I want to immerse myself in a setting of my own creation in the hopes of having a story to write about it.
I was thinking of using MiSO ala WINDOW or OCULUS, perhaps some GM apprentice cards, but does anyone have suggestions for storytelling games that are not hindered by rules and stats?
Emphasis is on story or setting diving.
No stats at all or just very simple ones?
ReplyDeleteFATE can be very simple if you throw out all the extra tosh about scene aspects.
The Doctor Who RPG is a very solid "rules lite" RPG too, that could be fitted to a lot of other scenes.
Though honestly? You don't even need a system unless you want to add that mechanical aspect specifically.
I've run games with just assigning a percentage chance as needed.
And.... if I totally misunderstood what you were asking me, then I apologize :-)
So, the lame answer is "none of them are." The rules and stats are supposed to help you bring your story to life, while grounding it in some degree of verisimilitude. If one wants to run, say, a fantasy world full of winged humans, you can use D&D to go with it. You don't even necessarily have to worry about the rules if you don't care too.
ReplyDeleteThe virtue of the rules is to answer questions. "Can the players get there in time?" In a pure story, the question is answered by "need of plot." In a game, the answer is...maybe. This can be answered with a deep and complex system of movement, terrain modifiers, rest vs. "pushing", how often they need to "refuel," if their mounts/vehicles can break down from the stress, etc. Or, it can be as simple as asking an Oracle.
So, I say, pick the one with the rules and stats that will best help you bring your world and characters to life--ignore or modify what elements don't work for you, and embrace and enhance the ones that do. Thing about the mood and theme and what kind of story you want to tell, or just what looks like the most fun.
If none of them work for you, and you don't feel ANY game can, just try going with an Oracle--the GM Apprentice cards are particularly suited to this style of play, as they can provide a wealth of inspiration and prompts with a single draw for the deck.
I own but have not read the Kobold guide to World-building. Fate, Dungeon World and other multiplayer RPGs frequently have great advice on simple, flexible World-building with plot hooks and mapmaking as the emphasis. (also see Archipelago which I've not finished reading)
ReplyDeleteI LOVE GM's Apprentice. There's even a system being built around them called ALONe.
I also really enjoy the inspiration/pacing of Mythic GME and have liked what I've read of the Covetous Poet's Guide, which has really great, long random tables for locations and plot elements, including genre-specific stuff.
I have enjoyed using Backstory Cards as well.
You may want to consider doing some Microscope work for epic history creation!
If this is going to be a "theater-of-the-mind" exercise in story writing, I think you are on the right track going with Miso RPG. So1um might be one other I'd look at. This is how I recently went with one of the games I pulled from a cache of ideas I've had for short stories, collected over about 15 years. I just really need to find some time to write these things... :D
ReplyDeleteMiso gives you just the right amount of "rules", forcing you to provide the entire setting. You can read what I've posted so far here: abandonedbrain.wordpress.com - Introducing: Ryerson’s Bluff
Microscope? Not much to get in the way and it is is purpose built for 'story diving' (if not necessarily in a linear fashion.)
ReplyDeleteI'd suggest Dawn of Worlds, it is a short free pdf that was designed as a ... pre-game to build a world with the players. I feel it has some solo potential. Basically the players play gods and get so many points per turn based on dice, to either spend on the setting or save them up for something larger like creating a race or an Avatar. You have Ages that you play through and the cost of various world shaping 'moves' changes depending on what Age you're in. I always wanted to do this in a FtF game, but never got the chance.
ReplyDeleteclanwebsite.org - www.clanwebsite.org/games/rpg/Dawn_of_Worlds_game_1_0Final.pdf
John Risus thanks for the link, snagged and tossed to my Kindle vault!
ReplyDeleteI started the journey, writing in outline form (is this the way I think?), I used a tri-Miso (three options felt less ominous- in some cases the third option was simply "Some other oracle") and used the GM's Apprentice cards (you get many dice rolls on one card) in the process of grabbing the card, a symbol, a rune, a word came up that would inject the story.
ReplyDeleteLike this, I have made more progress in under an hour than I have in about a year.
Playing the writing took a LOT of the pressure off of creation. Details and write-ups pending...
But by all means suggestions are welcome. Something to keep in mind, the world is already there, so there might not be a need for world- building (but I still grabbed Microscope and thinking about Kobold's Guide).
Ovy Ortega Yeah, that's almost exactly how I finally stopped reading about playing and just got to it! It really does help to strip it all down to basics, and just let your imagination flow. At least, that's how it works for me; I see many others require different approaches, and that's fine, too!
