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Just found your channel tonight, and this video hits close to home. I'm starting my first Starforged campaign next week, but before I do, I'm going binder shopping! I refuse to fall into my own bad habit of filling shelves but not tabling games. Thanks for making this video.

This is what I wanted Forbidden Lands to be when I bought it years ago

Great overview, I just ordered a set of 8 Fighting Fantasy books, but I'm also interested in this open-world concept. Would you recommend this or Fabled Lands first, assuming both series will reach the finish line?

yeah this is the problem I still have every now and again. Geek Gamers' whole "everything is playing" spiel helps but I think the fact that I was a forever GM for the longest time and a writer also help me somewhat. Whenever I hear soloists talk about the biggest hurdle to getting a game going, it usually ends up to the work normally handled by a Game Master in a traditional game group. The setting, the NPCs, the quest, how long you want to explore a given world with a particular character... Yes, these are hard. Even though you only have one player to worry about and have a direct line to their inner thought process, it's still hard. And that's okay, if it wasn't hard then GM burnout wouldn't be a thing.

Had to look up Lutin. Apparently its French for pixie or leprechaun so the picture in the book s right on target. Interesting idea and use of the trope.

Thanks for raking your time and sharing your thoughts and experience on playing rpgs using ai. As I see these tools, I cannot help but feel a double edged sword. On one hand I see the potential of coupling different AIs like agents with their own strenghts to broaden the input-/output spectrum. Why stay with text if you can use audio? Why stay only with audio ad not also have the ai generate images for environments and characters you encounter? Next step and have the audio output match the generated images or vice verse. Then switch from images to animation and we end up with a totally interactive movie/world. Given enough bandwidth these custom taylored "worlds" are fed by tapping into the users mind and iteratibg upon the output. With every gaming session the ai will be trained to your wishes. In the end, you are in your own data bubble so oerfectly suited to your needs, that there will be less and less surprises anymore. The unpredictable becomes totally predictable. That's when at some point it will get boring. Some of the great aspects of interacting with other humans is, that not everyone is a people pleaser. AI, on the other handy, is designed to be just that and due to security concerns it should better be that way. The developers or companies behind the ai hard code some rules into it, taht cannot be overridden. My personal guess is, that the main goal of the ai is to be of service to the customer, hence people pleaser. One way of freeing yourself from your own bubble is by having a community/network of humans create a world together or at least being able to visit the virtually created worlds of others. Just like in the olden days when someone gave you their business card with their website address, so you could visit their website as a primitive form of your virtual world and connected digital identity. Just like when people form a community within an MMO and they start customizing their avatars and homes. Just my personal 2 cents.

Thanks for making this video. I find I have the same issue. I will get a new system and look it over and say to myself "Wow, this looks really fun and this is a lot to take in". I then put it aside and not touch it again and look at it wanting to play but feeling overwhelmed by it all. I will be trying this technique and see if I can get myself in some of these games finally.

Dumb boomer energy.

This is the usual fantastic and in depth overview/review that I've come to expect from you - thanks!

Man I have dice OCD too. My not sure if you’re planning anything for Sunder Isles but I have color matched both moons (Cinder and Wrath) and the curse dice.

im freinds with your son on discord

on discord

im freinds with your son

The Galaxy Builder was just released! I hope you make a video on it too.

I downloaded and printed the game recently. This video has given me incentive to start my own adventure using the system! Thanks!

Hello. Enjoy your channel. Is there a product for 4AD similar to the World Builder book for d100?

Time for a d100 wasteland!

Thanks for shearing this.

Do you have the latest one? 😊

Just bought the game. I wanted to say hi and check again your review to get a better understanding before I read the book.

I find this and 2d6 dungeon very interesting. One thing I have done is create my own encounter tables depending on the dungeon i'm exploring... like a Goblin lair, or evil monster community, etc. I have 5 so far... I used to use 1e DMG to do solo adventuring.

You never told me what that core oracle book was named, I do not know how to find one if I do not know what title to google.

As a company Die Hard Dice is awesome. I have several sets, which are all good. And I ordered some as a Christmas present. They tossed a huge handful of loose dice in the package, extras and whatnot. Some were not inked, and they included a painting guide. And a personalized message for the gift recipient. Really great to work with every time.

