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Season 3 Solo Podsters Roundtable 3 (Bonus Episode) · Tale of The Manticore, a Dark Fantasy Dungeons & Dragons Audiodrama

0:18
Speaker 1: We are back for a third and final installment in
0:21
Speaker 1: this series of roundtable discussions with some of the most
0:23
Speaker 1: exciting players in the world of solo RPG pods. I've
0:27
Speaker 1: got four more of my fellow creators with me here today,
0:29
Speaker 1: all of whom have a different approach in style. I'm
0:32
Speaker 1: excited to get started, So let's meet our guests. Simon,
0:37
Speaker 1: why don't you introduce yourself? Hi?
0:39
Speaker 2: I'm Simon. I produce a podcast called Legend of the Bones,
0:43
Speaker 2: which is a dark fantasy audio drama driven by old
0:46
Speaker 2: school solo D and D fantastic.
0:50
Speaker 1: And sitting next to Simon at the round table, we've
0:53
Speaker 1: got Maddie. Maddie wants to introduce yourself.
0:55
Speaker 3: Hello.
0:56
Speaker 4: Yes, I'm Maddie Searl My pronouns are they them? And
0:59
Speaker 4: I am the host of a Game of One's Own,
1:00
Speaker 4: which is a solo and duet TTRPG podcast.
1:04
Speaker 1: Good stuff.
1:04
Speaker 5: Dan, Hi, I'm Dan from Legends from the Fireside, a
1:08
Speaker 5: solo hybrid storytelling RPG show just like.
1:12
Speaker 1: We all do. Thanks Dan. And finally, Coop, why don't
1:16
Speaker 1: you tell us about yourself and your show?
1:18
Speaker 3: Hello? There, I'm Coop, the GM host of The Echoes
1:21
Speaker 3: of Eshington Podcast, a post apocalyptic primal punk adventure and
1:26
Speaker 3: co host of the Myth and Moon Podcast, a dueling
1:29
Speaker 3: narrative where fates collide and dice decide.
1:33
Speaker 1: Okay, thank you very much. We have got a great
1:35
Speaker 1: group and I am excited to get started. So our
1:38
Speaker 1: first question is going to be how do we start
1:41
Speaker 1: a new game from scratch, especially if you were giving
1:44
Speaker 1: advice to somebody who had never tried a solo game before,
1:48
Speaker 1: or you can just talk about how you start a
1:50
Speaker 1: game from scratch yourself. Why don't we have Maddie start
1:54
Speaker 1: us off?
1:55
Speaker 4: I think for me it's about picking the right game,
1:58
Speaker 4: and because I tend to go to the weird Thelendi
2:01
Speaker 4: games that usually are very like heavily full of prompts,
2:07
Speaker 4: that I think would be a good place to start
2:09
Speaker 4: if you're new to solo games, so like solo journaling games,
2:13
Speaker 4: because yeah they're usually heavily structured, but they leave enough
2:16
Speaker 4: room for you to be creative within the constraints of
2:19
Speaker 4: the game.
2:20
Speaker 1: Great advice. Let's go on to Dan, same question, how
2:24
Speaker 1: would you start a game from scratch or what advice
2:26
Speaker 1: would you give to someone who was just getting started.
2:29
Speaker 5: So for me, I've only ever used old school essentials
2:32
Speaker 5: for this, and I've thought in the past if I
2:34
Speaker 5: wanted to do something like three point five or something
2:36
Speaker 5: like that, somethe really clunky, that it would be difficult
2:39
Speaker 5: to manage that in an audio format like we do
2:42
Speaker 5: for our podcast. But in my mind, I think, really
2:44
Speaker 5: what pulls me back to doing the show is having
2:47
Speaker 5: something that's really evocative, something with a cool vibe to it.
2:51
Speaker 5: So in my mind, I'm like, if you want to
2:52
Speaker 5: get started in this, you just got to pick out,
2:54
Speaker 5: like what your favorite slice of fantasy or sci fi is,
2:58
Speaker 5: and just really chase that high of that of that
3:01
Speaker 5: game style. And when you can find what makes you
3:03
Speaker 5: want to keep coming back and keep rolling dice and
3:06
Speaker 5: keep going down that avenue, you know it'll all fall
3:09
Speaker 5: in place.
3:10
Speaker 1: That's a great answer. Okay, thanks very much, And next
3:13
Speaker 1: up we're going to ask Coop the same question, Coop,
3:16
Speaker 1: how would we get started in solo gaming?
3:19
Speaker 3: When I think of a story I want to tell,
3:21
Speaker 3: if there's something real that I can grab onto, that's
3:24
Speaker 3: when I find the easiest place to start for solo games. So,
3:29
Speaker 3: for instance, I would say like a location I think
3:32
Speaker 3: castles just in general, all types of castles from all
3:36
Speaker 3: over the world are the coolest thing. They're the last strongholds,
3:39
Speaker 3: the last fortresses. But what goes on behind closed doors?
3:42
Speaker 3: You know, castles were very sprawling in some instances. They
3:45
Speaker 3: had their own you know, surfdom or fifetom or however
3:48
Speaker 3: you want to describe it within the castle walls. So
3:51
Speaker 3: it was all this closed economy type stuff as well
3:53
Speaker 3: as the political sphere in there as well. So yeah,
3:56
Speaker 3: I'd say finding a slice of life that is entertaining
3:59
Speaker 3: to you, or at least there has a nugget of
4:01
Speaker 3: your own truth in it, that's what's going to help
4:03
Speaker 3: you make a good solo game, good stuff coop.
4:06
Speaker 1: Last job we've got simon any advice for a new
4:09
Speaker 1: solo gamer or any procedures that you would use to
4:12
Speaker 1: start fresh.
4:14
Speaker 2: Okay, So, assuming you're playing fully fledged RPG like D
4:19
Speaker 2: and D, GERPS, BRP or something like that, then first
4:23
Speaker 2: and foremost, I think it's really important that you choose
4:25
Speaker 2: a system that you're comfortable with, that you know and
4:28
Speaker 2: that you like. Then for the game itself, I would
4:31
Speaker 2: suggest starting small in a small location where you don't
4:35
Speaker 2: need to know much about the law or the wider
4:36
Speaker 2: geography and you build out from there, and that's pretty
4:40
Speaker 2: common advice nowadays. But I do think that if you
4:43
Speaker 2: want to achieve a level of emotion in your game
4:46
Speaker 2: and very similitude, and I think solo play is really
4:50
Speaker 2: good at this, then I would advise having a strong
4:53
Speaker 2: concept for your game, and what I mean by that
4:57
Speaker 2: is grounding it in something which is consistent. So it
5:00
Speaker 2: might be a kind of Greco Roman feel or a
5:03
Speaker 2: Western or in my case, I went for a Viking
5:06
Speaker 2: ehe Briton concept with kind of Anglo Saxon and Celtic
5:10
Speaker 2: themes in it. And I think if you do that,
5:12
Speaker 2: then the world feels a bit more real and it
5:15
Speaker 2: comes together much more nicely. And that means that as
5:18
Speaker 2: you build law going forward, then you can have more
5:21
Speaker 2: consistency with it. So yeah, that would be my top tip.
5:24
Speaker 1: It really is like such a common question, and of
5:27
Speaker 1: course that makes sense even if you listen to shows
5:29
Speaker 1: like Hours. I think it could be a daunting thing
5:32
Speaker 1: to try and do it for the first time on
5:35
Speaker 1: your own. I think there could be a paralysis there.
5:37
Speaker 1: So great advice and thanks very much. Our next question
5:41
Speaker 1: is going to be how much do you randomize in
5:44
Speaker 1: your solo play and how much do you use DM
5:48
Speaker 1: fiat or just make things up. So we're talking about
5:51
Speaker 1: NPC's random encounters, layouts for locations and things like that,
5:57
Speaker 1: And for this question, I'm going to ask Dan to
6:00
Speaker 1: start us off.
