Further Experiments with Solo RPGs
Dec. 18th, 2023 01:46 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lydamorehouse First off, thanks to everyone who has volunteered to play Stay in Touch with me! I'm really looking forward to seeing how it all works.
Since I had so much fun with The Last Tea Shop, I bought myself a couple of other short solo games in the same vein. With a small portion of my birthday money, I bought three or four of them. So far, I've tried two... with VERY limited success.
The first one I tried out is called Flying Courier. https://magicalgurll.itch.io/flying-courier
I will admit that I loved the art and that largely influenced my desire to try this one. This game requires a tarot deck, two separate coins to flip, and some way, like a notebook, to record your adventures.
I never even got off the ground (like, literally, in terms of the delivery,) the first time I tried to play it. The problem, for me, is that it's too open-ended in terms of starting parameters. For instance, it was up to me to decide three major things: 1) how do I fly? 2) for whom do I work? and 3) how do you carry your mail?
There's a vast difference between 1 and 2 and 2 and 3. 1 and 3 are on the same level. Both choices are, in a lot of ways, purely aesthetic. Maybe I'll go by broom ala Kiki's Delivery Service. Perhaps I'll fly on the back of a dragon. Maybe I carry the mail in a pouch of my own flesh, like some human possum. Perhaps I have a canvass bag. These choices are basically what we might call flair. It's like deciding if your character is an elf or an orc. Yes, it makes a difference to the game and how it might be played to some extent, but neither choice substantively changes the SCENARIO. Like, you can be an elf or an orc and still go rescue the princess.
The second question changes EVERYTHING. It determines SO MUCH. It also requires the player to do a HUGE amount of world-building. And, sort of pushed this story, for me, into the realm of a story prompt rather than a GM-less RPG. Which, again, if that's what you're looking for, then this is the game for you. Having first played The Last Tea Shop, I was expecting a similar format where the scenario is mostly predetermined by the game with a rolled list for some flair options, etc.
I didn't realize that I'd be stymied by that second question when I started playing, however, and the game does give you very light options for who you might work for like: your city, the post office, the crown, the revolution, someone else... so I was like, "Oh, huh, revolution sounds fun." Then, by chance the first scenario I pulled had these prompts: a storm, nobility, hidden, the dead of night, sneaking, a stone tower, a favor. Story ideas came to me, but they were full STORY ideas. It didn't feel like a game that I could just play lightly, you know? I started writing it, but I got bogged down wanting to have more sense of the larger world. Okay, revolution sure, but who are the two parties in opposition, etc. Then I just kept spinning out and writing did not come easily, in fact it ground to a halt.
The thing that was nice about The Last Tea Shop is that the environment was self-contained. You rolled for your environment. Sure, I didn't know who I was working for, but I had one job: serve tea to whoever came and ask them a question from the list. I had a limited number of teas to serve based on the ingredients I'd rolled. It was enough "boxed in," if you will, that I knew how to start and so the game came easily and quickly. I had some false-starts with that game, too, but it settled in much faster and felt more game like, then story prompt-y.
There's nothing wrong with Flying Courier, per se, I just found it to be less what I was looking for.
The second solo game was slightly more successful, I just ran out of steam with it. I might pick it up again, honestly. That one was called A Faerie Court Visitation: https://somewherewithstories.itch.io/a-faerie-court-visitation.
For this one you only need a regular deck of cards and a notebook or some other way of recording your sessions. The set-up is that your great grandmother (or someone in the distant past) made a pact with the fae. In exchange for a favor, you would be promised in matrimony to a fey royal. The catch is that the favor was already granted. You get to decide whether or not to marry, but you are required to return with them to the fairy realm and be officially courted. (Technically, you can chose not to go, but this means the game is over before it starts,) This one had specific enough prompts that I felt like I could play it. I got three "days" into the adventure before pooping out. My problem with this one is that, by chance, I kept pulling diamonds and lower numbers and the scenarios were all happening in the morning along beaches, and I was like, uh... this isn't going anywhere.
This one felt more solidly playable to me, however. If anything the situation was almost too restrictive. I kept wanting the gender of the fairy royal to be more open-ended, but the situations felt kind of heteronormative to me... although I don't actually think they were written that way, more that when I'd start to run them in my head they gravitated to me being the bride and the royal being the groom.
I will probably try both of them again before I fully give up on them, however.
I would recommend both, depending on what you might be looking for in a solo game, I have another one, a science fiction solo rpg which I may try next.
Since I had so much fun with The Last Tea Shop, I bought myself a couple of other short solo games in the same vein. With a small portion of my birthday money, I bought three or four of them. So far, I've tried two... with VERY limited success.
The first one I tried out is called Flying Courier. https://magicalgurll.itch.io/flying-courier
I will admit that I loved the art and that largely influenced my desire to try this one. This game requires a tarot deck, two separate coins to flip, and some way, like a notebook, to record your adventures.
I never even got off the ground (like, literally, in terms of the delivery,) the first time I tried to play it. The problem, for me, is that it's too open-ended in terms of starting parameters. For instance, it was up to me to decide three major things: 1) how do I fly? 2) for whom do I work? and 3) how do you carry your mail?
