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Galaga Galaxian posted:So for Captain's Log, do others think 1 Task Roll should equate to one scene, or do people prefer to have multiple task rolls per scene as appropriate? From what I've read the book on page 231 does say "scenes are likely to have one or more dice rolls." but text in other areas of the book kinda implies that generally 1 task = 1 scene with the exception of Extended Conflicts (including combat). I do like the idea/challenge of trying to keep scenes to a single task, if only to keep things moving and avoid rolling for little things. Also as a sort of "you're running out of time/tasks in the episode, better solve that problem!" tension building mechanic. Going by the (admittedly scattered) Rules, my take on it is that Acts and Scenes, and Rolls and Actions are supposed to be decoupled. You could certainly play it the way you say, but I think that might rush the story. I think what they are encouraging is to imagine the Scenes like a TV show and not a Game Round. That is, you may have a scene with one roll (or even none) when your characters are not in the thick of it, and in action sequences, you may make many rolls. For example, in my first play through I am through the first Act. I had about five scenes. Most of them had one roll, but a more involved scene had one. I made as many rolls as I felt I needed during the scene. If I had cut the scene with each roll, it would either be really choppy, or wouldn't contain enough decision points to be compelling IMO. Star Trek Hyperion episode 1-1: 'On a Pale Horse' posted:Mission: Divert course and respond to a plague related planetary distress signal from an unknown planet. Doctor Zero fucked around with this message at 15:15 on Aug 24, 2023 |
# ? Aug 24, 2023 15:08 |
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# ? May 10, 2024 09:16 |
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Started working on the first rough draft for playtest rules. Slimmed down to four stats, Might, Empathy, Agility, and Technical, so that each suit could be associated with one stat, and because Might and Endurance weren't all that different. Finished a few of the character classes (some of the finished ones include The Paramour for the Jack of Hearts and The Hunter for the Queen of Spades), got extreme rough drafts for all four 'base' adversaries (Serial Killer, Horror from Beyond, The Beast, and Enemy Within), and the core rules aside from the event tables are all at least finished enough to be functional. Now all I have to do is come up with 54 events for the Events Table and lay the groundwork for literally everything to come. No pressure. Playtest Rules, The Adversaries posted:Horror from Beyond (Ace of Clubs) Two are more overtly supernatural while two are possibly mundane, and all of them are deliberately broad enough concepts to work in a variety of settings. Once the core rules and events are finished (or at least workable), I'll start pecking away at more specifically-themed standalone expansions. girl dick energy fucked around with this message at 09:26 on Aug 25, 2023 |
# ? Aug 25, 2023 09:15 |
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girl dick energy posted:I had two incredible, horrifying, amazing galaxy brain ideas for a horror roll and write because World of Horror has been living in my brain rent free. This is reminding me of something Brennan Lee Mulligan did in the most recent episode of Dimension 20 - he came up with a system on the fly where an NPC who was a total weenie (d4 strength) but was being urged on and trained by a powerful force got to "explode" (i.e. add the value and roll again) on 2, 3, or 4. So depending on how your system works, you could use those as X/O sides as +/- modifiers - like if you roll an X, then you now roll that die twice and combine the values, whereas if you roll the O side you roll twice and only get to keep the difference between the two. It could get a little mentally complicated keeping track if you're rolling multiple X/O dice, but if you cap it to one X/O roll per die (imagining you're using 2d6 for a typical skill roll) then that helps keep it not too swingy and not too complicated, once the player understands the mechanic.
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# ? Aug 25, 2023 19:34 |
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I guess Modiphius is listening to feedback. They came out with updated PDFs for Captain's Log.quote:Version 1.4 of Captain's Log contains the following key revisions (plus minor typo fixes): They also now have a Supplemental PDF with a bunch of missions to use, as well as a section on including Lower Decks content.
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# ? Aug 30, 2023 00:51 |
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quote:--Pages 85-88: Revised the focus tables to allow for more random distribution of results. And did they actually account for the bell curve effect or rolling 2d20/3d20 or did they simply randomize the entries instead of having them alphabetically sorted?
