Thanks for this. Would love to see a playthrough! :)

What game board are you playing on?

Congratulations you have a very enviable collection. Most of the books you have presented are only in English. I would like to have found them in my language, Italian, too, but I don't think they will ever be translated. Thanks anyway for the recommendations.

The second edition is best right? Cant find second edition only the core set 2019, i tninking about buy them.

Your journaling adaptation is interesting. Nice job.

This makes me think of Roman Concrete. The narrator keeps referring to things as 'pretty standard' by which they mean similar to D&D, but for 'reasons' is unwilling to say D&D. Hardly the biggest deal, just imagining someone trying to understand this without the assumed background is amusing. There was a time when Vampire (VTM) was the second largest RPG in existence, and it reached a huge number of new players, those who had never experienced something similar to D&D, now imagine one of those people trying to makes or tails of anything said in this video.

I like the use of action points for what is done throughout the day whether it be travel, eating or combat. I don't have a rule system that mentions anything similar.

Hate to be the 334th Like as it breaks up the magical 3 times 3 😅 but I really loved your examination of *Troika!* which truly is quite amazing. I've been looking for an elegant rules framework like this, one that doesn't get in the way of storytelling but has just enough bones to it to feel useful and give texture to an RPG. In my pursuit to craft a new type of Tabletop Adventure System (TAS) that borrows from BGs and RPGs but leaves out the trappings of either, especially towards a soloist, I've looked at everything from simplified D&D systems to Mörk Börg to 'Apocalypse' systems but nothing really stuck as they all still felt too complex. Troika! with some keyword use of *Legend in the Mist* and a tadbit of classic random table generation and solo journaling, I hope, will lead to this new form of (soloable) adventuring that remains focused on player actions and emergent narrative, while also providing a wonderful engine to playing pre-written adventures. Thanks again and...keep exploring!

Always a good day when I see a new video from you! Looks interesting. I think I picked this up a while back and now will try to find some time to play it! If you haven't looked at Doom Pilgrim yet by Warclaw Games I'd love to see your take on it. I really think you would love the evocative art and rich storytelling if not for the game itself, for your solo adventures.

I agree that the two supplements add much more to the gaming experience. It is a great system for a fun game of adventure with no complex rules. The combat system is brutal but it is based on a board game. My characters rarely survive in HeroQuest or Warhammner Quest.

Caves & Catacombs is super cool. It's like HeroQuest in Zine form. :)

This is another nicely presented and enjoyable video; thank you! Your videos present a wealth of RPG solo material that can also serve as creative resources for RPG adventure and board game design. Also, I really enjoy well-executed game maps, and I'm wondering what map is serving as the background for your video?.

I agree that having a game framework as this game presents makes for a good starting point in the development of your adventure. In my mind having too many rules seems to direct you in your adventure rather than allowing you to take the narrative and developing the outcome rather than the outcome being decided by the game. By the way, I like your illustrations and the game illustrations, both are fantastic!

That wilderness supplement looks quite interesting. Hoping to see a playthrough of it here. Really liked the one of Solo Gaming Sheets, however short it was...

Where did you get the printed version?

Riley Tattle! What a great name for a cleric! Thank you for this video and sharing your play notes and drawings. Although I am currently captivated by both Four Against Darkness and SoloDark/ShadowDark, I enjoyed the page-through of this rule set and its expansions. Looks like some interesting ideas presented here.

I have this game and am very curious about it. I haven't played it yet so I appreciate the indepth the video!

Help support the channel: Donating: paypal.me/geekgamersDeborah Get SOLO GAME MASTER'S GUIDE: order from Amazon: shorturl.at/vFMQ2 order from Modiphius: shorturl.at/npsL1 order from Modiphus UK: shorturl.at/kqsMN Get RANDOM HEXCRAWL book: tinyurl.com/5cj3d4jc

the years pass.. but still I'd love to see an encore of this peculiar gem of a game. cheers!

Runes on a meal... Never heard about alphabet macaroni?

I think that is not potion +50gp, potion just cost 50gp

Great video, thanks. Yes, the books could use a major revamp! So, I don't blame you for the couple of rules errors I noticed: - Endurance rolls are only made if attempting to hike more than 2 quarters of the day. The first and second quarter days spent hiking only require the Pathfinding roll (and even then, only if you've not travelled to the target hex before). However, you probably would also want someone to Scout, to potentially avoid being taken by surprise. - Dodging an attack is done at -2 if you want to remain standing, otherwise you wind up prone and need to spend a fast action to stand. In this case it didn't make any difference, and I understand not wanting to get too deep into the mechanics for an intro video like this. Just thought I'd mention it, so that people realize the combat system is more developed. - After your half-elf took Strength damage, he should have been rolling fewer attribute dice on his melee attacks. - The Healing skill is only useful if an attribute is Broken (fully lost, 0 dice remaining). To otherwise recover lost attribute points requires spending a quarter day to Rest or Sleep. Of course, it's a perfectly valid choice to decide if you want healing to be more quick than the designers intended. But in that case, I would suggest a potential drawback (such as only allowing 1 attempt, and possibly causing more damage if the attempt fails).

very informative video but here's the thing: i love 4AD for the simplicity. so i'm on the fence. hmm..

