How and why do you solo play?

[Wolfpack48]

As for "why solo?", I imagine it's just a response to wanting to game but not having people to play with, which is a conundrum that's bedeviled a fairly large fraction of gamers since the beginning. That spiked during covid, of course; but I've also heard that, in a broad cultural sense, Americans, at least, have gradually been becoming more solitary over the last decade or two (less eating out, less dating, less exercising, less theater attendance, etc), so that might be driving it too, at least in the US.

There was a recent article in the Atlantic about this as well. We're seeing restaurants less busy and rarely do bars stay open to 2 a.m. anymore. I do think pandemic inertia is real. That said, I don't think that necessarily coincides with an interest in solo play. I think there's always been interest -- it just seems there's been more interest recently.

 

[The Soloist]

I solo because:
1) I loved the Barbarian Prince solo adventure game as a kid.
2) I got tired of buying RPG that no one wanted to play.
3) I like generating stories, as I go along, using orcles, tables, dice and my imagination.
4) I can play when I want, even if I just have an hour.
5) It feeds my love of throwing dice and move miniatures around to see what happens.

 

[J.Quondam]

I solo because:
1) I loved the Barbarian Prince solo adventure game as a kid.
2) I got tired of buying RPG that no one wanted to play
3) I like generating stories, as I go along, using orcles, tables, dice and my imagination.
4) I can play when I want, even if I just have an hour.
5) It feeds my love of throwing dice and move miniatures around to see what happens.

Out of curiosity, do you tend to use bespoke solo RPGs or is there a particular systemless oracle type framework you prefer?

 

[The Soloist]

Out of curiosity, do you tend to use bespoke solo RPGs or is there a particular systemless oracle type framework you prefer?

I find I prefer regular RPGs with my own solo rules add-ons to RPGs designed specifically for solo. The Mythic GM Emulator 2e is the most used in conjunction with regular RPGs.

 

[The Soloist]

Many solo players I've talked with over the last four years have played with groups for many years. A majority decided to play solo because they were tired of all the anti-social behaviour of other players or the GM, scheduling conflicts, choice of RPG, and all the usual suspects.

The lack of players was not the problem. It was the other players.

I play online with my group twice a month. That is enough for me.

 

[Bomberooski]

Really got into the YouTube channel "Me, Myself and Die" last year and do want to try out solo play. Seems like a fun challenge and outlet for creativity.

Like a few people in here have said, I like the idea of being able to throw something together real quick when I have some free time.

 

[Duke_]

Really got into the YouTube channel "Me, Myself and Die" last year and do want to try out solo play. Seems like a fun challenge and outlet for creativity.

Like a few people in here have said, I like the idea of being able to throw something together real quick when I have some free time.

MM&D is awesome. It's the only "actual play" I watch... I find most of them pretty boring. But Trevor is just so damn entertaining and so into it that he can really hold my attention. Given my usual thoughts about APs, I wouldn't have thought that watching a guy play all these characters and move minis around by himself would be entertaining. It won't be the last time I'm wrong.

Hoping for some new content once his game launches though. This has been a good season and I'd like to see how it turns out.

 

[Wolfpack48]

Many solo players I've talked with over the last four years have played with groups for many years. A majority decided to play solo because they were tired of all the anti-social behaviour of other players or the GM, scheduling conflicts, choice of RPG, and all the usual suspects.

The lack of players was not the problem. It was the other players.

I play online with my group twice a month. That is enough for me.

Wow, so the dynamics of groups were so bad they drove folks to solo play. It’s making me wonder if we need more guides on how to foster better groups independent all our game settings and systems.