6:01
Speaker 5: Okay, So for me, I think that this is almost
6:04
Speaker 5: like the most center point of solo play is this
6:08
Speaker 5: question of am I writing a novel or am I
6:11
Speaker 5: doing a completely random I don't touch it like style play,
6:15
Speaker 5: And I think what's interesting is the level of balance
6:19
Speaker 5: implies like how much in I don't know, I don't
6:21
Speaker 5: want to say, like how much you are tailoring the
6:24
Speaker 5: story to your tastes. But if you let this be
6:26
Speaker 5: completely and utterly random everywhere around it, you might lose
6:30
Speaker 5: a little bit of the flavor and the vibe that
6:32
Speaker 5: you're looking for in a game. And thus, I mean
6:34
Speaker 5: within the constraints of the system. Obviously, I don't think
6:36
Speaker 5: spaceships are going to show up in your Arthurian Fantasy,
6:39
Speaker 5: but I do think that there's something to be said
6:41
Speaker 5: about how you find that balance when you're playing that
6:44
Speaker 5: sometimes you feel like I want to introduce a new
6:47
Speaker 5: character and I'm not going to try to balance the party.
6:50
Speaker 5: I'm not going to try to introduce these things. I
6:51
Speaker 5: want to have it be as random as possible. But
6:53
Speaker 5: then there's other times when you're like, no, the story
6:56
Speaker 5: calls for this to be here at this point in time.
6:59
Speaker 5: It'll really pull things together. And so I guess you
7:02
Speaker 5: know how much to randomize. I don't want to say
7:04
Speaker 5: according to taste, but the story will tell you how
7:07
Speaker 5: random it should be. You know, if you're going to
7:10
Speaker 5: a particular dungeon where you know there's a magic sword
7:13
Speaker 5: somewhere in a well held sanctum, I can't hope that
7:16
Speaker 5: the dice will just have that appear, let alone have
7:18
Speaker 5: that appear potentially as the first room they walk into.
7:21
Speaker 5: Kind of a little anti climactic. So you know, there's
7:23
Speaker 5: times where you really have to hold hands with the
7:25
Speaker 5: dice and really guide the story to the right place
7:28
Speaker 5: with it. But you'll find the balance.
7:30
Speaker 1: I think, Yeah, your story is talking to you. You
7:32
Speaker 1: have to listen to your story, don't you. I say
7:35
Speaker 1: it facetiously, but actually sometimes I actually believe that some
7:39
Speaker 1: magic is going on. Anyway, let's turn that question over
7:43
Speaker 1: to Coop. Coop, same question, how much do you randomize
7:47
Speaker 1: and how much is dm fiat.
7:48
Speaker 3: The slider has grown to be more fluid owing to
7:52
Speaker 3: you know, the sort of sliding scale that you were
7:55
Speaker 3: talking about. I owe a lot to the mythic GME
7:58
Speaker 3: authored by Tana Pigeon, who we cannot say enough good
8:01
Speaker 3: things about. It's so complete, it's so comprehensive, it's easy
8:06
Speaker 3: to read, it's easy to understand. There's theming in there.
8:10
Speaker 3: There's great tools for writers in there. I mean, I
8:13
Speaker 3: would love to meet her in person. But yeah, so
8:17
Speaker 3: sliding scale aside, the tool sets help me determine how
8:22
Speaker 3: much I want to do at any given time. Now,
8:24
Speaker 3: if I come in with a certain idea, that's probably
8:26
Speaker 3: going to be all me and I won't roll for anything.
8:29
Speaker 3: It will be fully fleshed out from my own head.
8:31
Speaker 3: But the biggest problem I have when I'm doing my
8:34
Speaker 3: solo games is finding good obstacles for characters to encounter,
8:40
Speaker 3: physical or otherwise, but mainly physical, because that's going to
8:44
Speaker 3: give a challenge that I can roll against that I
8:46
Speaker 3: can actually gamify. So trying to find a good way
8:50
Speaker 3: to keep the gamification while also finding a little bit
8:54
Speaker 3: of wiggle room in there for something randomized as good.
