Greetings,

I'm wanting to play a game with my wife, who is not an avid gamer though she has played with my group from time to time.  However, she really just wants to play a one on one game and isn't all that interested in the moment at adding other players.  I find D&D (which is the default system for my group) to be very poor at this type of gaming and was wondering if others might have some suggestions.  Let me tell you a bit about my wife so you'll have some idea about her.

She likes the fantasy genre.  She reads Terry Goodkind, Robert Jordan, Melanie Rawn, JK Rowlings and other popular authors.  She was also a fan of the Xena and Buffy series when they were aired.  Every time she has played in my games she has chosen a Paladin character and she seems to really like the cool fighter types.  When we are playing she gets very engaged in figuring out what is going on and likes to pursue plot threads on her own without waiting for the other players/characters to catch up.  She likes to dialogue with any NPC she runs across that catches her interest.  She's not an advocate of violence solves everything but she really seems to enjoy it when the shit hits the fan and she gets to beat some bad guys up.  One of her comments was that she really liked to fight but she didn't like how much she had to know about the combat system in D&D in order to do so.  She really wanted to just say, "I want to lop the bad guy's head off." without having to know about Standard Actions and Move Equivalent Actions and BABs etc etc...

So, I'm looking for a good fantasy or sci-fi fantasy game that will work well with just 2 people and might fit my wife's profile.  I have no idea what kind of CA she might have at this point, having not been able to really observe her over a period of time in the same game.  Also, if this should be in another forum, feel free to move it.  I just couldn't think of another more appropriate forum to ask.

Hands down, no question, the game you want is Trollbabe. There couldn't be a more perfect fit based on what you said.

It's fantasy. It's got fighting. It has strong female characters (Xena is right at home here). It has player-driven storylines. It has a simple, fun system that is easy to learn and use. It works great with two people. It's $10.

Trollbabe. Trust me.

I was going to say Breaking the Ice. I don't know of many other games that work well with just two people. Its adaptable, so you should be able to have some fun with it. Find it here: http://www.blackgreengames.com/

Kirk

John wrote:
Hands down, no question, the game you want is Trollbabe. There couldn't be a more perfect fit based on what you said.

It's fantasy. It's got fighting. It has strong female characters (Xena is right at home here). It has player-driven storylines. It has a simple, fun system that is easy to learn and use. It works great with two people. It's $10.

Trollbabe. Trust me.

Hey Gaerik,

Breaking the Ice is one on one, so it may be something you want to look in to, but Judd & John are dead on. Trollbabe sounds like the perfect thang for her.  It does lopping heads to a T. 

best,
Emily

Thanks for the advice guys.  Trollbabe it is!  I must go purchase a copy.  I'll also check out Breaking the Ice.  I'm not sure how interested she'd be in it but one never knows.

Though is a difficult to find game, and it falls a bit far from fantasy, James Bond 007 is also an excellent option for one-on-one gaming.

Pendragon is my other option, specially if you include the Celtic women types in Knight Adventurous.

I'm possibly going to draw some ire here, but for a one-on-one game, I'd just go freeform.

Unless of course you're wanting to introduce her to indie gaming and ease her into mechanics and such. In which case, nevermind.