I like these 'slower/meandering' type videos. I actually prefer them. Great video and some great games in there along with some spot on advice! PS - Gates of Death is awful though. Puerile nonsense and not in the entertaining sense. Don't waste your time with it!
My tips are: 1- Start in middle of a fight agains 1 or 2 goblins/bandits. (This way you see the fight of the game and you get an idea of the "balance" of what your character can do at the start) 2- Do point crawl instead of hex crawl. Just take a map and point some dots. Link the dots with lines and give travel time in days. (This will speed up the game, making no need to generate an entire map and you can still get lost). 3- Prepare a frame for your note taking if you will take notes. Having a framing well defined from the start makes way easier and fast to take notes and make all consistent. I generaly divide it in Session/Acts and Scenes, giving each scene an objective. (This makes everything fast, pretty and helps you to have "time" in the game as you can say "this scene took 4hrs" or for abilitys "1 use per scene"). My solo rpg recomendations: - Ironsworn (The world trues are good way to "build" an world) - Riftbreakers - Blackoath Entertainment (d100% system makes easy to understand your odds and for the start tutorial that leads you at the beggining of character creation and fight) - Scarlet Heroes (Good game with good random tables)
That's some good advice, especially about the pointcrawl instead of hexcrawl! I love Ironsworn and Scarlet Heroes. SH is my go-to solo system. Sometimes I download a free system neutral dungeon generator and try it out with Scarlet Heroes. I'll have to look into Riftbreakers as I love Blackoath's stuff. Thanks for the comment!
I think the point crawl tip is specially useful for pre made adventures, were you are probably going to follow the proposed plot instead of doing the sandbox approach. I'm planning on taking some rules from Mörk Borg that uses a point crawl system while still having some rules for travelling so you can still have some emergent side actions between the main points
@@srmarcosx Point crawl is best used when you have already a map, but you can use a blank map to. You can roll a direction and a time travel to place some point of interest, than play the normal rules. At the end of a day, for example, you can roll a d6 and on a 1 you are lost. Means you won’t move that day for example. There are some pros and some cons.
Awesome video!! I really love the tips - I think this'll be really useful to me. I'll also be recommending this to my friends. Feel called out about all the games I do get and don't play though, haha, your tip about sticking to a few (or even one!) game at the start at least is really good :D
Yeah, in some ways being completely broke since having a baby has been good, as I've tried out a few RPGs and games from my Steam library instead of buying new ones. Glad you liked it, thanks!
This is a really valuable video, and as an aside I think a lot of this advice, including the last bit about fun being the point, is equally applicable to group RPG play.
What a lovely video! I don't mind the long form style at all. I'm going to work toward breaking down the process into small, achievable steps as the way to go for me, at least to get started. Losing momentum or being too tired at the end of the day are fun killers for sure!
Great video it is always good to watch videos like this even if you have been playing for awhile. We sometimes forget some of the basics always trying new things. It is good to get back to the basics and just have fun.
Thanks! Yeah I learn a lot from watching other solo players' advice and also just their solo play videos. Sometimes you discover tips that you can use in any solo game.
Hey really liked this video, nice chill presentation. You make great points about taking your time and not biting off more materials/books than can chew. After a phase of heavy purchasing and more perusing than playing, I've begun some simplifying! Also, know a bit of the feeling with having a little one around the house, lol! Changing the attitude about free time / work time / family time takes some work indeed. Cheers
Thanks! I've found it REALLY difficult adjusting to my new life as a dad, but I'm planning to one day in a few years sit my daughter down, give her a D20 and say "Right, you're standing outside a monster's cave in the woods, with a sword. What do you do?"
Loved the end, lol. Also, near the beginning you mentioned using Tabletop Simulator, and that's a fantastic resource for solo gaming. It's more a physics engine, really, so I tend to use Foundry since it has ways of automating some things and doing like individual token vision so you can know what can see what, but that's really more helpful for playing with a party. I 100% agree that doing this is for fun. It's something I personally struggle to remember sometimes when I feel like I have to stick to the rules and results of the dice. Leaving to do a mini quest for a particularly hard boss? Freaking genius. I've wiped my party before and was just like "that's just what the dice said." Would have been a better idea to just flee and learn more instead of fighting to the death.
Really glad to hear this was a helpful video! I'll look into Foundry, it sounds great. I think some automation for solo gaming is really helpful, it's probably good to find a balance between having too many dice rolls vs too much automation, since you could get to a point where you're just clicking buttons on a screen like in a computer game.
Oh no buying RPGs and not playing them I feel seen😅
I like these 'slower/meandering' type videos. I actually prefer them. Great video and some great games in there along with some spot on advice!
PS - Gates of Death is awful though. Puerile nonsense and not in the entertaining sense. Don't waste your time with it!
Hah, thanks for the heads up! I was wondering about actually playing it on here, but I'll read the start first and see what it's like.
My tips are:
1- Start in middle of a fight agains 1 or 2 goblins/bandits. (This way you see the fight of the game and you get an idea of the "balance" of what your character can do at the start)
2- Do point crawl instead of hex crawl. Just take a map and point some dots. Link the dots with lines and give travel time in days. (This will speed up the game, making no need to generate an entire map and you can still get lost).
