2024 Goals

So, it is  a new year. This may seem a little late but due to my workload January is not a month where I can do anything hobby related, well except spending a little time hanging out on Discord.

It is customary to look back on what I may have achieved in the year just gone, and forward to what I want to achieve.

2023

Looking back is both easy and painful.

Easy, because I didn't really manage to achieve to anything, and painful for the same reason.

Over the years this is a common pattern, I think because I have too many projects I want to complete at any time, and my inability to focus on one until it is complete.

I am determined that this year will not end up the same way. I want to list all of my possible projects and rank them in order of completion.

But what are they?

Possible Projects

So these are all writing projects. I will be testing them solo, so I intend to get some solo play out of these. Whether I publish any of those play throughs will have to wait and see how I feel at the time.

Heroic Action Role-Playing System

This is a solo focused game system, that is mostly written but could use a spruce up and actually be released somewhere, other than this blog.

The aim is to get it finished/edited (by myself), polish the design/add art, and get it uploaded to DriveThru and possibly Itch.io.

Swashbuckling Setting Book

This is a very personal project. I have compiled two separate settings that I really like into one book and filled in some blanks.

The first is the very lightly sketched Edenstein setting from Two Hour Wargames 'By Savvy & Steel', and the second is Auvernais from the seemingly unreleased 'Robots & Rapiers'. R&R is somewhat well known by swashbuckling fans, as a (the) swashbuckling adventure generator.

The aim with this is to combine the two settings, quite easily done because Edenstein is very broad brush (there are little to no city names for example, just regions), and R&R is mostly a city with some named other cities and details, and get it professionally printed.

At this stage I need to decide where to stop with adding details and random tables and then get it finalised. This (is) will be my main setting for my solo swashbuckling games.

Freeform Universal Compendium/Appendix

Freeform Universal 1st Edition, or Classic Edition, is one of my favourite games. Over the years I have developed sub-systems and best practice (at least for me) that fill in gaps and provide advice to newer players. I would love to get this compiled and released for others to use.

It needs completing, the stealth and vehicular/chase rules in particular, an editing pass and general polishing/design.

Pirates: Adventure on the High Seas Redux

A long time ago now I threw together a FU Classic guide to running a pirate game. I was never entirely happy with it and always intended to revisit and revise it.

I have made a lot of progress on this, and integrated the core FU rules so it is a standalone product.

I also wanted to include a custom pirate setting and this is where I have got stuck. I need to complete this setting so it is truly standalone and revise some of the remaining rules and then intend to release it on DriveThru and possibly Itch.

Reaper Engine games

This is a bigger task, not least because it is not very far progressed. The actual rules part I have designed, not least because it is an amalgam of two old rulesets that I know well (it's a retro clone).

I have tinkered with designs and have an evocative old school vibe appropriate for the game in mind/designed. I have a couple of hold ups with this game (beyond writing it).

Firstly,  how I want to structure the rules, do I go minimalist and produce separate booklets for each section? So, magic in a separate book to the core rules? This would speed up the process as I can release each as I complete them and fits the old school vibe, but could come across as disjointed.

Secondly, I need to decide what setting I pick. I have a few options, the first is a low fantasy monster/witch hunter setting, the second a feudal science fiction/fantasy setting akin to Dune-ish, the third a questing knights through forests, fields and fairy, the forth a science fiction post apocalypse gangs and finally a city of the dead fantasy gang game.

Black Seven Solo

This is little more than a thought and a few sketched out notes at the moment, but there is a great stealth related RPG called Black Seven (and Animus for it's fantasy equivalent) that would be ideal for solo rules.

I could probably complete this fairly quickly, but it's a niche of a niche and entirely unwritten.

Marooned - Pirate Borg Solo

This is a project that I would love to complete fairly soon, Pirate Borg is still relatively new and first mover solo rules would be a real possibility here, I just need to sit down and write them out.

The Veil

This is my final magnum opus. A swashbuckling horror game with a setting, rules and whatever I could throw at it. I even envisage expansions, a Kickstarter campaign and on-going support. For that reason this seems like something to wait until I have more experience, a better (any) reputation and (any) social media presence. Even here there are hurdles before I even 'start', but they seem far off for now.

Others

I could easily throw in a couple more projects, but at least one of those relies on another party agreeing, so I'll leave them off for now. These wouldn't happen until other work was completed anyway.

Solo Gaming

So this is ostensibly a solo gaming blog, so I should detail what I want to achieve here too right?

A lot of this is going to be testing the above as they are produced but there are two campaigns here that I want to highlight:

Edenstein

This may be a bit of cheat because I mention this above, but this is one campaign I keep returning to that I can't quite keep going for some reason.

Part of that is selecting an appropriate ruleset, I have dozens of swashbuckling games, each with their own pros and cons, plus my own ideas (and rules), so it all gets a bit complicated in my mind and shuts down with the effort.

I just need to push through with this one, and give myself the time to do projects and game without the feeling of letting myself down.

The Police Department

Blade Runner and police procedurals are possibly my favourite films (versus Star Wars), and my favourite TV genre. I've long had the idea of running an ensemble cast of characters in a near future police station, and I have pretty much everything ready to go for this.

Except for the aforementioned motivation and wanting it to be perfect in every respect. I really need to let that go and just get on with it.

Other Things

Life just wouldn't be life without events to get in the way (how high is my Chaos Factor?!), this includes boardgames, computer games, sport, family and work.

This year I really need to focus in on what I want to achieve, and in what order, so that I can really focus on one or two things at a time. Whether my addled brain will allow me that luxury I need to wait and see, but I need to stop making excuses!

Ideal Solo Gaming System (for me)

I have a handful of roleplaying systems that I return to for solo roleplaying, but my favourite (at this time) is Freeform Universal (FU from hereon), and in particular the now rebranded 'Classic' version (or 1st edition, or whatever you might want to call it). First though here is a quick breakdown:

An FU character has a number of Descriptors (positive and/or negative), items of Gear (generally positive), and Conditions (things that have afflicted the character, and generally negative). There can also be scene Details which may be positive or negative depending on the Detail and the circumstances.

