Wednesday, June 17, 2015

I'm bored and although I have really enough games and role-playing games I find myself itching for something fresh.

I'm bored and although I have really enough games and role-playing games I find myself itching for something fresh.
I'm looking for a card game/board game which can be played solo or a solo gamebook, preferrably something "rpg-themed" (if it's a card game). I want something more "railroady" than a solo system at the moment. Creativity can cost energy and I want something easy but still fun to play solo.
Any ideas?

20 comments:

  1. What about some of the map building games like How to Host A Dungeon?

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  2. Some games I recommend. http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/42142/doctor-who-solitaire-story-game This is a great free game with many expansions! It's based off of the old Barbarian Prince solo boardgame. In fact, it could probably be listed in the solo rpg game engines section. Highly recommended.

    http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/34119/tales-arabian-nights a boardgame combined with gamebook (3000+) entries. There's a solo variant although it's primarily multiplayer.

    http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/111105/agents-smersh Similar to Arabian Nights but spy-themed.

    http://fabledlands.blogspot.com/ and other books by Dave Morris. Fabled Lands is a sandbox experience. Most of his stuff are also done as apps.

    http://www.destiny-quest.com/ These are done similar to Diablo-style action rpgs in book format.

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  3. For board games, if you don't mind doing a little printing (or a lot of printing...) here's one for you that feels like Stars without Number/ Traveler.

    https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/1699/star-smuggler

    There's a redesign in the file section that's made for all the big components (planet tiles, player references, etc) to be printed up at a photo processing kiosk as 4x6 inch photos.  In the geeklists section, ther are several lists of free print and play games.

    There are several RPG themed games in the print and play lists, I haven't played any of them, though.  One board game that comes to mind (again, there's gonna be printing and cutting, you might want to make use of a copy shop) is Barbarian Prince. It plays out a lot like The Elder Scrolls games. You're a hero! Doing heroic things! Aaaand you got eaten by wolves. Twice.

    https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/1631/barbarian-prince


    When downloading files, in the Files section, click the 'Hot' button and download files from Dumarest123.


    EDIT:

    For commercial games, there's not a lot of options.  Victory Point Games'  Legions of Darkness / Darkest Knight,  Robinson Crusoe: Adventure on the Cursed Island... And uh... I'm tapped. You're in Germany,  yes? See if you can find some issues of Spielbox. It's a board/card game dedicated magazine and might be able to point you in the right direction.


    EDIT 2:

    The Herald. It's a sci-fi exploration game that generates its own narrative through the results. And there's a low-ink, printer friendly variant you just paste onto some cardboard and call good.

    https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/150582/herald

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  4. http://boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/182648/2014-peoples-choice-top-100-solo-games

    I'd be really surprised if you can't find something on that list, there's some amazing solo board games out there. Also my favourite 2015 solo card game so far is the brilliant Sylvion.

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  5. Things you can get now in the gamebook style:
    Pocket Dungeons (cheap): http://www.rpgnow.com/browse/pub/5640/Golden-Griffon-Games

    Chronicles of Arax (the first one is free): http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/89451/Chronicles-of-Arax--Solo-Adventure-Game

    Halthrag Keep (is it currently free?): http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/138653/HHSOLO-1--The-Hounds-of-Halthrag-Keep?term=halth

    Lost City of Dwarves (which I think you reviewed) (costs):
    http://www.rpgnow.com/browse/pub/4999/Pen--Forge-Productions

    Fighting Fantazine appears to have adventures in some issues (all free):
    http://www.fightingfantazine.co.uk/

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  6. Stuart Garside I didn't realize Sylvion was released.

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  7. The 1 player podcast gives great reviews of various things that can be played solo: http://1playerpodcast.com/

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  8. Sophia, I'm doing a tight version of my Wanderer system. It recreates Indiana Jones and similar stories where you play an explorer searching ancient ruins. There's options for using pre-made maps or making it up on the fly. I call it Adventureologists. The outline is almost done and I'll upload it as soon as it's even close to playable.

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  9. I highly recommend Death Angel by Fantasy FLight

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  10. Getting closer. I just have to write up a few things. Do you want a pre-made dungeon included or is it fine if my initial upload features a make-it-as-you go version?

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  11. Some reallly good options already posted. I'd probably go with Arabian Nights or the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game as recommended.

    I'd also recommend Thunderstone, Shadowrift and there is a  company called Dark City Games that puts out cheap solitaire games in the style of The Fantasy Trip.

    My biggest recommendation would be Mage Knight boardgame...but it's an investment in time and space so might not be exactly what you are looking for. Great solo game though.

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  12. Oh and all the Lone Wolf gamebooks can be downloaded or played for free at http://www.projectaon.org/en/Main/Books

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  13. And I just posted the alpha of the game here in the group.

    Oh, and I second the Doctor Who Solitaire Storytelling Game.

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  14. I've been following this post - some great suggestions - will be trying a few of them...

    Has anyone played the Pathfinder Adv. Card system solo - looks like be a pretty fully fledged RPG - does it take long?need lots of room etc? Not cheep to get into either?

    Jacob Ross I will test your system, asap - might be this week, most likely next weekend.

    Sophia Brandt & evandro novel 
    The small action adventure game - Dungeon Squad 2 solos very well as is, but I'm going to have a go at turning it into a Solo Card Game.
    [and possibly change a couple of things, I find single die games to be to 'variable'... might make it to 3D6 ;) ]

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  15. Pathfinder card game isn't really a fully fledged rpg. At its heart it is very simple game, almost flip a card roll some dice repeat. It depends how you approach it though, you can get into the theme and invest it with some sort of narrative. To be fair the people reading here are exactly the sort of people who would get the most out of it but I know some people have been disappointed by its underlying simplicity. Probably worth watching a play through video.

    Can play it in a relatively small space, it is just a bunch of decks of cards so you can be a little creative with the layout to fit on small tables. It depends how many characters you play too.

    I've never really timed it and my gaming tends to be spread out in chunks so I'm really not sure on that one.

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  16. Thank Jay - I'll take a look - sounds like it might be the right kind of thing, and very much the direction I was heading in with my thinking with a DSII Card game...

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  17. No problem. I really enjoy it, I think the disappointed people have mostly come at it from a strategy board game kind of view where they are looking for complex design and strategies. In that sense it's almost the opposite of something like the Mage Knight board game.

    I have pretty broad taste in games though so I really like the ease of play. It's like casual gaming compared to some of the stuff I play, but still very much interesting enough.

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