# Solo play options



## Mercurius (Sep 6, 2009)

OK, here's the context. Due to the business of life for 30-and-40-somethings, my gaming group goes anywhere from two to seven or more weeks between sessions, on average playing about once a month. The infrequency makes establishing continuity and momentum nearly impossible, and I'm actually starting to lose interest, although will probably give it another go and just let it be what it is; I've resigned myself to the fact that, at best, the campaign will be a fun poker-type night of hack-and-slash and beer. Which is fine, if that is all I'm expecting. 

All of that aside, more often than once every month or so I get the hankering for some kind of dice-rolling. My life is busy enough that I wouldn't be able to play more than once every two weeks even if the opportunity arose. But I've actually been tempted to roll up a few characters and pull out the old Random Dungeon Generator from the 1ed DMG (or the inferior one in 4ed DMG). This obviously isn't _role-_playing, but it can be fun--or at least it was when I did it on lonely summer nights in high school.

Which brings me to this post: what are the options for solo play? I'm fine with it being almost entirely hack-and-slash, but it would be nice if it was a _bit _more, at least with some element of exploration, or even some way to include some sort of plot elements (e.g. searching for an artifact). I'm actually surprised that there isn't an online version of this, sort of a dungeoncrawl application where you roll up characters and it puts you through the equivalent of a Random Dungeon Generator, mapping it as you go along. Or is there something like this? And just to clarify: I am NOT looking for a MMO or anything like World of Warcraft; I'd still like for it to employ minimal graphics, at most a map of progress thus far.

So what I'm looking for is any of the following, or something else:

1) An online D&D solo adventure game, sort of like Random Dungeon Generator with text descriptions and a map that is drawn as you go.

2) Ideas on how to do this without the help of a program, with pre-existing materials--what books to use, websites, etc (e.g. DMG, Ultimate Toolbox, Monster Manuals, etc).

3) Ideas on how to design a detailed Random Dungeon Generator that would basically allow endless dungeon-crawling, or an Underdark variant where you design a party to explore the Underdark endlessly, even with some sort of plot elements thrown in.


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## xortam (Sep 6, 2009)

I did see this blog post the other day;

http://blog.microlite20.net/2009/09/05/sudoku-dungeons/

which seemed like quite a novel way of using a sudoku grid to generate random dungeons.  You can also get dice that generate crossroads, rooms etc.  I've never found a perfect on or offline CRPG that comes close to replicating the tabletop experience.

There is software such as Fantasy Grounds :: The Virtual Tabletop for Pen & Paper Roleplaying Games that has a community through which you might be able to get a game at a convinient time.

I remember playing solo with the old AD&D Random Dungeon generator and you could pass a bit of time with it on your own...


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## Mercurius (Sep 7, 2009)

Sudoku dungeons--clever. Thanks for the links.


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## King Nate (Sep 7, 2009)

There is the DM Emulator that looks pretty sweet with lots of great reviews.

Mythic Game Master Emulator - Word Mill | RPGNow.com


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## Wik (Sep 7, 2009)

Question for you.

If you're running the random dungeon thingy from the DMG, would you make your own monster decks?  

Also, are you looking for a solo dungeon (ie, you play one character) or more of a DMless thing (where you'd play multi characters)?

I've done both with the 1e dungeon thing (it's a good way to pass the time).  I'm just wondering how useful 4e is for honest to god solo play (and that ain't a burn on the system, just an honest question.  How does the game hold up on solo play?).


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## Gilladian (Sep 7, 2009)

I used to play Sryth online a fair amount. It's a minimal graphics game, and is pretty fun. There's a limited free version, and a small-subscription version.

Sryth - browser-based fantasy text RPG

I also play the far more graphically oriented Adventure Quest online: AdventureQuest

It is also free/pay to upgrade. 

Both become fairly repetitive fairly quickly, but they are solo games, have a dndish feel, and might be worth looking into.


