Solo Motivation

Or, more specifically, a lack of motivation.

I have tried playing solo RPGs, but it is challenging to get them to work. The more charts a game has, the worse it gets for me. This doesn't bode well for many chart-heavy games, like Shadowdark or DCC, and in some games, I freeze up and quit playing because of chart paralysis.

It blows up whenever I go high concept with a pre-built group of 'fun' characters. Four characters are my party limit; everyone at spot five and up gets ignored.

I do better with single-character games. Survival. A focused experience on one person and their challenges. Games that are balanced for parties are tricky since they force me to play more characters or solo-friendly classes (cleric, paladin, etc.). I can feel the missing character classes in some games in my experience. No rogue in the party? Who is opening the door, then? I guess we are hosed when it comes to any situation needing stealth. No cleric? Who is going to heal us?

Add to that most modules are written for 4-6 characters. Designers will think nothing of tossing 8 orcs in a room; the CR is good; we are done here. In addition to being a dull encounter for a solo player who is a meat grinder - especially for classes without that sleep spell this encounter is supposed to mitigate. A lot of D&D's design is predicated on the spells the game gives you, and designers of the old tournament modules would give pre-gen characters resources and one spell that should be used in one room for maximum effectiveness. It was the same with a flask of oil, a rope, and iron spikes - all of it had a use somewhere to 'solve' a room like a puzzle.

For solo play, I am looking at an encounter of 12 giant rats and asking myself, how many should there be for a solo character? The answer is always one to three, and with oracle dice determining if some hang back or watch, to avoid a video game-like "rubbing the character out" like this were a game of Gauntlet.

I still love GURPS, especially Dungeon Fantasy. I had both on a storage shelf and recently pulled DF out and put it on one of my play shelves. I like the character designs, the detailed equipment for dropping backpacks of heavy gear on the ground, and the tactical combat. I love the point-buy characters with dozens of skills and traits. I love building custom advantages and disadvantages.

What trade-offs do you make? What limitations do you pick? How do you set up your gear? How do you fight? Do you fight? Are you more of a task or social character, or a mix? How are your survival skills? Does it make sense to have them? How much money do you have in types of coins? Where do you keep it? Do you have a set of nice clothes for social encounters? Where are you staying tonight? Can you cover the cost of a more comfortable place?

Every character is like a mini-game design.

The freedom is unparalleled.

Point-buy games are more compelling for me to play solo since I can build characters who do a little bit of everything. I can work on the skills I need. If my cleric in a GURPS game needs archery, I have something to spend character points on. If they need stealth, that skill is right there for my next skill purchase. Do they need survival skills? Buy them. Don't go looking for a ranger. The concept of certain classes being good at some things to the exclusion of others - sucks.

So you are telling me a nature domain cleric has no survival skills and will get lost and die in the woods? Are you telling me a follower of a thief god has no thieving skills? That a barbarian can't have magic shout powers or blood magic? I should multiclass if I want that. Why? Because your game is broken fundamentally and can't express certain character concepts?

And then the answer is that a new book is coming out for you to buy for those options.

If you want those skills in a party, you must create another character to have them. It is more paperwork for my solo game and another character to keep track of. I would rather have one ultra-detailed character than twelve simple ones.

Give me a world and system like Skyrim, where one character can be a master of many things. I can play Dungeon Fantasy with one character easily. They will be skilled in many areas of my choosing, and if they know a little magic, all the better - if I want it, I don't have to invest there and be very good in a few areas.

Is it 5E? Can I run a party of characters? Can I run a dozen? Do I have all these monster and treasure tables? Do I have hundreds of adventures at my fingertips? Are combats fast? Are the rules intuitive?

No, to all of the above.

However, GURPS isn't a game; it is a toolkit. The rules are designed in a way where you choose which sections to ignore. When you use a real-world toolbox to fix something in your house, like tightening a screw, do you need to use every tool in the box? No. I can run the hyper-realistic GURPS combat like D&D, roll to hit, and apply damage. Most advanced rules are there if you want them, but it's okay if you ignore them.

Most 5E groups have no idea how to play a game like that. But this is old-school and mirrors how we used to play AD&D back in the day. Rules were simply a collection of things we used to run a game - and these rules could come from multiple sources - the game itself, articles in Dragon magazine, house rules, supplemental games like Arms Law, and even other games like Aftermath. Most of the time, a group's rules were the group's game collection and hand-written notes.

