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Cthulu Carl
Apr 16, 2006

Galaga Galaxian posted:

Someone sell me on Five Leagues from the Borderlands. Alternatively if there are any other good solo RPGs or Wargames about a band of mercenaries, that is cool too.

I'm actually in the process of getting things together for a Five Leagues campaign

Air Skwirl posted:

Me Myself and Die has a pretty entertaining series where he plays Five Parsecs from Home and my understanding is they are fairly similar aside from one being sci fi and the other fantasy.

My reading of both rules is that yeah, they're pretty similar, though 5 Leagues has a bit more complexity with how melee combat is resolved with the exchanges system

Ash Barker at Guerilla Miniature Games did a playthrough of 5 Leagues a bit ago:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLzrPO7KIAtwUlFE5A1S35w5FC2dg_xvdw

Another one to consider is Forbidden Psalm (Though some people are put off by the art style) and the other games in that series. A warband of five minis going through pre-written scenarios. Forbidden Psalm has the most content, being the first, but the others - Kill Sample Process (Cyberpunk), Last War (WW1), and Dread Nights (Victorian vampire hunting) - have similar rules to each other (and directions for adapting scenarios from the other games)

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Southern Heel
Jul 2, 2004

Galaga Galaxian posted:

Someone sell me on Five Leagues from the Borderlands. Alternatively if there are any other good solo RPGs or Wargames about a band of mercenaries, that is cool too.

I love everything about 5 parsecs and 5 leagues, except the actual encounters.

Anecdotally I know far more people who have stalled after the first encounter of either, but that may be because they are wargamers primarily and are expecting something of a high calibre.

I know that someone has suggested replacing the combat encounters from “five leagues to the borderlands” with those from “combat” or “Wizard” - which frankly seems like a much better proposition.

Doctor Zero
Sep 21, 2002

Would you like a jelly baby?
It's been in my pocket through 4 regenerations,
but it's still good.

Galaga Galaxian posted:

Someone sell me on Five Leagues from the Borderlands. Alternatively if there are any other good solo RPGs or Wargames about a band of mercenaries, that is cool too.

Five Leagues feels more like a solo tabletop than FPfH. It feels like D&D in the sense that you have n overall objective (quest) and you do other things either as side quests or to build up progress in the overall objective. It also will give you more of a sense of “this is where I am” than Five Parsecs, which while great on its own, feels more a space game where you’re largely on a ship and only go to a tactical map for combat. You could add a bunch of that in Five Parsecs, but Five Leagues has it from the get go.

For example, you start out in a region with an essentially blank map. As you investigate you may hear stories about other locations, you fill them in. You can go back to towns and such over and over, even some fight locations.

The combat system is pretty easy to grasp, but does require a bit of strategic thinking to really be successful (nothing too crunchy - just understanding how the other side will behave should be something to keep in mind on your turn).

I really like it, probably more than Five Parsecs. I haven’t found another game that capture that “I’m playing an RPG solo!” feeling.

Oh and if you don’t have minis, you can get scads of 2d miniatures for fantasy games that would be perfect. These are acrylic standees with artwork on them. You can get like 50 miniatures for $20.

Helical Nightmares
Apr 30, 2009
Cohors Cthulhu Tactics is an upcoming solo/coop wargame (Kickstarter in June) where you lead units from the world of Ancient Rome into battle with Mythos gribblies and ride triumphant in the sunset. :hist101: Who am I kidding. You play to accomplish mission objectives, which may be just survive.

Modiphius released a 32-page preview of the system on Friday which they call a Prologue.



Cohors Cthulhu Tactics Prologue here: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/480526/Cohors-Cthulhu-Tactics-Prologue-Quickstart--PDF

Since the game is focused on solo play, I picked it up and wrote up a book review about its more interesting mechanics on my blog. https://nightmarethoughts6.blogspot.com/2024/05/cohors-cthulhu-tactics-prologue-book.html

In particular I like how they use Fear as a measure of a Soldier unit's morale and as an action economy resource.

StrixNebulosa
Feb 14, 2012

You cheated not only the game, but yourself.
But most of all, you cheated BABA

Helical Nightmares posted:

Cohors Cthulhu Tactics is an upcoming solo/coop wargame (Kickstarter in June) where you lead units from the world of Ancient Rome into battle with Mythos gribblies and ride triumphant in the sunset. :hist101: Who am I kidding. You play to accomplish mission objectives, which may be just survive.

Modiphius released a 32-page preview of the system on Friday which they call a Prologue.



Cohors Cthulhu Tactics Prologue here: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/480526/Cohors-Cthulhu-Tactics-Prologue-Quickstart--PDF

Since the game is focused on solo play, I picked it up and wrote up a book review about its more interesting mechanics on my blog. https://nightmarethoughts6.blogspot.com/2024/05/cohors-cthulhu-tactics-prologue-book.html

In particular I like how they use Fear as a measure of a Soldier unit's morale and as an action economy resource.



Please link that kickstarter when it launches, this sounds like my jam!

Southern Heel
Jul 2, 2004

Printed, cut, corner rounded and sleeved The Deck of Many Dungeons (?) and the GM's Apprentice:



I've always been one to fanny around with rubbishy prints, deck and dice simulation - but I figure part of the process with Solo is being more immersed in your materials!

Southern Heel
Jul 2, 2004

I don’t really understand how to journal effectively. I’m a bit of a newbie when it comes to the roleplaying part of solo roleplaying (as distinct from combat or dungeon crawling elements).

It seems like I’m either writing barely anything, or I’m filling up pages of superfluous and meaningless oracle results. Does anyone have tips on ways to journal in a way to support the game and in a way that it is aesthetically pleasing and entertaining to review in due course?

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Cthulu Carl
Apr 16, 2006

Southern Heel posted:

I don’t really understand how to journal effectively. I’m a bit of a newbie when it comes to the roleplaying part of solo roleplaying (as distinct from combat or dungeon crawling elements).

It seems like I’m either writing barely anything, or I’m filling up pages of superfluous and meaningless oracle results. Does anyone have tips on ways to journal in a way to support the game and in a way that it is aesthetically pleasing and entertaining to review in due course?

I feel like that's part of why I've enjoyed my Captain's Log games - the only real journalling involved is the log entries and each game is set up on the same three act format of a Star Trek episode, so you have a good guide on how to do both.

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