Waking up at midnight, I had this incredible urge to play. Scuttling downstairs in the dark, I found myself grabbing my Dungeon Fantasy Roleplaying Game books and sitting down to build some characters. An hour or so later, the game was ready to begin.

Recent play with both the school D&D Club and online with friends has been focused on Fellmyr, my newly birthed classic fantasy world designed using BECMI D&D. The desire today has been to deepen my knowledge of that world through solo play.

I’ve begun in the town of Hargrave, some miles down the lake from Stone Harrow where the player groups are currently based. As regular readers know, GURPS is my go-to rules set and I was itching to roll 3d6 again. In the depths of the night, the realisation dawned: why not play with DFRPG?

I’ve chosen to begin with 75 points characters using the game SJ Games designed to emulate classic dungeoneering adventures. The default templates for Professions are dialled to deliver the modern high-powered high-fantasy experience but it’s simple to limit the Character Points and craft an experience closer to D&D Basic.

My characters add a twist but the core idea has been to get myself playing and adding to the world that Fellmyr inhabits. Everything I note and design for Hargrave becomes material that players in the other games can experience should they travel to that town.

More than anything, I felt the rush of creative energy and excitement that comes from doing things the way I want to do them. The great thing about solo play is that no one gets to tell you you’re doing it wrong. Perfection isn’t necessary. It’s the play that counts.

Game on!