Determine what the character is trying to achieve or avoid and grab some dice. Start with a 'static' d6, for each positive aspect that is in play you add a Bonus d6 die, and for negative situations a Penalty d6. Bonus and Penalty dice cancel out leaving you with a net of one or the other, next roll the remaining dice and if net Bonus read the highest, and lowest if net Penalty. Finally read the result on the following easily memorised chart:

6 - Yes, and...
5 - Yes
4 - Yes, but...
3 - No, but...
2 - No
1 - No, and...

For example Nightcrawler is sneaking up on the villain's HQ, 'is he spotted?', he is STEALTHY and it is DARK, but there are CAMERAS EVERYWHERE. You can think of this as just setting the scene, pulling out the CAPITALS as they come to you. I would interpret that as 2 Bonus and 1 Penalty dice, meaning a net Bonus die. I now roll 2 dice getting 2 and 4 for a Yes, but... result.

With that description out of the way these are the reasons why I like it so much and why it suits my style of solo roleplaying:

Genre neutral

I can play pretty much any genre with FU, including supers and Enid Blyton/Scooby Doo style investigations (which was with my kids).

With a simple switch of the questions asked and narrative consequences I can make the game gritty and feel realistic, to cinematic swashbuckling, to the aforementioned supers.

Freeform

With freeform creation I can create pretty much any character, this is partly related to the above, but also allows me to narrow down on the important parts of my campaign, including ignoring combat altogether.

Interesting results

A roll in FU always impacts the narrative of the game. Now that is true of course to nearly all games, but with the small pushes towards partial and total successes it makes the narrative come alive to me.

These are great for combat and more importantly in social interaction.

Using FU my in-game conversations will often end in some sort of compromise or with an added benefit or detriment. This makes the conversations come to life in a way that binary systems often can't.

Fast NPC creation

This one is vitally important to me and my solo playstyle. With FU I can simply create a CRONY, and use that stereotype to affect the game, with little else required.

In truth I tend to use appearance and personality tables too, but that is still far removed from assigning skill levels, attributes levels, and other character aspects that other games require.

It is especially important to me that each NPC is unique too (or at least as unique as FU allows), so stock characters (if they exist at all for the niche game I might playing) often fall short.

Saying that, it also means that I can create swathes of goons and other inconsequential adversaries incredibly quickly, without statting them all up.

Not combat focussed

Another thing that I like about FU is that there are no inherent combat mechanics. Indeed I have often helped others see the unwritten bias to combat 'Conditions' in the various FU social groups, and like Fate's Consequences, Conditions can be non-combat 'injury' or inconvenience (and very often are in my games).

One of the games I ran with my kids was a Famous Five style mystery, and there was no combat and very little in the way of 'action' in that game, and it ran incredibly smoothly.

While I enjoy combat in some games, others involve very little, and FU handles it all the same and with interesting results (see above).

Fractal nature

I feel a lot is made of the Fate fractal, and indeed Fate is one of those handful of games I mentioned at the start, but this applies a lot more easily in FU. While in Fate a fire (to use a stereotypical example) could be represented by several game system components, a skill level, an Aspect, a full blown 'character'.

In FU a fire is nearly always another scene Detail, there is nothing else really to replicate it. This means I have less to think about, and can concentrate on the narrative of the game rather than how to represent it mechanically.

It also means that I can now replicate things like mechs, jets, sailing ships and other vehicles. What special qualities does this mech etc have that another may not. These are perfect for then replicating how I see the mech. Not only that but I can then use my character's skills, or lack thereof, as another defining factor.

For example I may be a skilled PILOT, so a FAST or AGILE mech I will be able to get the most out of, or maybe compensate for a SLOW mech, and while an AUTOCANNON armed mech will be a menace, it may not be able to get the target lined up to my mech.

Light weight

FU is extremely light weight. There is little to it other than the dice mechanic, using Descriptors of various types and Conditions. This does mean that it is incredibly easy to teach as a system, as anyone can start playing it in minutes. It also means that I do not need a grand tome to understand the game, or to find the aforementioned stock characters or multiple die roll modifiers.

It also means it is incredibly fast and available anywhere you can roll d6 (including virtual, so anywhere really).

That speed as I have mentioned before is important to me, I can roll the story along and add in NPCs and use my solo tools without troubling myself with another thought process. Multi threading I am not, jotting things down in a notebook or scrap piece of paper I most certainly am.

It's not Mythic!

Now this one could be seen as bizarre, but at one point I was getting fed up of using d100 to answer Fate questions. I've never really been a fan of rolling those two dice, so converted to using FU as my oracle (with another method of injecting random events). Soon I didn't know if I was asking Mythic or FU questions and the whole thing became muddled in my mind.

At first I stuck with FU as my oracle and used different systems, indeed I still do (including one I designed myself purely for solo), but they often lacked some of the points above and cycling back around to using FU as my game engine I knew I needed to revert to using Mythic as written (well my preferred No Chaos variant anyway).

With different dice to roll I can now separate the two systems physically as well as mentally, and this has helped differentiate between them much more and keep my games on track.

Downsides

FU is not without it downsides, and many of the features above can be doubled edged. I feel I have either mitigated some of these or come to accept them as a facet of the game I cannot, and do not, want to change.

So what are these?

Experience

FU is a game I feel like you need some sort of experience to get the most out of. In exactly the same way as Mythic, there is nothing stopping you asking any question. This leads many to life or death situations that they can't easily see themselves out of.

You also need to aware of genre conventions so that you can direct your questions in a way that serves your game.

Now I am an incredibly big believer in that there is no wrong way to play, and solo play extends this massively. There really is no one else to satisfy in a solo game, it is your game 100%, so whatever I may say or believe here is solely based on my experiences.

Saying that I do believe there is a 'skill' in asking FU questions (and Mythic Fate questions).

