Solo play options

[Mark]

There are hundreds of Choose Your Own Adventure books that you could find through Amazon, in used bookstores and through eBay -

Choose Your Own Adventure - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

List of Choose Your Own Adventure books - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Also, see Endless Quest books -

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endless_Quest

And Fighting Fantasy books -

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fighting_Fantasy

http://www.fightingfantasygamebooks.com/

 

[Theo R Cwithin]

There are hundreds of Choose Your Own Adventure books that you could find through Amazon, in used bookstores and through eBay http://www.fightingfantasygamebooks.com/

Also, the "Lone Wolf" books are playable online at Project Aon (here), if you want to go the route of choose-your-own-adventures.

 

[Mercurius]

There is the DM Emulator that looks pretty sweet with lots of great reviews.

Mythic Game Master Emulator - Word Mill | RPGNow.com

You know, I actually bought the PDF of Mythic years ago but never really looked at it. I'll take a gander.

Question for you.

If you're running the random dungeon thingy from the DMG, would you make your own monster decks?

What do you mean by "monster decks"? What I was thinking was using random encounter tables and then running combats as if I'm both the monster and player(s). It wouldn't quite be like playing chess against yourself, because I'd be creating some kind of imagination of story and drama, at least to a small degree.

Also, are you looking for a solo dungeon (ie, you play one character) or more of a DMless thing (where you'd play multi characters)?

It doesn't matter. The only criteria is that it is just myself.

I've done both with the 1e dungeon thing (it's a good way to pass the time). I'm just wondering how useful 4e is for honest to god solo play (and that ain't a burn on the system, just an honest question. How does the game hold up on solo play?).

Yeah, good question. I might have to employ DM Fiat a lot . But seriously, combats would probably reach a point where the outcome is obvious, so I'd just end it.

There is also the underlying question, which is "How fun can this possibly be?" For me it would have to be more than a series of combats, one after the other, but obviously a meta-plot would be difficult to do and potentially rather silly.

In some sense the vision I have is a combination of an RPG and a story; kind of a randomly generated adventure story with game play. So I would come up with basic scenarios, like "adventurers seek the artifact, the Orb of Xoar, in the ruins of a fallen elvish city." Then I roll up characters (easy and quick with DDI), think of a quick character concept for each so that they have some degree of life to them, then start rolling dice and building the adventure.

If I actually go through with this I might write it up episodically and share it with ENWorld, in the appropriate forum (Story Hour? Play by Post?). But first I'd have to figure out how to do it, gather a list of resources, etc. One key point would be to require as little preparation as possible.

Possible Resources:
*1ed DMG, 4ed DMG - for Random Dungeon Generators
*Monster Manuals.
*Ultimate Toolbox - should be very useful
*Wandering Monster tables. Anyone know a good resource for this?
*Graph paper!
*Other books might include: Mythic, other monster books. Anything else?

He is talking about just playing by himself, not with just a single player.

Yes, it is a new game: MaD&D, or Masturbatory Dungeons & Dragons. Self-pleasuring is Good

 

[SiderisAnon]

For solo play, I think that video games are basically filling the niche. Fare more people are going to buy Neverwinter nights and play it than would buy a lot of rules to play pen and paper by themselves. (Though as I too have spent hours in my youth playing solo with pen and paper, I understand the appeal.) I generally play an MMO for my fix when I can't play, because I also get to chat with people I know online.

If you're really set on solo play, there's a product called Dungeon Bash on RPGNow that I picked up a year or so ago. It has detailed random generation charts, much like the old DMG did.

As for finding pen and paper games, have you checked out your FLGS? They may host RPGA events regularly or they may have nights for pickup games. If you DM, you could also set up a monthly pickup game where you show up at X time and take the first Y players for a casual dungeon romp.

 

[SiderisAnon]

Removed post. The system double-posted somehow.

 

[Mark]

*Other books might include: Mythic, other monster books. Anything else?

Goodman Games - The Random Esoteric Creature Generator For Classic Fantasy Role Playing Games And Their Modern Simulacra

 

[jaerdaph]

I must resist the temptation to make the all too obvious "playing with myself" joke.

Dang it - Epic Fail!!!

 

[Mercurius]

For solo play, I think that video games are basically filling the niche. Fare more people are going to buy Neverwinter nights and play it than would buy a lot of rules to play pen and paper by themselves. (Though as I too have spent hours in my youth playing solo with pen and paper, I understand the appeal.) I generally play an MMO for my fix when I can't play, because I also get to chat with people I know online.

Yeah, I know. I'm kind of ideologically against video games! And I don't know if I'll actually follow through with this, but now I'm curious about designing something that could be used either to roll up adventures, even entire campaigns, or for solo play: imagine the random dungeon generator, Ultimate Toolbox, Mythic, countless encounter tables, and a bit of a few other things all rolled into one.

I suppose, also, I could just run myself through normal D&D adventures and just kind of have a split personality while doing so; in other words, play the characters in encounters like they don't know the powers of the monsters.

If you're really set on solo play, there's a product called Dungeon Bash on RPGNow that I picked up a year or so ago. It has detailed random generation charts, much like the old DMG did.

Wow, that looks very interesting--I'm going to purchase that.

As for finding pen and paper games, have you checked out your FLGS? They may host RPGA events regularly or they may have nights for pickup games. If you DM, you could also set up a monthly pickup game where you show up at X time and take the first Y players for a casual dungeon romp.

Yeah, I know--but see above. I'm less desperate to find a game wherever I can, and more curious about how far one can go with solo play.

 

[Wik]

What do you mean by "monster decks"? What I was thinking was using random encounter tables and then running combats as if I'm both the monster and player(s). It wouldn't quite be like playing chess against yourself, because I'd be creating some kind of imagination of story and drama, at least to a small degree.

There was an option for "monster decks" in the 3e miniature's handbook, and if memory serves, it was revisited in the 4e DMG. I don't remember all the details, but you should check out the dungeon decks from the minis book - it was a dungeon crawl, but it had elements of a plotline, exploration, and story. Fits what you're thinking of.

It doesn't matter. The only criteria is that it is just myself.

Personally, then, I'd go with 2 PCs, so you can throw a bit more at the "party" - 4e works much better with groups on both sides. I was thinking about this (more below), and I've come to the realization that the best monsters are those with smaller stat blocks (and stat blocks with few 'incidental' attacks that the player might forget to activate). Minions are also great.

There is also the underlying question, which is "How fun can this possibly be?" For me it would have to be more than a series of combats, one after the other, but obviously a meta-plot would be difficult to do and potentially rather silly.

I liked exploring stuff with the 1e dungeon designer. I think if you added stuff, perhaps in a semi-random sort of way, things could get alright. Especially if you had a random skill challenge creator, or something. Anything to engage your mind.

If I actually go through with this I might write it up episodically and share it with ENWorld, in the appropriate forum (Story Hour? Play by Post?). But first I'd have to figure out how to do it, gather a list of resources, etc. One key point would be to require as little preparation as possible.

After reading this post last night, I was thinking the same thing. So, I got together my trusty pen and paper, and wrote out a solo adventure. I've been transferring it to Word, and I'm about fifteen pages in. Basically, a choose-your-own adventure, in the Fighting Fantasy vein, using 4e rules. Right now, I think I'm roughly 20% done. I'll definitely post my results when I'm finished - probably on my gaming blog (which is sort of bare right now, and needs material!)

 

[dm4hire]

Kenzer Co. put out a solo quick play for the new Hackmaster Basic that just came out. You might take a look at it.