DFRPG Solo gaming?

[restlessgriffin]

Is it possible to do solo gaming using DFRPG? Would you need to place limitations on the rules to make it more rules lite? Has anyone tried it?

I did play "Beyond the Vale of Madness" as a GURPS DFRPG Solo. I believe I generated the character using Gaming Ballistics "Delvers to Grow" and used a 125 point character. It worked OK, though the character died.

[Phil Masters]

No particular reason why not, though dungeon bashes tend to implicitly assume the availability of healing effects to balance the countless ways one can be damaged, so some kind of cleric (or commercially available healing potions) might be the best bet.

[Mr_Sandman]

I did some solo play with a character I made using Delvers to Grow. I used Mythic GM Emulator. It was an urban adventure, not a dungeon delve. I think it turned out interesting session. I might write up my notes and post it on my blog.

[DouglasCole]

Based on this thread and several others in different forums, I decided to try something:


Saethor's Bane: A DFRPG Solo Adventure

(Edit: the original link went to a blank campaign page rather than the teaser page for signup, which is where it was supposed to go)

[David Johansen]

I think it's a great idea. GURPS has always needed more Solitaire adventures.

[DouglasCole]

Originally Posted by David Johansen

I think it's a great idea. GURPS has always needed more Solitaire adventures.

If it does fairly well, especially if it hits the stretch goal, I can make plans to slam the other four extant solos into proper format. If it does REALLY well, I'll just fund the color conversion ahead of time, AND the new solo in development will get color artwork from the get-go (done in B/W for TFT and OSE versions because that's what folks expect).

This is definitely the trial balloon.

But also: Of the five extant solos:

Saethor's Bane: requires four active characters

Vampire Hunter Belladonna: Bella plus a bonemade at least; and at least one version has Hildegarde the fighter instead of an undead companion.

Monster Hunter Belladonna: Bella, Bonemaid, and Hildegarde or Valda, Thornton, and maybe Hildegarde.

Till death Do Us Part: 2-4 PCs

Dragon Hunt: Heh. We tried running the TFT version with one character, then two, and it was TPK-city. Only with all three of the pre-gens was it survivable.

ALL of these are "solos" in that they're programmed, branched-path, Choose-Your-Own style setup that does not require an active group.

But ALL of these solos are easily adapted as either a no-prep group adventure and especially at a convention, where somewhat limited choices so that you can get the full experience in X hours is more accepted.

I have a few ideas for other formats too, plus a branched-path version of my own that is simmering, and it would be a shame not to have a few solos for Nordlond.

So if it goes well enough, this could easily snowball. I hope it does!

[David L Pulver]

Originally Posted by Phil Masters

No particular reason why not, though dungeon bashes tend to implicitly assume the availability of healing effects to balance the countless ways one can be damaged, so some kind of cleric (or commercially available healing potions) might be the best bet.

Amusingly, Doug's solo adventures were all written for TFT, a game and setting where healing magic is rather rare and there are no gods or clerics, and where HP totals are flat (like GURPS) but characters die at 0 HP.

Switching them from TFT to GURPS could make them a fair bit more survivable!

Mind you, none of my TFT adventures for Doug were dungeon bashes (though I did do a solo TFT dungeon bash for SJ Games, Red Crypt).

Dark Lord's Doom aka Saethor's Bane is a military fantasy; much as in, say, The Black Company, they begin as ordinary soldiers in a war, but have the opportunity to take significant roles and determine its outcome.

Others, like Vampire Hunter Belladonna and Dragon Hunt, are themed sandbox point-crawl mini-campaigns where the characters are free to explore country-sized regions while having various urban, wilderness, ocean, and location-based encounters that take place over weeks of time. So there's usually time to stop and recuperate between individual nodes.

[pawsplay]

I think to address the healing issue, you need to run it more like a CRPG. Specifically, you need a healing potion bandolier with a 99 vial capacity.

[Dalin]

With solo adventures, I sometimes provide a limited-use magic item that provides "extra lives" or some sort. (Also kinda like a CRPG.) Maybe it's an amulet that will cast Great Healing on you if you fall unconscious, but it shatters after the third use. This, then, becomes another resource to manage while providing some insurance against the vagaries of the dice.

[restlessgriffin]

Originally Posted by DouglasCole

Based on this thread and several others in different forums, I decided to try something:


Saethor's Bane: A DFRPG Solo Adventure

(Edit: the original link went to a blank campaign page rather than the teaser page for signup, which is where it was supposed to go)

Looks like its funded now but not yet at full color stretch goal.