People today "think" B/X was followed precisely by the book and need a reference guide to ensure they are "playing it right," but they are so lost. I am like the ancient Egyptian coming to the future telling you that you are reading all those hieroglyphics wrong, and you have no idea.

These days, most OSR games sell you the fallacy that buying the book will give you an authentic experience. That is so far from the truth it hurts.

I need to put a sister game in here, Savage Worlds since this is also a point-buy game. Anything I say about GURPS or Dungeon Fantasy character builds applies to Savage Worlds. This is also far easier than GURPS but more conceptual and abstract.

Most B/X damage dice and hit point ranges are acceptable for GURPS, and the combat skill can be 10+HD, modified up or down by a little to account for danger. AC can be figured out relatively using GURPS armors.

Grab the free Basic Fantasy PDF; you will have a ton of monsters and treasures to use directly with Dungeon Fantasy. Convert them to your heart's content, and don't worry about using a character sheet designer to get these designs to the point. It does not matter.

An orc from Basic Fantasy?

• HP = 10  (10 x HD)
• Attack Skill, Parry = 13 (10 + HD, I added 2 for a somewhat skilled fighter)
• Dodge = 8 (estimated)
• Damage = 1d6+1 (by weapon, use the GURPS charts; I added one for strength)
• DR = 2 (heavy leather)

An ogre?

• HP = 40  (10 x HD)
• Attack Skill, Parry = 16 (10 + HD, I added 2)
• Dodge = 6 (estimated)
• Damage = 2d6 (I used B/X damage, this is powerful)
• DR = 3 (one better than the orc)

My hits numbers are a rough calculation and possibly more suited for parties. Many "designed" monsters typically never have more than 20-30 hits, so 40 seems like an outlier. Then again, 40 hits will not be enough once modern firearms appear.

But why GURPS and Dungeon Fantasy?

For solo play, I lose interest if I play a too simple game. Take a dirt-simple game; you pick a class. Anything your class can do, you succeed on a 1-4 on a d6. Anything you can't? You have a 1 in 6 chance. For a character to survive a hit, it is 1-4 on a d6. For a monster, hit and survive is a 1-2 on a d6. My game is a variation of B/X d6 skills but applied to everything.

It needs a lot of tweaking and improvement and at least 300 pages of random tables to fill out the game. I also need to pay a lot of YouTubers to promote this as the next big thing. Ah, the grift is high in the hobby currently. But it is sorting out since we are in the "creators fighting with each other" phase, which means the grift is declining.

I am not playing more than 5 minutes, and certainly never playing that for an entire campaign. No matter how good the game gets, it has no depth and can't keep my interest.

In Dungeon Fantasy, I could run a maximum of three characters. One is ideal. Two is okay, but I need to start juggling a lot of variables. Three would be my absolute limit. But the one character, the hero, Buck Rogers, Conan, Flash Gordon - this is a story of a hero.

And the single hero who can do it all is the ideal. In party-based play, you need role protection to pull in multiple players. In solo play, I am better off with a point-based system that lets me improve in areas the campaign challenges me with. If my game turns out to be 90% social, I can focus on improvement there. In D&D, if that is the case and I am a fighter, I am out of luck, so campaign over or roll up a social tag along NPC to use as a roleplay puppet.

Most NPCs? GURPS Ultra-Lite. Even PC allies. Use this for enemies, spiders, rats, orcs, and goblins - all can be GURPS UL characters and mesh perfectly with the complete rules. NPCs and opponents do not need to be anything more than this.

If you know how to cut and fold paper, your GURPS NPCs can be zero work, and you will have a lot more fun playing the game. You can hack in advantages and disadvantages with a pick cost or extra pick.

I am a lot more motivated to play with heroic, single-player games that do not use character classes and role protection. Open advancement also appeals to me greatly since my character is a product of the campaign - and they do not drive it.

If I pick a fighter class in D&D, and my game turns out to be exploration or social-based - the game breaks. In DF or GURPS, I buy skills and abilities in those areas, and my character improves organically. And I am not 'forced' to 'create fights' in a campaign just because 'I have a fighter, and they should fight something.'

Part of the problem I had staying motivated was feeling forced into a role with no path forward if the campaign changed or a particular skill became essential to continue. A game's direction can change with one dice roll in solo play.