For example let's say I'm playing a Batman expy called Nightcrawler, he's just come across some cronies loading a van with stolen cash outside a bank. Now in my mind there is no (or very little) danger to him in this situation whatsoever. So what's my question? I could sock the nearest crony and take on each one-by-one, wearing myself, Nightcrawler and the story down, like making it 3 pages rather than 3 panels. But what if I made it 'Does Nightcrawler take out the cronies easily?'. Now, say I get a No, I might give Nightcrawler a Condition, or somehow one of them escapes, but this scene is over much more quickly and there are my 3 panels. If I want more, maybe the one getting away is doing it in the semi-laden truck? Seems like a good thing to ask Mythic.

Granularity

Characters' have very few Descriptors, and they either have it or not. This means that two SWORDSMAN will be equal (although I have a hack for this), whereas other systems this could be +1 vs +5, or 12 vs 16, D8 vs D12, or however else a game differentiates or works.

So if you want finer grain details then you are not going to get them in FU. I feel this is the trade off for speed, and while it doesn't seem like much, simply assigning a number, this often goes in hand with other micro decisions.

Advancement

Somewhat related to the above, but FU also lacks a 'levelling up' mechanic other than assigning another Descriptor. I know some people find levelling up or advancement to be a cornerstone of roleplaying, and that simply doesn't really fit with FU.

I can tell you various workarounds and 'tricks', but they are simply that, and don't stop characters getting incredibly powerful (in FU terms) quite quickly if you want a mechanical benefit as advancement fairly often.

It's Freeform

Hang on, wasn't this in the strengths above? Yes, it was, but can also be a weakness. Having stared at a blank page trying to make a Risus character, this is quite real for me. Luckily I have developed a shorthand for character creation that suits me perfectly, essentially relying on 8 archetypes or classes, but until then I wasn't comfortable making something truly freeform.

So there are my thoughts on Freeform Universal, and my it suits me in particular for solo games.

Social Solo

Not how to use solo tools socially, although that is a good blog topic, but how to emphasise or solely concentrate on social situations and avoid combat, potentially at all.

So let's dive straight in with a few ideas and alternatives. It's possible to mix and match a variety of these but some may be mutually exclusive, or not work for your game, so basically use what you want!

Emphasis

This is the easiest option to take, simply play up the social aspect or whatever your intended genre/style is.

If your first thought in a scene is combat related stop for a moment and think if it can be downgraded. Maybe consider what the opposition might actually want, nobody wants to get hurt! So think how they can achieve their goals without combat.

Once you get in to the mindset it can be quite easy to reduce or eliminate combat.

However, because it is the easiest, it is often the hardest to actually implement.

How do you keep social interaction things interesting though? Well, this is easier with the next option.

Varied results

My favourite ruleset Freeform Universal includes a variety of results, from Yes and... through to No and..., with but... results also included. These results increase the interest in the result of a roll, by avoiding the classic binary pass/fail result.

By including but... and and... results things become more nuanced, which works especially well in a social context. Yes you might succeed your goal, but they demand some of you to allow your request, or aren't quite as helpful as they could have been.

Of course there are multiple systems that have more varied results, and even if you are using a binary system you can introduce these types of results by testing 3 times.

3 passes - Yes and. An additional bonus, maybe more information or assistance
2 passes - Yes but. Overall you get what you want but maybe not completely, a complication, requirement or other slight bump
1 pass - No but. A failure but softened with a concession, or open to a change of approach
0 passes - No and. Not only a failure but a further setback, loss or absolute closure of the conservation

This is obviously helped by my next option.

System

A social game is often helped (unsurprisingly) by a game system that already has social rules. I'm not a fan of the concept of social combat, as in my opinion you can rarely change a person's deeply held opinion, and to call it combat diminishes the collaborative approach to persuasion that actually works in the real world.

Ignoring that though, a good social system will already have considered many of these points and means that you can lean on something without the need to amend or invent it yourself with potential game balance issues and other pitfalls.

For example many OSR games don't have skills, and relegate social interactions to in-character role playing. Using these games for a purely social game wouldn't be conducive to a smooth game.

On the other hand Fate Accelerated, and in particular it's use of Approaches, can be excellent for social games, plus you can determine if an NPC has a secret weakness or opposition to a particular Approach. Actually you can do this with a game with a broad range of social skills too.

Varied characters

All too often NPCs are Orc#2, not Scott Bailey a local young teacher, with a passion for hiking, looking for an affordable home with his fiancée.

Now clearly number 2 is a more rounded and interesting character, but producing those results can be hard work, but this is where I draw from both John Fiore's 9 Questions (in this case his NPC 9Qs) and The Sims (yes, the PC game).

In both of these systems you gain information over time. Discovering more details as you continue to interact with the same NPC over an extended period.

For example you first pick up on surface details, their appearance, overall mood or demeanour, and what their role or status in society is, probably even before their name.

All of these things can be randomly generated relatively easily (and you may already be generating these to round out newly met NPCs), but what else can you learn?

Let's start with The Sims:

Mood - how the NPC is feeling at this particular time. Everyone can have a bad day, or feel fantastic - to have unchanging characters is not only unrealistic but stifles game play. Yes your happy-go-lucky workmate may be feeling down, but why is that? Can you improve their mood? This is fodder to social interaction and your story.

Relationship status - what exactly is your relationship to the NPC? A long time friend will react differently to an invitation to go for a coffee than a newly met acquaintance, and your wife or girlfriend will react differently to your pranks than strangers (well, maybe not always!).

Character traits - what makes up your NPC, their personality and lifestyle, likes and dislikes etc. Sharing these traits will help you understand an NPC, and possibly create a connection.

Interests - are they a fan of sports, RPGs, certain TV themes etc. These are great for finding common ground (or not), are they RPG fans who play solo for instance?

Aspirations - what they actually want from life - kids, relationships, wealth, actually write a finished RPG etc.