Re-subscribing, forgotten how much I like your analysis and gaming thoughts. Hugely greatly appreciate them.

Great vid! Just bought the game because of it, lol Love the idea of SO many different settings, using the same base rules!

Yeah, losing a character is never fun. Ultimately up to you. You could roll up a new character or go back to the moment you entered that dungeon where everything went wrong. Though it sounds like you're having too much fun to ditch it entirely....

So accurate... Dawn of the Zeds creates its own story EVERY TIME I play... I get done and when I reflect on the game... I am like.. that would be an awesome movie... EVERY TIME :)

1:39 Those are such good questions. I'm quite new to these pen & paper type solo dungeon crawls, but I come from a board game background. Questions like 'What does it feel like to level up?' are really important questions because those are fundamentally (in a lot of cases) the reason people play those type of games. Massive Darkness 2 from CMON (I've got everything including all the Kickstarter stuff) made me realise what a lot of board games and even these type of games are missing. In MD2 you can take on huge groups of enemies all at once and you level up all the time. It makes you feel special and the fast levelling makes it even more fun to play. I'd really like it if someone were to release one in a similar vein to MD2 but for pen and paper.

I love this system. I've been able to use a vast spectrum of items, settings, and adventures from other systems with this rule set. It is also highly hackable. Brandon Goeringer is a nice guy and has a YT channel as well. Good stuff!

Hi, It's a very interesting review. The potential is truly impressive, but it also makes it overwhelming. I'd really appreciate it if you'd clean up your notes on your game sequence (sorry, I can't read it) and give us a quick example of a session :D

I really struggled with Solo, I'd play a session or 2 get bogged down and quit for a few months before trying again. But recently I figured out what worked for me. The first thing I did was change the ruleset, very few people talk about rules, you said more than most, but for solo it is very important to have a light ruleset. I knew D&D 5e the best and was hoping to start there then move into 3.5, or 2nd ed, as I like them better. That was a terrible idea. I found Basic Fantasy as it was free and simple. But really, I think any light rule set works. Having a light rule set is not stressed enough by too many "How to Solo" videos, you can add to it later if you needed, but simple is the best place to start or you will get bogged down in rules and wear out fast. You can go with a more heavy rule set if you stick to 1 character, but most RPGs really do better with a party. The second thing is tables and other generation. I learned to keep those lower as well. 90% of my solo random rolls is asking yes/no questions from a simple high means yes, low means no, I give a bonus or penalty to adjust likelihood. Most everything else I try to make up as I need I make up, my first thought is always to write my own next step. Rolling on a table, takes time and often I don't like the result and need to reroll wasting more time. I do have a table of verbs and nouns I will use to spark an idea when I am stuck, but I use that as a last resort. Tables can become a crutch, and slow you down, it is often best to make up something on the spot and go with it. You don't need to be surprised, as often table generation is bland, and does not fit the narrative, that your own mind can fill in as needed. I just found at first I was always going to a table, and not playing the game. The 3rd thing that helped me was to plan ahead. Again most solo players seem to be looking for surprise, and not knowing what comes next . I find that hard to make fun. Started having loads of success when I knew what the adventure is, writing down key steps and notes for what the plan is. I let the dice disrupt that plan, but when I get stuck I know the next step I can then move on to it. These plans are usually just ideas and outlines, I don't over do it and always leave openings for the dice to change things as I play. I often plan when away from the table, out for a walk, driving, running errands, waiting at a doctor's office whatever, so when I set down to play most my ideas are ready. These tips may not work for everyone, many people like to not know what is coming, and tables and other resources you mentioned are good for that, but for me I like to control the story, and not wonder around lost waiting for dice to build me a story. This also helps improve avoiding meta-gaming. I often know what is next, but I try to let the characters do and act how they would with their knowledge not my own. And I am always ready to deviate, like GMing a real game the players will change things the dice will fall wrong, that is where this style shines, when plans are changed and I have to adapt. I did really like your idea of adding too the system from other books like how you added Ars Magica, but a lot of these tips, really add more than I would like. I keep things theater of the mind, few tables as I said, few maps beyond a sketch. I have used modules as a starting point, but often find creating a world and my own plan works best. Though I can see me using some of these tools to jump start ideas, that Tomb of Adventure design would be a good book, for more the planning stage for me, and not so much while gaming.

The holy symbol is basically for clerics, but I think I get it. It is pretty simple. You need a story hook if you start/create something of your own.

