We live in a consumer oriented society. Solo video gaming makes sense for most people because it's a form of consuming and they understand consuming. Solo TTRPG gaming falls outside of most peoples conceptual norms because you are creating/ producing... for fun. Consuming is generally considered more along the lines of leisure and producing is generally thought of as work. Thank you for your content.
I've been playing solo pretty much exclusively for about two years now. It does take (or at least it took me) quite a bit of work to develop the correct mental muscles to make ot work. Now though, I genuinely prefer to play solo. There are just so many advantages. 1. You always get to play exactly the game you want. Your taste in system or setting leans toward the obscure? No problem! You want to explore themes that are too dark, or goofy, or arcane for most tables? Fantastic! Enjoy. Want to spend all your time shopping or or running a business, or ERPing with a slutty dragon? Go with God, friend. 2. Play whenever you want, wherever you want. Lunch break at work? Four hour layover at LAX? Awake at two AM for some fucking reason? Your game is always there for you. 3. You will never be aubjected to 'that guy' or any of the other tropes of rpg horror stories. 4. Are you a forever GM? Have you spent years or decades honing your ability to create fun and adventure for your players? Shouldn't you be able to enjoy the fruits of your efforts too? 5. Get to know youself. Your solo world is yours and yours alone. Your campaign is a hero's journey into your own mind, and the rewards you reap will be the development of your own intuition, creativity and self-knowlege. 6. Solo play will improve your skills and make you a better group player/gm. You will have to master every aspect of the game, from rules to roleplay, and you will bring these skills to every table you sit at. 7. Perfect immersion. It takes a ton of hard work to get there, but when you hit your groove in a solo game there is absolutely nothing like it. To be completely lost in your own imagination is an experience unlike any other. The shared immersion of group play is special, and its true that it can't ever be replicated in solo play. For me, though, the experience of fully inhabiting my own characters in my own world, existing utterly by, for, and of my own internal self is fucking transcendent. 8. Ironically, solo ttrpgs have a really great, supportive, open, online community which remains entirely focused on the enjoyment of the hobby. Compare this with the toxic, political, backbiting, gossipy shitshow that is 90+% of the general ttrpg 'community'. I'll never understand why people would waste their time hating on an activity which, by definition, cannot possibly affect them, but solo play ttrpgs and players just seems to bring that venom out in a surprising number of people. The only conclusion I can come to is that they're salty because they can't do it. Sucks to suck, I guess. Great video, as always. You do good work and I appreciate all the love and effort you devote to improving the hobby!
Solo gaming is fun. It works pretty easily with generator and random table games. Emergent Story comes out of a sort of reverse Mad Libs, where you get a handful of verbs, nouns, and descriptors and then string them together and attempt to create continuity.
So many tools for solo work great for multi-player, and so many processes you use in solo make you better at running the same or similar systems with others.
I soloed every adventure module I bought before I played them at the table with my friends. This was to see what I wanted to tweak before taking it “live”.
When i talk to gamers about solo play, i often get a response like "i just don't get it." For context, this is exactly the same as when you try to describe RPGs to non-gamers and they just look at you blankly and say "i don't get it"
I started solo playing BX/Labrynth lord 18 months ago...I find it like a brainstroming session, as soon as something happens the imagination starts flowing. So far almost two party kills with the survivors building their own parties and a story spanning 150 hand written pages. It allows me to play ole school (I now participate in a 5th edition game just to play in a group, although I am 30+ years older than the other players LOL) its difficult to get in person games in the sticks and I dont do online. It also allows me to populate my world with situations, issues, conflicts, lairs and magic items left over when a party is killed! I use a mash up of my own and other stuff with a trimmed down Mythic oracle to create based on my world. I couldnt care what people thought...it makes me happy.
I only play solo. I get to play the game i want whenever i want without the drama and inconsistency i have often encountered in group play. To be honest i am also an introvert with limited free time between work and family. So it works well for me. Your wight box soft cover book arrived in my mail box yesterday. It looks awesome so far and i am looking forward to playing it… Solo😊
Wow, I wasn't aware at all that there was a stigma with solo gaming. It seems very simple for me to understand it as a fun way to hone your skills, learn the system and build confidence outside of your regular group game. I've been inspired to try it myself after really enjoying a few UA-cam channels that have been running solo campaigns using Basic/BECMI modules. For anyone interested, the channels Solo Dungeon Crawler and Wizard Deadloss have wonderful solo campaigns to listen to.
Great observation. I agree that solo gaming is very similar to playing Skyrim, reading a book (esp Fighting Fantasy or similar), or even watching a movie by yourself (or, really, even with friends - when you watch a movie it's really a solo experience). It's RPG fun just in a different way to group play.
What is so funny is that the same thing those individuals say when talking about solo players is the same exact thing people who are into games say about well basically anything they are not into lol.
