Solo roleplaying

[Smoove_B]

In that spirit, I stumbled across the Medieval Fantasy City Generator tool (free) a while back.

[baelthazar]

In that spirit, I stumbled across the Medieval Fantasy City Generator tool (free) a while back.

I've seen people take this an import it into other programs (like CC3+) to make more fleshed out cities. It works super well.

My only complaint with the "Draft" programs (Wonderdraft) is that it doesn't do city maps well. CC3+ does better, but it is hard to do. This tool is a great quick generator.

[tylertoo]

In that spirit, I stumbled across the Medieval Fantasy City Generator tool (free) a while back.

I've seen people take this an import it into other programs (like CC3+) to make more fleshed out cities. It works super well.

My only complaint with the "Draft" programs (Wonderdraft) is that it doesn't do city maps well. CC3+ does better, but it is hard to do. This tool is a great quick generator.

These video cover how to import a city created with the generator that Smoove B linked into Wonderdraft to greatly enhance the map.

[Blackhawk]

In that spirit, I stumbled across the Medieval Fantasy City Generator tool (free) a while back.

I've actually been using that one for years.

[IceBear]

I do find CC3+ more obtuse than the other tools, but I also enjoy watching their YouTube videos where they show you how they do stuff and I follow along at the same time. Really helps learning the program (I have a bit of a CAD background so that helps too).

I have a copy of Wonderdraft but haven't really needed to make a map lately so I haven't played with it. Honestly, when I go down the rabbit hole of making a "perfect" map, is when I usually stall on my game prep. Kind of gone back to my original mapping process with graph paper...granted, doesn't help with online play. I know for online play I was just finding maps that others made and then made my scenario fit the map

[Blackhawk]

I've read through DM Yourself, DM Yourselves, and Mythic GME. I also picked up the Gamemaster's Apprentice cards (all of this was prior to the shit hitting the money fan.) I'm about ready to pick something and throw it at a table.

I think that I'll likely end up using a blend of the two systems. DM Yourself is... rules heavy, I suppose would be a way of putting it. It's not that it's heavy, but that there's a rule for everything based on the premise that the player/GM can't trust himself not to cheat. That was something I found I didn't like as much about it.

Here's the issue - as you play an RPG, the GM knows what good and bad things lie hidden in a closed room. The door is trapped. The chest is a mimic. There is a magic sword under the mattress. The players don't know that stuff, and their approach to the room and what's in it determines whether they find the sword (by searching thoroughly), whether they detect the trap (by saying they're checking), or whether they detect the danger posed by the mimic (after the first encounter with one, players like to throw daggers at chests.) If they fail to do these things, they miss out on magic swords and fall into traps. In a solo game, the GM and player are the same person. Would you have found those secrets if you didn't know in advance? That's the rub - you tend to check chests for traps, then open them. But you know this chest is going to latch on to you and try to kill you. Do you still try to open it? It creates a conflict, and it creates a temptation. If you open it, you know there's nothing good, and you know you're going to get hurt. If you don't, you're acting on information your character doesn't actually have. You're 'cheating.'

His solution to this is to define all of your actions in advance. You always check chests for traps and open them. You always quickly search every room. You always check doors for traps. Now you know what you'd do when you go into that room. But the problem is that it takes the decision making out of the game. Your character is almost an AI now, following routines rather than figuring out what to do. It's like dungeoneering on autopilot. The fun of RPGs is about adapting to the situations. When I walk into a room, I don't have a default 'set' of behaviors that I always or never do in every room. I may not rifle through every body, but I will check some if something piques my interest. The same goes with searching rooms. I decide as I go, adapting to the situation.

The same goes with his solution for combat. Is the GM (you) going to do everything in the monsters power to kill the player (also you?) Or is the temptation to line up easy kills too strong? His solution is to control everything with an AI, similar to board games. But again, this is sucking some of what makes RPGs unique in comparison to board games. I'm perfectly capable of taking the PCs' turn, closing my eyes for a second, and figuring out what nasty things the enemy really would do to take me down, then doing it, then switching back and doing the same from the PCs' perspective.