The 9 NPC Questions are similar, but broken down in to things first picked in casual conversation - job, clothes etc. Personal traits that emerge after you have established trust or a similar world view, and Intimate traits you learn when they are truly won over.

Too often, even when we create these things, we receive them in an opening info dump. If we have to work for them that becomes part of the game, and better reflects the reality of getting to know a person.

So no combat, now what?

So without combat what does your PC do (if you haven't thought about it before).

With the threat of combat removed many people struggle to conceive what a game may entail. This is compounded by RPGs being very closely aligned to wargames and by extension combat heavy situations. This means that the overwhelming majority of RPGs are written for action/adventure games, and this can be a hard concept to overcome.

Maybe the first step is to consider the variety of books, films and television series that exist beyond the action adventure genre. So here's some broad genres or themes:

Investigation

Investigation and mystery games can be particularly social, with interviews and clue gathering. They are often the default 'non-combat' game because they are often combat light in fiction. If you think about it, apart from the inciting incident, in Clue/Cluedo there is no violence, and this holds true for the vast majority of real police investigations.

Exploration or Travel

A game of exploring the unknown or at least an uncertain journey. Ryuutama and No Man's Sky are potentital inspiration.

Political or Corporate

Persuading the masses, dealing with judicial matters, and other municipal or business matters. Could be anything from Veep to The Office or maybe finally doing that Pendragon Lordly Domains campaign you've always wanted to...

Romance

Cringeworthy for many players, but to the solo player something we can do more comfortably. Take your pick of the avalanche of films or books.

Sport or Culture

Perhaps your an aspiring racer, quarterback or actor. Again, no lack of available inspirational material, not so easily served in RPG terms, but often boardgames can fill these niches with you filling in the between game gaps.

Drama!

Even with all of the above, what do you actually do?

You need to see the drama and tension without the threat of violence. All of those genres above have different approaches to this. In the romance genre it is whether your character can have a happy ever after, the tension or drama in that genre is in meeting the right person, making a lasting connection and dealing with hiccups along the way.

The course of true love never did run smooth (A Midsummer Night's Dream - Shakespeare)

For an exploraiton game it would be finding what you wanted and overcoming the challenges along the way. What would Indiana Jones or a dungeon delve look like without active antagonists? What would an underground dungeon actually be like with a large fortune at the end? Dark obviously, how do you overcome this, how long does your lighting actually last? What over obstacles could there be? Underground rivers, ancient traps, curses and their ramifications, a race against another team. All good fodder for explorations.

Sometimes we need to break free of our RPG expectations, and hopefully some of the above will see how that can be achieved.

As with all of my blog posts in this vein, they are just the start of the conversation. Feel free to let me know, either here or any other place you may have seen me if you want more clarity, expanded explanations or indeed anything else.

Solo Mysteries - Play Part 1

So last time I generated a setup for a solo mystery using the system in Technoir. Now to actually start playing it.

As this is a how-to and not a detailed write up of how I'd describe the events unfolding I won't be adding 'literary flourishes' that I'd usually do.

First I need to show you the current map and table of clues in case you are just coming to this.

Click to make it visible

The mystery revolves around Ran finding out his ex-lover Rhesan has developed, or is developing a magical virus. He has come to the Guard to exact revenge on Rhesan dumping him.

So here are a few more details of how I use the clue map and table to play solo:

1. Each clue has the possbility of revealing another clue linked to the mystery.

2. No matter what I roll I will discover this additional clue, randomly generated from the table. If it doesn't make sense then I may pre-pick a particular column, or columns, to generate the next clue from (but stay open to interpretation for a little while, and possibly ask a Mythic question(s)).

3. What I won't know is if this connection to the mystery is accurate or not. This is where your gaming system steps in.

4. If you roll an incompatible, or duplicate, clue either re-roll, or simply move down the list to the next available clue. Otherwise you can link them, which makes the mystery more interconnected.

This always leaves me somewhere to go, even when I'm not sure how that clue relates to the overall mystery, or if it is accurate or not.

So, back to my example, where do we go from here? It makes sense that Ran is our first point of contact, so our intrepid hero, let's call him Shan, interviews Ran.

At this point I can generate a few details for Ran - there are plenty of tools around to do this, so I won't list the ones I use, but here are the pertinent facts:

Ran Riverbrand

Occupation: Banker

Description: Tall

Personality: Clever

Motivation: Defend Belief

Shan interviews Ran and using FU as my system and gets a Yes, and result.

This means I generate at least one truly connected clue and I decide the 'and' nets the next clue as well. So what do I get? [2] [4] - which is the Virus again. OK this is a little early so I don't want to link it again at this point, but helpfully shows my 4th rule above, I will simply move down to Bad Drugs.

I decide to connect this to Rhesan (as Ran is informing on him, and shows you can be flexible with the plot map) and use a Mythic complex question to come up with the connection - Release Messages.

My interpretation is that Rhesan received a 'vision' while under the influence.

My second clue gained is [6] [3] the Threat Emerson Seabright. Ran also mentions Seabright was do to with the drugs, which as a Threat, is bad news. As I wasn't asking directly about Seabright I won't write anything for the connection between the Bad Drugs and him.

I add them to the clue map as follows:

Click to make it visible

Now, I can either follow up on Rhesan or Emerson. So, in a spot of genre emulation I decide that I don't know enough to approach Rhesan at this point (and potentially give away the investigation), which leaves a scene with Seabright.

I decide that we were in control the last scene so Chaos is now 4.

Here are the current Mythic lists, with personal additions from my character (in true downbeat detective fashion):

NPCs - (Personal) Ex-Sarra Stoutfish, Ran Riverbrand, Rhesan Coli, Emerson Seabright

Threads - (Personal) Have a drink, Stop virus release, Arrest Rhesan/conspirators

I of course roll the obligatory 4 so an Interrupt scene, Move away from a thread (Arrest) - Proceedings Food.

OK, so we're a little early to be moving away from a thread, especially that one. So maybe it's a brief respite?