I'm actually using it to: -Worldbilding -Understand new rules to teach to my players So i agree with you Great video..and try to use the "i wanto smell the soap in your hands". it kind of work with my little kid he go backs in silences to rewash his hands
I think of solo RPGs as self care. Like a mental bubble bath, a perfect cup of tea or making a bowl of your favorite meal. Creating something to enjoy on your own as you like it, can be amazing. Solo PRGs are also a great way to hit the GM gym and get in the flow of emergent narrative. You can build trust in your skills to keep the ball rolling with sense and meaning despite the unexpected.
Some people who are very extroverted do not understand people with any degree of introversion. They are confused about how anything you do by yourself, for yourself, can have any value unless it can also be of use to or validated by other people.
I think you are correct on that last part 100%. People who are not introverts just cannot understand people being able to be alone. They need other people to validate or entertain them.
Excellent video! People play countless solo version video games and even “solitaire card games “ solo RPGs are just another game, many puzzles are a solo activity- now add a barbarian, a wizard, and some dice so that you don’t completely dictate your game narrative
I take a lot of flack from a few of my friends about solo play, how it’s weird, I have no friends, etc. It’s really funny because it feels almost exactly like you did back in the 80s when the bully on the football team discovered that I played D&D. I feel like it is quite small minded and especially so because some of those people are the exact same ones that would scream “There is no wrong way to play!”
"There is no wrong way to play" is honestly used mainly by someone who will attempt to push their preference as objective just a few minutes later. Tell someone you like solo gaming, playing rules-as-written, or zero prep, and they will immediatly contradict "there is no wrong way to play."
Good point, all the foundational RPGs assumed and encouraged solo play. ODDs first issue and Garys first article was solo gaming in strategic review, Traveller explicitly calls it a 'mode'. Tunnels and trolls was built for it. Solo gaming to me is alot like writing in a diary, or doing some ad hoc creative writing. It just has a framework for driving the story and outcomes. Nobody feels weird when they say they relaxed and did some writing on their book.
Definitely a great video. I'm glad to see that solo gaming is being talked about so much. I've still not given it a very good shot, but I was primed for it as a kid. I grew up reading my school library's whole collection of Choose Your Own Adventure Books. I had a little Star Wars RPG that came in monthly installments from one of those Scholastic book clubs. And I am the guy who gets asked why I don't play certain games multi-player. 😅
I learned quite a few systems with solo play. It's a great creative exercise and you can see if your idea is too dangerous or just right. I'm getting ready to solo some Hero Quest base quests and expansions w/ out the app. Interesting you mentioned Traveler. I got PDF for free. So I'm going to go through that. Great presentation!
Greetings! Hey Jon! Good video! Yeah, solo gaming was also right there in AD&D's Dungeon Master's Guide. Solo gaming has *always* been a part of the gaming hobby. It has a stigma, mostly imposed by idiots. Currently, solo gaming is EXPLODING in popularity. It's spreading everywhere, and has very popular UA-cam creators promoting it as well. Solo gaming is growing in popularity, because it is FUN! People also like it, because they can't find a group, or depending on where they are, many people have zero patience for Woke morons, so solo gaming can be preferable. Whatever the motivation, solo gaming is awesome! Semper Fidelis, SHARK
learning how to solo anything is imperative to good writing. I want to make a Dragonlance supplement called Tables for One (At the Inn of the Last Home)
I've been thinking of picking up solo gaming as a way to exercise my GM muscles. Also, I'm 50, unmarried, childless and with few friends. I fit most people's definition of a "Looser". it is what it is. I'm not ashamed of myself.
I have trouble learning games and prepping. I would try reading and learning rules and get to the table as gm and be lost, Then I started solo GMing. I would role 5 players and created a rollable table for basic actions like hide, seed, attack, and things like it. Get a scenario and play, I have to say it's a lot a fun and when I do get to the table with people I feel so much better prepared.
I want to attempt some solo gaming. I just need to get in the right mindset for it. I have a hard time conceptualizing the separation from the player side vs Gm side of it. I know that's where the random tables and such come in. It just seems like such a weird concept to me that, i just need to actually try it, to understand it.
I suggest picking up Scarlet heroes because you will play as a single hero but will be using BX style rules. It has great tables and solo gaming-specific things for you, and it is good if you have no idea what you are doing.
@@SmaugBoi there is a supplement on the Arcane Library website for solo gaming. www.thearcanelibrary.com/products/solodark-solo-rules-for-shadowdark-rpg-print-pdf
Practice makes perfect, man. It's probably going to be awkward at first, but if you set aside a few hours a week to play and slowly build up your repertoire of tools and tables that work for you you'll get there in no time!
