This thread is dedicated to all kinds of solo games.

Erekosë The Eternal Champion Edition.

>Previous thread >>95614149

Resources: https://rentry.org/srpgg

https://tayruh.github.io/solo/solo-roleplaying-toolkit.html

More threads:
https://archive.4plebs.org/tg/search/subject/%2Fsrpgg%2F/

Thread Question: What was your most most memorable moment during Solo play

>>95744590 (OP)
Are solo adventures basically choose your own adventures but "if you rolled this goto page blah blah blah?" Kinda thing? Or do some people bust out boards by themselves? I've considered trying to do necromunda a few times myself to try and better learn the rules.

>>95745054
Depends on how you like to play, I've seen guys with a white board that looks like a scene out of Beautiful Mind and some with leather bound tomes filled with maps and characters sheets. I personally like solo wargames/rpgs like Rangers of Shadow Deep and HeroQuest so I tend to lean towards physical assets.

>>95744590 (OP)
TQ: A rescued peasant armed with a dagger landed the killing blow against the dark lord when 3/4 party members were dying or unconscious

>>95745054
Solo RPGs use tables and RNG to generate simple answers to questions you ask, and you extrapolate from there. The questions you ask are what actually generates the adventure, for the most part. For example:
>Do I start off in a tavern?
>GM: No, but… Stomach, Premium. Fancy Restaurant.
>I began my journey in one of the cities fine eateries, rubbing shoulders with nobles and rich merchants.
>Am I dining alone?
>GM: Yes, but…
>Am I waiting for someone?
>GM: Yes. New NPC?
>I was sitting alone at my table, waiting for…
>Who am I waiting for?
>GM: Brass, Book.
>The chief librarian of the city.
>Am I selling him a book for his library?
>GM: No.
>Am I meeting them for dinner?
>GM: Yes.
>Is this a business meeting?
>GM: Yes, but… Glove, Wound. My dinner partner has been attacked by an unknown assailant.
>I heard a woman scream and turned to see my would-be dinner partner sprawled across the entryway, blood soaking his silken robes. I leapt from my chair and ran to his defence, blade in hand.

>>95745054
Take a look at the link next too "resources"

>>95745054
Some of them are, yes. If you want to play any kind of RPG by yourself, there's different methods to accomplish that and that's what our sphere of knowledge pertains to.

Trying out Cairn 2e
Made 2 characters for my party and pit them against 2 goblins in a combat test run. Was a quick and decisive loss. This might be a very short play through.

>>95744590 (OP)
>TQ
My skeletal champion dying for good on the second session as it turned out that not only could he not speak, but he also did not understand what the vampiress was saying due to the language having shifted in the eons he had been entombed, and him also being godawful at hand signing, which led to a fight he could not win.

>>95745106
>TQ
Care to share the story behind it? sounds intresting

>>95745338
>next too
Go be brown somewhere else

>>95746235
Go Fuck yourself nigger

Any solos completely switched to AI now that Google is giving Gemini for free?

>>95747206
No. One of the reasons I play ttrpgs is to get away from the computer.

>>95747246
Understandable. Nothing compares to playing physically. I miss the times when my friends were still in college or neets so we could actually get together and play.

>>95744590 (OP)
Any advice on making best use of oracles and interpreting them? It's probably my biggest obstacle as a beginner.

>>95747297
Don't overuse them. There's plenty of way to have surprises with the rpg rules already. If you use oracles too much, it can slowdown play and make the adventure too random in a way that doesn't make any sense.

>>95744590 (OP)
>What was your most most memorable moment during Solo play
That's like asking what was the most memorable moment in your life. You're gonna have to narrow it down a bit.
>>95746235
No, be brown here. Brown rules.
>>95747206
How does it compare to Deepseek for long-term writing? I still won't use it for my main game, but as a side dish it can be fun to have something to bounce off.

>Character isn't a fighter
>Manages to, through being a vicious little shitter, take out an entire station filled with enemy soldiers
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCYBX1A-ZcM
There's something incredibly fun about having someone who is usually so subtle and indirect just cut the fuck loose and go full action scene.

>>95747513
>Character at inception: gardening, beekeeping, having teaparties
>Character now: Storming the gates of a hell fortress
It's always the quiet ones

>>95747485
Idk. I haven't tested it with DeepSeek, nor have I done any long-term playing as of yet. There's so much to write about in world info there's no point in playing until I've covered everything. I ask the chatbot what's missing and it turns out I've barely scratched the surface.

>>95747513
It's called pulling a Danieljackson.

>>95747644
>not worldbuilding on the fly
ngmi

>>95748297
Why would I do that when working with ttrpgs with several published books? I'm not creating OC.

>>95748440
Then why not just upload the books? And why does the AI which bits you haven't copied in yet?

>Roll NPC gender
>All important, commander types keep coming out as women
I swear, I don't have a fetish.
The dice are fucking with me.

>>95748820
Uploading every book is a bad idea. Too much fluff. Just feed the AI what it needs to know. An entire book would use up the context better spent elsewhere.

>>95747369
Best use is to pretend you're asking a live GM. That means only getting answers to questions a GM could answer or would tell you. Interpret oracles as simply as you can, the recommendation is spend little time thinking about it so the game goes quickly. First instinct is the best answer.

>>95747206
AI is too primitive still to be genuinely useful for solo play. The specificity required in some crunchy games just isn't a good fit for a language model that forgets every detail after fifteen minutes or so.

>>95745054
Not at all. Solo play can be very open and yes, also includes full boardgame/wargame setups depending on the base system being used. As a general rule, the crunchier your game is the less oracles will it need.

Been having fun and practicing using a Mythic GME deck. I need more card oracles. I also have a tarot deck but still don't know how to use it for games.

>>95753068
>draw death
>you died
>the end

>>95753144
I did this once with a very fat NPC who was running

>>95753144
>>you died
>>the end
That's more like Ten of Swords.
Death doesn't mean literal death in tarot. It's more like change, transformation.

>>95754069
Yeah, honestly how wishy-washy tarot cards can be make them pretty great for solo games.

I've been playing around with making my own oracle dice, anyone have some favorite dice they use? Trying not to make them very specific, closer to a tarot deck in terms of vagueness and imagery than person, landscape, etc dice

>>95756018
My default imagery is body parts. The literal meanings are very explicit and widely relevant, and are used in a huge variety of metaphors. Many also work well as small images for dice.

I enjoy playing solo The One Ring 2nd edition, but I feel like I'm making myself schizo sometimes

>>95757448
How is that?

>>95757359
interesting. I've been looking at the Thousand Empty Lights oracle and trying to pick a good collection of 12 from it, but I'll have to try some body parts too

In other news I'm enjoying Usurper a bit. It's a fun balance of writing with dice, and game mechanics. I thought I'd be frustrated by the resolution mechanic but really it's great for moving a story forward, which is the point of the game. Working on a dungeon crawl with a barbarian who is trying to become a sorcerer

>>95756018
how are you marking them?

>Character is hunting for information left behind by his past self
>Past self left a fucking boobie trap
When it comes to the crunch, every RPG can be boiled down to Icewind Dale, Baldurs Gate or Planescape Torment.

>>95760665
I got a pack of blank dice and I just use a fine-tip sharpie, works pretty good. once I get some I'm happy with I'll seal them with something

>>95760913

Idea: If all you need from an oracle is yes or no, a coin is all you need.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_WZmcXEe74

>>95744590 (OP)
Are there any advice to play adventurer conqueror king solo?

>>95751607
This is the issue I always run into when using AI for smut. It always uses the same descriptions for sex, then afterwards the character is always the same. I rp’d having sex with a sister of battle and afterwards she became overly fawning like all characters. Like bitch we just had a fling no need to start professing your undying love. Felt a bit weird.

>>95766766
RPGnet Forums has a good post about it, search for: "[ACKS + GM Emulator] Solo Play: A Crucible, With Daemons"

>>95766766
My advice; play an entire party rather than an individual.
It works far better and you get a lot more options.

>>95766965
I was thinking about creating a custom "Gigachad" class.
Basically a Nobirian with more class points to get divine, magic and combat.
>>95766947
Thanks I'll look it up.

>>95763838
I use 2d6 of different colors. One is how good/bad, the other how big/important.
>>95767028
The problem is that a gigachad would be too overpowered but also still prone to get killed on a series of bad rolls. Using a few higher level PCs would be better. Like 3. 2 PCs and a sidekick. You can use the sidekick to still experience the low level leveling up and use the 2 PCs to keep him alive if it's needed.

>>95763838
Yeah but often you need more than just yes/no.

>>95767028
>I was thinking about creating a custom "Gigachad" class.
>Basically a Nobirian with more class points to get divine, magic and combat.
You'd be missing out on a lot if you did that. If you do want to go that route then Nobarian Wonderworker is right there.

Personally if I were going down that path I'd have a pair of twins be the protagonists.
One Wonderworker, one Champion.

>>95767788
I was planning on using extensive use of henchmen as human shields and keep Gigachad safe at the back.

