This is the best intro to solo role playing I’ve come across. One big question it answered for me was how to go about running a module/campaign (Night Below for AD&D 2nd edition). And the rest of it is great too because it focuses on the steps you take various options and their pros and cons.
I think you can let the bad roll kill the character and build it into the story. If your paladin is slain by an orc party because of a bad roll, the next character can be the paladin's squire who embarks to avenge his masters death....
Yeah, good point! Sometimes I do that, but other times I just want to play the story of the characters I have at the moment. And, if I need to adjust things to avoid a bad story due to character death, I don’t feel that bad about it playing solo and all.
Regarding decisions your character would make, you touched on it briefly and I heard this elsewhere - ahead of time, make some general principles for a character as how they might react in scenarios like they are cautious, daring (you mentioned these), would they check for traps, would they really take the time to search for secret doors? That might help playing prebuilt modules and not feel like cheating
You explained it really well, in my game I use the percentile dice and the subject focus tables from mythic gm. I base the odds of what I think is going to happen on the dice roll which means the scene maybe adjusted or npcs may react in ways that require skill checks which adds that layer of unpredictability. As for game structure I find solo works best in scenes, going from one scene to the next determined logically by what happened the scene before that. When I reach a dungeon I use the Five Room Dungeon method as a reference which helps me to keep it well rounded. I reward xp to myself on completion of quests which helps push the narrative forward. The system I use is 5e one PC and maximum 3 sidekicks which I may meet throughout the campaign.
@@paperdicegames6585 All those minis ...😂 i was thinking the same thing when i watched his series. But his channel runs more like a company so he can afford that. Minis are soo expensive, that's why i have considered buying a 3d printer made especially for minis 🤔. Can make some & sell it to the players for less than the commercially available ones. For now i print the monsters & NPCs in cardstock, cut them & buy wooden 1" half spheres at the dollar store, cut a slit wide enough for the card stock to fit in & all good to go. $2.50 for a pack of 36 of those wooden semi spheres. 🤷 necessity is the mother of invention i guess 🤓
another piece of good advice i heard is to simply pause your story at times and jump into the narrative of another character - perhaps another character somewhere else in the town, world, or in a different time. then come back to the first character after playing your other characters - and this will give you more details about the world your first character is in that you didnt have before!
Good stuff! Instead of published adventure modules, I'm using video game settings for solo RP. Even there, there is some variance as to how to engage with the medium. On one end, you can follow the game's plot as-is and simply use a TTRPG system for its combat. To diverge from here, you can make attempts to influence NPCs to diverge from their prescribed plotlines and that's when you essentially create another timeline, where you have to ask "what happens now in situation X?" This style is more conducive to GMing yourself. On the other end, you simply have the map of the game world with some basic lore of each region and then have at it as if you were playing a game akin to Ironsworn. I'd even recommend not incorporating NPCs who join your party in the original plot so that your journey is not tethered to a semblance of a metaplot. This style is more conducive to using oracles to uncover details about the game world and to find out what happens next. In my Elden Ring solo RP, in large part, I lean closer towards the "GMing myself" end of the spectrum and I've influenced some NPCs to join my character in his quest to become Elden Lord. This happens instinctively and I'm trying to let go of the reins and incorporate oracles into the experience, so that it doesn't just feel like I'm having the exact same experience as when I play the game. Even then, writing down the story and the conversations is enjoyable and I post chapters daily on the play-by-post forum on rpg.net.
Wow - thanks for sharing! I hadn’t considered using video game setting to guide a solo RP! I love the idea. Makes a lot of sense if the setting is a good one as well. Thanks for sharing!
That a really helpful video on the topic, better than most other videos about solo ttrpg. The using an existing adventure and "oracle" some of your decisions is quite ingenious! Bad thing about modules, is typically they are made for several players, so playing solo typically there is a problem of lack of certain abilities or death in combat vs a too powerful enemy or group.
Thanks for the kind words! Yeah I try to stay away from oracles, I find that for me they get in the way of creativity. As for module difficulty, I will sometimes run a party of my own, sometimes over-level my character, and sometimes just accept that it will be extremely challenging, and that running away will be very helpful!
great video!! Question: For random encounters - how do you determine how many enemies should your characters face? Should you play it fairly, or challenging?
