Black Rock Shooter edition.This thread is dedicated to all kinds of solo games, systems, tools, and campaigns.TQ: What's the biggest inspiration for your games? Could be books, anime, or anything else.> Last Thread: >>97842250Resources:https://rentry.org/srpgghttps://infinityweavers.link/re-up/solo-rp-toolkitMore threads:https://archive.4plebs.org/tg/search/subject/%2Fsrpgg%2F/orhttps://desuarchive.org/tg/search/subject/%2Fsrpgg%2F/type/op/
>engaging in a social activity alonelolmaybe even lmao
>>98031065fishfag
I’ve had a weird sort if solo play paralysis for a few months now, as I’ve been busy with life and prepping for a cyberpunk red game. I did plenty of looking into solo rpgs and new oracles to use, planning trying one again as I enjoyed Starforged and Sundered Isles last uear, but for whatever reason I couldnt summon the autism. Today however, I sat the fuck down and tried again, deciding to do Cyberpunk Singleplayer with one of my NPC fixers. Why the fuck did I ever stop. I made a new gig where I need to extract a kidnapped heiress before shes forced to sign over her rights, made her charcter stats and appearance (combining a few game tables), wrote 3 fucking pages of notes within a half hour of story where my dude managed to sneak in a choke someone until they were knocked out. I freed the gal and rolled the next thing to happen, got CLIFFHANGER and FIST FIGHT. So as I get her free and she’s still dazed from Brain dance torture, the other kidnapper comes in and we get in a fight but guns get knocked away, now we are brawling but each turn I’ll roll to see if she recovers and joins the fight. Shits so exciting for some reason. Why did I stop.
>>98031551>Shits so exciting for some reason.It is, you conjured the magic back again!>Why did I stop.Sometimes you need a break, man.When I couldn't summon the autism for a particular game, I do another adjacent thing, like jumping back to a previous solo game or character, or content-creation, or developing a new adventure. I usually jump across genres and moods, because too much of a genre or mood in a row for days tires me.
>start a 5 Leagues game>get into town, some farmers are offering a contract to deal with a monster that's been killing livestock and them>money.gif>broke so we take it>roll up the monster, my first encounter of the campaign >it's a Fiend (greater demon equivalent)
What's your favorite ultralight system?I'm checking Risus, Freeform Universal, PDQ, Tricube.Still haven't decided on what to use.
What do you guys reckon is a good way to playtest a solo RPG? Just upload a playtest document to itch and wait for responses? I'm working on something which I think is in a testable state and need eyes on it that aren't my own.
>>98035217If you are ok with it share it, I'll give it some proofreading.Otherwise, there are other more comfortable ways to accept collaborations, i.e. github version control, google docs versioning, etc. You keep the highest perms and accept only the contributions you seem fits.As they say, you can't be your own editor.
>>98035296I'm gonna spend a few days writing it up properly. Have all the rules ready, but it's written up in schizophrenic form in my notes with things like rules that don't exist anymore being referenced and keywords changing mid sentence. I'll definitely be posting it here at least, just trying to figure out the best way to do it.
>>98035371Also take in account these:Will you publish as a HTML SRD? A PDF file?What will be your publishing goal?I was saying because if you want it to be an online SRD, markdown is a great format for that, and so, github and the likes are great platforms for collaborative proofreading.It's good that you'll clean up the text, readability is part of being testable, if it's a mess it will be not very "testable" by others.
>>98034920The one i made. I haven't written up solo rules for it yet so idk if its worth linking
>>98035501if it is ultralight, then I guess it is pretty easy to run it solo.
Back with another report.I am wondering if my combat recaps are too long. I am planning to experiment with shifting from describing everyones actions individually, to cutting them up into 3-4 ish sentences. What everyone on my sides does, what I do, what the majority of the opposition does, then what the leader of the opposition does. so to cut down on word bloat and make things go quicker.
>>98035614>I am wondering if my combat recaps are too long.If they please you, then it is fine, some people like making those shorthand, others telegraphy it, others make full prose about them, whatever makes your boat float is fine.
>>98034920I personally feel like ultralights dont give me enough complexity to inspire me to be creative.I tried risus for a while and it felt like an exercise in how I could rules lawyer myself into making a trope applicable
>>98034920Risus is cool.
>>98035625>If they please youyah, thats what I am wondering. if it might be more fun on my end if I compartmentalize things a bit more. I do want some granular action, but at the same time I want to be able to play out a more protracted engagement in a more manageable timeframe/pace. Its a balancing act and I am trying to figure out where I stand on the matter.
I'm running a basic solo sandbox hex crawl. It's been kinda uneventful but I did find an ancient castle that was being occupied by a collective of troubadours and then an abandoned hut filled with skulls that the paladin lit on fire.
>>98035735And here's a close up
>>98035735just a little something I do with wilderness exploration. I roll for encounters only half as often in already treaded territory compared to fresh territory. It both serves to narratively illustrate familiarity with the land, and gameplay wise speeds up backtracking.
>>98035889If I backtrack I will sometimes roll to see if there's another feature if the hex doesn't currently have one rather than doing another monster roll. I like your idea as well to cut down on the slog.
>>98035735>>98035745>>98035889>>98036018I like how you tailored the rates for your liking.
>>98035632>>98035634>Risus both liked and disliked.I guess I should try them all and see what fits my personality, or go back to something more crunchy. (I somehow regard FATE and/or FUDGE as a crunchier Risus)
>>98034920Tricube Tales, especially with the Tricube Tactics expansion. I'm also eyeing Luke Gearing's Violence system.>>98035217Play a session with player emulators just to check if the systems run.>>98036375IMO, a crunchier Risus would be something like Tricube Tactics or Open Versatile Anime 2e.
In my most recent session, my character and his girlfriend stormed a ranch that was being used as a base of operations for a mad scientist and his goons. Upon clearing it out and bringing the mad scientist to justice (for kidnapping a couple people and making a magical serum that turns people into plants,) I was about to move on to the next mission, when I decided to have a follow up conversation with my companions about it. Then it dawned on me that one of my character's companions would likely mention that we should use their hideout as a base of operations. I decided that this was actually a really good idea because up until now my character had been staying in motels and "safehouses" Now I'm plotting out what I want to do with the new property I've commandeered. Tell me if you all have any suggestions.
>>98036991I've done something similar with a BBEG's lair in my Vaults of Vaarn campaign, I just made the base safer, more secure, thought about upgrades and such.
>>98037248>>98036991In my fantasy campaign, I forced the BBEG to give me their Lodge, the deal was even formalized with a lawyer and such, now I have a place to stay and it even gives me some profit. No upgrades to it tho, not yet.
Working on a solo game that's compatible with OSR rulesets. I noticed that I kept falling back on certain homebrew rules over and over again, so I just decided to compile them in a list and now I'll write out a little document actually explaining them. It's a setting/genre agnostic game about being a big, burly warrior (or mage, or psychic,) man who goes around killing shit, taking loot, and fucking women... Lots and lots of fucking women.On the right you can see the table of contents for the game. Tell me if you think there's anything that I missed.
>>98037413I guess I should mention that this game will be completely free. It's just a fun project that I'm doing and will upload somewhere for you all to download free of cost. Just tired of flip-flopping between six different books when I could have my whole ruleset in one place.
>>98037421That looks cool. Yeah, I'll read it when it's available.
>>98037413lol ok I'll bite, are there tables for banging?
>>98035555I hate that pdfs are dead, since the even briefer version of the game rules are a 2-page pdf instead of a 1-page image. I guess i could remake the shortest version and add it to the itch page once the pretty version is there.https://scribblegs.itch.io/cogsTldr, yahtzee hands valued 0 to 5, traits and items allow you to get rerolls, characters have a metacurrency to either raise rolls or use abilities (theres a special ability creation system), combat is contested rollsTheres some things ive figured out running it over the years that arent in that main doc but id recommend to keep in mind:If you want something quick, make all techniques cost 1, 3, or 5 focus based on how big you want them to be. Techniques CAN be made as complex as something like dnd but dont have toThe original rules left advancement up to the gm and plot but one gamey method i added since was: add a list of boxes to your sheet with each hand type; fill them when you roll the hand. When all hands are filled, gain 1 maximum focus. Gaining traits is more dependent on story, but you can reduce your max focus by 2 to gain a new trait at -2 or raise a trait's modifier
>>98037636Yes. Tables for:>Seduction>Enslavement>Sexual acts>Relieving sexual tension>Impregnation>Rules for obtaining and maintaining harems>Generating BabesAs well as general advice on how to run/play sex scenes.
Imagine playing this SOCIAL activity alone.lol. That's it, not even an lmao
>>98038725Nta but can I impregnate men?I'd like to have a harem of them from the places I conquered.
>>98038807If that's what you're into, I guess. (I once found a machine that swapped the gender of anyone that was put inside. So I'd put my enemies in it, turn them into women, and then made them my slaves.)
>>98036991>>98037248>>98037262Things keep looking up! Right after my character moved in, he was given a new mission to investigate arson cases that involved a fire-spirit.I chased the spirit to a local chemical plant. Upon killing the spirit and completing the mission, the owner of the chemical plant send me a reward of enough money to put me in the "Wealthy" category. (I guess it makes sense. My character has advanced quite a bit.)
Anyone tried Blade Runner with the new solo mode? I'm very interested, but I did try Free League's previous solo mode for an investigative game (Vaesen) and I really did not care for it.
I need help!I've ran a few Solo RPGs myself using settings + adventures in different game systems.However, this time around I decided to take a chance and play setting only, which is hard for me, because I prefer taking my characters on pre-established adventures rather than creating my own for my characters to go on.For reference I am playing The Mechanoids, 1980s Palladium RPG TTRPG.In my adventure I haven't even reached the climax of the story of the first 1/3 of the setting.In this story the characters have united the Tribes. The reason doing this is that there is a planetary threat that one of the Tribes has created. This tribe has been using another big badass warband tribe as a puppet and running things behind the scenes. Ultimately the "good" guys won the war with their created Tribal alliance. However, an evil Tribe still remains, and the artifact they are using to threaten the planet with destruction is still being used. Ultimately they are still going to destroy the planet's surface to establish their dominance.They are a mountainous tribe and because of various reasons, can survive this (extremely powerful psionic users, intricate underground mountain networks, leader is the strongest psionic on the planet and an elite fighter, high council consists of great leaders and psionic users, etc.). They are roughly a population of 600.So how do I actually win this? The tribal alliance is a population of about 20,000 and have agreed to help take down the mountainous tribe as repayment for uniting them and beating up the big bad tribe that was causing a lot of problems. However, if we try to invade, the psionics would just kill many of them as their mountain complex is very defendable. If I used my own sci-fi tech to bomb the mountain to dust, they would just escape and flee. We have no knowledge of their tunnels or mountain complex. I've thought of starving them out, but we have no way to know how much of their food stores are left.WWYD?
>>98039909That's just a siege with a countdown to armageddon. Depending on how much time you have it might be worth scouting to find as many entrances as possible. Then you could try something like blocking them and smoking them out.Otherwise bombing the mountain might at least mean they weren't safe from their own attack.
>>98039091Based
>>98038725Alright, so do these add actual gameplay bonuses, or is this just to get off
>>98035217>>98035371Halfway through creating a clean playtest version of the game. Shaping up to be ~45 pages, which is without a majority of the flavour text and non-essential random tables. Is that too long for a playtest? Would people here be willing to read something that long?
>>98041748They're in-game purpose of sex is to lower your character's Stress level. As your character is damaged, exposed to the supernatural, and witnesses heinous atrocities, their stress level slowly raises. You can lower stress a little by leveling up, meditating, or relaxing. But the best way to level up is to seek out "Babes" to have sex with. Seeking out new sexual partners and sexual acts you haven't performed with them before lowers your stress by up to d8. So it actually benefits your character to collect a harem of partners (which is actually limited by your level and amount of influence you've achieved.)
