November has arrived, which means Solo Gaming Appreciation Month
(SGAM) returns with a vengeance. The event, organized by the
Google Plus Lone Wolf Roleplaying community, encourages gamers to celebrate
solitaire play and post their experiences (something the community
generally supports throughout the year). Some of us, myself included,
dabble in all kinds of solitaire play year-round, from roleplaying
games and solo gamebooks to board games and wargames, sometimes to
playtest design concepts, other times for sheer entertainment. SGAM
offers an occasion to reflect on some solitaire roleplaying
resources, some tried and true, some newly discovered, that not only
reflect my particular solo gaming preferences but might also enhance
others’ solo play experiences:
Moldvay’s Basic D&D DM Information:
I’ve been consolidating my
B/X D&D house rules
recently, fitting useful charts onto a single reference sheet,
reviewing my adjustments to the character creation process and
in-game rulings, and putting everything into a binder. I was
originally going to label it “House Rules” but decided to add
“Solo Play Resources.” Since my son’s forays into roleplaying
games with mom and dad have mostly focused on
Hero Kids and
the
Star Wars Roleplaying Game, I intend most of my
B/X D&D
activities for solitaire play; but I re-discovered some of Moldvay’s
wonderful tips in “Part 8: Dungeon Master Information” – tucked
away behind the nuts and bolts of the
Basic D&D rulebook –
that port quite nicely to solitaire play. Here on pages B51-B52 he
offers some basic dungeon design tips, from choosing a scenario to
randomly stocking the dungeon...tools solo players can use to create
a basic dungeon-delving experience. I gave it a try using a
small-dungeon map from Dyson Logos (so I didn’t have to worry about
randomly generating and rendering maps) and it provided a brief but
satisfying delve for my favorite characters.
Rory’s Story Cubes: Rory’s Story Cubes
have long been hailed as inspirational resources for solitaire
roleplaying, particularly for introducing random, unexpected elements
and plot twists. I have the base set and the
Voyages set,
along with the three-dice
Enchanted and
Intergalactic
sets.
The Creativity Hub continues releasing more sets, from small,
three-dice thematic boosters to full nine-cube sets, often with
licensed themes like
Scooby Doo, Looney Tunes, and even
Doctor
Who (I have my eye on the
Explore, Mythic, Medieval,
and
Rampage
boosters...). I’ve used them to provide guidance during solo
roleplaying scenarios. Sometimes when I’m at am impasse I roll a
few and select one (or interpret them all) to immediately move the
action along. Other times I roll a few at the logical beginning of
each scene or when arriving at a new location to serve as “fateful
signs” that play some role in the upcoming encounter. They’re the
perfect “go-to” tool when you’re stuck and need some new
element to move the action along (both for solo and group
roleplaying).
Untold: Adventures Await:
The Creativity Hub recently released a new product based on
Rory’s
Story Cubes,
Untold: Adventures Await, that can stand alone by itself as a “collaborative
storytelling game” quite suitable for introducing younger players
or gaming newcomers to the story-driven roleplaying experience (and
can be played solitaire as it stands). But its components and rules
framework can add narrative structure and inspiration to solitaire
roleplaying adventures. Designed by educational consultant and
solitaire gaming advocate John Fiore and Rory O’Connor (the creator
of the story cubes),
Untold’s components offer some great
tools for solo roleplaying (as well as an engaging game on its own).
Foremost among these are scene cards that work together to provide
some narrative structure and story prompts. The game provides six
cards each of five types: “A Dangerous Dilemma,” “The Plot
Thickens,” “An Heroic Undertaking,” “The Truth Revealed,”
and “The Final Showdown.” Each card has spots for story cubes
players roll and collaboratively choose how they affect the story
set-up and subsequent developments. The other components solo
roleplayers can use are the Outcome and Reaction cards. Outcome cards
answer yes/no questions with qualified answers like “no, but...”
to “yes, and....” Reaction cards offer various emoji-like faces
players assign to someone in the scene (including their own
character). These components – as well as the included set of story
cubes – make
Untold a valuable addition to a solitaire
roleplaying gamer’s arsenal of resources. (
Full Disclosure:
My family helped playtest the
Untold rules and I’m getting a
comp copy at some point.)
Die-Drop Tables: I haven’t used die-drop tables in my past
gaming endeavors (solo or otherwise), but I like the concept as a
means to provide themed, randomized content, especially for
generating solo scenario elements. Alas, I can’t seem to find a
central community or clearinghouse for these resources beyond the
Die-Drop Table Heaven Google Plus community (the Die-Drop Table Hell
community is invite-only). And my own efforts at downloading,
archiving, and printing them have not come to fruition (aside from my
picayune standards in terms of content and quality). They certainly
have a place in solitaire roleplaying, just not one I’ve
explored...yet.
Schweig’s Themed Dungeon Generator: Okay, I’m
self-promoting here, but I wouldn’t have designed this product if I
didn’t see a need for folks to “program” their own random
dungeon generators with a skeletal plot theme...or better yet, fill
out their own tables to share with an unsuspecting solo gamer friend.
This short document offers guidance in stocking some random tables to
generate a dungeon-delve, along with escalating encounter tables that
increase challenges the deeper one explores. Beyond providing the
system and blank table sheets, it also includes two example dungeons
that demonstrate how to “program” the generator and give solo
roleplayers something to try immediately. Besides, SGAM reminds me to
put it on sale at 50% off for the month of November.
Ruins of the Undercity: I’ve featured Kabuki Kaiser’s
solitaire
Ruins of the Undercity before (
“What Makes A Good Adventurer Base?”). I’m planning on revisiting it this month
because it previously provided a satisfying (if at times frustrating)
solo dungeon-delving experience, with the added benefit of some
engaging city mechanics for re-supplying my party and offering them
some other interactions. The various random systems require a good
deal of focus to get right, but the behind-the-scenes “programming”
works nicely to provide a varied experience and evoke a strong sense
of setting. I’ve also heard good things about Kaiser’s
Mad
Monks of Kwantoon, a similar solo campaign generator with an
oriental theme and plenty of additional game resources.
D30 Sandbox Companion: Richard J. LeBlanc, Jr., has an
appreciation for the oft-overlooked 30-sided die...so he naturally
created several supplements capitalizing on the “rhombic
triacontahdron’s” versatility. While the
D30 DM Companion
offers a host of tables to enhance all aspects of a dungeon crawl,
I’m looking forward to putting my favorite characters through the
paces of his
D30 Sandbox Companion. This supplement begins
with a host of adventure generator tables and movies on from there
into the mechanics of hexcrawling. While the hex terrain itself isn’t
random – one must still map the hex in question and roll for the
adventure premise – the specific locations and encounter within
rely on random tables to generate wilderness locations, settlements,
and the non-player characters that inhabit them and inevitably
interact with your own characters. Although some might balk at using
masses of random tables, I find them useful both in providing
specific elements during an adventure and general inspiration by
simply perusing their contents. Most of my solo roleplaying resources
focus on dungeon delves, so I’m looking forward to some wilderness
adventures exploring the hexcrawl format.
I’ve no doubt overlooked some solo roleplaying resources in my own
library and certainly have overlooked other useful materials out in
the infinite, wilder realms of the interwebzes. For those seeking
solitaire recommendations for fare other than roleplaying games or
additional reading on the subject of solo gaming, I offer a few
suggested blog posts from Hobby Games Recce’s sordid past:
