GURPS as a Solo Game

One of my best solo games is GURPS. This is one set of rules to learn, but it handles any setting, any era, and any point in history I would ever want to role-play in. If I see a movie or TV show and want to play that in a game, it is so easy to create a few characters and dive in. The source-book support for these settings is equally amazing, with books for almost any historical subject, genre, and game you could ever want more detail on.

I played a GURPS Miami Vice style game set in the 1980s and Miami with just the basic set and the GURPS: Cops book for a few police procedures and bits of information.

There is so much great detail on police procedures and cases in the COPS book! For this genre of role-playing, and in any system, this book is an amazing resource.

There is also a SWAT book if you are more into busting drug labs, shootouts, and the more combat-oriented genre play in this setting. If you wanted to play just a tactical team, this is another great book to pick up. I would watch an episode of the TV show for inspiration, come up with a scenario to play, and GURPS took care of the rest.

Maybe we have a bank robbery gone bad, hostages taken, and the characters play a negotiator and the tactical team surrounding the building, and the scenario is to diffuse the situation while the mayor just wants to give the robbers what they want to avoid an incident. Maybe this is a raid on a drug lab in the swamp, and the team needs to neutralize the guards to let the let the narc team in to make the bust. If you were less into the detective side, and more into the action side, there are still plenty of things to do inspired by the TV show (and the music).

Why I like GURPS over other role-playing games is the advantage and disadvantage system. If I give my characters a "mental weakness" that requires a self-control roll, that is in the rules, and my character can have a drinking or gambling problem they need to constantly struggle against. This is great for solo play, since I can setup a realistic character with a unique set of strengths and weaknesses to struggle against, and the game is helping me make those choices and tells me how the character should react.

If a cop character "fired at a kid playing Laser Tag" then he may have a roll he needs to fight against when shooting his weapon at an uncertain target. This can be created in GURPS and gives the character a few more points during character creation, and also defines the dice roll when that situation comes up.

This is great, interesting, Hollywood-level scriptwriter character stuff, and the sort of detail I need to play a cinematic character effectively while playing solo. Other games do not give me these tools, but GURPS does.

GURPS is one of the best solo games on the market, and worth your time to grab a copy of and learn. 

Why Play Solo?

If I had others to play with, I would. This is sort of the classic problem of platforms that treat users as single entities instead of a community. Sure, I am on Roll20! I should be having fun!

What do any of these platforms do to bring us together?

Most of them do nothing, focusing on digital sales to single users rather than saying "the first problem we have to solve" is the one of creating a social network that brings players together. None of these platforms address the underlying cause.

Also, we are in an age of massive social strife where games are not escapist entertainment anymore. Every side is trying to "stake out space" in gaming to support "their side" and "deny others the space" as some sort of "grab land" tactic in an outside fight. I will play alone to stay away from other people's politics and advocacy. Some people have elevated this to the point of becoming terrible, horrible, angry people.

When your life has been reduced to screaming into your phone in your car, you need to look in a mirror and ask yourself why. Likely, you are hurting your "cause" more than you are helping it. I don't doubt some of these videos are made to attack the same side they supposedly support, as they look that bad.

I will stay away from entire games since the game has been captured by one side or another. It is never about the game, it is all about holding worthless "digital ground" for some an external fight to deny access to others.

This is not gaming. 

It is a sad reality to live in. I miss the 1980s so much. My whole group was outcast middle-school rejects, and we had an African-American kid, a gay kid in a track suit, an Indian kid, one with Rubik's Cube stickers on his Rush shirt, and a motley crew of losers and nerds. Nobody wanted us, but D&D did.

These days, D&D is in its 1990s aging pop-star phase and begging everyone to like them again, leaning far too hard on nostalgia, and it is just sad. I love you, but not like this. Leave me with my good memories, please. I don't even want the fantasy genre anymore, not how it exists currently, it feels damaging to people's mental health.

I would rather play a game where I can lose any character at any time and just accept the outcome, rather than build undying, invincible, pet characters that become alternate identities and make my life feel lesser in comparison. Identity marketing is incredibly toxic and hurts your sense of self-worth.

Super-heroic fantasy has been subsumed by marketing and Wall Street. It is a like a pyramid sales scheme, fluffing your ego and dipping too hard into escapism to get you buying more and locked into subscription services. 

Even Daggerheart realizes character death is an important story element and needs to be reflected in a game that simulates adventure fiction and narrative arcs. While it is still a superheroic game, it is far more mature and grounded than D&D. Shadowdark has a wonderful attitude about character death and loss. It just happens, and you lose your "playing piece." Then, you create a new one.

I can't play D&D solo. It is pointless. It is turn-after-turn of repetitive combat, far too many rests, and an every increasing power level that leaves me bored. All of 5E has this problem.

Also, I enjoy games other people ignore. I find fun in other places, and love to explore worlds and universes that are far more developed and filled with lore and history than anything in the mainstream. I like that freedom to play a game and just "live in it" for a while. Not to create a "better me" but it is like watching a movie and experiencing another place and time for a while.