8:58
Speaker 3: Now in terms of store, I think story is probably
9:02
Speaker 3: about sixty percent me forty percent chance fait randomization, because
9:09
Speaker 3: I don't I don't want it to end. I don't
9:11
Speaker 3: want to I don't want to encounter a writer's block
9:13
Speaker 3: in a way that's gonna make me want to backtrack
9:16
Speaker 3: and change decisions that I've already made. I always want
9:19
Speaker 3: to be pressing forward. So with that in mind, i'd
9:22
Speaker 3: say about a sixty to forty split is good for me.
9:24
Speaker 3: And then location wise, locations are good where I can
9:28
Speaker 3: just drop a handful of dice right out a location.
9:31
Speaker 3: But if I have a central point, like I mentioned
9:33
Speaker 3: the Slice of Life earlier of just like the King's
9:35
Speaker 3: throne room in the Castle, I know exactly what that's
9:37
Speaker 3: going to look like, whether it's borrowed from Cone or wherever.
9:40
Speaker 3: And then the last thing I'd say is probably dungeons,
9:43
Speaker 3: which is, you know, falls in line with obstacles. I
9:46
Speaker 3: think dungeons are usually fully randomized. Dungeons need to be
9:49
Speaker 3: challenging enough for the players to progress and also not
9:51
Speaker 3: be you know, stymied immediately, So finding a good balance
9:54
Speaker 3: there as it's still what I would consider a novice
9:57
Speaker 3: game player, I don't quite have the tac for that yet,
10:00
Speaker 3: but doing it from a table seems usually easy enough
10:02
Speaker 3: and well balanced.
10:04
Speaker 1: Thanks so much for that. We're going to now move
10:06
Speaker 1: on to Simon. Same question for you as well. How
10:08
Speaker 1: much do your randomize? How much is DM.
10:10
Speaker 2: Fear much like Dan? Really it depends. I do have
10:15
Speaker 2: set pieces which I've predesigned, where I've created the location
10:20
Speaker 2: and the embcs or monsters which might be encountered beforehand,
10:25
Speaker 2: and other times it will be completely random. I recently
10:28
Speaker 2: had a situation on my show where a wandering encounter
10:32
Speaker 2: which sporned four or five episodes of story and action.
10:36
Speaker 2: I then had to fit some bits in by DM
10:38
Speaker 2: fiat in order to make things work to be more
10:41
Speaker 2: coherent to make sense. Where things become tricky is when
10:45
Speaker 2: you put your characters into say a dungeon, and there
10:48
Speaker 2: are multiple choices available for the party to take multiple
10:52
Speaker 2: exits or multiple ways of overcoming something. The difficulty then
10:57
Speaker 2: is how do you not mitigate it? So what I
10:59
Speaker 2: would normally do is think about what the characters know,
11:03
Speaker 2: their personalities, the information available to them, and make a
11:07
Speaker 2: logical choice based on that. If that still doesn't lead
11:10
Speaker 2: to a clear answer, then I might just roll randomly
11:13
Speaker 2: or even ask my oilcle what the pieces might do
11:16
Speaker 2: in that situation. But in terms of the places and
11:18
Speaker 2: the NPCs, it depends. If they're a major NPC, I
11:22
Speaker 2: probably predetermined them, or in those cases, I might randomly
11:25
Speaker 2: generate some of their personality to give it some interest
11:29
Speaker 2: and flavor. But in terms of how much I lead
11:32
Speaker 2: into that audio drama versus game dynamic, I'm probably about
11:37
Speaker 2: fifty to fifty, but it's a matter of taste, and
11:40
Speaker 2: others will be at various degrees of that scale.
11:42
Speaker 1: Yeah, there really is a kind of a slider, isn't it,
11:45
Speaker 1: And you can move that slider around depending on what
11:48
Speaker 1: well to use Dan's idea, what your story's asking for. Okay,
11:52
Speaker 1: let's move on to Maddie. Same question for you. How
11:56
Speaker 1: much do you randomize or how much do you just
11:59
Speaker 1: make things up as you go?
