Daydream Solo
this is my attempt at an immersive solo role play system. i have taken plenty of inspiration from Oculus, Macchiato Monsters and others.
i consider role playing with friends to be communal daydreaming. this is a system for solo daydreaming with role playing games :^)
pls let me know what you think :^)
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-QC1J9bOkAWuN2XTIgh2Kzv-MsjV-ifp0QqXr52pTns/edit?usp=sharing
Finally got to read through this. It's interesting.
ReplyDeleteIn #WritingWithDice I use a similar idea to the one you are using regarding obstacles. Mine is a bit retroactive in that you check the potential fiction that you’ve written down (writing stuff down being another big difference) for unearned goals and advantages. You would retroactively place obstacles there and try to beat them before committing to the fiction as “what really happens”.
I never got around to it, but I was going to modify this to something much more like what you came up with. I didn’t think of it in terms of a hostile universe (which I think is cool), but more like a system rule that I was going to call Murphy’s Law (named that way because I thought it was kind of funny).
You might want to check out this post by Vincent Baker on his blog on “the unwanted”: lumpley.com - anyway: Rules vs Vigorous Creative Agreement . The idea there is that RPG rules are meant to introduce things that are unwanted by the players yet compelling and interesting enough that they agree to let them enter the fiction. For your particular idea of a hostile universe, I’d probably use Vincent’s own idea of the ‘unwanted but compelling’ as a guideline to come up with obstacles.
I also like your mechanic of Change Tokens vs Obstacle Tokens. Likewise with how the Change Tokens could represent a bonus in the roleplaying system (if I read your comment correctly). In my Lady Luck Oracle, I sort of go in the opposite direction where the roleplaying system can affect oracle results. Still, the power of the Change Token seems pretty wide open, though, so I don’t know if you have more guidelines that you want to add, or if it’s meant to be that open?
Personally, I am not too sure about not writing stuff down. I’d have a pretty hard time with that one. Even though I often complain about solo rpging feeling like “just writing”, things don’t feel real or like they “really happened” unless I write them down. In group roleplaying, the thing gives that feeling is either the authority of the GM, or the group consensus (or both). That’s what I find missing in solo when I don’t write it down, or when this is not adjudicated by some sort of system outside myself.
All in all, I think your system gives me some food for thought, and makes me feel good about some of my own ideas that I thought were maybe too weird. I hope you keep refining it.
#WritingWithDice shameless self-promotion link here, btw: mypersonaloracle.blogspot.com - #WritingWithDice Solo Framework
ReplyDeleteAlex Yari thanks for the feedback!
ReplyDeletei did read your work before and maybe it did influenced my thinking. oculus was foremost in my mind as an influence but i should rcedit you :^)
Edit: The Change Tokens are meant to be flexible. the guidelines are that they can not change the fundamental rules of the alternate reality or violate your sense of fairness. both of those are subject to the player's judgement because they have to rely on their own understanding of what the fundamental rules are even if they take them from a game's setting. :^)
What happened with your Google Doc? It's all strikelined and shit. :(
ReplyDelete