Solo Roleplaying: go play with yourself

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Traditional Games > Solo Roleplaying: go play with yourself

Cthulu Carl: Apr 16, 2006

Angrymog posted:

I just picked up Captain's Log from Modiphius - solo Startrek using their 2d20 system.

Just had a quick skim of the pdf as I can't currently use the pc for long periods of time due to having module broken an arm.

Designed for any era, life path based character creation. Lots of ships, aliens, and mission types.

Hell, I might have to get this. I already have Starforged which I should play...

# ¿ Jul 17, 2023 03:43

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# ¿ May 10, 2024 05:26

Cthulu Carl: Apr 16, 2006

Subjunctive posted:

Oh poo poo, I thought this was the Ironsworn Delve. I gotta pick this up to read at least.

Hell, I did too. Maybe this will be a good way to get me using Dungeondraft more

# ¿ Jul 19, 2023 00:53

Cthulu Carl: Apr 16, 2006

Doctor Zero posted:

Yeah, it's neat. They have a whole section dedicated to making your game session like an episode of Star Trek, including the 3 (or 5) act structure, building tension, scene transitions, and B plots.

Oh, the system also uses a simplified generation of NPCs and Ships than STA, but if you want, you can use premade or generated NPC and ships from STA without any conversion if you want.

Here's a maybe silly question, how do the generation tables for things like planets and NPCs compare to Starforged? It probably doesn't matter since I have both now anyway, but I haven't had much time to give Captain's Log a real read.

# ¿ Jul 19, 2023 19:37

Cthulu Carl: Apr 16, 2006

Doctor Zero posted:

Starforged is better, if nothing because it's not based upon d20. You could always use Starforged tables as well. That's, a great idea actually.

That's actually what I was wondering but couldn't figure out how to word it. And that might be what I do when I get wrong and to playing Captain's Log

# ¿ Jul 20, 2023 14:16

Cthulu Carl: Apr 16, 2006

Ubersandwich posted:

I picked up Captain's Log as well and pretty much have the same sentiments as the rest of the thread. I love the character generation and it looks like a good adaptation of the Star Trek Adventures rules for a solo AND streamlined experience. I admit, this is my first exposure to STA.

I wish there was more to the gameplay loop. It follows the classic "narrate to a obstacle-> roll -> narrate to an obstacle". However, aside from the tables for specific things and setting information in the book, there is not a lot to help you with the "narration" bit. It could be that I have done most of my solo gaming with Mythic and then Ironsworn, but, man I would love some 'Trek-y" oracles. Oh, especially crew generators. I pretty much rolled some up on the fly (TOS Era, so 75% chance a crew member was human, 50/50 male female, found a name generator that had a large international pool of names to give me a name, rolled a focus and a value to give them a little personality.) I had a ton of fun making my character, getting my ship together, jankily rolling up a crew and rolling the first adventure premise. Then, as I started playing it felt like it was a LOT more free form and it was time for me to write up a Trek adventure.

But I really like rolling on tables and oracles. Plus, making characters is a close second to actually playing RPGs as far as having fun with the hobby goes. As others have suggested, I'll probably use Starforged or even Mythic oracles when I need to ask a "what" or "why" question that I don't want to make up the answer entirely on my own.

I'd be interested to hear if anyone here is playing and what sort of approaches they are taking.

I'm probably (Maybe (Hopefully?)) going to give it a go this weekend. I'll most likely use the oracles from Starforged to supplement things. I'll probably run one of the mission prompts in the supplement they put out as like a one shot to get a feel for things first.

# ¿ Aug 11, 2023 18:33

Cthulu Carl: Apr 16, 2006

I haven't rolled a mission yet, but I rolled up a Denobulan that I decided to make a science officer on an Olympic-class ship. Through the rolls, he ended up with two of his focuses being Torpedoes and Microbiology, so uh... Hope that doesn't have dark implications for his past...

# ¿ Aug 13, 2023 00:18

Cthulu Carl: Apr 16, 2006

Galaga Galaxian posted:

Its interesting several of you are going to play just officers instead of the commander of a ship. I was going back and forth on that myself, I'm just not sure how easy it would be to keep a junior officer player character busy. Then again one of the advantages of the solo format is that you can skip large amounts of time if needed. Perhaps your character goes weeks or even months between being noteworthily involved in a major mission due to their skillset or circumstances.