To be fair, he does give solutions to some of this. In GM Yourselves, there is an AI 'chaos' chart that causes enemies to do unpredictable things, and there are options to give the players 'exceptions' to their normal behaviors, all carefully justified with flashbacks (or whatever.) But I'd rather just trust myself.

And if I cheat...?

Well, first off, GMs cheat all the damned time. If I'm running a game for others, and I know that the PCs aren't going to be able to handle a fight in their current condition, I'll alter the fight a little. I won't make them immortal, but I won't set up a scenario that there's no way out of either. If they're out of spells and down to 5HP between them, they can encounter that ogre patrol after their rest. Hell, if they're breezing through everything, I'll make things tougher! If they really need a magic weapon, I'll tweak the description to make the mattress seem a little more interesting, plus I'll make that sword something else if nobody can use a sword. They can still miss it, and they can still die (I killed my son's very first D&D character, and I've had more than one TPK.) But the adventure will be adapted as I go to keep it fair and fun.

And at the same time, I'm not going for achievements here. This goes back to the whole 'right way to play RPGs' argument. I'm playing to enjoy myself. And if I enjoy myself more by avoiding the mimic, then I'm avoiding the mimic. If I had fun, I win. (For the record, I'd always check the mimic for traps and get chomped on - I'm capable of judging for myself what I'd do, and I rarely tweak things just to avoid penalties or to give myself a boost.)

Now, the book is still hugely useful. His methods for running a written adventure solo are really good. How to read it, how to tell what not to read, how to recognize spoilers before you get to them and how to avoid them, when to allow yourself the spoilers in order to proceed. How to handle the map. I also like the advice to commit to a course of action before you read on - read the room description, commit to a course of action (maybe even write it down), and then read the rest of the description on how it plays out. That's a pretty core bit - although I'll also let myself be honest about when I'd change that course as things develop or more information becomes available. One trap in a room means I'll likely change how I'm searching it - or whether I am - for instance. I also appreciate his immersion table (roll one sense to focus on with each description, then imagine how that sense plays into the scene), and I like his 'camera' suggestion in the second book (roll on a table to camera angles for different scenes, then take a second to imagine that - a camera that pans across the room and focuses on one enemy, a camera the shows your character from the shoulders up and focuses on his reaction, etc.)

Mythic, on the other hand, is completely without form. It's a storytelling system that isn't going to work well for pre-written content. It is a tool for asking questions about a place, situation, or whatever and getting answers that aren't dependent on what you already know. Is the person I'm looking for in here? (Yes.) Are they able to travel? (Big no!) Oh, hell - the person I was hired to meet and protect is already dead! Are the killers still around? (Yes.) I head for the door, back out on to the street. I make a Perception check. I succeed, so I ask, "Am I being followed?" (Big yes!) Sounds like I'm about to be attacked. I ask some questions about who they are to design the encounter. And it does this all through just a couple of general-purpose tables.

I plan, for now, to use a combination of the two, combined with judgement and common sense.

I've gone back and forth, but I think I'm going to go with Savage Worlds for now. Maybe Pathfinder for Savage Worlds, as it will be very easy to adapt some written Pathfinder adventures to it on the fly, and because I kind of want to refamiliarize myself with the system, as I'm still thinking about running an online Deadlands game starting this summer.

I've yet to really dig in to the Gamemaster's Apprentice decks.

[Smoove_B]

I saw this yesterday and meant to comment - you hit on the single solo RPG issue I've had that I just cannot resolve:

Do you still try to open it? It creates a conflict, and it creates a temptation. If you open it, you know there's nothing good, and you know you're going to get hurt. If you don't, you're acting on information your character doesn't actually have. You're 'cheating.

For me, RPGing is (ultimately) exploring the unknown - what happens if I do this? If I go here? If I poke at this thing? I have yet to find a way that would allow me to experience that using a predetermined adventure (i.e. trying to solo my way through the Temple of Elemental Evil) in a way that is satisfying. Instead, the only way this seems to be workable is through a hexcrawl / random generation of places to explore, items to find, monsters to encounter, dungeon layouts to experience, etc...

