Edgerunner edition.This thread is dedicated to all kinds of solo games, systems, tools, and campaigns.TQ: What's your solo setup look like? Post pictures if ya want.> Last Thread: >>98138737Resources: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/
>>98341984>What's your solo setup look likeStill setting it up
>>98341881>>98341959What platform is this? FeatherWiki? Sojour? Google Doc?>>98342008Huh.
>>98342033Looks kinda like Obsidian, but different...
>>98342033>>98342045It's just Obsidian lmao. Dude's one of the psychopaths who uses a light theme.
>>98342101>light theme.Jesus fucking Christ. That's one of the scariest things I've ever read on this website...
One for the solo gang:gofile.io/d/CUyPOD
>>98340885Not familiar with dna2 I'll look it up. My character was sent into a modern day earth dimension in jp region. Almost like a reverse superman. As his genetic memory unlocked the facial bones and bones in his body and his muscles etc would morph into a gigachad caricature giving off more and more pheromones into the air and depending on the mind control level of the girls they wouldn't notice the transformation. Or they would think it's perfectly normal. Then the character would get more and more uncontrollable as he unlocked his advanced super future alternative earth genetics. It was getting rather wild losing control of my character like a self corruption mechanic. It starts off taking over your highschool then the city expanding out.
>>98342261Sounds like DNA2's Mega-Playboy fused with Invincible's Viltrumites.
Would you be more willing to use weird or odd dice resolution mechanics or rolling methods for oracles within a solo RPG / solo journaling game.
>>98341984>What's your solo setup look like?I'm kinda new to /SRPGG/. But I have an oracle deck, a rule book and dice, as my "specialized" tools. I'm also using a simple notebook to buffer/rough draft ideas, and index cards to create specialized cards for custom races, NPCs, and locations, And then I do my adventure journaling on google docs
https://uddmxsx.hlmuimvdaoac.hath.network/h/3561b68105ba912e57a461e4e08fa90f5e0cb4c6-2355286-1632-2123-jpg/keystamp=1783922700-83ee8904bc;fileindex=239438010;xres=org/20260515_Nhim_144815609_D_D.01.jpg
>>98317008https://drive.google.com/file/d/12q6-J6Hjd6wtcXhingUVWNDr_HH_WQJ8/view?usp=sharingRe-shilling the vibe-coded portable solo toolkit from last thread. Currently working on a Lonelog Wiki Pack.
>>98342725That's really cool, but what are those "packs" you can import?
>>98342551I'm a dice goblin, enjoyer of weird and odd dice, yet I can admit that no custom dice gimmick beats an elegant streamlined system that would just use a set of common everyday d6s in a good compelling way...It's not the props, but a good design, that makes a game greater over others.
>>98342993They're JSON files for premade data that are not part of your Export/Save File data. For when you want to import something without mucking up your actual save file. It can hold custom tables, an asset folder, a Wiki page (and subpages linked to it), and even new Info/Reference headers.
>>98342551In cyberpunk red singleplayer mode, the countdown clock is done by “Get some spare dice, roll em and remove any 1s, repeat” and so I’ll often set weirdly long countdowns with a group of my weirder dice to represent something thats out of player control like “another large group that is supposed to arrive tonight but may be early.”
I have a 2d12 vs DC system (you want to roll under) and struggling to integrate dis/advantage or momentum burn or similar mechanic to it.Roll 3d12 drop the highest (Advantage or Pushing) gives about +20% boost which is way too much.Can't think of an elegant way to track and burn Momentum to alter a dice roll you don't want. (Momentum is a mechanic from Ironsworn where you bank it up slowly then can choose to burn all of it to cancel out a die.).Anything fresh?
>>98342636should we report this? I'm not clicking that shit. ditto >>98342725>link which contains rar with a single html file in itwhat did he mean by this
>>98345952I'm not smart and I can't open Catbox where I'm from. Putting it in a RAR file means Google Drive won't render it as a document to be read. I'll update the link as soon as I have some more JSONs to package it with.
>>98345952Here's the HTML file directly if you don't trust the other link.>https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ZB5Q1rd3KY2r6WpRwL0PODGq_vByTPU0/view?usp=sharingI told you Google renders it weirdly.
>>98341984>TQ: What's your solo setup look like? Post pictures if ya want.I mostly organize it in a google doc with each "session" namly being one chapter i chip away it with preferably 2-3 encounters per sessionI jusr started an index card RPG solo story to test out the system and got a natural 20 on my mecha gunslinger character ending up unloading 5 bullets into a demon killing it
>>98342551I think using playing cards for resolutions is fun for solo stuff since its basically just solitarie its also much easier to carry 1 deck of cards you can shuffle and draw from than a bunch of dice (not that dice are hard to carry)
>>98342551I'm not a fan of oracles and game systems that use any kind of cards because they're tricky to represent in computerized RNG. That and rolling dice is easier than shuffling cards.
>>98341984>TQ: What's your solo setup look like? Post pictures if ya want.I use a three ring binder to hold my maps, character sheets, note cards, ect. Otherwise, I just play at my computer desk with my game books on my bed; unless something big happens that I need an actual table for mass combat.
Imagine playing this SOCIAL activity alone.lol. That's it, not even an lmao
>>98346851It being a social activity is why playing solo can be very usefulIt allows you to test stuff as a GM like a new system or homebrewed item to ensure you're future games run smoothly
>>98346925I made this comparison before, solo is shooting hoops on a half court and group play is full court.
>>98346359If it's html why aren't you linking the fucking page? Are you completely new to the internet? If you don't want it to render for some reason you chose the wrong file format.
>>98346444>because they're tricky to represent in computerized RNGThat sounds like a feature, not a bug. If I want to play a computer game I can already do that.
@98346851>>98346925
>>98347672I already did? Google Drive's just rendering it as a document but it still downloads correctly. Besides I don't have direct hosting resources and this is the fastest I can upload stuff,
>>98347713Render it as pdf and post it as attachment or something. It's 2026. You got 0 excuse.
>>98346389this reminds me I need to get back into doing little scenarios like this. I had fun doing it when I was jumping from system to system, actually taught me how to solo. anyone get in on the arathi sector kickstarter and have it? I missed it but I like kal arath and I like space more than deserts.
>>98350259There's a pre-release version of Arathi Sector on Scribd.
>>98342008What plug-ins do you use? I guess that goes for all the anons here that use Obsidian.
>>98346444>they're tricky to represent in computerized RNGchecked, but skill issue. It's literally beginner level coding to just assign a number for every card, and then use an RNG system to pull card data >rolling dice is easier than shuffling cards.This is a fallacy. A deck is generally only shuffled once per game, and then after that, you get INSTANT answers for any ask on just one card. using dice and consulting a table is literally 2 steps. So using a good oracle deck is literally twice as efficient as looking up tables in the rulebook
This is pretty neat for Traveller games, especially for quick NPC generation.https://travellercc.avorial.com/
working on a campaign hook table(s) thingyhttps://pastebin.com/Fex5RJUz
>>98356211
>Setting(s): `Slasher Horror, Stone Age`>Plot Genre(s): `The Danger/Enemy is in Your Home, and You Must Fend Them Off!`
Starting Sigil & Shadow with author's random character generation (https://chaosgrenade.com/sigil-shadow-randomized-characters) and the unofficial solo mode supplement.>Keeper>Athlete>high dexterity, low logic>trained in Arcana, Investigation, Medicine, Mysticism and Social>Mystic Gift is MesmerizeSeems like a dumb magical cheerleader is what stands between the supernatural and locals.
>>98341984>What's your solo setup look like? Post pictures if ya want.I've shared maps and stuff before. I use BFRPG as my base game and supplement it with other OSR stuff. Normally my little table isn't this cluttered, but I pulled out most of my supplies to show. I have a ton of adventure modules, and what I don't have I have in digital copy. I live near a printing place, so I usually go over there and print whatever I want for cheap. I made some tables I commonly use and taped them to the wall for ease of access... And a map of the region I've explored so far.
Accidentally ordered 5 sets of physical dice. Guess this is my life now.>>98363706>Sandbox Generator>Book of Random EncountersWhat books are those? Sounds interdasting
>5 sets of dice came in>Plus a set of dry erase index cards>Dry erase markers at the readyYeah, it's gamer time.
nat 20 says i jerk off
>>98366753Roll coward
>>98366753rerolling, I'm retarded
Wait fuck how do I roll on /tg/
>>98356211>https://pastebin.com/Fex5RJUz>Sci-Fi/Esper/Digital Age/North America>You Must Get the MacGuffin!>The Normal Way to Do The Thing You Must Do is Virtually Impossible For You!>Merge the Thing You Must Do With `1d3` Extra Things You Must Do!>You Must Get ANOTHER MacGuffin!
>>98367105>>98367105Mission: ImPSIssible!>>98366769You don't. /tg/ rolls on YOU!
