Thinking on which ruleset to use, I'm thinking on the following, but would like to have some advice on which one to pick and also, knowing which is your favorite ruleset when soloing (I never do solo characters, I create parties).
-Dungeon World, I really, really like it, but it seems many people advice me against its use for solo roleplay, as it seems to be heavily oriented towards collaborative storytelling.
-Cypher System, a d20 based universal system where only the players roll die, and is kinda class based; IDK how to work it out on solo, as character growth heavily depends on GM fiat, PCs exchanging experience between them and roleplaying.
-Shadow of the Demon Lord. A game for dark fantasy short campaigns that combines OSR mechanics with open skill creation (by using player created profesions instead of a skill list), the posibility to randomly generate characters and new era class based gameplay. It isn't very crunchy but thinking on having to keep a book to check on my spells and abilities plus checking on a GM emulator or oracle now and then can become tedious.
-Scarlett Heroes. Love the generators there and the mechanics, however it's kinda off putting that there's no real character advancement on abilities, just increasing stats (bear with me, I'm a young player, grew up with 4e, not the gygaxian games)
-Earthdawn: Age of Legend. I like this system, it's a hack of the FU RPG with class based aproach and character advancement, it is, however, tied to its own setting, which I've found kind of "meh".
Any recomendations or experiences with the games I posted above?
I don't play more than 1 or 2 PCs -- if it's two PCs, one of them is the primary PC and the other PC is secondary. They'll both get the fray die, but the primary PC is calling all of the shots. The secondary is a subordinate loyal friend essentially.
ReplyDeleteStill, I'll always collect a surrounding cohort, bodyguards, party entourage, gaggle of followers, servants, valets, cooks, aides de camp, or hangers-on, because it's fun to collect interesting NPCs.
Don't fear going in and trying stuff to see how it works. You've got no one to answer you but yourself.
ReplyDeleteIn fact, try starting a game with each of the ones you've mentioned and see which one keeps you coming back.
Dungeon World is okay for solo games. Especially if you prefer to build parties to play, since overland travel demands at least three characters, one for each job.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I prefer single characters, but I'm still able to use DW to play. My character's life is just a little more fraught with danger, that's all.
Cypher is okay, too. The main problem I had with it was GM Intrusions, which is where Experience Points come from. I solved the problem with GM Intrusion cards, and Cypher cards.
Of your list, those are the only ones I know, but I've tried other systems: Mage, Maze Rats, All Flesh Must Be Eaten, Apocalypse World, and no system at all.
Maze Rats is designed for solo play, and is pretty compact as a system. Apocalypse World is the precursor to Dungeon World, and is even better for solo play than Dungeon World, in my opinion.