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# ? Aug 30, 2023 01:15 |
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Galaga Galaxian posted:And did they actually account for the bell curve effect or rolling 2d20/3d20 or did they simply randomize the entries instead of having them alphabetically sorted? It's "On a result of 1-10, roll a d20 on first half of the table; on a result of 11-20, roll a d20 on the second half." Looks like they added a couple of items to make each table be two 20 unit tables.
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# ? Aug 30, 2023 02:50 |
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Ubersandwich posted:It's "On a result of 1-10, roll a d20 on first half of the table; on a result of 11-20, roll a d20 on the second half." Alright fair enough, cool.
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# ? Aug 30, 2023 03:09 |
Doctor Zero posted:I guess Modiphius is listening to feedback. They came out with updated PDFs for Captain's Log. Captain's Log has reminded me why I never buy first-run print copies of Modiphius's books if I can help it. I made the mistake of preordering Captain's Log, just got it, and the PDF is already like four versions ahead of it. More than most other companies they seem to do basically no proofreading before approving final versions for print. STA's original core books were absolutely terrible for this.
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# ? Aug 30, 2023 10:15 |
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I get promotional emails from Modiphius and evidently Captain's Log is selling quite well. Even though the pandemic is over I wonder if there is a uptick in interest in solo games? Anyway here is what Modiphius had to say quote:We released the Captain's Log Solo Roleplaying Game just a few weeks ago and it has been such a monumental success that we're selling out of some of the covers in some territories, and we're already discussing the possibility of another print run! Almost overnight it's become one of our best-selling titles and there's clearly an appetite in the RPG community for solo roleplaying, so with that in mind, we've collected a few products that might scratch that itch! Read on to find out more about Captain's Log, the system neutral Solo Gamemaster's Guide, and Ironsworn: Starforged!
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# ? Aug 30, 2023 19:45 |
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Helical Nightmares posted:I get promotional emails from Modiphius and evidently Captain's Log is selling quite well. Even though the pandemic is over I wonder if there is a uptick in interest in solo games? There seems to be an uptick on solo wargames too. Maybe the pandemic made people go "wait, I can play traditional games without worrying about getting a group together consistently?" in the same way it made a bunch of workers go "wait, I can just roll out of bed instead of sitting in the attic for an hour to get to work?"
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# ? Aug 30, 2023 19:59 |
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Modiphius just released the ST:TAS supplement. I got it and it's not anything you couldn't figure out on your own, but having the stats for Caitians, Edosians, and Kzin as well as major and minor characters and NPCs his pretty rad. Modiphius posted:Description Doctor Zero fucked around with this message at 19:53 on Sep 8, 2023 |
# ? Sep 8, 2023 19:50 |
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So here is a progress report of sorts on the solo games I am in the process of reading. I am focused on solo games that are not a) strictly journaling games or b)primarily use oracles to resolve questions. No I have not played any of these yet, because I am doomed (DOOMED) to constantly be attracted to read the next shiny thing. The Broken Cask Status: Read A solitaire innkeeping roleplaying game with lots of tables for you to create your inn, detail the characters who work for you, determine a signature meal and drink, roll for events, and figure out if the adventures you hired to go on a quest return with something worth your investment. The Broken Cask runs a little bit like the video game Recettear where the focus is more on you as the merchant or manager of the inn with the objective to acquire both Gold and Prestige so your inn is renowned across the land. Personally I look at The Broken Cask and think "this would be a lot of fun if I add a new table here or there." I like it because of it's mechanics, the fact there is a defined win condition, and because I see it as moddable. Along with wanting to expand the clientele and drink tables, I think The Broken Cask's bones could be used as the foundation for a "form a cult, manage and grow it" game that I've been toying with for a while. The Broken Cast is $10 for 78 pages, including 10 pages of random tables. https://shoreless.itch.io/the-broken-cask Blood Moon Apocalypse Status: Mostly Read Welcome to Zombie time or possibly the Rapture! You've got zombies or demonic creatures crawling all over the ruins of civilization and you must explore and survive. When I was reading this I was reminded of the video game Neo Scavenger. You explore a randomly generated grid and scavenge for materials that you can use to craft equipment and/or upgrade your base. And upgrading your base is important because a hoard of the "possessed" will siege your base, it is just a matter of time. I like this game because it provided some decent crafting rules and some useful base building rules that I can iterate on. Blood Moon Apocalypse is $5 for 25 pages. https://blackoath.itch.io/blood-moon-apocalypse Data Hunter Status: Half-read A solo scifi hexcrawl adventure that delivers on it's premise. There was an alien invasion that was crushed (thanks biowarfare!) and the aliens left behind encrypted data for high-tech blueprints that scavengers drool over , along with lots of radiation craters. Essentially scavenge and survive in the post-apocalypse, however there is a focus on trading your alien harvest with different factions and you should balance what you do with each faction so they don't withdraw missions, allies or trading opportunities from you. Ultimately this is a well thought out game for the price of essentially nothing and I think more people should be aware of it. Similar themes, but very different mechanics from Blood Moon Apocalypse. Data Hunter is PWYW for 32 pages. https://rcdavey.itch.io/data-hunter Six Crowns in Hell Status: Just Started Reading You are a lovely soul bound in Hell to the Hell Knights. Kill all six of them to take over or possibly escape Hell. You explore Hell by using a deck of cards to determine the local terrain. You also run the risk of Damnation with certain actions. I don't know what these are; I have yet to get there in the text. I will say that when you create your Hell Weapon (one of four types depending on what suit you draw from the deck) each Hell Weapon has a unique mechanic, they are not just mirrors of each other. So there has been thoughtful asymmetric design in this game in at least a couple places. Six Crowns in Hell was $5 during it's Kickstarter for 46 pages. It will eventually be available on DriveThru Rpg. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/gallantknightgames/six-crowns-in-hell
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# ? Sep 26, 2023 03:59 |
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Cthulu Carl posted:There seems to be an uptick on solo wargames too. There a thread for this?
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# ? Sep 26, 2023 04:45 |
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doctorfrog posted:There a thread for this? Sort of. People talk about solo wargames like 5 Parsecs from Home and Rangers of Shadow Deep here: https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3253037
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# ? Sep 26, 2023 04:49 |
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Helical Nightmares posted:So here is a progress report of sorts on the solo games I am in the process of reading... Thanks for the write up! I'm definitely going to check out Data Hunter and Six Crowns when it's available. (I already have Broken Cask). (edit): Ah! Didn't realize it until I downloaded it, but Data Hunter is a variant of Courier, which is something I backed on Kickstarter awhile ago during a zine-fest. Courier normally goes for $10 but the creator has it (and their other games) on sale until the end of September for 50% off as a fundraiser for their terminally ill dog. StarkRavingMad fucked around with this message at 05:52 on Sep 26, 2023 |
# ? Sep 26, 2023 05:44 |
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I tried the free solo C'thulhu module Alone Against the Flames and I thought it was pretty fun. Has anyone played any of the other solo adventures and would you recommend them?
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# ? Sep 30, 2023 13:17 |
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My current Starforged game has hit something of a writer's block and stalled out, so I was thinking of setting it aside for a bit and playing something else. After some thought I was considering a cyberpunk game. My first impulse was just to do it in Starforged since thats what I'm comfortable and familiar with, however does anyone know any of any (preferably good) solo RPGs for Cyberpunk?
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# ? Oct 17, 2023 02:17 |
Galaga Galaxian posted:My current Starforged game has hit something of a writer's block and stalled out, so I was thinking of setting it aside for a bit and playing something else. After some thought I was considering a cyberpunk game. My first impulse was just to do it in Starforged since thats what I'm comfortable and familiar with, however does anyone know any of any (preferably good) solo RPGs for Cyberpunk? Not sure if it's what you're looking for, but Cy_Borg works pretty well with the Mörk Borg Solo Mode add-on Solitary Defilement.
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# ? Oct 17, 2023 06:22 |
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I finally got around to picking up a fee solo journaling games but I suspect I may need to build a bit of a ritual habit for playing them. I reviewed my old notes in the thread and part of it is these days I am usually short on time or have used a lot of my journaling and gaming energy reflecting and running stuff for other people. In the holiday stretch around here I suspect that I will have a little more bandwidth to try out stuff like Jason Morningstar’s “Skeletons” and Thousand Year Old Vampire, which is surprisingly expensive but lovingly printed and bound. Worth the price of admission.