>>98041866And the impregnation mechanics are there to act as a limit or something?
>>98034920PDQ and particularly its Jaws of Six Serpents incarnation is one of my favorite systems ever. It is really flexible and excellent for games with strong PCs. It is also definitely the meatiest of those systems, while still really light.
Is Pendragon good for solo play? I was thinking of doing the Great Campaign solo as a way of teaching myself the game and getting acquainted with it.
>>98042009They're there in case you want your character to have kids or you're into impregnation.You can't have a harem of daughter-wives if you don't have daughters... Duh!
>>98042077Oh neat, I'll be checking jaws of six serpents.
A year gone by and still no Drow anon posts....
>>98044504
I'm about to start a game of Alone Against Fear (4AD hack). Looks pretty good so far, and after I've finished the game, it looks really easy to just create a new story on the fly using simple solo tool, so there's a lot of replayability using it's structure.
>>98036991well since all the plants eventually turn back into the men they were before, those men will come back to take revenge on the scientist and you know where they will come, to your new place, so beef it up, brother, you gonna need it
>>98046195Now that this plot-point has been planted in my brain... It is canon. I'll say that one of my NPC companions brings this point up, and now we're on high alert.
>>98046033I recently got me a copy of Alone against the zone because I'm fan of STALKER, I got told it is based on Alone against Fear, but haven't tried it yet. I'm in the middle of a ZONES campaign and enjoying it so far.
>>98046717>s canon. Ivery well! good luck with the defence
>>98046195And you just know the process is kinda sluggish, so they're gonna be half-man half-triffid
>>98048044have you seen tree roots displace foundations and bricks and grow through tiny crevices? they do thatin our case picture a snake with many bodies and one large mouth but much slower, good luck?
I'm trying Ironsworn for the first time. First solo RPG at all actually. I have no idea what to expect. About halfway through character/world creation right now. The book feels weirdly unorganized at times but the momentum system seems fun and I lime that I can drag a friend in for co-op later if I want to. Anything I should know going in? I so far have a wizard who's lived in a mage's school his whole life, and he's on a long quest to kill an otherworldly entity that spreads an incurable plague wherever it goes. Keeping details vague early on so I don't trap myself in a corner.I'm planning to write down my scenes as I go. I have a mini wiki set up in Obsidian right now so I can quickly access important information I know and keep track of things like dice rolls, combat encounters, journeys and such.
>>98050449If you want more meat on that bone, I recommend you the "Ironsmith" supplements, ironsmith expanded oracles and ironsmith flavors. Even when those are specifically made for ironsmith, they are my "to-go" oracles when solo roleplaying fantasy, not only ironsworn.
I'm just getting into Solo RPGs to pass time at work and also because I have found AI attempts at emulating a solo TTRPG or storytelling experience to be very lacking, but I currently have a bit of a dilemma: I am unsure of which engine to use to drive the solo aspect of the TTRPG. I currently have the Solo system used for the Cepheus and Traveller engines, the Mythic GM 2e, one page solo engine and apocalypse oracle. In particular, the biggest issue I have right now is deciding when I have learned enough about the Mythic System to actually start playing. The main book is both rather exhaustive and repetitive, so even though the system feels intriguing I feel like I'm missing something with it if I start using it now (but I also feel that if I take too long to try and understand the system before using it I will develop a disinterest in the system). I believe I should I just jump into a game with Mythic using its summarized guide as soon as possible to spare myself the sense of paralysis and uncertainty that comes from excessive preparation. Should I use Mythic or a different engine that I previously mentioned?Also, how amenable is GURPS to solo play? I want to learn that system and feel like solo play is a good way to do so.
>>98050785>Also, how amenable is GURPS to solo play?It can take work, but it is perfectly doable. The hardest part of GURPS is choice paralysis due to fucktons of content and options. See https://thecollaborativegamer.wordpress.com/ for tips and procedures for playing GURPS without a GM.
>>98050785>I believe I should I just jump into a game with Mythic using its summarized guide as soon as possible to spare myself the sense of paralysis and uncertainty that comes from excessive preparation.This^. What worked for me is to use the one page mythic yes-no oracle but using all of the meaning tables from the mgme2e instead of the one-page's discover meaning table. Random events are introduced every time a double is rolled, so like 11% of the time, good pace. But it has no chaos entry (for me, this is a good thing.) I guess it is up to your preferences.
>>98050785Read PICREL, it will make you enjoy your solo gaming while relying on oracles like MGME2 just for the necessary.
How much of a hot take it is that I don't want to emulate "fiction" when playing solo? I prefer things to follow their own development, even going to odd directions, not constrained by "arcs" or "phases" or "episodes" etc. Things just happen, and other things don't.I guess others prefer more structured stuff, closing circles, Chekhov's gun and all that, to get that feeling of living in a fictional story, but interactive.
>>98050449If you're fine with digital tools I highly recommend using pocketforge or iron journal. They're both browser websites that are basically VTTs built entirely to play Ironsworn (and its sci-fi + steampunk sequels). Both are entirely free and really streamline the game.
>>98052434which one is better? Pocketforge or Iron Journal?
>>98052542Might be down to taste but I much prefer Pocketforge for the following reasons>Has all the oracles, assets, moves, and rule functions built-in for Ironsworn, Starforged, and Sundered Isles, allowing you to mix and match rules as little or as much as you want>Slightly neater in terms of tabs and sections>Unlike Iron Journal it doesn't assume you're using map, and it doesn't force you to save NPC info to a map locationLast one is relatively minor but it really pissed me off when IJ introduced it. But again, they're both completely free and don't require any installation. I'd recommend playing around with both yourself and seeing if you're swayed strongly in either direction, they're both pretty feature complete. They can also both be downloaded as web apps for offline usage. Piss easy in Chrome but it's slightly harder on Firefox and I was too lazy to figure it out.
>>98052555both versions have a critical bug with one of the paths not being supported. it's the sleuth path, I think. you get to roll 3d10 instead of the usual 2d10 but neither of them lets you do that.
>>98050449don't get bogged down keeping track of things if it interrupts the actual gameplay, i.e. writing down what you rolled instead of just resolving it and journaling the results later. the generation tables are good, but i tend to use them only for NPCs or to round out a concept i already had. you know what sort of adventure you want, so create those bones and then randomly generate the twists and niche details. otherwise it can feel sort of scattered and tone-deafthe combat system is love it or hate it, i enjoy leaning into the abstraction instead of working around it (which the rulebook sorta tells you). the most difficult part is coming up with failures or partial successes that don't make your character look like a useless sperg falling all over himself. don't always go for "consequence: -1 health", and don't always see a failure roll as you actually failing to do something, it could be a "you succeed, but... [bad thing]"
>>98052309Idk what you mean by "hot take" anon, but that's how I play my games. I just see where the dice and character(s) take me
>>98052309Consider Tic Tac Toe or Tetris. No narrative flavor. Then consider Chess. A flavor of warfare. Now ask what the narrative flavor of tabletop rpgs is? Really flavor is most of it. The flavor informs you what to roll, what rules to apply.
>>98052309Why not roll dice against a table of events every say 15 or 30 minutes during your adventure? For example roll 56(on a d100): 2 kobolds ambush you, roll monsters kobolds stats table to get their stats)the only combat system i know is GURPS' and it has some pretty deep combat possibilities if you want it toit can be difficult i imagine to be your own GM when trying to control the enemies: are you going to be soft against yourself or all-out going for the best strategies to kill your PC? Maybe once you are familiar with the combat system you can roll dice to decide wether or not they will take it easy on you or if they will have access to more deadly rulesafter combat you go back to your quest or whatever, heal, rest, loot stuff, go to stores, do whatever the quest calls for you to dobasically just roll dice for everything so you surprise yourself but you'll need to make some pretty neat rng tables for like monsters/NPCs, loot items and etc..
>>98056518adding to my post, the NPC/monsters would have to be realistic so a lot of regular monsters can show up but rarely will a dragon, rolling an 18 on a 3 d6 roll is pretty hard, 18 is dragon, if you happen to be going through dragon country (i hope you don't, your PC should get very strong/smart before taking such a risk)rolling 9, 10, 11, 12 is very likely, so in your table put some non-kickass NPCs for those rolls that way you are mostly safe, except your roll is unlucky
>>98046195One night while my character and his girlfriends are asleep, the security alarm suddenly started blaring. My character and the one girl in his harem that can fight get up and run out to meet what set the alarm off. It's a team of generic super heroes (A masked man in a cloak named "Eclipse", A levitating black woman in a cloak named "Shadow Countess", and an archer named "The Sly Bowman".)They're attacking the base because they don't realize that it's changed ownership. Two intense rounds of combat happen before they realize something is amiss (They were absolutely wrecking my shit.) In that time, my companion had her gun shot out of her hands and my protagonist burned all of his Expertise points just blocking attacks and soaking up attacks.They cleared things up and apologized.
>>98057173>They're attacking the base> the baseTHIS IS HOME
>>98048073I actually have a plant growing through the wall above me as I write this lmao
Protip: Prep is play! Any time you spend preparing your game, is also time you spend playing your game.As soon as your character gets established in the game world, have them create their equivalent of a study. (Or a library, or a training yard, or a home gym.) Whenever you need time to prep something in the future, or read up on things, you can say that your character spent that time in their study doing research.
>>98060651
>>98060651I read this and spent the whole night attempting to make a safehouse HQ for my cyberpunk red game. It went a weird direction as most do when I just let the dice go. >fixer character has made some decent money with 2 gigs, has enough for a cheap place to call an office/proper home>contacts a real estate agent, roll up singleplayer oracles for locations and districts and what the business was before> port of night city brothelOkay not what I was thinking of but lets play it out>roll a bunch of other oracles for ideas, eventually settle on a name and story>the wayward promise was a brothel that didnt pay its dues for protection and got shot up and massacred. The seller is renting it out for a 3rd the price due to its shit condition. Its terrible but oddly peaceful, with pretty architecture under the damaged parts>might get itAt this point I thought I’d call the npc girlfriend from the first gig to celebrate finding a place and ask her opinion>roll her opinion on a vague oracle>sheltered>ok roll on a few less vague ones as well>belligerent, uncooperative>roll my d20 yes no thing and ssk if she thinks its okay>(No And) No it sucks ass and she can’t stand it and could probably find a better place by the end of the day>I admittedly wasn’t sure either but try to pursuade her, DV 15 against my 1d10+9>Roll 1, crit fail roll a number to subtract from bonus, roll 9>fucking 0At this point I gave up and asked her opinion. Rolled her mood again and it was MOTIVATED. Ended up rolling another place, an abandoned police station that was recently a drug den, comes with a 1 cell lockup. She promises she will help celebrate it after someone cleans it up or hires cleaners. Fucking high maintenance lady.
>>98061961>Fucking high maintenance lady.Super realistic! Jokes aside here is some unsolicited advice, no offense, If you don't want your NPCs opinions being very swingy from rolling a single dice flat-percentage, or too vague from vague oracles, try other mechanics, like PICREL.I like Triple-O, Scarlet Heroes' Reactions 2d6 table, or something simple like Vaults of Vaarn's reactions table. These take in account other inputs (like taking in account previous relationship, stats, modifiers, etc) besides not just a single dice roll which is very swingy/chaotic, from all possibilities having the same percentage. Same with vague spark oracles, the results are all over the place.I haven't tried an hex flower for NPC dispositions, but I've been thinking of using it, it seems interesting.But If you like chaotic / swingy NPC reactions, then I guess it's ok, disregard my TED talk.