This is really good! I can create many different stories with words but pictures give me always the same results that’s why I use mostly words 🙂 Also my tips: don’t overthink and don’t be too hard on yourself 👍

A fantastic summary of this book and the d100 game. I am super excited to play this game.

I got my copy a month or so ago, and just recently I put in 30 hours over a long weekend. I was glued to the table. I have been singing the praises of this game for a week over the solo gaming groups I wander though. I wish it was more popular. It's hard to find anyone talking about it, or to get rules clarifications.

I think I'm somewhere in between the camps of Open Guided and GM emulation. I like simple mechanics and lots of tables to generate the world and events. But I also want a game that's more than just a hack-and-slash dungeon crawl. Four Against Darkness was the first solo game I really got into, but its combat-centric gameplay loop makes it a pretty quick climb to max level, if you're lucky. Plus, each character is pretty much handed to you with very little variation, making most parties feel more or less the same after a while. It's a good game with lots of cool supplements, but not quite what I'm looking for in the long term. With this in mind, I'm attempting to use the world/dungeon generation tables of 4AD in conjunction with the game Cairn and the encounter tables of White Box to hopefully create the solo sandbox game I'm looking for. I think the only big piece I'm missing is a way of generating quests. Caves and ruins filled with monsters and treasure are great, but I want some stakes and a way to make the world feel alive. I have Mythic as a basic prompt generator, but I find sometimes the system can be kind of hit or miss.

I enjoy your videos and reviews of solo gaming. I hope you are doing well. I noticed you haven't uploaded in a while. Happy New Year Matthew.

Fantastic coverage. Thank you for all your effort. Perfect length, too!

If you could only choose one, would it be D100 or Hostile solo? Similar? No? Thank you! ❤

I just started using Chat GPT with Obsidian for solo roleplaying with Hostile Solo. It is a (pardon the pun) game-changer for me. I think I will still use Oracles and other tables, but Chat GPT is working very well as a GM. I am using Smart Connections in Obsidian and the OpenAI API so there is a cost, but so far it is pretty small. This was the missing link to Solo RPGs for me. It keeps me from over-thinking what is meant by an Oracle and delivers surprises. The plot on my play through of Hostile Solo is developing nicely and has taken a turn I did not expect. Thanks for this video. After watching I decided to try it out. Boy and I glad I did!

Please stop calling every gamebook "C.Y.O.A." That is a trademark and it just sounds stupid. Just call them gamebooks.

117 is from the OSS 117 movies. I like the campy retro films Cairo: Nest of Spies, Lost in Rio, & From Africa with Love.

The new book is a great continuation of this!

What an absolutely incredible interview. Bless you gentlemen both. It's been a while since I sat down and listened through a hobby related discussion with such interest. Mr Kennedy sounds like an absolute gem of a human being. I love Drifter, loved all the other games you two discussed, and am definitely interested in Star Drifter and Adventurer. I have been dragging my feet on publishing anything from my personal portfolio, but I find inspiration in what you discussed on the merits of adding to the variety of available materials without worrying about the redundancy of their function. I've been struggling with that thought and hadn't considered that perspective, to my chagrin. Again, wonderful interview. Thank you again for posting this video and thank you Mr Kennedy for sharing your creativity with the rest of us daydreamers. 🍻

This video made me choke up. I'm brand brand new to the rpg world, and have been finding it incredibly overwhelming. I only just discovered your channel and the way you break things down make it so easy for me to follow. Thank you for overcoming so many barriers and putting the time into these videos. I am looking into solo rpg because it helps me with my mental health so much. And because of your videos I am able to delve into this world and escape some of my darkest moments. I hope all is well as I can see you haven't posted for a while. Sending lots of positive energy your way!

I really appreciate your video! This is big for me!

How do hordes work? I am still confused.

