This thread is all about solo games and campaigns. Apparently nobody bothered to make the new one.Rune Soldier edition.>Old thread >>96465762Resources: https://rentry.org/srpgghttps://infinityweavers.link/re-up/solo-rp-toolkitMore threads:https://archive.4plebs.org/tg/search/subject/%2Fsrpgg%2F/Thread Question(s): At what point does solo turn into novel-writing? Is that something you enjoy, don't? What can you do to prevent/promote it?
>TQ:I think when you're writing more than just bullet points. I'm here to play a game, not write a novel.
Since if is the spooky month, anyone got recommendations for spooky games? I'm aware of Call of Cthulhu and Vaesen as horror games with solo resources.
>At what point does solo turn into novel-writing? Is that something you enjoy, don't? What can you do to prevent/promote it?I simply don't write that much down. I keep a single "Campaign Notes" .txt file that's filled with mostly boring technical details, like the current weather and how many days must pass before I roll for more random weather. How many goblins are in cave x. Travel distance between town y and z. My character sheets are the same bland data dump in another .txt file. NPCs are lucky if I write more than four sentences about them!
>>96762765Couldn't you just run a spooky campaign with any game? Just add undead!
>>96763316He might want baked in sanity mechanics.>>96762765Kult 2e isn't inherently built for solo play, but since its loosely based on pbta most solo resources should carry over.
Imagine playing this SOCIAL activity alone.lol. That's it, not even an lmao
>>96727531Juice seemed pretty decent, I'll test that one out for a bit, thanks
>>96761554>Thread Question(s): At what point does solo turn into novel-writing? Is that something you enjoy, don't? What can you do to prevent/promote it?I never write my roleplays in a novelistic style.My logs are always more like a list of actions and effects with most of the creative stuff being held in my head.Ironsworn systems are ofc an exception but I don't think they lead to writing that would actually be good in a novel. Too much constant fucking up, you'd end up with one of those annoying stories where a protagonist can't walk between towns without it being an ordeal.And even there every 2nd/3rd line in my notes is stuff like "Action 3, Challenge 7 3 Burn momentum Weak Hit" so it's not exactly great reading.
>>96763316I like those games. But as>>96763609says, I like to have gamified stress in horror.
Anyone got experience with Space Aces? I've just skimmed through it a bit, but I liked the large amount of tables and such. But I think the character creation is way too bare and thin. Not sure if I want to mix it with something else. The d20+d6 didn't seem too bad
>>96761836Yeah it should just be short descriptions of what happens in the game for later when you return to the game so you know what's going on.
I was thinking it would be easy to generate random encounters but then the story wouldn't make sense so now I'm not sure what I'll do. I just need to avoid doing the GM work somehow and letting an AI take that place is very tempting.
>>96770930You could always make it a side quest, re-interpret whatever came up, or just disregard it.
>>96761554>>96766307Ironically, I feel like a solo rpg could be a decent way to force a first-draft through writers block.Even if you end up editing it heavily it still works as a starting point.
>>96773795I'm gonna probably try it soon. Just on the fence as to whether I just use mythic to set scenes or if I use the full chaos engine and storyline system for the whole thing.Ironically I'm gonna have to play a solo rpg first to get back into practice for using it all.
>>96766710I have not played the newest edition, but played TNG. It is a neat but indeed very light system. From what I've heard they made the mechanics somehow even more streamlined in the new edition.
Going to be playing Dragonbane this weekend, what am I in for?
I'm pretty out of practice and feeling uninspired. I tried getting two games off the ground but both ran back into the ground. tonight, I will have someone with a gun walk into the room.also anyone tried the new Riftbreakers yet? I skimmed the core rules and some of the tables and it seems sort of fun. I'm gonna try to give it a whirl soon
How fun is "Iron Valley"? I'm looking for a cute time.
>>96779398It's alright. Pretty much just Ironsworn without violence
>>96777490Pretty fun condensed BRP experience.
>>96774336No more stats, just one career path alá BoL. And a towel I don't know what to do with. I kinda hate how the how-to-play and character-creating section is formattedStill on the reading phase, but I added 5 stats, mostly inspired by the original, even if it is just a plus or minus on the d20 though
>>96780313>And a towel I don't know what to do withIt is a The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy reference.
>>96780366Oh yeah, that makes sense. It's been so many years since I read that
>>96761554>TQI just do bullet points. I play solo games a but like board games though with lots of combat and rolling.
Sigil & Shadow is pretty cool urban fantasy game for solo play with the unofficial solo supplement. Really quick and simple but engaging, and really adaptable and flexible. It does not have it's own setting, which means it fits into a lot of different occult/horror vibes, but does require either making a setting or using preexisting one. https://pulpum.itch.io/sigil-shadow-solo-modeI would also recommend grabbing the small supplements the game's creator made outside Osprey Publishing for $2.https://chaosgrenade.itch.io/echoed-invocations
>>96770930Its not like everything needs to advance the story.
>>96761554Reminder that if nobody saw you playing, it didn't happen and you're just day-dreaming about having a game going.
>>96783913nobody saw you playing over discord either anon
>>96783913It was real in my mind
Do you lads like to separate GM work & gameplay? I'm usually making content at the same time I play a session, with very little prep work. It has the downside of frequent interruptions, but the advantage of me as a player not knowing exactly what's happening next
>>96770930The random encounters become the story.>roll goblins in a bugbear lairWhat the FUCK are goblins doing here???Hmm....
