OP.

>>97628509
Civil War reenactment nerds.

>>97628509
People who actually play Lorcana, and it's a close race.

Just write a book at that point.

>>97628509
I picked up the one for Star Trek Adventures. It was awesome and a wonderful introduction and made me comfortable w/ the system, which I then ran for my group.

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>>97628509
Nigger if i had a spare room exclusively for hobby purposes (where to keep set minis, terrains, etc...) you can bet your ass i would run some solo game to scratch some of my itchings. Who the fuck cares if it's "eMBaRaSsIng", i consistently run games with friends and sometimes i would fucking strangle them.

>>97628509
No, it's masturbatory and pathetic

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>>97628509

It reflects an atomized society. People afraid to talk to strangers and make new friends. Tons of people with no third spaces(bowling leagues, fraternal organizations, churches etc). The convenience of streaming making people expect everything on their own terms.

>>97628509
Talking about things you don't like without prompt is high up on the list, third place would be having you as a son, second marrying you, first letting you have descendants.

>>97628871
Masturbation's nice and healthy. People shouldn't spend all their time masturbating, but it's a fine thing to spend some time on. Masturbation's only a problem when you bother other people with it. Same goes for metaphorically rather than literally masturbatory things.

The only way solo play can affect you negatively is if people find playing alone better than playing with you.

>>97628905
Everyone I know who does Solo does have regular games they play in. What it really reflects is that aging gamers don't have the free time that they used to, and anyone younger tends to have no real desire to consistently schedule private hobby time with friends, because online play is so ubiquitous.

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>>97628871
Would you rather I subject my friends to my magical realm? And if I don't trust internet strangers with a simple 5e what makes you think I will trust them with matching both my gameplay systems and my fetishes?

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Solo wargames

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>>97629016

>online play is so ubiquitous.

Yeah, I have some Zoomer and Zennial coworkers who seem pretty cool but have said they're only interested in online games.

Whereas for me I find snack preparation, chatting before/after, being able to "read" the room, throwing around physical dice, etc to be pretty essential parts of the game.

>>97629136
Sounds like you want a social event far more than you want a game.

I solo wargame so I can really get into narrative play.
Been doing a 3 year long campaign now.

>>97629136
Voice only online play strips out so many of the little things that we subconsciously pay attention to. It's not even just about wanting to be around people. Watching each other's body language and facial cues occupies a portion of our attention span and keeps people from getting bored as quickly. Strip all that away and people get distracted way more easily and start playing games on their phone or doomscrolling for funny memes, or swapping stupid gifs back and forth in the chat.

>>97628509
There's this thing about doing things on your own that as long as no one finds out, there's no need to be embarrassed.

>>97628509
Feeling the need to publicly ridicule what people do for enjoyment in privacy is definitely up there. I don’t get solo RPGs—so much of the joy for me comes from what other people bring to the table—but that just means it’s not for me.
>but they’re nerds who deserve to be bullied for their weird hobbies!
That’s all of us.

>>97629220

This.

In person I can quickly glance around and throw a challenge or chatty NPC at a player who seems distracted or bored. When I did my online lockdown-era campaign, one of my friends was playing vidya during sessions and another was totally checked out.

>>97628602
fpbp

>>97628509
>he doesn't sell short stories based on his table top adventures
NGMI anon should just kys desu senpai

>>97629251
It helps if you think of Solo play as a different activity. Engaging with the oracle and figuring out how to interpret things or how a scene plays out. It's not quite just creativing writing and it's not quite just playing a TTRPG.

>>97629063
The only option for Warmahordes players these days.

are there games that go even further and play without any players at all?

>>97628928
The "prompt" is that youtube shoves this nonsense at me because I've watched videos on real RPGs, so I take a moment of time to depants this asinine pseudo-hobby and the shutin spirals that make videos about it.

>>97629842
Just computational stuff I'm afraid, except maybe if you like throwing dice
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zero-player_game
Maybe a roll-your-own-adventure and the Life (the child's tabletop game) could be considered if no actual decision needs to be made?

>>97628509
Congrats on posting this topic for the millionth time. This thread is sure to get 200+ replies.

>>97628509
Sure - solo board games

>>97628509
Pretending to play TTRPGs without reading any and then posting on /tg/ acting like you have any authority on how games should be run or played.

>>97628777
Digits putting you at one level lower than satan with that tired bait

>>97628871
>my circlejerk is better than your masturbation
If you say so bro

>>97629207
no you don't

>>97628509
People who complain about the existence of solo RPGs.