>>98341984>TQ: What's your solo setup look like? Post pictures if ya want.I'm using A Novel Dungeon. So: A book (a Jirel of Joiry collection for dungeon generation, but also for name ideas and in place of random tables).My shitty phone for the novel dungeon pdf.2D6. 3 classic Traveller books, but I'm using them loosely as I'm playing in a sword and sorcery setting. I just really like how simple classic Trav is.
Rolled 4 (1d20)>>98366769>>98366753>>98366762Difficult roll. On 15+ this faggot is not allowed to fap for the rest of the month, and has to lurk more every time he thinks about fapping
>>98367711Blessed be he, who goons on /tg/!
>>98367711As gm I give you reroll advantage on that.
the Japanese have discovered Mythic
>>98368601What will be the consequences of this?
>>98368624They come up with something leaner and works with only d6. Something like Triple-O but with d66 tables.
>>98364994>Sandbox GeneratorIt's a book for generating the contents of Hex Maps. You start off with a town and a nearby dungeon, and then based on a bunch of dice rolls, you can determine what lies in the adjacent hexes. You end up making "Hex flowers" that you can puzzle-piece together to make endless terrain, towns, castles, and dungeons. The last chapter also covers ocean generation. (Though, I had to come up with my own rules regarding how hex-flowers are set beside one another.) It also has rules for generating the contents of said towns and dungeons. One thing that's really cool is that you can have a dungeon start in one hex and be so large that it leads to another hex.>Book of Random EncountersThis is a little book a friend of mine got off Temu or some shit. It's actually not that great, but it's a book full of just random encounters and the locations where they happen. I mostly just use it for inspiration. (I would actually advise against getting it, as I'm sure there are better compilations out there.) Behind the book of Random Encounters, I also have a book of dungeon maps, town maps, and hex maps.
Playing as this ugly dude, "Borag, The Warrior".He's been down into two small dungeons so far, (More like "Lairs", really.) He's had two close calls so far. In one case he got in a fight with a giant spider, and I had forgotten all about the healing potions that he had on his person, so I allowed him to drink one of them before the fight. And the other was when he kept going through this one hex that was inhabited by a werewolf. Once while walking through the hex I only had 1 hp left and I thought, "Oh shit, I'm dead." Well, it turns out the werewolf was actually quite kind and asking for assistance. Now if I can find a cure to his lycanthropy, he will reward me.So far, the toughest thing he's killed is a black bear, and he's made quite a bit of gold/treasure because there's no one else in the part (yet) to split it with.
Rolled 14 (1d20)>>98367711On 15+ you shall be permanently castrated
nat 20 says I jerk off and that no one else can tonight
Rolled 1 (1d20)>>98370833forgot to roll
Rolled 3 (1d6)Well, I'll take the L, as the fellas sayI guess I'll just roll what system I run and run a normal PG game instead of thinking with my cock1: GURPS2: BFRPG3: Traveller4: OpenD65: BRP6: Custom/homebrew system
Rolled 5 (1d6)rerolling because I realized I don't have Traveller lmao4 will be uh idk, some random 2d6 system
Rolled 3 (1d6)>>98370875(I meant 3 not 4)Rerolling one last time
Any Ironsworn players?I have been looking at the game, and it looks pretty cool with an interesting dice mechanic. It looks like it would be easy to use for a Conan-like swords & sorcery style game.But when I checked out the dice mechanic more closely it seemed like it would be hard to get "Strong Hits" with any regularity. So I ran the statistics on it. If you are rolling D6+1 (your lowest stat with no bonuses) you have only a 15% chance of a strong hit, 40% for weak hit, and 45% failure. I guess this is supposed to be your weakest points as a character, but ouch. Even at D6+3 (your best stat, or lower stat with some bonus) the chances are 38% strong hit, 39% weak hit, 23% failure. Which isn't great. And at D6+5 (which is about as good as you'll ever roll), you have a 59% strong hit, 32% weak hit, 9% failure.Because the "weak hit" is sort of the "Yes, but" result, where your success comes with some kind of negative impact (loss of health, stress, or resources, some kind of narrative penalty, etc). It seems like getting clean successes is unnecessarily difficult.People who've played the game, give me your opinions and impressions?
fuck me i'll just run GURPS
>>98368786>leaner>works with only d6>Triple-O but with d66 tables.Sounds neat, I support this.Too bad we'll never get an official translation lel.
>>98368601cute!
>>98370898It's never been too big of an issue for me. The main thing that those stats don't show (I played starforged and sundered isles so vanilla ironsworn may be different) is in control vs in a bad spot. When you're in control, even risky moves don't have as much for consequences. A weak hit while in control is less of a yes but and more of a yes. To me it's more often me spending time securing control/advantages or using them up in risky spots. Do you push your luck even while in a bad spot? Or maybe spend momentum to get back to in control? I tend to win almost all the fights though some are VERY close, but I have lost on occassion. You can always make the stakes not "INSTADEATH" as well or escape a bad situation with another set of checks
I hope no chuds have been playing Thousand Year Old Vampire in this thread. It's not allowed, you see.Just walk away and hope this utter chad lets you live.
>>98374717>Xer: There has been too much violence>Also xer, in September 2025: YEEEEAAH A CHUD GOT SHOT DEAD ON LIVE TELEVISION WOOOO
>>98374717Does he not realize he's the one being authoritarian by doing thisAlso wokies are the real chuds imo atp; see the whole Kirk situation where they cheered a guy's death just because he was "conservative"
>>98374717That "summation" is the textbook definition of not being self aware, especially the "Give me your X and I'll spare your lives" partI used to be a hard liberal, but given practically every leftie I've met is like this (i.e being a psychopath hitler wannabe and pretending they're the victim who TOTALLY hates hitler and TOTALLY "knows" anyone they hate is hitler while trying to morally justify their heinous acts) -- I'm leaning more and more conservative by the day
If I made something and found out my customers/consumers were primarily far leftists and/or far rightists I'd probably go "fuck you but buy my shit anyway" desuI don't get why someone would want LESS customers for something that gives them they need
>>98374717i looked up this game and it sounds incredibly gay. a creative writing assignment for people who want to pretend theyre still in school or something?
>>98374890 (me)whoops, typo>gives them they needgives them money* they need
>>98374717I enjoy TYOV but seeing this shit always make me laugh. How can anyone write and publish "I'lL sPaRe yOuR LIv3e" over a goddamn writing exercise with a straight face?
In my recent games, I have had a hard time keeping any of my characters alive. I always play by the rules in my games because it generally makes things fun and challenging, but in my recent couple of games I've gotten killed so early on that it just wasn't enjoyable... So as a sort of experiment, I am going to try something a little different. This time, I'm going to write up 20 characters... Yes, TWENTY. And I'm going to run them all through dungeons and challenges simultaneously as a sort of funnel.We'll see how this goes.
>>98375110There's an OSR style game that operates similarly, where all the PCs are level 0 commoners like farmers and weavers and butchers and things, typically they have a common item like a pole or a pitchfork or a bucket or a chicken, rarely ever a weapon, and each PC makes 3-5 characters to run into the dungeon.The survivors become level 1 adventurers. I can't for the life of me recall what the game itself was called.
>>98375110What system are you using?What do you think is the reason for the high lethality?
>>98375248Well, there's Dungeon Crawl Classics. But in general it's just called a level zero funnel.
>>98342199>One for the solo gang:>gofile.io/d/CUyPODCould you reup it? Please! The link is gone
>>98376495no probgofile.io/d/9x97ae
>>98376577Thanks! Hope you don't mind if I shared the link in the pdf share thread later?
>>98374717I have never voted for Trump, infact I voted against him in 2020. But people like this are radicalizing me to the point that I'm actually okay with executing people in the street for acting like this. If they want to run around scaremongering and overreacting likepeople are out to kill them, I say we make their dreams a reality
>>98341984How do solo rpgs work? Basically just an advanced CYOA book?
>>98377569>use oracle deck or dice and tables to create randomized locations, encounters, and events>fill in the details yourself with imagination and established context>decide how your character/party deals with it>roll dice to see if you succeedEffectively the same as any other TTRPG, except you are your own GM
>>98377569A cyoa is like a board game; the only outcomes can be those allowed by the mechanics of the game (making a roll and choosing A or B based on the result). A solo rpg is still an rpg because players can act outside of the most obvious options of a situation. You can determine that theres a dragon sleeping in the next room and simply decide "nope" before walking away.
>>98377357>scaremongering and overreacting likepeople are out to kill themUhhh, it's more like they're scaremongering that THEY themselves will kill others, not the other way aroundHence the "I'LL SPARE YOUR LIVES" bullshit
Anyone played this? Is it any good? I like the aesthetic.
>>98377569Anywhere from something like a pen and paper roguelike to writing a novel with occasional dice rolls.In general a lot like GMing a regular RPG using random tables rather than a lot of prep, but without players causing problems by either showing up or not showing up.
>>98376900sure, no prob, but I guess it will not last for long, gofile links are ephemeral.