>>96787253>Bugbears are giant, hairy cousins of goblins who frequent the same areas as their smaller relatives.Also>They have no compunctions about eating anything they can kill, including humans, goblins, and any monsters smaller than themselves
>>96787310Is this the reason you just came up with, or actual "lore" or whatever?It was just an example.
>>96787328It's from an ADnD monster manual.
>>96783913I've heard of codependence, but doubting your own existence without other people to verify it is another level. Seek help.
>TQI like writing in a log style,each quarter of the day gets a few sentences. I keep weather info and rolls on another notebook. I usually play combats first and then summarize them after the fact.>>96787028I use mythic, so it's a mix. Often I just look up interesting creatures for the biomes I'm close to and come up with stuff on the fly. It can interrupt the gameplay, as does interpreting some of mythics rolls too. I often get stuck with homebrewing systems and finding stats for creatures and that's the number one killer of my games
Never really played an rpg before, is the stuff in the op all I really need to learn how to get started?
>>96783913I'm gonna try doing this next session. I realized last time that it took me over an hour to do a single combat round, because of all the journalling. Time to dial it back a bit.
I've been wanting to try to get back into solo again, after a hiatus. Been jumping through different systems, not quite settling on oneWhich system do you people prefer?
>ran Mythic and Savage Worlds together for a while>among other reasons along with the cognitive load scaling up too much over time I ended up quittingI kind of want to get back to it but when I remember just how much I had to do, making and printing out statblocks, writing every little thing down, combat sessions stretching on way too long and ending up unfairly stacked against myself, shit made me wanna kms. How exactly do I get back into it without torturing myself? Hell I even thought about acting as DM and emulating a player because at least then I spend less time interpreting the oracle.
>>96789036If you've never played before you're probably best off with a procedural game like 4 Against Darkness, Notequest, or Barbarian Prince. Once you're used to playing, take more time to imagine what's going on and use inspiration tables to add details. If those details suggest different results from the game mechanics then change the mechanics to match. Once you're used to that you should be able to learn and play whatever RPG you like.
>>96790169I'm using a very simplified Mythic GME>no chaos, chaos rank fixed at column five>no scenes>no random events>no word pairsOver time I've come to rely on oracles only for yes/no questions, and for fine details I use random tables.>>96790189>at least then I spend less time interpreting the oracleThis is why I stopped using word pairs, too much time spent scratching my head and wondering, "How am I supposed to use this?".
>>96790433How do you spark ideas without word pairs?
>>96790433I was more thinking of the ttrpg system. Thinking of trying Legend in the Mist. Word pairs is something I find work 1\3 of the time. I did find myself spending way too long trying to make sense of things. Sometimes it did work as a charm, and took me in places I didn't foresee >>96790189Swade is the first system I used for solo, and while I really like it, and it is super customizable, it's a bit bloated? I struggled with balancing encounters, they tended to be too easy for me, at least for my combat focus spear and shield character
>>96790683I didn't think of not using SW. If anyone has any system suggestions that capture the same feel while being a bit less bloated I'd like to know too.
>>96790631I use one of the free AI to help interpret things when I'm too tired to make two random words make sense in the quest. They usually come up with something good enough to use or at least give me more to consider to come up with something workable myself.
>>96790683Chronica Feudalis has a similar step-die system to Savage Worlds, combined with aspects similar to Fate. It is a grounded medieval system first and foremost, but feels easy enough to homebrew and hack. I am currently playing a Harnworld game with it.
>>96792640Feeding things into AI seems like the opposite of reducing workload in this case.
>>96789036It can help if you watch a person play to understand what to do. So I recommend YouTube as well.
Are there historical solo rpgs? I'm interested in roman times.
>>96766307>>96773795ronsworn is great for generating stories. When you refine it you filter out the times your character trips and breaks his spear and add mundane parts.I'm taking a break from Ironsworn because I'm basically writing my journals out in full prose at this point and it gets hard to avoid planning plot beats ahead of time.
The sheer size of OP's>Resources:is drowning.
>>96802039It's not a solo game but Mythras has a roman setting. That's one I've run solo myself, there's a site with an enemy generator so you can offload some of the work there. Biggest downside is that combat takes a while but it is fun.
I recommend using programs that automate the boring parts of looking up oracles, like Tayruh's Solo Toolkit, RanDM Solo or the One-Page Solo Engine app.>>96790433Is this the One-Page Mythic or are you using your own simplification?
>>96803436I hope that is a good thing.
>>96803436My word, I hadn't looked through it until now.
>>96790631>How do you spark ideas without word pairs?I'm a pretty shameless copy cat. If I see something in any other kind of media that I like I'll use it in my own solo games. I'll even rip off random things I see in real life. For example, I might handle a question such as, "What does the barkeeper look like?" by simply deciding on the spot that he looks exactly like the random stranger I saw at the grocery store. I find this technique of just using the first random thing that comes to mind and running with it, much faster than using word pairs to inspire something. Anything from plot hooks, to monsters my PC encounters, I just steal & steal some more>>96804669It's my own simplification
Do any of you who own books think it's easier playing with them than PDFs. Considering getting the Sundred Isles ones while they're still in print.
>>96809189Books are easier than PDFs but PDFs can be searched for keywords easier.
