Hello!

Hello!

The discussion in my other recent thread where Libre was mentioned has inspired me to start another discussion. This time, I don't want to focus on the oracle but rather on the adventure structure imposed (or not imposed) by the solo engine/GME. Over time, I have come across several variants on how to deal with that, and I have also come to realize that it is an issue that makes and breaks games for me.

So, I hope to get two kinds of feedback from the community: First of all, what are your preferences, and secondly, do you know any other approaches to the question of adventure structure.

For myself, I am mostly interested in sandbox play or open adventure structures. A tension arc makes me queazy and five-act-plays make me run away screaming.

On the sandbox end, I think the most commonly known example is Mythic, the original solitaire RPG. While the chaos factor can be seen as expressing tension and creating ascending and descending tension, there is no real mechanism for having a break like you would have in a climax and there is no adventure structure except for what the player imposes. There are scenes used to update lists and chaos factor, defined by the classic unity of space, time, and person.

( https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/16173/Mythic-Role-Playing?src=hottest_filtered&it=1 )

At the opposite end of the scale, there is the Covetous Poet, which is based on five-act-play-adventures whose strict structure is imposed on play with relatively little space for variation.

( https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/129909/The-Covetous-Poets-Adventure-Creator-and-Solo-GM-Guidebook?term=covet&test_epoch=0 )

Relatively close to Mythic, there is Ironsworn, which is noteworty as its progress moves do structure the events during the game, including vows which are a structure for quests. So you could argue that a vow is a basic unit for an adventure, or rather for tracking adventure progress. However, vows are not exclusive and thus, there is potential for a lot of overlap. Likewise, there is no mechanism for a tension arc within an adventure/quest/vow. Ironsworn is also noteworthy as it loosely based on the Apocalypse World engine (personally, I think it is a lot better than Dungeon World, though), which sets it apart among the other solitaire systems I know.

( https://www.ironswornrpg.com/ )
( https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/238369/Ironsworn?src=IronswornWeb )

While the above engines try to come relatively close to a normal RPG experience, there are also some that I call more 'gamey' as they have aspects of scoring successes or otherwise playing a meta-game to conclude adventures, which is not as abstractly included in the others (Ironsworn progress moves still put the simulation first and only measure abstractly what is provided by the simulation and not the other way around).

On the one hand, there are the Two Hour Wargames adventure game titles (now sold by Rebel Minis): 5150 New Hope City, PI (Sci-Fi Crime Investigation), Larger Than Life (Pulp adventures), Future Tales (Sci-Fi pulp adventures), and Lovecraft's Revenge (Lovecraftian Horror action adventures). They all have the same core mechanism to create an adventure skeleton from an opening scene to a final showdown scene (or catastrophy scene on a failure). The main part of the adventure is a series of main scenes which are generated one at a time with unity of location and 1 to 3 encounters each, ending with a task (finding an object, asking a person, etc.) where a skill check determines whether the player gets a clue towards solving the adventure. Extra clues can be gained at times and there are occasionally scenes created in between (travel scenes, captured by the Big Bad scenes). The adventure goes to the final battle when an initially rolled number of clues are collected; if a certain number of scenes are failures (not the main clue collected), the adventure ends in failure/catastrophy. There is no tension arc in them, although there is a final confrontation. Lovecraft's Revenge does have a darkness parameter that may increase between scenes and which influences the encounters you have making bad things worse.

( http://www.twohourwargames.com/ )
( https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/128674/5150-New-Hope-City-PI )
( https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/219471/Larger-Than-Life-Directors-Cut )
( https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/231156/Future-Tales )
( https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/238578/Lovecrafts-Revenge )

And then there is Libre, which at first glance seems like a game similar to Mythic. However, adventures are always missions with the player choosing initially, how many successful scenes are required to finish the mission successfully. Play ends and starts with low risk scenes of dialogue while the core play consists of three types of scenes - low risk scenes for gaining information and resources, combat scenes which count against success and failure, and obstacle scenes which count against success and failure as well. While the aspect of a number of successes needed may be seen as similar to THW's approach, the obstacle scenes turn things upside down. Upon creating the scene, the player has to select three skill checks the character is likely to face and success in which would turn the scene into a success for game purposes. So, the player has to actively consider the game nature and bend the fiction to meet the needs of getting certain tests. In addition, obstacle scenes do not conform to any unity standards, instead, they last as long as the player wants to try to get those three successful skill checks, moving through time, space with changing persons as needed. So, there is a high awareness for the player that he is playing a game.
As for the tension, there is an indirect tension mechanism in that every failure has negative consequences, and with each following failure at a related task, the consequences get more dire. Similarly, skill checks and oracle questions increase story stress which is tested against for random events which in turn then half the stress, thus having kind of a climax effect.

( https://www.librerpg.com/ )
( https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/229547/Libre-Solo-Role-Playing?term=Libre&test_epoch=0 )

Those are the noteworthy ones I know enough about to comment on them. I have also tried CRGE during development, but was turned away so I hardly recall it, so maybe someone else can give a good summary.

So, please share your thoughts, and maybe tell us about what other noteworthy approaches are there. Hopefully, we can get some useful information together for people (besides some interesting insights into our psyches).

Yours,
Deathworks

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/238578/Lovecrafts-Revenge