Barebones Fantasy is not made for solo, but I've been having a good time with it. It does come with its own pretty decent dungeon generation too. At its core it is your usual D100 roll under system, but it uses various broad adventurer careers (such as Scout, Warrior, Spellcaster, Cleric etc.) as skills, kinda reminding me of Barbarians of Lemuria. Everything not covered by those skills are just done as attribute checks. It is really simple and fast moving system.
>>98370898 To add onto what >>98373469 said, you are correct, but it seems that's designed as a feature, not a bug. Drama requires conflict and challenge, The game is weighted for you to get a lot of "weak hits" to serve as focuses to create more complications and thus more drama. Remember that the game does not express difficulty from your roll, but rather how many successes you build over the conflict. You shouldn't be rolling D6+1 for anything, you should be finding ways to use your better stars to generate an advantage first.
>>98377569No it's just like a tabletop game with a group of people. I write mine to look like this:[Scene 1] I'm standing in a church listening to a priest give his sermon. His speech is interrupted by a goth baddie at the back of the room who yells "Hail Satan!" and she throws a Molotov cocktail down the center aisle. Describe what you do: I look around for water to extinguish the fire.You spot at the front of the room a Gatorade cooler: I take it and dump it on the fire.The cooler is very heavy for you, so you're having trouble even lifting it: I yell at someone to help me.A choir boy rushes over, understanding and helps you lift it: Okay we carry it over to the fire and dowse the flames.By this point the fire has started to spread around the impact point along the carpet: We do our best to pour out water to extinguish the flames.You pour the cooler out and red wine spreads over the flames, extinguishing most of the flames: Good we keep pouring until it runs out and then refill it from the baptism font.Eventually you're able to extinguish the flames with this strategy, in front of the church is a crowd gathered around the goth baddie who some men have held down as they await for the police to show up, who eventually do along with the fire department: I want to talk to her and ask why this happened.Okay, next scene (Exterior Church) = End scene, update lists with new character "Goth baddie" and a new thread "Question the goth baddie about the attack."[Scene 2]...and so on.
Does anyone know any games with mechanics for negative NPC relationships. I'm trying to homebrew the opposite of bonds for Ironsworn so you can track negative relationships, but it's hard to just reverse bonds because some of the moves they buff (sojourn and compel +heart) don't really make sense for negative relations so I need inspiration for alternative mechanics
>>98382821PICREL was posted many threads ago.
>>98347762not the poster, but the point is, it's a standalone HTML file that has scripts to manage a solo game. It's dynamic, you can't make it a PDF. It runs in your browser
>>98386461Yes, it's meant to run in the browser both desktop and mobile. On that note>https://drive.google.com/file/d/1P6Mlza8Q8CsIz6pxsvRAQIeyZm1qQRNY/view?usp=sharingBugfixes and improvements>Ghost data should no longer contaminate saves and JSONs>Packs support Wiki pages with custom CSS, generators and custom generator code>Wiki RTE has contingency behavior for collapsibles without text selected. Code blocks have a copy button>Asset Manager's plain text preview preserves linebreaks for mobile copying, Copy Raw Text function improved, previewing txt files have scroll support>Import function checks if JSON is from the Pack Manager or notZIP file also contains a pack for Lonelog references, another pack for custom tables, and an empty import-able JSON file to effectively wipe your save.
>>98386525Great job, anon!I'll probably start Lonelog soon!
>>98370898Moves are for goals, not for single actions. So weak hits move the story along a lot more. This is also why a miss can still be technically a success but introduce an unrelated worst problem/consequence.It's very narrative, not everyone's cup of tea.So, in a fight, you have a goal (for example: stop the guard from alerting his allies). On a weak hit or miss, you don't make him alert other people, that's only on failing to resolve the track roll. Maybe the whole fight is you coming up behind him, and trying to strangle him before he can shout. He bites the hand that's over his mouth (lose Health or Momentum), etc.I don't hate Ironsworn, but I find it way too narrative for my taste. I never know in play what consequences to apply. I'm always too hard on myself and make going on with the adventure almost impossible.
>>98386787Seems like you could easily solve this by rolling for how severe your injuries are using more/less likely rolls?
>>98387022It's not about injuries. You can lose other things in a fight. You can get fully narrative consequences instead too.
>>98387061My point is the system itself has a lot of ways you can leave the control of consequences to rolls to be less severe. If you legit can't stop yourself making your game unplayable for some reason because you don't want to interact with the rules the system gives you then yeah, Ironsworn probably isn't for you.
>>98386787>It's very narrativeI disagree. It's very abstract, and expects you to do all the work creating a narrative. The rules tell you whether a result is good, bad, or mixed, but nothing narratively substantial.
>>98370898Weak Hit is not a bug, but a feature.What I don't like about Ironsworn is matches are rolled too often, too often it makes you resolve a turn via several moves, and that the 3-outcome band is too narrow. I have been tinkering with the system and came up with 2d12 vs DC roll under with 5 outcome bands which works better for me.
>>98386461So upload it to a free hosting site and let it run from there (optionally with option to download the package to run locally) - that's the standard approach. 99 out of 100 people do it like this. The rest is scammers and anon.
Does anyone have that quick reference sheet from the fantasy RPG that Kevin Crawford wrote before Scarlet Heroes? There's one that people were posting for converting B/X and other OSR games with Scarlet Heroes' damage filter.
>>98388643>the fantasy RPG that Kevin Crawford wrote before Scarlet HeroesRed Tide? That's an OSR setting, not a full RPG.
>>98388695No, I'm not talking about the Red Tide. He also wrote a bunch of other RPGs. But someone on here posted a sort of "Prototype" for the system we see in Scarlet Heroes a while back. They posted a quick reference sheet from it. I thought I'd saved it but after looking a couple times, I haven't found it in my RPG folders.
>>98388719>>98388695>>98388643Well shit... As soon as I say that I can't find it, I open it again to look one last time and it's right there on the first row of files...
>>98388736You mean Black Streams: Solo Heroes? It's an add-on for Labyrinth Lord. I think it's free, too. It's not solo as in no GM, it's solo a in 1 PC.
I thought it might be interesting to run a solo campaign where I play a mage's apprentice. It's something I could never get a group nor GM to tolerate, and I myself was worried it might turn out boring, but, it's actually a blast. I began the campaign as a commoner, was apprenticed, and my PC is slowly advancing one spell at a time. My typical random encounters are having to deal with the other apprentices antics, and the quests are usually somebody else's errands, which sounds dull but has me completely hooked.>TQ: What's your solo setup look like? Post pictures if ya want.I keep it pretty simple and run my games on .txt files. Mostly digital, with the exception of physical dice because I love the clackity clack
Does anyone have any experience with adding/using base building mechanics in their solo campaigns? Any games that have it built-in and do it well?
>>98391973>sounds dull but has me completely hooked.I dunno, I think that's a pretty solid framing for a solo campaign. Good sense of progression and reward for even seemingly useless spells you will never need, because it's working toward the clearly stated goal of becoming a master mage, which doesn't even require an overarching plot. It's also not really the kind of thing you can run as a group, because not everyone will be progressing equally, and some players would be too eager to leave the mages tower, and start the main quest to kill the demon lord.Personally tho, I was kinda hoping to just do a smaller scale, more casual, exploration based campaign for my first solo game. But the oracle I'm using just keeps giving me stuff that is clicking together, kinda railroading me into an epic adventure. My starting location was a shattered sky dock on a cliff side. Deep fissures running through the city, many buildings broken or fallen. It holds a lot of knowledge, and hides a dangerous secret. There's also counterspells engraved into the foundations that block most magic. The first NPC I met and befriended was a beloved keeper of knowledge, who's race is mostly superstitious, and refugees fleeing from "something unseen".Oracle also gave me a cult, secretly guarding cursed scrolls, and another city that was ruined by magic. And one of the most recent rumors/ plot threads I uncovered was that SOMEONE is trying to uncover forbidden knowledge in the "Forgotten Museum". And I'm really having fun with it. But again, it's kinda just annoying how perfectly this epic adventure is just clicking together when I just wanted casual first solo game.Picrel is my first NPC friend according to AI
>>98392702I'm not sure if there are any RPG systems designed for this, but my first instinct when people ask for stuff like this is to just tell them to rip off video game mechanics, and add dice. If you have a specific video game that you enjoy with base building, just try porting a simplified version of that into whatever system you are using. Consider what you actually need in your base for your adventure. Consider build time, and what that means. Consider what kind of resources and people you need to maintain your base. If you are looking for a little extra challenge, maybe consider Tower Defense games, and building up defenses for random base raids
>>98392702Not quite base building per se, but Ashes Without Number has rules for settlement management.