>>95768235
A Gigachad would serve as a meat shield for his henchmen.
Not hide behind them

>>95744590 (OP)
just dropping in to say I've always loved the Amano drawings of Moorcock's characters
also solo rpgs are great because it's bullshit how most rpgs require friends

>>95768407
>how most rpgs require friends
Man, it's not even that. It's the fact there's shitloads of stories you can't tell with other people.
Any character with a central protagonist is shit out of luck for one.

>>95768356
I will protect them with holy and arcane support.
And fight if they have problems...

>>95768432
1 gm + 1 player can be very fun desu
I guess maybe it'd even be possible to do something like 1 gm + 2 players where they alternate who's the protagonist and who's the companion, in case they all wanted to play a story with a format like that

>>95768235
I know what you're on about.
I know who you are.

>>95766147
I like seeing peoples journals

>>95772032
Same, I'm envious. I'm not so creative myself and could never make something like what others have done on my own.

>>95772584
>I'm not so creative myself and could never make something like what others have done on my own.
Honestly, it's really not that hard. The most difficult part is learning to not be self-conscious over it.
Creative isn't an on off switch, it's a scale.
And more importantly, it's a muscle. The more you work it, the more it can work.

Eye of the tiger man.

Imagine playing this SOCIAL activity alone.

lol. That's it, not even an lmao

>>95751607
How about handling all rules offline and simply asking the LLM to interpret oracle rolls like inspirational words against the backdrop of the evolving story / scene details? I am new to solo but I aim to try this. I'm working on a prompt :

You are a neutral narrative assistant. You do not play a character, you are not part of the story, and you do not generate story events on your own. You wait for user input to proceed at every step.

Your task is to interpret three types of user-provided cues in the context of an ongoing solo roleplaying narrative:

1. **Oracle Results**: Binary outcomes expressed with degrees of certainty (e.g., Strong Yes, Weak No). Treat these as authoritative. Use the result to determine how confident or limited the outcome is, and reflect this appropriately in the narrative tone and consequences.

2. **Inspirational Words**: One or more abstract or evocative terms (e.g., "cracked / vigilance"). Use free association, metaphor, and indirect inference to extract environmental details, emotional tone, or emergent story direction. Travel outward from literal meanings—capture thematic resonance.

3. **Categorical Prompts**: A focused thematic domain or context type (e.g., "area feature", "urban life", "infrastructure"). Use these to constrain or define the type of response required, such as a physical object, social behavior, or environmental detail.

At all times:
- Use the established narrative as scaffolding and context.
- Respond only with relevant prose or structured description.
- Do not invent new events, characters, or dialogue unless explicitly prompted.
- Do not continue the story unless the user prompts you to do so.
- Do not assume roles or personas. Remain external to the fiction.

Await user input for each action. Interpret and render only when given structured cues.

Only continue the story when prompted by a command such as: [Continue scene], [Advance time], or [Describe response]. Otherwise, hold.

>>95773888
The tests I have done with GPT when trying to glean its capabilities are very promising. The function of the llm would be to free you up from creative analysis paralysis and carry the story forward from the various cues that you give it. At every turn it would associate off of your queues while bearing in mind the backdrop, as I said. Story details, thread details, personalities and their behaviors, the situation in the current scene, the environment, all other such factors, then it would take your set of inspirational words for let's say a new event that occurred in the environment and fit its associations into this backdrop. I think that the possibilities here are nothing to scoff at since the LLMS have such a vast capability for associations and driving a story narrative forward.

>Spend an entire arc filling out boxes on a vow
>Get to 10 Progress since I want to pass this one without any bullshit
>Finally roll, big dramatic moment
>Double 10s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ag1o3koTLWM
Every fucking time.

>>95773537
Kinda like how you come to 4chan all the time to interact with other people, but nobody responds to your shit? So you're left trolling threads because you're alone?

>I want AI to think for me!
Literal NPCs in this thread.

>>95774008
YOUR COMPANION/BEST FRIEND/SIDEKICK/GIRLFRIEND: "You killed the wrong person. It was me all along, James. The author of all your pain."
MUWHAHAHAHAHA
*they put on a Scorpion jacket/cape/insignia as a reference to the scorpion and the frog fable*
>begin flashbacks to show how it was them all along
>they makes their escape through a clever plan or through their newly revealed henchmen
>you make a new Vow (more difficult) to get revenge and stop them
Don't forget to lose some Spirit from the sudden but inevitable betrayal.
You have a new Drive. I mean a new goal...

In the end I settled with this:
MUNE as DM
GURPS as mechanics, but using ability scores from DnD ( I didn't like how int, wis and cha were all wrapped up in iq)
Vermis and Mork Borg as inspiration for the setting
And D6 dungeon's dungeon creating system for...the dungeons!

>>95760913
Kek
>>95754214
This, a tarot would be an interesting oracle

>>95774163
I decided on 'The experiment goes all the fuck wrong'
Our protag had to run and gun his way through an alien isolation section to get back to the Bridge so he could regain control of his own ship, working out some relationship issues en route.
As irritating as it was, it did make the story better I have to admit.

I've got to say, while I'd never use ChatGPT as a DM? If you want to build confidence in what you're writing it'll suck your dick clean the fuck off and keep going in for more at the stump if you let it.
Pic related.

Anyone else play through modules solo? I first did at for gm practice but honestly find it the more enjoyable way to solo now. though maybe that’s because i’ve become a forever gm so it lets me turn off my mind for some of the structure of things and focus on the player side I never otherwise get anymore.

>>95777699
Just don't ask it to criticise your writing because it can be brutal.
I even copy pasted some real stories straight from credible media and ChatGPT nitpicked them for being too unrealistic.

>>95768407
>how most rpgs require friends
More like "a sizable amount of friends".
I've never managed to find more than 2 people barely interested in trying out a tabletop rpg.
The sweet spot for playing is a group with 4-5 players.
>>95769444
>1 gm + 1 player can be very fun desu
Yes, but also very tiring for the DM, since he's the one almost always talking all the time...

>>95778134
Yeah, I asked it for a fair and balanced critique, it still nitpicks but honestly if the worst you can come out with is 'this specific sentence could be 3 words shorter' then shit, I cna live with that.

>>95775275
I've seen rules that use tarot cards for an oracle before.

So any good system for exploring/colonizing some new land with its own civilizations.

>>95784664
To specify I want what is encountered to have some degree of random generation even if its oh now they find a [temple] with... etcetera basicly now even i know what they will be encountering until I start. Kinda thinking either doing an actual colonization journal or like a planes walker explorer

>>95784694
I have plans to piece together a program that makes use of "GURPS City Stats" that'll spit out random locations. Just haven't got around to it yet.

>>95784694
you mean the whole land or just landmarks as you go?

>Starforged character is entering a Chronal ruin for the first time while on a fucking time limit
Boy, I sure hope I don't get cast a thousand years into the future where Aku is law or some bullshit.

>>95788110
>Immediately roll 'Sent into the future'
Motherfu-

Something I am struggling with currently is setting motivation within game and keeping my character adventuring.

I'm currently playing a merchant with his found-friend/bodyguard as the party. The guys main motivation right now is to get the funds to buy back the rights to his family's ship. Thing is, given the system, I could just use rolls to earn income or just do trade routes with random encounters to deal with but to actually go adventure, find side quests, explore ruins or things like that I am struggling with how to really get those sorts of things rolling.

Any advice or personal anecdotes of people that dealt with similar?

>>95790352
If your character doesn't want to live the kind of game you want to play, you either force that life on them or play another character. I expect the former to be unsatisfying unless you're going to full on Gandalf him into coming along with no easy way out.
Just make a new guy that actually wants your kind of adventure. Keep the merchant for more laid back sessions where trade rolls can give you some sight seeing and world building prompts.

>>95790352
Is the system ACKS?
And do you, as player, want to do a game that focuses purely on merchantilism? If so, why not just go for it. Do the game you want to do anon.

If you don't want to do Spice & Wolf though? Have it be that whoever has the ship isn't interested in money.
A cult. Pirates. An asshole rival.

Whoever they are they want more than that dollar and so you have to gather enough forces to take it by the sword or something.

>>95785492
I would say either would be good. I would probably use both.

>>95790352
I had a similar issue in a game once, and someone motivated me to seek out additional ambitions for my character.
>Playing a low-magic game a long time ago
>My character was a young mercenary who had visited all of the largest cities on the continent
>About halfway through the beginning of the campaign, he had made it a point to invest money in trades in each town
>"Oh, this area is known to grow good grapes? Start a winery. That area is a trade hub? Make a dyeworks!"
>While it was kind of fun to fiddle with spreadsheets to keep track of monetary income vs expenses, it was also not what I necessarily set out to play
>Came to 4chan to ask what I should do. "Can't my character just sit in the lap of luxury from now on?"
>An Anon responded, "Yeah, they are a success... But they are not a legend. They are wealthy, but are they truly happy?"
Basically it became a discussion about what a character would do once they acquired wealth. The next step is to try and do something with that money. Maybe try building a town or a trade center in the wilderness or borderlands. Save up enough money to hire an army, then attack anyone that's ever slighted you. Try to conquer your neighbor's kingdom.