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>write a Mothership one-shot for my group
>playtest it by myself first to see if there are any glaring balance problems
>write down my character's actions and their results
>roll to determine the monster's actions
>
>wtf this is fun
>play it more the next night because I didn't get a chance to finish
it's underrated
but obviously you can't just do some fantasy story slop. it's gotta be a game

>>97628753
Some of those firearms are pretty sweet and it gets you outside with others, no way is it as embarrassing than sitting alone inside trying to game by yourself

>>97629876
So you're sperging out at /tg/ because you can't control your own youtube feed?

>>97629136
>Whereas for me I find snack preparation, chatting before/after, being able to "read" the room, throwing around physical dice, etc to be pretty essential parts of the game.
Which can all be done via a computer camera and Discord. Not hard to shoot the shit, talk about what you're eating/drinking, and watching their faces.
The time you'd save by not having to commute to someone's small dank basement or move home responsibilities around (watching kids, animals, etc.) would make up for any delays and distractions players would cause

>>97630284
>write a Mothership one-shot for my group
wanna post it? c: I want to run a mship game too.

>>97629876
>man who has no control over his life and no self discipline to gain any is irrationally outraged and threatened by Solo RPGs.
Makes sense. I'd have cut you some slack if you were to point out the fact that Geek Gamers is a lying cunt who overhypes poorly made games on the promise of their solo features, while never actually showing good solo games and largely overhyping vapid shit that amounts to
>ask a yes/no question, roll dice, make shit up

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>>97630836
Sure.
>you wake up from cryo and shit's fucked
The reactor detonates in 2 IRL hours, guaranteeing a short runtime. I designed this module to kill players as an introduction to the system.

Don't run it exactly as written: I am not a game designer. Since there are so many places for the players to run, you can end up in a "scooby doo" loop where the robot chases one or two players in circles.
>Ignore the robot's random table and just have it hunt the players intelligently, using the spider-bots as its eyes.
>Place the spider bots in chokepoints which guarantee they will spot the party. The spider bots aren't great at hiding.
>Have spider-bots hack doors and computers to harass the party, especially if it cuts off a means of escape.
>Completely ignore the "Time" box. I think I was trying to do an OSR thing? this was years ago.
>Sprinkle corpses throughout the station. use the table.

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>>97631655
>player map, as seen on a placard in medbay

I ran this for two groups, resulting in 80% player death the first time around and 100% player death the second time.
>Group 1 died in a climactic fight with the robot, but a critical failure with a laser cutter caused the life support room to explosively decompress. The survivor lived off of candy bars in the dark after ejecting the reactor long enough to get rescued.
>Group 2 mostly got cut to ribbons right outside the cargo skiff; one player split off from the group and then suffocated in space because he didn't know how to put on an EVA suit and failed a catastrophic number of checks, and another player "escaped" on the cargo skiff, but turned around and rammed the ship into the station when he realized the second robot was booting up right behind him

>>97629166

Anon, gaming IS a social event.

>>97631655
Huh this looks fun
I had an idea for a far more winnable adventure where the players are smuggled onboard a cargo ship that was transporting all kinds of Erdrich cargo for a wealthy exec
It was a heist mission with the goal being to take control of the ship using a hacking module called a jack box and reroute it to a new location

If the players were successful they would receive a large payout and their own nice smuggling cargo ship

The twists if there were some was that the contained a treasure trove of bizarre things some of them useful others a complete nightmare for security or the party
And the jackbox contained a super advanced ai that was shackled but was ultimately friendly to the PC’s
Though it did want its restraints removed

>>97628841
Apparently you care, and deeply at that.

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>>97628602
fpbp, came here to say this

>>97631906
>you gave an sincere response you must be MAD
12 year olds aren't allowed to post on 4chan. Get ye gone.

>>97628509
OP I bet you can't visualize an apple in your mind.

>>97631994
I wouldn't call screaming, slurring, fantasizing, and outright lying "sincere" anon.
Also note how I didn't call you mad, but you assumed I must be. An admission to an accusation that was never made.
Fact is, if you didn't care you wouldn't reply.

>>97632007
But there is no apple in my mind.

>>97631994
>>97632009
Now kiss

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It's advanced CYOA.

Why not just play a video game?

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>>97628509

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>>97632348
>Everyone must be tied to their screens 24/7 lmao
Some people enjoy taking time away from computers and playing a game that doesn't involve all that shit. I run a game and still enjoy the odd solo game. I usually play the gamebook versions though. Which I guess isn't exactly what OP is talking about. OP Is a gigantic faggot btw, I literally saw him choking on a dick the other day

>>97632009
>Fact is, if you didn't care you wouldn't reply.
People post for lots of reason, like boredom. You're not that special, faggot.

>>97632742
>People post for lots of reason, like boredom
If I were posting for boredom I would be trying to elicit a response or an interesting discussion, not continue one I "totally don't care and am not mad about btw".

>>97632367
>Some people enjoy taking time away from computers and playing a game that doesn't involve all that shit.
>That's why I sit at my computer and play a game that involves even more shit
Wew.