In my case, I think it'll be fine - my goal with this guy is to just do a mission or two to get a feel for things. Since so much of Captain's Log is formatted as writing your own Star Trek show, I guess this dude is the special guest who pops up for a few episodes a season.

It also didn't feel right making him the captain because from the rolls, he came out strong on the sciencey end of things but not so much on the command or tactical side.

# ¿ Aug 13, 2023 00:58

Cthulu Carl: Apr 16, 2006

Yeah, I just ended up with a dude who was stronger in science stuff and the career length roll got me 'novice'.

Depending on how things go he might end up as an NPC in a longer campaign.

Rolled up the first mission and got:

code:

Type: Deep Space Exploration - Strange Probe Discovered

Incident: Save
Theme: Gravimetric Distortion

Complication: Horrific Discovery

Encounter: Spacefaring Civilization - Diplomatic Vessel Transporting Ambassadors

Oh, this might turn out bad for that diplomatic ship...

# ¿ Aug 13, 2023 01:51

Cthulu Carl: Apr 16, 2006

Some of the tables I'm gonna use the equivalents from Starforged. Or maybe use both, just based on how I feel. For some, like the Focus tables, I'd probably just pick what I want instead of rolling - When I get to doing a longer play, I'll probably go into it with an idea of the character I want to create, or through the missions I'll know better for how I want them to change.

EDIT: I found this guy doing playthroughs of Captain's Log

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

I dunno if it'll help anyone else, but I haven't really done a solo RPG before it's it's helping me understand one way of playing it, which helps me.

Cthulu Carl fucked around with this message at 00:43 on Aug 14, 2023

# ¿ Aug 14, 2023 00:38

Cthulu Carl: Apr 16, 2006

Played through a first act with my science officer, and it's pretty fun. Added a few rolls in places where I felt like he'd have to convince the captain to let him do stuff. I feel like using the Starforged tables for a lot of the set dressing stuff helped - a "Heavily Armed" probe with an "Intimidating Profile" helped me start piecing together some of the plot threads I'd rolled.

I think my biggest issue right now - and it's mostly from being a rookie at solo RPGs, I'm guessing - is deciding when to roll some things. This ship is supposed to have ambassadors on it, do I roll it right from the start or wait till they enter the story? If I roll at the start, to I forego rolling for motivations until I need them? What if I roll them later and they make no sense with that I have so far? I just have to work out how I want to handle it.

I also downloaded the free STA mission brief packs and will probably add them into the mix in addition to the missions I roll when playing.

# ¿ Aug 16, 2023 04:20

Cthulu Carl: Apr 16, 2006

Galaga Galaxian posted:

Roll what kind of things? Details? What constitutes an action worth rolling for?

The big one I wasn't sure on was when to roll for was the ambassador's goal in the story that's forming. I ended up just rolling for it right at the beginning (he's looking to gain scientific knowledge through theft on behalf of a nearby government) and seeing if my science officer can suss it out.

I just don't know if I'd prefer laying it all out from the start or generating NPC plot points like that on the fly. I suppose next mission I'll try doing it on the fly and see what I prefer.

# ¿ Aug 16, 2023 11:52

Cthulu Carl: Apr 16, 2006

Ubersandwich posted:

Bear In mind I have yet to play, I've just done "session 0," but I did a very similar thing in picking one value and one focus for the department heads of my character's ship.

I've considered adding one more thing to flesh out the NPCs a little more. Perhaps rolling a "first look" and "revealed aspect" from Starforged to round out their personalities.

It'd give the NPCs a little more depth, and I love rolling on tables.

I didn't do this for my bridge crew, but I did do it for the ships involved in this mission and the alien we picked up.

Made it fun trying to figure out why a simple probe would have heavy armor and an "intimidating profile".

# ¿ Aug 21, 2023 11:53

Cthulu Carl: Apr 16, 2006

chainchompz posted:

My physical copy of Captain's Log arrived and I'm pretty stoked.
As fun as having a .pdf already is, I try to do tabletop and solo rpg stuff as non-digital as possible because I'm looking at a screen long enough each week. Digital character sheets are fun, though.