I don't know if this is where the journal-style RPG systems came in as a way to experience this type of thinking in a solo environment. Here are some prompts, what does it mean? How do you respond? It's not the same because it's open ended (mostly), but it's a way around the core issue (besides using a pre-determined behavior for all future states).

I can totally understand why people solo RPG; I've yet to find anything that works for me using a commonly available system (like D&D) and a pre-written adventure. The closest I've come so far is with D100, which I know I owe a write up for.

[IceBear]

You look at the Mythic GM emulator?

Edit: Ah, nm, just saw you want to use pre written modules. That's hard...you could use the Mythic system to ask, based on the character's personality, how likely they would be to open the trapped chest and roll for that.

I just kind of use pre-written adventures as a starting point and maybe for the maps but I haven't really done a solo game other than dabbling with Mythic

[Blackhawk]

For me, I would know that my character would try to open that chest, so I'd play it honestly and feed the mimic.

But for Smoove's issue, it seems like he doesn't want to know what's in chest and act accordingly, he wants to have no idea what's relevant, what's safe, and what's just a bit of GM descriptive fluff that he regrets mentioning after the players spend an hour trying to pry it off of the floor (this has happened.)

Board games would handle the chest by simply hiding a random token in it (Sword & Sorcery comes to mind), or by having you draw a card after you open it that could be anything from a treasure to a trap to a mimic. The same thing could be achieved with random tables or Mythic. Is this chest what it appears? (Likely - rolls, no.) Is it trapped? (50/50 - rolls, extreme yes - crap, mimic!) But that isn't how most written adventures are designed. They're balanced around what's in there, and some clues you discover are vital for what happens later. You can't just change them without knowing the full context like a GM would in a regular game. I do think that the closest approach that would really give that 'unknowns in a designed space' feel would be a hybrid.

Get something like The Book of Lairs, or Five Room Dungeons Or go to any of multiple free sources and build a collection.

Pick one. That's your destination. If it has predesigned encounters and features, say, gnolls, then you know that gnolls need to be worked into your story. If it's just a blank map, you can populate it based on what you need to have there (in other words, if it turns out that your story features lots of undead, it'll be full of undead.

Then use Mythic (or whatever) to tell the story. Eventually it'll steer you into needing to go somewhere for something. Now you pull out the dungeon. And since it's not part of a full pre-written adventure (IE - nothing later is dependent on what's in there), you can adjust (via Mythic) anything in there as you go - run it as written, but if something catches your eye, ask Mythic about it. "I search the bed. Is there anything interesting? (Unlikely - rolls... extreme yes! Is it a magic item? Unlikely - rolls, yes! Now use a table to figure out that it was a magic sword.) Or randomly generate what's in the chest. Now those unknowns are back.

[IceBear]

Regarding the Game Master Apprentice cards...I have a couple of decks for different themes (Fantasy, Modern and Sci-fi live in my bag). I like them for when I need to build on my improv, and I really like how much information is on each card - random dice results for the standard dice, Yes and No results like from Mythic (use that a fair bit when players ask if the store stocks random item X), NPC names, personalities, sounds, smells, things in the dead guys pocket, and more.

Useful when a player suddenly decides to invest a lot of time into random throwaway NPC that I had nothing planned for.

Haven't really used it for solo gaming as I don't really play solo...collect stuff for it in case I ever do. But the GMA cards have been useful for at the table with a group

[Zarathud]

Have you tried the Tunnels & Trolls app? I was on a streak of playing those for a while. The app handles all of the secrecy.

[TheMix]

Tunnels and Trolls? I think I have/had that game manual. There's a name I haven't heard in a long time.

[IceBear]

I did notice that a few of the T&T modules I was collecting were marked solo. Didn't realize there was an app...smart idea

[Blackhawk]

Have you tried the Tunnels & Trolls app? I was on a streak of playing those for a while. The app handles all of the secrecy.