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# ? Oct 25, 2023 07:11 |
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Has anyone else here tried Koriko? Journaling game with Tarot cards, dice and a heavy dose of Kiki's Delivery Service. I love it so far. https://mouseholepress.itch.io/koriko
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# ? Oct 26, 2023 02:46 |
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BigRed0427 posted:Has anyone else here tried Koriko? Journaling game with Tarot cards, dice and a heavy dose of Kiki's Delivery Service. I love it so far. I'm just coming to the end of character creation/departure but I'm really enjoying it so far.
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# ? Oct 26, 2023 08:21 |
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Has anyone heard of EndlessRPG? I underestimated this app, its quite handy for solo dungeon crawling. It generates a player facing dungeon (fog of war for you) and even puts down traps/encounters in rooms. Although made for 5e/PF, I used it for an OSE dungeon crawl and replaced generated with something from random encounter list in OSE. It’s ugly as sin though, I’d like to replace the tile set if I can.
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# ? Oct 31, 2023 23:11 |
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PrivRyan posted:Has anyone heard of EndlessRPG? I underestimated this app, its quite handy for solo dungeon crawling. It generates a player facing dungeon (fog of war for you) and even puts down traps/encounters in rooms. Although made for 5e/PF, I used it for an OSE dungeon crawl and replaced generated with something from random encounter list in OSE. That sounds quite cool!
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# ? Oct 31, 2023 23:20 |
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PrivRyan posted:Has anyone heard of EndlessRPG? I underestimated this app, its quite handy for solo dungeon crawling. It generates a player facing dungeon (fog of war for you) and even puts down traps/encounters in rooms. Although made for 5e/PF, I used it for an OSE dungeon crawl and replaced generated with something from random encounter list in OSE. It looks like some Dwarf Fortress like thing?
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# ? Nov 1, 2023 02:57 |
Doctor Zero posted:It looks like some Dwarf Fortress like thing? Think they might be talking about this EndlessRPG, not this one.
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# ? Nov 1, 2023 05:15 |
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That’s the one. It’s a shame it’s not being developed further, its tempting to try to learn how to make something similar to this.
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# ? Nov 1, 2023 05:43 |
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https://chivu.itch.io/the-books-were-wrong This is in the excellent Games for Gaza bundle and has you playing as a scholar correcting the information in a wiki entry about a fantasy race. Essentially rewriting a colonialist history of the orcs or drow or whatever.
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# ? Nov 2, 2023 09:08 |
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It was also in the Trans Rights for Texas bundle from a while ago.
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# ? Nov 2, 2023 23:58 |
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I saw ads for a kickstarter for a game called Dont Play This Game. It looked good and I missed it 😞
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# ? Nov 3, 2023 19:59 |
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BigRed0427 posted:I saw ads for a kickstarter for a game called Dont Play This Game. It looked good and I missed it 😞 It sounds like you actually won.
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# ? Nov 3, 2023 20:54 |
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The third expansion for '5 parsecs from home' just dropped yesterday. Picked it up but haven't had a chance to glance over it or play with it yet. Adds new mission types, environments, etc.
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# ? Nov 4, 2023 19:37 |
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chainchompz posted:The third expansion for '5 parsecs from home' just dropped yesterday. Picked it up but haven't had a chance to glance over it or play with it yet. Adds new mission types, environments, etc. I’ve had 5 parsecs for a while, but haven’t tried it just yet in favor of my current solo campaign. The addition of factions sounds like a doozy. I also wanted to know of your hex crawl methods? I have been using Jed McClure’s Wilderness Hexplore rules with Perilous Wilds as hex POI generation, but was wondering how all of you approach it. PrivRyan fucked around with this message at 04:13 on Nov 6, 2023 |
# ? Nov 6, 2023 04:06 |
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Now that I've put a few dozen hours into playing a number of systems solo* I've come to a few realizations: 1) It's fun! It may not be for everybody, but there is a lot of entertainment to be had 2) It takes some work, but the work is really play. Don't think of creating the backstory, setting, possible events, etc... as getting in the way of adventuring; just as a different phase of the game 3) Some form of journal is necessary. Rolling dice and moving characters around on an overworld or dungeon map is meaningless without context and keeping a record of events makes them real 4) Using regular pre-written adventures works well and is preferable to solo adventures, which tend to be too limited, but putting the time into world & campaign building is great too 5) Running both sides of a combat encounter (especially in a more tactical system like PF2e) is fun & rewarding as long as there is a way to balance the cognitive load (e.g., smaller party size) 6) Random tables can be very helpful, but having too many is a recipe for indecision 7) All of that money buying a bunch of rulebooks and adventures wasn't a waste! I've also tried running systems both physically and digitally and for PF2e I think using FoundryVTT is a huge advantage because it takes care of so much of the optimization, but for lighter systems using a pencil and paper and dice offers a great way to get away from the computer. * Ironsworn, Pathfinder 2e & various OSR/NSR systems (OSE, Basic Fantasy, Cairn, Mork Borg, Scarlet Heroes, Broken Shores)
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# ? Nov 9, 2023 23:49 |
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XenoCrab posted:7) All of that money buying a bunch of rulebooks and adventures wasn't a waste! How do you handle prewritten adventures?