All the advice I've read suggest that I should have a character with a goal, so I think I want a way to generate quests. Or am I looking at this backwards, and what I really need is to make up my own self guided goals. What's the recommended wisdom here?
>>98062503I come up with a general motivation for why my character is doing something, then try to simply guide things along in a way that contributes to that goal. I guess it really depends on whether you want to roleplay a character or if you're running more akin to a dungeon crawl and just want stats to go up.
>>98062213I DO like this chart. And I made a minor mistake in the typing. She was motivated when I asked if she wanted to try to find a HQ instead. It was actually the most consistent random rolls I’ve ever had, I usually only do 1 or 2 but this time i did more and got the same hatred. That said I like this hex chart a lot and keeping it saved.
>>98061961In hindsight, it's probably a good thing that you went with the abandoned police station. It's probably easier to defend/hide in.That being said, now you have a secondary goal of earning enough to afford both the police station AND the brothel. Then you can turn the brothel into a night club/safe house for when you're in that part of town. Or for meetings where you don't want your clients to know the real location of your HQ.
>>98062503I've never had any luck with giving my character an overall goal at character generation. I don't know why, but it's just never worked well in my head. Funnily enough, I guess the "Goal" I give all my characters is "Go out an find a goal".What I always do is, I play/generate their first adventure/quest/mission, and I then make the core of that adventure their "goal" for as long as it makes sense.Gotta kill some goblins? Okay, well after those goblins are dead, let's go see if there are more to kill somewhere. Want me to steal a car? Worked out the first time, let's become the best car thieves around! Have to save a hostage? From now on, whenever there's a hostage, call me.I do this until it no longer makes sense or another plot rears it's head. One day while hunting goblins, I find out that they're being led by a group of orcs. Put yourself in the characters shoes and give them an appetite for fucking around and finding out.
>>98063385This is a pretty natural way to give someone a long term goal. Just figuring out what quests the character likes to take. If I want a higher stakes plot, though, I just come up with a bit of a prologue for the character explaining why they're taking this long quest. Then that leads to the fun parts where you're struggling to balance all these side quests and additional characters while the evil ass rape demon that killed your family is preparing to destroy the world. I enjoy that drama.
>>98063973Now that I think about it, all the best media starts this way. It starts off very narrow and focused on a single thing that we know about the protagonists... Then over time it becomes more and more complex and broad as the world becomes illuminated through things happening and things being revealed.Don't give your character an overall goal, let them discover what their overall goal is through play.
Another suggestion I would have is to spend some time shoring up the world a bit. I find I usually cannot get into solo rpg unless theres a world and conflict already there that my character can find themselves in. First one involved a space game where only one planet was capable of sustainable life and it was dying, so the game was about finding a new place and defending it. Another involved a age of exploration fantasy setting with two factions on the brink of war, and the player recruited into a band of privateers working for one side. Make an interesting situation and see what your dude would do.
>>98064612This is one strength that solo games have over group games. In solo games you can really take the time to let your character explore the world. In a group, you would have other players who would insist that they get moving for their own goals (And that makes sense. The Barbarian doesn't want to stop between fights to give you time to read and entire tome you just found. But when you're by yourself, you can pause as long as you need to or investigate anything that catches your fancy.)I always start off with really generic, straightforward game worlds full of stereotypical tropes, and then as soon as the game starts I begin defining things more and giving them more personality.
AM finishing up this battle.it makes me think, if you are doing theater of the mind, how do YOU deal with movement and distances? In my experience, I kind of estimate what would be managable and what would be challanging, for the challenging stuff I add a roll.For a common example, when my melee party members come into melee with enemies, I usually roll to see if my ranged units can reposition in time to also be able to fire that round (flanking), with modifiers based on how well they can move in that kind of terrain (urban, forested, etc). If they fail, they get to that position, but cannot fire.
>>98062503In my opinion, a goal is necessary for your character to keep going, the level of abstraction depends on what you want your game to be, but a goal is necessary. Also be open minded about the possibility of that goal changing, transforming, or even subsequently acquiring more sub-goals too. YMMV.
>>98043554Do you have rules for your kids to become your successors as a new character?
>>98038725Can you show how generating babes looks like?
>>98068179>Roll for anal circumference.
Welp, after trying out a Solo RPG with just a setting in hand, it's not for me at all. I can get the gist of the setting and understand certain plot points, but it's extremely difficult to build a challenge that feels like a challenge.I'm going back to plaything through adventures! I'll probably try a system from the 90s this time.
>>98068353Which combat system have you chosen for your violent encounters?
>>98068724I don't know yet. I want something Space or Supernatural for my next SoloRPG.
>>98068353Play ironsworn. It's so straight forward and easy, you can't mess it up.
>>98072327I found Ironsworn confusing and underwhelming, as well as stupidly lethal.
>>98072530nta but I hope you're not making the mistake of rolling for every move you make. that would make it confusing and lethal.ironsworn/starforged's moves are meant to be like... think of them as prompts you send to copilot. "summarize this email I mean encounter". you're the one envisioning what the response looks like. if this is your first time playing a solo rpg, I would recommend to just ignore all the moves and roll +stat instead. envision what you wanna do and what the " summary" of your action would look like after roll the appropriate stat. it's basically what I do when I feel like moving things along.for example: >brand new game, have quest and everything >[what i want to happen] I think the very first scene should be my character trying to land safely at the nearby habitat while dodging killer drones >that's deft controls stuff, so I roll +edge... and its a weak hit >[what actually happens] weak hit doesn't necessarily mean suffering damages. so... I make it to the habitat but I ignored warnings about unauthorized landings in a strictly authoritarian habitat. I see automatic cameras flashing and realize they're gonna send cops to bill me for this violation. fuck! notice that I didn't even have to look up a move for this. all you have to do is state your desired outcome, roll to see if it happens like that, then envision the actual outcome, a la "summary of what happened." for costs and momentum gain and all that, you can adopt a much simpler system if you wanna omit moves: >strong hit with a match: exactly as planned, and fake 1 momentum >strong hit: exactly as planned >weak hit: as planned, but with a narrative downside >miss: narrative failure, and suffer -1 of something appropriate for the failure >miss with a match: narrative failure, and suffer -2 of something appropriate
>>98072617So it's simple if you ignore the rules and use a simpler system instead? That is even more confusing.
>>98072647It's a mindset thing. Ironsworn is a narrative game based on PbtA and such so most of the "gameplay" is narrative. Rolls are only made to mechanically define the final outcome of actions, instead of detailing the per-round minutiae of combat.Personally I recommend Scarlet Heroes, or Godbound since they all have predefined settings and bestiaries while having the safety net of a high power level. (Otherwise play any of the "Without Number Games")If playing with statblocks is what you prefer, I recommend 5 Parsecs from Home, less fluff but more crunch to guide your play.If what you specifically struggle with is stocking encounters and guidelines for preparing combat, just eyeball it? Just plop down 3 elite enemies and if it's too much you can escape without problems.
>>98072685It's a mindset that makes no sense to me, even after reading the book and seeing people try to explain it. Which is why I object to it being called "straight forward and easy".Clearly the game works for many people, but the assumption that it will work for everyone is common but unfounded.
If I can shill for a second, I just released a solo game and would appreciate any feedback from anonshttps://chimeric-grove.itch.io/honourable-hyperblades-playtestA pretty narrative based sci fi game, but there's some crunch to it.
>>98072719Not for me, I'm satisfied taking a game I'm familiar with and playing with statblocks like action figures.I don't share your concerns about encounter building. I just grab the statblocks and let 'er rip. If anything, I kinda struggle with playing through modules despite my growing hoard of them, at least because I haven't experienced them.
>>98072794I didn't say anything about encounter building.>Not for meWhich is fine. Again, I objected to the claim that anyone could do it, not that some people could. I don't know what you find unclear.
>>98072719The scourge of our era is having so many options, so those who are looking for the next big thing suffer the paradox of choice.Solo gamers should know themselves, what they want and need.When I was a kid I never played D&D nor Traveller, my RL buddies were into Vamp the Masquarade, d10 dice pools and lots of big ass books about WoD meta-lore soap opera. I have fond memories of that, but it is not my thing as an adult, I got fed up with all that white wolf edgy crap and the storyteller system. Funny thing is I discovered Sine Nomine Without Number games and I fell in love with them, many call their mechanics clunky, kludgy, unoriginal, obsolete, bland, etc. Basically an hybrid of D&D and Traveller, and well, I like them.Nowadays that I'm doing more solo stuff I had the idea that a more simple system is what I was needing, maybe something conceived to be a solo system, but after trying many of those I always felt like I was lacking something despite all the "solo" tools and the streamlined mechanics they provided. I was missing the moderate higher crunch, the crunchier character creation, that specific balance of stats, of economy, the advancement curve, etc. So I dispelled my own assumptions about what I thought I was needing and went back to what I liked.Before that I was in love with FATE, and ran multiple solo campaigns with it until I had enough of that, I got fed up with its stuff that took me out of the loop, out of the flow, because it is a system that focuses on simulating fiction/narrative, and so it dissociates from the suspension of disbelief, and so makes you feel more like a showrunner than a solo player, at least that's what I felt when playing FATE solo after several long campaigns.And so after all that I could say: Know yourself, know what you want and need, your gut tells, based on that, look for it and get it. Don't follow popularity, trends, or assumptions for the sake of it, you'll know when playing the right system for you.
>>98072970Oh, part of my post was referring to >>98068353>it's extremely difficult to build a challenge that feels like a challenge.I don't know if you meant structured encounter building, narrative stakes, NPC design, or just figuring out the mechanics.. You tried Ironsworn which doesn't really have defined statblocks.
>>98072978Shame I can't find anything that fits what I want. Guess I'm too fussy; I want more board-gamey interactive mechanics without losing too much of the RPG creative freedom. RUNE is the closest thing I've seen to an attempt at it,>>98073271Wasn't me; my comment on Ironsworn was unsolicited. I saw the claim that it was "straight forward and easy" and objected.
>>98072719perhaps you should elaborate on what exactly is confusing you about that system because we are confused as to what you are confused about.
>>98073866The part where the rules are apparently written to be ignored, as in >>98072617
Anyone else give their character too ultra specific of a skill or niche so that it just doesnt come up much? I did that with a psychic support fighter (somewhere between a cleric and a jedi) who's psychic abilities were rather particular. He could mark an object and either imbue it with power (light, + to damage, heal) or create a psychic bound with it (seeing/hearing/sensing through it and giving a mental save). It was cool in concept, but in battle it was actually extremely action economy inefficient. I then transfered to a more general jedi like power set, but with only limited telekenetic powers (can effect minds/sense things like a jedi, but cant lift much more than 10 lbs telekeneticly) like Corran Horn, and I have found it oddly much more useful and fun. I think I pent too much time thinking of all the little ways remote controlled psychic powers could work, that it just didnt come up in combat as much. While with my more broad power set, I was much more liable to create on the spot effects like telekinetically unbalancing an opponents weapons to give them disadvantage to hit, or psychicly entrance an enemy so that they are over focused on me, giving me disadvantage to hit them, but giving my allies advantage to hit them due to tunnel vision.Eventually maybe I will integrate these more esoteric powers, but at the moment, these less particular ones seem to be more applicable broadly speaking. I always had the thought later on that the character would embark on great works where they make psychic tools and processes that would be known of down the ages. Like psychic golemns, flying ships, and even entirely new species and organizations. Like late campaign dominion level dnd stuff, where characters become legends in the world and the origin of many a world building element.But I think that is getting way ahead of myself.