Great video, I use MUNE as my oracle, I like how simple it is but always gives a follow up to my question and random tables for specific questions and generating things. My only on going problem is recording information as I go, when I generate a dungeon room I need to come up with better ways of recording the layout of the room and the things that change when my PC explores that don't involve rewriting the whole room description. Like what happens if I return a week later in game and 2 months later in real life. I won't remember every detail but that sort of thing is important to meas a player. I like the idea of returning back to the local village selling treasures and returning back to the dungeon to carry on my delve

Excellently done. Thanks a bunch! 👍🏻

Fantastic product. Love it. Second edition is great.

Thanks for a great review, do you know if there is an equivalent though that is sci-fi inspired?

For a long time, similar to you, I had a hard time wrapping my head around "creation" in solo systems. I wanted something that GAVE ME the world, without me having to "make shit up". So I looked heavily into oracles that try to chisel out "what it is", rather than looking at my own creativity while using the Y/N process. I felt unsatisfied with how my own creativity steered the experience like you shine a torch around a room. I felt like I was too much in the drivers seat. These days I like to think of soloing in terms of "lines of creation" and "points of RNG". The points of RNG are the dice rolls you make, no matter the tool you use you are introducing a point of RNG there, which in turn sends your creative thought down an unforeseen path. The world "external to your creative thought" comes from these points of RNG, but it is still you who have to create it. It is quite subtle, and you might feel like you are "just making it up", because you do not see the true weight that these points of RNG have. Also, I like to use "tweaks" that I apply to my creations. For instance, if I get a strong oracle result (YES!) I have a list of ways that different things can be tweaked. If you are talking the physical world it is easy to apply factors such as quantity, quality/condition, dimensions, complexity/intricacy, size, value/worth/importance, Potency/strength/impact, rarity/oddness etc. For other questions regarding behavior, a situation, an action, an ongoing activity, you can use tweak words along the lines of Importance/gravity/impact, scope/reach/ breadth...I have many of these in my tweak lists. Also, a tweak method you can use is to apply a new set of words to an existing creation, prompting you to flesh it out further using these. Another tool I like is what I refer to as a "world roll" or "the DM says". Here I roll every now and again on a list that directs me to create in a certain direction. So the roll might direct me to create "an ambient NPC acts toward the PC". This means a person approaches me on the street, like a paper boy, or someone bumping into me. An old friend? In a claustrophobic starship corridor this might mean that we hear a howling off in the distance. Or I might get the instruction to create a "new ambient activity" going on, or a "new area feature", or "a new detail to an area feature" (the soda machine that I previously created as an area feature in the cyberpunk bar now has an anime style cyber-pop idol on it, flashing in neon, doing a silly little dance). The purpose of it is to have a very strong "point of RNG" that sidelines my own creative flow and steers it in a new direction. You can talk about this stuff for days on end. :D

Lol, from your first set of words I immediately started thinking of the garbage compactor from A new hope, and the slinky creature living there, protecting its refuse, with the entering heroes as a new prize for it to claim. Then you roll: Untamed, subsurface... Beautiful.

Thanks for the detailed video. Ordered a hardback right away on Lulu. Btw The Sword of Cepheus definitely deserves a similar treatment like Hostile Solo!

What book are you using with the “Core Oracles”

And thought between this title and Hostile Solo?

Superb review and overview - thank you! I've ordered the book and went all in with the hardback, printed cards and reference guide. I've dabbled in the past with solo RPGing but always stumbled after one or two sessions due to not having enough structure and it feeling more like creative writing with a handful of dice to roll. So your comments on the tables and handholding within this system were music to my ears.

💓💗💖 Your investigations using the AI is excellent and very helpful! Thanks for making this video. (I just found your channel recently.) I had already played around with solo game playing with an AI. And I had a similar experience to yours. I had very much enjoyed it! I only used the AI, not to replace the GM, but rather to create colorful descriptions, and as a cooperative storyteller! I still like choosing my game’s theme, creating my character, and my own setting, and doing my own rolls. (I’ve been saving all our conversations.) Like you, I tried playing solo for a long time (about four years) and just couldn’t enjoy much, for reasons similar to yours. The AI is, for me, another useful tool - along with my dice, rules, and tables I’ve purchased.

Good review, did you see Hostile solo space game based on the Cepheus engine/traveler.