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# ? Nov 10, 2023 01:12 |
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XenoCrab posted:Now that I've put a few dozen hours into playing a number of systems solo* I've come to a few realizations: What's your favourite unexpected or cool thing you ended up writing in one of your games??
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# ? Nov 10, 2023 01:21 |
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Zapf Dingbat posted:How do you handle prewritten adventures? Interested in this as well. I’m sitting on a pile of DCC adventures I’d love to run solo but not sure how
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# ? Nov 10, 2023 03:30 |
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XenoCrab posted:Now that I've put a few dozen hours into playing a number of systems solo* I've come to a few realizations:
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# ? Nov 10, 2023 04:29 |
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girl dick energy posted:Huh. I might do something like that with LANCER, since all my attempts to actually get a campaign running have gone bust. My take on pre-written adventures is that I read the entire thing first, turn some sections into mini-games/add conditional rules to them (e.g. places where you search things), and make some sections gamebooky choose your path things to stop me just exploring every avenue. Also adding clocks for time pressure/NPC schemes etc. I use the GME for interrupted and altered scenes, and sometimes I go into proper GM mode and use the GME to find out what the player character does. Here's a write up of teh Shadow of the Demon Lord version of Death in Freeport. (I did continue, but didn't get aroudn to posting) https://moggynomates.angrymog.com/2019/03/10/solo-a-module-month-death-in-freeport/ And a write up I did of converting the free Pathfinder 1e starter module to a structured solo format. https://drive.google.com/file/d/15U2UhaIx-_ClU-rJw-RDNYFYpw9pMD2i/view Angrymog fucked around with this message at 08:27 on Nov 10, 2023 |
# ? Nov 10, 2023 07:53 |
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Zapf Dingbat posted:How do you handle prewritten adventures? Angrymog basically gave the same advice I would: Angrymog posted:My take on pre-written adventures is that I read the entire thing first, turn some sections into mini-games/add conditional rules to them (e.g. places where you search things), and make some sections gamebooky choose your path things to stop me just exploring every avenue. Also adding clocks for time pressure/NPC schemes etc. I'll add that I haven't tried out GME yet, and generally just use a simple expanded d6 yes/no oracle or a percentage for how likely something is. I also haven't worried too much about adding in big plot twists or extra NPC conflict and tend to go with the flow. In some ways it's treating the adventure more like a video game level that I'm trying to experience & complete. HopperUK posted:What's your favourite unexpected or cool thing you ended up writing in one of your games?? This is a great question! One thing that sticks out is playing Cairn with the Follow the Bones solo system where a hireling was too successful in using a spell to force open a door, which blew the door off its hinges into the wight guarding it. In the ensuing fight the PC managed to defeat the wight, but the hireling took critical damage from the wight and knew they only had maybe a dozen hours before they themselves turned into a moss wight. I wasn't expecting both the feelings of crushing melancholy and grim determination that this would cast over the rest of the adventure, which had mostly just felt like a mysterious, and only slightly foreboding, walk through the woods before that.
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# ? Nov 10, 2023 18:46 |
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# ? May 10, 2024 09:16 |
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GME?
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# ? Nov 11, 2023 05:27 |