I've always sat down and run through a solo game with a new system just to familiarize myself with the rules and see them in play prior to bringing them over to my groups. I'm actually surprised to find out that this may not be common or that there is a stigma attached. It's not that I can't read rules and understand them but I feel like you always pick up on things that you might not just through reading by giving it a playthrough. This might not be exactly what you mean by solo gaming but I can't see why there wouldn't be value in more long form solo gaming either. Appreciate the vid.
I don't mind admitting that I enjoy solitaire gaming. I starting doing it in the 90s to learn modules before running them for real, decided that I liked it, and have kept doing it, heh. I guess I treat it more like DMing for a party of NPCs than I do Solitaire *playing* though.... Heck, I'll even admit to enjoying Four Against Darkness, in spite of the cringey juvenile smut stuff they have been putting into it lately. I just edit it out of the PDFs before I print them lol. And Alone Against Fear, that one is even better. Personally, I think that classic Traveller is the best of the legit old-school games for solitaire play though.
I accually use solo to help build out my west marches campains. Use it to help me as a wrighter to. The only thing i dont like about solo play is building everything and then running it... but that may be me. I find Improv difficult beyond a point with solo play, but I have a similar if lesser issue doing the same for group play.
You see stuff like this in any hobby, people who don't workout look down on people who do calisthenics because there isn't a gym around for example. Same here people who don't play at all have opinions on someone playing, it's laughable. You know whatever, this is why I don't do twitter and reddit just "people" yapping about stuff they don't do. Keep up the good fight.
I play solo only. Solo only board games. Solo only ttrpg. I do that because that is what i want to do. So far, it has been the most enjoyable, dare I say interesting--- weee around the campaign trope again??? Even if it happens, it happened organically, not because someone with delusions of being a grand story teller railroaded me there - engaging an entertaining. It has not only been the most enjoyable but the safest for me. I went to in person groups...bunch of creeeps who dont know how to act, mad with power lmfao...i even tried running a coop campaign. Didn't like it, it just is not the same after experiencing the freedom of playing solo..itwasn't about me enjoying the game and enjoying myself. I will not force myself into unenjoyable and unsafe situations just to get the approval of internet randos. I do what I want! If the TTRPG/boardgame gods have a problem with that, they can come say it to my face!.
7:52 Now that point is a funny one because if you do play a game that has both a single-player and an online option (GTA V is a perfect example), you will always be assumed to be playing the multi-player aspect, as few play alone.
When I play TREPGs its all about the story, roleplaying, and immersion. The rules are there to resolve uncertain outcomes and other than that they are supposed to get out of the way. Don't think that would work well for solo gaming I could see it working for a more gameplay focused game.
@@k9ine999 well yeah. If you can't see mechanics as helpful for story then you should just write a story instead then, or something like that. It's why I said this is a mindset.
I'm 53 and I've been a single child all my life. We lived in a town where the only real interaction I had with other kids was school and hockey. At an early age I learned to play games by myself. I actually prefer playing solo all these years later. I've tried playing D&D with a few groups and I just can't stand it. I have almost 500 fantasy themed board games and they all allow minimum 1 player and I've recently gotten into solo TTRPGs. I'll take solo over group play any day of the week. Call me anti social, whatever. I'd rather play alone. I also play solo because neither my wife or kids share in my interest.
I have been playing RPGs since 1978. I don’t know why people care about solo or group play as long as people are enjoying the hobby. Play more, complain less.
Solo gaming, for me, feels like my White Whale. I absolutely adore the idea, but every time I actually try to sit down and try it, I freeze. It's maddening. I've bought SO MANY different games, supplements, aids, etc. Games I'll never get to play as I lack anyone (believe me, I've tried both in person and online) to play them with. For example, I pick a game and then decide to make a character, here's the first hurdle, these games largely aren't balanced to play with one character, so do I need to make several? That seems awfully cumbersome, sounds like multi-boxing an MMO. Some people really enjoy that, but not me. I essentially just want to play Morrowind but infinitely, without barrier as it plays out in my mind. Back on track, I make it into the game so to speak, and I decide to start the game in a dungeon (classic TES). How do I build this dungeon? Use one of the menageries of supplements I have, I guess. Using tables and rolls I end up with a not at all reasonable procedurally generated nightmare. How do I stock the dungeon? Circling back to the first issue, combat is deadly, but that's also the fun. Perhaps that's a disconnect between tabletop and video game design? Where in the former, combat is swift and deadly and to be avoided. The latter it is frequent and often weighted in the prepared player's favor. Thanks for reading my vent session, please understand my admiration for your channel and that none of this is to criticize Solo gaming, but in truth one busy nerd dad's (my son is also 4!) cathartic outburst of frustration at his own inability.