3- Prepare a frame for your note taking if you will take notes. Having a framing well defined from the start makes way easier and fast to take notes and make all consistent. I generaly divide it in Session/Acts and Scenes, giving each scene an objective. (This makes everything fast, pretty and helps you to have "time" in the game as you can say "this scene took 4hrs" or for abilitys "1 use per scene").
My solo rpg recomendations:
- Ironsworn (The world trues are good way to "build" an world)
- Riftbreakers - Blackoath Entertainment (d100% system makes easy to understand your odds and for the start tutorial that leads you at the beggining of character creation and fight)
- Scarlet Heroes (Good game with good random tables)
That's some good advice, especially about the pointcrawl instead of hexcrawl! I love Ironsworn and Scarlet Heroes. SH is my go-to solo system. Sometimes I download a free system neutral dungeon generator and try it out with Scarlet Heroes.
I'll have to look into Riftbreakers as I love Blackoath's stuff. Thanks for the comment!
I think the point crawl tip is specially useful for pre made adventures, were you are probably going to follow the proposed plot instead of doing the sandbox approach. I'm planning on taking some rules from Mörk Borg that uses a point crawl system while still having some rules for travelling so you can still have some emergent side actions between the main points
@@srmarcosx Point crawl is best used when you have already a map, but you can use a blank map to.
You can roll a direction and a time travel to place some point of interest, than play the normal rules.
At the end of a day, for example, you can roll a d6 and on a 1 you are lost. Means you won’t move that day for example.
There are some pros and some cons.
I heard “Don’t rush out and buy a bunch of games” as I listen to this while driving between different game stores. Yeah you probably have a point
Haha, classic
It would be funny if someone else called themselves " lone rider!" Or "Lone forever" lol 😆
Awesome video!! I really love the tips - I think this'll be really useful to me. I'll also be recommending this to my friends. Feel called out about all the games I do get and don't play though, haha, your tip about sticking to a few (or even one!) game at the start at least is really good :D
Yeah, in some ways being completely broke since having a baby has been good, as I've tried out a few RPGs and games from my Steam library instead of buying new ones. Glad you liked it, thanks!
Also, did you notice you're in the Solodark book too?
@@LoneHorizons I did! Was very honoured :)
This is a really valuable video, and as an aside I think a lot of this advice, including the last bit about fun being the point, is equally applicable to group RPG play.
Yeah just treating it as pure escapism rather than high art must help a lot with group play.
The last time I told a woman I was even a gamer she did a disappears spell on me lol 😆
What a lovely video! I don't mind the long form style at all. I'm going to work toward breaking down the process into small, achievable steps as the way to go for me, at least to get started. Losing momentum or being too tired at the end of the day are fun killers for sure!
@@travisporter1405 yeah that sounds good, not trying to take on a massive open ended campaign right from the start :)
Long and rambly is fine; I just listen while doing other things! :D
You're a gamer! And got a wife, how does that even happen?
When we met I was only into videogames, and she was too. I hadn't gone fully down the rabbit hole yet ;)
Great video it is always good to watch videos like this even if you have been playing for awhile. We sometimes forget some of the basics always trying new things. It is good to get back to the basics and just have fun.
Thanks! Yeah I learn a lot from watching other solo players' advice and also just their solo play videos. Sometimes you discover tips that you can use in any solo game.
Hey really liked this video, nice chill presentation. You make great points about taking your time and not biting off more materials/books than can chew. After a phase of heavy purchasing and more perusing than playing, I've begun some simplifying! Also, know a bit of the feeling with having a little one around the house, lol! Changing the attitude about free time / work time / family time takes some work indeed. Cheers
Thanks! I've found it REALLY difficult adjusting to my new life as a dad, but I'm planning to one day in a few years sit my daughter down, give her a D20 and say "Right, you're standing outside a monster's cave in the woods, with a sword. What do you do?"
@@LoneHorizons yep, it can be tough. fortunately, I've been able to GM the older one multiple times! They had great fun with it - you'll get there
Loved the end, lol. Also, near the beginning you mentioned using Tabletop Simulator, and that's a fantastic resource for solo gaming. It's more a physics engine, really, so I tend to use Foundry since it has ways of automating some things and doing like individual token vision so you can know what can see what, but that's really more helpful for playing with a party.
I 100% agree that doing this is for fun. It's something I personally struggle to remember sometimes when I feel like I have to stick to the rules and results of the dice. Leaving to do a mini quest for a particularly hard boss? Freaking genius. I've wiped my party before and was just like "that's just what the dice said." Would have been a better idea to just flee and learn more instead of fighting to the death.
Really glad to hear this was a helpful video! I'll look into Foundry, it sounds great. I think some automation for solo gaming is really helpful, it's probably good to find a balance between having too many dice rolls vs too much automation, since you could get to a point where you're just clicking buttons on a screen like in a computer game.
I had no idea about that Fighting Fantasy book (and I'm in the UK!). The shame.
Great tips, thanks for sharing!
Yeah I wonder if any wacky Fast Show humour made it into the book? 🤣