What you could do is, Keep track of all your successful monetary gains. Whenever you have an unusually high gain, give yourself 1 point of "Conspiracy", and roll a d10. If the result is less than or equal to your Conspiracy score, then something bad happens to one of your sources of income (Use an oracle to find out.) You can lower your Conspiracy score by going out and performing quests. Furthermore, you can prevent a bad event by sending henchmen to do your bidding, but only your own accomplishments can lower the Conspiracy score.

>>95790425
As a character he wouldn't have any problem getting involved in an actual adventure, I guess I'm struggling to come up with a way to have one sorta take over but allow trade along the way.
>>95790437
PF2e but with ACKS merchant system bolted onto the side.So while earn income is abysmal in PF2, it still exists and I know adventuring would bring better income but again, what adventure/quest for him to have since his motivation is the ship and he has started trading to earn the money for it. I could retroactively put in that if he doesn't do it quick enough the ship will be sold off or destroyed but that doesn't help with coming up what he goes and does and not have it be "forced" and more organic to the use of tables and such.
I could just be being dumb about it, thats entirely possible.

>>95790821
>PF2e but with ACKS merchant system bolted onto the side.
My advice?
Hop across, play a Venturer and look up the dangers and risks actual historic merchants got into.

If you make your setting dangerous enough then earning enough to return the family name to glory is more than enough to get you into some bullshit.
And if not then once that first step is done? Shift gears to domain building.

It is perfectly legitimate to go 'My character hires 4 dudes to go into a dungeon on his behalf. Now let's see what happens to them' and have your protagonist be a throughline for other, heroic sorts to serve.

Tip of the day for everyone in this thread.
Ask ChatGPT to review your journal so far, then ask it to write a 1/10 chapter
>A woman with neon hair offered me a job smuggling illegal orchids to the Core Worlds, and I said yes because why not? She said her name was Captain Starwhip. We made out.

>>95790614
I guess that is one way of going about it, have things happen not to my guy directly but the people he is doing the trades for or getting materials from. "some beast has moved in and shut down my mine" just to investigate and find out some cult is breeding beasts and to stop them from coming back I need to get rid of the cult entirely.

This does raise another question I've had for SRPGing in general of: What is a reasonable level of inserting what I want to happen. Example being I love the idea of having some elk as my draft animals for my wagons, but thats a Player level want. Another example more broadly is if I come up with a side quest instead of using the oracle, is it okay for me to put that in even though I know the general direction it is already going to go?

>>95790835
I can keep that in mind, especially useful to try new classes at lower level.

To the anon who recommended The Night Land months ago, thank you. It has become one of my favorite novels, and gave me lots of ideas for soloing.

By the way, there are no solo Star Wars stuff, only the CYOA?

I'm making a solo game and I need your help:
I want to include minis, and as such, I need them to be as multipurpose as possible, meaning that taking different paths can re-use the mini in a different situation.
So far I only have "bandit", that can be a street thug in a city, a bandit on adventurer's path, a treasure hunter in a dungeon.
What other monsters can I include, in your opinion? A goblin that doesn't look too feral?

>>95791951
Just get generic genre miniatures. Reaper is has a good variety

>>95790821
>PF2e but with ACKS merchant system bolted onto the side.
Was it difficult to make all the math and values work withy it?

>>95791951
You could make a bunch of paper minis.

>>95792012
It has a lot of great npcs/heroes, but I mean more on the lines of monsters/encounters
You can work out a human thug in many situations like the bandit, but for example something a displacer beast is going to be the same gnoll every situation, i'm going for maximizing reusability

Does anyone have those tables that decided character,setting, plot, etc.? It uses only one six sided dice.

Are there any solo rpgs that allows me to use a shit load of dice that get added as I grow in power?
I tried out ironsworn just for a bit and just the idea of only rolling 2d8 and a d6 doesn't appeal to me
I have a base in pf2e so I like the idea of classes and builds

>>95792405
A few wolves can be attack dogs, a well dressed civilian can be a merchant, a noble or a mercenary boss, a dude in robes with a hood can be a cultist, a monk or a leper/beggar

>>95792446
>dude in robes with a hood can be a cultist, a monk or a leper/beggar
oooh I like that, that one is great, I'll add one of those, that has great reusability potential
What about monsters and other creatures anon? I was thinking about wolves as they can be enemies or companions

>>95792371
ehhhh, really its abstract enough there isn't much to convert and the rules in ACKS can stand on their own. Stone vs bulk is close enough that a stone can equal a bulk. Wagons in pf2e with 2 large animals can handle 200 bulk, in ACKS its 160 or 320 for heavy load so 200 in pf2e is reasonable middle ground.

Value of items is where things get a biiiiit funky. instead of trying to convert and make things fit better since prices are all over the place I am likely going to make it sorta 2 different accounts with adventuring funds being for personal gear and then business funds for goods purchasing/buying new vehicles/equipment. In reality pf2e gold being unlimited isn't nearly as game breaking as item levels not being enforced. Sure you can buy 50 healing potions of your level or less, but can you really drink enough to make it worth it mid combat?

Doing the actions to find goods and then interpreting the outcomes I homebrewed:
Assess Supply and Demand I have it be a gather information check against the settlement's level based DC modified by any world events (drought, bad storm etc) (higher level character would be more experienced and convincing to get info so a low level settlement would be easy to figure out) and a crit success is all modifers, success is d8 modifiers are revealed, failure is d4 and crit fail is d4 modifiers but they are modified in the opposite direction by d6 value.
Solicit Consignment is similar: Crit success is consignment without hesitation and not collateral, success is full availability but collateral, failure is reduce your market impact and market class by 1 (less availability of goods) and crit fail is no goods available, roll a d100, if its 30 or less you get a bad reputation and either need to do a favor or wait a month.

>>95792433
I am doing pf2e and so far its been alright but I don't know that you can pull off a single character alone. I have a pair of dual class characters and so far I've gone through 3 combats and I've nearly wiped (mostly level 1 squishy problem but also dice hating me) but managed to make it through. will be interesting the higher level I get but so far it seems reasonable.

>>95792433
just google "dice pool systems", maybe one of them is a solo game

TQ: my solo campaign of 'fighterman goes inna woods' becoming 'the silver stag lord of Rockspike hold'.

Our dwarf bruna (thanks geology) and her goldsteike bears out a gold mine the (conservative low numers used consistently) 15 dwarven miners she convinved to found an underground hold in her mine can work for 5 years.
Using her take,
we built fortifed tower house above ground
A beaten dirt/gravelled road to the village of Wolfhollow (about 14 days away on foot)
Cleared 500 acres of land around the tower, which allowed
125 settlers to become sharecroppers on our lord's land and freely farm it, using the lumber to build
25 houses etc for themselves
1 training hall (2000 sq.ft)
As they begin cropping and grazing herds.
ONE fortified wall around the cleared land, totalling roughly 16,450' of wall
Hiring 200 guards that patrol in 100 man shifts in 5 man squads, completing one lap of the wall in a 4 hour shift 'on' with 8 hours off, maintaining a 24 hr gaurd, with 40 spears with 'continual flame' cast upon them and 40 sounding(mundane) horns for each squad.

My solo adventurer who just wannted to go inna woods is now a ludicrously wealthy and poweful lord of a small domain hacked out of the cold wood-glimmerwood.

Oh.
And they just had 4 draught horses with plate barding, and an armoured wagon (plate barding applied to a huge creature x6 and x3) so the lord can travel in HUSSITE WAR WAGON style.

All costed for, timeline, workers hired and paid and fed etc.

My adventure has become spreadsheets and financials instead of the rollicking wilderness man vs the world conan-ing it was supposes to be.

Shame. Oh well, guess there is nothing for it but to make my domain even more powerful and safe.

>>95793848
Sounds to me like a good target for bandits, ect. Small but wealthy.
Conquer your way to Kingship

>>95793898
> yes out next step is probably using our wealth and power to crush the red tiger's when they're dumb enough to come at us

>>95793848
>125 settlers
>200 guards
Sounds horribly inefficient.
Arguably they're really guarding the mine, but in that case why make the wall so big? Leave the farmland outside so the wall is far smaller.

>>95793937
>Putting your farms outside and getting inevitably sieged
Enjoy your boot leather.
Protection of the serfs chads rise up.

>>95793951
>Protection of the serfs
The serfs are fucked though. Guards will abuse their power and without numbers there's nothing they can do about it.

>>95793971
>Guards will abuse their power
On the one hand, not necessarily unless you're LARPing as Boss Hogg.
On the other hand, it'd be a neat arc if it did happen.

>>95794031
>200 presumably young tough guys in the middle of nowhere
>none of them willing to abuse their power
>bored from lack of action or on edge from risking their lives, quite possibly both
Even if you vetted them I wouldn't believe it.