>>98074492I also like making hybrid combat & psychic characters in sci-fi and sci-fantasy. With time, after many iterations and campaigns, I polished the process and avoid what I don't really use and is just stats-dumping for my personal way of playing. Lately I came with the formula of pairing one combat+psy character with one that is not psychic, but has complementary (almost opposite?) personality, stats and skills, kind of a buddy-cop thing, and it is fun to play solo. Some of my recurrent duos are kind of like the Dirty Pair. Another recurrent dynamic I use is a couple like Reigen and Mob. The key is that the differences in stats is helpful with overcoming stuff and obstacles in the game, and the tension and differences in personality keeps the story and their goals from stagnating. Also you can make one of them have those ultra specific niche skills/feats, etc., if you are really going to use them lately in the game. Another thing I enjoy is scaling up those skills through their campaign, so many of those niche specific psy skills are earned with some effort by the psychic of the couple, but with support from their buddy.
>>98072732I started reading your pdf, it is neat so far, I'll say more later when finished.Lucas' Jedis aside, had you ever read E.E. Doc Smith's "Lensman" series?
>>98073373Had you read this? >>98051435It could be an "eye opener" in some regards, some others you may already know, worth a try.
>>98073373>>98074784I'm mentioning Geek Gamers' book because her "origin story" is that she started combining TTRPG elements into the board games she liked playing, and over the years she developed a nice method/philosophy of solo gaming that suited herself. Her way is not everybody's cup of tea, but for sure it is compounded/made of good helpful tips, and at least one of those could come handy to you accordingly to your personality and preferences.I don't play like she does, and I don't agree with 100% of what is in her book, but with time I incorporated a couple of her tools into my toolbox and I'm glad I did.
>>98074712Yah, my main guy is a mediocre to fine combatant, but uses his psychic powers, and investigative skills (which is his highest trait), to exploit weaknesses/create opportunities for himself and others. Im using barbarians of lemuria so his current career stats are>Investigator 2>Sergeant 1>psychic 1>blacksmith 0 I have some distinct personalities in my party, but havent quite set up a specific relationship between them yet. One is a classic firey dwarf, the other is a sketchy bribable watchman. My main guy's personality is kind of vague though. Something subtle, a little reserved, but fair, like his powers. Maybe something like Kakashi from Naruto, or Obi-Wan? not sure exactly how to pull it off though dynamics wise.
>>98074947>obi-wanCould try to make it an obi-wan/anikan dynamic, where the main character advises caution, but the dwarf and watchman are more impulsive. Dwarf about slights of honor and the watchman about temptations of material gain. OFC this makes the MC more of a foil character rather than a main character.
>>98074784>>98074862I read it a couple of years ago, but don't recall specifics about that.I know some of the things I want, and don't think any existing game quite does them. As a result I'm knee deep in trying to make my own overwrought nonsense. Which is made far worse by my crippling indecisiveness.
>>98074755>I started reading your pdf, it is neat so far, I'll say more later when finished.Much appreciated. >had you ever read E.E. Doc Smith's "Lensman" series?I haven't, would you recommend it?
I love this hobby but there two big problems that keep coming to me. It's really slow paced compared to pure writing or pure video gaming. And the mental load is hard to get past at first when learning system for first time.
>>98051435>>98074862I've read that book and I've seen a few of her videos. I thought it was good but over time I realize it's not my cup of tea.For one thing I don't have as many rubrics or alternate oracles she has (preferring to just stick with the standard dice and tables). Another is that my mind is quick to come up with plot seeds and ideas so I don't need as much "help" with creating adventures from scratch.
>>98076657if you're not a nerd it's tough, I emphasize, the good thing about working on nerd skills is that they stay, like riding a bicyclewhat "system" did you learn?
>>98076883SWADE, Fate, and FU and Pathfinder
>>98074357that is not even close to what that post says. I think you're either rigidly in a permaplayer mode and can't even wipe your nose without a DM's guidance, or have issues reading and digesting concepts in general. ironsworn is literally as easy as they come. the next step down in difficulty is occupied by all those one-page novelties that are functionally drinking games meant to be played while mentally impaired.
>>98076663anon, half of her book is literally about playing with just a yes-no oracle without reading the rules. where are your reading glasses at?
>>98076974oh so you are very experienced
>>98077041I don't get why you are being passive aggressive to me. I think solo rpgs are good for me because I like coding, writing, drawing, and gaming. And its like early 2020s AI Dungeon in that I can get surprised by it.You need to get off your high horse.
>>98077058my bad I didn't mean it that way, I'm only playing with one system and still at the beginning of learning it so I respect that you've already gone through quite a fewdidn't help that I chose GURPS cause as a kid my GM had us play Rolemaster and it's been stamped into my memory so when I came back to the hobby 25 years later I wanted something similarthe combat system alone is enough for me to SOLO it without any roleplay whatsoever but that's because I'm still a noob, but then again there's a lot like the Martial Arts supplement, Grapplingstill kinda trying to keep it simple though because I want to attempt GMing with my cousins in August (one of them was the Rolemaster GM)
>>98076986I should've been more specific. I meant her personal style of soloing, which involves flipping through books like a cut-up generator and referencing other board games.
>>98076977>that is not even close to what that post says.It says just that several times.>the mistake of rolling for every move you make>I would recommend to just ignore all the moves>I didn't even have to look up a move>adopt a much simpler systemWhat are these supposed to mean if not, "don't follow the rules that are actually in the rule book"?Also the second paragraph is some gibberish about prompting your copilot to email you. What the fuck?
>>98077212dude...I hope this is an artifact of having a stroke or a debilitating ADHD preventing you from reading full sentences.
Asking to anons: Ironsworn + Stonetop... anyone tried it? (if so) How it works?
>>98077089My advice is to just focus on the core resolution mechanic and your character sheet and to search up what to do as you go and keep it simple. It works for me.
>>98076153>I haven't, would you recommend it?It's a very old but seminal story (Pre-1956), classic golden age space opera. Lensmen were one of the main inspiration for Jedis, but with a samurai coating on them. There's a Lensman anime if you don't mind the tone changing to very japan 80s streamlined stuff.If you are fan of (or writing about) space opera orders of chivalry/knighthood VS BBEG empires, I'd say it's a must.
>>98079232Errata: I mean, the samurai-coating was applied to Jedi, not Lensmen.
>>98078328Thanks!Here is my take on it:>focus on the core resolution mechanicI just have to finalize my decision on all the checks the players will be called upon making so I don't make them roll IQ or Dexterity for every single thing they attempt!>character sheetI have to create half a dozen templates because I don't think letting the players make their own characters is wise if each one of them starts reading through the entire list of advantages and skills; I guess this is not a GURPS thing, it is a GURPS player experience thing, if they are brand new to point-buy systems (which they are) they may get lost in the process, otherwise they may actually demand to be able to make their characters without guidance>search up what to do as you goactually I don't want to be looking up anything during the session, only what's on my cheat sheets and character sheets (solo is different you can afford the time to look stuff up without necessarily breaking immersion), the exception will be when even though I thought I had covered all possibilities and also restricted some of them with railroading, I would have accepted something creative that would put a rules burden upon me >keep it simplesimplicity and breadth are my goal, I can cover breadth with improvised and random encounters I believe, straight pulled out of random tables so I don't have to do any thinking whatsoever; for the simplicity aspect, the system is kind of simple in my opinion and the 3d6 bell curve paradigm is a reason for it I think but for the combat scenes I have to practice a little more on it and clamp the possibilities down and up so they are not too long but still immersive, simulationist and gamey at the same time>It works for me.Out of curiosity, what genre do you use? What do you as solo PC or your players spend most of your/their time doing throughout the adventure?
>>98079794I just make one character sheet and do rulings. My genre is action adventure and varied from modern to sci fi to fantasy. I roll some digital dice, and click on some random tables when I don't know what to do to prompt me. And for oracles, I ask questions for what happens next. I've been writing my play sessions in prose but I'm thinking of stripping it down further.
>>98080890troll detected
opinions on OpenD6, mini six, and alike, etc?
>>98082088I like the modifiers when rolling between scale/weight levels. I want to implement something similar, using fewer distinct tiers with more dramatic interactions between—starting with Kevin Crawford's damage filter from Scarlet Heroes.
>>98077640Read the book. It literally tells you how to play. I'm guessing you just read some parts of it and thought you knew how to play. It's like in almost all ttrpgs they tell you in the first pages to only roll when something is at risk/uncertain and most players/GMs forget that basic rule when playing and make rolls for everything.Moves in IS/SF aren't like checks in other games.They're like goals you try to achieve. So a weak hit doesn't have to be closely related to a single thing you were trying to do.Example:D&D Check: Roll for CHA to seduce the barmaid.It's a check for a simple action. You succeed, you fail. Nothing much more to it until you declare something else about the new situation.Ironworn version: What is your goal when trying to seduce the barmaid? You want to get info on the bad guy you're tracking? Okay. Roll. Weak hit. He was here a few days ago, she remembers him. Then some drunk villager stands up and begins to shit on you for trying to bed 'their' women right in front of their faces.IS/SF are extremely narrative.
>>98082209I don't know OD6 pretty well yet, but that sounds neat, tell later how that went!
>>98082292don't bother with that guy. repeatedly miscomprehending posts and being purportedly confused by one of the better explained systems out there is a special case of NGMI that can't be fixed in a single thread.
>>98082395I haven't tried OD6 myself but IIRC it's based on the system used for the Star Wars system by West End Games. In it, there are modifiers that change what you roll when handling interactions between really strong/heavy objects and the average goober. This models stuff trying to swordfight an AT-AT. I didn't know anything about it until a friend pointed it out to me.My main foundations for my subsystem (aside from Scarlet Heroes) is how Exemplars & Eidolons and Godbound handled mobs.In E&E:> Mobs are a convenient way to represent a great number of foes who would ordinarily be a relatively minor obstacle to heroes. A mob fights and defends as a single creature, though it can deliver its listed number of attacks against each and every hero it opposes, without needing to split them. Most mobs count as only having 1 hit die for purposes of Fray dice and Gifts, though Gifts that automatically kill petty foes reduce a mob by only 1 hit die. Most mobs are assumed to consist of about 50 participants; particularly large battles may involve several mobs of foes. Area-effect spells and Gifts do double damage to mobs.
>>98082292I did read the book; it's the advice that confuses me.>You want to get info on the bad guy you're tracking? Okay. Roll. Weak hit. He was here a few days ago, she remembers him. Then some drunk villager stands up and begins to shit on you for trying to bed 'their' women right in front of their faces.That doesn't match what the book says though. It has a list of specific, if abstract, "moves" with particular results. A weak hit on Gather Information says:>the information complicates your quest or introduces a new dangerso the outcome is supposed to relate directly to what you learn.This also relates to "deadliness". Weak hits are common, even when using your strong stats, so adding danger and complications happens constantly and derails the narrative. Even your example of some rando starting a fight could easily eat away at your mere 5 max health.
>>98082537>Even your example of some rando starting a fight could easily eat away at your mere 5 max health.Framing issue. Unless you see your character as a weak, incompetent pacifist a drunk rando should not be dealing Health damage to you, let alone 5.>Weak hits are common, even when using your strong stats, so adding danger and complications happens constantly and derails the narrativeAlso a framing issue, but one that's not really your fault because the game does a terrible example of explaining this. Setbacks and complications are allowed to be minor. You don't have to create a life threatening complication or danger when "Oh the place he's hiding in is expensive to get into, I'll have to Resupply to buy my way in" or "Asking these questions has drawn the ire of local factions, I'll have to be a bit more careful around here" would make more sense for your narrative.
>>98082537FWIW I have the same issue with Ironsworn. It's the player's problem to think of possible outcomes, rather than provide some convenient table you could roll on. "Lead with the fiction" means you're basically writing a book, not playing a game.Maybe the barmaid remembers the guy because he's her brother, or else he's the local mob enforcer and you don't want to be seen asking questions about him, etc.. but the book provides no answers
>>98082537go watch a few playthroughs. you clearly have issues with reading. >"hey guys the game feels too lethal">roll less, this isn't D&D >"I am confused" >????