>>96809189Real books are so much easier flip to book marks and just more pleasant to use. Reading a dense pdf on a phone is miserable and a laptop is way too much screen space for a ttg. I nice tablet might be okay. I have an old e reader and it's much to slow for rulebooks
>>96808742>I'll even rip off random things I see in real life.I never thought of doing that, probably because I live in the Philippines.
>>96809189when rules related to the same thing (example: combat) are scattered throughout the book, the pdf version is easieryou should probably stop using the book after a while once you've got your cheat sheets and tables out of the book
Never played an rpg before, solo or with others. Already have a few in mind, just want to know about dice. Are there brands I should or should not buy?
>>96812253dice are dice. get a set that has good color contrast and you'll be fine otherwise.
>>96812253>Already have a few in mindwhich ones?i got my D6s with numbers so it's faster to read and add them up, happy with them so far2 sets of 2 different colors that way the ennemy get their set and you get your set is what I've seen, i only have the player set will get the ennemy set when I can,
>>96812253I've got some with numbers printed on them and others with pips. You can buy individual dice the exact color you want. That's what I did for Ironsworn.
>>96812352yeah those colors are very nice, red for damage rolls I like
I'd just like to say that the best part about SRPGs is that you can actually do a decent villain campaign without it being "Bunch of low impulse control retards patiently wait for the perfect moment to stab each other in the back without any particular benefit to be gained from doing so"
Does anyone have opinions on TREY solo engine? It is supposedly a good match for d100 games.
>>96812757I'm reading over what I can see now on scribd and it seems like a pretty decent all in one book package but there's nothing jumping out to me that isn't already covered by the staples like mythic and UNE
>>96762765>>96763316Does Mythic's genre rules work well? I've glanced at them but never really gotten into it.
>>96790189Don't use SW maybe. I've never even played it because i'm too retarded to understand it or I find it too bloated because I see a rule and know I can implement it in a simpler or easier way.>making and printing out statblocks, writing every little thing down, combat sessions stretching on way too longMy initial thought is you're doing it wrong. Condense your notes and avoid systems that require intense statblocks or crunchy combat. Maybe that can be done with SW, I dunno.
>>96766307I'd read a novel or short story about a protag having a really shitty afternoon trying to get from one town to another. I watched a short documentary recently about a guy who cycles over a small mountain to visit his deceased friends widow. One of the funniest things i've ever seen.>cycles there a few times a year>half the trip requires carrying the bike on his shoulder>he's got whiskey hidden away all along the trail, in streams, under rocks etc>by the time he gets there he's three sheets to the wind>It's blue hour, getting dark>knocks on her door>she's not in
>>96813459Skimmed the same through now that I learned ti is uploaded there. And yes, agreed, seems like a good condensed system but nothing revolutionary. Also not necessarily really seeing where the good match for d100 games some reviews talked of come from, probably from the authors previously making d100 games and resources which the reviewers use. However it is simpler than Mythic which I do like, and story tokens seem like a fun idea, so I might give it a try.
>>96814132What system do you use? I'm open to suggestions on something that doesn't make me wanna pull my hair out.
I know this sounds kinda stupid for solo rpgs but has anyone found a good way to do a more social game.I want to be interacting with loads of NPCs and not just doing the questgivers in an otherwise desolate wilderness thing that ironsworn has going on.
>>96814879I use B/X derivative stuff generally. I've done a bit of Traveller as well.
>>96812737I'm about to begin an AD&D 1e campaign built around proper assholes wanting money for this exact reason.
>>96814945You can use progress tracks for relationship drama. Convincing someone, seducing someone, impressing them, etc.
>>96814945The latest Mythic Magazine (#58) has a bunch of stuff on generating NPC dialogue
>>96818054What is it like? Does it involve interpretation still.
>>96814945Did you take a look at LET'S TALK! and KEEPING CONTACT! solo rpg tools?
>>96814945maybe i've gone completely schizophrenic but i use a random phrase generator and try to get some "vibes" on what the NPC is trying to say. i unironically took inspiration from watching Terry Davis doing the same thing with his bible phrase generator in the Down the rabbit hole video about him.
>>96814945I use Üne to generate my dialogue.For example: Friendly NPC conversation bearing: celebrationfocus: last storyIn my current game I have just brought in a prisoner, so the NPC is probably celebrating that. If I don't have anything to celebrate, I use Mythic to come up with something
Do you talk out loud to yourself when you do this?
>>96821369No more than when playing vidya.
>>96821369I'm one of those internal dialogue brain people, or whatever it was called. I narrate my entire game session in my head without speaking aloud.
>>96818054I should probably start reading mythic magazine desu
How do you make your solo games feel more "real" though?
>>96822831Whaddya mean?
>>96821369I don't think talking out loud is normal but speaking to yourself under your voice is.
>>96822831there's nothing more real than a proper combat system with depth
>>96809189Nah, a tablet is a much better investment.
>>96822831When my character takes damage, I hit myself. When my character get's a fatigue level, I run until I'm fatigued. When my character dies, I kill myself
>>96828979Subtle way to brag about your characters never dying.
>>96809189I like books but they are bulky and expensive. Quality varies with books.A good 10inch+ tablet is a top tier. I've got mines synced with my desktop library. I've wanted a vertical monitor for a while.Probably depends on a case by case basis.
Tell us about your most recent session anons!Looking for good stories and inspiration
>>96822831Real life time = campaign time
>>96829564>A good 10inch+ tablet is a top tierany recommendations? are there some that give like 3 days battery life with an pdf open on it?