12:01
Speaker 4: I think for me, because I tend to play a
12:04
Speaker 4: lot of journaling games or prompt driven games, use the
12:07
Speaker 4: games that use a deck of cards or a taro
12:10
Speaker 4: set to kind of offer prompts, I think this question
12:14
Speaker 4: still can apply because sometimes you get a prompt that
12:19
Speaker 4: just doesn't really fit with where your story is going,
12:22
Speaker 4: and so even though it's not strictly in the rules,
12:25
Speaker 4: I will redraw sometimes in the in the rules, especially
12:28
Speaker 4: for kind of safety tools reasons, they will say, if
12:30
Speaker 4: you're not comfortable with this prompt, just draw another one.
12:34
Speaker 4: And I think that, yeah, it's if it's ruining your
12:37
Speaker 4: enjoyment of the game and a prompt comes up that's
12:40
Speaker 4: just not working for you, I think it's completely fine
12:42
Speaker 4: to reroll or redraw, and yeah, just do what as
12:47
Speaker 4: people are saying, feels right for the story.
12:49
Speaker 1: Yeah. Actually, I'm so glad that we've got you involved
12:52
Speaker 1: in this roundtable because the rest of us are playing,
12:55
Speaker 1: you know, these traditional role playing games the same system
12:58
Speaker 1: kind of for a long time, but you really sample
13:02
Speaker 1: a lot of different systems, so I think you've probably
13:05
Speaker 1: got a real breadth of knowledge that the rest of
13:07
Speaker 1: us don't have and experience too. Anyway, great answer. Let's
13:10
Speaker 1: move on to our third question, and we're gonna start
13:13
Speaker 1: out with coop for this one. Do you have a
13:16
Speaker 1: favorite moment ever in a solo game?
13:19
Speaker 3: This one was able to be pulled right out of
13:21
Speaker 3: my back pocket. This is actually what I'm beginning to
13:24
Speaker 3: call the Deborah Anne Wool effect. I don't know if
13:26
Speaker 3: you've seen that clip of her talking to the actor
13:30
Speaker 3: he plays the Punisher, John Burnenthal. Deboraham Wolf's talking to
13:34
Speaker 3: John Burnhal and John Burnenthal has a podcast. He's kind
13:37
Speaker 3: of a man about Hollywood. He has a lot of
13:38
Speaker 3: interesting connections, and he seems like a good host, a
13:41
Speaker 3: decent host. And he's talking with her, and she just
13:43
Speaker 3: naturally brings up Nungeons and Dragons. John asked, well, how
13:46
Speaker 3: do you play? And Deborah and her infinite wisdom, says well,
13:50
Speaker 3: would you like to play? Right now? He's like, yeah, okay.
13:53
Speaker 5: Lovely D and D. I mean I'll try. I mean,
13:55
Speaker 5: what do you think literally right now? Sure?
13:59
Speaker 3: And she just launches into it. She sets a scene,
14:01
Speaker 3: she gives an optional challenge, She describes his character in
14:04
Speaker 3: brief and just probably from some of his acting instincts,
14:07
Speaker 3: he immediately picks up on something so to give it
14:10
Speaker 3: the Deborah Anne Wohl effect, This is the story I
14:13
Speaker 3: normally tell people who are looking to start D and
14:16
Speaker 3: D or some type of tabletop RPG game, because it
14:19
Speaker 3: exhibits several things. It exhibits critical thinking, it exhibits lex
14:25
Speaker 3: and storytelling, and it exhibits a good relationship with your
14:28
Speaker 3: GM or DM, which I think is probably I said
14:31
Speaker 3: it last, but I think it's one of the most critical.
14:33
Speaker 3: So here's my moment. It was a curse abstrade campaign
14:36
Speaker 3: in D and D and we were in the Amber Temple.