Thank you! I don’t think to much about how challenging am encounter is when determining enemies - I let the story guide it. So if I find a wolf, I might roll between 1 and 8 to see how big the pack is. If it’s a gang of thieves, maybe 2-4. It’s my character’s response that matters then, figuring out how to best get through the scenario - fight, flight, barter, etc.
Sorry one more comment 😂, at the end of your video you said that you fudge rolls because you didnt want a character death basically. I understand i really do. It can be a downer when that happens, but try to remember that just because the main PC dies doesn't mean the world/setting does. Think Eddard Stark from Game of Thrones. 😅
Yeah for sure - sometimes character death is fun. Other times though I want to play a specific type of game, and I don’t see a way forward if I fail this roll. In other words, I “wrote myself into a corner”. So I fudge the roll, and learn how to avoid that situation in the system in the future.
player should have lots of tables on hand to help with creativity and inspiration (artifacts, places in a town, types of characters, potion types, weapons, monsters, etc.)
Very good explenation. I just keep one question. For a solo RPG, do you have to play one character, or is it also possible (and easy) to play with a 4 character party for example?
Thank you for the kind words! I’ve played both ways, and found both can be easy. Having a single character allows you to focus on the character easier, and there is less management to do, but combat is much more dangerous. Having multiple characters can introduce fun relationships between them, and combat is less worrisome, but can be a lot more to track. I suggest trying both out to see what you like!
@@paperdicegames6585 Thank you for your reply. I was indeed wondering if you play with just one character, how do you do the death save, since you need another person to help you (could be a NPC ofcourse). I thought about the fun building relationship between characters too, also if you use 2 complete opposite characters like a Paladin and a Rogue or Warlcok or something, and the way they would interact and sometimes play against each other to get to the common goal. So i will try 2 character party first and i could either keep it like that, expand the party, or play with just one.
I get the solo bit. But I'm not sure how you role play by yourself. Do you hold conversations with yourself, using different voices for the NPCs? For all that, you may as well just be playing a computer game. I would love to start gaming again - its been over thirty years - but I can't find a single gaming group in the area that is 1) close to my age and 2) not woke. Sorry, but I'm simply not going to sit there with babies who whine about pronouns because being an adult is just too difficult for them. That being said, I simply can't picture myself sitting at a table rolling die to randomize a dungeon, more die to randomize encounters and then lots and lots of die for combat. And, although I do typically spend too much time conversing with myself, unfortunately it isn't for role-playing purposes.
Not sure why you see having a pronoun preference as negative or not being an adult? In my experience its similar to using a preferred nickname or name pronunciation. Opening your world view may help you find groups. To answer your actual question though, I don’t necessarily have a conversation with myself. I do create a narrative though - sometimes through a journal (like a Captain’s Log), sometimes through bullet points, and sometimes just in my mind. I also usually have a “main character” who I do actual role playing with. All the other characters end up as NPCs, some of whom are allied to my PC, some who are opposed. I hope this helps.
This is the best intro to solo role playing I’ve come across. One big question it answered for me was how to go about running a module/campaign (Night Below for AD&D 2nd edition). And the rest of it is great too because it focuses on the steps you take various options and their pros and cons.
Thank you for the kind words, I am glad it helped!
I have been watching Solo videos for days and this is the first one worth watching. Thank you for explaining things simply and clearly.
Thank you for the kind words! Yeah I tried to take time to make it simple, yet explain exactly what to do each step of the way. I am glad it helped!
I appreciate the discussion you shared about journaling vs simply thinking. This was all very helpful. Thank you.
Thank you for the kind words!
I think you can let the bad roll kill the character and build it into the story. If your paladin is slain by an orc party because of a bad roll, the next character can be the paladin's squire who embarks to avenge his masters death....
Yeah, good point! Sometimes I do that, but other times I just want to play the story of the characters I have at the moment. And, if I need to adjust things to avoid a bad story due to character death, I don’t feel that bad about it playing solo and all.