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## xortam (Sep 7, 2009)

Over a year ago I had a go at running a PC through the first room of Kobold Hall to see what the character I'd made was like and to see if solo play would be possible.  It was quite a headache but that could be because I was new to the rule system.

Might have to give it a go again and see what it like a year on.


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## Liquidsabre (Sep 8, 2009)

You could try these out:

http://paizo.com/paizo/messageboards/paizo/products/v5748btpy87ko

That one is collection of 10 solo adventures.


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## Wereserpent (Sep 8, 2009)

Liquidsabre said:


> You could try these out:
> 
> http://paizo.com/paizo/messageboards/paizo/products/v5748btpy87ko
> 
> That one is collection of 10 solo adventures.




He is talking about just playing by himself, not with just a single player.


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## Merkuri (Sep 8, 2009)

Does it specifically have to be D&D, or can it just be D&D-like?

Personally, I found in the past that computer games are a good way to scratch the gaming itch when you can't find a group.  If you don't mind 2e rules and you can find an old enough copy I'd recommend the Baldur's Gate series of games.  It ought to be old enough to play on just about any machine nowadays, though I'm not sure how well it'll play with Vista if that's what you have.  And if you have something other than Windows you'll have to ask someone else because I don't have much experience with Mac or *nix D&D-like games.

There's also always Play By Post gaming, but that may be too slow for your tastes.


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## Mark (Sep 8, 2009)

There are hundreds of Choose Your Own Adventure books that you could find through Amazon, in used bookstores and through eBay -

Choose Your Own Adventure - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

List of Choose Your Own Adventure books - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Also, see Endless Quest books -

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endless_Quest

And Fighting Fantasy books -

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fighting_Fantasy

http://www.fightingfantasygamebooks.com/


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## Theo R Cwithin (Sep 8, 2009)

Mark said:


> There are hundreds of Choose Your Own Adventure books that you could find through Amazon, in used bookstores and through eBay http://www.fightingfantasygamebooks.com/



Also, the "Lone Wolf" books are playable online at Project Aon (here), if you want to go the route of choose-your-own-adventures.


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## Mercurius (Sep 8, 2009)

King Nate said:


> There is the DM Emulator that looks pretty sweet with lots of great reviews.
> 
> Mythic Game Master Emulator - Word Mill | RPGNow.com




You know, I actually bought the PDF of Mythic years ago but never really looked at it. I'll take a gander.



Wik said:


> Question for you.
> 
> If you're running the random dungeon thingy from the DMG, would you make your own monster decks?




What do you mean by "monster decks"? What I was thinking was using random encounter tables and then running combats as if I'm both the monster and player(s). It wouldn't quite be like playing chess against yourself, because I'd be creating some kind of imagination of story and drama, at least to a small degree. 



Wik said:


> Also, are you looking for a solo dungeon (ie, you play one character) or more of a DMless thing (where you'd play multi characters)?




It doesn't matter. The only criteria is that it is just myself.



Wik said:


> I've done both with the 1e dungeon thing (it's a good way to pass the time).  I'm just wondering how useful 4e is for honest to god solo play (and that ain't a burn on the system, just an honest question.  How does the game hold up on solo play?).




Yeah, good question. I might have to employ DM Fiat a lot . But seriously, combats would probably reach a point where the outcome is obvious, so I'd just end it.

There is also the underlying question, which is "How fun can this possibly be?" For me it would have to be more than a series of combats, one after the other, but obviously a meta-plot would be difficult to do and potentially rather silly. 

In some sense the vision I have is a combination of an RPG and a story; kind of a randomly generated adventure story with game play. So I would come up with basic scenarios, like "adventurers seek the artifact, the Orb of Xoar, in the ruins of a fallen elvish city." Then I roll up characters (easy and quick with DDI), think of a quick character concept for each so that they have some degree of life to them, then start rolling dice and building the adventure. 

