The Gamemaster Solitaire Adventure

In the past I’ve opined about the virtues of solitaire game adventures, particularly those included in rulebooks, quick-start guides, or other promotional materials as tutorials to introduce the intricacies of the game mechanics as well as a sense of setting. Most focus on the player’s experience -- how to use rules relevant to characters and how to relate those characters to the particular setting -- but can a gamemaster-oriented solo tutorial scenario supplant good presentation and an intuitive introductory group adventure design, like the basic, numbered dungeons found in most hack-and-slash fantasy games?

Roleplaying games have long used solitaire adventures to introduce players to rules and setting through programmed adventures: numbered text entries like those found in Choose Your Own Adventure Books and “interactive fiction” fare, with some entries handling player choices (“To head east, go to #11; to head west, go to #14.”) and others adjudicating rules (“If you roll 9 or lower you fall into the pit…go to #17; if you roll 10 or higher you leap to solid ground just in time…go to #29.”).

Several notable games included solitaire tutorial adventures, including the 1983 red-box edition of basic Dungeons & Dragons, Star Frontiers, The James Bond 007 Roleplaying Game, the first edition Star Wars Roleplaying Gamefrom West End Games, Paranoia (2nd edition), early editions of GURPS, and Theatre of the Mind’s Adventures on Tekumel. I’ve designed a number in my time for such games as The Indiana Jones Roleplaying Game (in the Indiana Jones Adventures D6 supplement), The Hercules & Xena Roleplaying Game, The Men in Black Roleplaying Game, and the Star Wars Roleplaying Game, 2nd Edition, Revised & Expanded, from West End Games.

GM Solitaires

Over the years rare efforts in introductory roleplaying game products have attempted to employ a gamemaster solitaire tutorial adventure in tandem with the more traditional one oriented toward players.

The red-box Basic Dungeons & Dragons rules (the 1983 edition with the Larry Elmore artwork on the cover) contained separate rule booklets for players and dungeon masters, each including a solitaire tutorial adventure in the programmed format, both presumably authored by Frank Mentzer, who revised this edition from earlier ones. The 90-entry player solitaire briefly covers activities in “town” and an overview of combat before walking players step-by-step through several subterranean encounters. The 39-entry gamemaster solo adventure spends half its entries covering numerous possibilities in the initial encounters -- including sections to read aloud to players -- before sending the gamemaster off to the other half, following a map with numbered chambers with standard notes for each location. This remains possibly the best gamemaster-oriented solo tutorial adventure; the first half walks the gamemaster through the initial encounters, covering the basics of exploration, combat, and spellcasting, before turning the gamemaster over to the more standard numbered dungeon room format. It raises the question, however, of whether gamemaster-oriented solo tutorial adventures work better than basic, numbered-room dungeon crawls with copious gamemaster advice and rule refreshers.

In 1991 Iron Crown Enterprises published The Lord of the Rings Adventure Game, an introductory boxed set loosely based on the company’s popular Middle-earth Roleplaying Game but set in J.R.R. Tolkien’s popular fantasy world. The boxed set included a brief overview of rules in a short booklet, extensive pre-generated character material, many maps and character stand-ups, and a hefty solitaire tutorial adventure for a gamemaster to read and run for a group. The format presumed familiarity on everyone’s part of basic skill and combat resolution and a general understanding of the information on character sheets, concentrating on helping a gamemaster to lead an engaging adventure for a team of heroes step-by-step from one encounter to the next. Iron Crown Enterprises published two additional scenarios in a similar style, but the adventure game line paled in comparison to the company’s far more popular Middle-earth Roleplaying Game.

(I am aware that Fantasy Flight Games has taken a similar approach in its Star Wars: Edge of Empire Beginner Game, providing pre-generated characters and an exhaustive learn-as-you-go scenario to introduce game mechanics and gamemastering skills during play; however, I’ve not commented further on it here as I’ve not seen the material first-hand.)

I incorporated solitaire tutorial adventures for players and gamemasters in the Star Wars Introductory Adventure Game I developed for West End Games in the mid-1990s. The company hoped the product would appeal to Star Wars fans seeking a more friendly entry point into roleplaying than the regular game’s huge rulebook and numerous supplements. Part of that strategy hinged on offering both solitaire tutorial adventures for players and the gamemaster, each one furthering the story ultimately carried out in a vast, planetside-oriented campaign, also included in the boxed set. For the Star Wars Introductory Adventure Game, the player solitaire tutorial adventure contained 14 entries along with an introduction and pre-generated character sheet, everything necessary to play through a single encounter with a probe droid. The gamemaster solo adventure, however, contained 12 entries to run a full scenario in which the players escape a Rebel base under Imperial attack; although each entry was not strictly location-based, they covered several actions which included scavenging for weapons and medical supplies, healing wounds, evading a cave-in, and a final confrontation with scout troopers at the base’s back door…most of which could fit conceivably fit into a map-based, numbered-room scenario format.