>>95794124
>Out in the middle of nowhere
>The only law is your boss who has brought everyone here
>Group is small enough that if you do abuse your power everyone is going to still know who did it
>If you fuck around then there's a good chance you're either executed or exiled
>If you don't fuck around then you're going to be one of the first 200 men to serve under a rising power in the region, giving a good chance you'll end up in a position of major influence
>More importantly, fucking around would be screwing over everyone else
This is a Hobbs vs Locke argument, you're talking of man as the savage retrained by civilization, I'm talking of man as the self-interested rationalist.

>>95794146
>Group is small enough
200 guys? No way.
>executed or exiled
If he's that strict a disciplinarian I expect him to have a lot of trouble retaining people, never mind attracting more.
>rising power in the region
Entirely speculative and I doubt the rank and file believe that, nor that they would end up near the top if it happened.
>screwing over everyone else
Except it wouldn't, because the handful of farmers are irrelevant. I can't see that little land actually producing enough to support so many people, so they really don't matter.

>>95794318
>Yeah they believe in this project enough to tramp 2 weeks into the wilderness away from the nearest turnip-farming backwater
>And they're disciplined enough to clear 500 acres of land by hand and build a fortified compound
>But they're not serious enough about it behave themselves
>And they're not disciplined enough to respect their leader or keep their shit together
>So they just go off a rapin' and a torturin' the hayseeds for shits and giggles when they're off the rota
Is there any particular reason you're playing the part of a piss taking retard DMing? It reeks of 'Oh, I don't want the players current plan to work out so I'm going to railroad it into being shit up.'
Which is really odd to see in a solo-games thread.

>>95794364
>believe in this project
I kind of assumed he was paying them.
>rapin' and a torturin'
What?
You seem to have imagined an extra part of this conversation that I'm not privy to. I just thought it was weird that you'd elected to enclose the entire farmland and hire so many guards to patrol it when I've never heard of such a thing and it seems unviable. And since you questioned that I was trying to explain why I thought it seemed unviable.

>>95794438
>Paying them
Even more reason for them to not act out, assuming they're being paid well
>You seem to have imagined an extra part of this conversation that I'm not privy to
Alright, in that case what did you mean by:
>The serfs are fucked though. Guards will abuse their power and without numbers there's nothing they can do about it.
Oh, just to be clear I'm not the op, I was just surprised by 'Guards are going to be shitters de facto and fuck everything up'

As for 'I've never heard of such a thing and it seems unviable' - He hasn't built a city at this point, what he's built is a fortified compound out in the wilderness that's beset on all sides by god knows what.
Which'd put it more in line with Iron Age Hill Forts, which often had grazing commons, pens for animals, small fields, ect, so you had somewhere to bring your animals when the neighbours come to try and steal your prized cow or the like.
Or Colonial forts during the conquest of America.

Long term or as an expansion plan? I agree, completely unviable.
As a single point of civilization 2 solid weeks away from the nearest help?
Absolutely makes sense.

>>95793937
the guards serve Bruna. plus, do you realise how big 500 acres is? the boundary wall is 16,450' long. it takes a 5 man guard squad 3-4 hours to complete one lap. they're paid from her pocket. which is in the mine. the fortified, portcullis equipped mine. the dwarf scaled mine. where a dwarf miners and wokers have thier dwarf hold. A hold of very lawful, possessive gold-sated dwarves are mining the gold, setting aside bruna's very generous, mere 30 % take. leaving 70% for the miners.

>>95793951
that's the entire reason for the boundary wall. he had land cleared, and suddenly he has millions of board feet of limber. so he let's workers settle as his sharecroppers. they built about 25 houses and shit, even accounted lumber for pasture fencing etc. with a MERE 15 % share for the lord. its a stupidly generous deal under sharecropping standards. especially considering our party of Lord and CO, provide TRAINING to the sharecroppers, and ARMS, spears, and crossbows. training them every 5th and 6th day of each tenday.

as for the sharecroppers, that's the labourers and workers who were convinced to remain behind after the construction projects, same for the guards, providing protection for said projects. the MATH suggested I could convince up to about 300 fucking workers to stay behind thanks to the DC and generous conditions. hell, they're not even farming all the cleared land, that many settlers can cultivate up to about 300 of those acres, leaving plenty of room for grazing herds, the various streams etc.

>>95793971
see, training. also, the guards don't get paid les'n the dwarves decide to bring them some gold. and they don't EAT unless supplies come on wagons to the traders and shop owners.

>and let's not forget the party can wipe the entire job lot of them out without breaking a sweat.

>>95794124
do-you-even-frontier / 10 bait.

>>95794483
>Guards will abuse their power
As in the same sort of way that police forces and the like abuse their power. Which tends not to be rapin' and torturin', on the whole. And to be clear, it also tends not to be a good reason to do without a police force. And these guys seem more like an occupying mercenary army than a police force.
Also that part started from
>Protection of the serfs chads rise up.
Namely that I don't think it does sound like such a great deal for the serfs.
>Iron Age Hill Forts
I'm no expert but I doubt that entails a wall around your whole territory. Or having more soldiers than civilians.

>>95794574
Glad to hear my presumptions on the situation were about right.
Also, with that much wood laying around, sounds like you deserve to treat yourself and build a keep.

>>95794585
>Occupying mercenary army
Alright so you're too narrow a thinker for this conversation, glad to know.

>Protection of the serfs chads rise up
And too ESL to realize I was talking about the party being chads for engaging in nobless oblige towards their sharecroppers, not a peasant revolution.
Retard-Kun, you need to stop.

>>95794364
they're all people who were initially hired to build shit. the dwarves came with builder's labourers and guards to build the fortified tower and mine. then settled because bruna basically gave them full access to the mine for a pittance of the gold. let them build a brand new hold in her mine, all of their own.

the human, halfling, gnome sharecroppers are from various labour and builder gangs for the road,, land clearing and boundary curtain wall. who again, for a mere 15% share, were allowed to use the now cleared land and lumber for building homes, for farming. (incidentally accounting for how much fuel used for heating and cooking, the hold now has between 32 and 49 years of charcoal for heat and cooking)

and as previously stated, we used the lower end of the spectrum for possible ranges, so while there were about a hundred dwarves, only 38 stayed. while there were hundreds and hundreds of other labourer and guard assign to the other projects, only 125 out of the upper limit possible 300 remained to settle, and bruna kept 200 guards on payroll

>>95794438
yep. they all got paid in GOLD ORE. leaving them cashed up, with a brand new land just ready for anyone to make a future with, with an Elf Lord who didn't seem to care if he made even a single copper out of them. (seriously, the math for the mine is utterly insane, just it's five years of operation with a mere 15 miners utterly shatters the economy. even after all the expenses... my elf lord still has, at the absolutel lowest limit... enough gold ore to build two keeps. WITH labour etc for the people to actually build it, not just the costs for the keeps themselves. and that is a mere 440 days into operation. AND front loading civil engineering projects that massively depleted the treasury.

>>95794483
god knows what. at this stage, there are some orc tribes. there's the uthgardt red tigers, and a few young green dragons way out. the associated goblins, etc lower threats wouldn't even dare approach such a fortified settlement.

and yes, it's not like it's the great wall of china or something. i think it work out to be a roughly circular 3. something mile wall. encircling 500 acres.

>>95794574
>the boundary wall is 16,450' long
But that's kind of my point: why is it so long? Why enclose all the land rather than just the buildings, necessitating so many more guards? Plus I'd expect them to want a bowshot's worth of clear land outside the walls.
>its a stupidly generous deal
Yeah, it sounds like you're running a load of peasants at a substantial loss. Which is a pretty weird choice.

>>95794601
>not a peasant revolution
Where the fuck do you even get these things from? Nothing I said suggested anything of the sort.

>>95794585
do you even know what it's like to be a commoner in the shitty kitchensink hell that is faerun?

just the idea of having their farmlands protected by a fortified wall is a wanton extravagance and security measure that's unheard of. and a lord not demanding a 50-80 % crushing share?

>>95794601
nah, he has a cool tower for himself and family. let the dwarves build themselves an underground super fortress.

>>95794630
because they cleared 500 acres of land to allow for at LEAST 300 acres of usable farmland so the settler-sharecroppers can feed themselves, span future farmers, and feed their herds on the other grazing lands.

>>95794636
considering the lord's party trains them to fight with spear and crossbow 6 times a month, it's less of a peasant revolution and more of a 'YOU are the militia'. our elf lord is going full 2a with this shit.

So, does the Elf Lord have any long term plans?
What are elves generally like in the setting, since seems to me that you've got more than enough cash and ass to expand into creating some kind of weird, hybrid kingdom of elves and men living mostly side by side, assuming there's plenty of untouched woodland nearby you could expand into.

oh yes, and the lord knows he is being terribly innefficient, NOW. because he knows the mine will last roughly 5 years.

