Best is always subjective anyway. My 'best' solo game isn't that great of a game but I keep coming back to it (four times now) because it is a finite length and offers me a lot of free reign and creativity while still sparking my imagination.
wrong question. good question: "what solo game do you prefer?"
There are strong opinions about what makes a good solo game, sometimes there is still confusion about definitions: oracle, solo engine, solo rpg, gamebook etc. ;)
Oh, awkward. Yeah. I mean, "best for me" is one of my own, probably Calypso. Seems kind of wrong to pick that. But like, empirically best published game? How would I pick from like the forty options? I have only purchased one thing from dtru I didn't find interesting, enjoyable, or at least a really useful read.
Also, you have Quill on the list of examples twice, haha.
Hey all, I realize it's all subjective, so I apologize for the ambiguity. My intention was more along the lines of: "what's your favorite solo game?".
My intent also was to compile a list outside the realm of soloing engines to overlay traditional "group" RPGs. Games designed or intended specifically for one person, or at least allowing provisions for a single player (e.g. the D&D board games are 1 to 4 players). Also, not strictly RPGs.
Mythic, I suppose, is an obvious choice, but unless you're considering the RPG plus the GME together, I might say it's outside those bounds? I'm not familiar enough with Scarlet Heroes, but would it be in that category as well -- an RPG for a group, but with a "supplement" for solo play? (I've glanced the quick-start rules but they exclude the solo engine part.) Same for its precursor, Solo Heroes -- it's more an engine to use alongside other games?
It's muddy water I guess, but there are some clear-cut examples like English Eerie and Four Against Darkness that clearly state the single-playerness up front. Or Untold, D&D board games have that "one or more players" descriptive. I guess that's what I really was most interested in discovering via the survey. Perhaps I should have been more explicit in the description, so again, apologies.
I don't actually know of that many dedicated to solo games besides my own. How funny -- even ones I would have sworn were solo like Castle Gargantua are actually not. 3 Dice Dungeon, maybe?
Are these 5e solo adventure modules considered "gamebooks" / CYOA type books (ie. turn to page n...), or are they more complex than Fighting Fantasy & LoneWolf books?
Maybe there's a discussion about "what makes a solo game?" lurking here :-)
The original Traveller mentioned solo play but didn't "support" it in the sense we'd understand today. Conversely, something like "four against darkness" feels more like a board game than an RPG to me (and that's not a criticism, it's a brilliant game).
I submitted "Untold: Adventures Awaits". I also copied the address so you all can see the results. I could not get to them any other way. docs.google.com - What's the Best Solo Game?
Ivan Sorensen - that is an interesting topic, which I think is why I stumbled over how to describe precisely what I was interested in collecting in the survey. I'd wager, with sufficient will and imagination, most any tabletop game could be bent or shaped into a solo game, so that makes for a rather broad definition of "solo game". It does seem very few are designed specifically for one player like Four Against Darkness, or at leastso far that I've seen -- maybe a dozen or so if you don't count individual gamebook ot adventure module installments.
I've been solo'ing a bunch of games absolutely not designed for it (the #threeforged games) and it's entirely doable. The only ones I've found can't be soloed are ones that rely heavily on interpersonal interactions for the mechanics -- essentially, LARPs and improvs. And that's probably a failure of imagination on my part.
I would say that Fate could have been an awesome solo game system. But they seem to be going more to Fate Accelerated, which, I think, over relies on group integration. The system itself is just roll-over of a difficulty number. With the addition of weapon damage added to a roll.
I never really understood the whole group integration thing into most systems. All the characters are working toward the same goal, in most cases. Why does it have to be established that two of the characters are first cousins up front? Before those kind of rules starting getting integrated into rpg systems, it seemed like the players would just state those kind of relationships up front. Or it was determined during play, and stuck for as long as those characters were being played.
I actually don't mind character "Bonds" so much-- I can usually just ignore those. It's been my experience that unless pushed, my players would never actually establish those bonds beforehand and connections formed in play can generally be summed up as "genuine but unstated affection". I really enjoy interparty conflict of the clever kind; bonds help encourage that, and give the GM leverage to push.
The ones that I'm finding are really hard to solo are ones where all the narrative impetus comes from other players. Like, oh, the core mechanic is Player A has a goal, and Player B has a goal, and the resolution is "roleplay it out".
Actually had a long run with FAE. The way I handled that was more like a writer with story cubes as conversation seeds. Might not work for everyone, but it did for me. I'll likely come back to FAE in the future because of the lightweight game mechanics.
Fate can be a bit chunky to handle solo, I find. That may be 100% me lacking enough experience with it, but I always find that it really relies on a group bouncing ideas off of each other.
For playing Fate/FAE solo, it helps to have a GM/NPC mechanic where compels are offered to put the PC(s) in a jam. You have to simulate the fate point economy of burning and earning points.
LOL, this is why I love solo gaming. Four responses, four different answers. Lone Wolves united in diversity. :-)
ReplyDeleteAlso, your survey question mentions Quill twice, suggest adding Tunnels and Trolls (classic solo) or English Eerie (fresh solo).
ReplyDeleteWhoops, will fix soon as i can. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteI may add a follow-up question just to collect other games that maybe aren't the "best " but aren't already listed
ReplyDeleteBest is always subjective anyway. My 'best' solo game isn't that great of a game but I keep coming back to it (four times now) because it is a finite length and offers me a lot of free reign and creativity while still sparking my imagination.
ReplyDeleteHow do we see the results? It keeps asking me to submit a new response.
ReplyDeleteAfter I did it, it gave me a link to see previous responses. Perhaps someone can catch that link and post it after they take the survey.
ReplyDeletewrong question.
