isaackuo, 2 months ago

@mcoorlim

A hybrid of interactive fiction with CRPG could be cool. Instead of the usual IF emphasis on puzzles, the emphasis could be progress via stats, grinding, and trading ... maybe doing "side" quests for money and street cred.

But with an IF text interface.

mcoorlim, 2 months ago

@isaackuo there was a Pathfinder game a few years back that had IF mini-scenarios for puzzles and some interactions.

lextenebris, 2 months ago

@mcoorlim Well, if you've got that much time, maybe try something that isn't quite as in the normal silo as you might think.

Pick up one of the new generations of #soloRPG games and began blogging your play as a web serial. Extra points if it's not a mode of play or genre of play that you normally engage with, giving you an excuse to push yourself out of your normal comfort zone.

There's a lot of different intellectual and creative stimulation points in that kind of move forward and there are too few people blogging their play rather than making videos. There are some really good people doing solo actual play videos – but not nearly as many blogging such that they reveal their thoughts along the way at a metalevel before returning to portraying the game fiction and mechanics.

Just thought.

#TTRPG

mcoorlim, 2 months ago

@lextenebris A while back I was planning a project where I'd play old 80s and 90s game modules solo using a simple d6 oracle, converted to GURPS (simply because that's the system I understood best), and then rewritten as a narrative serial interspersed with asides about the mechanics involved.

lextenebris, 2 months ago

@mcoorlim See, I like that sort of thing. I like doing that sort of thing so it's a little bit self-interested.

But I would definitely suggest that if you haven't already, go check out some of the newer solo play games that are out there because some of them are really incredible. Ironsworn/Starforged (https://www.ironswornrpg.com) is the best game released in the last several years, in my opinion. Five Leagues from the Borderlands (https://www.modiphius.net/en-us/pages/five-leagues-from-the-borderlands)/5 Parsecs from Home (https://www.modiphius.net/en-us/pages/five-parsecs) are two of the best "adventure wargames" you can put on the tabletop. If you're looking for something of a more horrific bent, Elegy (https://miraclem.itch.io/elegy) and The Vampire: Alone in the Darkness (https://preview.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/329920/The-Vampire--Alone-in-the-Darkness-Remastered) do the solo vampire thing pretty interestingly in very different ways.

That's before we even start to get to specifically journaling games where there are some fascinating things going on.

It's a brave new world.

#TTRPG #solo

mcoorlim, 2 months ago

@lextenebris Can you recommend a good journal/blogging game that has some kind of community where journalers read and comment on each others blogs?

lextenebris, 2 months ago

@mcoorlim Unfortunately, no, because I tend to stay away from places like that, like the plague. People get a little precious about their solo play and their writing. So I generally find that those particular communities are a little more prickly than I want to get involved with. Personal preference generally grown from the fact that my personal preferences are not like other people's.

There is a huge Ironsworn community out there; the author (@shawntomkin) just completed a Kickstarter for his new Starforged expansion, which is going to tackle fleets and ships and rebellion and piracy and definitely integrating a lot of exciting things that are going on. The Discord (https://discord.com/invite/DffSF7xx) has been extremely active for obvious reasons. If you were looking for one with a whole lot of community support, that would definitely be the place to go.

mcoorlim, 2 months ago

@lextenebris I have been trying to come up with a blog-plan so this is an appealing idea on several levels.