>>98392711>Personally tho, I was kinda hoping to just do a smaller scale, more casual, exploration based campaign for my first solo game. But the oracle I'm using just keeps giving me stuff that is clicking together, kinda railroading me into an epic adventureWhen I wind up with these scenarios, maybe my PC will decide that something is "beyond them" and walk away from the situation. Perhaps someone else will resolve the scenario without my PCs involvement, or perhaps my PC will deal with the consequences in the future. Having interesting things happening in the game world that the PC isn't even a part of can really add to the sense of immersion.Something I like to do in my games is the "World Event Roll". Once per game day, I'll roll 1d100 with a % chance of a world event taking place. This is like a random encounter for the game world itself - it could be something like "Town of Abernath is sieged by Orcs, loses battle", or "Queen of Galdo imposes new iron taxes, merchants furious". My PC may simply never visit the ruined town of Abernath, but it doesn't matter, just hearing about it in the tavern adds to the sense of a living breathing world.
How are your solo games going.
>>98397724I need to stop stalling and start my Twilight 2000 campaign
>>98397786Why you stall it? Feeling cold feet? Procrastination?
>>98397800Busy, haven't sat down to actually start it, but I've gotten everything ready to go. I have the next week off since I just quit my job, so I'll probably sit down and get to it.
>>98397800Must be nice to have time for solo games.
>>98397810Yup, it is.I hope you'll find time for yourself, anon.
>>98397724Right now playing some weird west, BBEG is a revenant robber baron, The MC is a young former seminarian turned cowboy, on a Nevada salt basin, with his mangy dog and trusty mare, helping a college-educated mexican lady to solve the paranormal death of her surveying natural-philosophy professor.
GF /d/mtxOaq
>>98397724Rolling up a new batch of characters now. I'm playing a game where the player oversees and adventurer's guild.Trying to decide what a good cost for hiring a new level 1 adventurer is in an OSR game. I know I could go with the price of hirelings, but I was thinking of something a little more costly? Actually, I just thought of something. When I generate new characters, they start with 3d6 gold... What if the cost of hiring a level 1 adventurer was 3d6 gold, representing the variety in their requested hiring rate?
>>98397724I found my system a while back, and it's been on my thought and log to do for a while now. But I keep changing what I want to my character to be. I've rolled up so many characters, filled out their sheets, with some simple backstories and given them certain personalities, and made them in various AI enginesBut started the Deepfall breach campaign today. Watching some solo plays of it now to see if I missed anything
Checked out Torch and Blade. It is a simple dungeon crawling game built upon Maze Rats. It is made to be a group game, but contains rules for using the procedures for a solo player character with simple companions. Adventure generation is simplistic but sufficient, there is no oracle or very detail flavor so they still need some sort of solo tool.All in all it feels like a neat game for specific need for streamlined adventures, and it is very quick to play solo. It uses treasure plundered from dungeons for all progression, from buying stuff to leveling to developing the towns where PCs operates from. All classes need to spend the treasure differently to turn it into XP. As a bit of shakeup to dungeon delving, there is a mechanic which might force a character to undertake a Class Quest after leveling before the character can level up again, which can lead into character seeking to change the game region at large or training a NPC which could be used as a successor character. Does it too anything really special? Not really, and as said previously, the game is rather generic and flavorless out of the box. But it does succeed in being a very low crunch game that still feels like a role-playing game.
>>98397724>PC failed to stop the cult of Malgrith, the Rotfather from starting a mystical plague>TPK except for her. Being the main PC, I was able to use a Boon owe to her by a god to save her life, but now she's out of luck and caught the plague>lost an arm to the plague, but survived and is now immune>about 10% of the population of the Kingdom survived like she did, but they are now known as Rot-touched to the surrounding untouched Kingdoms>not contagious, but seen as being under the control of Malgrith, even if that's not true. The plague leaves them with black spider-web like scarring on their skin>the land itself is contagious and 'belongs' to Malgrith's monster forces>cult were all humans and they died happily from the plague they started for their god>surrounding Kingdoms at war because of the power imbalance and loss of resources from the destroyed KingdomIt's about 2 years after the event. Things are pretty bad. My heroine is finally healed up enough to start adventuring again. First, explore the cult's underground base with her new survivor allies. Maybe she can find clues about the plague and how to remove the taint from the land.
>>98386525Pretty good, why not put it on GitHub or similar where people can look without downloading?Will try it with an actual session later
Anyone got some background music playlist they'd recommend, or just like?
>>98405164Jim Kirkwood's musichttps://jimkirkwood.bandcamp.com/musicAdrian von Ziegler's musichttps://adrianvonziegler.bandcamp.com/https://youtu.be/ZKiLJaCVUdY
>>98374717Chud here. I not only play TYoV, I've posted the results here, on the Chudliest possible website.Eat shit bruv.
>>98405164>Went to this comic convention with my wife>In the back corner, this little old dude has a table with a CD player and headphones set up>Everyone is just walking by, not stopping at his booth>Decide I'll stop and talk to him>Ask him what he's selling>He explains that he has a tiny record label that produces dungeon synth music>NO FUCKING WAY...>I buy one of each album. They're all absolute bangersHe's one of the guys that posts on this forum, I think https://dungeonsynth.proboards.com/?utm_source=duckduckgo&utm_medium=organic
>>98406234You ever hear of "Pocket Bard"? This ain't an endorsement I'm just asking.
>>98393902Lol, it's cool, I don't really mind being swept up into an adventure, It's just hot what I planned. But maybe I might also start rolling for "how much do I care" whenever I hear rumor or encounter an event. >>98397724So, I rolled to see if ghost knight guardian I met could tell me anything about the "Forgotten Library" because I figured He might remember the old city. He gave me 2 possible locations and neither of them are what I'm looking for.Decided to go back and ask my first fren, a keeper of knowledge, about ant lost museums near by. Met his wife who tried to block me, because she was forcing him to clean his home office without distractions. I used a totem I found to play off her superstitions and let me pass. And then he immediately stopped cleaning, to pull out extra research material to clutter up his office even more... I know I'm a bad influence, but this dude is literately the best bro I have in this whole ctiy
>>98403700I didn't think of that yet, but also I'm not confident in its stability. I'll give it a couple more patches before using a more accessible download. Also, github allows AI slop? I was considering Itch as the next download platform instead.
>>98342725Kino of the highest order.Thought of making something like this but got too lazy. 10/10 anon.Do you have it in a git somewhere?
>>98407430I think github allows it, it's just that most projects won't allow vibecoded patches because the people sending them in can't or won't maintain them in the long term.
>>98406234>>98405363Nice, thanks. Dungeon synth have been my go-to for my last few sessions, the ones from Cryo Crypt. Also been listening to the Dolmenwood albumsPicked up soloing again. Got the DragonBane box set, and been doing the not-diablo dungeon runs, which have been pretty fun. I usually played and charted with a tablet, but been writing things down in a notepad, with physical dice instead of an app and all that. Still trying to work out how much I want to write down, and how much details. Watched a youtube run through the same rooms, and he spent like 10-15 minutes in each room, while I was at an over an hour for each
>>98346402I admit I dislike card-based ttrpgs and tools as a rule, most of the time it just seems like its an attempt to add required purchases to a game which will inevitably go out of print and be a pain to source. When they weren't doing that they just seemed to be making a table more complicated.Then I watched this:https://youtu.be/GIgkG-ucEqY?si=GwI24oUN27-P1sg7I still think my old points are true most of the time but I'm willing to consider the unique design potential cards can give to a system.
>>98407430Github is so full of AI slop its ridiculous.The interest is really just the ability to patch things and contribooting.
>>98405164Witch Bolt
>>98407900>Picked up soloing againGood. Welcome back. Solo is the one true way of tabletop gaming. Groupslop is worthless.>writing things down in a notepad, with physical dice instead of an appAlso good. This is the way. Keep it up. It will take you a few sessions to figure out exactly how much is right for you. It might be hard, but one of the things I have trouble with is telling myself that it's okay to experiment and make changes.What I do is draw my map out as my character travels through the dungeon, and then write a single room that sort of reminds me of what I saw in each room. So, "Two Giant Rats." or "Locked chest, Elf corpse against wall, footprints leading north."What works for me might not work for you. So just experiment and try different things out.
>>98409718The combat have been very theatre of the mind with this setup. When writing on a tablet I had a program where I could get an overlay with a snap function, making it real easy to make dungeons fast, and just move or erase and redraw the positions of everyone. There is a battlemap with some cardboard in the DB box set, but haven't tried it yet. I don't want too many elementsNow I have a character sheet, my notebook, rulesbook etc in the background, dice and the imitative/treasure cards. I started out with short sentences, but I didn't like how it read, so I tried writing more. The last combat where she managed to ambush a group of goblins on a narrow path along a cliff went for 1, 1/2 a4 pagesThe
>Been playing a really fun campaign for the past few weeks>Get a stroke of bad luck and my character dies to a giant wasp monster>Been doing everything "By-the-book" and not cheating>Decide I'll continue anyway>Doesn't feel right>All the fun is suddenly sucked from the game somehowWhy am I like this? I guess I gotta start over now. :(
>>98410820Same thing that happens whenever you cheat in a video game. It's always hard to let go. But ultimately, consequences are what give a game stakes and value. You could always try swapping to a core system that doesnt let you die, but uses other consequences instead.The other thing you might consider is creating a brand new character near the same area where you died, who discovers your old corps several years later. All your most valuable stuff will have been looted long before now, but maybe you can find some basic starting equipment, the old journal which would allow you to kinda continue your main quest in the footsteps of your former life, and most or all of whatever quest items you already had(or maybe some of those were looted too).Basically, you loose all your characters personal progress, relationships, and any of the smaller side quests you had. But you get to keep most of your main quest progress, and as an added level of fun, you get to roll to see what has changed in the world in that time, and get to see how other, more static NPCs react to different characters
Man, trying to pick a game back up after you've shelved it for a while is a right pain in the ass.