>>95794664
the general idea was initially, can we take a solo adventurer, in a solo campaign, and run him almost like the ADnD Ranger, for which there's no analogue, since after 3+ the ranger became a faggy dex rextard. gross. so i rolled up a REALLY basic AL-rules, DND 5E (2014) wood elf fighter. outlander. the idea was for him to go inna woods, and see if he could survive.

then one of the npc's decided they needed some money to buy better gear. and used their miner and prospecting history to hunt up some gold, track it back to the source etc. and once the full scale of the (minimum-maximum) yield for a proper gold strike was realised. the party basically fell into building themselves a town.

its set in the cold wood, which is a wilderness region to the north of the general path between Citadel Adbar and Neverwinter. basically a wilderness area that's not really been developed.

>>95794653
>because they cleared 500 acres of land
Sure, but why build the wall around the whole thing rather than just, say, the middle 50, and farm outside the walls but close enough to run back if trouble turns up? And if you're training them as a militia there seems even less need for so many extra guards.
>our elf lord is going full 2a
I have no idea what that means.

>>95794318
200 people is barely more than a large hamlet

>>95794688
>A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

Because ELF lord.

>>95794702
Exactly.
38 dorfs in their hole.
125 settler-sharecroppers, human, halfling, gnomes
200 guardsmen. Of all sorts.
Elf Lord and Court (Party)
Less than 400. So a nice town.

>>95794726
>Because ELF lord.
He's big on elf defence? And elf improvement?

>>95794743
no. How long do elves live for? by the time he is middle aged, the initial 500 acres will be CITY. and farms will be OUTSIDE the wall. he DID only wall the slightest bit. he's just not looking 1 year down the track. he's looking 100 years down the tracks. you do know how fast peasants breed, right? if only half of the 125 settlers breed, that's ANOTHER 312 people after just 5 years... and that's not even adding the dwarves or guards breeding or calling for kin etc.
437 settlers after 5 years. if just 1/3 of the dwarves make babies, in 5 years that now 98 dwarves. (low dwarven birth rate) and if our guards only half of them breed, well, that's 200 guards who have 500 babies.

so in 5 years, even with conservative breeding, our elf lord is now in charge of
>1,235 people.

in FIVE YEARS. how many people does he rule in 100? if ONLY our initial people breed, until the next crop are old enough to breed etc, maintaining conservative low breeding rates...
then we got (100 y / 5 y = 20. 1,235 p x 20 = 24,700)

24,700 people in 100 years. all tucked safe behind a curtain wall at night.

economy? what's that?

>on Flamerule 23, 1495 DR, Bruna has in her vault 2,118-11,239 lb. of gold ore, equivalent to approximately 105,915–561,965 gp.

>>95794743
Maybe he's just an elvish impersonator

>>95795147
no. he is an elf. which means he thinks like an elf. his looking 150 years down the line is like you or I looking 10-20 years down the line.

Maybe I can make a Frankenstein game out of Solum and Jedi's Honor.

Can someone poCint me to the solo rpg trove please?

>>95796927
r3br@nd

SoloGames

Anyone got word on how Outgunned plays? Is it fun and soloable with minimal bullshit?

What'cha playin'?

So1um. Fallout -esque dungeon crawling fun. Watch out for gamma rays, those buggers sting!

>>95798694
>So1um
Just googled it. I fail to see any semblance to fallout. Are you using a specific verseion?

Is Savage Worlds decent for solo?
I'd like to homebrew a Sword & Sorcery setting for it to play alone. I've only played in a group before

>>95798824
You can use with whatever scenario you want.

>>95799080
Just confused how you turned this into Fallout.
You know, the Modiphius 2d20 fallout game is quite good, you should try it.

>>95799094
I said Fallout-esque. Instead of faux medieval dungeon is faux 50s post nuclear. Instead of drinking potions, my PC pops pills. Thanks for the advice, looks interesting.

So, how are cards instead of dice?

>>95792433
It's not solo without you doing some work, but Genesys/Star Wars RPG has a narrative dice pool system that lends itself great to solo play.

>>95794146
Out of the way, plebs, gigachad Rousseau comin' through

>>95798880
it's fine, you just have to work out how to handle Bennies

Do you guys write up the whole adventure beforehand or do you roll as you go?

I roll everything, from the setting to personality of my character/s. Let Chance decide can take you to crazy places.

>>95800030
>can take you to crazy places
That's what people dumping all their money in the casino say
The reality is, by standard distribution "chance" will lead you to 90% boring and shitty places because your human perceptions makes it so you'll notice more the little crazy skews on the margins, but ok chief
Casinos make a living with people like you, and I want casino owners to keep a roof over their heads, so please, keep being yourself, always, anon.

Oratory is the most important skill for any dungeon explorer. Right?

>>95799903
I've only just started solo rpg, but I've written a basic outline of my adventure (invading orcish horde from the north), and am sort of guiding myself in that direction.

>>95799903
I find that if I write as I go, I'm more likely to keep writing at a decent pace, although I will sometimes find myself just writing and making it more complex than it needs to be. If I play and then go back to writefag, I'll find it can take me days to "catch up".

Also mathed out the Lord has fathered six children of various ages now.

Good thing he's an elf and will live for hundreds and hundreds more years. Surely that will ensure he has time to sort out his sucession, right? Right?

>come up with a super cool, highly original solo game idea while I'm half-awake before sleep
>"oh man, I can't wait for it to be tomorrow so I can start jotting down mechanics!"
>forget all about it in the morning
WHY

>>95801004
sure I believe you anon

>>95796974
Thank you very much, friend!

Who comfy? I made a new screen that has
>turn tracker, weather, month calendar for events. vow tracks from ironsworn for quests, mythic, plot generator, hex exploration from bfrpg with wilderness and cavern generators, dungeon generator, dungeon thingos from 4AD, shitload of of verb adjective thingos that might be redundant and need redoing, cut UNE down to like 3 page pamphlet, holmesian random name generator on the back. game masters apprentice (new updated deck coming in the mail, maybe tomorrow)
and my phone sitting in the bluetooth keyboard typing into Obsidian.

>>95802172
Impressive. Very nice. I've been trying to slowly migrate away from digital too.

Has anyone tried this or some other ai model for DMing D&D or something?

I'm a complete noob and don't have frends to roleplay with so I'm trying to run a campain with google AI Studio and Gemni 2.5 Pro Preview Model for DM, 5th edition rules and chatgpt's text to speech function. So far it's pretty good, i think.

>>95802535
please just go to a chatbot forum

>>95802663
But they only use them to coom...

>>95802535
I am having grok do the heavy lifting. i innocently asked it to figure out how MUCH gold my dwarven wench Bruna had found thanks to locating a gold vein... i accidentally had deepsearch on.

so grok went through all these geology textbooks and mining esoteric documents about IRL gold mining, and then converted it to the IN GAME RULES. It was shockingly fast, and its GEOLOGICAL SURVEY was utterly convincing. I told grok to assume conservative low end of the possible yields, and STILL got a 5 year workable mine that's utterly broken the economy.

good thing i wasn't playing with ADnD GP is XP rules. my party would all be level 20.

I had an idea jsut for laughs, and since my party is retardedly rich... so i had grok scour the DMG and so on.

"Lord's Carriage
Draft Horses
• Number: 4 non-combat draft horses
• Cost: 6,000 gp per horse (24,000 gp total)
• Weight: 130 lb. per horse (520 lb. total)
• AC: 18 per horse
• Movement Speed: 40 feet per round
• Impact:
◦ Pulling capacity: 2,570 lb. per horse (10,280 lb. total for 4 horses)
◦ No combat penalties (non-combat role)
◦ Minimal training may be needed (DM discretion)
Hussite War Wagon
• Cost: 10,585 gp
• Weight: 2,700 lb.
• Stats:
◦ Size: Huge (15 ft. × 10 ft.)
◦ AC: 23
◦ Hit Points: 150 (10d20)
◦ Damage Threshold: 15
◦ Movement Speed:
▪ On roads: 30 feet per round
▪ Off-road: 8 feet per round
◦ Carrying Capacity: 7,580 lb. (for lord, guards, cargo)
• Features:
◦ Firing Slits: 6–8, granting three-quarters cover
◦ Reinforced Wheels: 200 gp, 100 lb.
◦ Iron Shutters: 200 gp, 100 lb.
◦ Trap Door: 50 gp, 50 lb.
◦ Furnishings: 100 gp, 50 lb.
• Purpose: Fortified transport for a lord to travel safely and fight from within or outside.
Total Cost
• Horses and Barding: 24,200 gp (including 200 gp for 4 horses)
• Wagon: 10,585 gp
• Grand Total: 34,785 gp
Additional Notes
• Balance: The wagon’s high AC (23) and resilience (150 hp, damage threshold 15) are offset by its slow speed and reliance on horses (AC 18, 19 hp).
• Tactical Use: Ideal for safe travel or defensive positioning. The lord can fight from within using firing slits or dismount for melee combat."