Dwarf thief, Is that legal???

As markperry1603 said, and as you mentioned in the video, your new character could be Silver Foot’s son or daughter but I would suggest that instead of restarting at level 1, bump your new character to level 3 or 4 and explain it thematically that this new character has already been on the hunt for Silver Foot DURING Silver Foot’s adventure. Their beginning would be finding where Silver Foot met his demise, and wish to continue his adventure. Helps create a theme, keep all your stuff while adding some new equipment from the start, and not having to start at level 1 all over again

Space Aces: TNG (the new guidebook) is the precursor to Voyages in Infinite Space and it is a series of tables that cover everything from creating friendly space critters to mission generators. It's odd that nothing from those tables was repurposed for Infinite Space but regardless, that small book is highly recommended as another great source for generating light-hearted space "stuff" for RPGs.

Is it not possible* that your character would* have paid a cleric to follow your character by less than a day into the area you where going to explore, and the cleric was able to revive you after they found the result of your previous encounter? I recall in Baldur's Gate that after you kill one of the main baddies that dude shows BACK UP all because while you the Player assume he is a solo bad guy, he actually paid someone to come drag him back from death if he should fail his quest to defeat you, the player. Planning, or ret-con planning, is key, and with more experience you will learn different ways to lay out a campaign.

Great channel. I love Mr. Peabody--brings back memories.

Long time follower, little off topic. What are your top 5 books to solo play in D&D 5.5E, I did pick up your Solo Game Masters Guide as one of them and obviously the 5.5 new rulebooks. But what would you suggest to solo play in that system as some go to books?

There is a Narrative supplement, Reveries of the Dark, that helps create more stories around your adventure. You roll random story prompts that help the game feel more story driven.

Great video, Deborah. Thank you! I'm having lots of fun playing it.❤

Hi very interesting video. Most videos i see about tarot for rpg are mostly about setting a plot, or a story hook. I don't like how everything is setup directly. It could be interesting for a GM who want to define a campaign setting, but for solo playing? It's better when the plot appears and unfold among the way. That's too static isn't it?

I have found most things, but what i'm having trouble with, are monsters. I can't seem to figure out a small pocket size system that would give me most randomized option for monsters. I wish it to be pocket size, because the rest of my set is pocket size ( small space). I thought about doing a table of sorts, then thought of a zine, but neither seem to work.

Great video! Love what you are doing, but a mounted camera from above would be awesome! The shaky camera is a bit much for me, just my 2 cents. Keep up the great work!

Maybe roll a new character (whether it is a higher level or lower than Silverfoot finished at) who finds the realm of Silverfoot with his manor, equipment not lost in the last battle (because no one takes everything with them) and his dungeon maps. But put the dungeon he delved within that map which appears to be not in the realm he started to build. That way the story continues.

Perhaps, if you started at level 3 or so, you could have a system where, if you die, it means you have been 'defeated'. And this means someone finds your body "mostly dead" and brings you somewhere you are nursed back to health (maybe 1d6 weeks pass). Then you continue, but you lose a level. That would give you a very strong incentive against being 'defeated' but allow the story to continue. Also, I imagine the system of this game could be spiced up with two things: (1) a deck of missions which give you some kind of goal (find the lost [person, item, location, etc], defeat y, and so on). These would state when the condition is triggered (if you find a treasure of # value, or 'when you encounter a character, roll to see if it is that person' and so on). These missions could be for one of 5 factions, and by doing them you move up in rank in that faction, which brings benefits and opens story opportunities. The second thing it would benefit from is: (2) a book of choose your own adventure style storylines which could plug into this game. There could be specific chart results which trigger the next chapter in the storyline. Not railroads, hopefully, but branches based on both decisions as well as fail/success at various goals. Anyway, the first thing I say above is how I would address your question - the other two are really for the designers, but maybe you have some storylike resources (boardgame encounter cards?) that could add more narratives into the mechanics in a similar way.

You mention story telling.. I have always felt that games like this have an emergent story the IS the tale of that adventurer. You get certain hooks for heading out into the wilderness..ie, Son of Silverfoot wants to make a fish hatchery on this lake and finish his Fathers dream of setting down and so he need to set off to raid some dungeons … then, what happens toward that end is the tale of the Silverfoot family Adventure

Great episode. I still haven’t played this one. It’s kind of intimidating to me. There is so much to learn in this one!

I really like 2D6 Dungeon, including the combat, but I also wanted to more narrative elements. So I created a supplement called "Reveries of the Dark", that gives you prompts every now and then to help you flesh out your character and the world. It's on DriveThruRPG.

You could create a new story using dead characters. Fidget the Gnome and Siverfoot, amongst any others that have departed in your stories.

IMO, you should start over completely. Not only is that an opportunity to tie the world together better, as you said, but it gives you the chance to go through different parts of the tables you've already used and create something brand new.