If I actually go through with this I might write it up episodically and share it with ENWorld, in the appropriate forum (Story Hour? Play by Post?). But first I'd have to figure out _how _to do it, gather a list of resources, etc. One key point would be to require as little preparation as possible. 

Possible Resources:
*1ed DMG, 4ed DMG - for Random Dungeon Generators
*Monster Manuals.
*Ultimate Toolbox - should be very useful
*Wandering Monster tables. Anyone know a good resource for this?
*Graph paper!
*Other books might include: Mythic, other monster books. Anything else?



Galeros said:


> He is talking about just playing by himself, not with just a single player.




Yes, it is a new game: MaD&D, or Masturbatory Dungeons & Dragons. Self-pleasuring is Good


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## SiderisAnon (Sep 8, 2009)

For solo play, I think that video games are basically filling the niche.  Fare more people are going to buy Neverwinter nights and play it than would buy a lot of rules to play pen and paper by themselves.  (Though as I too have spent hours in my youth playing solo with pen and paper, I understand the appeal.)  I generally play an MMO for my fix when I can't play, because I also get to chat with people I know online.

If you're really set on solo play, there's a product called Dungeon Bash on RPGNow that I picked up a year or so ago.  It has detailed random generation charts, much like the old DMG did.  

As for finding pen and paper games, have you checked out your FLGS?  They may host RPGA events regularly or they may have nights for pickup games.  If you DM, you could also set up a monthly pickup game where you show up at X time and take the first Y players for a casual dungeon romp.


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## SiderisAnon (Sep 8, 2009)

Removed post.  The system double-posted somehow.


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## Mark (Sep 8, 2009)

Mercurius said:


> *Other books might include: Mythic, other monster books. Anything else?





Goodman Games - The Random Esoteric Creature Generator For Classic Fantasy Role Playing Games And Their Modern Simulacra


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## jaerdaph (Sep 8, 2009)

I must resist the temptation to make the all too obvious "playing with myself" joke.

Dang it - Epic Fail!!!


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## Mercurius (Sep 8, 2009)

SiderisAnon said:


> For solo play, I think that video games are basically filling the niche.  Fare more people are going to buy Neverwinter nights and play it than would buy a lot of rules to play pen and paper by themselves.  (Though as I too have spent hours in my youth playing solo with pen and paper, I understand the appeal.)  I generally play an MMO for my fix when I can't play, because I also get to chat with people I know online.




Yeah, I know. I'm kind of ideologically against video games! And I don't know if I'll actually follow through with this, but now I'm curious about designing something that could be used either to roll up adventures, even entire campaigns, or for solo play: imagine the random dungeon generator, Ultimate Toolbox, Mythic, countless encounter tables, and a bit of a few other things all rolled into one.

I suppose, also, I could just run myself through normal D&D adventures and just kind of have a split personality while doing so; in other words, play the characters in encounters like they don't know the powers of the monsters.



SiderisAnon said:


> If you're really set on solo play, there's a product called Dungeon Bash on RPGNow that I picked up a year or so ago.  It has detailed random generation charts, much like the old DMG did.




Wow, that looks very interesting--I'm going to purchase that.  




SiderisAnon said:


> As for finding pen and paper games, have you checked out your FLGS?  They may host RPGA events regularly or they may have nights for pickup games.  If you DM, you could also set up a monthly pickup game where you show up at X time and take the first Y players for a casual dungeon romp.




Yeah, I know--but see above. I'm less desperate to find a game wherever I can, and more curious about how far one can go with solo play.


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## Wik (Sep 8, 2009)

Mercurius said:


> What do you mean by "monster decks"? What I was thinking was using random encounter tables and then running combats as if I'm both the monster and player(s). It wouldn't quite be like playing chess against yourself, because I'd be creating some kind of imagination of story and drama, at least to a small degree.