>>96829829I just got a Fire 11 on sale, the Fire 10's were on sale for half of that price too.pros>runs well>screen is big enough for every rulebook I've checked>I've got SyncTrayzor and Obsidian running on it for desktop paritycons>can't debloat it but you can circumvent/ignore with fire toolbox. e.g. buying the cheaper version with ads and then removing the ads with fire toolbox.>not recommended if you're one of those zoomers or phoneposters who can't into technologyI can possibly get 3 days out of it but I don't have the screen on a lot. I maybe have the screen run time at 1-3 hours a day. Doubtful?
>>96829770I'll post my two recent sessions because they were short and months apart. They're from my test game for my own system for running games in TES. Nothing exciting has really happened yet.>Makrub the Orc diplomat arrives at the gates or Bruma in the wee hours of the morning. He's travelled South by wagon for a few days from Riften. He's under orders from his Lord to try and secure diplomatic ties between Riften and Bruma through pacts, whether its trade or military support. Anything really.>At the city gates, a guard halts him and doesn't let him through, alerting him to the fact the city is in lockdown due to a high profile escapee from the dungeon.>Makrub manages to persuade the guard to let him in with talk of important diplomatic matters, taking a note of his name and giving a promise to let his Lord know how good of a job he's doing. (Makrub probably won't mention this dumb guard to the Lord of Bruma.)>With it being late Makrub heads to the Jerall View inn to find a bed for the night. Outside the inn two merry Nords are blocking the door. They're having a dispute over one wounding the other during a friendly brawl they've presumably just had. Makrub manages to sneak past unnoticed.>In the morning Makrub heads to Castle Bruma to try and gain an audience with the Lord. On the way he overhears rumours that the escaped prisoner has been believed to be caught but it's complicated by the possible use of magic to alter his appearance and they are not entirely sure if it is the right person. They're holding him anyway until they can find out.>Two guards staring out into the distance refuse to let Makrub into the castle to meet with the lord. They openly tell him the Lord is far too busy dealing with other matters, mostly relating to the high profile prisoner. The city is still in lockdown.I'll continue the session later today after some food. Next is exploring effects the lockdown and see where this escaped prisoner and diplomatic thread takes me.
>>96815375How does B/X compare to Savage Worlds generally?
>>96831853I wouldn't know, I can't get to grips with Savage Worlds so I can't really speak about it.I really dislike crunch or big inelegant rulebooks. I even find B/X too much sometimes, which most fa/tg/uys would probably find laughable.What kind of genre are you trying to run?
>>96831986For a while? Fantasy, DnD style stuff. I'm now realizing SW even says the amount of crunch is up to you. You don't HAVE to run with minis and maps and whatnot. My issue really was that I insisted on adding as much crunch as possible when there are Quick Encounters, Dramatic Tasks etc. for this specific purpose. I'm really thinking about running a stripped down urban fantasy game...
>>96829564Vertical monitors are great for reading any pdf. Had one for work for lease review and ordered one for my house after the first week of using it for all my ttrpg stuff. Now on to 4 monitors using 2 for references to what I am playing/running, 1 for my note taking, and 1 for everything elseIf people are on sure on them and you are running double monitors already get a stand with am arm that can rotate from horizontal to vertical
>>96832017If you're comfortable with SW and the system is flexible enough then why not just go for it. Any depth you 'need' can be substituted in with oracle stuff while you ignore the official rules in favor of speed. I've had a friend from 5e have similar issues getting used to B/X.Not sure about urban fantasy, maybe another anon does.>>96832018Hell yeah. I use an old tv for a second monitor and it takes up half the desk so i've not got much room left. I could maybe get a stand for it.
>>96832017I use a tablet with a graph paper app thingy, which I make dungeons/maps, and write short summaries of on the side, I find that it works decently well. I think Swade is flexible enough that you can make it as simple as you want. I still like the dice system that it uses, even if exploding can be a bit.. explody. I like creating and fleshing out characters, which Swade also does really well. And it's easy and fast to make some gooks to fight, the more complex monster you can look up decently fast. But I hate looking up rules, or checking some abilities. I tend to run in fantasy/historical stuff, and having a core rulebook, fantasy rulebook, and maybe some previous version of Greco-Roman / Musketeer / whatever supplement gets really tedious to look up things.B/X feel a lot more built around a party of multiple characters, and you need to tweak some stuff to make it work with less. And you don't really get a lot of character customization, which is fine. I like B/X a lot, and it got a lot of easy neat system for a bunch of iconic things. But I think you kinda need to make a party unless you want to import other systems to it
>>96829770From my modern fantasy zombie apocalypse campaign>Our survivor is sleeping in her parent's house, Emily is now the sole living resident. She's been on her own for ten days now.>Dawn arrives but it is both too cold and too dark to do anything. She hides in bed for another two hours.>After an hour or so of mundane prep. and breakfast, it's time to go looting for food & supplies.>Venturing outside reveals a random encounter with some deer on the highway, but nothing comes of it.>Our survivor arrives at an unexplored nearby house. It's a small mobile home with a single vehicle out back.>Knocking loudly at the door and listening reveals a zombie moving around inside. Door is unlocked.>Our survivor engages the zombie, and pops it in the belly with her machete. The zombie woman lands a solid blow on our survivor. Emily takes advantage of her speed and retreats outside.>The zombie pursues, but she finishes it off at range with a magic spell. Time to search the house.>Former occupant was a gang member, searching the house turns up bags of weed, meth, and meth making equipment. Our survivor scores a pair of hiking boots and some food.>Back at home to unload weight and eat lunch. Emily ventures out again, this time to hit a house to the North.>This house has only a single malnourished cat inside. Doors are locked however. A locked sliding glass door reveals an obvious entry.>Repeated rock chucking defeats the glass wall. Why bother locking your doors when you have glass walls? Larger two story house, this one takes three hours to search in full.>Jackpot, Emily turns up a hatchet, a sheathed combat knife, two magic runes written on paper, and a pile of misc. food supplies with other goodies.>The cat fled the house rather than interact with Emily. Good luck kitty!>Back to base to enjoy this rare loot. Emily is now trying to figure out exactly what new spells she can learn from these two runes.
