Help for the Lazy Solo Gamer
“Write it down or it didn't happen!“ This has always been my motto in playing RPGs solo. I feel I don't have the discipline of mind to enact my sessions in my head, rolling dice as needed. Writing has always been a process for me. And if I do sit and log something, I get trapped in my habits of editing. The slowness and toil have a way of killing momentum in a way that I cannot reconcile if I am perfectly honest with myself.
So, help me find ideas of shorthand or graphic notation that helps to transcribe the essence of a solo game as I play it, or a particular mode of thinking that can transform my game attempts from daydreaming to a concrete game session experience. I'm fine with a method that commits my experience to short-term memory, after which I can journal later for my annals.
For those of you who play outside of the write it down convention, what are your tricks?
Rory,
ReplyDeleteIt sounded likenyou liked somethingaloongbthe lines of Chris' use of maps best, so I'm guessing you'd want something graphical (you pick great depictions for your adventures, btw). I can see how a map would help, because its limited writing space will force anyone to be brief with their writing. Maybe give that a shot anyway?
I have other suggestions that might akso limit writing space:
1. Mind maps. Each node offers limited writing space, so you have to be brief. A member posted an AP in that form, so its workable.
2. Index cards. A lot of screen writers outline their scripts this way. You have relatively little space to write.
3. Take the image you picked and use the relatively empty spaces to write in. Crazy, but it could work.
Don'tlimit yourself to words. Use rory story cubes to help enhance your descriptions. Cubes + synopsis.
roryb bracebuckle
Hi rory, I know what you are talking about. I have been struggling with the same thing but I think I have found my sweet spot with my latest APs. Brief sentences, one liners and an occasional section of dialog to kickstart my imagination and conjure a vivid scene in my head. No editing. I did my last sessions by hand on scrap paper, posting them as pictures. Works great for me. You find the APs here in this group.
ReplyDeleteroryb bracebuckle My short term memory is, to put it mildly, not the greatest. Possibly something to do with the pot of coffee a day and using those pesky "sleep" hours for more important things.
ReplyDeletePythia's my open source solo/shared game tool (it's up on github). Think a lot like a markdown editor plus the ability to roll dice and use mythic oracle and maybe a few other things.
It also supports grid and diagram dungeon style maps but I don't use them myself (too lazy) so that's really rudimentary.
Man, I really should make a second stab at a screencast so you guys can see my extremely idiosyncratic gaming style.
I wonder if you could use something like Scrivener's corkboard to run a game? That would make it very easy to convert between the corkboard cards (quick, short notes jotted down in play) and an extended document based on those cards with all the good stuff, but later, once you've completed a segment or story arc.