Wilderlands Sologame Preamble: How I Play Solo

I thought I'd do a little series walking through a solo game as I play it, both as a game log but also as something of a how-to tutorial for successful solo play, since I see a lot of people who have interest in it but can't quite figure it out. It's just one style of solo play, probably a tad idiosyncratic style, but it works for me and hopefully someone out there will benefit. 

The campaign is going to be set in the Wilderlands of High Fantasy, since I've never actually done a real strong hexcrawl solo and I am feeling the urge to run something really ancient and raw from the dawn of the hobby. I also haven't properly run it before, and one of the reasons I play solo is to test games so that when I inflict them on players I know better what I am doing. I am starting with the DCC module Sailors on the Starless Sea to kill two birds with one stone- I'm interested in the large catalogue of DCC modules but have never run any of them, and am especially interested in how funnels play. 

I am using OSE as the actual system as it is my comfort zone and has a solid Foundry module for automation, which helps when running things solo. 

Solo Game Style

I run my games very similar to how I run real games, which means

• Multiple Party Members
• Hireling focused play
• Module focused adventures, particularly dungeon crawls but also hexcrawls. 

This is not the only way to  play solo games. Some people play with one abnormally strong PC, using rules from Scarlet Heroes or similar. Some run highly randomized solo games relying hard on oracles to generate situations (instead of using prewritten modules to play through). Neither of these are wrong, and both can be very fun. I run my games with a party experience to playtest and familiarize myself with stuff I want to run, as this is my goal it is best to hew close to default party play. 

 I believe that the best way to be better at running games is with practice. The best way to be better at playing games is practice. The amount of time you can play real games with real people is limited by the dread specter of scheduling, solo gaming allows you to squeeze extra practice in- both as a GM and as a player, as you are kind of playing on both sides at once. 

 Sometimes I feel bad about playing solo games instead of trying to fill my schedule with real games with real people, but regular tabletop games have to be scheduled, and it is unwise to fill up your schedule too tight. Solo games can be played whenever, and can be easily shifted around. The end result is that solo games tend to be competing with, say, video games or watching movies, instead of competing with scheduled gaming.  

Player Color Coding 

A trick I use to organize my characters is to associate characters with fictional "players". These players don't really exist, but are an organizational scheme. I do not give them names, instead I group them by color, with some associated tendencies that turn into character motivations, like so-

 

Red- Characters tend to be direct, likes playing Fighters and similar. Likes combat. 

Blue- Characters tend to be team focused and lean towards lawful and/or good.  Plays anything but prefers clerics. 

Green- Characters can be anything as long as they're special, particularly fond of elves but also any shiny unique classes in play.

Orange- The Chaotic Player, leans towards schemes and sometimes wicked behavior. Enjoys playing Magic Users and Thieves but can make a mess out of any class. 

Purple- Is just here to play the damn game, they've got no particular tendencies besides an interest in tabletop gaming and a love of gold. Will play anything and everything, the average player to support the other's schemes. 

 

Other color combinations may work, these are ones that have withstood the test of time for me.   It's just a little prompt to help resolve character creation (which statblocks go with which classes) and give characters some starting motivation, as well as to track which characters are replaced by who as characters die... and they will...

 

Rules to Live By- How to Resolve What The Players Know

The number 1 tension in playing through a module solo style is that you need to read the room key to play the room, and this will naturally give away most surprises, if only for a moment before they hit the player characters. This can't be fixed, but I have developed some standard rules and assumptions to resolve What The Players Do even when I have read the room key. 

 

