I have
Mythic, and have fooled around with it, a little, but not really for solo play. I'll tellya about my experiences with it, and what I think about solo play with it, most of all...
First of all, if you're wanting to use it to run scenarios with zero preparation, especially in D&D, just give it up, right now!!! You'll still need NPCs, if you're going to use the D&D combat, and/or skills system, Feats, etc. These take time and forethought to prepare, and will need equippage, ad nauseum. You can also simply use
Mythic's own system, if you want, and convert to/from D&D stats. They provide a table for that, although I don't always agree with the conversions.
Basically, in
Mythic, everything is handled by asking Yes/No questions. "Does my PC attack next?" Then you compare the difficulty of the task to the -- shall we say -- Strength of the opposing attribute, and find a set of three numbers on the table... Let's say my PC has an Average STR+BAB, against my opponent's Average, and that this yielded (I'm just making up these numbers, here), an 05, 50, 95... Then I roll to answer the question, and get a 20 (on percentiles). The first number is an "Extraordinary Yes", the second the "Yes", and the third the "Extraordinary No". Since I rolled a 20, this is less than the "Yes" number, so my PC attacks next, but not down into the "Extraordinary Yes" range, so I get no bonus. If I had rolled a 51-94, the NPC would have attacked me, and if I had rolled a 95+, (s)he/it would have received a bonus. If I had rolled a 5-, I would have gotten one.
If you use the D&D combat system, you can ignore such wonkiness, just roll Initiative, and conduct combat normally. Where
Mythic helps you, here, is with "Threads", random events, and answering questions. For solo play, you would need to keep on your GMing hat, while running the game, to set the "odds". If you are attacked, the odds of finding a Vorpal Sword at your feet are pretty doggone low (it has never happened to me)! You, as the sole player/GM, can set the chances wherever you want, but... "Get real, Doctor Phil!"
Mythic uses common, everyday words to describe both task difficulty, and the stat, skill, etc., opposing it. In this case, since there is no stat opposing, you just use "Average", but class the chances of happening upon a Vorpal Sword as "Weak", or less. That gives you a NEGATIVE number for the "Yes" range (I think, don't have it handy), so unless you roll really low, into "Extraordinary Yes" territory, you find no Vorpals.
Obviously, if you wanna Powergame, you set your odds much higher...
Also, you create "Threads", and keep lists of them, NPCs, etc. Every "Scene" has several rolls on various tables, and a "Chaos Factor". Let's say I roll an 9 on 1D10... Chaos is very high! Okay, now we need an opening scene... Here, I will insert a D&D-rules campaign I am running for a PC who abandonned his party, after one of the other PCs attacked him, twice. Without a penny to his name, the PC leaves the fractured party, and goes off into an unfamiliar city, on an unfamiliar world, in another Universe (that he has just been transported to), without allies, friends, or help. The scene, here, is him trying to get money, so he can rent a room, get food, etc. We are now ready to let
Mythic work.
First, I create a list of "Threads" that I can weave together...
1) Treasure
2) Thodol (an NPC unknown to the PC)
3) Drow Spider King (Ditto)
4) Books (A treasure that I have ready to be found, leading to other quests)
5) Dover Delver (Canine Humanoid NPC he could meet)
Then, I create a list of all characters in the current and previous scenes, including the former party members, NPCs, the above, the PC, and his horse...
Next, I roll against chaos to see if I will use the Scene as planned, interrupt it with something, or replace it. With Chaos so high, something replaces the Treasure-hunting...
I roll for the event focus, and get 51 - PC Negative. Uh-oh! Something bad is looming on the horizon for the lone PC! (If there were more than one PC, I would roll to see who's affected). So, what's up? I roll 1D200 (!) on the events table, and get 173 - Duality. Now I hafta stop and think... what does that mean?
I could use the "I Dunno Rule", and ignore it, or re-roll, but I decide that it means that I introduce the Drow Spider King thread, and give him the same stats as the PC. I generate his D&D stats & equipment, and we start...
The PC wants to make some money, fast, but refuses to steal. He has a Profession (Herbalist), but is unfamiliar with the plants, here, so he wanders about, looking for ways to make money... I roll to see if he can overhear some people talking about the Undercity, a dangerous, ruined place to delve into... Since Chaos is a FREAKIN'-HIGH 9, he does, and starts searching out a way to get down there. Usually, this is hard to do, but the Chaos Factor makes it so easy, that he wanders into a building's basement, and finds a way in, and a safe (?) place to leave his horse.