>>98410820Have NPCs. Pick one to continue (doesn't have to be an ally on the same quest at all. Just in the same world at the same time)For horror games, have the PC write to/call someone regularly. It can be for research help or just to vent. If the PC dies, the friend/family/mentor will pick up where the PC left off.You can also play as the antagonist or their henchman and have a new hero come onto the scene.Play as the GM.
>>98410820Give yourself a cost to continue. Being poisoned by a giant wasp monster would put a cramp on things for example.
>>98413956Or if you really want to stay dead, continue as a ghost.
I'd continue turning an NPC into a PC in that same very game.
>>98410820maybe someone revives him but now you own him a debt
>>98411076NTA but I like this a lot, thanks for the suggestion
>>98410820You must strive to push on. Start over, but this time, learn from your mistakes. Be careful in the future, set up contingency plans, and come to terms with the inevitability of death. It was a few weeks this time, but what if you ran a campaign the was years? What then? There are no save states in the dungeon, my friend.
>>98415620lol, kinda just took that from video games, like Project Zomboid. Having to create a new character, and trying to recover your corpse/gear, even if it takes weeks of in-game time
Is there a solo game for keeping a pet monster in an enclosure? The closest I saw was a game called TSPN - Tabletop Solo Pet Nursery, but it just really didn't appeal to me.
Are there any digital tarots where you can seperate the deck into components? Like only drawing from Major Arcana or Cups or what have you.
>>98418558You can just use tabletop simulator on steam. There's like dozens of different tarot decks to choose between. You could probably build some type of script to filter by suit, but I'm not clever enough for that, so I would just duplicate the deck, and sort toit out in different piles manually. If you want to draw from the full deck, you still have the full deck, and if you want to draw from a specific pile
>>98410820I find it helps to decide if you're going to have permadeath or not at the very start of the campaign, so that it feels consistent with your own rules and not like cheating. In my current campaign, I am not using permadeath - if my character dies the events of the day are undone and I reset the character sheet/campaign notes to when they last woke up.>>98415486I once used the RuneScape approach. The PC and NPCs could die and respawn but suffered inventory loss each time. This was normal for their world and everyone knew about it. The Goddess of life and death would even empty bank accounts, so there was no avoiding it. It created an amusing scenario in which former villains were reduced to penniless bums sentenced to daily executions. A true and final death was only granted if a person asked the Goddess to stop bringing them back.
>>98418189yeah, I also heard about TSPN recently, through this jewtube: https://youtu.be/4l88acGF-IM . Not sure what parts of this are just a flat out turn of for you, but the fact that you dont understand that you can flat out rewrite certain rules, or homebrew the entire system from scratch to fit what you want just proves that you are fit to run your own solo games
>>98420745Not everyone likes to tinker. I know I don't.
>>98341984Weird to say, but recently replaying skyrim, specifically with survival mode, has really helped me to internalize solo play more. I have almost always hated survival mechanics they often feel annoying and a point of needless anxiety. but I found the simplified version in skyrims survival mode really elivated the experience. Instead of having 8 different things you need to regulate, you only have 3 and they are all pretty simple to maintain. Rest (effecting magic), cold (effecting health), and hunger (effecting stamina). It made me interact with the world more, buying food, being cautious about the weather, and mantaining a sleep schedual. Felt much more involved in the world.I think having a simple survival system like that could also be helpful for solo play. I think Ironsworn does something like that with the 3 part trackers of Health, supply, and Spirit. THough not the biggest fan of its narative elements.Maybe I could do an even more abbreviated version for dnd where I just have normal health and supply.
>>98422703You know what? What your saying is weird, but I completely get it.I was playing some survival/crafting slop recently and I kind of came to the same conclusion. Those things can be fun, (And mastering them can even be entertaining.) But it's all about providing a decent amount of slack and not tracking every single thing.
>>98422703>I think having a simple survival system like that could also be helpful for solo playI agree and already do it in my games. I track rest, hunger, and thirst. They each deplete as in game time advances, and to keep things simple to track I went with this approach. Each need has just two stages:>Rested, Tired>Well fed, Hungry>Hydrated, ThirstyThe rules are simple. My PC wakes up Rested, Hungry, and Thirsty. Around mid day and late afternoon, my character becomes Hungry and Thirsty again if they aren't already. In the evening, Rested swaps to Tired. Finally, skipping meals or sleep applies stacking penalties until the needs are either met or the PC dies from neglect. I used to keep track of this using three different coins and flipping them from heads to tails, but now just do it digitally. Imo, things like hunger, thirst, and weather are essential for making game environments fun and challenging
>>98422703Skyrim survival mods are great but you need to installa a mod to change the duration of the day, so it make days in skyrim last longer.With the standard day duration in Skyrim the survival mode is ridiculous, you just eat, walk like five minutes exploring around and you're starving again.
>>98397724I'm ha ing trouboe starting. I just ran Call of Cthulhu for my friends thouhgt to solo some horror myself. I just can't come up with a hook and character.I rolled up a clumsy librarian, but I haven't found a good plot hook. I have never ran any horror as a solo game so I'm not sure where to start. I have listened to a few Lovecraft stories, but I feel like I already know the plot so to speak, or the scenario is so ambigious I don't find it interesting. Does anyone have good random tables or plot hooks for horror?
>>98426057Fuck I can't write. >Having trouble startingAnyways, here's my solo setup. I don't have a set room for it and it's pretty mobile
>>98422827agreed.>>98424881Personally, Seperate trackers for hunger and thirst seem a bit much for me unless im in a desert. How do you record do game time?Also, what are the penalties you use for being depleted and in what base game system? I think the obvious one is lowering max HP. If DND another could be lowered saving throws. I want it to feel engaging but not overly finicky.My go too system has been barbarians of Lemuria, But its a bit hard to do the incremental advancements of DND in that system and I also hant to do dnd content, so I am tenitively moving over to a hybrid between Scarlet Heros and Worlds without numbers, both DND clones but with 2dX skill systems.>>98425815I personally didnt find the time scale all that annoying. 2-3 cooked meat items keept you topped off throughout a day.
>>98426057Solo for horror doesn't have to follow the same format as for groups.Example: Your PC lost his wife 5 years ago. You jut found a copy of the Necronomicon in a mall antique bookstore (coincidence?). It contains the spell to resurrect people from their essential salts.What do you do?
>>98426057>I haven't found a good plot hookThen use a bad one. You can pivot to something else if you think of something better.
Hey anons, this will sound retarded, but how do you actually 'start' solo rpg? I want to play some of the Warhammer 40K rpgs but I have no idea where to begin. Do you really need Foundry? Or is that just recommended? Any help would be great, I'm a total newbie in this regard.
>>98428287You don't any more than you would for a regular RPG, though random tables are helpful.It's easiest to start with a game you've already GM'd, in which case you mostly do that while also playing the PCs, with random tables to help your imagination.Failing that take the game you're most familiar with playing and learn to GM yourself as above. Random elements and details can come from tables or just asking a "yes" or "no" question as you might to a GM and flipping a coin.If you've never played then I'd suggest a straightforward dungeon crawl game like Four Against Darkness or Notequest. They don't grind to a halt if your imagination is weak, but give you opportunities to exercise it.
>>98428360>Four Against Darkness or Notequest.Alrighty then, I'll have a look into these before jumping into something Warhammer related. In regards to the random tables you mentioned, do you know any that are particularly suited to something like warhammer? Or are these better off being home made
>>98427952>>98428157I got the game started, looked up H.P. Lovecrafts commonplace book for inspiration. Thought my librarian would find a secret set o tunnels under the library. Had some fake out scares, was stumped a few times, but went with the flow Instead of tunnels, she just found some dude browsing the books late. She is was hunted by some weird mute men that are extremely resiliant. Survived by fleeing and dinding a helpful nightwatchman.Currently trying to figure out why and what they are.>just start playingWorks every time
>>98428628Maze Rats has a lot of D66 tables in few pages which are plenty for flavouring settings like Warhammer Fantasy. I don't know any ready made ones for 40k. Flick through rulebooks or things like the Emperor's tarot to get lists of relevant words. Just don't get too lost in trying to find the perfect word list and forget to play.