After a moment of inspiration here's something I've never had to do before, but maybe again shows the flexibility of the clue map approach.

I'll generate another clue and put it on the map but not connect it. [4] [3] New Inn in Snake Alley, showing that Mythic does indeed write itself perfectly some times.

On the way to see Emerson Seabright my guard stops at the New Inn for something to eat (and possibly drink), does someone turn up? Likely 69 - Yes Emerson Seabright.

On that cliff hanger I'll leave it there for the time being.

Solo mysteries - Setup

Mysteries remain one of the most discussed elements of role-playing and solo play only adds to this. Many GMs can't handle the issues around discovering clues, providing leads to players and many other elements of investigation adventures. For the solo player these can be even more acute, how exactly can we piece together a mystery and keep our own knowledge of the solution from ourselves? It just doesn't work.

Indeed given the usual structure of a mystery adventure, whereby there is a solution and a (hopeful) myriad of clues pointing to the answer, this clearly won't work for solo play, becuase there is no hidden information necessary for this style to work.

However, having used Technoir in the past for exactly this, it perfectly captures the sense of discovery that you want as a player, and provdes a satisfying solution to the mystery at the same time.

Technoir initially is a cyberpunk noir game of players investigating a mystery, in that game usually the players are somewhat tied up in the initial setup and some of the elements of the game. This doesn't have to be the case, although it does help in some circumstances.

It is also applicable to a lot wider genres than cyberpunk. I've used it in police procedurals through to Scooby Doo style kids high jinks.

I want to take you through the use of 'Clue Maps' for solo mysteries, from their construction through to use at the table and eventual solution.

Pre-game

So, normally with Technoir you take a 'Transmission' and randomly roll three nodes and link them together to form the initial setup, but what does that actually mean?

A Transmission in Technoir parlance is 6 Items (or clues) in 6 Categories. Connections (people), Locations, Events, Objects, Threats and Factions. This leads to 36 clues that can be linked to this particular mystery. You could amend these categories to fit your game better but I've not felt the need to when I've used it.

Now, it is possible to construct these during play, similar to how the Location Crafter can work. However, because of the work that is required to come up with the entries and you don't know how they will come up in your game, I personally don't see any issue with populating it prior to play (again like the Location Crafter).

Here's an example one that I will use in my demonstration. It is based on a police procedural style game set in Port Blacksand, a fantasy city from the Advanced Fighting Fantasy books:

So to go through it and how I came up with those entries.

Connections

Honestly the easiest section to come up with, this is just a list of names at this moment in time. I will generate further details when I introduce them to the Clue Map.

Connections are people that represent single individuals who are somehow mixed up with the whole mystery. They could be victims, perpetrators, conspirators or simply mixed up with the whole thing.

Events

I used Kellri's Sci-Fi Blocks fpdf for this. There is a section at the back for city wide events that is very useful (beyond it's usefulness for generating future locations). Some may need adapting if rolled but well worth picking up (it's free).

These are background (and sometimes foreground) events that are happening around the time of the mystery, and could be involved in some fashion.

Factions

I picked details from the map I am using, and made the rest up myself (only a couple of them). You could probably find generators for these, or pick them from the background of the game you are playing, if you are using an established setting.

Factions are groups that may be involved in the mystery. In a cyberpunk or modern mystery these would be corporations, unions etc. and there's no reason they aren't in a fantasy universe either.

Locations

Again, I picked these from the map and a random generator (I can't remember which now!).

Fairly self explanatory these, it helps if these are generally disreputable places, but high class locations can work just as well.

Objects

I made some of these up, and used a Fiasco playset to come up with the others. Fiasco playsets are great for 'Transmission' population if you can find an appropriate one.

Another fairly self explanatory category, weapons, cash and other desirable items make good objects.

Threats

Again, I came up with these either from the map or random name generation. Once again you could use a random generator or setting elements if they are available.

These are a little trickier, they are factions and groups who want to harm the characters directly, whereas factions are not as direct.

Initial setup

So now I have my 'Transmission'/clue matrix or whatever else you want to call it, it is now time to generate the initial setup of the mystery. This is the core inciting event that starts the whole thing off, it could be a murder, some form of terror incident, or whatever intrigues you.

This always involves 3 clues, giving you enough to work with, without laying out half the mystery in one go.

You can roll these completely at random, hand pick all or some. I have decidced to roll them all, just to walk you through the process.

So I rolled 3 pairs of dice getting, [1] [3] - Ran Riverbrand, [2] [4] - Virus, and [1] [1] - Rhesan Coli.

An unusual grouping, but let's see what I can come up with, and here's my initial mystery sheet.

Now, what does it mean?

I must admit to feeling a little stumped, so I fell back on that best of solo gamer's prompts - a Mythic complex question, for which I rolled Disrupt Magic!

So this instantly came to me, one of Ran or Rhesan is trying to release a magical virus and the other has come to the Port Blacksand Guard to report them. Is it likely he was involved in this plot initially? Very likely - No. Well, there's Mythic doing it's thing again. So there must be some other connection between them - complex question time again - Negligence Wounds.

So (let's determine this 1-3 Ran 4-6 Rhesan [1]) Ran was the lover of Rhesan, but he has been rejected and is now ignoring him, now Ran has found out that Rhesan is planning to release a magical virus in to the city and wants to get revenge by informing the Guard.

OK, hopefully that makes sense and you can see how I have arrived at this using the map and Mythic to clarify things. You know I was tempted to pick some and run a 'standard' murder, but now I'm glad I didn't!

I will post the second part in a few days, once I have had time to play it out and type it up. In the meantime feel free to ask me any questions below, or find me on the Mythic Discord.

Super Spies infiltrating my mind

 So, what's been distracting me from my investigation game at the moment?

Unfortunately true that I have veered off the path somewhat in the recent weeks. A chance read on the RPGGeek/BGGeek Solo Miniatures gaming list got me thinking about a stealth based minis game.