This missive in no way represents a thorough investigation of “gamemaster tutorial adventures” in games across the years, but to my limited knowledge I can’t think of many other games using the solitaire tutorial adventure format to lead gamemasters by the hand running an adventure for several players. It’s not really a widely used technique; if solitaire tutorial adventures for single players seem rare, those for gamemasters remain almost nonexistent.

Solo Adventure or Numbered Locations?

Most games market their appeal to existing gamers who have some familiarity with basic system elements and gameplay, thus avoiding the need for most any kind of tutorial adventure beyond a beginner scenario with more copious notes than usual. Solitaire tutorial adventures require additional work to fulfill their purpose successfully. (They also take space in books designers would rather fill with setting information and game rules.) The scope of information such scenarios impart depends on the designer’s intent and ability to cover the numerous intricacies of running a game, quite a bit more than the expected game mechanic and setting basics for player solo scenarios. Where player-based solo tutorial adventures can introduce key game concepts step-by-step (such as the intricacies of skill and combat resolution), those for gamemasters assume familiarity with those concepts and focus on giving experience setting scenes and offering options to resolve character actions.

At their core, numbered dungeon adventure maps function as the most basic version of a solitaire tutorial gameamster scenario. They offer “programmed” plotting with one entry per map location, each containing notes on monsters, traps, and other hazards that engage gamemasters in their knowledge of rules and, in some cases, serve as refreshers with additional notes for handling encounter situations. Passage from one location to the next relies on the visual plotting of a map, a much more navigable reference than programmed text entries. “Read aloud” sections beginning each entry help gamemasters set the mood and describe the scene, offering hints or temptations on areas to explore. Characters plot their course on the map, and when they reach a numbered location, interact with the challenges discovered there, as described and adjudicated by the gamemaster. It presumes the gamemaster’s understanding of how the rules operate, presumably gleaned from running through a player solo tutorial adventure and absorbing the essential parts of the rulebook.

My Own Project

For the fantasy roleplaying game I’m developing I designed a standard programmed solitaire tutorial adventure for single players I sent out for playtesting; it consists of 23 numbered entries primarily demonstrating the rules for combat and skill resolution and a brief section on healing. I decided to convert the solitaire format into a numbered dungeon format and throw in a few more pre-generated characters so playtesting gamemasters could run the same solo adventure action for a group of players. In that format the 23-entry solo adventure translated into 6 numbered locations on a map, with the text containing much the same encounter information except the demonstration of how the game engine worked (now in the hands of the gamemaster to explain to players). The project remains in development; although the gamemaster version of the solo player adventure works nicely for playtesting, I plan on designing a small, beginner group dungeon-crawl rather than trying to develop a gamemaster solo tutorial adventure (despite my enjoyment of the solitaire format for both players and gamemasters).

While I continue advocating use of solitaire adventures in core rulebooks to teach players core rules concepts and impart a sense of setting -- and will continue employing them in my own work when relevant -- I’m not sure a similar gamemaster solitaire format takes the place of a well-designed group scenario with clear yet detailed sections offering rules reminders and plenty of options for handling character actions and adventure possibilities.

Inspirational Espionage Fiction

As long as I can remember I’ve had a fondness for espionage films, novels, and games. It’s not as strong as some of my other interests, but it’s a recurring theme that provides frequent satisfaction when done well. Given my interest in World War II, it’s natural I gravitate toward espionage fiction inspired by or set in that period, particularly the work of Ian Fleming, W.E.B. Griffin, and Alan Furst.

I think my first exposure to the espionage genre was a network television broadcast of a James Bond film -- I don’t quite remember which, though quite possibly it was the mediocre Diamonds Are Forever -- followed by a healthy dose television and film fare often merging espionage elements with adventurous action, like such classics as Where Eagles Dare and The Guns of Navarone, more James Bond films, and even the short-lived Tales of the Gold Monkey series. The confluence of action-adventure and espionage has in recent years manifested itself in my affinity for pulp roleplaying game projects such as Afrika Korpse for Weird War II, Pulp Egypt, and Heroes of Rura-Tonga.