Fun breakdown! I like the simple elegance of Info- decision- journal. It's an easy flow to follow while going solo.
Glad it was helpful!
Regarding decisions your character would make, you touched on it briefly and I heard this elsewhere - ahead of time, make some general principles for a character as how they might react in scenarios like they are cautious, daring (you mentioned these), would they check for traps, would they really take the time to search for secret doors? That might help playing prebuilt modules and not feel like cheating
Yeah for sure! I also let my characters “learn” - so if they fall for a trap on a door, in the future they automatically check for those.
You explained it really well, in my game I use the percentile dice and the subject focus tables from mythic gm. I base the odds of what I think is going to happen on the dice roll which means the scene maybe adjusted or npcs may react in ways that require skill checks which adds that layer of unpredictability.
As for game structure I find solo works best in scenes, going from one scene to the next determined logically by what happened the scene before that. When I reach a dungeon I use the Five Room Dungeon method as a reference which helps me to keep it well rounded.
I reward xp to myself on completion of quests which helps push the narrative forward.
The system I use is 5e one PC and maximum 3 sidekicks which I may meet throughout the campaign.
Seems like it will work well - thanks for sharing!
Me Myself & Die has a great series using Ironsworn showing one of many ways to play solo.
That channel is amazing - talk about production value. Wish I had that many minis!
@@paperdicegames6585 All those minis ...😂 i was thinking the same thing when i watched his series. But his channel runs more like a company so he can afford that. Minis are soo expensive, that's why i have considered buying a 3d printer made especially for minis 🤔. Can make some & sell it to the players for less than the commercially available ones. For now i print the monsters & NPCs in cardstock, cut them & buy wooden 1" half spheres at the dollar store, cut a slit wide enough for the card stock to fit in & all good to go. $2.50 for a pack of 36 of those wooden semi spheres. 🤷 necessity is the mother of invention i guess 🤓
Yeah I am all about that papercraft!
another piece of good advice i heard is to simply pause your story at times and jump into the narrative of another character - perhaps another character somewhere else in the town, world, or in a different time. then come back to the first character after playing your other characters - and this will give you more details about the world your first character is in that you didnt have before!
Yeah thats a great idea! Especially if you are feeling stuck or lost or just want to mix it up
This is a great (and simple!) way to keep the flow of a solo RPG going without unnecessary struggle.
Thanks for the kind words!
Good stuff!
Instead of published adventure modules, I'm using video game settings for solo RP. Even there, there is some variance as to how to engage with the medium.
On one end, you can follow the game's plot as-is and simply use a TTRPG system for its combat. To diverge from here, you can make attempts to influence NPCs to diverge from their prescribed plotlines and that's when you essentially create another timeline, where you have to ask "what happens now in situation X?" This style is more conducive to GMing yourself.
On the other end, you simply have the map of the game world with some basic lore of each region and then have at it as if you were playing a game akin to Ironsworn. I'd even recommend not incorporating NPCs who join your party in the original plot so that your journey is not tethered to a semblance of a metaplot. This style is more conducive to using oracles to uncover details about the game world and to find out what happens next.
In my Elden Ring solo RP, in large part, I lean closer towards the "GMing myself" end of the spectrum and I've influenced some NPCs to join my character in his quest to become Elden Lord. This happens instinctively and I'm trying to let go of the reins and incorporate oracles into the experience, so that it doesn't just feel like I'm having the exact same experience as when I play the game. Even then, writing down the story and the conversations is enjoyable and I post chapters daily on the play-by-post forum on rpg.net.
Wow - thanks for sharing! I hadn’t considered using video game setting to guide a solo RP! I love the idea. Makes a lot of sense if the setting is a good one as well. Thanks for sharing!
Just ran into this one - very helpful. I like how you spent more time on "how", as much as "with what".
Thanks for the kind words - glad it could help!
Love these tips! I’m on the cusp of starting my own solo rpg journey and looking for all the advice I can find. Will definitely be journaling
Glad I could help!
Super great video, friend! I really like the "Info, decision, journal" method.
Imma give that a try.
Thank you!
Thanks for the kind words!