Originally the idea was going to be somewhat related to Assassin's Creed (AC), i.e. a human-centric renaissance-ish setting, but then someone mentioned a Bond related game and that idea seemed even more intriguing to me.

So I'm currently coming up with all the ideas and systems and background reading to make that a reality. At this moment in time I could easily run a game by myself (it is solo after all), but none of the rules are really written down other than as vague bullet points. Saying that I have only tested the AC version very quickly, which went really well on a stealth basis, but is way too small a sample size to know whether it really works.

What I really want to do is add in the Superspy elements and run another test game, ideally a few, and see if it works then. Then I need to write it out properly and see if others can run it.

I think the concept and rules have legs, and I want strike while I am still in the mood, since once that is gone the urge to complete it diminishes fairly quickly in my case. What I really need is feedback of any kind so it validates the idea I think, that would really help me.

New Hope City PI - Case 2

Crime 2

Type - Casebuilding (Deviant Android)
Victim - Ordinary Joe - Sales Clerk (Domestic Help)
Time - Evening
Area - Downtown South - Cinnamon restaurant
Difficulty - 4 - 8 Clues
Weather - Spring - Breezy

Preston Kemp's spouse, Betsy, made the call, and he's been taken to Central Hospital in Capitol Hills.

Despite initially being uncooperative Brandon Butler talks Preston round and he confirms what his wife said, that he was sitting outside the restaurant when he was confronted and attacked by a skinjob. He has no idea why.

Get an object

Butler and Bates head to the Cinnamon, passing an escort and 2 rough looking possible customers. The escort wishes them a good evening so they leave her to it.

As they arrive at the restaurant the chefs appear to be leaving and in high spirits but they are still just about open and manage to get access to the video files.

The video backs up Preston's account (first Clue) so they send it off to Tech.

Question someone

They decide to go and see Betsy and she tells them she's in a coffee shop near home in The Boroughs.

Outside the shop they bump into a well known 'information broker' before heading inside and speaking to Betsy.

During their chat they ask her if she knows anyone who has a grudge against her husband and to their surprise she says a detective!

[At this point I want sure what to do with this so the following only came to me in hindsight]

She also says if they come by tomorrow she'll give them more details as she can't remember them now, so they wish her a goodnight.

Day Two - 2 Clues solved

Get object

They head into the office next morning where they are told there could be more footage, so they head back to a bar next to the restaurant.

Downtown South - The Studio Bar
Early
Breezy

When they enter the bar Butler recognises a known criminal, and they eye each other before the crim leaves. Butler tells Bates it’s Roger Bowman and to keep an eye on him if he ever sees him again.

They get a look at the security footage but it comes up empty (failed roll). They do see the information broker, Kurt Kennedy, from yesterday though so decide to pay him a visit.

Question a person

They get a trace on him at a Drug Store in Capitol Hills, so swing by and have a little chat. Unfortunately he doesn’t know anything. This case is getting a little frustrating.

Butler decides it’s now late enough to call on Betsy Kemp so they travel to their condo in The Boroughs.

Get object

The Boroughs - Condo
Day

She’s worked herself up into a frenzy when they arrive, (Hostile reaction) but they calm her down and get the documents her husband has put together (third Clue).

Looking through them they decide they need to speak to Detective McFadden. It’s not someone they know as he’s part of the National Crime Force.

Question a person

Evening
Downtown South - Restaurant - The French Bass

When they arrive at the restaurant McFadden is talking to Bowman, well say they talking they seem to be having an argument. When Butler and Bates tell him to skip it he refuses until Bates manhandles him and he leaves.

Once Bowman is gone they sit down with McFadden who tells them he’s working a large Android case. He can’t tell them more than that as they’re not cleared for it, he does tell them to look into Jordan Ferguson of Canonics. He hasn’t been able to question him yet and their local contacts may be better (fourth Clue).

Question a person

Evening
Downtown South - Coffee House - Eats & Treats Cafe

They get back in their and call in last known sighting of Jordan Ferguson, he’s tracked to Eats & Treats Cafe around the corner so they decide to pay him a visit now.

Unfortunately they never make it, on the way they bump into Bowman with three associates. They don’t back down and Bowman pulls a gun. Butler immediately triggers his emergency response beacon for the station and draws his own gun, and Bates does the same.

Bates shouts out his official warning and the gangers just ignore him, as they start to split up to fan around them. Butler shoots at Bowman but misses and Bates opens fire half a second later, dropping one of them.

Bowman returns fire and Butler has to retreat to cover. Bates fires again and this time Bowman is down, the remaining gangers don’t fancy the odds and run for it. Butler comes out of cover and tells him to go get ‘em then.

Bates easily catches up with one of them but doesn’t manage to bring him down, in fact he gets a chain smashed into his arm. Bates knows he can’t beat him in a brawl so decides to pull his gun and shout another warning but the ganger just grins and swirls the chain, a fraction of a second later he’s laying on the floor, a textbook centre mass shot blowing him off his feet.

He hears sirens as he sits on the ground before his legs give way.

Day Three - 4 Clues solved

Day
Capitol Hills - Central Hospital
Overcast (seemingly to match Bates mood)

Butler picks up a discharged Bates, and after a brief chat about last night they head to see Ferguson at work.

Question a person

Downtown North - Office - Canonics
Day

As they arrive at the gleaming office building they recognise the man they need coming out with colleagues. He’s not very co-operative but eventually admits he knows Preston Kemp, but says that he’s tied up with Bowman and they should be looking there (fifth Clue).

Not getting any more out of him they decide to go see if Bowman has recovered yet.

Question a person

Capitol Hills - Central Hospital

Bowman hasn’t recovered, but one of his cronies has. He tells them they were hired and that the skinjob is in the Industrial area of town (sixth Clue).

Question a person

Industrial Area - Flop House

To their surprise they find Betsy Kemp outside and she insists she joins them in the search. Inside it’s pretty derelict but they find the android, Butler tries to question it and it pushes him to the ground and makes a run for it.

