Forecasting the Future of SoloRPGs...What is NEXT?
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- Опубліковано 26 вер 2024
- Man Alone DECONSTRUCTS the SoloRPG so that he can pick up the pieces and reconstruct a future PROPHECY of where the hobby is going.
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Intro and Exit music provided by UA-cam Creator Music Studio
This one’s a banger.
I love a flowchart. I’ve been working on a SoloRPG Scene Loop - a flowchart that steps the player through a scene. Turns out it’s quite hard.
Wait this is interesting tell me more here Dirk - so is it for a specific game or is it a multitool sort of thing that can be applied to any game?
@@amanisalone The idea is a loop for any game - which may be why it’s been so challenging - that moves the player through a scene procedurally.
Mythic is really GM-focused (its in the name), but misses out on the procedural element of roleplaying (ie. the "playing" part). In solo play you typically move between two modes (at least), but I posit a need for three. It's too long to go into here, but I'd welcome collaborators from the MAN community.
Like a choose-your-own-adventure book?
@@ricardo.mazeto I think of a choose-your-own-adventure as having a linear structure, whereas solo play proper can go in many different directions. A choose-your-own-adventure is not essentially creative on more than one level (your emotional response to the prompts on the page).
Roleplaying can be multi-layered in its creativity and solo roleplaying puts all of that creativity on one person continuously context shifting between different areas of “responsibility” - managing the game system, playing the game system (perhaps towards a winning condition, but not necessarily), creating dramatic conditions - for an enjoyable experience.
Whether or not we have an audience when we play, the game is performed in some way.
I feel that solo play is primarily a creative/generative process, but I think that the gestalt is what we enjoy.
Each of these separate and concurrent areas of responsibility (and their activities) is fun in its own right, but it is the meta of solo play that we consume. I would argue this is why so many solo roleplayers record their play in some form.
I don’t think I can be more succinct here.
@@dirkvoltaar In my book, you are spot on. Your SoloRPG Scene Loop sounds extremely interesting.
In my opinion, you missed something in your motivation analysis: human minds like to answer questions, spot and complete patterns, to problem-solve (which includes anticipation). And soloing provides these in abundance.
we also like to ask questions, some people to an obscene amount.
Very thought provoking, I am with you on the human side of the table, and I do see these activities as having a genuine spiritual potential for the growth of awareness, etc. So let's just ignore the negative reactions and focus on the positive potential, taking it as far as it can go.
According to the ambulances in the background, many people were harmed in the making of this video
Video 37 of me liking and then commenting on every new upload to tell the viewers that the Man Alone Podcast is absolutely some of that sweet, unhinged audio/vocal-honey.
Psssst. You other viewers should reply to this comment by sharing what one of your secondary hobbies is. Mine is Everyday Carry. Also known as EDC. Collecting knives, pens, “pocket trash”, decision coins, etc.
Mine is Brazillian JuJitsu super bummed cause I got hurt at work and can't compete or practice until I get surgery :( but scrolling UA-cam for solo stuff brought me here so guess it's not all bad.
I’m sorry to hear about your injury, I’m sure that it’s quite a debilitating mental struggle to be cut off from something you love so much. If you feed those strong emotions into your solo play and let them be expressed the way they need to be, I think you will find a very therapeutic and cathartic experience.
Some of the best news is that you’ve found the Man Alone channel, and gawt dayum is it one of the best. For real.
@@DesertDwellerSoloGaming what an amazing interaction. Also, 37? I have to think of something to do when you reach 100. Let's see...what's your wildest soloRPG dreams???
Wild camping 😁 been a couple of years since I've done it - too busy doing indoor hobbies!
@DesertDwellerSoloGaming You, sir, are a treasure. I have too many other hobbies/interests to mention; drawing is one. I am EDC curious. I definitely have a set of things that I carry religiously.
I know it is something that I want to do. But always get confused how to start. I have also never been part of a full multi player rpg session.
I have solved my own personal issues of starting by having a character made and some kinda goal, maybe not an ultra specific one, something that can be done in multiple different games or can translate well enough. I took my elder scrolls character with lycanthropy and started playing games with her. Ive never played DND or played in a group either and I have found that Mörk Borg is a lot easier to jump into.
Praise be the 🔥10%🔥 who are still watching.
I think that solo role playing is very alien and confusing to most people who even want to start.
Yes! I made a whole UA-cam channel to help with this! Almost everything is alien and confusing before you start, but once you learn a little about it, it’s not difficult at all.
I used to think it was alien too. I still think it is sometimes. But solo role-play is quite similar to reading a chose-your-own-adventure book, and it is not alien to read a CYOA book, so it shouldn't be alien to solo-play either.