That a really helpful video on the topic, better than most other videos about solo ttrpg.
The using an existing adventure and "oracle" some of your decisions is quite ingenious!
Bad thing about modules, is typically they are made for several players, so playing solo typically there is a problem of lack of certain abilities or death in combat vs a too powerful enemy or group.
Thanks for the kind words! Yeah I try to stay away from oracles, I find that for me they get in the way of creativity.
As for module difficulty, I will sometimes run a party of my own, sometimes over-level my character, and sometimes just accept that it will be extremely challenging, and that running away will be very helpful!
Very clear into your solo rpg-ing! Nicely done!
Thank you for your kind words!
Hey, great video! I have folks on our email list that are interested in solo RPGs. I'm gonna send them this way. Well done.
Thank you, and thank you!!
great video!! Question: For random encounters - how do you determine how many enemies should your characters face? Should you play it fairly, or challenging?
Thank you!
I don’t think to much about how challenging am encounter is when determining enemies - I let the story guide it. So if I find a wolf, I might roll between 1 and 8 to see how big the pack is. If it’s a gang of thieves, maybe 2-4. It’s my character’s response that matters then, figuring out how to best get through the scenario - fight, flight, barter, etc.
I think you did a good job considering you voided pushing a specific product or hard path.
Thank you!!
I love playing with myself.
Lol of course
thanks
Thank you!!
Sorry one more comment 😂, at the end of your video you said that you fudge rolls because you didnt want a character death basically.
I understand i really do. It can be a downer when that happens, but try to remember that just because the main PC dies doesn't mean the world/setting does. Think Eddard Stark from Game of Thrones. 😅
Yeah for sure - sometimes character death is fun. Other times though I want to play a specific type of game, and I don’t see a way forward if I fail this roll. In other words, I “wrote myself into a corner”. So I fudge the roll, and learn how to avoid that situation in the system in the future.
player should have lots of tables on hand to help with creativity and inspiration (artifacts, places in a town, types of characters, potion types, weapons, monsters, etc.)
Yeah, I find tables helpful too. I also enjoy building tables specific to the story as I go.
Very good explenation. I just keep one question. For a solo RPG, do you have to play one character, or is it also possible (and easy) to play with a 4 character party for example?
Thank you for the kind words!
I’ve played both ways, and found both can be easy. Having a single character allows you to focus on the character easier, and there is less management to do, but combat is much more dangerous. Having multiple characters can introduce fun relationships between them, and combat is less worrisome, but can be a lot more to track. I suggest trying both out to see what you like!
@@paperdicegames6585 Thank you for your reply. I was indeed wondering if you play with just one character, how do you do the death save, since you need another person to help you (could be a NPC ofcourse). I thought about the fun building relationship between characters too, also if you use 2 complete opposite characters like a Paladin and a Rogue or Warlcok or something, and the way they would interact and sometimes play against each other to get to the common goal. So i will try 2 character party first and i could either keep it like that, expand the party, or play with just one.
@5:03 you have to become the “writer”…
Yeah, well put!
I get the solo bit. But I'm not sure how you role play by yourself. Do you hold conversations with yourself, using different voices for the NPCs? For all that, you may as well just be playing a computer game. I would love to start gaming again - its been over thirty years - but I can't find a single gaming group in the area that is 1) close to my age and 2) not woke. Sorry, but I'm simply not going to sit there with babies who whine about pronouns because being an adult is just too difficult for them. That being said, I simply can't picture myself sitting at a table rolling die to randomize a dungeon, more die to randomize encounters and then lots and lots of die for combat. And, although I do typically spend too much time conversing with myself, unfortunately it isn't for role-playing purposes.
Not sure why you see having a pronoun preference as negative or not being an adult? In my experience its similar to using a preferred nickname or name pronunciation. Opening your world view may help you find groups.
To answer your actual question though, I don’t necessarily have a conversation with myself. I do create a narrative though - sometimes through a journal (like a Captain’s Log), sometimes through bullet points, and sometimes just in my mind.
I also usually have a “main character” who I do actual role playing with. All the other characters end up as NPCs, some of whom are allied to my PC, some who are opposed.
I hope this helps.