Is it actually a full RPG experience, or is it a Choose-Your-Own-Adventure style thing where you're limited to pre-defined actions?

[Zarathud]

It’s choose your own adventure but within context of an RPG. So you may have 2-5 options to deal with a situation to trigger different checks. Like choose between a Strength, Dexterity, Luck or Intelligence challenge to deal with a trap, etc.

[Smoove_B]

It's been...a week. I missed the announcement from Modiphus that they're publishing a book by Geek Gamers (Youtube channel) on her "home brew" solo RPG mentality. I've been watching her videos for years - she's a treasure.

[Blackhawk]

Very nice. I may try to order it at some point.

[Zarathud]

It looks like the developer for the T&T app is no longer operating, and Ken St. Andre repurchased the rights in 2020. Same with Chaosium for the Cthulhu version. Sad.

[Kasey Chang]

I play a solo RPG narrative game Thousand Year Old Vampire. I just made ten 15 moves, and I'm documenting them on my blog:

https://kconwriting.blogspot.com

I hope to do 5 moves per day every few days, then tidy up the results in a different blog.

[tylertoo]

I play a solo RPG narrative game Thousand Year Old Vampire. I just made ten 15 moves, and I'm documenting them on my blog:

https://kconwriting.blogspot.com

I hope to do 5 moves per day every few days, then tidy up the results in a different blog.

I considered getting this a while back but it seemed unrelentingly bleak, full of despair. Haven't looked at your blog (I will) but do you find that the case?

[Kasey Chang]

It kinda depends on how you write the story. So far I haven't rolled into too many "lose memory" events. But I'm only 15 moves in, and I'm sorta cheating. but eventually you will lose most of your memories...

[hepcat]

I own that one and should get to playing it.

[Smoove_B]

One specifically for Blackhawk - Be Like a Crow:

Designer Tim Roberts’ upcoming solo RPG has a premise so neatly summarised in its title I’m not sure why I’m even writing this sentence. The game lets you be like a crow and do “crow things”, taking to the skies as a black-plumed, cawing bird on an avian adventure.

More specifically, the single player can choose from four species of corvidae: a crow, magpie, jackdaw or rook. Each offers a different play experience inspired by the species’ distinct characteristics, from the human-befriending jackdaw and adaptable crow to the agile magpie (which, Roberts makes clear, does not mean you’re attracted to shiny objects) and more withdrawn rook. An additional species, the raven, has been added to the game via its Kickstarter campaign stretch goal.

[Kasey Chang]

Speaking of which, there are a LOT of those solo storytelling games included with those Ukraine relief bundles. Dozens of them.

[Blackhawk]

Old post (last December), but I saw something today that reminded me of it. Tylertoo posted that he'd just picked up Rangers of the Shadow Deep, and I replied with some options for really cheap terrain.

I own no RPG minis, no terrain, but look forward to jumping in! I will use minis from other games and figure out other things for terrain, maybe maps from other games or something.

Super-cheap terrain:

1. Get a table
2. Get a sheet (preferably an earth tone rather than Scooby-Doo, but whatever floats your boat)
3. Lay books on your table where the hills and shapes need to be.
4. Lay the sheet over the whole shebang.



Super deluxe stretch goals!

• Buy some construction paper - cut out blue rivers and brown roads. Make them all the same size at the ends (3" is good), and make sure that the shapes all end on one of the paper edges.
• Super cheap trees! (alternative: Hit the Christmas closeouts for miniature 'village' trees.)

The four levels of buildings, from cheap and easy to signing the divorce papers:

Level 1: Squares of paper, Legos, Lincoln Logs, small food boxes from the kitchen, empty Tupperware, books, you name it.
Level 2: Free papercraft! and Free papercraft!
Level 3: Retail papercraft! and Retail papercraft!
Level 4: Top-quality collapsible heavy card terrain by Battle Systems, the makers of Core Space.
Level 5: 3d printer
Level 6: Black Magic Craft DIY. Also, RFDHobyy and The Game Smith.