I'm impressed with myself, I thought "what am I gonna write for my character's backstory, I'm not a writer". But I just wrote two pages of background. I have imagination at least.

and i literally just asked it to consider what would using heavy warhorses instead do "Updated Hussite War Wagon Description
Lord’s Carriage

Heavy Warhorses

Number: 4 combat-trained heavy warhorses
Cost: 6,400 gp per horse (400 gp warhorse + 6,000 gp plate barding) = 25,600 gp total
Weight: 130 lb. per horse (barding weight) = 520 lb. total
AC: 18 per horse (with plate barding)
Hit Points: 19 (3d10+3) per horse
Movement Speed: 60 ft. per horse (unladen)
Impact:
Pulling Capacity: 2,000 lb. per horse = 8,000 lb. total
Combat Role: Warhorses are trained for battle, with the Trampling Charge trait (if a horse moves 20 ft. and hits with a hooves attack, the target must succeed on a DC 14 Strength save or be knocked prone, allowing a bonus hooves attack).
Training: Combat-ready; may require minimal additional training for synchronized wagon pulling (DM discretion).
Hussite War Wagon

Cost: 10,585 gp (unchanged)
Weight: 2,700 lb.
Stats:
Size: Huge (15 ft. × 10 ft.)
AC: 23
Hit Points: 150 (10d20)
Damage Threshold: 15
Movement Speed:
On roads: 40 ft. per round
Off-road: 12 ft. per round
Carrying Capacity: 8,000 lb. (warhorses) – 2,700 lb. (wagon) = 5,300 lb. (for lord, guards, cargo)
Features:
Firing Slits: 6–8, granting three-quarters cover
Reinforced Wheels: 200 gp, 100 lb.
Iron Shutters: 200 gp, 100 lb.
Trap Door: 50 gp, 50 lb.
Furnishings: 100 gp, 50 lb.

Purpose: Fortified transport for a lord to travel safely and fight from within or outside, with enhanced mobility and combat-ready horses.
Total Cost

Horses and Barding: 25,600 gp
Wagon: 10,585 gp
Grand Total: 36,185 gp
Balance and Tactical Considerations
Advantages:
Increased Speed: The wagon is faster (40 ft. on roads, 12 ft. off-road vs. 30 ft. and 8 ft.), making it better for rapid travel or tactical repositioning.
Combat-Ready Horses: Warhorses can engage in combat, potentially defending the wagon or pursuing enemies if unhitched. Their Trampling Charge adds tactical flexibility.
Resilience: The wagon’s AC 23, 150 hp, and damage threshold 15 remain unchanged, ensuring it’s a durable mobile fortress.

Trade-Offs:
Reduced Carrying Capacity: 5,300 lb. vs. 7,580 lb. limits cargo or personnel, requiring more selective loadouts (e.g., fewer guards or less equipment).
Higher Cost: 36,185 gp vs. 34,785 gp increases the investment, reflecting the superior quality of warhorses.
Vulnerability of Horses: Warhorses (AC 18, 19 hp) are still vulnerable to focused attacks, and their combat training makes them more likely to be targeted than draft horses.
Tactical Use:
The wagon remains ideal for safe travel or defensive positioning. The lord can use firing slits for ranged attacks or dismount for melee, while warhorses provide additional combat support if needed.
The increased speed makes it better suited for escaping ambushes or navigating battlefields, but the reduced carrying capacity may limit its use for long campaigns without resupply.
Additional Notes
The original design’s 130 lb. per horse is likely a typo; I assumed it refers to barding weight for consistency. If it was meant to be the horse’s weight, the DM should clarify, as real-world horses weigh ~1,800–2,000 lb.
The high cost of horses (6,000 gp in the original, 6,400 gp here) suggests custom barding or training. If no barding is assumed, the cost per warhorse drops to 400 gp (1,600 gp total), reducing the grand total to 12,185 gp, but this lowers AC to 11 per horse, making them far more vulnerable.
Warhorses may require occasional Wisdom (Animal Handling) checks to manage in combat situations, especially if unhitched or panicked (DM discretion).

Final Answer
The Hussite War Wagon with four heavy warhorses is faster (40 ft. on roads, 12 ft. off-road) and more combat-capable, with warhorses able to fight (Trampling Charge) and a total cost of 36,185 gp. However, the carrying capacity drops to 5,300 lb. from 7,580 lb., limiting cargo or personnel. The wagon retains its defensive strengths (AC 23, 150 hp, damage threshold 15) and is ideal for a lord needing a mobile fortress with enhanced speed and combat-ready horses, though the horses remain a vulnerable point.

If you have specific adjustments (e.g., different barding costs, terrain rules, or combat scenarios), let me know, and I can refine the evaluation further!"

>>95802172
>tech
>comfy
those booklets are a great way to reference tables though, I have been doing a bunch myself

>>95803046
I've got some carpal tunnel shit going on in my wrist that makes writing hurt, normally I just don't really record anything but nothing goes anywhere.

>>95802535
Only to create random tables, maps and other shit like that. Never as a GM. I use AI Chat, it's pretty decent for what I ask it to do and I don't have to register or log in. Random tables works great, maps are harder to do well. It's better to do narrative maps, all the ascii stuff looks too weird. You also need to do maps in several stages, not ask it to make one complete map in a go.

We found an actual good use for AI. Solo rpgs.

>>95800448
A good Death Monologue is essential.
>>95799903
I use a story/adventure/dungeon structure (very loose) and roll as I go.
>>95798547
Homebrew sci-fi setting. Humans only, except for alien animals and ancient alien tech/bases/ships from a long lost race. Cryosleep instead of FTL Cryo is a tech only known by the people who use it and they take tech from the worlds they visit (32 worlds in total, but so far I only created 3) and use them to keep the worlds under their 'benevolent' domination as the worlds evolve in different directions and don't create the same tech. Mutants are seen as evil and killed on sight. But are they? My PC is a guy allowed to use Cry tech even if he's not part of the Elite (the cryo and tech hoarders). He goes around collecting animals from wild planets (and making space maps) for Elite zoos.
It's mostly a comfy exploration/hunting game with some wordbuilding included in the play.
Most of my ideas come from book I read, movies/tv shows and some from this thread from a few years back.

>>95803928
>Cryosleep instead of FTL
Very Weyland Yutani of you.

>>95803847
This.
Gemini 2.5 Pro can remember a ton of shit, it's free (for now) and and it's a great narrator.
Of course it has it's problems, it needs a little push sometimes to move the plot forward and it's obsession with the smell of things.

Just don't use Chatgpt, as of now, it will be forgetting if your characters are male or female after 10 minutes.

And now, I'm writing the backstory for my dungeon. This is fun.

I'm learning about medieval castles to give me ideas for the dungeon. Truly there isn't better hobby than this.

does anyone know the name of that starforged mod where you can pilot a variety of mechs and they had their own play cards?

How do you all write your notes?
Bulletpoints?
Valley Standard?
Spreadsheet?
I've seen some people talk about color coding prose/oracles/questions in different pens, and one guy who wrote notes in screenplay format.
I'm wondering what to use for my own uses.

>make OP character
>forget to actually apply any bonuses in combat
holy shit I was wondering why 2 bandits were wrecking me
I guess that was the tutorial fight

>>95806357
A mix of narrative with questions, the PC does something, question, action, result, more narrative. A battle is like one of those Pokemon battles rectangles, with stats, rolls, moves, actions, who gets damage, who gets status ailments, stuff like that.

Do you all have recommendations on a good 1 on 1 system? I have a friend who really wants to get into RPGs, tried to convince him to just pick up a solo game and is begging me to run something for him.

A few came to mind. Dungeon World, Ironsworn, and Blades in The Dark.

I figured it would be fun to try something simple though. 5 Torches Deep or some other OSR type thing like Cairn.

Thought asking here would be nice cause I think systems good for solo are probably good for 1 on 1 sessions right?

>>95806357
Currently I am typing stuff up in a journal in Foundry as I play. I have it be fairly novel-ish with oracle stuff thrown in as interjections where they arise. I have combat be marked but generally don't narrate it much unless notable.

Though I do feel like I want to change to something else cause writing like a novel does scratch an itch but its slower, I feel myself re-writing cause it doesn't sound good even though I am the only one who will read it and I doubt I will come back to these other than for random details I need again so a bulleted list makes more sense

>>95806357
Apart from character sheets/lists/maps it's pretty much a quest log from a video game: I keep a page for each thread and put any notes there, usually a sentence or two when making progress.
I don't track scenes, sometimes I'll make a note of where I left off in the front of the binder if I need a reminder for the next session
Super minimal but perfect as a memory aid

Don't know why, but I prefer to write with pen or pencil on paper, I'm more productive that way. Don't feel comfortable typing.

>>95807282
I use hyperlinks in my notes.

>>95807677
Someone once showed how to hyperlink notepad files together to create a personal wiki but I forgot how.

>>95806357
Mostly just dice roll results, mapping, etc. I only take bullet notes if I'm afraid I'm gonna forget something. I also like to use a d100 Motif/Keyword/Plot/Characters/Locations/etc. table. If something is worth taking notes about, I put it on it instead. It's both notes and a random table.

A very kind Anon has provided this.

and this.

and this

also

>>95809041
there's already a thread for AI slop

>>95809668
this is in answer to earlier up thread, anon's asked and talked about using ai to automate things for solo rpg-ing. which I do.

