Best Systems For One-on-one Play?

Vanuslux · Oct 17, 2008

As much as I love 4E, it isn't very well suited for playing with only one or two players...and since I have more opportunities to run for one or two people more often than a full group I've been wondering what are the best systems out there for such play.

Jack99 · Oct 17, 2008

Maybe you should explain why you think 4e is not well suited for one or two players. That would make it easier to understand what you are looking for.

I find 4e way superior for smaller parties. Then again, it's been so long since I played 1e or 2e, so the comparison is mostly with 3.x.

Cheers

jdrakeh · Oct 17, 2008

I really liked the original BESM (1e) in the little, grey, book for one-on-one game play. Likewise, I've found that TWERPS and Risus also shine here. I have used AD&D (1e & 2e) and BD&D (Holmes) for this in the past, as well, though in retrospect they didn't seem to work very well without 'tag along' NPCs (i.e., classed retainers) being used to compensate for the deeply ingrained party size assumptions.

Vanuslux · Oct 17, 2008

Jack99 said:
Maybe you should explain why you think 4e is not well suited for one or two players. That would make it easier to understand what you are looking for.

I find 4e way superior for smaller parties. Then again, it's been so long since I played 1e or 2e, so the comparison is mostly with 3.x.

Cheers

It seems most class powers in 4E are designed around working as a team. This is awesome if you are a member of a party...when you're solo, not so much.

(un)reason · Oct 17, 2008

Vanuslux said:
It seems most class powers in 4E are designed around working as a team. This is awesome if you are a member of a party...when you're solo, not so much.

There is an important distinction to make here. It is entirely true that D&D isn't that well suited to games with solo characters. However, played by a single player, controlling the whole team rather than one player per character can work very well, sometimes even better than standard troupe play, because you can always be sure that all the characters will properly co-ordinate their actions.

Rechan · Oct 17, 2008

Beast Hunters is a game designed with 1-2 players in mind.

It's a very Conan type game; a warrior who stalks a primordial beast, to use its blood to make tattoos in order to gain great powers, etc.

I honestly don't know about the quality of the game; never played. However, Fred Hicks was involved in the project, and that's a good enough voucher to me; Fred Hicks doesn't touch bad products.

Umbran · Oct 17, 2008

I would think that World of Darkness could be used to do some really good solo work.

Superhero games, in general, often work well for solos.

MrFilthyIke · Oct 17, 2008

(un)reason said:
There is an important distinction to make here. It is entirely true that D&D isn't that well suited to games with solo characters. However, played by a single player, controlling the whole team rather than one player per character can work very well, sometimes even better than standard troupe play, because you can always be sure that all the characters will properly co-ordinate their actions.

This is my suggestion as well, but people will decry it as the "board game-ification" of D&D.

Edit: I'd play a game as one player controlling a group.

Jack99 · Oct 17, 2008

Vanuslux said:
It seems most class powers in 4E are designed around working as a team. This is awesome if you are a member of a party...when you're solo, not so much.

Have you actually tried. We have run 1 and 2 man groups, both at low (1-4) and medium (13-14) and it works quite well, in our experience.

Irda Ranger · Oct 17, 2008

Vanuslux said:
It seems most class powers in 4E are designed around working as a team. This is awesome if you are a member of a party...when you're solo, not so much.

Are you looking for a game where 1-2 players can play with only 1-2 PCs, or where it's easy for 1-2 players to control a team of PCs?

For the latter I like Classic D&D because the characters are mechanically simpler - so it's easier for one person to manage multiple PCs. I don't have any suggestions for the first situation though.