What do you guys use to represent characters? Looking for recommendations of figures or even tokens.
>>96835384https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hb32Oq7xdhE
>>96835384I use Dragonbane and Pathfinder pawns. I don't want to deal with paints and miniatures, at least not yet.
>>96829770Running a medieval spaghetti western>PC is an ex-herder, current rowing bountyhunter>a petty horse thief has stolen a horse from a wealthy farmer and has a bounty on him>track him down easily, but he notices this>fail to see his ambush but manage to beat him and break his leg>bring him in, get my reward and get to stay at the farmers house, see his family>lot's of trouble around the place>next day get to the market and stay at an inn>fight breaks out with co-conspirators of the horse thief>the farmers daughter is at the inn and get's help from town militia>2v1,I'm unarmed but hold them of>get my arm broken when help arrives>militia doesn't like me for fighting, but get a pass this time>have to leave town next day with a broken arm>at least the farmers daughter is nice and helps with healing my arm>I guess I'll try to find another town to get bounties
>>96829564The worst thing about real books is that they fall apart or pages fall out. No wait, the worst part is that you have to pay to replace them.
Star Trek Anon! As far as I know, you don't play Captain's Log. What GME do you use to play STA core game?
Thinking about running a very slimmed down Mythic with Savage Worlds with heavy focus on using Quick Encounters, Dramatic Tasks, etc. to avoid crunch. One of many campaign ideas I have is heists. You guys got any general ideas on how to enhance things or keep things fast and loose?
>>96839310>ywn have a stoic, kuudere Vulcan wifeWhy even live? Just to suffer?
>>96838793they don't consume power to operate
>>96790433Do you still use threads?
>>96840111I do not use threads. When I first started solo gaming, I used all of Mythic and its features, but now I just use the Yes/No Fate chart
>>96822831Bust out the maps and miniatures. Add oracle dice and cards. Anything physical you think could add value to your game play experience.
>>96818054Is there an archive of mythic magazines?
>>96839310I use the captain's log oracles and tables one's, and i also have ai assist with designing extended tasks, but for DOING things, I just use the full rules wherever possible.it helps in the STA is cuilt around mission briefs being for an 'episode' / 'two-parter' of a 'show'. the mechanics of tests also help, in that the difficulty of tasks are almost always predetermined. a hazard 3 electro mag navigation hazard to the ship has set rules in the game, I don't have to come up them.SO instead of 'playing' my 'character' I am running 'characters' through an 'episode' and more so writing the 'script' of the captain's log of it.thanks to how detailed sta characters are, It is rather simple to keep them acting withing their idioms.then its simply a case of making sure you never mary sue / gary stu any character and they never asspull a magical 'right' answer to the 'problem' currently facing them that they do not KNOW.for example, while the CAPTAIN is highly mentally resistant to the tilikaal's mental fuckery, the crew are unaware that some of the crew have fallen under the influence of them, thanks to the hazards they've been charting, investigating etc. so the characters currently do not know some of those abord ship have been suborned. and they've not got any reason to be suspicious thereof, etc, because they don't know nothing about them. they're still just beginning their exploration of the expanse and haven't learned anything about that.
>>96842987Cool thanks, you are doing more of a player simulation, I dig that.
LLMs are so close to be the perfect tool for solo RPG, I cannot wait, and at the same time I know my life is over as soon as context is cheap enough to actually run hundred hours campaigns without lorebooks.
>>96847436you can already ask one to act like a GM and use it in voice mode
>>96847436seems kind of shit to me
>>96848811If they ever figure out how to give them a memory that's longer than a goldfish's, I'll check back into them.
>>96847436There are fundamental issues that an LLM will never be able to get over that your own brain can.It's always going to want to suck your dick for example.Do you want a DM that never really challenges you?
>>96844996yep. more of a 'what would these people actually do?
>>96849176>It's always going to want to suck your dick>picrelHardly fundamental when they've been rigorously trained as yesmen
>first mythic question of new game>random event: ambiguouslol, way to make me do as much thinking as possible immediately
>>96847436>as soon as context is cheap enough to actually run hundred hours campaigns without lorebooks.Context is their fundamental problem. It's the most expensive part and it gets exponentially more demanding the more you have.Hesitant to say that anything in computing will never be solved but you'd need a transformative leap to stop it being a problem.(And even then they'd need to get better at knowing what past details to give weight/attention to)
I used to have a role playing group back in the day but ended up dying down. I've tried getting my gf into it, but I've had no success, mainly because there's no interaction and it's always her against my story, and I have almost no experience. Not interested in playing with random dudes on my lgs at this point, so I want to dip my toe into solo RPG. Which systems would you recommend for someone who's never ran a succesfull campaign?