While most of my gaming endeavors focused on fantasy fare like Dungeons & Dragons, dark-future like Cyberpunk, Victorian steampunk like Space 1889, and, of course, space opera like Star Wars, I’ve often dabbled in and quite enjoyed espionage-themed roleplaying games. In my earliest years in the hobby, during the “Golden Age of Roleplaying” (the early 1980s) I bought TSR’s Top Secret game because the espionage setting intrigued me and was, lamentably, one of the few roleplaying games available in the local hobby store. The next espionage game to grab my attention was Victory Games’ James Bond 007 Roleplaying Game based on the films I’d grown to love from network television and later as they were released to theaters.

It wasn’t until after I’d absorbed the espionage material in movies and games that I finally became interested in the literature. I’d already done a great deal of reading in the science fiction and fantasy genres in my younger years; my first forays into espionage literature were with what one might consider the seminal body of modern spy literature… Ian Fleming’s original James Bond novels. To those familiar with the films, the novels are quite tame in terms of action, gadgets, and other movie conventions modern viewers expect. While at first I was slightly disappointed the novels contributed only trace elements to the films, I soon found enjoyment in them primarily because they retain some authenticity of the espionage tradecraft enhanced by the (for the time) exotic locales and fantastic plot elements. Now and then I pick up a new one as a diversion from whatever I’m reading at the moment. You Only Live Twice was my most recent James Bond novel, though I’m rather fond of From Russia with Love, the film version of which still retains a good degree of the tradecraft and original story, having been filmed while Fleming was still alive and active in the James Bond franchise.

In college a writing professor encouraged me to branch out from my science fiction and fantasy fare and read some John LeCarre novels. While I enjoyed Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy and The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, I realized that, without the classy sheen of glamour and attitude of James Bond, Cold War-era espionage stories really didn’t engage my imagination (possibly a by-product of having come of age during the waning years of the Cold War).

As I immersed myself in researching World War II espionage for a variety of roleplaying game projects (some as yet still unpublished) I stumbled upon the novels of W.E.B. Griffin, particularly his Men at War series -- about the OSS -- and the Honor Bound series -- about an American with Argentinean connections who works against the Nazis through the OSS. He quickly creates some engaging characters, interweaves them through relatives, friends, and social connections, and puts them through their paces in various espionage activities in World War II. His writing isn’t high, polished art -- he tends to take his time building up to the climax, which often occurs so quickly it’s almost an afterthought --  but it manages to draw readers into the characters and action. I’ve found the earliest books in each series the most entertaining and easiest to dive into.

The other espionage literature I’ve only recently discovered is Alan Furst’s novels set in the pre-war and early-war years of World War II. The two I’ve read thus far are The Spies of Warsaw and The Polish Officer. Furst tells an engaging tale, swiftly drawing readers to care for his protagonists as they struggle against the onset or arrival of war in exotic European locales, all set against the uncertain backdrop of World War II in which the participants have no knowledge how it might ultimately end. He accomplishes several literary feats with a talented author’s artistry. He quickly conveys a vivid sense of character, whether for protagonists, secondary characters, or even those with brief appearances. He effortlessly paints an impression of each location without spending far too much time on exhaustive descriptions. But perhaps the best element of his fiction is Furst’s ability to demonstrate the true tradecraft necessary of the time: dead drops, clandestine meetings with false identities, wireless telegraphy procedures, agent infiltration and exfiltration, and the nature of many covert operations against small yet significant targets. Though not as flashy as Fleming or even Griffin, Furst portrays a gritty, realistic, and dangerous world of espionage within a realistic historical context.

So how does this literary source material inform espionage roleplaying games? Fleming certainly creates the iconic classy and accomplished spy, though the books provide quite an interesting insight into his inner character the films cannot. He sets the groundwork for the modern spy genre by emphasizing exotic locales, cutting-edge technology (for its day), and larger-than-life characters. Griffin emphasizes social contacts to navigate an espionage organizations inner bureaucracy as well as operations in the field. Furst offers an illustration of front-line espionage operations complete with artfully drawn characters and locations. All three demonstrate practical tradecraft for their time, though perhaps Furst does this best in numerous yet concise little episodes.

I’ve done some game work in the past with World War II espionage, notably elements of my Weird War II Afrika Korpse sourcebook, elements of Pulp Egypt and Heroes of Rura-Tonga, and some personal games using a more rigidly defined version of Risus: The Anything RPG. One of these days I’d love to develop an espionage game or sourcebook based on operations during World War II, possibly with alternatives for running a straight historically inspired game or one infused with fantastic pulp elements to augment history. Given the simple historical scope of the period and material such a project would remain a massive endeavor, but one which taps my enthusiasm.