What's a good game for...?

[Camelot]

What's a good game (not a board game or card game, but a pen and paper roleplaying game, dice optional) for two people to play, one that's simple enough to learn in one day and good for playing a one-shot? Any genre!

 

[Ringlerun]

Nearly any rpg can be used 1 on 1, but i can give you some suggestions.

Gurps. Just grap the free quick start rules.
Ad&d 1st or 2nd editions. TSR bought out the Fighter, Mage, Thief and Cleric challenges that are designed for 1 on 1 play.
Warhammer FRPG 2nd edition
Runequest
StarWars RPG WEG or SAGA
Call of Cthulhu
Any of the abundant free rpg's you can find on the net
And pretty much any other RPG system that doesnt rely on group mechanics for play.
Actually i should sum this up as any rpg system other than 4E D&D and you should be ok

 

[Quickleaf]

Primetime Adventures is super quick to pick up and play, you just need the rules and a deck of cards. It's more story-centric than other RPGs, but lots of fun. With just one player the focus would be entirely on their PC (which matters in terms of the game's light mechanics), and you'd pretty much ignore 'fanmail'. Other than that, it uses TV lingo most of us are familiar with, doesn't require character sheets which look like tax forms, and can model any genre.

 

[Wik]

Earthdawn or Shadowrun were both built with smaller parties in mind. Both can be a bit complex rules-wise, especially Shadowrun. You can easily play Earthdawn with only a bit of learning, though.

the d6 System, in particular the old WEG Star Wars games, are perfect for this sort of play. As are any of the other cinematic WEG products (Indiana Jones, frex).

Basically, avoid games that require "party roles", because you only have one guy, and it sucks to play a game without, say, a cleric.

 

[bethjoy]

I would also go for one of the many many free browser games online, there are so many to choose from Pen-paper.net has some good browser rpgs!

 

[Jhaelen]

Earthdawn or Shadowrun were both built with smaller parties in mind.

Umm, Earthdawn? Not really. All of the published modules are for 5-8 players!

And that's about the number you need to have if you ever want to use a horror in your game.

 

[Thanee]

Savage Worlds is always worth a look.

Bye
Thanee

 

[Shades of Green]

Tempora Mutantur is an (IMHO) excellent rules-light post-apocalyptic game which is, in its most complete form, merely a few pages long, and thus very easy to learn. And I think it'll work perfectly for a 1-on-1 game.

 

[Wik]

Umm, Earthdawn? Not really. All of the published modules are for 5-8 players!

And that's about the number you need to have if you ever want to use a horror in your game.

Maybe the published modules. And you're absolutely right about the horrors... but then, a single player can't take down a dragon in D&D, either.

What I meant was, it's not a game that relies on multiple party roles - you can heal yourself, and you don't need a thief or a fighter or anything. And I've always played the game with smaller groups, because it seems to run better that way. FASA always presents their games as smaller-group affairs, and Earthdawn, in my experience, is better as a small group game.

 

[Crothian]

For a game with only two people it is far less about the game and more about the people. Cater the game to the player and find out what gebnre they like and what type of games they want. I've run many games like this and I call them solos ie just one player campaigns. I've found that licensed games can be great for this becasue many of them the setting and genre are already really known by their fans and it is easy to create a one person story within them. I ran a Buffy RPG solo game for 2 years and we mirrored the seven seasons of the show. So, if there is show or book that has been turned into an RPG that might be the way to go.