>>96851487Basically >>96790314
You guys playing horror themed games for spooky season?
>>96809189I've been a book purist for a long time, however I am getting a lot of mileage out of pdfs these days. I view them on two 27 inch monitors and print out selections as needed, or even in entirety if needed. Books are honestly kind of shitty in comparison.
What are some good systems that are setting agnostic and aren't too crunchy? I kinda don't want to play GURPs just for solo play lol.
>>96849176You can absolutely get chatbots that fucking kill and eat you, so I don't see why a DM with proper prompting wouldn't. The main issue as player would be the temptation to just not stay dead.
>>96856541too bad it seems pretty good for that it's a pretty good rabbit hole to get into
Considering getting ker nethalas. Is it a good option for a 1st timer? Heard good things about it
>>96858584I mean, I'm sure I could shave off some GURPs stuff to make it easier to solo play, but the idea I had for the narrative had was going to have characters from multiple kinds of settings, so I didn't want to have to use like seven different supplementary books
>>96859412Interesting, like different settings with different technology levels? Im doing fantasy now. I learned the system and gonna playtest it with different "hairy" encounters carefully crafted.
>>96859611no, the setting would be somewhere between high fantasy and eldritch horror, but the characters themselves were going to be plucked from different settings. so like, you'd have your bog standard fantasy warrior, some cyberpunk kid, an urban character, and an anime protagonist trying to figure out where they are and trying to escape the pocket dimension they're all stuck in.
>>96862427Start small and go from there; ker nethalas seems coolI read Gurps Lite and got hooked but It would take more work than I'm willing to put out to try and adapt it to a generated setting or one that exists, without it being spoiled completely from trying to make it ready to play as a solo campaign. Isn't that the same thing for most solo stuff though? The GM is you so most surprise and plot is already known before you play. Am I wrong?
>>96856541OVA is really good generic system.
>>96855084No. I'm always playing spooky games. Even my fantasy games are set in a Ravenloft-like setting.Sci-fi too, Alien/Event Horizon/Pitch Black type of games.I blame my parents. I asked for the Chill ttrpg as a kid and got DragonQuest instead. So I used almost exclusively the horror monsters in it when playing. It's influenced my way of playing. Not that I'm complaining, I love horror, but when I try something else it becomes horror sooner or later. Even superhero games.
>>96761554TQ:>start writing an encounter>write about 20 pages of dialogue and discussion and planning and shit>fights are just "X attempts to swing at Y but misses"I need to get better at my action scenes.
>>96847436The best use for LLMs is as glorified random table rollers.They will never have good context since, as the other anon said, it gets exponentially more expensive to make them remember things.I found that the best use for them was to open a chest or find some magical artifact and have it tell me what the loot was. It came up with shit once like"A magical staff of growth that constantly pulses with life, making healing slowly better around it. If held in hand and activated it will bloom, causing 2d4 fruits to blossom, that can be eaten for +3hp each, but activating the staff alsos causes the user to grow tumors and plant tendrils from the holding arm, with the severity growing with how often they activate it"You can't roll shit like that from a table, and you can't always come up with it, that's where I think AI works best.
>>96864940checked it out and yeah i like this system a lot, especially how you can create your own custom attacks, thanks for this anon, gonna be trying this out soon!
I'm not sure about solo rp. Is it a good use of my time to pretend to be another person by myself?
>>96870954If you don't want to play solo RPGs, why are you in the solo RPG thread? Is that a good use of your time?
>>96870991I already play...
>>96761554>thread questionI like to keep notes in the first person to give myself context for later sessions. Just enough to remind myself, nothing crazy. I think that's the trick is to limit yourself to smaller descriptions.
>>96842147>archivecurrently on newvola
>>96870954It is already the norm for you: might as well gamify it...
>>96870954It's better than video games or tv
>>96873589I think it's the prep time that's killing me.
Outside guy here. I'm curious why someone would play a single-player TTG. Why not just write a novel? If you're both DM and player, how do you uncover secrets and balance against yourself? Part of what makes TTG fun to me is bouncing stuff off other players and the interactions between the players.Perhaps it's an acquired taste.
>>96875460It's just so you, so you can prep just the amount you need to get the game rolling.>>96875777Oracles. There is whole set of tools for doing this and keeping the game surprising. In some ways it's better than playing with a group as the only ego present is yours.
>>96875800I will say that with the advent of generative AI, it seems like it'd be easier to generate random content and fill up the background characters and world details. Do SPTTG players use AI a lot?
>>96875864I've found AI to be lacking, unless you put significant effort into curating the context, some people really like it though. Great thing about doing it solo is you use what works for you.
>>96875777I don't want to write a novel, I want to play a game. Given that, why do you think I would be better off writing a novel than playing a game?Randomness can substitute for secrets in most cases. Even if the GM is a separate person.I don't like people, so the social aspect does not appeal to me.
>>96868345Playing Tunnels and Trolls made me better at them. The game is hit or miss on a lot of stuff, and it's humor is not everyone's cup of tea, but the stunts mechanics is easy. Decide what you want to do. Roll for it. If you succeed, your stunt is a success: you cut the bad guy's hand/decapitate him/push him over the cliff/trip him/disarm him/etc.Harder and lethal stunts have a harder saving throw (lethal stunts might have been a house rule from our GM).I found it more intuitive and creative than having a list of moves you can make. A list mean picking the safest option most of the times. T&T stunts means picking the coolest option you can think of at the moment.