ReplyDeleteNow that I've done a couple of Miso-based sessions, I'm kind of wanting to do something with more crunch; leaning heavily towards Ironsworn, but I did just get my hardcover copy of Stars Without Number and I've just got to start messing around with it (before my hardcover copy of City of Mist RPG from Kickstarter FINALLY arrives to mess things up again)!
Your post did encourage me to grab one of the GMA decks I picked up during the Kickstarter, but haven't had time to learn to use yet. Looking at the sci-fi one tonight; lots of interesting ideas started percolating. Thanks! Also, I need to stay away from Kickstarter for a while...
9Qs Solo RPG engine and 2+ random image generators.
ReplyDeletebattreps.blogspot.de - 9Qs Solo RPG engine 2013 edition reposted
Oh btw everyone, (and I hope I'm not letting a secret slip that I shouldn't) there's an app version of the GM's Apprentice forthcoming. I'm excited at the prospect. Could be only vaguely useful, but if it's as well-done as, say, the Rory's apps, I will be in love.
ReplyDeleteI really dig that there are twice as many faces in the deck, but it makes shuffling fairly a little of a nuisance to me, and I worry about excess wear on the cards. I'm not usually one for sleeving but GMA could easily be a candidate. Of course that would make riffle shuffling even more impossible and I'd have to hanafuda shuffle at all times...
Digital cards would avoid the issue entirely, and if you could save draws (or entire "readings") and maybe even export them as images or even better CSV, that would be awesome as hell.
If you aren't already packing Rory's Story Cubes - digital or analogue - do it. Also if you're inclined, give Untold a shot, a lot of us like it! Just be prepared for a fast, messy game/seat of your pants story rather than something deeply plotted and finely-detailed, or, in my experience and according to both Rory O'Connor and John Fiore (author of the aforementioned 9Qs) you may find yourself muddling in a middling muck of a story.
Nick Carter I'm in! Although I have all of the decks (printed at DTRPG), I'd STILL buy an electronic version, especially for my iPad. Sometimes I just don't want to put on reading glasses to see the small text on the cards. (Actually, I wish I could get them in a larger "poor eyesight-friendly" size!)
ReplyDeleteFind me this virtual GMA DOG-BROTHERS! Link, my kingdom for a LINK!!!!
ReplyDeleteOvy Ortega I just heard from Nathan Rockwood directly on Kickstarter after once offering to build him an app. He has a friend working on it.
ReplyDeleteNick Carter what Kickstarter, as a new tired Dad I haven’t kickstarted in over 3 years
ReplyDeleteOvy Ortega I'd laugh if I wasn't in the same boat. It doesn't get much better, either... :D
ReplyDeleteOvy Ortega Wait, are we talking about the same thing?! HA!
ReplyDeleteI suggest you have a look at Ironsworn, which can be freely downloaded.
ReplyDeleteironswornrpg.com - Ironsworn - Tabletop RPG
It has stats and its own setting, but the greatest value in my eyes is that it is explicitly solo-friendly and includes a set of very flexible "moves".
evandro novel haven't checked yet - hadn't seen site yet, but have been hearing it name-dropped a while. Thx for link
ReplyDeleteAlso inspired by this thread I'm going through my copy of Christian Mehrstam Whitehack again. It's not explicitly a solo game but I like the level of complexity, it'll pair well with oracles, and since I have the Notebook Version I have almost 200 pages of minimally grid-dotted blank pages to write characters, notes, plot points, wtf-ever. And it has Joe Dever's Lone Wolf-style random number pages for d20 and d6, the only dice it uses. A hardback book, a pen, and a deck of GMA cards (or whatever) and I can game wherever, screen-free and no loose sheets blowing away
ReplyDeleteEDIT: just to continue this unofficial sales pitch, the rules are < 50pp, and there is also a setting and two adventures crammed in the next ~10pp
See actual reviews elsewhere, but it's good stuff.
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/uqRGF2ccESO8FnRiNdg2R2p3Q4gEhvz4DvQTASCci2ltfTqAOCWVOqsuKc9-2O0rJaoEiCTLEA
ReplyDeleteNick Carter Man, do we ever sound like fanboys! :D I like Whitehack for certain, Black Hack, Macchiato Monsters... all great reads, even if you don't use them! I love RPGs, in general; better than reading novels, in my opinion!
ReplyDeleteCompletely agree that Ironsworn is the next big thing for solitaire RPG play. The mashup of systems is almost perfect. Not quite what Ovy was hinting at, but worth it to engage with just the same. It'll be interesting to see how Shawn handles reskinning the grungy low-fantasy world he's created. plus.google.com - Shawn Tomkin
ReplyDelete(I hate when someone's name won't auto-fill in Google+ !)
Also Ovy Ortega sorry if this has been going a bit off-topic but that's par for most conversations I jump in, for ill or for good!
ReplyDelete