14:39
Speaker 3: Those familiar with the Amber Temple, it's a huge, sprawling,
14:42
Speaker 3: you know, temple of Macab's secrets and lots of cool
14:46
Speaker 3: magical artifacts and things like that. And our DM, who
14:50
Speaker 3: is my co writer on Myth and Moon, he had
14:53
Speaker 3: set up the dungeon really really well. He was expecting
14:55
Speaker 3: one of the party members to die because we were
14:57
Speaker 3: a little under level. So owing to what you mentioned
15:00
Speaker 3: earlier about finding the right balance, he was striking it
15:02
Speaker 3: for several sessions in a row, but then he threw
15:04
Speaker 3: us a real curveball. There was an enemy and a
15:08
Speaker 3: spire with a shrouded darkness around the top of the
15:11
Speaker 3: little spire inside the temple, so we couldn't see what
15:14
Speaker 3: was firing at us, and it was a magic user,
15:16
Speaker 3: So we were really having trouble trying to assault the
15:18
Speaker 3: base of the spire to either you know, try to
15:20
Speaker 3: get him out of there, or just trying to figure
15:22
Speaker 3: out how to even attack it. So as a dwarf.
15:24
Speaker 3: For my first character ever in D and D. I
15:26
Speaker 3: was a fighter and I had a magic helm of
15:29
Speaker 3: stone shape. I put the helmet on. I ran underneath
15:32
Speaker 3: the base of the tower and I asked my DM.
15:34
Speaker 3: I said, is this temple made of stone? And he's like, yes,
15:38
Speaker 3: it is. I put my hand underneath the spire. I
15:41
Speaker 3: raised a three foot cube underneath it, just at the
15:44
Speaker 3: edge to make the spire topple over. And then the
15:47
Speaker 3: magic user fell out of the shroud of darkness and
15:49
Speaker 3: we all ganged him and he was just had his
15:51
Speaker 3: head in his hands buried. He thought he'd had us,
15:54
Speaker 3: that we were licked. But little did he know that
15:56
Speaker 3: he had a super inventive novice at the base of
15:59
Speaker 3: the spire. So that's the story I normally tell everyone.
16:01
Speaker 3: They're like, oh, helmet of stone shape, where'd you find it?
16:05
Speaker 3: And I was like, well, it actually has an ancient
16:07
Speaker 3: dwarf and wizard trapped inside the helmets. Every time I
16:10
Speaker 3: put it on, the DM would put on this wizard.
16:13
Speaker 3: I'll just rink fire for it's good to see you again,
16:15
Speaker 3: you know, good to be in your head. So there
16:17
Speaker 3: was lots of great moments like that, but that's the
16:19
Speaker 3: one that always stands out.
16:21
Speaker 1: That is a great story coop. All right, Simon, do
16:23
Speaker 1: you have a favorite moment ever from a solo game
16:26
Speaker 1: that you could share?
16:27
Speaker 2: Yes, So around episode twenty eight something like that, my
16:32
Speaker 2: coacters were in a dungeon and they were facing off
16:34
Speaker 2: against a big bad and things were going pretty badly
16:38
Speaker 2: for the party. I think I overpowered the monster a
16:40
Speaker 2: little bit and suddenly one of the characters that critical
16:44
Speaker 2: moment rolled it at twenty and without that I probably
16:48
Speaker 2: would have had a TPK on my hands. It was
16:50
Speaker 2: one of those moments where you just go, yes, yep,
16:53
Speaker 2: that's why we play and yeah, it was amazing.
16:56
Speaker 1: Did you stand up and cheer like a like at
16:58
Speaker 1: a table game? Yeah?
17:00
Speaker 2: Oh yeah. It was one of those fispumpanenty moments where
17:02
Speaker 2: you go yeah, yeah, So that was probably my favorite
17:06
Speaker 2: moments so far.
17:07
Speaker 1: Fantastic, Thanks Maddie. How about you.