Re: The shared solo RPG campaign. I followed a discord for a while where we were all doing a shared solo hexcrawl. We were all using different systems, but most used some kind of osr clone like basic fantasy, and whatever solo tools we chose. The shared world had a couple aspects. One was the session reports where someone would explain what hex they had been to and what they had found. This was used to populate a shared map with different adventure sites and loot and that kind of thing. There was also in game seasonal events that would have different narrative hooks to build off of. It was called "The Pit" and I think it had started in the Basic Fantasy retro clone community. Last time I looked at it it had died though.
Re: Innovations
Multiple PCs Switching Off: Mythic Magazine Vol. 37 - Troupe Style Solo Adventures
Solo "Flow Charts": Mythic Magazine Vol. 43 - Creating Game Loops in Solo Play
Also Solo "Flow Charts": Mythic Magazine Vol. 42 - 3-Act Structure for Mythic Adventures
Innovation 5: Habitica App
I love the random solo quest for Patrick! Brilliant idea 😂
God speed Patrick. Best of luck! lol
You truly do have good points to make.
Shoutout to Tales of the Manticore pod, this dude generates story on the fly and switches between characters, including the villains to create a truly cinematic experience. Just noting this as I mentioned it as a response to another post below and the user was unaware of it. This is in my opinion the gold standard for solo rpg play, better than most group actual plays even. And the production value, while high, feels very DIY and attainable.
WOW Pedro you calling me out??!!? The GOLD standard, from someone who has SEEN my Cy_Borg playthroughs??!! HOW DARE YOU!!! (Casts Banish) (Un-Casts Banish for a moment to whisper: "yeah but for real Tales of the Manticore is really effing good") (but then casts Banish again)
@@amanisalone Hahaha! No shade homie, I love and watch all your playthroughs, he just has so much content, if you did some longer plays my opinion may change (hint hint), I know that's not necessarily the focus of your channel, but I found your acting chops and imagination pretty riveting in your Mork Borg play through, I could watch a whole season worth of content from you if it was available ;)
Lol oh my god, this video showed up just as I was having a panic attack 😅.. ❤thank you
59:57 I do the Wim Hof Method before beginning a YT episode or before playing solo.
@@wilonascave you jump in a lake of ice water before EVERY video?
@@amanisalone 🥶 , the breathing method
This is a very interesting, philosophical debate that for the most part has a genuine, from my point of view anyway, basis in Stoicism.
Good video! Randomness is a great start of the series- it describes your monologue- you can also add “Rambling continuously “
Pinkie Pie is so random ❤❤🎉🎉 Also, I’d say Let’s Dake a Meal-especially the classic version-is another good example because you really want to know what’s behind the curtain. The guy that wrote ‘The Lady or the Tiger’ was really on to something.
"The Price is Correct" copyright protection agents licking their lips right now. "We got 'em, boys"
Thanks for all of your content! Great stuff.
I feel like my ideal "future" solo RPG experience would combine a large, designed evocative open world setting like Ultraviolet Grasslands with an integrated roguelike engine such as 2D6 or D100 Dungeon with a bit of designed strategic combat like Gloomhaven. I get it that UVG (not a solo game) is a VERY different thing than the solo dungeon crawlers named, but I feel like there is potential for a hybrid that would make for a grand solo world or worlds to explore. Obviously both D100 and 2D6 have random world generator systems to go with the dungeon dive cores, but I'm not certain those random world generators quite fit my personal taste. I need more playtime with them to confirm one way or the other, but fully random tabled worlds might lack some elements of designer intent that DO exist in a campaign world/setting like UVG. All that said, both Martin Knight or Toby Lancaster have created amazing systems and designs. That they are individual people creating these games and systems is mind-blowing to me. I enjoy their games very much as-is, so all this is just my own "what if" wish list kind of thing, no shade on these existing games.
In terms of random table innovations, one thing I haven't yet seen is the implementation of a random seed, where two different players using the same seed for their randomization of tables, etc. could have a similar (semi) randomly generated experience. For instance, if I play a solo game using a seed of 4354 and it's a particularly AWESOME experience, I can tell a friend or post online for other players to try the same seed to get their own version of that amazing experience. Just an idea taken from procedural content generation on computers.
FYI the actual translation of coffin/cake is "happy birthday to the ground"
Obviously the future of solo RPGs is my solo RPG I'm working on :) And now to actually listen to your video...