So far I've done the session 0 stuff- rolled a few characters, a full bridge crew, and created a custom class vessel using their recommended generator/guidelines but haven't really taken them out on an adventure yet.

Those who have Captain's Log and the Star Trek Adventures books, do you recommend picking up the STA book as well? Would I just be collecting more lore/game manuals needlessly?

I tend to find it easier to flip through a book then scroll to a page.

I downloaded the 12 or so STA Briefs - they're free, each one has 10 one-page missions with major plot beats roughly in the 3 act format, some minor plot beats and even state which crew roles might be best as spotlight characters for the missions.

# ¿ Aug 22, 2023 00:40

Cthulu Carl: Apr 16, 2006

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.

I don't see myself always doing 1 scene = 1 task, however.

I think it depends on what you want to do in each scene.

My current mission, the first and second scenes were single rolls - one to try and beam people off a ship in distress, one to see if my science officer thinks the survivor is truthful. But a few scenes have had two rolls, and my fifth scene is three rolls.

# ¿ Aug 24, 2023 11:52

Cthulu Carl: Apr 16, 2006

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?

Anyway here is what Modiphius had to say

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?"

# ¿ Aug 30, 2023 19:59

Cthulu Carl: Apr 16, 2006

I have a solo module for 5E I should probably try at some point to see how that works

# ¿ Mar 4, 2024 21:17

Cthulu Carl: Apr 16, 2006

I'm keeping an eye on Substratum Protocol since it sounds interesting

# ¿ Mar 4, 2024 23:51

Cthulu Carl: Apr 16, 2006

StrixNebulosa posted:

Sundered Isle kickstarter is up, and already super-triple funded!

drat, I missed the backer number hitting 666. Knew I should have screenshotted first then back it.

# ¿ Mar 12, 2024 16:28

Cthulu Carl: Apr 16, 2006

Mercury Hat posted:

can I get by with the reference book and just use the PDF for the full rules as needed?

That's pretty much what I do

# ¿ Mar 12, 2024 21:38

Cthulu Carl: Apr 16, 2006

chainchompz posted:

I know it's not solo tabletop/boardgame but thanks for the heads up on Fabled Lands being on steam. Picked them up and blew an evening playing.

Anyone know when the 5 parsecs from home bug hunt physical books ship?

According to the product page: "SHIPPING IS EXPECTED TO START END OF APRIL 2024."

# ¿ Mar 16, 2024 14:26

Cthulu Carl: Apr 16, 2006

Crescent Chimera just launched a KS for their new solo RPG Astroprisma

It's already funded, but has anyone played any of their systems before?

# ¿ Mar 19, 2024 17:17

Cthulu Carl: Apr 16, 2006

Got the Backerkit survey for Sundered Isles and immediately got the pdfs.

My man Shawn ain't fuckin' around.

# ¿ Apr 24, 2024 01:41

Cthulu Carl: Apr 16, 2006

Beast Pussy posted:

Weren't these supposed to be sent out in March? I found the book+shipping costs to be pretty high, and then they can't even get it out within a month of their scheduled date? I sure do get at least two marketing emails from them a week, but nothing on the things I've actually purchased.
It's a bad look.

I thought the shipping window for it was always early May for Bug Hunt and early June for County Road Z

# ¿ Apr 25, 2024 17:57

Cthulu Carl: Apr 16, 2006

The other important thing to note with Modiphius: if the shipping is extreme, you're not on the right site.

When I ordered Captain's Log, the shipping was like the same amount as the price of the loving book, and then I noticed the big red banner about the US store. Turns out that modiphius.net is like the UK site and to get US shipping, you have to go to modiphius.us

# ¿ Apr 25, 2024 18:57

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# ¿ May 10, 2024 05:26

Cthulu Carl: Apr 16, 2006

chainchompz posted:

Curiosity got the better of me and so I emailed Modiphius, if you're a yank waiting your 5 parsecs from home compendium and bug hunt, they emailed me back letting me know shipping for us starts in June.

At least I got the PDF to start getting together the poo poo I'll need - which I think is just a variety of bugs at this point

# ¿ May 9, 2024 17:22

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Traditional Games > Solo Roleplaying: go play with yourself