As someone who designs games, I do a lot of solo gaming but only because I have to. I don't think badly of people who enjoy solo gaming. It's just not as good an experience. I think it comes down to the matter of how information is relayed. Unless everything you encounter comes from a die roll, there is no real surprise waiting around the next corner. You could not run an adventure like Tomb of Horrors because there is no way to figure out what you are encountering before you actually encounter it. The very first entry is titled 1. FALSE ENTRANCE TUNNEL which gives away the whole encounter. For a solo game to be good it needs to specifically be built for solo gaming, which means it needs to be a choose your own adventure book, and while I've read many of those during my time. They have many of their own restrictions, especially when it comes to who you choose to take on the adventure.
I get plenty of surprise in solo gaming. You said, "For a solo game to be good it needs to specifically be built for solo gaming, which means it needs to be a choose your own adventure book." I disagree with this entirely. AD&D 1e can be solo gamed easily. Classic Traveller which I also mention can be. Scarlet Heroes is not built like a choose your own adventure story and is fantastic for solo gaming because it has the needed oracles and tables. This is where there is just a fundamental misunderstanding I think. Not just with you so don't think I'm picking on you, but from many who think solo gaming = choose your own adventure. This is a story game mindset inculcated in the late 80s and 90s I think.
Solo gaming is for weirdos. For Gms, ok, as a testrun, that is acceptable. But playing solo in your little room is one of the saddest things I know of.
I'm an introvert and not interested in throwing shade on anybody's pastime... if you like solo gaming that's really cool. I personally have never found it appealing, even though 1x1 gaming is very appealing. To me, I cannot be both the player and the Dungeon Master at the same time. My thoughts do not create reality. Reality is uncooperative and unexpected. I don't get that feeling in solo play. To me it feels solipsistic. Again, if you like it, cool. It's not that I'm some deplorable who doesn't understand what is being talked about... it just genuinely seems to lack one of the defining aspects of rpgs. Maybe there's an aspect that I haven't fully appreciated. I am super interested to hear your views about Classic Traveller. I believe you will find that there is no way to play CT "rules as written" because most of the rules are (brilliantly) unwritten. There is *no* universal task system, as was added in later (and lesser) versions of the game. A PC is stranded at an arctic base with a disabled rover, a busted comms system, a bunch of scientific equipment, a strange alien artifact and limited stores. He has a UPP of 579A96, Electronics - 2, Mechanics - 1, Rifle - 1 and Cutlass - 2. What can he do with all that? What skills are applicable to a given plan he may devise, what will he need to roll, how long will it take? That's not really written down anywhere. The Referee has to make a call for pretty much every single skill application outside of combat... the book has a paltry few examples in the skill descriptions but that's it. I will say that I enjoy generating star systems, designing ships and playing with Traveller's commercial model. I guess you can call that solo play but I don't see myself as a player, just a Referee designing stuff that I will use in a future game. Like rolling up a random dungeon (as distinct from delving it, I suppose). But can you play Classic Traveller solo? Virtually everything is a pure judgment call.
Solo gaming has been lame since the beginning. Need to playtest an encounter or idea? Fine. Actually being a recluse and running solo ttrpg campaigns in your basement? Lame AF. Get some friends.
it depends on what kind of person you are. if you are an extremly introverted person like me, you can forget about gaming with other people. i have tried it but i am an outcast even among ttrpg nerds. so all i can do is playing solo. there is nothing weird about it. some people cant get any friends. even when its hard for me to play solo, since i am not a very creative person, i have to do it because i have no friends who are interested in the hobby. noone wants to play with me lol. i dont think solo rpgs are weird, its exactly the same as playing singe player videogames.
Get Atomic Punk 2240 HERE!
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I got the PDF last week, and I am digging into it this week.
Washing hands with soap is beyond the ability of more people than you realize.
Most are several multiples of 4 !😂
I know a man in his 80s that has a habit of not washing his hands. Its ridiculous. Yes he's childish to.
We live in a consumer oriented society. Solo video gaming makes sense for most people because it's a form of consuming and they understand consuming. Solo TTRPG gaming falls outside of most peoples conceptual norms because you are creating/ producing... for fun. Consuming is generally considered more along the lines of leisure and producing is generally thought of as work. Thank you for your content.
Interesting insight. Something worth reflecting on.
When I first read the title, I thought it was “the Sigma of Solo Gaming,” which strangely works also.
Haha true.
Glad I'm not the only one
Damn, it really does.
lol. Jokes on the players in my campaign. They’re playing an open table in my Solo World!
Same with mine!
Yep.
I've been playing solo pretty much exclusively for about two years now. It does take (or at least it took me) quite a bit of work to develop the correct mental muscles to make ot work. Now though, I genuinely prefer to play solo. There are just so many advantages.
1. You always get to play exactly the game you want. Your taste in system or setting leans toward the obscure? No problem! You want to explore themes that are too dark, or goofy, or arcane for most tables? Fantastic! Enjoy. Want to spend all your time shopping or or running a business, or ERPing with a slutty dragon? Go with God, friend.
2. Play whenever you want, wherever you want. Lunch break at work? Four hour layover at LAX? Awake at two AM for some fucking reason? Your game is always there for you.