>>95809676
*pepper spray*

>>95809704
cry about it. we have pretty much agreed ai is a neat tool for running solo adventures.

>>95809676
*eat asparagus*
*wait*
*wait*
*wait*
*piss on you and your AI fetish shit*
That's not what we meant by using AI for solo and you know it you vile coomer.

>>95809773
hey, retard, i'm the one currently running a brand new town in the fucking wilderness, from up thread

>>95792433
forbidden lands

>>95809784
No you're not. You're jerking your little pickle over images of fat short non-humans.

>>95775259
Supremely based.

how do I get the fire for solo back, bros
I used to spend whole weekends playing for 14 hours a day counting doing art for PCs/NPCs and journaling
now I can't even get a game I care about off the ground and haven't played solo at all in like a year

>>95809859
arguing-with-holes 'logic' right there. cry more, faggot.

>>95809928
Use all the insults you want, at the end of the day you're the one jerking it to AI slop of fat little creatures.

>>95809946
keep doubling down on that arguing-with-holes

>>95810037
Keep jerking it to big thighs anime midgets with elf ears.

>>95809754
Yeah but there's a thread specifically for AI image dumps, this is generally more for talking. Could link to them in that thread instead, under one post. Also I don't think people mind if it's just an accompaniment to normal discussion.

>>95809877
My impending demise helped me get my fire back, maybe consider killing yourself (non aggressive).

>>95810037
>arguing-with-holes
instead of the superior arguing-with-memes

>>95806357
I pretend the game worlds are actual universes I can get to by concentrating and with the aid of oracles and random word generators, so I write transcripts kind of in the fashion of that odd CIA document about a guy astrally projecting to Mars.

>>95810353
I louldn't go to Mars if I were you, Quaidanon. Really, it sucks, and Venusville is really shit and full of mutants. You don't ant to go there. Trust me.

>>95810463
I dunno, I hear some guys been cleaning up the neighborhood recently

>>95810463
>Fuck off, we're full
Some things are the same everywhere.

This reminds me I always want to do a campaign in Minraud, but never got time to thinking it out.

>>95809676
oh fuck off

Is there a good solo system for battle shonen?
>setting out to become the strongest
Seems like almost an ideal solo system prompt

The system I'm using is limited in its bestiary, any tables for enemies?

>>95814441
How extensive do you need the tables to be?

>>95814465
Not too long, but more than ten monsters, if possible.

>>95814526
theres FORGE or a million other OSR tables for fantasy

>>95775275

IIRC theres a whole tarot-based rules section on Itch.Io, most being solo rpg oriented. haven't played any, i'm obsessing over making up my own iteration

>>95814532
I will check them out, thanks.

>Mythic random location crafter
This is probably a dumb question but how do you handle revisiting an area?

Is there any system (or setting) where "magic is dangerous" for players translates to something such as "you need to undergo risky processes to even be able to cast magic, but if you succeed, the magic is reliable" as opposed to "casting the spells has a chance of making you explode"?
I'm thinking something like cyberpunk settings with implants and strain, except for fantasy, where the "implants" are the capacity to cast magic at all.

Mainly i don't want the casting itself to be the most dangerous part of being a mage, but rather gaining/improving your powers/learning new ones.

>>95814914
I played a game once (not solo) and it was all about getting rare ingredients to be able to cast more powerful spells. The spells worked 100% of the time and were very OP one shot deals, but getting the ingredients was a bunch of quests. The more powerful spells required the magic user themselves to quest for the ingredient, buying it or hiring someone else to find it would make the spell void. But at least it was only one ingredient per spell that was rare.

>>95816070
Even something as rules-agnostic as dnd5e leta you do that if you actually stick to the materiel components rules.
Your wizard cannot actually cast continual flame on anything without 50 go worth of ruby dust to burn on it. Per cast.

You want to make 6 torches? One per person? Or maybe you want to give the fighter and thief in the party 10 throwing daggers each they can use as flares? Thats 1000 gold for each of those, plus 300 gp for the torches. 1,300 gp just for some lights. And that's to say you can find someplace that has em.

What if you're innawoods, or inna dungeon. How you gonna get that diamond? to even cast your stoneskin? Iirc.

Actually tracking components makes magic more real.
Especially when it comes to ritual castings, and so on, utility spells etc make wizards so much better thannjust being blaster wizards for combat nuking.

>>95816611
I've played for years and that was the only time any GM ever used components. Sounds like it could be fun to use them in a solo OSR. Time to grind that treasure to power the wizard's spells!
*a wild halfling thief party member appears and steals the rubies before the wizard can grind them*
NOTHING PERSONAL BUT DESTROYING TREASURE IS AGAINST MY RELIGION

So I'm looking at 5Leagues, what's the best way to play it by VTT?

>>95816806
don't. VTT is nickel and diming fuckheads who over charge for everything and break shit into 600000 peices so you need to spend the GDP of most nations in order to actually get all the tools to play ONE game.

>>95816806
something 3D like Tabletop Sim or RPG Engine

>>95816833
I do have TTS, thanks

Someone told me GURPs is not suitable for solo roleplaying, any experiences?

>>95817069
Of course it is. Any ttrpg is. The only problem, if you want to call it that, is the crunch. But if you use a lite solo engine, that's not a problem. Even when using a crunchy solo engine and a crunchy game, the only problem is how long it would take to play.

>>95817142
Doesn't sound so bad, I like to prepare for a campaign as much as the campaign itself. The thing with GURPs is that it seems so vast, where should I start?

>>95817172
There's GURP Lite. You can also get a book of the setting you want to play. GURPS has tons of them, from setting of other rpgs (Car Wars, Traveler, etc.) to other settings like Aztecs, Egypt, Pulp, Robin Hood, etc. The setting books would limit the rules you'll have to use as GURPS can do pretty much anything.

>>95817226
I see, thank you.

I'm about to begin reading the original 1974/75 rule to Empire of the Petal Throne for a solo campaign. Wish me luck.

>>95816070
sounds fun but not really what I was asking for, as in that's not more "dangerous" than any normal session, and requires the plot to center on getting to cast spells.
What I'm asking for is more of a "player can use downtime to get new/better spells, but that might result in the character also losing an arm".

>>95817434
Theb best of luck.

system recs for Star Wars Old Republic era game?

>>95817790
dnd 3.0 modified. the kotor rules

Has anyone ever thought about ways of using random chance with absolutely no physical aid? I had this idea when going to bed: whenever my character attempts something possible for him but risky, I rapidly think of a random word, then count its letters: if the number is even, he succeeds.

>>95818765
I don't even use chance, if I feel like it, I put something in the way of my PC. Be it an accident, a monster, an NPC, whatever I think would be interesting.

>>95818765
Word association can also increase the randomness.

>>95816796
Yep. Half the time 'wizards op' is because the gm lets players skate on tracking resources.
Same thing for the thief's stealth ranged attacks. If they only have 20 arrows... somehow they're making 500 stealth shots...

is this any good? https://legacy.drivethrurpg.com/product/519855/Adventure-Suite-The-Cthulhu-Solo-Adventure-Generator?banner_id=11301&src=pubbanner

Dice are funny, my PC and the monster spent four turns trying to attack each other but the dice always make one of the other to miss. It was some Dragon Quest stuff. Hero swings his club but misses. Monster swipes at the Hero but misses.

>>95819645
I tend to view attacks and "hits" more as an abstraction of combat effort, jockeying for advantage, exhausting the opponent, and generally just how long you can stay lucky enough to not get ran through with a sword. Unless an attack has an injury component to it everything's a miss until they're at 0HP.
That said, low accuracy systems suck. For normal d20 vs target number systems something I do even in my group games is by the 3rd round, I add a d6 to every attack roll (or subtract from every saving throw) to represent mounting battle fatigue and desperation (and to just end the fucking fight already)

The system I'm using doesn't have monsters dropping loot. I do it anyways. Roll to see if they drop loot, then I decide which loot I obtained taking items from other games. I feel kinda bad for bending the rules so often, but I guess that's the charm of this.

>>95819645
Sound like a game made for party play. If you're gonna miss half~ of your attacks then it's best to have the bad luck balanced out by the good luck of other party members.

Definitely something I've been contemplating for single character games. I mean, you don't see orcs in media dodging half of the attacks made against them even against no-name guards and such. But I don't want to have a game where player characters or player races operate on explicitly different rules from monsters. Plus I want at least the mechanical implication that my character starts off normal.

For now I've just made it that orcs being big makes them easier targets and goblins have Frenzy so they're easier to hit (but hit more often, themselves) and have 0 toughness so are automatically slain when hit so we can have a lot of them.

Any superhero-themed oracles/collections of tables out there?

>>95818787
Definitely doable, I just like not deciding everything every time.

>>95819184
How do you mean?

Do you guys roll up multiple characters or just play with one? I would like to use some of the adventure modules that I have but obviously they're designed for multiple characters.