But I also play to experience what has come before. I pull in classic fantasy books and comics from the 1950s to the 1970s rekindle my imagination. I want things that inspired the genre before the genre, with no second (or later) generation sources. It is hard to do this with modern games, and many people just don't see the point of going back to classic horror comics and finding inspiration there for a game.

I build my games around my strongest sources of inspiration.

I play solo as a part of my hobby, not of gaming, but of self-discovery and a life devoted to learning and expanding my mind. My gaming is not a reflection of me, it is an outwards look into the larger world, through the eyes of the past and looking forward. 

Mythic Game Master Emulator 2

I have not used the second edition as much as I have the first with Mythic, and my oracle dice have been doing more of my work for me than the percentage chart in this system. if there is a twist, plot change, or other event, I will just roll the oracle dice for it.

I need to force myself to use this more and get back into it, but overall it is still a solid book and system. Like solo play, you need to find out what works for you. Sometimes you can get by with less, other times, you need help and inspiration, which this book (and the first edition), provide well.

A lot of games come with solo rules now! Part of why my use fell off is that I have been using those systems to see how they are. Mythic was far ahead of its time. 

Even though I have been using this sparingly, this is still one of the best solo-play systems on the market, and still a standard to this day. Highly recommended, and I am looking forward to getting back into the swing of things with this book soon.

Yes, No, Maybe Dice

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01NAC0OD4

This is another set of oracle dice I have, a fun: yes, no, and maybe set. If I have a question that could go either way, or be somewhere in the middle, then I pick up one of these and roll it.

Do I have rules to use with these or my yes/no dice? I really don't need them, all I need to use these are a question. And I don't have to use them all the time, only when I need a random answer to something I am unsure of.

Don't let the dice control your game, or sit there rolling them again and again! That is not solo play. I am a big fan of solo play being "guided play" where you are using your mind and coming up with logical "what happens next" situations, and then only using the dice when you want uncertainty.

We're Still Here!

We are still around, and I merged this into my master blog site lists and update schedule. I love solo play, and most all the games on my blog list I will solo play and enjoy immensely. More soon, and the tools have evolved and changed. Still, my trusty yes/no oracle dice are going strong and serving me well.

Mythic Game Master Emulator

Mythic has always been one of my go-to tools for solo roleplaying, and the new edition is very nice. I get the feeling that at 200+ pages, the book has gotten big for the goal of fast-and-easy solo RP, but this book has a lot of value in charts and summaries of the systems Mythic uses.

If you are playing solo, this is a must-have book! The Oracle is one the best, and it really gets you into the methodology and structure of solo play and how things work in this world. You will get used to "asking questions to yourself" and learning how things work. Once you train your inner "Magic 8-Ball, " you are set for a lifetime of solo gaming, and these procedures are also valuable for playing with groups. As a referee, I often don't have a good answer for players, so using a quick oracle roll is a helpful way to answer questions and keep the game moving.

But there is a warning - do not over-rely on oracles and charts too much! If you ever find yourself stuck, rolling on a chart again, or rerolling Oracle dice to get a better result, STOP!

You need to stop.

Come up with the most logical thing that would happen next in your head, and go with that. This is one of those moments in solo play when your brain has a "runtime error" and blue screens. Whenever you feel unsatisfied, confused, stuck, or frustrated with the charts, it is time to put yourself into "recovery mode" and find the most logical way forward. Refrain from asking why; this happens all the time!

One of the worst things you can do when solo playing is feel a chart result sucked, and you begin to roll repeatedly. Never do that; give yourself ONE roll only. If you can't do anything with it, make something up and move on; maybe the next roll will be better.

Momentum is more important than having charts create a random adventure.

In fact, a genuinely random adventure is an uninteresting and bland thing.

There will always be chances for the charts to surprise you later, but the most important thing is to avoid that "writer's block" that can happen at any time when playing solo and realize the charts are a tool for storytelling - not a narrator.

The story comes from you, and the charts add unpredictable fun.

Another highest recommendation for me and make sure to get the latest edition for the best experience.

Solo Game Master's Guide

The Geek Gamers book Solo Game Master's Guide is the one to get. They sell this over on the Modiphius store, and it is well worth the investment. This is an inspirational book that lays out the best habits for solo roleplaying, and it includes the wonderful gem:

Everything is playing.

Too often, I had given up before I started, stopped playing, or felt I didn't have enough time, so I just gave up altogether. If everything is playing, even picking up a book and thinking about what game you want to run is playing. That bar is set very low and keeps you from giving up.

All the other parts of this book give you the "how" and "why" of the solo gaming experience. How you deal with character creation, large sets of rules, motivation, oracles, random tables, and what to do if you get stuck. Too often, we put too much trust in a system of random tables and think it will give us an instant game.

The game comes from us.

Refrain from sitting there and rolling dice aimlessly. Decide something, base it on emotion and feeling, and move on. You can start playing before you create a character. There is just so much wisdom in here it is hard to explain, just get this book, and it will unlock so much potential in your mind.

This book is an essential guide to success at Solo Roleplaying, and this has my highest recommendation.