3. You will never be aubjected to 'that guy' or any of the other tropes of rpg horror stories.
4. Are you a forever GM? Have you spent years or decades honing your ability to create fun and adventure for your players? Shouldn't you be able to enjoy the fruits of your efforts too?
5. Get to know youself. Your solo world is yours and yours alone. Your campaign is a hero's journey into your own mind, and the rewards you reap will be the development of your own intuition, creativity and self-knowlege.
6. Solo play will improve your skills and make you a better group player/gm. You will have to master every aspect of the game, from rules to roleplay, and you will bring these skills to every table you sit at.
7. Perfect immersion. It takes a ton of hard work to get there, but when you hit your groove in a solo game there is absolutely nothing like it. To be completely lost in your own imagination is an experience unlike any other. The shared immersion of group play is special, and its true that it can't ever be replicated in solo play. For me, though, the experience of fully inhabiting my own characters in my own world, existing utterly by, for, and of my own internal self is fucking transcendent.
8. Ironically, solo ttrpgs have a really great, supportive, open, online community which remains entirely focused on the enjoyment of the hobby. Compare this with the toxic, political, backbiting, gossipy shitshow that is 90+% of the general ttrpg 'community'.
I'll never understand why people would waste their time hating on an activity which, by definition, cannot possibly affect them, but solo play ttrpgs and players just seems to bring that venom out in a surprising number of people. The only conclusion I can come to is that they're salty because they can't do it. Sucks to suck, I guess.
Great video, as always. You do good work and I appreciate all the love and effort you devote to improving the hobby!
Solo gaming is fun. It works pretty easily with generator and random table games. Emergent Story comes out of a sort of reverse Mad Libs, where you get a handful of verbs, nouns, and descriptors and then string them together and attempt to create continuity.
So many tools for solo work great for multi-player, and so many processes you use in solo make you better at running the same or similar systems with others.
I soloed every adventure module I bought before I played them at the table with my friends. This was to see what I wanted to tweak before taking it “live”.
Solo Traveller has been one of my bread and butter RPGs for ages. I started gaming when the whole hobby was 'weird' I don't gaf what people think lol.
When i talk to gamers about solo play, i often get a response like "i just don't get it."
For context, this is exactly the same as when you try to describe RPGs to non-gamers and they just look at you blankly and say "i don't get it"
Comparing to people not getting it outside the hobby is actually smart. It's very similar.
@@TheBasicExpert thank you, it occurred to me during a BLG stream, i hope they see this comment.
I started solo playing BX/Labrynth lord 18 months ago...I find it like a brainstroming session, as soon as something happens the imagination starts flowing. So far almost two party kills with the survivors building their own parties and a story spanning 150 hand written pages. It allows me to play ole school (I now participate in a 5th edition game just to play in a group, although I am 30+ years older than the other players LOL) its difficult to get in person games in the sticks and I dont do online. It also allows me to populate my world with situations, issues, conflicts, lairs and magic items left over when a party is killed! I use a mash up of my own and other stuff with a trimmed down Mythic oracle to create based on my world. I couldnt care what people thought...it makes me happy.
I only play solo. I get to play the game i want whenever i want without the drama and inconsistency i have often encountered in group play. To be honest i am also an introvert with limited free time between work and family. So it works well for me. Your wight box soft cover book arrived in my mail box yesterday. It looks awesome so far and i am looking forward to playing it… Solo😊
@@lonnytucker1345 I have solo rules in the back!
Wow, I wasn't aware at all that there was a stigma with solo gaming. It seems very simple for me to understand it as a fun way to hone your skills, learn the system and build confidence outside of your regular group game. I've been inspired to try it myself after really enjoying a few UA-cam channels that have been running solo campaigns using Basic/BECMI modules. For anyone interested, the channels Solo Dungeon Crawler and Wizard Deadloss have wonderful solo campaigns to listen to.
Great observation. I agree that solo gaming is very similar to playing Skyrim, reading a book (esp Fighting Fantasy or similar), or even watching a movie by yourself (or, really, even with friends - when you watch a movie it's really a solo experience). It's RPG fun just in a different way to group play.
What is so funny is that the same thing those individuals say when talking about solo players is the same exact thing people who are into games say about well basically anything they are not into lol.
I'm actually using it to:
-Worldbilding
-Understand new rules to teach to my players
So i agree with you
Great video..and try to use the "i wanto smell the soap in your hands". it kind of work with my little kid he go backs in silences to rewash his hands
*Tip on hand washing noted
I think of solo RPGs as self care. Like a mental bubble bath, a perfect cup of tea or making a bowl of your favorite meal. Creating something to enjoy on your own as you like it, can be amazing. Solo PRGs are also a great way to hit the GM gym and get in the flow of emergent narrative. You can build trust in your skills to keep the ball rolling with sense and meaning despite the unexpected.