>>96870954Play as yourself/the GM then. It's fun. And good practice.
>>96877400>Given that, why do you think I would be better off writing a novel than playing a game?Investing all that mental energy into crafting a world and characters. I would want something to come of it. When you're playing with other players, there's a social aspect to it. When you're playing a vidya game, you're not dumping out the creative energy; you're enjoying the story and characters someone else made for you. With a solo TTG, nothing comes of it, at least from my perspective. >I don't like people, so the social aspect does not appeal to me.That's fair. I just think it's a pity that the world you enjoy will never be shared with others.
>>96878394Your perspective is lazy, shit and influenced by muh social media clout.Playing a game is it's own reward. Creative games are not for the lazy.
>>96878394>it's a pity that the world you enjoy will never be shared with othersWhy? Are you a zoomer who only exist if he has likes on social media?It's solo. The point is not sharing with others, it's having fun. Sharing can be helpful, but if you play just to post, it's not really solo, is it? It's just another version of play by post, but the game is you reading comments to boost your ego.
>>96878394I don't find it's a difficult investment of mental energy. Same way light exercise helps wake me up rather than exhausting me. Trying to write for other people does tend to be draining, even when it's just shitposts.
>>96878550>Your perspective is lazy, shit and influenced by muh social media clout.Cool it schizo.>Playing a game is it's own reward. Creative games are not for the lazy.I enjoy sandbox vidya as much as the next guy. It seems like a much more labor-intensive affair for the TTG equivalent. Crab meat. Too much work, not enough payoff.>>96878579>Why? Are you a zoomer who only exist if he has likes on social media?Hardly, I'm not saying you need to have a Twitch channel or shill your slop on some social media network. My idea is more "I hope you have some friends in meatspace, someone to share your content with". Conceivably, you could monetize your creative output by publishing the story or a blog of sorts online, but that's on you. >The point is not sharing with others, it's having fun.If you're not sharing it with others, I hope you're having fun. Far be it from me to dictate what someone else finds to be fun. >>96878614To be fair, I'm not familiar with any SPTTG system. Perhaps the games on offer have been effectively streamlined to maximize fun while reducing superfluous maths. I don't know if most of the SP content is mostly premade or generated by the user. The lack of context on my part for this medium is probably the root of my confusion.
>>96878812Some people love being creative. It's not a drawback, it's a feature. But if you are not into it, there's plenty of random tables out there that are more complex and specific to use. Solo was part of the hobby since 1975. But back then it was more about dungeon exploration, so easier to solo. D&D had solo rules in 75 in The Strategic Review magazine (by Gygax) and in the 79 in the DMG. And more rules in the 1984 module Midnight on Dagger Alley.Anyway, with these rules, dungeon generator, etc. it's very easy to delve with no need for creative input except for the choices you make.Something new, like Ironsworn, is more creative oriented. But it's not that hard. It's mostly just more time consuming than a roguelike/video game. A little more than being a GM with others, but not that much.You can also play a party, then split them up and play all their stories, something that is hard to do in a group. Or play the bad guys. Or play as the GM and use the solo tools to decide how the PCs act.You can also mix it up. Play as both GM and PC. It's not that hard to separate player and PC knowledge. If you have trouble, just use the solo tools for those moments when you're not sure what the PC or the GM would do.It's also a good way to test modules. Amateur or not. You know your players, so it might reveal a flaw in the module that you didn't think of.
>>96878812I doubt it's a matter of unfamiliarity. You just think elf games are work that needs some sort of payoff to be worthwhile. To me, elf games are their own reward. But I enjoy them as games, not as creative writing exercises.
>>96878923Interesting. >>96878951>I doubt it's a matter of unfamiliarity.You're free to think whatever you like.>You just think elf games are work that needs some sort of payoff to be worthwhile.Anything worth doing will require some work. That's part of the satisfaction of a job well done. In this case, the payoff is the fun to be had from the SP game.>But I enjoy them as games, not as creative writing exercises.I enjoy the more creative writing aspects of TTGs, so perhaps the SPTTG aren't for me. At least not the conventional offerings anyway. More combat-focused stuff completely misses me. 40k & Warhammer style games with armies smashing into each other are cool, but not my idea of fun.
>>96879086>Anything worth doing will require some workNonsense. There is no "satisfaction of a job well done" here, because there is no job. Just games played for fun.
>>96879191>Nonsense.You didn't take the time to learn the system you're using?You haven't done any research into your hobby?You don't take care to organize your materials and ensure you have as much fun as possible?Did you even bother to read what I wrote? Rhetorical question, get better bait.
>>96879266What the fuck does that have to do with anything? Spending time on something isn't "work". You can't understand why I enjoy playing games because your entire mental framework is completely wrong.
this is my best knight so far (after my maul knight)feel free to grab it and run with it, sword is supposed to be a greatsword but it's not that long
Anyone in this thread can recommend any solo RPGs that would be a good fit for a warlord goblin campaign, I've only played scarlet heroes and runecairn before so I'm looking for something that might have fun domain mechanics and good mass combat alongside the normal dungeon delving stuff, also if anyone would have mechanics for tech advancement if those even exist. I like the idea of playing a game where i start as a slightly more intelligent monster kind and try to wrangle a bunch of creatures into ruling a region.