Around the 50 minute mark, speaking of changing "perspectives" or characters within the solo game. I recently started playing Scarlet Heroes and have rolled up some interesting NPCs. When I did, I thought, "man, I wish I could play them.... Oh wait, I can!" Then I started to ask questions about what it would look like to play multiple solo characters in a single, shared campaign. And it seems definitely do-able. It would be awesome to get different perspectives around situations, even if the characters don't interact much or only as necessary. You could also create very layered and complex factions and lore this way. I've named it "Mega-Solo" and have some notes on it.
For instance, if I got stuck or bored on one character I could swap over and play another. I could even have one character rescue another or something. I think this could require a balancing mechanic though, like tokens to give the player a chance to "author" a part of the game. At least that's what I would want, otherwise it feels too much like just writing and less like a game. I'm still working on it. 😅
Check out the Tales of the Manticore podcast. He does exactly this, very cool story.
@@pedrorivero5209 oh what that's crazy! I gotta check it out for sure
@@xhblue It's super rad, he even switches to the villains from time to time, feels very cinematic. His first season is super epic.
I have the solution. It's a board game like War, but with card game mechanics, like Magic: The Gathering. You play a few rounds, and when you find a particularly interesting scenario of two cards fighting each other, before deducing the damage like usual, you step in and role-play them as regular character of a TTRPG. It also solves the problem of having to read 200+ pages of lore like the most popular RPG scenarios do. You play your own lore.
Re: Playing Several Characters. It's something (improv) actors, wtiters and comedians have been doing forever. It's a matter of practice. Having some kind of solo mechanic to support this would be nice.
"Unprompted fear response is good."
People with anxiety disorders: 🤣
News flash you’re all on alert; you WILL be receiving an unprompted fear response sometime in the next 24 to 48000 hours
@@amanisalone 😱😱😱😱
Gamification of waffles
This is the future of youtube
I grew up with roguelikes as a kid. Like nethack, rogue, Larn, and Angband.
I've noticed the terms "roguelike" and "roguelite" being used interchangeably.
Bugs we that the terms have been so twisted.
Not saying this as a "gate keeper". But, I feel the true nature has been lost these days.
I've changed my thoughts on that over time, I personally do prefer more "traditional" roguelikes, but I'm okay with them being treat more as a subgenre, and roguelikes becoming the umbrella term for the genre's origins, and "lite" offshoots. As much as I enjoyed the squab- discussions about the use of the two terms, pedantry at its finest. Ultimately it's a much more tightly defined genre, attempting to keep claim over an umbrella term in the face of something much more varied, and popular, that it looks to be one part of.
I think rogulike as the genre name stuck at all in part because of the persistence of the community, the arguments, the knock on effect of the "Berlin interpretation" stuff, paired with the developing nature of the internet and its communities during what lead to rogulites taking off.
Commenting to see my waffle.
Just making notes here for possible exploration.
Can't go into detail, cos I'm busy cooking food for my dogs.
1. Fabula/Syuzhet (from the origins of literary theory... The Russian Formalists).
Fabula = the raw material of a story, the universe of the story, the random tables and story intention of the solo player.
Syuzhet = the way the story is organised, the nuts and bolts and Meccano pieces as they are arranged in the actual story, the linear a b c d e f g written down in the soloist's journal.
2. For any given fabula, there are infinite syuzhets. Many stories from the same material. Your story, my story, the truth. That kind of thinking.
3. Jacobson's communication model. The sender --> delivers a message --> to a receiver. With various other components interfering with and modifying the message. No message is sent intact.
4. The map is not the terrain. Maps are unreliable. They are mediated, interpreted representations of a particular reality at a particular time. Maps are biased in favour of the hegemony. The story you tell is different to the story I hear, because reasons.
5. Story model. Whichever model... Hero's journey, save the cat, 5 act, 3 act. Whatever. There's a combination of protagonist, antagonist, and various other types. Each of whom are trying to GET SOMETHING. Every person in a story is their own protagonist. And they each perceive the events through their own lens.
6. Artificial intelligence as a transcriber.
7. Artificial intelligence as a tool to create point of view narrative bias.
Just some thoughts on how to get a multi-pov pervasive solo system that plays with other systems.
I don't think AI would be particularly good at 7, at the moment.
I think Thousand Year Old Vampire is actually great for the whole moral quandary thing. Not because it presents tough choices -- rather, because it simply tells you "you manipulate this person" or "you kill this person". Some people react to this by just making their character a villain outright. But the game keeps putting in humanizing moments too. So what I get at least, is an experience of identifying with the guilt, the fear, or even the denial the vampire experiences.
I feel even worse, when BG3 tries to convince me all is possible and simultaneously railroads me all day.
