It's solo board games, so I'm marking it off topic, but it's likely relevant to our interests -- it's not often that I see mainstream press on solo gaming.
http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2016/03/table-for-one-how-to-play-board-games-without-a-group/
http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2016/03/table-for-one-how-to-play-board-games-without-a-group
It's a pity that the article does not mention what I consider the most interesting option: tweaking the rules to make a multi-player game an interesting solo experience.
ReplyDeleteevandro novel how would you recommend tweaking a MP game to make it more interesting solo?
ReplyDeleteTodd Rokely I am certainly not an expert, and others could provide better advice. Each game is different and must be handled differently. I mostly solo play 2 players games. In this case, you only need to add some randomization so that things are more unpredictable. I usually play skirmish games and use card based activation for that (i.e. I randomly choose which unit, and possibly which side, activates). Games that actually use card based activation (e.g. Memoir44) are particularly easy to play solo. E.g. https://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?471987-Memoir-44-Solo-Play
ReplyDeleteAh, I've only ever tried a "2 player game" once--normally I do co-operative games. It was tricky doing the 2 player game, though. It was Axis & Allies, and I wasn't sure if was unconsciously or not "letting" one side of the other win. Like, the Allies really need to cooperate to win that game, but I was worried if I was giving them TOO much cooperation when real players would have more natural friction on their team.
ReplyDeleteTodd Rokely I never tried anything as complex as Axies and Allies, that must have been interesting! I know that some cooperative games are great solo. I would like to get my hands on Eldritch Horror sooner or later :)
ReplyDeleteevandro novel , regarding rules tweaking, I think you should post a comment saying as much at Ars. They are great about promoting comments that are useful, and the writers are known to respond to comments....
ReplyDelete