Tons of fun to be had running a solo RPG! Agreed good sir! 🙂
Some people who are very extroverted do not understand people with any degree of introversion. They are confused about how anything you do by yourself, for yourself, can have any value unless it can also be of use to or validated by other people.
Maybe that is a big part.
I think you are correct on that last part 100%. People who are not introverts just cannot understand people being able to be alone. They need other people to validate or entertain them.
Excellent video! People play countless solo version video games and even “solitaire card games “ solo RPGs are just another game, many puzzles are a solo activity- now add a barbarian, a wizard, and some dice so that you don’t completely dictate your game narrative
I take a lot of flack from a few of my friends about solo play, how it’s weird, I have no friends, etc. It’s really funny because it feels almost exactly like you did back in the 80s when the bully on the football team discovered that I played D&D. I feel like it is quite small minded and especially so because some of those people are the exact same ones that would scream “There is no wrong way to play!”
"There is no wrong way to play" is honestly used mainly by someone who will attempt to push their preference as objective just a few minutes later. Tell someone you like solo gaming, playing rules-as-written, or zero prep, and they will immediatly contradict "there is no wrong way to play."
Good point, all the foundational RPGs assumed and encouraged solo play. ODDs first issue and Garys first article was solo gaming in strategic review, Traveller explicitly calls it a 'mode'. Tunnels and trolls was built for it. Solo gaming to me is alot like writing in a diary, or doing some ad hoc creative writing. It just has a framework for driving the story and outcomes. Nobody feels weird when they say they relaxed and did some writing on their book.
8:59 exactly this John. I would rather sit down and do a solo rpg than play a video game, it's much more creatively fulfilling
Definitely a great video. I'm glad to see that solo gaming is being talked about so much. I've still not given it a very good shot, but I was primed for it as a kid. I grew up reading my school library's whole collection of Choose Your Own Adventure Books. I had a little Star Wars RPG that came in monthly installments from one of those Scholastic book clubs. And I am the guy who gets asked why I don't play certain games multi-player. 😅
Great video!
*washes hands... with poop* "Hey, great. You're doing great. You're halfway there, kind of."
Thank you for sharing your view and opinion on solo gaming! Some of your expositions are what I wanted to tell my friends about solo gaming.
I learned quite a few systems with solo play. It's a great creative exercise and you can see if your idea is too dangerous or just right. I'm getting ready to solo some Hero Quest base quests and expansions w/ out the app. Interesting you mentioned Traveler. I got PDF for free. So I'm going to go through that. Great presentation!
I enjoy solo games. I've had some cool experiences with it.
Solo gaming is also great for adventure building to run for a group of players. It's a fun way to prep to GM.
Greetings!
Hey Jon! Good video! Yeah, solo gaming was also right there in AD&D's Dungeon Master's Guide. Solo gaming has *always* been a part of the gaming hobby. It has a stigma, mostly imposed by idiots. Currently, solo gaming is EXPLODING in popularity. It's spreading everywhere, and has very popular UA-cam creators promoting it as well. Solo gaming is growing in popularity, because it is FUN! People also like it, because they can't find a group, or depending on where they are, many people have zero patience for Woke morons, so solo gaming can be preferable. Whatever the motivation, solo gaming is awesome!
Semper Fidelis,
SHARK
Hey man. I agree. Some people, much like back in the 70s and 80s, have a hard time finding a group but want to game.
learning how to solo anything is imperative to good writing. I want to make a Dragonlance supplement called Tables for One (At the Inn of the Last Home)
1000 year vampire has a pretty fun system
I for one have lots of fun solo gaming in my padded cell
Shoot. Who let you out?
I've been thinking of picking up solo gaming as a way to exercise my GM muscles. Also, I'm 50, unmarried, childless and with few friends. I fit most people's definition of a "Looser". it is what it is. I'm not ashamed of myself.
@@dane3038 nothing loserish about solo gaming.
I have trouble learning games and prepping. I would try reading and learning rules and get to the table as gm and be lost, Then I started solo GMing. I would role 5 players and created a rollable table for basic actions like hide, seed, attack, and things like it. Get a scenario and play, I have to say it's a lot a fun and when I do get to the table with people I feel so much better prepared.
Solo gaming at the very least provides a stress free way to practice where you can pause to look something up and master it.
I want to attempt some solo gaming. I just need to get in the right mindset for it. I have a hard time conceptualizing the separation from the player side vs Gm side of it. I know that's where the random tables and such come in. It just seems like such a weird concept to me that, i just need to actually try it, to understand it.
I suggest picking up Scarlet heroes because you will play as a single hero but will be using BX style rules. It has great tables and solo gaming-specific things for you, and it is good if you have no idea what you are doing.
www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/127180/scarlet-heroes?affiliate_id=2970599
This game here.