For the integration between Solo and Group play, I think Star Trek Adventures Captain's Log does it well. While they do not explicitly talk about it in the game book, there are a lot of resources that help with.
I feel like Strahd suffers from the god complex and cheat code analogy, and desires getting hit and defeated in his mini realm. He’s tired of being bored.
As a computer programmer... randomnization is distinctly not a simple problem.
Ive played around a lot with gamifying life actually. I kinda lose all motivation in life if there isnt anything novel so ive just gotten used to changing my methods for tracking good habits and junk and the newest one that i really like is irl skill trees that i get to color in whenever i go to another boxing class or run another 5k.
Id love to hear anyone elses ideas or practices with "irl gamification", im currently trying to find a way to make cleaning more fun. 😅
Re: the flow chart idea. I've thought the same thing for the last couple months. I was inspired by solo boardgame mechanics which try in different ways to either simulate an opponent or impose some game loop. You mentioned imagining a mechanic similar to a computer program; I have been thinking of this as well. There actually is a dungeon crawl boardgame (that uses that sort thinking to automate the enemies. It is called Sword & Sorcery and each enemy has a brief AI card which indicates what the enemy will do under different cirumstances.
I have also been considering whether those types of mechanics could be used to level up the interactivity of gamebooks, like the call of cthulhu alone against series.
For idea 2, I was thinking about my next solo game (I’m only on my first) would be some kinda brutal delve in the style of old dungeon crawlers or etrian mystery dungeon. when you lose, the characters are stuck in that floor until your backup squad comes. Or maybe one where the fallen characters become enemies.
I also like the centralized setting idea. I feel like it can work.
I’m honestly shocked more solo RPGs aren’t structured more like video games with main story modes. Resolution & conclusions are satisfying, and stronger narratives & pacing are difficult in group play due to all the variables. It’s what I’m working on, games that would allow the players to have more cinematic experiences. You’re going in for a particular kind of world, characters, arcs, gameplay and if you want to sandbox awhile you can, but there’s a core arc & trajectory here to follow if you want that.
Philosophy of numbers needs to catch up with modern physics. Our universe is fundamentally built on genuine randomness.
55:21 From memory, Pendragon 5e has a phase in the winter where PCs go off and do a solo session
Have you written about Pendragon in a comment before @agincourt? Someone wrote me a comment about this a few months back and it was intriguing but I can't find the comment now!!
Hey I tried emailing your friend about their game and the address bounced back
@@tracyburnham604 remind me which one Tracy I can help connect
The more depth, the more complexity, the less flow. From a tech perspective a way of seemlessly tracking math and overhead, having everything visible when you need it and tracking things would be great. If it’s not doing the creating and just like an assistant to pull up what I probably need and when, that’d be a boon imo, as long as it remains just a thing to add to the kit along with the book & a pen.
There's been an inherent problem in many solo rpgs in that most (with a few exceptions) are trying to replace the GM. I'd like to see more solo rpgs that are designed around solo play mechanics, combat, social encounters, exploration are too ambiguous because most oracle systems try to encompass too much. The best solo games I've played are ones that are small in scope, (a tavern crawl is actually very entertaining).
As a newer solo player, I generally do a mixture of randomizing and writing in ideas as I go. It’s kind of how Dragonbane’s solo adventure will have a node at the end that’s like “this is where you’re headed” but how the player gets there is still randomized through tables and the like. However, I don’t think that’s always necessary and you can unfurl the story from the hook, it’s just sometimes I have a cool set piece I’d like to see get played out.
Of course I could be totally wrong, still learning!
Its not exactly the same, but the Dishonored tabletop rpg (not a solo game) has something akin to a "morality" mechanic in its chaos mechanic, which is designed to try and mimic the system in the videogame. Basically, you can take actions and bonuses to dice that increase "chaos", which then gives the GM a pool of "chaos dice" that let them then use their chaos dice to give bonuses to your enemies or make situations more difficult, so there is a mechanical consequence for your actions. Its a pretty interesting system and could be a basis for further development.
hey a Paul Bimler product!
Great video as always! I started to write a really self-indulgent comment about my experiences with solo rpgs, but realized that really I just wanted to ask people who are struggling to get into playing solo what they think would help them. Is there a specific type of tutorial that would be of use? Do you need more concrete examples of where to start? Is it the bit between starting and really getting going that's the problem? Do you want to write less? More? The same amount, but somehow in a different way? Between play sessions I've been thinking a lot about solo RPGing lately, and feel like I've had a few interesting revelations, but want to understand why other people who seem really interested sometimes have trouble getting into it.