The next question he asks is, "Is there enough light filtering in, down here, to see with my Low-light Vision?" I roll "Yes", so he begins exploring... I set the odds of just stumbling across anything interesting so low that, even with the sky-high Chaos Factor, he doesn't just trip over a treasure chest. He stalks about, warily, until he encounters the Drow. I use D&D stats for everything, here.
He wins Initiative, Spot, Listen, Hide, & Move Silently, so he has surprised the Drow, who is sitting by a campfire, roasting rats, or something. He doesn't like Drow, but the Drow hasn't done anything, so he doesn't attack. Instead, he moves around, prepares his bow & arrow, and calls out. The Drow rears up, recognizing the voice of a surface Elf (one of his Favored Enemies), and tells the PC to prepare to die.
By calling out, the PC gave up Initiative, so the Drow pulls his Masterwork Hand-Crossbow, and fires a sleep-poisoned dart at him, but (thanfully, since he's alone!) misses. The PC closes, and shoots back, criticalling for 22 points, and the fight is on! The rest I'll save for the story hour, but when the Drow is dead, the PC goes to search his body, and encounters the Spider King's "Animal Companion", a Tiny Monstrous Spider, who jumps out. Easily deflected by his buckler, the Tiny Spider is quickly gibbletized, and the Drow is decapitated, searched, and the body burned in his campfire, along with his pet.
On the body, the PC finds his rapier (which is, unknown to him, +1), a +1 glowing shortsword, a pouch of 120 platinum pieces (he's rich!), an empty vial of Drow Sleep poison, the MW Hand-Crossbow, and (also currently unknown) a +1 Mithral chain hauberk and a +1 buckler. At this point, the scene is over, and I go back to
Mythic.
The next scene is still Treasure-Hunting, but, Chaos says to Interrupt with an NPC Negative (90). The Event is 193 - Disunity. I look at my list of NPCs, and spitefully decide to pick on the former party member who attacked the PC, causing the disunity in the party. Technically, this is a "Remote Event", but since the only NPC present is the PC's mount, I go with it... Back at the castle, the Half-Orc who tried to steal the magic bow found in the treasure, and attacked the PC (twice), gets his come-uppance! He is put in the stocks by the Lord, and fined, and the bow is taken back. Wanting something else, I roll, again.
77 - Neutral Event. 53 - Spite. How to fit that in? An Ancient Wizard's spite? I have an inkling, but roll again. 46 - Open/Close a Thread. I choose the "Books" Thread, as I want to award the PC some treasure that I had already planned. 127 - Ambush!
Here's what I do: I decide that an ancient Wizard, in his spite, created a Mirror Fiend, and hung it up, ordering it to attack anyone who entered his treasure-chamber without him. The Books are there, and even though the Wiz was dead long ago, the Mirror is still there, with its "Fiend" of a golem still waiting to attack! Now to bring them all together...
Stalking through the Undercity is dangerous, not just because of all the creatures and NPCs, but also because the ruins have a tendency to structural collapse, and this PC doesn't have any Knowledge (Architecture & Engineering) to even attempt the DC:25 check to spot it, so he steps on a weak spot, and it falls through...
Being a Ranger, though, he has Jump, and a good Reflex save, so he manages to leap aside as the floor under him collapses, and takes no damage. He is now staring down into the ages-dead Wizard's Treasure-chamber, at the mirror containing the Mirror Fiend! As he sets his grappling hook and prepares to descend into the room, the Mirror Fiend is all set to Ambush him, as soon as he does! If he survives, and can get past it, he will gain the Books (and probably a lot more wounds, since the Mirror Fiend is only harmed by magical blunts, and he has none).
As you can see, the only two parts (maybe three) that you need
Mythic for are the events stuff, and the % Chance tables. You will still need monsters, PCs, NPCs, equipment, etc. You will also need to creatively interpret what the random events mean... This will often take some thought...
For instance, when I rolled "PC Negative"/"Duality", it could have been a Mirror of Opposition, or a Doppleganger, or... but since I already had prepared a Drow Spider King encounter, I just interpretted "Duality" to mean that the PC & NPC were both the same level, with the same stats and equipment (except for weapons), used the items in the DMG for a Ranger of that level, and called it Good. I also creatively re-interpretted the NPC Negative result into a Remote Event, which the PC will learn about, later. Normally, it should have happened to an NPC present, but I wasn't going to pick on the poor PC's hidden mount!
Will the PC survive the ambush by the spiteful Wizard's Mirror Fiend guardian, and live to discover the hoard of books? Tune in, next week, same time, different Story Hour!