ReplyDeletegood question: "what solo game do you prefer?"
There are strong opinions about what makes a good solo game, sometimes there is still confusion about definitions: oracle, solo engine, solo rpg, gamebook etc. ;)
I took it as "what's best for you". Saves a lot of mincing over words. :-)
ReplyDeleteOh, awkward. Yeah. I mean, "best for me" is one of my own, probably Calypso. Seems kind of wrong to pick that. But like, empirically best published game? How would I pick from like the forty options? I have only purchased one thing from dtru I didn't find interesting, enjoyable, or at least a really useful read.
ReplyDeleteAlso, you have Quill on the list of examples twice, haha.
https://goo.gl/xiaiA5
No idea if that will work, but that's the link it gave me to the responses.
Tam H Not wrong to pick your own creation. If you built it for yourself, by definition, it's got to be the best for you!
ReplyDeleteHaha. It just feels rude! I went with Mythic instead; it's arguably the best, hands down, because it lays the foundations.
ReplyDeleteHey all, I realize it's all subjective, so I apologize for the ambiguity. My intention was more along the lines of: "what's your favorite solo game?".
ReplyDeleteMy intent also was to compile a list outside the realm of soloing engines to overlay traditional "group" RPGs. Games designed or intended specifically for one person, or at least allowing provisions for a single player (e.g. the D&D board games are 1 to 4 players). Also, not strictly RPGs.
Mythic, I suppose, is an obvious choice, but unless you're considering the RPG plus the GME together, I might say it's outside those bounds? I'm not familiar enough with Scarlet Heroes, but would it be in that category as well -- an RPG for a group, but with a "supplement" for solo play? (I've glanced the quick-start rules but they exclude the solo engine part.) Same for its precursor, Solo Heroes -- it's more an engine to use alongside other games?
It's muddy water I guess, but there are some clear-cut examples like English Eerie and Four Against Darkness that clearly state the single-playerness up front. Or Untold, D&D board games have that "one or more players" descriptive. I guess that's what I really was most interested in discovering via the survey. Perhaps I should have been more explicit in the description, so again, apologies.
I don't actually know of that many dedicated to solo games besides my own. How funny -- even ones I would have sworn were solo like Castle Gargantua are actually not. 3 Dice Dungeon, maybe?
ReplyDeleteAre these 5e solo adventure modules considered "gamebooks" / CYOA type books (ie. turn to page n...), or are they more complex than Fighting Fantasy & LoneWolf books?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.drivethrurpg.com/m/product/220997
http://www.drivethrurpg.com/m/product/217497
Maybe there's a discussion about "what makes a solo game?" lurking here :-)
ReplyDeleteThe original Traveller mentioned solo play but didn't "support" it in the sense we'd understand today.
Conversely, something like "four against darkness" feels more like a board game than an RPG to me (and that's not a criticism, it's a brilliant game).
I submitted "Untold: Adventures Awaits". I also copied the address so you all can see the results. I could not get to them any other way.
ReplyDeletedocs.google.com - What's the Best Solo Game?
Ivan Sorensen - that is an interesting topic, which I think is why I stumbled over how to describe precisely what I was interested in collecting in the survey. I'd wager, with sufficient will and imagination, most any tabletop game could be bent or shaped into a solo game, so that makes for a rather broad definition of "solo game". It does seem very few are designed specifically for one player like Four Against Darkness, or at leastso far that I've seen -- maybe a dozen or so if you don't count individual gamebook ot adventure module installments.
ReplyDeleteI've been solo'ing a bunch of games absolutely not designed for it (the #threeforged games) and it's entirely doable. The only ones I've found can't be soloed are ones that rely heavily on interpersonal interactions for the mechanics -- essentially, LARPs and improvs. And that's probably a failure of imagination on my part.
ReplyDeleteI would say that Fate could have been an awesome solo game system. But they seem to be going more to Fate Accelerated, which, I think, over relies on group integration. The system itself is just roll-over of a difficulty number. With the addition of weapon damage added to a roll.
ReplyDeleteI never really understood the whole group integration thing into most systems. All the characters are working toward the same goal, in most cases. Why does it have to be established that two of the characters are first cousins up front? Before those kind of rules starting getting integrated into rpg systems, it seemed like the players would just state those kind of relationships up front. Or it was determined during play, and stuck for as long as those characters were being played.
I actually don't mind character "Bonds" so much-- I can usually just ignore those. It's been my experience that unless pushed, my players would never actually establish those bonds beforehand and connections formed in play can generally be summed up as "genuine but unstated affection". I really enjoy interparty conflict of the clever kind; bonds help encourage that, and give the GM leverage to push.
ReplyDeleteThe ones that I'm finding are really hard to solo are ones where all the narrative impetus comes from other players. Like, oh, the core mechanic is Player A has a goal, and Player B has a goal, and the resolution is "roleplay it out".
Actually had a long run with FAE. The way I handled that was more like a writer with story cubes as conversation seeds. Might not work for everyone, but it did for me. I'll likely come back to FAE in the future because of the lightweight game mechanics.
ReplyDeleteThere's a "Fate Solo" rules/engine out there on DTRPG, I think. Not sure the details beyond that, but maybe worth checking out?
ReplyDeleteSpencer Salyer I've checked it out. Maybe someone might get something out of it, but I found it unintuitive.
ReplyDeleteFate can be a bit chunky to handle solo, I find. That may be 100% me lacking enough experience with it, but I always find that it really relies on a group bouncing ideas off of each other.
ReplyDeleteFor playing Fate/FAE solo, it helps to have a GM/NPC mechanic where compels are offered to put the PC(s) in a jam. You have to simulate the fate point economy of burning and earning points.
ReplyDelete