Bates draws his gun but the android barges into him knocking him to the ground too. Bates tries to hold on to the android’s leg but it breaks free and makes it outside. Bates grabs his gun and jumps up after it. His athletic nature means that he manages to keep pace with the android but he knows that won’t last, he stops to shoot but it goes wide and the android disappears around a corner.

Returning to Butler he lets him know he’s gone and Butler starts questioning Mrs Kemp. She tells them what she knows, that Jordan Ferguson organises everything and her husband just helps them move them on with his job at Domestic Help (seventh Clue).

Question a person

Downtown North - Office - Canonics

The detectives know they are going to find it difficult when the are met with Ferguson and his lawyer. True enough, with the attorney’s help they don’t manage to get anything out of Ferguson and have to cut their losses.

They are cursing their losses when they are notified that the android has been spotted in the Airport area.

Question a person

Airport area - Apartment above Crypticorps office

The detectives are surprised to find the android and Detective McFadden together. The android is trapped and can’t escape this time. Talking to McFadden and the android it becomes clear that Ferguson really is controlling this operation, his job allowing him to transfer ownership of stolen androids, Bowman procuring them and Kemp helping to move them on (eighth and final Clue). McFadden is looking into a wider issue around android theft and is happy for them to take this local case, and the associated paperwork and trial.

Bates takes the android into custody and back to the station.

Late
The Boroughs - Jordan Ferguson’s House

Bates and Butler aren’t surprised to find that Ferguson has his attorney and accountant with him when they go to pick him up. They still drag him down the station and have enough to charge him.

New Hope City PI - Case 1

Crime 1

Type - Robbery
Victim - Ordinary Joe - Waiting Staff
Time - Daytime
Area - Capitol Hills - The Trinity Bar
Difficulty - 1 - 2 Clues
Weather - Spring - Dull

Start by finding an object

Bates and Butler turn up to the bar and meet a young corporate executive looking type trying to get a group of dolled up women to move on as the bar is shut. Bates and Butler manage to persuade them it's a crime scene, the neon light tape is a dead giveaway. Bates gets a wink from one of them and a backwards glance over the shoulder.

Bates watches her walk down the road and Butler advises him that it's not worth his trouble getting involved with that sort of woman and they head inside.

Once inside they get a look at the security footage (gaining a Clue) but Butler doesn't recognise the assailant (failed roll).

Question a Person

Once they get back to the station Tech have found a match for Brady Hobbs, and where he works so they head out immediately.

They find themselves outside the nice office building for Andromeda Research in Downtown North and head inside. A colleague points them in the right direction and as soon as they find him he almost immediately confesses (Helpful reaction roll and a successful skill roll).

As that's 2 Clues they take him into custody and back down the station. They find out that he had money problems and hadn't really thought of the consequences of trying to rob somewhere so high profile.

That’s enough to charge him and other than a bit of tidying up the case is closed.

Skirmish Games thoughts

I'd thought I'd set out my thoughts on what makes a good tabletop miniatures skirmish game. They are of course just my opinion, I'm sure you'll disagree as much as you agree, but I will give reasons for my answers.

As a bit of a preamble, most of my skirmish games tend to be near future or science fiction in an urban environment. It's just what I like, so that clearly influences the design choices I have listed below.

So what does make a good solo minis skirmish game for me?

Hidden enemies

From the 'Blips' of Space Hulk to the 'Possible Enemy Forces' of Two Hour Wargames, hidden enemy (and blank, or no contact) tokens are a great way to increase tension and suspense in a solo game.

They mean you do not have a perfect view of the battlefield from the moment the game starts. You don't know where the enemy will come from, what they will be and even if you are just chasing shadows.

This means that you are making choices based on where the enemy may come from, causing you to spread your force as you would do in a real life situation.

If anything this is an advantage over a competive two player game.

Objectives

It often seems like every battle is a war of attrition, slugging it out toe-to-toe, when often they just happen to be chance encounters.

Giving the opposition, and your own forces, a task either ahead of the game or during it helps to eliminate this issue.

Morale

I've chucked morale in here, as all too often as a role-player it is easy to forget that no-one wants to fight to the death in general.

As a skirmish game, if this can be tied in to the immediate effects of combat all the better. By this I mean, rather than a separate roll being required (which I often forget), if morale is factored into another roll then that helps.

Random Activation

Skirmish games are moving away from the IGOUGO method of combat as used by GW. Nobody wants to be standing around as the enemy pound on your forces before you do the same.

Some games use card activation, token pulls, and activation dice. My personal preference is for token pulls, but that is just because I have mini d6 I can use.

Reactions/Overwatch

I like games where every character is on permanent overwatch (sorry can't shake the Space Hulk terminology even after 20-odd years). Why should my character be able to run scott free across the front of an enemy just because he has enough movement score to do so?

Shouldn't he be supressed by another figure before I make that dash? Isn't that more 'realistic'? Well it is for me, anything that encourages proper tactics (as I see them) has be better than static forces.

Easy to remember rules

Gaming on your own can go two ways, one is super detailed, where everything is tracked and as many factors are taken into account as the player can stand.

The other is more streamlined and simplified, maybe some abstraction, as it's just one person running the whole thing.

Now for me I sit on the streamlined end. I don't have the time to try and learn all of the edge cases, rules exceptions and other minutiae that someone else may love. I can handle lots of stats, make whatever judgements are required on the fly etc., but trying to remember different ways to roll the dice are currently just not going to happen.

Recommendations

So the big one. What games do I recommend, and why?

Some of these are tenuous, and even out of print, but they work for me at this moment in time.

Two Hour Wargames
This game introduced me to Possible Enemy Forces and their real possibilities for solo play. It's true I met them in Space Hulk first, but their use was different and very PvP in that game.

THW also introduced me to actions leading to reactions. This mean that you lose control over your characters (which I love), but makes them seem real.