I saw a great example of super-cheap terrain looking good. They needed ruins in a forest. A handful of toy spiders, some blocks borrowed from the kids, and some crumpled up paper...

Spoiler:

[tylertoo]

I saw that photo too, I think it was on the RoSD facebook group. Definitely looks great.

I've since moved on, though I only completed the first two campaigns in the book. Have to get back to it....

[tylertoo]

This is a really good overview of a wide range of solo RPG options. I want all of them.

[Blackhawk]

Has anyone tried any of the solo journaling RPGs? The gist, as I understand it, is that you're running it a little like an RPG: You're in a situation. You devise an outcome, or you ask questions, etc. You roll dice and/or draw cards, possibly consult your character stats, and use that to determine the outcome. But instead of the outcome being on the table, in your head, or expressed via statistics, it's written out. Perhaps it has you writing as an explorer, filling out your journal:

Day 22
We traveled upstream, but were unable to proceed due to a massive, roaring waterfall, the likes of which I have never seen. We'll have to climb to get beyond it, and there is no way to portage the boats. We'll have to proceed on foot from here on. We visited a nearby village, and were able to procure a local guide to show us where ascent might be possible. We also hired on a dozen locals as porters to haul the supplies we have stored on the boats.

Day 23
We lost Wilkinson today.

We were working our way up the cliff via a goat trail a few hours inland from the waterfall... (etc.)

Or perhaps you're a warrior on a journey, writing a series of letters home to your beloved:

Dearest Margarith,

Things are going as well as they might. I passed through a hamlet yesterday afternoon, and was able to trade my warhorse, still favoring his left foot, for a gnarled horse better suited to pulling a hay wain. The landlord surely got the better of the deal, but I couldn't keep a good pace on a lame horse, and time is of the essence. Sadly, none of the locals had heard any news of the man I seek... (etc)

Am I understanding the idea of these correctly, and are they actually entertaining?

[Smoove_B]

Sort of, yes. You can add in Fate or Mythic GM mechanics where you're rolling some dice to give you decision parameters when you ask questions about what's happening but some people just free-form figure it out.

I would highly (seriously, highly) recommend you go read up on 1000 Year Old Vampire. There's a link in the page to his itch.io page where you can get a free community copy of the PDF - every time someone buys a copy of the book, he generates free PDFS for those that need them. Since I purchased a hard copy, know that when you take a free one it's from me.

[Blackhawk]

I've heard that one mentioned a few times. The presentation is certainly impressive, but I've always had the worst time getting myself enthused about the vampire mythos. It's a leftover from the early 90s. I was tall, thin, had pale skin, and long, dark hair. I also have protruding canines due to lack of orthodontic care growing up, and wore mostly black.

I was not even remotely goth, though. But because of how I looked, I spent the last couple of years of high school and most of my two years in college dealing with goths and being... it's hard to describe. Obsessed over? Looked at as some sort of weird museum exhibit? Everybody constantly assumed that I was just waiting for the opportunity to put in a red light bulb and smoke cloves, and play VTM with them, and acted seriously put out when I turned them down. It got incredibly obnoxious after a while. Not to mention almost stalker levels of creepy and uncomfortable, especially after Interview with the Vampire came out in '94.

Ever since, I've avoided most things tied to the vampire mythos (with the exceptions of Buffy and What We Do in the Shadows.)

But that really is a cool presentation! Hell, I'd almost hold out until I could afford a physical copy on that basis alone if I were going to go that route.

[Blackhawk]

Some others I've heard of are Quill (not a lot of appeal there), Alone Among the Stars (plus the variants), and Village Witch (has some appeal, although every time I read the description my mind goes to Kiki's Delivery Service!)

[Smoove_B]

But that really is a cool presentation! Hell, I'd almost hold out until I could afford a physical copy on that basis alone if I were going to go that route.