There's a vast difference between 1 and 2 and 2 and 3. 1 and 3 are on the same level. Both choices are, in a lot of ways, purely aesthetic. Maybe I'll go by broom ala Kiki's Delivery Service. Perhaps I'll fly on the back of a dragon. Maybe I carry the mail in a pouch of my own flesh, like some human possum. Perhaps I have a canvass bag. These choices are basically what we might call flair. It's like deciding if your character is an elf or an orc. Yes, it makes a difference to the game and how it might be played to some extent, but neither choice substantively changes the SCENARIO. Like, you can be an elf or an orc and still go rescue the princess.
The second question changes EVERYTHING. It determines SO MUCH. It also requires the player to do a HUGE amount of world-building. And, sort of pushed this story, for me, into the realm of a story prompt rather than a GM-less RPG. Which, again, if that's what you're looking for, then this is the game for you. Having first played The Last Tea Shop, I was expecting a similar format where the scenario is mostly predetermined by the game with a rolled list for some flair options, etc.
I didn't realize that I'd be stymied by that second question when I started playing, however, and the game does give you very light options for who you might work for like: your city, the post office, the crown, the revolution, someone else... so I was like, "Oh, huh, revolution sounds fun." Then, by chance the first scenario I pulled had these prompts: a storm, nobility, hidden, the dead of night, sneaking, a stone tower, a favor. Story ideas came to me, but they were full STORY ideas. It didn't feel like a game that I could just play lightly, you know? I started writing it, but I got bogged down wanting to have more sense of the larger world. Okay, revolution sure, but who are the two parties in opposition, etc. Then I just kept spinning out and writing did not come easily, in fact it ground to a halt.
The thing that was nice about The Last Tea Shop is that the environment was self-contained. You rolled for your environment. Sure, I didn't know who I was working for, but I had one job: serve tea to whoever came and ask them a question from the list. I had a limited number of teas to serve based on the ingredients I'd rolled. It was enough "boxed in," if you will, that I knew how to start and so the game came easily and quickly. I had some false-starts with that game, too, but it settled in much faster and felt more game like, then story prompt-y.
There's nothing wrong with Flying Courier, per se, I just found it to be less what I was looking for.
The second solo game was slightly more successful, I just ran out of steam with it. I might pick it up again, honestly. That one was called A Faerie Court Visitation: https://somewherewithstories.itch.io/a-faerie-court-visitation.
For this one you only need a regular deck of cards and a notebook or some other way of recording your sessions. The set-up is that your great grandmother (or someone in the distant past) made a pact with the fae. In exchange for a favor, you would be promised in matrimony to a fey royal. The catch is that the favor was already granted. You get to decide whether or not to marry, but you are required to return with them to the fairy realm and be officially courted. (Technically, you can chose not to go, but this means the game is over before it starts,) This one had specific enough prompts that I felt like I could play it. I got three "days" into the adventure before pooping out. My problem with this one is that, by chance, I kept pulling diamonds and lower numbers and the scenarios were all happening in the morning along beaches, and I was like, uh... this isn't going anywhere.
This one felt more solidly playable to me, however. If anything the situation was almost too restrictive. I kept wanting the gender of the fairy royal to be more open-ended, but the situations felt kind of heteronormative to me... although I don't actually think they were written that way, more that when I'd start to run them in my head they gravitated to me being the bride and the royal being the groom.
I will probably try both of them again before I fully give up on them, however.
I would recommend both, depending on what you might be looking for in a solo game, I have another one, a science fiction solo rpg which I may try next.
Thoughts
Date: 2023-12-20 11:04 am (UTC)I bought one that's actually based on embroidering your path through a fantasy world, just because I loved the concept.
This one is pure, unadulterated fluff -- but actually quite good if you want inspiration for writing or art. I bought it for the adorable art.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/tyhulse/fairies-and-witches-for-heartwarming-tabletop-rpgs
Re: Thoughts
Date: 2023-12-20 04:48 pm (UTC)And I've been doing more reading about RPGs (and, in particular GMless RPGs) and it's certainly an interesting trend. There are more and more games that you can just play with friends, too, without a GM.
Re: Thoughts
Date: 2023-12-20 10:29 pm (UTC)I really enjoy reading about RPGs and game design. It's fascinating to see some of the far-out stuff that people come up with. I often back Kickstarter projects just to read the manual.
>> (and, in particular GMless RPGs) and it's certainly an interesting trend. There are more and more games that you can just play with friends, too, without a GM.<<
I haven't seen as many with a GMless group mode as a solo mode. There's a real temptation to having someone build and guide storylines for you to follow. But not every group has someone with that skill, so it's nice to have alternatives.
Something else that impresses me is quick games, usually defined as playing in 10-15 minutes or less. A lot of those have a solo mode. The good ones are really elegant. There's at least one political crisis game played in just 13 minutes. You can buy the things in bundles, sometimes very big bundles for very low price if they're text or printable games, and have something to take on trips where you'll have a lot of downtime.
I really like looking at game design as loose parts play. BoardGameGeek is a fantastic resource for that because you can look up games by different features, like mechanics. You could make a whole series of courses where you would study one mechanic per week, discuss how it works, play some games featuring it, then analyze its pros and cons. That would be fun either in college or at a game shop.
One blogger I read does video game reviews, and even though I'm not into video games, I often enjoy the reviews because of the design discussions.