One Page Solo Engine
After seeing Alto Dizi's fantastic one-page "superlite" solo RPGs, I thought it would be cool to try and make a one-page sheet that contains a complete solo engine that can be used with any game system.
The idea is to condense all the essential solo components down to the very basics and make a super simple engine that new players can use to become familiar with the solo toolkit elements while still playing a game system they're familiar with. A specific goal was to include all of the major solo tools (scene structure, oracle, complex questions, NPC actions, dungeon generation).
Here is my first attempt at creating something like this... and I haven't actually... y'know... playtested it at all. So if anyone wants to give it a try or has any comments, please let me know. I took inspiration from pretty much everywhere... Mythic, CRGE, Scarlet Heroes, Location Crafter, So1um, various one-pagers, etc, etc.
Edit: Reposted because I messed up the link formatting and couldn't manage to fix it.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/u1c9wkpz4cqvz4p/One%20Page%20Solo%20Engine.pdf?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/u1c9wkpz4cqvz4p/One%20Page%20Solo%20Engine.pdf?dl=0
Alto's "superlite" RPGs can be found here:
ReplyDeleteexposit.github.io - superlite
Just a couple columns in. Liking it so far. One thing. The Oracle should be "roll 1d6", not 2d6.
ReplyDeleteLooks very useful thanks! I'm new to the solo RPG thing but will give it a try soon.
ReplyDeleteAnd finished. Nice work.
ReplyDeleteJacob Ross Thanks for checking it out. The oracle is meant to be 2d6... one for the Answer Die and one for the Qualifier Die. I originally had more of an explanation there, but it got cut due to space. Maybe I need to revisit that wording...
ReplyDeleteOh, I see.
ReplyDeleteI love it! Beautiful styling, and I love how it's structured, almost like a CYOA or flowchart, but flexible. There's some great, innovative stuff here, presented in a very clean organized way; this fits your original design goal perfectly, i think!
ReplyDeleteThis is going to be a fantastic tool for people new to the hobby and for people who want a streamlined traditional experience!
I dig this. My only concern is the playing card rule for complex questions. I don't often have a pack of cards laying around, nor do I always have the internet access to find a generator. I suppose it could be emulated with a 2d6 roll--but would that screw up the odds?
ReplyDeleteAlso, the suits seems odd. I know context is key, but how do Spiritual/Mental/and Personal differ from each other?
nice! added to my free resources list https://lostpangolin.wordpress.com/links/
ReplyDeleteconstructive criticism: dices and playing cards seems a bit to much for a 1 page solo engine, maybe a dice system for complex questions should make things more streamlined.
Todd Rokely I actually stole the suits more or less from World vs Hero.
ReplyDeleteClubs - physical, strength, weight, beauty
Diamonds - mental, ideas, technology, plotting
Spades - spiritual, magical, intuitive, mysterious
Hearts - personal, people, motivations, emotion
I guess the cards seemed pretty natural to me since I play a lot of Savage Worlds and I always have a deck of cards on hand at the game table. Seemed like a cheap way to get a lot of variety without a bunch of rolls.
Karl Hendricks Hrm--this is often the issue with "one page" setups. You're so limited in clarifying the ideas. Assuming you want to keep the Suits setup (though I second lino pang's thoughts), maybe modify the descriptors? Perhaps drop "Spiritual/Magical/Intuitive/Mysterious" to just "Social"? Unless you see that as part of Hearts? Then maybe make it the "something odd" category, which can shift based on genre.
ReplyDeleteTodd Rokely Sounds good. I think a bit more clarification is in order there. I could also maybe find room for a note that says to roll 1d4 and 2d6 instead if you don't have cards.
ReplyDeleteThe Complex Question section has been updated. Does that make it a bit more clear?
ReplyDeleteNeeds to be 2d6 to get 13 possible results (the number of cards in a standard suite). With 1D12 the Ace result will never come up.
ReplyDeleteBut that has it's own problems, since 2d6 is "weighted" towards the middle. Not sure how to reconcile the two.
2d6 only has 11 values. With 1d12, only the value for K would never show up, and the results are evenly weighted. Doesn't seem like too bad a trade off if someone doesn't want to use a deck.
ReplyDeleteThere are many solutions but basically it's a matter of tastes.
ReplyDeleteIMO a one page game should have simple mechanics. In this case probably it's easier to convert dices to cards than the opposite. Otherwise a d4 for suits and a d12 for numbers can be arranged with some contractions but this way you need 3 types of dices. Since most roleplayers are OSR fans a multidice system is more acceptable.
welcome in the complex world of game makers :DDD
Karl Hendricks Crap, you're right. What the hell was I thinking? I even made up a chart and everything, and I was certain it was 13 (I made up the chart because it didn't sound right to me). Damn, I need more coffee.
ReplyDeleteIn any case, yeah, I'm not sure how to reconcile the 13 cards in a deck to a simple die roll.
Todd Rokely I cheat and remove four of them per suit, haha. A d66 chart, based on the Lenormand tarot (2 - 10).
ReplyDeleteI have no idea how this would help since it doesn't break down evenly into neat suit-based rows but I thought I'd throw it out there.
To be honest, for accessibility, I'd not use actual cards. Maybe replace that section with a d6 list representing the broadest categories and a d6 list representing possible "but" and "and" meanings, since people tend to have trouble with those.
something breaks / someone gets mad / something on your character sheet comes into play / an NPC intervenes (and so on).
Wow, no one likes the cards, huh? That was one of my favorite parts.
ReplyDeleteHave any of you played Savage Worlds? It makes extensive use of a deck of cards and it works so well for so many things. Initiative, random encounters, vehicle complications, triggering critical hits, different power effects...
Savage Worlds is in my reading queue!!
ReplyDeleteI love cards (well, a Python mimic), the thing I'm working on right now uses them! I'm just not sold on it in this particular application. They work, definitely; I just wonder if the space could be packed with more info by bringing it back to d6s? I'm a d6 junkie though.
On the plus side, seems like there's a ton of room for a OPSE Advanced using more cards!
Karl Hendricks I do love cards (my NSAABH solo tool), infact I suggested an all-cards system also
ReplyDeleteYou could also scrap dice in favor of cards.
ReplyDelete