddess that befell a calamity. As pieces of your memory return, you realize that you must race against time to help your mentor battle an ancient evil. But, for now, you are alone and Lost in the Dark.

Can’t get the group together, but want to play 5th Edition? Grab some dice and get ready to escape mysterious caves in over 200 pages of solo 5E adventure. We’ve created a complete adventure from character generation to your first boss battle. Suitable for new players who might not have a regular group to play.

I was recently given a copy of this book to have a look at.

This of course made me bust out some dice, print out a 5e character sheet and give the game a go. I should point out the book does contain a character sheet you can use to play the game, I just tend to not use them so as not to damage the book. It’s a thing I have had since the old days of Lone Wolf, and Fighting Fantasy books.

My character sheet is mostly empty because you start the game not knowing anything about yourself, and will fill in more details as you progress.

Act 1 – Lost In The Dark.

I awoke next to a collapsed tunnel, with no memories of anything. I believe I must have received a head injury in the collapse. I searched the area to make sure I had not left anything important behind, and progressed down the only none blocked part of the tunnel.

Reaching a T-Junction I examined the area, and noticed a set of footprints leading one direction, and the other direction was blocked by spider webs. A perception check told me to follow the footprints. So I of course decided to go down the tunnel with the spider webs. (I have amnesia, maybe a concussion, I am not making the best decisions). Now I had several options for trying to get past the webs, and I picked athletics to ninja my way past the webs (Because someone who just regained consciousness and has an obvious head injury would be great at athletics).  I failed my athletics check, got tangled up in the webs and attracted a group of spiders. (oops!). Luckily I had a crowbar with me, and those spiders did not last long before getting squished. Pulling the webs off myself, I continued along into a weavers room. The room was full of looms, are other cloth making tools, where someone had woven spider silk before releasing all the spiders by accident or on purpose? On one of the looms was an almost finished cloak, so I finished it off and adorned myself with a Spider Silk Cloak (+1) and dubbed myself Spider-Man (Well I do not know my name yet).

I returned to the original junction and followed the footprints. Sneaking forward I cam across a goblin carrying a strange amulet. I knew this amulet was important because all my options were related to it. I could try and charm the Goblin into giving me the amulet, or try and deceive him into the same thing (Unfortunately I had picked Chr as my dump stat and with a -1 there was little chance of making the rolls). I could also trade something shiny for it, but my starting background did not give me anything shiny so that was a no go. I could also hide and let him pass, or I could attack him. Now my starting background had given me a crowbar weapon (So in typical Murder-Hobo fashion) I attacked. The poor Goblin who could have been a innocent person out for a walk, was killed and his corpse looted, but I had the amulet and that is what is important.

I explored some more, in a patch of mushrooms I found a locked box, which I attempted to open (now I am carrying some thieves tools with me, but i used brute force instead). It took multiple goes and I finally opened it on my third and final attempt, giving me the lowest reward possible. In anger over my failure to open a simple box, I then looted a groundskeepers shed, taking a rope, a load of food, and a torch. I figure that I may be a decent person, but the amnesia means I have forgotten the difference between right and wrong.

Heading towards a big fissure in the distance I did come across a shrine to a Goddess, and in an attempt to make amends for any wrongs I may have committed (Like murdering innocent Goblins, stealing from a hard workers shed, killing the local wildlife, etc) I made a donation to the Goddess. I donated a metal pan that I looted from the weavers room earlier (It still counts). Now with the blessings of the Gods which amounted to 1 extra temporary hitpoint I approached the chasm. Finding some mithril ore on the way, which not only has to be worth a lot of money is shiny.  Using the rope I had found I tied my equipment to my body, and carefully climbed across the wall to the other side.

On the other side I found a sharpening stone, and used my crowbar on it to give it a nice sharp edge (+1) just in case any other innocent people turn up. This turned up to be a good thing, since I instantly came upon a mechanical spider guardian doing whatever it was built to do. I considered using stealth (Something I am great at since Dex was my max stat) but instead, since I am reasonable at athletics and have some tinkering tools I decided to jump on its back and dismantle it. Which I managed to do, and I stole it’s power crystal (In my defense it was shiny).

I suspect I may be attracted to shiny things,  and I may not be the most honest person. Hopefully more of my memory returns soon, I have been getting the odd flashback. But onwards to adventure.

I finally arrive at a damaged large but locked door. I was given the option to unlock it with keys, which made me think I missed a lootable location because I have no keys. So i used athletics and a multi-purpose crowbar to open the door and escape to… ACT 2.