>>98427157>How do you record do game time?Typically, the flow of my solo games revolves around "What is my PC doing this hour or combat round?". So I run my games hour by hour, with the actual gameplay taking place in between. For smaller units of time I'll use 1/4 or 1/2 hours. I don't bother keeping track of individual minutes because that's more detail than I need. Tldr; once I've decided that enough has happened in game to warrant it, I'll move the clock forward an hour.>Also, what are the penalties you use for being depleted and in what base game system?I'm using a heavily modified version of FUDGE. After needs are ignored for long enough (GM discretion), I apply a -1 penalty to all rolls, and if needs still aren't met the penalty goes to -2 and caps. After the cap, what happens to my PC is just logic; they begin to die. Removing the penalty requires my PC to sleep/eat/drink "a lot" to make up for what they've missed. As for the amounts/quantities of things like food and water, I like to keep it vague and abstract; obviously my PC needs more than a thimble of water but less than a swimming pool*, so just a single "unit" of water in a waterskin is enough. So, I don't do anything VERY detailed like calorie counting or measuring my PC's water intake in mililiters.*No offense to orca chads and blue whale solo rpg enjoyers
>>98428997>Just don't get too lost in trying to find the perfect word list and forget to play.I can certainly see how that would be a problem, I've done a bit of googling and the plethora of results is frankly overwhelming and will take a fair bit of researching to find something applicable. I actually did just find the Emperor's Tarot, and it looks awesome, I'll need to dedicate some time to reading through it.Thanks for the Maze Rats reference, I'll give it a look too.Thanks for your time anon.
>WoW supplement for 5eFinally time to do a solo game of adventuring with my big pandaren wife.
>>984305345e sucks for solo, you'd be better off with something basic.
>>98426057>but I haven't found a good plot hook. I have never ran any horror as a solo game so I'm not sure where to start. I have listened to a few Lovecraft stories, but I feel like I already know the plot so to speak, Never played Call of Cthulu, but yeah, most lovecraft stories just revolve around some kinda ancient cursed object/place/temple, and ramp up to cults, madness, and monsters, maybe even destroying/enslaving the world. Just highlight the first cursed thing as a valuable/interesting goal, and let the plot unfold from that.You can probably just use a typical RPG encounter generator, and then just paint over it with lovecraftian flavor text. For example, lets say you roll an encounter of a caravan under attack... you can just repaint that as an insane madman murdered his whole caravan, and now you have to fight him. Maybe the caravan is engaged in some kinda imaginary combat against mom existent enemies. Maybe you just find a fresh battle, but there are no dead bodies or living attackers. Or Maybe you play the encounter straight, and find a caravan who is currently being attacked by indescribable horrors. All of this fits within lovecraftian stories, and all of it starts from the same base oracle prompt
>>98430637NTA and I actually agree that solo 5e is inferior to the good old OSR, and yet, I wonder, is there any alternative that also has high survival rates? I played my own AD&D campaigns, but while they are extremely enjoyable, right now I am in the mood for a high fantasy romp with characters that don't die as easily.
What is the best system out there for evolving NPC relationships? Keeping Contact is not bad, but it does feel grindy and not too organic as it pushes you to farm approval rolls the exact same way people abuse gifts to make their waifu like them in DA.To be clear I like the aspect of cultivating allies, harems, rivals, friends, etc, but just grinding points feels lame. Isn't there anything that ties it to idk quests or levels or something more organic?
>>98431796>Isn't there anything that ties it to idk questsKeeping Cintact has that.I haven't found anything that good, but I feel like you really can't have a rigid system without it turning to a gamey grind so I RP a lot of it.I modded Keep Contact and Let's Talk to work with social skills and stress and I use oracles for the rest. I have it as a rule, that you can't get more than 50% friendship without doing something for your friend. Simplest system might be CHA test to get a friend, then yes/no oracle to see if you progress when you have a moment with the NPC, then track from 0-5 0 is enemies, 5 is lovers.
>>98429116Nice, been thinking of this to add to my dnd (scarlet heros) campaign:exhaustion system: you can expend an exhaustion to reroll a die or reduce the effect of a failed save. you can have up to 3 exhaustion. per long rest you can recover 1 each from good sleep, using up a restorative resource during a short rest, and doing an activity pertinent to your characters proclivities.These bonuses being somewhat offset by me planing to involve more saving throws and adverse conditions, like heavy rain giving a penalty to dexterity and perception, so its a good idea to try to conserve your exhaustion for when you really cant afford a malus.>>98431782That is the point of scarlet heros, has a number of sub systems stappled to osr to make solo/small parties more survivable. Damage reduction, you can attack multiple times against lower level enemies, and a method to take hp damage instead of falling to negative effects. though desu, I find them a bit much, I want to see if my exhaustion idea will be an adequate enough replacement.>>98430637I dont see why 5e couldnt work.
>>98431796https://www.ttrpg-hangout.com/d12_friendship_and_romance_system.html
Have you guys ever completed an epic quest in Ironsworn?
Is there a guide or a website that lists all the quests in order or progression through Classic WoW? I kind of want to use the basic "Storyline" or quests from that game as inspiration for my own solo game.
Just rolled up this idiot. He's a Level 1 Thief named "Dorg" that I'm using BFRPG to run. He has a healthy amount of HP, but all of his stats besides constitution are pretty bad. He almost didn't qualify for any of the class prerequisites. His Dexterity was just high enough to let him be a Thief.Rolled up a town called "Oracort" and the surrounding region. Gonna explore the nearby caves and see if this dumbass can survive. (Dude's got 4 Intelligence, 6 Strength, 7 Wisdom, and 7 Charisma. Oh! And he only had enough starting gold for some leather armor, a sword, a lantern, and a couple pieces of starting gear.)
>>98374809>Does he not realize he's the one being authoritarian by doing thisLate but no, they do not. I've had encounters with the hard left. They screech about nazis and fascists whilst acting exactly like them, down to the "follow our ideology or die" attitude.
Hey guys. I'm the anon that has made a couple of the solo RP infographics/memes that sometimes get shared on here. I think they've done a good job of either helping new people get started in the hobby of solo gaming, and also deterred a bit of the trolling/stupid questions that often get brought up here.I was wondering if you guys had any ideas or requests for infographics that you would like to see explaining facets of solo gaming.
>>98438301My advice at the end of >>98428360.Newfags with no confidence in their creativity can find it impossible to get started. Straightforward mechanical games like 4AD can give them the space to exercise their imagination without actually needing it to keep the game running.There are also minis games, but they more appeal to people already into minis and crafting.Highlight the continuum from "a video game without staring at a screen for even more hours of my life" to "writing a book with random prompts". And that you neither have to like everything nor stick to one thing because that's what your group is playing.Also how GMing covers most of the same skills as solo RPGing.
>>98438486>Highlight the continuum from "a video game without staring at a screen for even more hours of my life" to "writing a book with random prompts". And that you neither have to like everything nor stick to one thing because that's what your group is playing.>Also how GMing covers most of the same skills as solo RPGing.These are all really good points.
I bought a bundle of books for a new campaign world setting and I received an extra book that I didn't order.
>>98436833Not yet...I've reskinned Ironsworn for a more Conan sword & sorcery style world, and it translates pretty well. But...no, no epic vows yet
What is the crunchies game you've successfully run and had fun with solo? I have been thinking of trying something more time consuming than Scarlet Heroes. Still something that preferably has one proper character and maybe occasional hirelings/NPCs.
>>98439963Mythras. The combat in it is complex and yet at the same time it moves pretty quick once you understand how it works, and hit locations in general are fantastic for solo play. The system is also extremely flexible and actually has shit built right in to make a solo character very viable despite BRP/D100's reputation for being highly lethal.
>>98438984>This is not a good situation.Is the extra book cursed?
>>98439963It's all about your personality and skills.I bet there is at least one person who'll have fun solo playing Phoenix Command or even F.A.T.A.L.
>>98439963GURPS Traveller: Star Trader.110% Spreadsheet Simulator.Which trade route is most profitable? How much will the fuel cost? What is the current price of the cargo here vs the target world? What's its trajectory? How much will the crew cost? Do I have enough for food and supplies? Oh god we're bankrupt and drifting in space without fuel. This is clearly why I was kicked out of the merchant marines during character creation.
>>98439963I ran a forgotten realms solo campaign using D&D 3.5/3.75, with four PCs at once. It was fun, but too crunchy. I'm never touching anything that crunchy again.
>>98440337Could be, if I receive a e-mail from the company about it.
I think I heard someone describe solo roleplay as "play to see what happens next". What is that from?
>>98440479I cannot fathom someone playing and enjoying FATAL. Don't get ridiculous now.>>98436833If starforged counts then yeah. The point of the campaign was to get to a secret hidden untouched planet in a cluster of space where every civilized planet was falling apart. Took an entire notebook of notes/combat logs but I got there with a trusted group of NPCs that was slowly being built by me and set up. I think I still had at least one more quest to do whuich was the "infiltrate the enemy to make sure the planet stays hidden" but never got around to it. By this point I was more interested in starting again in a non space setting.
