Narrowing Down Solo Role Playing Tool Choices

Today we talk about narrowing down our choices for solo role playing tools.

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0:00 Intro
0:55 Different Solo Player Types
1:50 Time as Measurement
3:18 Utility Knife Resources
4:13 Dice as a Tool
6:08 Cards as a Tool
8:09 Books as a Tool
9:12 What now?
9:45 The Iterative Gameplay Loop
11:48 Narrowing the list
17:14 Final Considerations
17:57 DIY Solutions
18:34 Closing Thoughts

[ziggurat-builder]

Nobody else seems to talk about these practical aspects of gaming. Yet they are very important.

[swordssolitude]

This is one of those videos that is so weirdly specific to my current situation that it felt like I watched it in a dream. Thanks :)

[UntoldRelic]

I got Flextale thinking that it was a one stop resource. It might be, but I couldn't wrap my head around it. I still haven't tried card decks yet.

[LD-gcqg]

I am a collector of oracle tables. However, I do not use them all. I have made a "short" list (although the list is still long) of tables that I use for my Star Wars solo campaign. I have categorized the tables (e.g. starships, NPC, species, mannerism, twists, names, districts, etc.) and behind each entry I have referenced the book and the page. All my oracles are in PDF for quick search. When I solo play, I use my laptop and physical dice.

However, I have ordered the game master apprentice decks, as I really like them. My goal is to mixture the game master apprentice deck with the oracle tables.

thanks for the video!

[kyrnsword]

My go to solo TTRPG is now D100 DUNGEON MAPPING GAME and D100 Dungeon books. Martin Knight is a genious with this game system.

[ulflilienthal]

Enjoying your videos. Just subscribed. Thanks for the great content.

[TheDungeonDive]

My main tools are Scarlet Heroes and Solitary Defilement. I prefer things that are dead simple and almost utterly transparent; I'm just not smart enough to juggle a complex solo system on top of another system! IMO, the Flextale system is absolutely ridiculous. It's like using a crane to crush a fly! But I bet some players will love it because it's so complex.

[michaelc]

I don’t suppose you could make a How to video for the FlexTale solo tools?

[kyumullo]

Really cool video. The needs-based analysis and the 'how efficient is this tool vs. other tool combinations' you got into definitely screams some systems analysis and systems engineering approaches that may be fun to geek out about if that's up your alley. Trade Study Analyses of Alternatives (TSAs, or AOAs) and Trade Space Analyses are part of that world in a way that is not as widely applied in other engineering disciplines. Likely overkill for this application, but a fun link!

[T_U]

Loving the channel. Subscribed. Very much looking forward to more new content.
(edit 1: This is my third attempt to post. The previous two got automatically deleted by YouTube for reasons beyond my imagination)
(edit 2: I seem to be able to see a clue. Youtube seems not to like too many proper name spellings in a single comment, probably trying to rid unsolicited advertising. Having changed everything into lowercase, my comment seems to get through. Weird.)
It seems to me all these solo rpg tools fall somewhere between two ends of a spectrum: to inspire vs. to instruct
The flextale : Admirable for its objective, but falling short of production (esp. ineffective layout (compared with say old school essentials), poor font choices, distracting colors, confusing icons, lack of bookmarks ... and being too ambitious at the expense of usability). Some may also find the design overengineered, essentially akin to a computer program/video game/board game, while leaving not much room for imagination which is the fun part for many rpg soloists being able to actively and personally contribute to the creation of the experience and be surprised by that.
An app version will be a much preferred format instead of a ginormous tome, though.
Other excellent tools of choice not mentioned/seen in your video:
- paul bimler's solo adventurer's toolbox (similar to flextale, but imo a better presentation, a more streamlined design, a good balance between being inspiring and being instructive). The monster AI mechanic is really fun while keeping things to a very manageable scale, in contrast to flextale.
- d30 sandbox companion & d30 dm companion (a classic, comprehensive, detailed, ideal for osr gaming, esp. for hexcrawl and overland adventuring).
- wilderlands of high fantasy (judges guild's classic by the renowned paul jacquays)
- blackhack 2e (the large bulk of its content being simple yet fun random tables)
- mythic gm emulator deck (working just like the books, and I find cards even more fun than table lookups)
- CRGE-UNE-BOLD by the late zach best: a great alternative of the mythic system. more systematic and nuanced without increasing user's mental load. The npc book (UNE) is the best of the three imo.
- microlite20 random adventure generator (much less known, but extremely efficient and effective within just a few pages, esp. the dungeon generator. OGL and free. My personal pick of on-the-go tool, working perfectly together with the mythic and gamemaster's apprentice decks.)

[johnberry]

Great video. I absolutely loathe Flextale. Talk about over-kill ! It’s like reading the most boring spreadsheet of all time but instead of using excel they did it in PowerPoint. I recommend Tome of Adventure Design instead.

[theniteowl]

with all the resources out there, many are great when it comes to macro quest structuring and such (Flextale being my favorite). but, i am looking for something that actually simulates what are called "Dramatic Encounters", which is basically like combat or battle, but more abstracted to handle situations that are not specifically combat. for example: chase sequences, interrogations, hacking, diplomatic social scenes, etc... so basically any situation in a game encounter or scene that has stakes and rewards, but is not specifically combat. Pathfinder has something like this for verbal battles, and a system called Spycraft has kind of a flowchart style system for handling things like chases and interrogations. also a game called Legend of the 5 Rings (latest edition) places more emphasis on diplomatic and social scenes than combat scenes, and incorporates special mechanics for resolving these kinds of scenes as well.

[rubenvaiz]

Whats your thoughts on soloing Alien & Terminator rpgs?

[ungiven]

So, anyone knows any Solo TTRPG video game? :D

[chuckchavez]

Man I can't go though all the comments, but have you checked out tricube tales solo rules or mebbe you have a video already I'll have a look. Anyhoo I find that's all I need

[captainnolan]

In my opinion, DMs are not storytellers (and a roleplaying game is not best played as a storytelling game. If you want to play a storytelling game, there are games designed as storytelling games that do that much better). A GM places challenges in front of the players, the players try to solve the challenges, and after you are done playing, then you can tell the story (or stories) about what happened at the table. As a byproduct of play, a story may emerge.


The story is what happens at [or away from] the table AFTER they game is finished for the evening, when tales are told of what happened during the game. When I hear GMs, game designers and others talking about the three-act structure, overlaid by the Shakespearian five act structure, and then talking about the realization moment in screenplays [coming at approximately page 80], and the climax of the story, and [heaven help us] the denouement, etc., etc., I know that I am listening to someone who likely learned to play after the rise of the 'storytelling/video game' type of adventure.

Back in 1974, when age 10 to 25 year old 'kids' were putting together their D&D worlds and building sandboxes for others to play in, we/they had little formal education about story structure and the like [and wouldn't have thought about using it in the design of a 'dungeon' or wilderness adventure anyway], but we/they knew enough to create challenges for players to overcome, which creates the environment for conflict (which is critical to drama), and with players having created motivated characters who were seeking fame and fortune, and were placed in such a sandbox environment, they organically created story through play. Look at things like the Judges Guild materials from the late 70s. They are filled with locations, creatures, NPCs, random tables and such and not plot points, a main narrative, etc. A DM is not a storyteller and RPGs are best used as role playing games, and not storytelling games.