Waxing Solo

[Mike Holmes]

Mendel's mechanics are also nearly identical to the rules for Shadows, with the exception that, in that game, you only ever roll against your shadow (the source of the opposition die never changes).

I suppose this could be the exception.

This would be the player choosing the conflict, and two responses, and the system choosing the result from the two responses. I was wondering if there could be a split there, and I think maybe there is.

This would be somewhere in between what I described above, and just deciding eveything else. Good call Mendel. I bet Zak didn't realize he had designed what may be the only viable mechanic for a Narrativist Solo game.  :-)

Mike

[Emily Care]

Mendel's mechanics are also nearly identical to the rules for Shadows, with the exception that, in that game, you only ever roll against your shadow (the source of the opposition die never changes).

I suppose this could be the exception.

Mendel's game and Shadows both give the player ways to get satisfying responses out of conflicts they make up for themselves.  The identical aspect is simply that in both systems, the player makes an opposed roll against herself.  Each of these processes would give a pretty significantly different overall play experience:

In Shadows:
The two possible outcomes are indicated before the roll, and then one or the other is  narrated. With no range of success or failure.

In Mendel's game:
The single desired outcome is indicated before the roll.  Success or failure is determined by the roll, not a choice of two different outcomes. Failures have degrees, and the narration of the outcome must incorporate the various faults represented by the fault dice that have rolled higher than the actor die.  Cool.  

This is very encouraging.  Rolling against yourself can be fun, it just needs to be presented the right way, and put in the context of mechanics that help it mean something to the player.

--Emily Care

[Wormwood]

Hmm, with further consideration it seems the most imporant element of a solo game is the lack of external input in rolls, I think I could fairly easily adapt my Mythic Strains RPG to solo play. With the added advantage of tarot based mechanics being just plain interesting for solo play.

http://52pickup.actionroll.com/MythicStrains/MythicStrains.html

Another option seems to be making the difficulty consistently increase, as the character recieves impetus to change.

By the end the character has no choice but to fail (and likely die), or accept change.

I think given the short duration of most solo games an upward or downward spiral is helpful, it provides a scale of action, which paces the story, letting the player add to it as it builds.

Alas, so many games. So little time.

   -Mendel S.[/url]

[lumpley]

Hey.

Seems to me that using tarot to do past life regressions would be a real live preexisting example of solo narrativist roleplaying.  You got your game mechanics, you got your identification with a fictional character, you got your using that character to thematically address some issue you're personally interested in.

I guess that the source of conflict there is in the super-complex and nuanced mechanics?

-Vincent