Two-player RPGs

[andomonir]

Hi,

I'm not sure if this is the right place to post this (first time poster), but I was wondering: Has anyone addressed the scenario of two player gaming?

Would dropping the GM role completely work?

Does anyone remember Chainsaw Warrior* (http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/1827)? I wondered if some sort of mechanic for this sort of *really* basic hack 'n slash type dungeoneering for small groups had been achieved by the indie RPG developer community?

Many thanks (and apologies if I've totally messed up your nice forums )

* Yeah, I know it's a board game.

[Ron Edwards]

Hi there, and welcome.

Funny you should mention this, because we're enjoying quite a series of threads on this subject at the moment:
[Mars Colony] Just a little lying, just this once
[S/Lay w/Me] The Lion, the Wretch, and the Woman
[Showdown] Mayhem and trauma, start your engines
[Kazekami Kyoko Kills Kublai Khan] Playing with someone I love

I'm more-or-less jokingly calling such games Twosies, and including both two-person-only games (Breaking the Ice, Silence Keeps Me a Victim, Sweet Agatha) and those which are not absolutely necessarily played by two people, but are strong at that scale (Tales of the Fisherman's Wife, Thy Vernal Chieftains, Annalise, Clover).

I have a suggestion for you: to re-consider what you're calling "the GM role." Many discussions here in the past have revealed a key insight that there is no such thing - there are, instead, a wide range of necessary tasks which have traditionally been consolidated into one real-person responsibility. A lot of designs discussed at this site have experimented with different ways to distribute those tasks, and in some cases to trade them around. Emily Boss has suggested quite rightly that games which people tended to call "GM-less" are better described as "GM-full." All the Twosies demonstrate this kind of thinking, in different ways for each game.

Therefore instead of getting rid of GMing, what many people including me have tried to do is to redistribute it. So "the GM" may well be put aside (as an option, especially for a Twosie, apparently), but not "GMing" if you think of it as a bunch of different, unlinked tasks.

One last thing: I'll probably be moving this thread into the First Thoughts forum, where it fits better as currently written. However, if you want to turn your topic into a concrete activity with multiple participants, whether a contest or a project or whatever you'd like, then it can stay here in Endeavor. Let me know which you'd prefer.

Best, Ron

[andomonir]

Therefore instead of getting rid of GMing, what many people including me have tried to do is to redistribute it. So "the GM" may well be put aside (as an option, especially for a Twosie, apparently), but not "GMing" if you think of it as a bunch of different, unlinked tasks.

I was thinking much the same thing - a redistribution of tasks to dissolve the responsibilities of the GM into those of the players.

Oh yeah - please move this thread into the "First thoughts" forum, as I've got a lot of research on the links you've given me before I start work. Many thanks for your time!

[Jonathan Walton]

I think the game you're looking for is Beast Hunters.  Check it out.