The book is marvelous. And you're describing only one type of very specific vampire. With this book you can start as a caveman if you want or as a Turkish trader during the Roman era. Maybe a Caribbean / pirate vampire that smuggles sugar? Whatever you want (but I get being "stuck" in the Bram Stoker / Anne Rice view). I'm actually looking to start my own solo RPG using the recently released Hunter: The Reckoning ruleset - just need to finish reading the rules as I'm completely unfamiliar.

Hadn't heard of those other ones. Some people are really into the idea. I'm not quite there yet (but I get what they're trying to encourage).

[Blackhawk]

It's not so much that I'm 'stuck' there as it is that when I hear the word 'vampire' my skin crawls.

And I'm not sure if I'm there yet, either. I like the idea, and might be willing to give it a try. I think I'd be more interested if writing the journals by hand were more practical for me.

[Smoove_B]

Another one I've been messing around with is Long Haul 1983:

LONG HAUL 1983 tells the story of a dangerous journey through an empty world.

You play a long-haul truck driver trying to make their way home. Every day, you’ll hit the road, navigating treacherous highways, fleeing from menacing threats, and dealing with the psychological impacts of isolation.

And at the end of each day, you’ll find a payphone, make a call, and leave a message for the most important person in your life.

They never pick up. You never stop calling.

Using a deck of cards, a few dice, and a microphone, players will create an original narrative of resilience in the face of world-shifting catastrophe.

They want you to actually record a message - even if it's just using your phone - as part of the game play. It's definitely an interesting idea and might help with the the idea of long-form writing as a stumbling block...

[Blackhawk]

Writing I can do! At least, as long as it is typing.

[malchior]

Sort of, yes. You can add in Fate or Mythic GM mechanics where you're rolling some dice to give you decision parameters when you ask questions about what's happening but some people just free-form figure it out.

I would highly (seriously, highly) recommend you go read up on 1000 Year Old Vampire. There's a link in the page to his itch.io page where you can get a free community copy of the PDF - every time someone buys a copy of the book, he generates free PDFS for those that need them. Since I purchased a hard copy, know that when you take a free one it's from me.

Nice recommendation! I picked this up tonight. It has really interesting game mechanics and it feels very replayable.

[baelthazar]

Has anyone tried any of the solo journaling RPGs?

*Ahem* Didn't you follow my Ironsworn campaign a while back? I consider Ironsworn (and it upcoming but delayed-in-the-US-due-to-shipping-nonsense brother Starforged) to be journaling RPGs. I loved playing it, but changes in my work and life schedule made it harder to do my once-per-day entry. If you haven't downloaded the free version of Ironsworn, I would suggest giving it a shot.

[Blackhawk]

Has anyone tried any of the solo journaling RPGs?

*Ahem* Didn't you follow my Ironsworn campaign a while back?

I did. I was using a conversation starter.

[baelthazar]

Has anyone tried any of the solo journaling RPGs?

*Ahem* Didn't you follow my Ironsworn campaign a while back?

I did. I was using a conversation starter.

Long story sort, I enjoy these journaling RPGs way more than I thought I would.

As an alternative, I have been looking at Mork Borg along with the free set of random tables for solo called Solitary Defilement to create an OSR-style randomized hexcrawl. There is a space version as well (called Death in Space and Solo Orbits) but I don't own those.

I also grabbed a print copy of The Dread Thingonomicon for its many random prompts and characters. It allows you to either enhance a journal RPG or play a solo hexcrawl and add some flavor.

Lastly, I bought a whole set of print-on-demand mapping tiles and the rule books for d100 dungeon. It makes it more like a board game RPG. That said, I just wasn't struck by the d100 rules - they were VERY "swingy" and I found you got caught in Kobayashi Maru "no win" situations a bit too much.

[AWS260]

Thousand Year Old Campfire, the spiritual successor to Thousand Year Old Vampire, showed up in the mail today. It's a beautiful production, less extravagant than Vampire but incredibly evocative of its theme. I am really looking forward to taking it for a spin, and seriously considering buying a copy for a geologist friend of mine.