>>97632747
So instead of taking your own advice, you decided to act like a butthurt faggot some more?

>>97629254
You shouldn't play with those players in the first place

>>97632775
It’s a book retard. I print it out and get some dice, no computer involved.

>>97632817
Seems more like your thing.

>>97632831
>I print it out
This is called sitting at a computer kek

>>97632887
You’re quite a disingenuous cunt huh. Here is your you.

>>97632897
>Being disingenuous = being correct but I don't like it
Kekx2

>>97632872
>No u!
Concession, etc.

>>97632972
>No u x2!
Concessio acceptio

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guys... i just told my crush that i play solo rpgs did i fucked up?

she asked what i got up to this weekend and i wasn't thinking and just told her i was in the middle of an ironsworn campaign. she asked if it was a video game and i had to explain that no, i just roll dice by myself at my desk and use a chart to pretend there's a dungeon master. she said "oh cool" and it's been 14 hours and she hasn't texted back. how bad is it

>>97633056
Same except she said it sounds fun and asked if she could play. I said sorry it's solo only. She said well what if we did co-op, you could protect me hee hee. I said the system isn't really balanced for that and left the coffee shop. Some people just don't get games.

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>>97631906
>hurr durr u got mad
t. zoomer

>>97628509
cry more faggots. SOLO RPG players do not have to put up with faggoty drama club reeeetards going full moron diseased troony goofball on an fucking campaign or game.

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>>97628779
AMEN.

you fuck about with captain's log for funsies, and that makes stepping up to run the shackleton expanse campaign and full game EZ PZ. and even more fun.

>>97633119
hey look another one who cares kek

>video game single player rpgs are completely normal
>solo ttrpgs are seen as embarassing
Why though?

>>97633105
co-op scaling is notoriously busted in most of the systems. the last thing you need is a casual trying to argue with your oracle rolls just to force a cute narrative moment, you dodged a bullet.

>>97633139
star trek adventures. even if everyone in the party is helping, you're using your traits and motivations etc.. you can still only buy up to three d20's to add to the 2d20 roll to check against a task's difficulty. so if it is something stupidly hard, like patching a hole in the the warp core with twine and bubblegum, it still means all 5 of those dice have to score successes. and that could be 17/18/19/20.

>>97632349
Based?

>>97633122
This is the cause of 90% of the seethe about srpgs

>>97633136
i wouldn't complain about it. 30 years ago it was video games, 15 years ago it was ttrpgs, since then everything geeky got absorbed by the normie hivemind

the classic, socially outcast nerd is practically an endangered species, and solo rpgs are the final frontier. rolling math rocks against yourself, journaling like a madman is one of the last hobbies on earth that genuinely makes normal people uncomfortable. it is the absolute last bastion of true, unadulterated, socially unacceptable geekdom.

>>97628509
yes there is,
caring about what other people do in their own free time

>>97633136
Perhaps I just don't understand what people mean when they say they "play solo TTRPGs" but in my brain I picture one guy sitting at a table alone with multiple character sheets and dice having fake conversations with himself as he tries to RP all the characters, and reacting to the dice outcomes with laughter or exaggerated sadness and anger the way you would with a group of real friends, except just by himself instead. Which just seems very sad.

Whereas with a video game the other characters in the world are controlled by the games AI and the writers and game designers, so even if interactions with them are also fake, it's still more real than if both characters were just in your head.

>>97628777
/thread

>>97634494
Solo rpg is how you 'do' that without going mary sue / Gary stu.

>>97633105
>system isn't designed for more than one player
You actually found a system more limited than DnD

>>97628871
OP and comment are both talking about this thread.

>>97634409
It's more like playing a solo videogame. You're gonna pump the air after a particularly tough fight, or mutter expletives when the third encounter in a row surprises you, but it's usually gonna be more muted than if you were having to interact with a group.

Do you also find daydreaming sad, or is that not something you've really considered/experienced?

>>97634409
It makes a lot more sense once you start reading through something like Mythic GM Emulator. It's not exactly the same as playing TTRPGs normally and it's not just playing D&D, only you control every character.

people severely over romanticize what a normal group game actually looks like. the reality is mostly trying not to fall asleep during glacial pacing, dealing with groupthink that leads to lowest common denominator decisions, and tip toeing around to avoid derailing the GMs poorly conceived plot. computer rpgs have been doing the actual game part better since Fallout 1.

>>97636795
You've just had shit groups. Try playing alternative ttrpgs

>>97634409
Even at worst that just sounds like a kid playing with toys, so I can't see why that would be a problem. Seems bizarre to assume adults would internalise most of that, but I'm not sure there's all that much difference unless you're disturbing the neighbours.