Fast & Dirty - Uncontrolled Forces
FAD is a great ruleset (let down by exception based 'skills'), with a supplement for enemy AI and objectives.

This means that opposing forces are always pursuing some objective, which can change depending on dice rolls. Sometimes they ruthless engage and others they are happy to make their way past if you are content they do so.

Bolt Action/Other Warlord Games games
This is for the dice/token pull mechanic. I like this because it randomises the order of movement among the available figures, meaning you might be able to lay down fire before making a crucial move or not. That uncertainty adding to the solo experience, when it could be the other side standing still throughout.

Now I like token pull because it ensures that every model activiates each turn, and because I use tiny dice it doesn't clutter the table. I have a variety of colours for the dice meaning that as many as 7 or 8 (I forget how many colours) factions can operate on the same tabletop.

Your own favourite rules
So for me that is Advanced HeroQuest, it's just a ruleset I know so well, and I can incorporate all of the above quite easily into them.

I know that may seem a strange choice, but AHQ is really just the standard Games Workshop stats expanded to the use of a d12 instead of a d6.

There's a possibility I will tinker with a d6 dice pool system (Mini Six mixed with The Department's GoalSystem), that I'll be able to use for skirmishes and role-playing but that's for another time.

Roll your own

I haven't had time to write up my investigations yet, so here's a general solo playing post.

So one of the boons, and banes, of solo play is being able to do your own thing.

It is almost overwhelmingly a good thing but I often find myself in the opposite camp, and this post is a reminder to myself of the good things over the bad.

Boons

You can play any game/setting you want
If you want to play something obscure that there is no hope of getting any group for, then there's nothing stopping you. So if that's a Police Quest or Hill Street Blues homage to regular police work, or Witch Hunting in a fantasy world of your own devising, then get to it!

You can use any system you want
Similar to the above, if you want to use Advanced Heroquest to run in the Warhammer FRP 1st edition setting then go ahead.

You can get rules wrong and nobody cares
Forget to roll for knocking down an opponent in Pendragon or screw up a damage roll in Mini Six, it doesn't matter.

You can play any character you want
Want to play as a Hylian wanderer in Ryuutama?

At a time to suit you
If you have a demanding job, or worse yet, live in a place other than US, then getting a group together even online can be a difficult process.

There is no-one to embarrass
Your character take a shine to the Princess, want to role-play that romantic relationship that's so important to your character. Well now you can sweet talk to your heart's content, and not to some sweaty GM.

You can cheat and no one cares
Did that shot between the eyes just take out your character permanently? Well, you can re-roll that surely, what's the chance of that happening again?

You can try different things and reset
So that ruleset you cobbled together or wanted to tryout not giving you the results you wanted? You can easily switch it over to something more in line with your vision of your game without someone complaining about it.

Banes

There is so much choice
Choice paralysis is a real thing for the solo gamer. When you can choose anything, you can often end up not choosing anything.

Game acquisition
You can keep getting more and more games just to try out - without finding the acutal time to try them out.

There's no-one to hold you to account
Don't feel like gaming tonight? Well, there's no-one to tell you to be on time, or anyone to upset by skipping the game.

New Hope City: PI

So the first system I am going to try is New Hope City: PI (NHCPI) designed by Two Hour Wargames (THW).

There are a few reasons for this, first is that my first real introduction to solo gaming was with THW's Larger Than Life, a pulp miniatures ruleset that first focused on playing a single character and going on what would be recognisable as an adventure. It was from that I discovered their 5150 New Beginnings rules and then after that Mythic GME from which I have never looked back.

Well NHCPI takes the cyberpunk-ish city from New Beginnings and adds an investigation method to it. As all THW games are written for solo/co-op play this means the rules are designed to work for solo players too!

So, what are they like on first look?

Quite table heavy, although I don't mind that, particularly as a lot of it is in the initial generation of the crime.

Abstract clue based. So to 'solve' a crime you need to find/solve a certain number of clues (the amount is variable and set by the type of crime and then a random roll). There is no assistance in what these clues and connections are.

My next post will be a walkthrough of my first crime, and an introduction to the first members of the Mayhem Police Department (the name I chose for the city based on a World Works Games printable terrain and RPGGeek search).

Solo Investigations

So as stated one of things this blog will cover is solo role-playing games, that is playing an RPG without a GM.

This is a fast growing area of the hobby, and with the coronavirus pandemic has become more prevalent.

Generally when I solo RP I use the industry mainstay Mythic GM Emulator (hereafter called Mythic GME). This is, in my opinion, the best solo emulator there is, however it does have drawbacks, particularly in its handling of investigations.

Now investigations in RP have long been an area of difficulty, even in group games. They can be hard to provide the necessary clues to the players, and have the mystery wrapped up in a satisfactory TV or novel  style way.

Given those difficulties it is even harder for these styles of adventure to succeed in solo play as one of the joys of solo play is seeing where the story goes, which is difficult when that story is trying to end in a particular way.

That is not to say that people have not tried, and there are a number of systems and approaches both for group and solo games, although group games understandably is where most of the work has been aimed.

In order to find out which investigation methods and systems work best for solo play I intend to give each of them a playthrough for at least a couple of investigations. That should hopefully let me see that system in action sufficiently to have an educated opinion of each of them.

I intend to follow each system exactly as written to give each its fair chance.

Now in order to make the comparison fair I think that other factors should remain static as far as possible, and this relates specifically to the underlying RPG system I use to resolve actions and scenes.

Ordinarily I would use the classic version of Freeform Universal (otherwise known as FU). This small but fantastic system is great at providing a small narrative push with each roll which would work extremely well for the social interactive nature of most investigations. However when trying to review the systems I feel this could get in the way of how they operate so have decided to use a more traditional system based on John Harper's Danger Patrol beta.

Finally, I have decided to base the run throughs in the same place, a cyberpunk-style city of the near future based on Blade Runner, Detroit: Beyond Human, AD Police, The Department of Fabricant Management and others, where androids and related problems exist alongside good old human foibles and greed.