@@TheBasicExpert ok, I'll look into it. I've been running Shadowdark for my group play, so I've toyed solo-ing that. Think SD is any good for solo?
@@SmaugBoi there is a supplement on the Arcane Library website for solo gaming.
www.thearcanelibrary.com/products/solodark-solo-rules-for-shadowdark-rpg-print-pdf
Practice makes perfect, man. It's probably going to be awkward at first, but if you set aside a few hours a week to play and slowly build up your repertoire of tools and tables that work for you you'll get there in no time!
I cant wait to get Atomic Punk Pod!
I've always sat down and run through a solo game with a new system just to familiarize myself with the rules and see them in play prior to bringing them over to my groups. I'm actually surprised to find out that this may not be common or that there is a stigma attached. It's not that I can't read rules and understand them but I feel like you always pick up on things that you might not just through reading by giving it a playthrough. This might not be exactly what you mean by solo gaming but I can't see why there wouldn't be value in more long form solo gaming either. Appreciate the vid.
I do the same thing and I too thought this was more common but I suspect it is probably not.
I don't mind admitting that I enjoy solitaire gaming. I starting doing it in the 90s to learn modules before running them for real, decided that I liked it, and have kept doing it, heh. I guess I treat it more like DMing for a party of NPCs than I do Solitaire *playing* though....
Heck, I'll even admit to enjoying Four Against Darkness, in spite of the cringey juvenile smut stuff they have been putting into it lately. I just edit it out of the PDFs before I print them lol. And Alone Against Fear, that one is even better.
Personally, I think that classic Traveller is the best of the legit old-school games for solitaire play though.
I accually use solo to help build out my west marches campains. Use it to help me as a wrighter to. The only thing i dont like about solo play is building everything and then running it... but that may be me. I find Improv difficult beyond a point with solo play, but I have a similar if lesser issue doing the same for group play.
You see stuff like this in any hobby, people who don't workout look down on people who do calisthenics because there isn't a gym around for example. Same here people who don't play at all have opinions on someone playing, it's laughable. You know whatever, this is why I don't do twitter and reddit just "people" yapping about stuff they don't do. Keep up the good fight.
I play solo only. Solo only board games. Solo only ttrpg. I do that because that is what i want to do. So far, it has been the most enjoyable, dare I say interesting--- weee around the campaign trope again??? Even if it happens, it happened organically, not because someone with delusions of being a grand story teller railroaded me there - engaging an entertaining. It has not only been the most enjoyable but the safest for me. I went to in person groups...bunch of creeeps who dont know how to act, mad with power lmfao...i even tried running a coop campaign. Didn't like it, it just is not the same after experiencing the freedom of playing solo..itwasn't about me enjoying the game and enjoying myself. I will not force myself into unenjoyable and unsafe situations just to get the approval of internet randos. I do what I want! If the TTRPG/boardgame gods have a problem with that, they can come say it to my face!.
Someone's got an opinion about my solo gaming?
...which will change...what?
Ive got to stop stigmatizing myself over Solo play!
7:52 Now that point is a funny one because if you do play a game that has both a single-player and an online option (GTA V is a perfect example), you will always be assumed to be playing the multi-player aspect, as few play alone.
Anyone who grew up with Fighting Fantasy books have no problem with solo gaming.
When I play TREPGs its all about the story, roleplaying, and immersion. The rules are there to resolve uncertain outcomes and other than that they are supposed to get out of the way. Don't think that would work well for solo gaming I could see it working for a more gameplay focused game.
@@k9ine999 well yeah. If you can't see mechanics as helpful for story then you should just write a story instead then, or something like that. It's why I said this is a mindset.
I'm 53 and I've been a single child all my life. We lived in a town where the only real interaction I had with other kids was school and hockey. At an early age I learned to play games by myself. I actually prefer playing solo all these years later. I've tried playing D&D with a few groups and I just can't stand it. I have almost 500 fantasy themed board games and they all allow minimum 1 player and I've recently gotten into solo TTRPGs. I'll take solo over group play any day of the week. Call me anti social, whatever. I'd rather play alone. I also play solo because neither my wife or kids share in my interest.
I have been playing RPGs since 1978. I don’t know why people care about solo or group play as long as people are enjoying the hobby. Play more, complain less.
Solo gaming, for me, feels like my White Whale. I absolutely adore the idea, but every time I actually try to sit down and try it, I freeze. It's maddening. I've bought SO MANY different games, supplements, aids, etc. Games I'll never get to play as I lack anyone (believe me, I've tried both in person and online) to play them with. For example, I pick a game and then decide to make a character, here's the first hurdle, these games largely aren't balanced to play with one character, so do I need to make several? That seems awfully cumbersome, sounds like multi-boxing an MMO. Some people really enjoy that, but not me. I essentially just want to play Morrowind but infinitely, without barrier as it plays out in my mind. Back on track, I make it into the game so to speak, and I decide to start the game in a dungeon (classic TES). How do I build this dungeon? Use one of the menageries of supplements I have, I guess. Using tables and rolls I end up with a not at all reasonable procedurally generated nightmare. How do I stock the dungeon? Circling back to the first issue, combat is deadly, but that's also the fun. Perhaps that's a disconnect between tabletop and video game design? Where in the former, combat is swift and deadly and to be avoided. The latter it is frequent and often weighted in the prepared player's favor.