>>96875777The process of writing a novel requires different skills. I've read about both. In one you need a premise for your story, in solo RPGs you don't do that. You come up with content on the fly and the game goes wherever the dice say. It's pretty different.
>>96882502>>96875777They are certainly separate activities with their own challenges, but they can work hand in hand.Novelization can be done afterwards. Since imagination will become structured and reinforced. I've seen it best done when it is character focused and follows from careful note-taking during play. In this way, the solo games are like a long form brainstorm as much as they are improvisational gaming.Not all of the actions need to be translated, just those which are relevant to or useful for the stories
TQ: I use to go full novel writing for my solo games, it was fun enough but it also took alot of time and energy to do. recently I've adopted a more daydream like method, I only take bullet notes and act out the scenes and dialogue in my mind. am used to doing this thanks to my habit of playing pretend conversations with characters in my head. it's actually my favorite form of daydreaming. Personally I think am starting to prefer this new method better.
>>96875777There are no gaming groups in my town, certainly none that I know of and I can't commit the time to go find one and play regular. To be honest I don't really want to associate with these people anyway. I'd like to play some TTG with miniatures to paint up but it needs to be mostly solo or co-op against the game. I don't mind whether it's a campaign book, app driven or encounter cards.
I wish there was a solo rpg that used tarot cards in the rules.
>>96888883I wish there was a website I can use to search for the things I wantYes, there are games that use or incorporate tarot decks but you'd have to look them up yourself
>>96889231Oh boy there are so many, I wonder what people actually use hmm.
>>96889241Pick one and report back
Any not-too-simple, but not-too-complicated hex-crawl tables/books you would recommend for OSE?
>>96890018this is the one that I know of, for tableshttps://ko-fi.com/s/5851af1b82might be others if you tryhard google
>>96890120Thanks for the suggestion. I ended up looking at the OSE trove and found something in there
>>96890018scarlet heros I find to have tables that run the sweet spot of not too simple like some ultra lites and not to complex like some full scale games.
Speaking of hexcrawls - what depth of mapping do you do for your games? Stopping in the middle of play to draw out a proper map seems like it's gonna kill momentum, but there's not much room for "draw the map out in advance and reveal it as you go" when you have complete knowledge of what you've created.
>>96893806I don't think drawing it out in advance is the right play. Making it up as you go is the right move.
>>96893806>>96893907I guess I'm the opposite. I draw my 19 point Hex grid out in advance according to the game that I'm playing so I can establish a local town / city and several POI to get a adventure starting. Most of the tables that I use is rather vague in descriptions so it allows further plot hooks and adventures.
>>96879948That's cool, how'd you make this?
>>96897026chatGPT drew it from my prompt and then I removed the background in GIMP
Does anyone have a suggestion as to the best system to use to alongside Battletech? I’d like to have a solo rpg to add some more depth to mercenary, house, and clan units between missions, with political intrigue, infiltration/spying, and non-mech combat. Given that the setting has, at least in part, a semi-feudalistic feel, I don’t need a specific sci-fi system. A fantasy or historical one should be easily useable, too.
>>96898928Traveller? I gather it was originally Traveller-based anyway.
>>96898928There's a battletech TTRPG. I think it's called MechWarrior?
>>96898928MechWarrior 2. Don't play 3, it's a mess.
Alternatives to Me, Myself, and Die for examples of solo play?
>>96903281https://www.youtube.com/@veiledspace They are a little produced, but still a lot of fun. Just play with your toys and talk in funny voices, if you get comfortable enough upload it to youtube so we can enjoy your playtime too.>>96893806What I do is I consider drawing the map part of playing and therefore not an interruption to momentum, but I enjoy drawing the maps. Just draw the stuff your character would reasonably know about and leave the details of populating the hexes for when your character gets there.
Does anyone have opinions on the solo mode included with the new Coriolis game?
>>96904174No.
>>96904174I'm glad they're doing this for games now.
Anyone got a method for just generating quests?
>>96903281Bandit's Keep's actual play.
>>96910988look at the tables for captain's log and the various generator tables in the STA splats.instead of generating 'an quest' STA goes about the whole thing totally differently. each 'mission brief' is actually generated as if it was an EPISODE of a ST show.so you have a whole bunch of A,B and even C plot matrices.try thinking about your play that way. instead of 'una questa!'think about it as if you're crafting a story of your characters going off to DO a thing, and other stuff can happen along the way / complicate / interfere with or even change tack or track of the 'quest' totally.use the game rules so you aren't being a munckin etc, and having OP mary sue's or gary stu's win at everything forever, but think less about the 'quest' and more about the story of the characters, how they would act, react, within the scenario.almost like a play or tv show episode etc you are 'watching'
i am explaining it shittily.uh... let's try again...so let's say you roll up a quest, go kill the goblins. simple.but you suck at dialogue and roleplaying 'in character'.but your character is a loner who works solo, and really really hates goblins. so he doesn't charge in headfirst like a retard to die he uses traps, poison, he has light chain and leather armour, a buckler and a short sword, he knows goblin nests will be close in and foul. so he fucking smokes out the nest first by blocking every exit but one and firing the last, taking the 15 goblins one by one when they come at the entrance.and that is how you get goblin slayer.
