Mastermind party sheets

The set up for this solo game is so delicious to me: the push and pull between the mastermind and their "henchmen" sets up some really fun, madcap scenarios. 

With my first use of the system, which I finished a few minutes ago, I've learned it takes a relatively high amount of mental energy. Switching between consulting the dungeon I was using (Temple of 1000 Swords), the system I was using (Cairn 2e), the goals of the mastermind, and the pulls and blocks of the henchmen takes some getting used to.

The session started off rough as my party of 3 took the front entrance of the dungeon, fell for a trap, then was nearly obliterated by a trio of horrible duck people (monsters native to the dungeon). The gang slunk away to tend to their wounds, and I returned to the dungeon's map to find another entrance with fewer guards. When I did and we snuck basically to the treasure right away, it felt like a very cool moment! Navigating around danger as a mastermind, then managing to keep the henchmen out of endangering themselves is a fun feeling.

It made it all the more triumphant when I was able to end the session by taking on 7 of those horrible duck people using some magic items I found on the dungeon map. Sure, we only got in that fight because one of my henchmen was bloodthirsty, but at least we won :)

I hope to return to this system again soon, to delve deeper into this dungeon I've wanted to run for ages.

Going forward, there are some pieces of advice I'd offer other players of this game.

• Do a read through of the dungeon first and take some notes for the mastermind. This helps me while I GM, and I imagine the process would help here too
• If you're using a PDF of the dungeon, find a way to keep the map easily referenceable if the PDF is not already set up to allow that. Navigating through a pdf is not the fun part of this game
• Take your time with making the characters. I feel like I rushed into things this morning—wanting to try the system ASAP—so I just threw together some characters quickly. However, since the point of this game is the dynamic between the mastermind and the henchmen, taking the time to develop the group would probably be helpful
  • The layout of the Cairn page makes it feel like every party member can be fully fleshed out. I'm not sure how conducive that is to my play style, but I like the option.