Thanks for reading my vent session, please understand my admiration for your channel and that none of this is to criticize Solo gaming, but in truth one busy nerd dad's (my son is also 4!) cathartic outburst of frustration at his own inability.
As someone who designs games, I do a lot of solo gaming but only because I have to.
I don't think badly of people who enjoy solo gaming. It's just not as good an experience. I think it comes down to the matter of how information is relayed. Unless everything you encounter comes from a die roll, there is no real surprise waiting around the next corner.
You could not run an adventure like Tomb of Horrors because there is no way to figure out what you are encountering before you actually encounter it. The very first entry is titled 1. FALSE ENTRANCE TUNNEL which gives away the whole encounter.
For a solo game to be good it needs to specifically be built for solo gaming, which means it needs to be a choose your own adventure book, and while I've read many of those during my time. They have many of their own restrictions, especially when it comes to who you choose to take on the adventure.
I get plenty of surprise in solo gaming. You said, "For a solo game to be good it needs to specifically be built for solo gaming, which means it needs to be a choose your own adventure book."
I disagree with this entirely. AD&D 1e can be solo gamed easily. Classic Traveller which I also mention can be. Scarlet Heroes is not built like a choose your own adventure story and is fantastic for solo gaming because it has the needed oracles and tables.
This is where there is just a fundamental misunderstanding I think. Not just with you so don't think I'm picking on you, but from many who think solo gaming = choose your own adventure. This is a story game mindset inculcated in the late 80s and 90s I think.
@@TheBasicExpert I'll have to check out Scarlet Heroes then.
A GM Emulator can turn any game into a solo game. It works for us, maybe give it a try. 🤷♂️
@@mick19 Mythic is pretty cool.
@@chameleondream Scarlet Heroes is a good first solo game. It is familiar because it's built off BX. But it has great solo game tools too.
Vitamin c helps not to get sick
I'm aware.
Solo gaming is for weirdos. For Gms, ok, as a testrun, that is acceptable. But playing solo in your little room is one of the saddest things I know of.
So you play RAW (Rules as Written)?
I'm an introvert and not interested in throwing shade on anybody's pastime... if you like solo gaming that's really cool. I personally have never found it appealing, even though 1x1 gaming is very appealing. To me, I cannot be both the player and the Dungeon Master at the same time. My thoughts do not create reality. Reality is uncooperative and unexpected. I don't get that feeling in solo play. To me it feels solipsistic. Again, if you like it, cool. It's not that I'm some deplorable who doesn't understand what is being talked about... it just genuinely seems to lack one of the defining aspects of rpgs. Maybe there's an aspect that I haven't fully appreciated.
I am super interested to hear your views about Classic Traveller. I believe you will find that there is no way to play CT "rules as written" because most of the rules are (brilliantly) unwritten. There is *no* universal task system, as was added in later (and lesser) versions of the game. A PC is stranded at an arctic base with a disabled rover, a busted comms system, a bunch of scientific equipment, a strange alien artifact and limited stores. He has a UPP of 579A96, Electronics - 2, Mechanics - 1, Rifle - 1 and Cutlass - 2. What can he do with all that? What skills are applicable to a given plan he may devise, what will he need to roll, how long will it take? That's not really written down anywhere. The Referee has to make a call for pretty much every single skill application outside of combat... the book has a paltry few examples in the skill descriptions but that's it.
I will say that I enjoy generating star systems, designing ships and playing with Traveller's commercial model. I guess you can call that solo play but I don't see myself as a player, just a Referee designing stuff that I will use in a future game. Like rolling up a random dungeon (as distinct from delving it, I suppose). But can you play Classic Traveller solo? Virtually everything is a pure judgment call.
Use mythic
Solo gaming has been lame since the beginning. Need to playtest an encounter or idea? Fine. Actually being a recluse and running solo ttrpg campaigns in your basement? Lame AF. Get some friends.
No
You've been lame since the beginning since your r*tard take was addressed in the video.
it depends on what kind of person you are. if you are an extremly introverted person like me, you can forget about gaming with other people. i have tried it but i am an outcast even among ttrpg nerds.
so all i can do is playing solo. there is nothing weird about it. some people cant get any friends.
even when its hard for me to play solo, since i am not a very creative person, i have to do it because i have no friends who are interested in the hobby. noone wants to play with me lol.
i dont think solo rpgs are weird, its exactly the same as playing singe player videogames.