It was a wild summer holiday in the States and when I finally arrived back in the UAE and got the interwebs back up and running RPG A Day 2017 was already in the books, but as a completionist I have no choice but to comment on the last two topics...even if the first is a dip back into the alternative questions list...
Suggest an RPG with engaging solo play:
Aside from the "Choose Your Own Adventure" and "Fighting Fantasy" books--I recently revisited some of the latter, and I have to say in retrospect they are a grind that tend to rely far too much on random choices and lucky dice rolls. Much of the time it's a 50/50 shot with very little reward for trying to play intelligently--that got me started out in the hobby in the first place, there really isn't much that I've found to be engaging in solo play. I have played out encounters in 5E and the D&D board games with A.I., but its pretty hard to get too excited about any of it. Tunnels and Trolls is a bit famous for its solo adventures, but I've found them to be very hit and miss. That leads me to go for surrogate RPGs via video games some that I like are:
Dragon's Dogma
Earthlock Festival of Magic
Kingdom's of Amalur--written by R.A. Salvatore with character designs by Todd McFarlane no less
Make no mistake these don't replace a group at the table or even an online session on Roll*20, but I do find when I'm struggling to find a game that these can tide me over.
What am I looking forward to in 2018?
I have three kickstarters that I've backed and can't wait to get in my hands they are:
Bedlam Hall by Monkeyfun Studions
Mutant Crawl Classics by Dungeon Crawl Classics
Journey to Ragnarok for D&D5E by Michele Paroli--independent group with no corporate name that I can find, but I think that will change once the module is released as it looks great.
After these come through I'm going cold turkey on a Kickstarter diet. It's a golden age for RPG fans, but I can only back so much.
I'm not sure what the 2017-2018 campaign is going to look like playing wise. There is a Mini-Con coming up locally which I hope to attend. No news from my live table group, we've only been back in town for a week, but we've lost at least 3 players with 1 on the bubble. That would leave two players and a GM--not even sure if we'd have a proper venue. As to the Roll*20 group that I run, I went on hiatus when the holiday started in July and I've scheduled a game for tomorrow night in fact, but I doubt that anyone will show. Even if they do, I'll be giving them a 'state of the union' address and little else. I've had a pretty good run of playing for the past 3-4 years after a long stretch of not being able to find regular games, but I'm afraid that the pendulum may be swinging back the other way now. Only time will tell.
I like answering and reading the answers to RPG A Day. I'll definitely keep watching the YouTube videos and reading the related blogs as they come around, but as for me, I'll now go back into my dormant blogging with only the occasional, deplorable right-wing opinion pieces and movie reviews thrown in here and there until next year. Take care everyone!
Suggest an RPG with engaging solo play:
Aside from the "Choose Your Own Adventure" and "Fighting Fantasy" books--I recently revisited some of the latter, and I have to say in retrospect they are a grind that tend to rely far too much on random choices and lucky dice rolls. Much of the time it's a 50/50 shot with very little reward for trying to play intelligently--that got me started out in the hobby in the first place, there really isn't much that I've found to be engaging in solo play. I have played out encounters in 5E and the D&D board games with A.I., but its pretty hard to get too excited about any of it. Tunnels and Trolls is a bit famous for its solo adventures, but I've found them to be very hit and miss. That leads me to go for surrogate RPGs via video games some that I like are:
Dragon's Dogma
Earthlock Festival of Magic
Kingdom's of Amalur--written by R.A. Salvatore with character designs by Todd McFarlane no less
Make no mistake these don't replace a group at the table or even an online session on Roll*20, but I do find when I'm struggling to find a game that these can tide me over.
What am I looking forward to in 2018?
I have three kickstarters that I've backed and can't wait to get in my hands they are:
Bedlam Hall by Monkeyfun Studions
Mutant Crawl Classics by Dungeon Crawl Classics
Journey to Ragnarok for D&D5E by Michele Paroli--independent group with no corporate name that I can find, but I think that will change once the module is released as it looks great.
After these come through I'm going cold turkey on a Kickstarter diet. It's a golden age for RPG fans, but I can only back so much.
I'm not sure what the 2017-2018 campaign is going to look like playing wise. There is a Mini-Con coming up locally which I hope to attend. No news from my live table group, we've only been back in town for a week, but we've lost at least 3 players with 1 on the bubble. That would leave two players and a GM--not even sure if we'd have a proper venue. As to the Roll*20 group that I run, I went on hiatus when the holiday started in July and I've scheduled a game for tomorrow night in fact, but I doubt that anyone will show. Even if they do, I'll be giving them a 'state of the union' address and little else. I've had a pretty good run of playing for the past 3-4 years after a long stretch of not being able to find regular games, but I'm afraid that the pendulum may be swinging back the other way now. Only time will tell.
I like answering and reading the answers to RPG A Day. I'll definitely keep watching the YouTube videos and reading the related blogs as they come around, but as for me, I'll now go back into my dormant blogging with only the occasional, deplorable right-wing opinion pieces and movie reviews thrown in here and there until next year. Take care everyone!
