Thu 09 Jun 2022, 13:14
One of the hurdles for solo play, in respect to published adventures, is the investigative element that often defines those adventures. From my own perspective, and in this context, ‘playing’ a solo TTRPG is effectively facilitating and interpreting: one is neither a player nor a Lore Master and the dice make ALL the decisions that the players/LM would’ve made in a conventional setting.
The cooperative story telling experience is replaced by the process of observing a narrative arise, organically, from an interaction of the RAW, the solo mechanics, the pre-written adventure and the dice rolls. Interpretation of the dice rolls, not player/LM based decision making, is the name of the game. Attempting to navigate the investigative element within this process isn’t straightforward. How does the character pick up the necessary clues? What does the character make of those clues, and how does he/she tie them together to arrive at the desired conclusion?
Currently I’m soloing through a 1e adventure from the Bree supplement that involves solving the murder of a Ranger, appropriately enough. In order for the character to ‘discover’ who the culprits are, I’ve designed a basic system of ‘clue points’ of which the character has to be aware of a sufficient amount in order to reach the right conclusions. The ‘clue points’ subsequently have to be ‘validated’ by successful Insight rolls which, on an Eye of Sauron result, could send the character after the wrong individual; and from there it starts to get more complicated . . .
In other words, if you wish to play the published adventures, then be prepared to supplement the fairly bare bones Strider Mode mechanics with plenty more of your own - tailor made for that particular adventure - to make them work.
Having said that, elements of the Strider Mode rules, such as the Telling Table might suffice in these circumstances, but from my experience - and for my personal taste - the tighter and more comprehensive the solo mechanics, the better for soloing. Too much latitude undermines the necessarily ‘neutral’ status of the solo player.
Or one could just avoid adventures containing a strong investigative element . . .