>>98082907>Framing issueWhich the book says nothing about. Sure a random drunk should be doing 1 damage, but that's still 20%.>You don't have to create a life threatening complication or dangerIf it can't hurt you then it's not actually dangerous. It's also in line with other moves, eg Face Danger:>On a weak hit, you succeed, but face a troublesome costfurther described as basically 1 harm, stress, loss of supply, or loss of momentum.>>98082989Which is why I can't see why it's any use. You have to decide what's going on, what your character does, and what the result means. All the game gives you is whether things went well, poorly, or badly. Any other game at least tells you what you succeeded or failed at.>>98083316>issues with readingI'm not the one that gave an example that directly contradicts the text.
>>98083514Have you ever had the GM tell you a "Yes, but..."?
>>98082989It is a problem for Ironsworn (and pbta as a whole). In my homebrew I have a set list of mechanical effects for failures, which goes a long way towards making consequences intuitive and mechanics-derived, instead of arbitrary and novel-writingy.
>>98083514incredible. you have all these rigid and discrete scruples about what isn't allowed BY THE BOOOK but you don't have the braincells to connect them together to have a "hey, if i follow ALL of these every time for every single move i make, i'll never get anywhere" moment of realization. you have a serious case of learned spoonfedness behavior. it's like you've never improvised anything on the fly in your life.i think you'll just have to cede that solo games aren't for you because you're cognitively incompatible with lateral thinking.
>>98083514>Which the book says nothing aboutYes it does. Not only does it tell you that you determine the consequences in a way that make sense unless a move has an explicit mechanical consequence (and even then you determine whether a move has actually been triggered), but it provides a table of consequences that include things that aren't taking damage. The game is narrative but you're treating it like DnD.>drunk should be doing 1 damageA random drunk MIGHT do 1 damage if they really manage to hurt you. But more than likely they should be inflicting narrative consequences (knocking you on your ass, getting you grappled, disorienting you, etc.) or decreasing your momentum first. That is unless you WANT to tell the story of someone who dies after 5 punches from a weak rando, which is valid if you're looking to play in a gritty campaign, but it doesn't sound like that's what you want.>can't hurt you then it's not actually dangerousBullshit. Losing your weapon or getting knocked to the ground in a fight is. Drawing unwanted attention from factions is dangerous. Losing allies can be dangerous. Looking at porn on a work computer endangers your job. Having to do someone a favour before you can do XYZ is a complication. None of those will inherently kill you, even if you're bleeding out on 0 Health.>, eg Face Danger:If moves that aren't Face Danger were intended to have exactly the same consequences they would say so. They don't.Ironsworn has a fair number of design flaws IMO, but the way (You) are framing the game is either exacerbating them or creating ones that aren't there. Go and watch an action movie or an adventure movie and whenever a tense scene or a fight scene happens count how many times the protagonist fails or gets hit. I guarantee the total number will be more than 5, and it'll be against threats of greater danger than "some nobody with a few too many drinks". You're not thinking narratively enough to play the game as is.
>>98082088I remember really liking mini six when reading through it. seemed like a nice modular system to do stuff with, that is simplified just enough that you could probably handle multiple entities as a solo gamer without getting overwelmed. I didnt get to trying it out extensively though. I do remember finding the health system a bit arcane, dont remember exactly why though.I really, really liked how it layed out stat blocks, just felt super streamlined, enough info to personalize an entity, but not so much to be a slog to write down a few of them. it also cuts the difference I believe between skill based and career based systems. where there are a number of generic skills like dodge or parry, but then you can create your own career like skills like "figher pilot" that are decently broad so you dont have to bloat your page with 40 general skills like you do in traveler or Call of cthulu.I still think it might be a good secondary system for me, at the moment I use Barbarians of lemuria for my fantasy games, and did try it out once for sci fi, but since the open d6 mini 6 etc games are based on star wars d6 and ghost busters, it might lend itself better for sci-fi stuff when I get to it.It fall in that catagory of "crunchier than ultra lites like Risus and tricube tales, but not quite as in depth as medium complexity games, like 5e dnd and call of cthulu" that appeal to me in solo.
>>98083561>rigid and discrete scruples about what isn't allowedThat's how rules work, yeah.>if i follow ALL of these every time for every single move i make, i'll never get anywhereSo you agree that the rules as written are not functional and the "correct" way to play is to selectively ignore them, just as I suggested you meant in >>98074357 ?The issue isn't that I can't improvise, it's that I didn't find Ironsworn did anything to facilitate a solo game beyond a blank sheet of paper.>>98083807>determine the consequences in a way that make senseThe most obvious consequence of failing to defend yourself when attacked is taking damage. That is after all the entire point of the attack.>provides a table of consequences that include things that aren't taking damageIf you mean the table under Endure Harm then it is not alternatives to taking damage, but alternatives to being maimed if you miss the roll after being reduced to 0 health:>If you are at 0 health, you must mark wounded or maimed (if currently unmarked) or roll on the following table>You're not thinking narratively enough to play the game as is.If I wanted to think narratively I'd write a story. I want to play a game.My original point was that it was not a game where, "you can't mess it up". Even if you insist the fault is entirely mine that is evidently not true.
>>98084583>The most obvious consequence of failing to defend yourself when attacked is taking damageAgain, watch or read any piece of action oriented media and that's not how fights progress at all. >Getting knocked down >Being temporarily blinded>Dropping a weapon>Losing an item>Being thrown off balance >Leaving yourself open to an attack >The enemy getting stronger >The enemy telegraphing a powerful attack >Your shield/armour breaking >Reinforcements arriving>The enemy fighting non-lethally >Your objective being threatened >Being scared (losing spirit) >Close call indicating your luck running out (losing momentum) Are all things that can and will happen in a fight instead of straight damage. You need to actually think about the fight as part of the roleplay instead of *just* thinking rolling dice and subtracting numbers. Even in pure dice-rolling combat like DnD's your HP is an abstraction and not every blow is you being impaled. >you mean the table under Endure HarmNo, I mean the table under the Pay the Price move, which several moves even explicitly encourage you to use, as does the move itself. Why would I be referring to the Endure Harm table when I'm talking about not taking Harm? >wanted to think narratively I'd write a story. I want toAnon, you are playing a roleplaying game. What do you think a GM does in a group game? What do you think the players are doing when they say anything other than "I attack"? Roleplaying is engaging with the narrative, you see refusing to do that and complaining it doesn't work. This is like going to the movies with your eyes closed and complaining you can't see anything. It sounds like you'd much prefer games without any roleplay like Ker Nethalas or Four Against Darkness, or even a solo boardgame. Genuinely, this isn't even an Ironsworn issue at the point.
Can I ask for advice on a third-party archetype?It almost feels like a trap, but the flavour of it, it entices me.
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>>98084827>>98084839>>98084847>>98084853>>98084860Am I supposed to try and play this like an unironic muscle witch or something?Does it at least look fun?
>>98084800>What do you think a GM does in a group game?Creates and describes the world and adjudicates the results of the players' interactions with it. The main feature of TTRPGs isn't narrative, which is found in board games as simple as The Game of Life, but adjudicating the result of actions by the logic of the world above the letter of the rules. That's why the GM is normally there, and why the role has been called "judge" and "referee".>Even in pure dice-rolling combat like DnD's your HP is an abstraction and not every blow is you being impaledExactly? Losing "health" is already abstract enough that it can cover much of your list rather than being limited to literal wounds. The narrative is there to colour the mechanics, not to sometimes replace them. And how often? The Pay The Price table has "It is Harmful" as 9% of the results, plus some fractions with the "roll twice" and "roll again but worse" ones. So only 1 in 10 misses should cause harm? Though presumably that would be more likely with combat than other actions even if there's only one table.I don't think it's at all clear from the book, and nor do I think it is any help in creating a narrative since it does nothing more than tell you to create one.
>>98082419I like the scaling philosophy of these d6 systems, I guess I should buy way more d6 dice lol.>>98084257Yeah, I'm feeling the same. I'm delving into mini six right now and liking it lots so far, I should start trying it today with one of my recent solo campaign ideas.I wonder if my itch for crunchier stuff will flare up, or finally just go into torpor, it feels great when a system just clicks with oneself while flowing through the gameplay.
>>98085079>Creates and describes the world and adjudicates the results of the players' interactionsYou are the player and the GM when you solo. You need to be able to adjudicate your own interactions, which you struggle with.>The main feature of TTRPGs isn't narrativeA) I never said it was the main feature, but it's a major regardless of what you feel, it's in the name.>but adjudicating the result of actions by the logic of the world above the letter of the rulesThat is interacting with the narrative. What's going in the world? Who is that NPC and what are they doing and why are they doing it? The player is swinging a sword? Can that even hurt a dragon? That's all part of the narrative.>Losing "health" is already abstract enough that it can cover much of your list rather than being limited to literal wounds.Yeah, except the game tells you to do the things on the list instead of just losing Health.>The narrative is there to colour the mechanics, not to sometimes replace them.The narrative gives the mechanics and their results context. If you genuinely cannot conceive of an action changing the character or the world without explicitly moving a number on your character sheet I'm at a loss for why you would play anything about a tactical combat so.>. And how often? The Pay The Price table has "It is Harmful" as 9% of the results, plus some fractions with the "roll twice" and "roll again but worse" ones. So only 1 in 10 misses should cause harm?Did you even read the move attached to the table? You're willfully not engaging with the game.>don't think it's at all clear from the bookThe book lacks some much needed examples and advice, I agree there. But there's still lots there which addresses what you've said.
One for the solo crew:gofile io /d/GmETai
>>98086690Neato, thanks anon.
>>98086777NP!
Can someone suggest a good Star Wars solo rpg? I tried converting the old Star Wars D6 to solo play but it didn't really work.
>>98085924>That is interacting with the narrativeOnly the same way as chucking dice in 4AD is "interacting with the narrative". Narrative isn't just interpreting mechanics in terms of fiction, it's giving them structure. A sequence of, "and then and then and then" doesn't make a narrative.>If you genuinely cannot conceive of an action changing the character or the world without explicitly moving a number on your character sheetI can conceive of it, but if it's the normal result of a straightforward mechanic then I think it's shitty design. Same as if a game described an attack as "stuns the target" but never defined what it meant to be stunned. An RPG has to hit, "I dunno, you work it out" at some point, but I don't expect it to be the result of a roll to hit. And "maybe reduce a number but maybe don't" is even worse.>Did you even read the move attached to the table? Yes, and it says nothing whatever about how often it expects you to pick any of the options beyond that implied by table.
>>98084257>It fall in that catagory of "crunchier than ultra lites like Risus and tricube tales, but not quite as in depth as medium complexity games,I love the "crunchy light rules" rules, and there's a few more that fit there.Neon overdrive is built on Freeform Universal by the same author, it has a clear Cyberpunk vibe and it's very good.Over the Edge is kinda similar to Barbarians of Lemuria, but for modern settings.The Into the Odd, Electric Bastionland, Liminal Horror, Mythic Bastionland, Vagabond and such family is suprisingly deep give how simple are the rules.g0fi1e /d/F9YaiB
>>98086690This was pretty interesting, have to read it in full. I think the chapter on combat and oracles was pretty interesting (p.25-27) and I might integrate it to my game. Basically just play the interesting combats.>Play out one or two minor combats in full to get the feel of them>For upcoming minor combats just roll a yes/no oracle on "does it go my way">Extreme yes, minor to no resources lost>Yes, minor resources lost>No, now you play out the scene where you are in trouble>Extreme no, play the combat out but you are in major troubleSeems like a good way to still have the resource drain of combat without the boring parts
>>98087299Tricube Tales' Interstellar Bounty Hunters/Laser Knights/Rebels/Smuggers :^)>>98087339Thanks for the drop. I mistook Neon Overdrive as Hard Wired Island but I appreciate it nonetheless.
