Solo RPG

[pagan8th]

In the past I have seen people discussing solo RPG’s on youtube. They all seem to involve a journal and rolling on tables to determine outcomes which seems like too much paperwork for me. The fact that I have to create all the hazards and decisions for the character makes it seem too easy and the whole thing rather futile.

However, there are times when the game gets cancelled, or I just want to be a player instead of GM.

And soon I get to be a player in a game for a few weeks which is good and the GM in question has been using copilot to brain storm ideas which it’s not something I had considered as it felt like cheating…

But then I had an idea. Could I use the AI in copilot to create an adventure for me as a solo player. Give it a description of the character, an outline of skills and then have the AI throw some random elements into the conversation and see what happens.

So I did… and it was fun… the story unfolded in directions I never expected. No dice were rolled. I just made decisions based on the chat it was generating.

It will never be a replacement for a game with a real GM and players, but for those quiet moments when I want to experience a story as a character instead of GM I will take advantage of the opportunity.

I feel that this is one place in gaming where AI is not a bad thing.

[sundancer]

Sounds like the adventure books of old with extra steps but less dice. I’m not sure if other RPGs have ever done such a thing but DSA (Das schwarze Auge The Dark Eye) had adventurer supplements that where either made for groups of certain levels or to be used as a solo adventure within the same world. You could level up your character for a game with your mates. Why don’t those exist outside DSA I wonder. Or am I just not seeing them?

[pagan8th]

The One Ring by Freeleague has solo rules. They call it Ranger Mode, but they are not really much. More and more games are including such rules since covid and Freeleague seems to include them in everything.

[sundancer]

Rules yes but dedicated solo adventure publications?

[pagan8th]

No. More random like encounters.

[grantinvanman]

There were solo adventures back in the TSR days – M1 Blizzard Pass used a neat special marker to reveal the result of your encounter. Revealing with invisible ink highlighter. Obviously, limited replayability, but it was fun! The black Velcro patch on the side was for holding the special marker.

[pagan8th]

Chaosium done some for Cthulhu too. Alone Against the (insert scenario here).

[torros]

Tunnels and Trolls is still available

[pagan8th]

I have discovered something that I’m not sure I should be proud of, but it’s worth mentioning.

Without going into details, I have discovered that if you ask copilot to describe something as saucy, innuendo laced, carry on style and similar variants you can get it create some outrageous things… some of which I would not dare publish in this forum.

I’ve also had it describe a scene from Lord of Rings (Frodo, Sam and Gollum at the cracks of doom) in the style of Terry Pratchett… then asked it do scene as a carry on movie (Carry On Up The Cracks Of Doom was copilots title and it starred Jim Dale as Frodo, Sid James as Sam and Charles Hawtry as Gollom… I never suggested the casting, that was copilot.)

And there is one I feel I ought to share…

I typed… “Describe the scene. Bespin, cloud city. Darth Vader just severed Lukes hand and Vader is about to speak. Ellen Ripley appears in a cargo loader. Picks Vader up and throws him over the edge saying “Get away from him you Sith!”

And copilot did this…
The air is thick with tension—Luke Skywalker, battered and bloodied, clutches his severed wrist, pain and disbelief contorting his face as Darth Vader looms over him. The industrial hum of Cloud City pulses beneath their feet, its walkways suspended in an endless chasm of mist and orange light.

Vader raises his hand, preparing to deliver his iconic revelation—but before the words can escape his respirator, a mechanical clank echoes through the chamber. From the shadows, towering and unstoppable, emerges Ellen Ripley, clad in the hulking steel frame of a cargo loader.

With ruthless efficiency, she clamps the loader’s claws around Vader’s gleaming obsidian armor, lifting him clean off the ground. He barely has time to register the sudden shift in power before Ripley, eyes blazing with righteous fury, hoists him over the edge.

“Get away from him, you Sith!” she snarls, and with a mighty heave, hurls the Dark Lord into the abyss.

Vader plummets, cape fluttering, his signature breathing drowned out by the rush of air as he vanishes into the depths of the gas giant. Luke, still reeling, stares in stunned silence as Ripley turns, offering him a reassuring nod—her battle against cosmic horrors far from over.

Somewhere in the stars, the Xenomorph queen shudders.

 

Even if you don’t want to try your hand at solo RPG, you can have some fun with this. I was crying with laughter at some of ‘saucy innuendo laden’ material and laughter is a commodity that we all need a healthy dose of.

[limburger]

The one in the new Twilight 2k uses a pack of (custom) cards to generate the adventure and encounters.

I think TuffyEars did a project using that.

Mork Borg has an endless adventure generator for solo mode.

lol … I just gave Claude.ai this prompt : “describe a scene from Lord of Rings (Frodo, Sam and Gollum at the cracks of doom) in the style of Terry Pratchett”

It’s hilarious 😀
Such a shame that it probably relies on it being fed with both LotR and Pratchett works 🙁

 

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