Re: Walk Me Through This - Solo Gaming
One of my all-time favorite gaming experiences was a solo campaign that my friend set up as the continuation of the last adventure our group ran together. We finished up Ravenloft (back when it was a single module, rather than a whole setting), and I wanted my characters to set up shop as the caretakers for the village there. We talked about it a few times, but nothing ever came of it...
Until a youth group we were both in set up a Christmas tree at a charity event. We both got bored with the conversations everyone else was having about rather inane subjects...so he came up with an idea for the continuation adventure, and we started playing. It was not only solo, it was also diceless...very much built around the 'well, that sounds logical, so it should work' premise with occasional reliance on 'the rule of cool' to do stuff that might otherwise require a dice roll.
We didn't finish it that night...it got set on the shelf for several months, until he made a road trip to his college of choice to take part in interviews for on-campus jobs. I had family that lived in the area...so I went with him, and we stayed at my cousin's place overnight. Two minutes after I got in the car, we picked up right where we left off...this time, we used coin-tosses to replace dice rolls, but it still moved along at a very brisk pace. The entire drive down, the three or four hours waiting in line for him to get a number, the drive back to my cousin's place, the drive back to campus the next day for his interview, and the drive back home...we finished up about ten minutes before we got back to my place.
So, basically, three nights' worth of gaming time. But we carried out, in that time, an adventure that would have taken our group about a year or so to get through.
That, to me, sums up the primary interest in solo games. I've always enjoyed role-playing games as a social occasion, the way some people play bridge or poker with their friends...but that one-on-one adventure holds a special place in my memory. I wouldn't want to play nothing but solo games...but I certainly enjoy it when the games I'm in provide solo opportunities.