>>98087442Neon City Overdrive, I forgot the 'city', my bad.
>>98087303>sequence of, "and then and then and then" doesn't make a narrative.I never said it does.>think it's shitty design. Same as if a game described an attack as "stuns the target" but never defined what it meant to be stunned.Again, it sounds like you don't like anything that isn't a tactical combat sim, which is fine but you're presenting your dislike of anything outside of complete codification as a system issue rather than a taste one.>how often it expects youIt, in no uncertain terms, tells you to first and foremost pick the option that makes sense in the context of the action. It doesn't "expect" any particular frequency. This isn't DnD where the game wants you to run X combat encounters of Y difficulty to drain Z resources per long rest. It expects you to be able to conceptualise the game world and the things within it and manage your journey based on that.If you can't or don't want to do that literally just play a game more suited to your tastes with more structure, several have already been recommended ITT and you can look up more. Ironsworn draws from a school of game design found in games like Apocalypse World and Blades in the Dark that isn't for everyone. In the same way you wouldn't read a romance novel if you hate romance books there's zero reason to make yourself play a game you've proven through experience that you do not like.
>>98087472What makes you think I'm not playing different games? I played Ironsworn a couple of times several years ago and didn't like it. It sounds like you're dismissing any criticism of it as irrelevant because it's from someone that doesn't like it.>first and foremost pick the option that makes sense in the context of the actionAs I already said, the thing that makes most sense in the context of failing to defend yourself from attack is being hurt.>It doesn't "expect" any particular frequencyBullshit. The game gives you 5 health, not 500. That's a design decision based on expected play. Likewise you keep saying to use the "reduce health" option less. That's an opinion about expected play.
>>98087303>Yes, and it says nothing whatever about how often it expects you to pick any of the options beyond that implied by table.The first two options presented on Pay the Price explicitly say that *YOU* decide the outcome and only use the table if you cannot think for yourself on what the outcome is.
>>98086690>>98087391Okay this part is very gay >safety tools>for solo games>if you don't like something, don't do itIs this necessary, are there people triggering themselves whioe soloing:DDD>I hate le racism and rape>nooooo I'm racistly raping myself nooo>I wish we had safety tools just like in my queers and queefs game
>>98087581It's in the same vein as the games that have a "Nooo, this game isn't for bigots >-<" warning thinking it'll stop the "wrong" people from playing their game when in reality they are just going to ignore the warning and do what they want anyway.
>>98087516>What makes you think I'm not playing different gamesBecause you're here trying to brute force one you clearly don't like.>It sounds like you're dismissing any criticismI've done no such thing. I've acknowledged the game has flaws, but your issues are fundamentally caused by fighting the playstyle required for the game. If someone came in saying "Why doesn't 4AD have rules for persuasion, social combat, and mass combat? That's bad design" I'd say the same thing.>most sense in the context of failing to defend yourself from attack is being hurt.This isn't even true because striking and clashing are you making an attack. You don't automatically get hit when you miss an attack even in real life, neither says you fail to defend against a counterattack. You have added something to the rules text and complained it doesn't work. Both moves even prompt you to use Pay the Price, which in turn tells you can roll on the table instead, which only makes you take harm a small proportion of the time. Even with zero willingness to interact with the narrative, zero accounting for the context of the fight or the move you're making, and reading RAW strictly you're still unnecessarily harm on yourself and blaming the game.>Bullshit. The game gives you 5 health, not 500.And fucking what? What does that tell you? It tells you have 5 Health. That's 5 direct hits from a Troublesome Foe. 1 From an Epic Foe. Where does the game tell you that you HAVE to fight an Epic enemy? Where does it say you have a quota of Troublesome enemies to cut through to pass a vow? How much combat does it take to level up? To get a strong hit on your epilogue? Where does it say never, ever use Battle instead of Entering the Fray? Tell me exactly where the game tells you how much harm and how much combat you must see per day. There is no expected frequency of harm. You could take harm after every miss if you want your game gritty. You're whining about it, so you clearly don't.
>>98087598Talking about a game I don't like does not mean I am still playing it.>This isn't even true because striking and clashing are you making an attackThe descriptive text beneath Strike includes:>On a miss, you must Pay the Price. Your opponent strikes back and you Endure HarmIt does not say this under Clash, but since the distinction is that you lack initiative I'd expect that to be more dangerous, not less.>There is no expected frequency of harmTomkin surely had some sort of expectations when he made the game the way he did. The fact that he did nothing to convey them is exactly my problem. The book does not actually tell me how to play the game.
>>98087740>The descriptive text beneath Strike includes:It also includes losing position or advantage, facing a new or intensified danger, a companion is put in harms way, or a weapon is dropped or broken. These are all examples of what could happen not a list of only what can happen.
>>98087808Sure, but don't try to claim Strike doesn't cover being attacked back when it's right there in the book.
>>98087838That's not what the other anon is claiming. He's claiming it is more than just being physically hurt but you seem to keep dwelling on *just* the getting hurt part. Or you're just willfully ignoring it for the sake of arguing.Either way it's clear to me from your conversation so far that you are far too rigid for this kind of game, or maybe just solo gaming in general.
>>98087845Again, my original point was that, contrary to the suggestion, Ironsworn does not work for everyone.
>>98087853But now you're just arguing for the sake of arguing.
>>98087856That's the only kind of argument on the internet.
>>98087740>opponent strikes backThat means they attack back. That is not the same as them automatically hitting, they are attempting to hit just as you did (and failed at). Not only that, you said a miss on Strike is failing to defend but it's categorically not that.
Anyone here tried playing Fabula solo? If so, how was it? What oracles did you use
>>98087299What troubles did you got into when trying to use the old SW D6?There were "Solitaire" modules in old WEG books, remember those?As the other anon said, there's lots of Tricube content that's SW with the serial number filed off, some of them are even PWYW or free.But if you want something akin to WEG's D6, had you tried Mini Six? There are hacks of Mini Six that are even less crunchy and tailored for Star Wars like HyperspaceD6, is a WIP but look for version 2.8, it seems is the most recent.Otherwise, Ironsworm Starforged is pretty popular and well regarded, and specifically tailored for structured solo playing, it's aesthetics are homaging/borrowing from SW.Also, Lasers and feelings too maybe? It's not my cup of tea, but I've seen it, there are SW hacks of it.Personally I like crunchier stuff, and so i would run a SW solo campaign using Stars Without Number, maybe using solo mechanics like those in Scarlet Heroes/Black Streams.But it all depends on the person.
>>98087937mythic gme only one attempt so far, but generating enemies is the biggest timesink just like any other multiplayer ruleset being soloed against the design intent. doubly so since it has no robust bestiary yet. core ruler's abbreviated bestiary works fine for most settings but it will get repetitive. I went and created a whole slew of enemies to randomly choose from, which was a worldbuilding fun in and of itself and immensely enjoyable. the rules have a reasonably good enemy customization system so i recommend building your own baddies. the downside is that by the nature of soloing this, you don't get to "discover" the enemies stats from scratch. another thing you might wanna do is generate an NPC and have them become a party member with independent turns. or a full blown extra character. enemies random targeting isn't so random if you're the only guy in the party. I opted for an NPC party member to keep it simple.
>>98085389>I like the scaling philosophy of these d6 systemsAgreed. It seems like something, If I get comfortable with it, I could maybe do some dig scale stuff like full on space battles or something too.>I guess I should buy way more d6 dice lol.well, fortunately, thats the type thats easy to get in bulk. I got some mini d6's that came in a little container of like 36. I use it a lot since barbarians of Lemuria is also d6 based. Though that is something to consider, I was able to play some barbarians of lemuria on a trip pretty easily since it only requires 2, though it is prefered to have 3, dice.
Obsidian Solo RPG Toolkit is really well designed. Random tables and oracles and dice rollers, and cards but I've never used them, all at once. I think it's better than Foundry VTT for narrative games.
>>98090085Add to it the Dice Roller plugin and the Storyteller Suite one to manage campaigns (it's designed both for writers and rpg). Together with the Solo RPG Toolkit one, they're the three best rpg plugins in obsidian
>>98087590I think it's also performative to win brownie points and spend it on nabbing freebies from an "inclusive" group.
>>98084583Don't take this the wrong way, this isn't an insult, but you wouldn't be on the spectrum by any chance? In my experience Ironworn isn't very autism-friendly. It requires a lot of imagination. It's also a game that is better suited to people who have some GM experience.But reading you posts, I also find that you made several mistakes about the rules. It can be a consequence of how they are laid out, but some of your assumptions are false and explained in the rules. Like in combat, a fail doesn't have to cost you any resource/momentum points. It can be a fully narrative consequence instead. The random table isn't only for when you have 0 Health, you're mistaken about that completely.Try a fight and use the table for each time you fail/have a weak hit and see how it works for you. It might be easier in the smaller frame of a fight to see how it works for you than in the overall quest.
I just played a superhero parody game. I stated it like Mystery Men, but it soon became Frank Miller-tier.My character was a double goth anti-hero. Both her hero persona and her civilian alter ego were goth. Poe-themed for Maximum Gothicness.Her name was Nevermore. A Batman-like vigilante. Lots of Poe and bird puns.>You will plague this world... Nevermore>This is Poe-etic justice!>Just call it... a premature burialAnd the shame inducing:>I could not save him, but I will... Raven-ge him!"Her favorite weapon was a dart in the form of a quill made with a raven feather, because of course it was.The more I played, the more serious it got. The more serious it got, the more I tried to make it over the top edgy parodic. Is that what it feel like to be in the head of Frank Miller?The end got real dark. She killed a cop. Not because he was corrupt, but because he wasn't good enough at his job. She ripped his heart out with her steampunk claws.>I WILL HEAR THE BEATING OF HIS HIDEOUS HEART... NevermoreShe was like the Denny Crane of the superhero world, always saying her own name.I didn't really go for a Tim Burton vibe. Not enough black spirals in my story for it.It was fun. Not sure I would play her again, but maybe some other kind of comedy-flavored adventure at some point.
>>98091427>the head of Frank Miller?Nah, Frank doesn't have enough literary background for all that. More like Alan Moore?
>>98091302I am not autistic, nor have I ever GM'd for anyone. I have no interest in going back to Ironsworn. My making it overly punishing aside, I don't feel it actually did anything useful. I don't care for narrative first play, but if I did I'd play a journaling game that actually prompts a narrative.
>>98091427Quoth Encounters of the Bird Kind
>>98088702I'm gonna give a try on your way anon. But instead of a much simpler NPC I think I'd like to create extra characters myself, even though it will make it a bit more complicated. I'll take note on the bestiary, many thanks anon!
>>98092482Have you tried OSR-type solo games? Kal-Arath is great. The guy who made it has some free stuff on itch. Tarvannion is pretty good. Lots of easy procedures for hex crawls, dungeon crawls, town creation, encounters, resource gathering, etc.The random tables are small, so the play experience is more focused. And it's easy to create d6 to d12 tables yourself. Or just remove entries you've had and don't feel like to experience again and replace them with something new.
>>98093166Sure, with some success. I still have some issues with them, which is why I'm making my own system. But who isn't?