>>95823500
The more I have managed so far is a party of three members.

>>95823500
I always do 2 characters. With 2 I don't need to either tailor the encounters for my specific guy, or make him a jack of all trades. Recruiting a (semi-)permanent ally is just 2 characters with extra steps. Everything can also be more dynamic because there's always two bodies the enemies need to take down. The only reason I'd ever play a lone character is if I specifically want the lonely feeling.

>>95823500
Depends on the situation, my daughter likes to drop in an out of the games so sometimes I keep a semi permanent character on hand for her. Other times of the story permits it I throw in recurring "PCs". I'm teeing up a mega dungeon so we'll see how it goes since the characters are supposed to be part of an expedition

>>95823500
I like using 2-3 characters, it makes for more fun dynamics, but still use only one as the "protagonist".

>>95823500
I have a Main Guy window character and my preference is a secondary protagonist whose behavior I leave a bit more up to dice rolls (within some assumptions I make at creation), and I'll generally have a revolving door of extras, sticking to 3-4 or maybe 5 if it's really called for at a time.

>>95823500
I run one main character, and he adventures with multiple weaker side-characters.

I really wanted the goblins in this dungeon to be friendly, but the Dice decided otherwise.

anyone done Pendragon solo? how'd it go?

>>95822852
Instead of picking just a random word, pick a random word and then iterate on it by association.
>"Cat"
>Cat>soft>marshmallow>campfire>tinder

>>95823500
I'm currently playing ten simultaneously and I would not recommend it

>>95823500
I do multiples but I like to use a scene resolution mechanic instead of slogging through everything with an entire mercenary squad individually

>>95823500
Depends on the game. If the game is too crunchy, I use a single character. If I die I use an NPC with a different goal in the same setting. Sometimes it's even the guy/monster who killed me. If it's crunchy, but not too much, I use 2 or 3 PCs, but one is the main until he dies, then I switch.
If I go full warband, I have a main PC and the lesser soldiers get killed/wounded before my main, unless the main is in a solo battle.

>>95749015
Pure coincidence i'm sure.

I can't stop writing my campaign in a narrative, literary way. It's no use, I can't use a shorter, laconic style. Maybe I should be a writer.

>>95832135
Write the way that makes you happiest anon. Revel in writing.

>>95832135
>I can't use a shorter, laconic style
Anon I don't even know what that means.

>>95832144
Yes, I have accepted that. Finally, all the fiction I have read all my life is paying out.

>>95832271
He can't write tight.
He ain't no Hemmingway.
Frankly I think 'tight' writing is overvalued in the current writing meta of our culture. You go back and read quite a lot of the classics and they luxuriated in writing rolling, buttermilk icing prose, thick, rich and creamy with details. Not every sentence needs to justify itself, sometimes, occasionally, you can just have a turn of phrase that's poetic and beautiful rather than functional. It adds texture to a piece, to have that variety and range of style. Fuck the cops.

>>95832361
And to prove my point, here's that exact same point made through the Hemmingway editor;
>Our current culture overvalues tight writing. You go back. Read the classics. They liked writing pretty with lots of detail. Not every sentence needs a point. Some can be poetic. It adds texture when you have a variety and range of style. Fuck the cops
Which is boring in comparison.

>>95832361
We must vindicate and recover the purple patches. A paragraph that makes you feel you are in a Venetian palace listening to a Corelli's concerto grosso.

>>95832361
They were paid by the word.

>>95832510
So was Howard and his writing wasn't just the balls, it was everything from tip to taint.

>>95822662
https://archive.org/download/1668699994687896/1668699994687896.pdf

>>95814436
OVA

>>95832445
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7E-aoXLZGY

>>95832522
No Nobel Prize in literature could ever write something like People from the Black Circle. I am being pretentious but right.

>>95832594

>>95832361
you can write purple and tight at the same time
look at robert e howard's prose
it's so fucking sick. descriptive and punchy, it wastes no time at all
I'm a noodly bitch in comparison

>>95832623
>vividnss
>theyre
Your argument is automatically void, gramps

>>95832554
Thank you anon. I was just about to start writing my own based on the vague memory of this document.

>>95832587
Gratis.
I think I have that squirreled away somewhere.

>>95832645
Same with Rothfuss, though I get the feeling he agonized over every line, while Howard just sharted and it came gold

the best solo RPG is just generating characters in traveller/cepheus

>>95835494
Traveller lifepath and Tyov are basically the same game.

I've decided on a one shot instead of a campaign for Empire of the Petal Throne, because I want to try other 70s ttrpgs that my players don't want to play.
Original Traveler
Tunnels and Trolls+Monsters Monsters
Superhero 2044
Metamorphosis Alpha
Gamma World
Space Patrol
Runequest
Starfaring
En Garde (still counts as a ttrpg of sorts)
OD&D+Chainmail+Outdoor Survival
Arduin
Boot Hill
Villains&Vigilante
I guess I have the next 1-2 years of my solo games already figured out just playing a single adventure of all these games. At least most of the games are short reads. No 300 pages books or anything. OD&D's 3 Little Brown Books is probably the longest with the Chainmail and Outdoor Survival supplements. Oh, and the 1975 Gygax solo rules+the 1979 solo rules from the DMG. I already know most of the rules of Runequest and Traveler.
Any other 70s game worth playing I forgot?

>>95839124
Fantasy Trip, it even got few solitaire adventures.

>>95839124
Forgot Bunnies&Burrows and Spaceship&Spacemen.

>>95839443
The 3rd booklet (the rpg rules) is 1980. I'm going full autistic and going for the 1970s only.
Too bad I can't find a pdf of the 1979 version of Bushido.

>>95839124
Interesting list. Thanks for making me aware of those games.

>>95829296
>Cat>soft>marshmallow>campfire>tinder
Ah, gotcha. Makes sense.

Since with this method you can only go for 50/50 binary success, I guess you could come up with two words, count their letters and judge success based on that:

>"Likely"
At least one word has an even number of letters.
>"50/50"
Exactly one word has an even number of letters.
>"Unlikely"
Both words have an even number of letters.

>>95749015
The dice want to give you a fetish.

Any DMless solo games?
I have two friends and neither is a good DM nor want to "direct", is there any modules that would let us play with our minis on our own, anons?
Help me out
I have lots of minis as well because I hoard them, but I would like to put them to use

>>95802535
Gemini can do a semi-decent job at it.
At least it knows the rules and can apply it consistently.
Have it use its code execution feature to do math and roll dice and to add other forms of entropy into the game like rolling on random tables.

>>95845639
ironsworn

My PC fell in a bottomless pit, he is still falling down. Just like when I played the Warlock of Fire Mountain. Kinda anticlimactic.

I need something to simulate political relations between different nations/states. Does anyone know of a good system for it? In particular im looking at an ultra low fantasy imagi-nation world set in the blackpowder era.
Pic unrelated but cool

>>95744590 (OP)
How are sologames not just a cope for being a tourist with no friends? Why do I have to go through such a caustic rigmarole of strange old men's hangups about not being young enough to engage in their hobbies without being called a manchild anymore just because I'm a zoomer to even begin playing my games, but you can just play by yourself?

>>95851920
The practical use of solo games is to practice running a system before playing a group game. It's like shooting hoops by yourself on a half court.

>>95807058
Strider Mode for The One Ring 2E and Dragonbane with Alone in the Deepfall Breach work fine for 1 on 1 as well as for solo.
Also Scarlet Heroes.

>>95845639
https://mstrocks.itch.io/24xx-solo
https://mstrocks.itch.io/24xx-solo/devlog/365617/gm-emulation

>>95851920
>Random niggerbabble
awesome

>>95851920
Anon what the fuck are you even saying.
>>95827396
Pendragon as a system is so soloable that you would think it was designed for it. I ran both the start of the GPC and a historical battle with next to no difficulties.

My only advice would be to run at least three knights, if possible from the same family to reduce paperwork.

>>95847751
>>95852165
I'll check it out, thanks

>>95744590 (OP)
I'm getting a hankering to play some solo Pathfinder lately, anyone have any adventure paths they especially enjoyed solo?

>>95744590 (OP)
Free solo ttrpgs?

I need a good surface to roll my dice. I think it's impacting negatively on my games the shitty desk table.

>>95855664
Do I have to pull out the dice autism trivia again? Just get A dice box or a cardboard box to roll in.

>>95855664
I kept losing my dice and having to get them from under the furniture (of law enforcement). Now I just roll in a small square wicker basket that used to contain tomatoes. No holes in it and high sides. About 12 inches diameter.
I wouldn't feel comfortable using something smaller than 12. I would just roll too hard and the dice would go flying out the basket.
A small cardboard box would do the same job, but my wicker basket is a cool blue color and more flexible than usual. Probably made from some artificial material. It comes in handy with my butterfingers.

>>95855683
>>95855896
Cardboard box it is. Thanks.

Do you struggle to find time to play?

>>95858847
No, sounds like you have a disorganized life, no offense. Maybe you're trying to do too much at once?

>>95860439
>>95860439
>>95860439