Anyone tried the solo rules for Invincible?
>>98444187At least the Fatal Games guy was enthusiast enough to make it and publish it, it even had a cd-rom. That's 1 person at least.
>>98444204Did they actually come out? I didn't know if they were out yet. (I might have to give them a shot! I really like Mutants & Masterminds, but I've been looking for an alternate rules system for supers.)
>>98445150They're in the core rulebook, it's in the Free League archive
I want to play Scarlet Heroes, but I want my character to be able to go around with hirelings, followers, cohorts, and a harem. What's a good way to make my character the main dude that does all of the adventuring, but also lets him have a caravan of adventurers at his side?
>>98445366I'm pretty sure Scarlet Heroes rules themselves say that it is possible to have two or three PCs without the rules falling apart, there will just be less running and hiding from encounters.
>>98446747Don't the rules suggest you have NPCs, but that those NPCs have the same rules for HP as enemies? (So they use HD if they're damaged, rather than HP, making them very fragile.)
>>98446800NPCs are simple in SH, yes, but I don't see why it could not by played with few of them elevated to PC status. If it is played just with NPCs and by the book, the game very much goes for Conan-esque hero who probably has help and allies along the way but essentially starts most adventures alone. The Heat mechanic (if included in the game) also discourages forming community binds.
>>98441681That's from PbtA.
Can I get some thoughts on Dragonbane? I have the core set on the way because it looks interesting, and the only real bad thing I've heard about it is that it uses cards for random initiative, but what else is notable about it? I'm excited, but also curious.>Mallard-kinThat's fucking sick.
>>98449626It's my go-to for solo. Hope you got the box set. It's a roll-under skill system, and you mostly only level up your skill, with the occasional heroic ability. You really need the double action as evading or parrying cost an action the one you have, and you might want to change out the class ability with something better. The box set comes with some simple oracles and solo dungeon mission/room creator. Monstrous monsters hit automatically, so you need to evade them, you also roll which of it's six attacks it will use. Armour is a flat reduction. Your HP is static, you get as much as your CON. Weapons can break if you parry with them, if the damage goes over your weapon durability
>>98445366>>98446800Ive done this and my answer is to give them pool of mulligans. instead of fiddling with hp and damage conversions, I just give each a small pool of meta currencies that allow them to do any one of the extra rules you have. So they can spend 1 to reduce a harmful failed save, use it to reroll a roll, or to attack a second time.I give them like 2-3 per long rest and I think it does a good job to show they are above the mooks, but not quite as front and center as the pc.
Can anyone who journals their ssrpg post examples of how they do it? I'm curious to see how you approach the matter.
>>98381423>>98454599Mine is like this.
>>98450572>It's my go-to for soloThat's what I like to hear. I had a scan through some documents for the game I could find online, and it looks like really good! Still offput by the card based initiative but thems the breaks.
>>98455545I don't mind using physical cards, I can see it being more annoying if you didn't have them though. Rolling d10 for each character and rerolling each duplicate is one bad solution. But if you're playing solo I'd just house rule it to make it more simplistic. There is an economy with the initiative as you can only either attack, or dodge/parry an attack without the solo character rule which give you another action, and you can shift the imitative around
>>98455631The initiative cards are in the core set that I have on the way, so I guess I should try them before discounting them, I just really dislike the idea of them. I prefer initiative to make sense, not be dependent on a random draw.
>>98454599I write my games novel-style, since I wanna up my storytelling skills. Typically that means rough-drafting individual scenes while playing the game, before touching it up to post on my Neocities site. You can find an example of the end result here:https://infinityweavers.link/creativity/library/hr/hr018Alternatively, this dude on the IS Discord put out this exact same request some months back. You can find the responses here:https://amag111.itch.io/hdus-external-links
>>98454599This is a bit of an older example. I do things slightly different now.
>>98454599My first ever solo and solo game, and current game of Down Crawl. It's more of a setting/supplement than a full on game system, but I'm still having fun with it. Down Crawl rules say that you should break up a JOURNEY into a number of predetermined steps, every day you either log a success or a failure that modify your final journey roll, that decides if you arrive successfully or you just end up lost. You also start a VENTURE with a number of steps for any combat or quest.Also using the Sliver of Fate core system in the book(basically a minimalized version of the Fate rpg rule set)i'm using google docs as my journal, since its automatically shared between my phone and PC. Every time I achieve a major change, I log it in parenthesis, mid paragraph. But I also keep a tally of everything at the end of paragraphs, so I know where I stand whenever I resume the gameMaybe m writing is not the best, but I think it's serviceable enough
>>98454599I just go for the route of writing down what happens after every event or sub-scene (like after a combat encounter, which i dont have end a scene if its in a dungeon crawl or the like). I dont write down the result of dice rolls, but do sometimes keep a note of them elsewhere. However im also extra and spice things up too much
>>98457716Great art Anon
>>98457716holy sovl
>>98454395I really like this idea. Maybe a number of mulligans, rerolls, or "Advantage" equal to their level? I'll have to experiment.
>>98457716If this was a graphic novel I'd buy it.
>>98457794>>98458100>>98460289Thanks anons. It's been nice that people enjoyed the journals when i was doing these. I plan to get back to this solo campaign once im done working on one of my projects and get into the mood again.Wrt the graphic novel comment, a few people voiced that, and I'm considering doing it once I get further along in the solo campaign, since i only have 16 scenes at the moment and like none of the threads have been closed yet and we havent kicked this bitch's ass yet
>>98424881I think daily life stuff should be considered minutiae. A scene dedicated to enjoying your morning coffee does set the mood for your game.Giving it game mechanics and tracking it just feels like busy work.
>>98462869To me a scene dedicated to enjoying coffee sounds like irrelevant padding, whereas game mechanics are the thing that make it a game.
>>98463060Say for each scene you play that is "cozy", increment your happiness level by one. At the end of each day, if your happiness level is 0, you become stressed. The only way to rid yourself of this stress status is to have a fun day. A fun day is when you end a day with 5 happiness levels. Additional rule: happiness levels reset to zero each day.There, now enjoying coffee is important because I gave it mechanical relevance in my game.
>>98463163You missed the point. I it wasn't about whether any particular thing does, could, or should have mechanics. For me the story is there to facilitate the mechanics, not the other way around.
>>98463269If you understand what flavor text is in games, you understand why a coffee scene isn't "irrelevant padding".
>>98463316I'm sorry that you're too retarded to have a conversation with someone that doesn't share your opinions.
>>98463437Eh, you're telling me I'm missing a point, telling me I'm retarded. I do understand, you just suck at contribution.
>>98463474You clearly don't understand, or you wouldn't question the idea that anyone could find a coffee drinking scene irrelevant.
>>98463488It has a place in the story serving as mood setting.
>>98463511See, you aren't at all interested in my point of view, you merely want to assert your own.It has no place in the story of any game I would care to play, and in any case setting the mood is a minor concern that's already covered.
>>98463529I agree that's what I meant in the original post when I wrote "daily life stuff should be considered minutiae".I really think eating or tracking hunger is tedious busy work. I think you will agree.
>>98463555No, plenty of games have a survival or logistics component that makes food relevant, like Barbarian Prince.
>>98454599Still trying to figure out how to I want to do it. And not meant to be read by others, so both my English and handwriting is less than stellar>>98457716Really nice
>>98454599I had a two week journey on a jump ship and wrote for every day. I didn't really like that so I moved to journalling before and after sorties. But this was also my first time journalling so I'm still somewhat finding what's a good middle ground
>>98457716Dammit my notes are typically very brief and just system related notes, but now I want to do this instead as it looks sick and will help with my art practice. Cool idea anon
>>98463799That kind of stuff only matters in survival situations when you don't have access to food then starving is important to note. You can assume three square meals otherwise.
>>98465630Plenty of games feature such survival situations.
I started a Solo EZD6 story using one of the quests from the offical book of quest, landing on the angelfire tower I played with 3 heroes using 2 classes from the Wasted World book and 1 class from the Fantasy Mayhem bookTo keep it in familliar terms for those who dont play the game i had a Warforged, a bard, and a psionThe quest started with the heroes getting the town evacuated before they explored the tower to prevent anyone from being hurt should they failBefore they could enter the tower a mage appeared and challenged the party to a trial by combat with himself and 2 familliarsThe familliars were easily disposed of and when the mage became desperate he let out a cry for help drawing a nearby giant from the forests causing the fight to become chatoicTo fight the giant the bard used a scroll to summon a water elemental but after the warforged defeated the mage the giant managed to knock the party fown causing the elemental to become free from the bard's controlTo wrap up the first encounter the warforged and bard took down the elemental while the psion slayed the giantThe party managed now may enter the tower proper
>>98465755Plenty of games also don't. It depends on the genre.