>>98092482>>980931664 Against Darkness and it's hacks and supplements are good too. I've played Alone Against Fear and it's fun. It's very boardgame-like mixed with some gamebook, but still 100% an rpg. There's a main quest (close 7 hell portals), but you don't really have to follow that quest all the time. A you experience ome events, you remove them from play so you never feel like you're stuck in a narrative loop. You imagine the story as much or as little as you want. Jut reading the text and using the rule is enough, but you can also use visualization, or even write it out in journal/prose form.If you enjoy computah gamz like Resident Evil, there's also Biocalypse. Free on itch. It's similar. Very simple rules. 3 types of play. Narrative, Survival and 'Locks and Keys'. It's just a few tables, but the play loop is pretty strong. It's only 7 pages. Not solo, but it's super easy to play it that way. Lock and Keys are like mini-quests. Find the code to the door to get access to a vial of anti-virus. Save the wife of an NPC to get info on a place you haven't explored before. Find an old computer terminal to read an old floppy disk marked 'underground lab schematics', etc.
>>98093220I haven't been that impressed with the board game style games I've tried It might be an issue with not playing long enough, but they didn't give you meaningful options. In combat you can attack, use an item, or flee, and that's about it. It's diverting enough to chuck the dice and build the dungeon, but the mechanics aren't that engaging.The 2D6 system was more promising but ended up just being a roll to see which attack (if any) you do, rather than much in the way of decision making. And even if you could choose I think it was straightforward to see which was better, so that's still no real choice.I have liked several of these games, but I think we can do better in making the mechanics more engaging and decisions more meaningful.
>>98092482>I am not autisticnot autistic, or just not diagnosed?Because amateur opinion, your writing style definitely sounds some kind of neurotypical or another.>>98087581>are there people triggering themselves whioe soloing>if only you knew how bad things really are.jpg
>>98092482I hate to break it to you anon but journaling games require you to push the narrative yourself outside of the bounds that the initial narrative prompt it gives you. And with how you've demonstrated yourself you'll hate it just as much as Ironsworn.>>98094560I'd definitely say he sounds like mid-20s undiagnosed autism/adhd.
>>98094560>>98087581hyperphantasia is a thing that people suffer from. combine that with some people's imagination love to run out of control (that's me) and have to physically blurt out "dude, shut the fuck up" to make it stop like i've got the goddamn tourette syndrome. i wouldn't be surprised if some people genuine trigger themselves while soloing and need external and physical aid. i'm not at the stage where i need a safety framework kit to make this enjoyable because i found a fucking manchurian codephrase that works for me, "dude shut the fuck up." but if i get older and my brain decides to do the funny and develop more neurological bullshit, i'll have to rely on the safety kit. that's depressing to think about.
>>98094560>acktually you don't know anything about yourself>let me diagnose you with a neurological disorder over a few paragraphs of shitpostingGet yourself checked for retardation.
>>98094635>completely shit up the thread with confused autistic babble about narrative games being too narrative >"noo you can't call me an autist that's retarded" yepi certainly hope you find this mythical holy grail of a game that lets you have creative freedom without the freedom and just a right amount of railroading so you can journal without feeling like you're being railroaded
>>98094743I hope you learn to read, but I'm hardly optimistic.
>>98094635I said amateur opinion.but look brother, even if you're not an ornithologist, you see enough ducks you learn what a quack sounds like. And as the saying goes, "walks like a duck, sounds like a duck..."
>>98094596unironically, ask /x/ how to do an exorcism.but for starters I'd say burn some sage and put on your best commanding dad voice telling it to get the fuck out of your head and leave your life.
I know this is for SOLO i.e. 1 player rpg, but has anyone tried using AI rp chatbots for 0 player RPG? Like AI is both the DM and the players, and you're just reading along?
>>98095014Doable, but, at that point, just go watch what's-his-name Marcer at jewtube. It will have more quality than any slop. Also, this is beyond no-games.
>>98095014I simply don't see the point in doing something like that. AI easily breaks character and devolves into senilitude extremely easy anyway.
>>98095014All the time. There's a large spectrum between "roleplay with me" and "be my glorified notetaker, summarizer and generate me a d4 outcome table".
>>98095062>why not just go watch what's-his-name Marcer at jewtubeEasy, I don't like his stories or his players.>>98095070>AI easily breaks characterThe one I've been messing around with is pretty good about that because it's not all one AI trying to answer you as multiple characters like it's got DID, it's [character count] number of copies of the AI interacting.
>>98094635lashing out when faced with the possibility of autism is often a sign of autism.
>>98095178Yeah, and and my star sign is the reason I don't believe in astrology.
Anyone else feels less inclined to play videogames since discovering solo? Unless it's a very specific game, I just feel like I could experience this with far more freedom as a solo campaign. The only challenge is finding the right system.
>>98095191This^>The only challenge is finding the right system.Prep is still gaming.
>>98094761sorry fella, that's the best i can do off of your borderline schizophrenic autistic ramblings you shat out all over the thread in the past few weeks. you don't know what you want because you don't understand what you're reading.
>>98095173>Easy, I don't like his stories or his players.And as I said, I don't even know him nor what his shit is beyond all the spam tards post in /tg/, but for sure it will be WAY... WAY better than any automatic AI feces slop you are willing to ingest.
>>98095173>The one I've been messing around with is pretty good about that because it's not all one AI trying to answer you as multiple characters like it's got DID, it's [character count] number of copies of the AI interacting.Then if it is so good, post logs and be judged by them.
>like a setting>want to do my own thing with it and alter it to fit the other cool shit I want to do with it>get choice paralysis trying to decide what to changeI know the Aladdin method and Mune's 'as expected' tables exist, anything else like that for workshopping a setting out there?
>>98095915I've done this before, I even put it on itch io as a zine.But it was OSR-adjacent stuff, there were some compatibilities, genre and mechanics, yet other stuff was totally different, but I made them compatible, so the ruleset I like but with the dressing of the setting I like.What I found is that besides minor stuff like what stats are equivalent, I only needed to make a compatibility layer for equipment and NPC stats. And I used as much as possible from the dressing setting, like lore, special props, economy, GM tools, etc, to keep compatibility as much as possible, if you thinkso, equipment and NPC stats are the thing most "pluggable" in a TTRPG.Having said that, there's no better feeling than playing a TTRPG that feels like you don't have to change things to enjoy it.
>>98095187as an autistic person, you don’t have to be so ashamed of your autism. together, we might find a cure.who knows, maybe we will find a way to implement the best of autismos, like you, and normies, into some kind of super race of humans with both normal and autistic powers.
>>98095734I'm not here to proselytize AI.
>>98095915>Aladdin method and Mune's 'as expected' tablesQuick rundown?
>>98096506>I'm not here to proselytize AI.But you were here to mention it.>The one I've been messing around with is pretty good about that because it's not all one AI trying to answer you as multiple characters like it's got DID, it's [character count] number of copies of the AI interacting.I guess those logs aren't good enough yet, right? So it seems like all the other anons were right about it, AI still sucks, even using several of them in tandem.PROTIP:Text-logs or gtfo.
>>98096510Here yo ugo.>Aladdin methodhttps://battreps.blogspot.com/2014/07/alladin-technique.html?m=1>Mune's 'as expected' tableshttps://homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/share/rkmo0t9k4QPage 4.
>>98096747>But you were here to mention it.I'm here to ask if anybody had experience using it in a specific context.What's with the massive chip on your shoulder?
>>98096762Had you heard of Triple-O?
>>98096762Thanks anon
>>98096771>What's with the massive chip on your shoulder?An AI LLM from the future stole my wife and adviced her on law tricks to take my kids away from me, they are now living on silicon valley and ready to get uploaded by Google DeepMind.There (You) go, a way better story any of your AIs will do, kek.Also, what's with your obsession with MASSIVE Chips, you sound like a techno-fetishist size-queen from TMSC.
>>98096787The fuck is this schizobabble? I thought I was on /tg/, not /x/.
>>98096776I've heard of>PETtish "Player Emulator with Tags" https://katamoiran.itch.io/pettishAnd >Motif Character Enginehttps://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/328769/motif-character-engine-player-and-character-emulationIs it similar?
>>98096776Triple O is just a single page explaining oracle dice and includes some tables. Everything is just a variant of GME. It's all some variant of oracle dice + tables. Juice, same thing.I just ask fate questions for everything. I rarely even use tables.
>>98096810>has anyone tried using AI rp chatbots for 0 player RPG? Like AI is both the DM and the players, and you're just reading along?>I'm here to ask if anybody had experience using it in a specific context.NTA, but I think you already got your answer man, now you can go back to where you came from.
>>98095915>get choice paralysis trying to decide what to changeAnd this doesn't gets fixed with more choices, sounds like you have brain issues.
>>98095191I've found both this and the opposite to be true; there are videogames that better serve the kind of game I want to play and tabletop games that do better than what the video game is trying to do. I've also had a few times where nothing I could find fit what I wanted, but that's just something that happens.
>>98095191Not really. I always found CRPGs underwhelming and restrictive, and everything else just works too differently to be a substitute. I guess maybe I'd play 5PFH instead of X-Com.
>>98094905>put on a voice to control your mental stateThat's how you develop an alter anon>>98096771He's just malding about AI, probably had dreams of being a furry artist someday
>>98096840What makes Triple-O different is that it's a streamlined take on oracle tables. Instead of a hard Yes/No that may be hard to define in the moment, Triple-O instead goes with Obvious/Obscure and lets the player go with their instinct more. Triple-O also has a zine version that provides more usage examples.>>98096820Somewhat. Triple-O isn't exclusively a player emulator but it leans itself to it, and does a more elegant job IMO.Pettish is more systematized and can be hard to get into. It also emulates players and characters a little separately.Motif Character Engine seems like a midpoint between the two, having more options than Triple-O but less granular than Pettish.Each one plays differently yet pursues the same result. Triple-O encourages you to come up with 3 outcomes of various likelihoods. Pettish prefers customizing player templates with tags to determine their broad strokes. Motif picks 3 different sub-oracles and combines it into one 3d6 roll.
>>98097591The fuck is this LLM-psychosis? I thought I was on /tg/, not /g/>furryEasy, you are the first one mentioning furry artists in this general in months, I guess you have a massive chip on your shoulder about those talentless degenerates eh? You are just malding because /tg/ doesn't likes AI, you probably had dreams of your lazy ass belonging somewhere. Go back, sock-puppet anon. You don't need nor want what /tg/ nor /ssrpgg/ have, you only want procedural slop shit being shoveled down your tasteless throat while doing the less effort possible you fatty, go dwell on /aids/ and die rotting younger.
Not that aggressive anon, but the truth is we barely discuss AI or LLMs in this general because they aren't good yet, not because we hate AI.When it will be good enough this thread will be full of advice and opinions about them, I'm sure it will.Also, do you know what's the meme currency on chatbot threads in 4chan? Text-logs, you impress other anons with your text-logs. No text-logs. = Opinion discarded.
>>98099023>outsourcing your imagination to AI is only bad because the AI isn't up to it
>>98097680>Instead of a hard Yes/No that may be hard to define in the moment, Triple-O instead goes with Obvious/Obscure and lets the player go with their instinct more.This is just an 'Expectation Check' versus a 'Question'. Juice includes a similar concept.I personally don't use expectation checks like this. I test my expectations with a question, with a variable probability depending on how strongly I expect it. I don't want to be told it's "the opposite, odd, option". Being told it's not something is good enough. Then I'll iterate on the next question until I get a Yes.Variable probability on your questions is an important piece that many oracle dice systems lack. The d100 fate chart from GME is fine (chaos 5)
>>98099023Speak for yourself nigga. I use AI all the time. Primarily for generating bespoke, context-aware oracle tables.It's a tool, it's not your GM.
>>98043552To follow up on this, I've started playing a solo game in 5.2 with the Great Pendragon Campaign and mythic, and I'm actually having a blast. I just finished up my first "session" last night (it was actually an on-and-off thing I did over the whole week). A lot of Pendragon's mechanics work really well for solo play, since so much of the story can be worked out via dice rolls on tables both official and fan-made. Really great stuff, I'd strongly recommend it to any other beginners.