I had a thought the other day. I'm a hobby musician and hobby video game developer. I'm also pretty new to TTRPGs. I've found that the feeling I get when I think about sitting down to play a solo RPG is the same exact feeling I get when I think about grabbing my guitar and sitting down to write a new song, and also the feeling I get when I think about needing to create new art for a game I'm working on. I find a million excuses why it would be better to do it tomorrow.
I think it has to do with the uncertainty that is inherent in any creative process, coupled with a fear of failure. There's aspects of creation that can't be distilled down to a foolproof procedure, and that can be paralyzing. It's the stark, blank canvas staring back at you. I think solo RPGs are many people's first time coming face to face with the blank canvas.
You know, I've never seen a "anti-solo rpg" video on YT. I've only ever seen content encouraging it. I will now have to look this up and see what the half says. Not like that will turn me away from solo play. I'm in too deep.
Something I do....
Tell the story as it seems to make the most sense and is the most likely outcome. But when possibility of interesting surprise exists, roll 2d6...
2d6 RESULT:
2 WAY worse than expected. (3%)
3-4 Worse than expected. (14%)
5-9 As expected. (66%)
10-11 Better than expected. (14%)
12 WAY better than expected. (3%)
For me, the analysis of randomization doesn't ring completely true. Especially in solo, it can be more about creativity than adrenaline. If I don't know what's going to happen next, that changes my approach to the present moment in a good way, because I can turn off the plot-logic part of my brain a bit. The goal is to be invested but not invested... invested in discovering what's going to happen, but not invested in a specific path. Maybe.
Forecasting starts at 48:23
5:18 So would you call this a... divining Rod?
I agree with everything, except one thing. Why would it be fun to step into the NPC's shoes? How would that work out? What would that role-play look like? I need more details. What do you really mean by that?
@@ricardo.mazeto well really I don’t know, it’s something I wonder how it could be done. Basically turning NPCs into PCs. Look at role play from a bigger scope than just you playing one person and instead see you as playing as the whole “scene”
@@amanisalone oh, I see. I actually had the same idea before, of two game modes. One like a mix of a MTG with a board game like War, and when you drop a card, instead of just tapping it, you may step into the lower level, where you actually roleplay as the card. This would also solve the problem of having to read 200+ pages of lore before start running a game, like Forgotten Realms, Greyhawk, etc. You play your own scenario like a War game or any other board game, and you decide when to take the reings of the paws and roleplay it yourself.
Prognosticate? You're like Phil the Groundhog for solo RPGs! It's the same things your whole life. "Clean up your room.", "Stand up straight.", "Pick up your feet.", "Take it like a man.", "Be nice to your sister.", "Don't mix GME and Tarot decks, ever.". Oh yeah, "Don't drive on the railroad track."
The biggest thing coming to solo (tt)rpging (and its best chance at larger scale popularity; it'll never be group play popular imo) is going to be AI GM / AI emulator / AI oracle. That is probably the most dry aspect of the activity, so anything that breaths any measure of personality and further ease (which would be immense) into the process is going to not only be huge (for the patronage), but the new bar for the activity.
Add some multiple choice (Ai) NPC interaction where your choices impact your relationship with that NPC, and story advancement on the whole.... and the number of reasons a solo rpg oriented player would have/want to involve themselves in group/typical table play would drop off of a cliff.
Interesting how tastes differ: I like the Oracle stuff (Mythic GM Emulator v2) because I find it a great creative exercise to figure out what the answers mean in the context of my game.
I've had one or two angry comments about solo roleplaying on my solo videos too. I don't get it. If it is not your thing, move on. But why spread your nastiness to others? Do they think that we should just stop because they said so?
I was reading through Mythic GME the other day for the first time, there was a section about narrative shifts to change scenes. It was more talking about the action within the scene that makes it different. And I had the thought, why can’t you have a game where you’re playing multiple characters in a giant setting or world, where perspective bounces back-and-forth. I would love to see solo RPGs explore the idea of non-linear paths and changing perspectives/narratives.
That's too complicated.
It's hard enough to imagine what your sole character will do, doing the same with multiple characters is exhausting.
people solo play multiple characters simultaneously in the same world even if the characters dont know each other and aren't partied together
That's what I do when playing Ironsworn or using Mythic GME. Whenever I feel like it I play as another character, sometimes I even play the villain when they are interessant enough.
You could just do that with any system. The problem is that if you want to play multiple sessions, you gotta take notes of everything your character did, or you won't remember where you're at next time. Adding another character with a different story doubles the notes you have to take. It's the same reason a gm doesn't like to split up the party.
Man Alone, awesome video