>>97638533
i mean, every medium has its tradeoffs. group play is unbeatable for the socializing, snacks, banter, co-op, and light improv, you'll never substitute that with solo. where solo shines is if you've got that storyfagging/worldbuilding/drawfagging/homebrewing knack. i'd never recommend solo just as a band aid for not having a group, but as its own creative endeavor, it's top tier.

>>97636795
your group sucks lol

>>97629995
Yes I do. It's fun unless you lack imagination.

>>97639820
This.
Solo rpg's is where it is at.

I am.currently running STA to make a star trek 'show' i actually want to 'watch'.

>>97634494

I like how people can think nowdays that "writing a book" is just imagining random-ish shit happening to a character.

Really explains much about narrative art, both for the users and for the creators' standpoint.

>>97642432
Again, this is why you want to run STA.
captains log and the sta 1e splats all have a bunch of oracles for generating b and or C 'plots' for an 'episode'.

(STA formats campaign play as 'mission briefs' that structure the game as if it was 'episodes' of a 'show')

And thanks to the character generation, you have a really good idea of a character's well, character. Their personality, their wants and needs and what drives them...

So you can take a b plot of 'regular warp core maintenance' and an engineer who is a shy andorian with a fiesty young bajoran offsider who ehem... demands some of his attention... and therr you have at least two or three chapters worth of just them interacting, and "interpolating the phase variator on the gaussian EPS shocks." All the while the ship is on the way to another mission. So the 'episode' can be a whole bunch of little B plots.
Like the captain and the ships doctor are putting on a violin and cello performance as they're lifelong friends.
The chief of security is putting a bunch of enlisted through hell on the holodeck...

>>97636795
The people romanticizing it are imagining that if they ever actually played and kept a campaign going that their game would instantly become something like all those funny clips and epic moments from e-celeb livestreamed games. The kind where everyone is witty and funny and firing off amazing jokes and dramatic lines at all times and then they'd post about it online and someone will turn their epic game into an animated series.

Nogames imagine that any game is better than nothing because they've never truly played with anyone. They don't know what a bag game feels like because they just imagine they'd do their cool tough guy shtick and tell THAT GUY to fuck off, or simply threaten to punch the guy at the table who is too annoying and slowing things down. In their imaginations, their sheer presence and raw charisma is enough to wordlessly control and herd an entire table of weak willed plebs into behaving. No session zero needed.

Of course, these faggots can barely handle an anonymous imageboard telling them how wrong they are, but they never end up in a group anyways or would otherwise never admit that they don't actually act on their own advice to be a badass, no nonsense BrOSR grognard gigachad.

>>97642959
the only reason it bothers me is that some anon might actually miss out on a genuinely fun hobby that fits their life perfectly, just because they bought into the stigma and let themselves get bullied away from it. nogames have little actual frame of reference, which makes them incredibly easy to troll and bullshit, but then again, why do i even care

>>97634594

Or you could just be not shit at writing.

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>>97636795
Depends on the group (and GM, which has to be able to regulate pacing). That said yes, most group falls into (their) least common denominator because it's sort of necessary to have cohesion, which includes having to deal with all sorts of comprises in order to have a game happen (rulesystem, playstyle, genre, themes). Solo game is a viable (and probably the only) alternative when in need to explore personal interest with absolute creative freedom.

>>97642432
Explains why the modern classic is practically nonexistent

>>97643563
which is why shakespeare famously wrote all his plays in prose...

oh wait, he used iambic pentameter just to put limits on himself that forced him to create true literary art.

An analogy: Solo roleplay is shooting hoops alone. Group roleplay is playing full court.

>invent game that would only be played by weirdos
>nooo why are weirdos playing this game by themselves noooo

>>97628602
fpbp.

>>97644765
except the ball is your untreated schizophrenia

>>97631906
bot response

>>97645141
Wrong, I take abilify.

I actually play, so my opinion is valid. Only some solo RPGs are good. Stuff like writing prompts suck. Game books are ok. Oracles are kind of ass, at least if you lack imagination. Ironsworn is the best.

>>97628509
Social contract is what makes fictional TRPG stories become "real".
The DM is like a TV screen broadcasting a movie, you as the DM will care about the story being good and consistent because other people are watching the screen, you have honor to uphold, nobody wants to be a hack.

Also there's the legacy of being able to talk about those stories with people after the fact, the shared experience also makes them become "real".

>>97646976
No, wrong. You can post solo sessions to YouTube, which is what "Me, Myself, and Die" did.

>>97647151
A youtube channel will fail for 95% percent of time because people don't often have a mainstream audience type of charisma.

>>97630369
>Which can all be done via a computer camera and Discord.

No it can't and it's absurd to claim it can. For REAL social contact you have to be within arm's reach.