There was an option for "monster decks" in the 3e miniature's handbook, and if memory serves, it was revisited in the 4e DMG.  I don't remember all the details, but you should check out the dungeon decks from the minis book - it was a dungeon crawl, but it had elements of a plotline, exploration, and story.  Fits what you're thinking of.



> It doesn't matter. The only criteria is that it is just myself.




Personally, then, I'd go with 2 PCs, so you can throw a bit more at the "party" - 4e works much better with groups on both sides.  I was thinking about this (more below), and I've come to the realization that the best monsters are those with smaller stat blocks (and stat blocks with few 'incidental' attacks that the player might forget to activate).  Minions are also great.  



> There is also the underlying question, which is "How fun can this possibly be?" For me it would have to be more than a series of combats, one after the other, but obviously a meta-plot would be difficult to do and potentially rather silly.




I liked exploring stuff with the 1e dungeon designer.  I think if you added stuff, perhaps in a semi-random sort of way, things could get alright.  Especially if you had a random skill challenge creator, or something.  Anything to engage your mind.  



> If I actually go through with this I might write it up episodically and share it with ENWorld, in the appropriate forum (Story Hour? Play by Post?). But first I'd have to figure out _how _to do it, gather a list of resources, etc. One key point would be to require as little preparation as possible.




After reading this post last night, I was thinking the same thing.  So, I got together my trusty pen and paper, and wrote out a solo adventure.  I've been transferring it to Word, and I'm about fifteen pages in.  Basically, a choose-your-own adventure, in the Fighting Fantasy vein, using 4e rules.  Right now, I think I'm roughly 20% done.  I'll definitely post my results when I'm finished - probably on my gaming blog (which is sort of bare right now, and needs material!)


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## dm4hire (Sep 8, 2009)

Kenzer Co. put out a solo quick play for the new Hackmaster Basic that just came out.  You might take a look at it.


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## Pseudopsyche (Sep 8, 2009)

Wik said:


> There was an option for "monster decks" in the 3e miniature's handbook, and if memory serves, it was revisited in the 4e DMG.



Yes, the new DMG describes monster decks on pages 194-195.  That second page ends with a section on playing without a DM.


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## erf_beto (Sep 10, 2009)

You should try *Dungeon Plungin*: it's a free print-and-play boardgame that's meant to emulate those fine days of random dungeon crawling and hack-n-slashing fun. I don't think the rules are that great, but they work. It doesn't need a GM, as everything is determined randomly with dice and tables, so it can be played with friends or solo: you quickly roll up 4 characters, select a quest and adventure on. And on top of that, there's nice artwork for the tiles and paper minis. 

From BoardGameGeek : 


> Dungeon Plungin' is a fantasy board game of exploration and adventure.
> It has a basic rule book which describes the system. On top of this you need one of the scenario books. Each scenario book contains specific rules, objectives, floor tiles and stand up figures for a single mission.
> In play you build a party of adventurers, then build a dungeon as you go, following the scenario specific rules. There are treasures, traps, and monsters to be overcome. Your party members can get stronger during play. Every game is different as the number of variables is huge.
> This game is web published, and can be found here...
> Welcome to oVeRsOuL gAmEz




The only problem is you'll spend a lot of ink to print and time to cut the paper models... unless you make do with your own D&D minis and tiles.


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## kitsune9 (Sep 10, 2009)

Hi Mercurius,

Good luck with finding the solo play. I would look into a more online gaming forum myself such as fantasy grounds and such in order to get with people who can play more frequently.

The other thing is even though you wouldn't want to, I would go for a single-player rpg for the computer than just sitting at home looking at graph paper and rolling dice for a couple of hours.

Happy Gaming!


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## ggroy (Sep 10, 2009)

kitsune9 said:


> The other thing is even though you wouldn't want to, I would go for a single-player rpg for the computer than just sitting at home looking at graph paper and rolling dice for a couple of hours.




There's always Nethack.

NetHack - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


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