>>98099233>Playing with other people is bad because it's outsourcing your imagination, solo is the only TRVE and PVRE form of TTRPGLol okay
>>98096856You're not wrong, I just wasn't expecting such an explosive reaction, even if it is all from one anon. Seemed like a pretty innocuous question.
>>98095915My advice? Pick a fixed starting point where something big happens in the setting.Then run from that point onwards and change things based on oracles.I'm doing this at the moment with Star Wars and it's basically turned into an entirely fresh new setting
The reason I like Ironsworn is because the consequence of action is reduced to a change in a statistic. It feels clean to say "I run away from a bear, -Supply because in my haste some shit falls out of my bag."
>>98098990>He's just malding about AIBang to rights, kek. Seethe harder, cope more, etcetera>>98099023I won't inflict my logs on the thread. Maybe when AI is good enough to convert it into something digestible, but as it stands my writing is more like napkin notes.
Correct me if I'm wrong, to solo roleplay I should: grab a scorebook of any game I'm interested in, any/several of the many oracles to decide what happens, a game master emulator book,and combine all of them to create the game? Did I get it right?
>>98101515>rulebook >8 ball from a toy store, or any flavor of yes-no-maybe table that's it other specialized tables, you make them yourself as you learn the game and recognize places that'll require a DM stand-in
>>98101948I see. Thank you. I thought I was going to get overwhelmed.
>>98101981if you wanna save even more time, i recommend at least reading through Mythic GME to understand what its contents are. Then, when you're learning the ruleset of the game you're trying to solo, you'll have pretty good ideas on which Mythic table you can appropriate for simulating which DM interactions in the game that can't be easily abstracted by yes-no-maybe-but-and tables. It's actually quite rare that you have to make your own table from scratch.
Anyone tried Downcrawl? Thinking of it getting it as my first solo RPG (such as it is) to hopefully get me in a more creative mindset where I'll actually have to fill in the blanks and come up with my own narratives. For some reason the worlds you can build really intrigue me. I'm also looking at Broken Shores and Disciples of Blood & Shadow, although those two seem a little bit more structured.
>>98102152Okay, taking notes, thanks a lot.
>some stupid incident had me working all of saturday and a bit of sunday >finally got the grocery bullshit out of the way (jesus fucking christ the lines) and vacc'd the house thank fuck, time to play tabletop gaymes-->forgot to buy beer NOOOOTHIS CAN'T BE HAPPENING WHY WHY WHY WHAT ARE SOME MODERN-SETTING RULESETS FOR THIS FEEL AAAAGH
>>98102270this subset of /tg/ is niche enough that you should expect nobody to have played them unless proven otherwise. the best advice I can offer is watch reviews of someone who has actually played the solo rules instead of the usual book summary reviewslop content. also, a multiplayer game that has optional solo rules isn't always a good product for soloing. there's a stark difference between solo rules written by "yeah I watched those book summary reviews about ironsworn" people and the ones written by people intimately familiar with what makes solo rules tick.
>>98078181Looking into it after I saw this and some other stonetop stuff, I think Ironsworn wouldn’t be needed too much for stuff like combat or tables aside from maybe stealing the progress mechanic for expeditions? I’m still checking it out though. I do like Ironsworn a lot and stonetop looks good so may be worth trying it out solo. I’ll give it a try after I’m done or get tired of my current thing. I may want to try to play stonetop with people so a solo test may be good.
>>98103928Are you me?!I recommend Silent Legions. It's very good for solo play, but highly lethal. (Everyone has low HP already, but then there's also a die you roll alongside damage called a "Slaughter die", and if it gets a 6 or greater, then you triple your damage output, symbolizing a headshot or a lethal strike in combat.)
>>98105500>are you me?The ultimate and final sologaming question.
>>98052309You just described osr d&d.Go play that.
>>98095191>Anyone else feels less inclined to play videogames since discovering solo?Yeah, especially since my graphics card keeps crashing during game play and not many new games catching my attention.
>>98052309>>98105544Since the game is largely rules vs player with DM refereeing rather than player vs DM, afaik B/X D&D is solo playable too.
>>98095191>Anyone else feels less inclined to play videogames since discovering solo?Other way around, I'm here because I feel kind of done with video games.Plus I got like 9 different YouTube video suggestions in a row named something along the lines of "play solo RPGs instead of doomscrolling" so it kind of feels like the universe giving me a sign, especially because like, what kind of stars have to align for the insatiable attention-ravenous algorithm to repeatedly tell me to flee the algorithm.
>>98102501Okay, good to know thanks. I'm pretty sure Broken Shores is specifically made for solo play and so is the other one I think so maybe I'll grab one of those two. Downcrawl seems to be fairly agnostic about being solo or multiplayer, as far as I can tell, it's just a unique setting for generating underdark style worlds, peoples and encounters with.
These guys just survived their first dungeon excursion. The killed a giant rat-dog beast and a bear. They stole a bunch of treasure from some kobolds and Pake now has a +1 Battleaxe.They're gonna spend their money on some better armor, a holy symbol, and a few retainers to stand between them and danger...
>>98052309You can play both ways. Play like you do, then use some rules for when you have NPCs or Factions trying to do something. Like roll a D10 each round/turn/scene/day/whatever. If you get under your current D10 score, it's your new number. Over and you lower it by 1. When you reach 1 some event happens that gets the NPC/Faction closer to their goal. Use an oracle to determine if your character finds out about it, what it is, etc. Reset your dice to 10 and do the same. On the next 1, it's a bigger/more important event. 3 events is usually my go-to number to determine if they reach their goal.For investigations, I use Powered by the Apocalypse rolls. Strong hits are revelations. Weak hits are clues to places/people/events/etc. Misses are no clue or discovering something you knew is a red herring. You need to resolve a few questions to solve a mystery. Like who killed the guy, why, how. Or how was the scroll stolen, by who, where is it now and why was it taken. It's pretty easy, you don't need extensive rules. Some answers might not even need a roll. Maybe the way it was taken means only one person could do it. You can use random tables, AI, yes/no oracles or lists of words to come up with what the clues and reveals are.Even "stories" can be put down as 3 to 5 milestones tracks. You don't even need Ironsworn to do that. Most of my sidequests have 3 milestones that I determine as I play.
>>98085389>>98082088In fact, just created the stat blocks for a star wars solo game I am planning to play in mini 6.The main character is going to be an empire turn coat who now works for Rebel intelligence, and on occasion does freelance work. He turned in part due to Bothan contacts, and still has some contacts with the Bothan spy network. Because of this he has a Bothan chauffeur who is a bit strange for her race because she is more interested in piloting and getting her hands dirty rather than intelligence work. Their arrangement works out as she gets to go fast and bust heads while he does the snooping and brain works.
>>98029236Anyone else have a REAL hard time retaining carry over factors between campaigns? IDK why but shit like XP and money I just lose track of and kind of just start a new adventure from a blank-ish slate.Which isnt necissarily bad, but I kind of do want there to be some progress, but for some reason I can never seem to get myself to hold on to "accumulated" resources.
Shouldn't https://infinityweavers.link/re-up/solo-rp-toolkit replace the old tayruh links in the rentry?
>>98112550Nice catch. I updated it. If y'all want other edits feel free to request them.
>>98112908>y’allwe dont like “y’all” tards around these parts.
>>98112933hyuck hyuck hyuck
>>98110540>I just lose track ofHow does that happen? You should keep good notes.
What's the best place to find oracles? The ones in Mythic are shit-vague and I want something a little more specific.
>>98114828https://infinityweavers.link/re-up/solo-rp-toolkit
>>98114917My. Fucking. Man.Thanks.
>>98114828itchio has a bunch, some free.
What are some good mechanics-heavy RPGs, things closer to solo dungeon crawlers?
>>98117561I like Scarlet Heroes. But I'm currently trying our RiftBreakers. It says that it's styled after classic MMOs, but in the form of a tabletop RPG you can play by yourself. I think the game is basically:>There's a hubworld>Select missions at a quest board>Go do quests in a "Rift" which is like a region that you only get one shot at completing the quests in>Come back>Upgrade your character/craft items>Upgrade the hub world>Go on bigger quests with bigger rewards and more danger>RepeatSounds like it could be interesting.
>>98117948>scarlet heros>mechanics heavyI like it, but its not that.
Can you use Risus as a GME? Seems like something more suitable for improvised creative writing. I don't know.
>>98121586I was about to argue with you, but then I realized that it's literally a ruleslite OSR game. You're right. (Over the years, I've added so many different subsystems and mechanics to my Scarlet Heroes game that it's barely recognizable as that.)Have you considered running 3.5 D&D or Pathfinder as a solo game? They hold up pretty well after you get some levels under your belt and you gain some companions.
>>98122902I don't really see how you could. Risus is just a system for adding chance and mechanics to free-form RP. It's kind of like the bare minimum line if you wanted to gamify your writing experience.
>>98123925What homebrew rules do you use for Scarlet Heroes?
>>98057173updates? compound still standing?
>>98114917why does firefox mark this page as malicious?
Whats the best way to get pdf scans of old solo game books like pic?
>>98125304Or like this pic? Or is it too special and old that noone scanned it?
>>98125308They had 3 Volumes.
>>98125335It looks like they had really an RPG with all the extra things.
>>98125304This had 4 volumes, but only the first 3 ones in english.
>>98125380Those are more like the choose your iwn adventure books appearantly.
>>98125388
>>98125397
>>98125400
>>98125404
>>98125412
>>98125179Looks alright to me. I'll double-check the DNS records, make sure nothing's expired. The hosting itself is off Neocities, but they're generally pretty stable.
>>98125304Scribd, probably
>>98123934Okay, that's why I thought. Anyone knows if there is a light, short game, like just create character-explore dungeon? I don't have much time lately to play lately.
>>98126729Four Against Darkness is good, I hear. Almost like a board game.
>>98122902No, because its a game not a gm emulator. a gm emulator is what you use to run any give game, not a game in itself.A gm emulator is what you use to simulate gm activities, usually via some means or random selection. shit like what weather it is, or if your question about the scene is true or not. Games are the mechanics you use once youve already pinned down the fictional elements in play and what you use to play it out.You can use risus, but you will also need a gm emulator like mythic, one page solo engine, or just come up with your own method of dealing with narrative uncertainty.>>98123934>Risus is just a system for adding chance and mechanics to free-form RPanon, thats just another way to say its a simple rpg.
>>98126478Thanks. Wasnt there but i found a “Where Is Waldo“ with Asterix characters.
>>98126847Thanks.
Anyone have experience running modules from D&D solo?
Theoretical solo games are just like videogames. You just need random dice throw for the enemies or obstacles and the player has to react.
>>98038777You better not post this next thread.
Just had my first solo session with Broken Shores.>escape from cult that'd held me for over a year>day 1: almost hit a sand bar>day 2: meteor crashes into my ship and destroys my solar still, but I got a Godshard out of it, I decide to hold on to it for now.>sail around for a while and do some fishing>day 6: find an island>day 7: approach the island and go ashore, manage to avoid damaging my vessel in the process. I scavange for supplies and try to set up a base camp. Fuck it up and attract the attention of a Deathless Guardian. Can't hurt it with the shitty darts I picked up while escaping the cult so end up running away and hiding until it loses track of me and wanders off. Spend the night sleeping rough in the jungle and take some damage.>day 8: Move further into the island, find more jungle and some old rotting wreckage that gave me supplies, manage to set up a base camp.I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that the ocean would be mostly empty, so far I've spent most of my time sailing and fishing. Getting darts as my random starting weapon definitely screwed me for combat. Hopefully I can find someone with a club or something to disarm in my next session.
>>98133030I believe the odds of getting struck by a meteor are astronomical.