• The Players are Experienced, about as experienced as I am, at least. Assuming some basic competency is essential in OSR games as otherwise it will turn into a bloodbath. Pathfinder can get away with players walking into every trap, OSR games cannot. Players are assumed to be cautious and poke things before committing. Players are assumed to have brought rope, iron spikes, etc- not an excess of such things, but enough to function. 
• There are Standard Procedures, ideally written down. Use a 10 foot pole to check for pit traps in hallways, check the door with your thief before opening it, assume all treasure chests are trapped, check ceilings at regular intervals, etc.  If your standard procedure would find a trap or avoid a trick, you avoid it! 
• Go with the Gut Reaction- all that said, when reading a room key if your heart leaps when you see the hoard of treasure and your immediate instinct is to start shoveling it into a bag, that's what happens, even if as you continue reading and it turns out those coins are a swarm of poisonous bugs imitating gold coins. This is the #1 rule. If your first reaction on seeing a lever is to pull the lever, that's what happens, unless there's something really fucking obvious, like a dead corpse in front of it (Assume Competence).  This gets easier the more you play and the more you GM, solo or otherwise, as you become more in tune with your habits. 
• Assume the "players" are asking questions, and as a GM you should be doing your best to give your players information. This ties back to assume competency, on both ends to the Player/GM table. A healthy back and forth is vital to running a regular game of D&D. This doesn't mean the "players" get all the information about a room, you probably know what type of questions you're likely to ask (Go with the gut reaction, when in doubt), but it's good practice to err on the side of assuming players have enough information to make decisions. 
• Compile a list of Solved Problems. This is very similar to standard procedures, and can probably be the same list, but the emphasis is a little different. I check under every bed I see, so secret stuff hidden underneath a bed is a Solved Problem, therefore my players will automatically find it. I tap every treasure chest looking for secret compartments, most desks, most coffins. Secret Compartments are a Solved Problem, so I assume the party find them unless there's a further complication. Secret doors that break symmetry on the map, I assume the party is mapping properly (Assume Competence) and so if there's one door breaking the symmetry of the room they'll probably find those. A side effect of compiling such a list is that you get to wow everyone at your incredible player skill when you apply such techniques to real games. 
• Look for Interesting Play- Just like running a game with a group, when you're stuck err towards the decisions that make life more interesting for the hypothetical players. If there's ambiguity in the module, err on what makes for interesting and difficult decisions. Eventually you'll get to the point where you are no longer dealing with questions of "what the players know" and "what would they do", and instead, as a player, are trying to figure out the solution to open ended problems, and resolving the consequences naturally, as you go. This is the ideal Solo Play experience.

You can see how these kind of build on each other to create a bit of a consistent procedure for resolving situations in solo play. What would an experienced player do? What would I do? What is my immediate reaction upon getting information? What do I just automatically solve?

I can see an objection to assuming basic competency being that players can and will make stupid mistakes. I've done it, you've done it, it will happen time and time again. Aren't I giving the party a little bit much credit? That may be true, but another thing the "players" don't have is four or more brains working on a situation, nor do they have the eureka moment when a player performs the exact perfect action for a situation by sheer coincidence. So the fictional party playing through a solo game can have a bit of grace, and it can be assumed they are good enough at the game to not fuck up the basics. 

 

Inventory Management, or lack thereof

It pains me, but one thing I do not really do is hardcore adventurer's supply tracking. It's not particularly interesting. Nor do I use slot based encumbrance- for a single person managing 10+ character's inventories, it's simply not practical. So B/X's basic encumbrance is perfect. All I need to know is if someone is wearing armor and what kind, and if they are carrying treasure. 

 

I do track treasure in great detail- who is carrying what and how. That stuff is FUN. How is the party going to get the cool shit out of the dungeon? That's what I'm interested in. This is one of the great joys of solo play, actually- with one person tracking loot you can do advanced things like hiding loot in secret locations in the dungeon without worrying loot will get lost in the cracks.

 

I also keep track of magic items, who gets what. That makes sense, that's essential to the strength of individual characters. A virtual character sheet where you can move items around by point and clicking helps here.  

 

As far as adventurer gear goes, the party is assumed to have a couple of people with ropes, at least 100ft, maybe more if there's more than 10 characters present. The party has a set of iron spikes. Almost everyone has torches, someone has a lantern- I do like to actually track oil since that can be used as a weapon. Someone is carrying a crowbar, because why not. I generally cannot give a fuck about rations- maybe that will change with this game, since it's a hexcrawl, hopefully.  

 

You'll have to find your own comfort zones as far as what to track and what to abstract goes. Just, make life easier on yourself and don't use slot based encumbrance. Please.

 

The Adventurers Assemble...

On a island in the Islands of the Dawn, tucked in an obscure corner of the Wilderlands, the town of Bondport, ruled by Larga the Wise, a Lawful Good Fighter, has been attacked by monsters, with villagers abducted in the night. So a small group of 14 would be heroes set out to the nearby ruins to try and save their fellows, and stop the evil that has been attacking them...

 

A nice little island, a bit unconventional- I just didn't feel like starting near the City State of the Invincible Overlord.  I'm going to play a sailing game. But for now, there's plenty of interest on this island for low level characters, and the Starless Sea awaits...