>>98462869>Giving it game mechanics and tracking it just feels like busy workI'm this anon here>>98424881I think it's worth noting that I only do this for the purpose of making my solo fantasy adevnture themed games more difficult and tedious on purpose. I don't assume that my character eats three meals a day, for the same reason that I don't assume my character has enough arrows in their quiver at all times. I want my character to fight for survival every step of the way, whether that be finding water in a desert or finding something to eat in a city over run by the undead. To me, even a broken sandal strap is an essential part of the heroes journeyWere I running a game where my PC has a Star Trek style food replicator; I would drop the hunger mechanics
>>98466442That's cool, I do wonder about detailed play versus abstracting away details. Like, it's to your preference but I wonder if it is worth the extra time.
>>98466319>content of a game varies with genreNo shit.
starting my campaign tonight. If I plug my computer back in because my dopamine receptors are too raped to read and write then I have to kill myself.
>>98467727-You need to prioritize diversity in your schedule-Reject screen time algorithmic narratives used by colonizers to dehumanize internet users-Resist dopamine trigger injustice-Carefully consider the representation of your own screen-time slavery in your life
>>98467727>That adviceSo have you considered playing Sundered Isle in a post-apocalyptic version of the American South, where they won their states rights, only to be flood zoned by the treacherous, subhuman yanks?In turn they conquered all of South America, creating The Big South.You could have a particularly loyal slave as an asset while you explore Aztec ruins to add to your private collection and explore the eternal bayous for Voodoo priests (Who absolutely, 100% have bones through their noses)Just a possibility to consider
>>98467727Shit like this makes me glad that despite playing and enjoying sundred isles I have never given them any money. I almost want to add slavery to my game (despite it being mostly about a spooky pirate war) out of spite. >>98467933I'll take any excuse to RP as a southern gentleman
>>98467727>make your world as a libtard DEI hugbox>play as a colonial tyrant, murdering, raping and pillaging your way across itcould be fun
Reminds me when VTM staff wanted to forbid to any vampire to suck blood from a rat (as a mechanic), because that's animal abuse.Virtue signaling is so baffling.
>>98467617Yeah, you don't believe me?
>>98467727Know what, fuck it. Here, for anyone to use as they see fit:>Path: Tyrant>When you take this asset, declare a vulnerable or oppressed population who you actively persecute. When you Swear an Iron Vow (Formidable or Greater) to harm their interests or advance your own at their detriment, reroll any dice. When you Fulfil your vow and score a hit, also mark 2 ticks on your bonds legacy track>When you Secure an Advantage or Gain Ground by exploiting those who cannot protect themselves from your predations, take +1 to your action dice and +1 momentum on a hit>When you Enter the Fray against those who are lesser than you, choose one of the following approaches:>Square bullets for the Heathen: Roll Heart and add +2>Make them kneel: Roll +iron and mark progress on a hitRemember lads, there's no Geneva in the Ironlands
>>98471250basado
>>98471250>there's no Geneva in the IronlandsBut is there any way to DL the full Sundered Isles PDF rule book with out paying the faggers who made it? I know they got the demo version available for free on their website, But there just HAS to be enough conscientious objectors who are just paying for the full rule book just to reupload it for free
>>98472288>88Well played anon.
>>98472288
>>98472288>is there any way to download digital products without paying for themFirst day on the Internet?
>>98472288Just get money from someone else and use that to pay for the book. That way you can absolve yourself claiming YOU didn't pay for the document, the other guy did.
>>98471250Following up with another one:>Path: Imperialist>When you Swear an Iron Vow (formidable or greater) to bring civilization to an uncivilized land or enforce the rules of your culture upon those who do not follow it, reroll any dice. When you Reach a Milestone in the pursuit of that quest, take +2 momentum. When you Fulfill Your Vow and score a hit, also mark 2 ticks on your bonds legacy track.>When you or an ally Sojourn and score a strong hit with a match, you may envision meeting someone of the same ideology. If you Make a Connection with them and score a hit, mark 1 tick on your bonds legacy track. When you Forge a Bond with anyone of yourideology, make the legacy reward one rank higher (1 extra box if already epic).>When you make a progress move in direct service to your ideology, you may reroll one challenge die. If you score a strong hit with a match, your reputation grows among those who share your ideology; mark 1 tick on your bonds legacy track.Remember, it's only in a museum because those fuckers weren't looking after it in the first place.The Rosetta Stone was being used as paving material when it was found by the Frogs.Fuck these people.
>>98472288It's like the first link when you search for it online.
>>98378230I started it, but then I stopped playing it when I realized how short it is and how it's not really meant for prolonged campaigns that I usually like to run.
It's been a while since I've played something new.
>>98472288This guy is a paid actor
Does anybody know some good fantasy/Sci-fi military solo games or regular ones that are easy to emulate?The Carbon Grey RPG has caught my interest, but I want to know if their's any simpler and/or better ones I may be missing
>>98479328Post-apocalyptic fantasy dungeon crawler. Final stratum is the town hall
For anyone looking to solo a Warhammer RPG, the game masters screen for Imperium Maledictum comes with a booklet that is FULL of tables to generate plot points, story hooks, characters and other doo-dads. Well worth your time.
Are there ironsworn-like games about life sim type gameplay?
>>98482872Iron Valley?
>>98479432>Post-apocalyptic fantasy dungeon crawler.Funnily enough thats basically the description of my RPG setting using EZD6's core fantasy and Wasted World books
>>98482912Perfect.
>>98341984Any generic oracles/story generators that you find go well with urban fantasy/horror, like WoD/CofD? I know about the unofficial solo play support books for both of them, and they're alright. But not extensive enough for my taste. Preferably something that takes a lot of control from me. I had some good fun the first time I gave it a crack, but I'm a bit of an overplanner when I play, so I was constantly second-guessing myself on if I was making things too easy on myself... or making it too hard to overcompensate for that tendency.
>>98469644I did this when I wanted to try out D&D 5.5. Didn't get very far because the system sucks, but it was pretty fun. I really should convert the campaign to a better game and continue.>>98471250>>98473313Unforgivably based
>>98486358>Didn't get very far because the system sucks, but it was pretty fun.May I suggest ACKS?It has great domain rules and is absolutely designed for colonial shenanigans. Someone over in /osrg/ did a campaign of it a while back and it looked pretty good.
I like writing on paper, but I have a bad habbit of losing track of them and having to estimate what I had based on what I can remember. I am going to try to do records on computer, purely just so that I can keep track of the records, dont know if I will like it as much tho.
I actually have a hard time remembering the character of my pc’s with simple keywords. I actually found it much more intuitive to set up a whole encounter, play it out highlighting their characteristics in the action, then refer back to it when needed. sounds roundabout, but for some reason practical examples actually seem to stick more than single words like “terse” or optimistic”.Specifically, a series of short encounter my pc had wooing a she-cultists really fleshed him out. He is genuinely curious about appreciating the higher principles of her order and beliefs, even if he does not agree with them in specific. He put himself in harms way to protect her long enough for her to finish casting a spell. He also made a humorous but still insightful remark about a piece of her culture’s art that she found quite entertaining.just saying he is “curious, bold when something important is on the line, and good-humored” in a vacuum just doesn’t evoke those things for me.
Looking for insight. Anyone here tried Symbaroum? I can get a good deal on it but I don't know much about it mechanically.Many thanks anons.
Which rpg settings have you guys played? I've done shadowrun, dark sun, and game of thrones.
>>98494812Ive done a dark sun style setting with post apoc fantasy, ive also fone a lot of FF7 or NES final fantasy style settings
>>98494812There is a bunch I've started on, but never made it far into, like Iron/Starforged, Ryuutama, Scarlet heroes, Worlds/Cities without numbers, Ker NethalasThe ones I've 'successfully' gotten of the ground is in SWADE and DragonBane
>>98341984Ive generally had a bad time trying to play through Modules solo. I am much better at making up my own adventures so I can be suprised. But I do think one thing that I do wrong with modules is that I try to only read what happens one scenario ahead, when I really need to read about the whole of the set of directly interconnected scenarios so I have a sense of how everything might interconnect. So I am trying this: read through the whole of a logical subsection of an adventure (one whole level of a dungeon, one layer, or one days worth of travel), like one irl sessions worth, then write a cliffnotes version of it only including the main points, then run it from there. Only consulting the actual module when specific details come up. hopefully it will work out.
>>98494812>game of thrones.There's a SOIAF rpg?
>>98497571Yeah there is, but you really don't need to use a specific system to play in a premade setting. The only things that matter here are internalized knowledge of the setting and the system fitting the tone of the game. Using some magic superhero ruleset like DnD 5e for Westeros isn't really appropriate in this situation over something much more grounded.
>>98497867I am shocked that I've never heard of this before.
>>98485601>Any generic oracles/story generators that you find go well with urban fantasy/horror, like WoD/CofD?gf /d/2wVRLnLook in the 'Solo > Urban Fantasy Various' folder.