17:10
Speaker 4: I played a game for my show called Forgery by
17:14
Speaker 4: Banana Chan, and it's really interesting in that it kind
17:17
Speaker 4: of combines a sort of choose your own adventure style
17:20
Speaker 4: book with solo journaling role playing. So you're playing as
17:26
Speaker 4: this struggling artist who is forging this sort of demonic painting,
17:32
Speaker 4: and there's a twist in it that just really took
17:35
Speaker 4: me by surprise, and like I really felt what the
17:38
Speaker 4: character was feeling in that situation. And yeah, it gets
17:42
Speaker 4: into some really dark themes, but in a way that
17:45
Speaker 4: is very sensitively done and really makes you think about
17:48
Speaker 4: like what are you willing to sacrifice or what sort
17:52
Speaker 4: of terrible things are you willing to do to be
17:54
Speaker 4: successful in a creative field. So yeah, I won't tell
17:57
Speaker 4: you exactly what happens because it is massive spoiler, but yeah,
18:01
Speaker 4: fair enough, that game is amazing.
18:04
Speaker 1: Now, Maddie, would you say that sort of the highs
18:07
Speaker 1: and the lows can be or even just often are
18:10
Speaker 1: like more intense with solo games than with group games.
18:13
Speaker 4: I think it depends. Yeah, I think it can be
18:16
Speaker 4: if you are going for a more introspective kind of tone,
18:20
Speaker 4: it can really feel like you are at the center
18:23
Speaker 4: of the story. You are sort of both in control
18:26
Speaker 4: and out of control because you've got the randomized elements.
18:29
Speaker 4: So yeah, I think that it can be very intense,
18:33
Speaker 4: especially for a game that maybe has some kind of
18:36
Speaker 4: supernatural elements. Maybe if you are doing it in a
18:39
Speaker 4: dark room with candles or something like that. There's a
18:41
Speaker 4: game that I haven't played yet called Wreck This Deck
18:43
Speaker 4: where you sort of draw on and destroy a deck
18:46
Speaker 4: of cards in a sort of demonic ritual. So you
18:49
Speaker 4: can really get very experiential with this kind of stuff.
18:53
Speaker 1: I want to play that game. I want to get
18:54
Speaker 1: scared playing a solo game. It hasn't happened yet.
18:57
Speaker 5: I want to do it.
18:59
Speaker 1: Dan, same question for you, favorite moment ever in a
19:03
Speaker 1: solo game.
19:04
Speaker 5: So it might sound a little morbid to say this
19:06
Speaker 5: is my favorite moment, but I think that this is
19:09
Speaker 5: what made me really feel the most I've ever felt
19:12
Speaker 5: in a solo game. One of the longest standing characters
19:15
Speaker 5: that I had in the first season of the show
19:17
Speaker 5: is Marris, and he sort of was like the de
19:19
Speaker 5: facto sort of main character, just the way the dice
19:22
Speaker 5: rolled him up in the way story worked. But he
19:24
Speaker 5: died in a random encounter with a hag and it
19:28
Speaker 5: was one of those like it takes your breath away
19:29
Speaker 5: moments where they get hit all three times in the
19:31
Speaker 5: three split attacks and every one of them just drops them.
19:34
Speaker 5: You start looking through the rules and like begging the
19:36
Speaker 5: rule book, like it, well, is there a way I
19:38
Speaker 5: could maybe you know, fiot that there was actually a
19:41
Speaker 5: light problem so it was a minus two for this
19:43
Speaker 5: or something. And accepting that this character who propped so
19:47
Speaker 5: much of the story up on their shoulders was just
19:49
Speaker 5: gone because the dice say so. Having to accept that
19:52
Speaker 5: and work with that and say like, well, where is
19:53
Speaker 5: the story now? Like I had a grieving process. The
19:56
Speaker 5: characters had a grieving process. And it's weird to think
20:00
Speaker 5: piggybacking or what we were saying just a second ago that, like,
20:03
Speaker 5: I don't know, you feel it almost stronger because it's
20:05
Speaker 5: all in your head. I'm granted, we get the luxury
20:08
Speaker 5: of putting this out for people to listen to it,
20:09
Speaker 5: but like, these characters really just exist in this weird
20:12
Speaker 5: ethereal space, and yet I feel something when this poor
20:15
Speaker 5: hapless character is torn to shreds out in the wilderness,
20:18
Speaker 5: and it, you know, you feel something, and that to
20:21
Speaker 5: me is like a really powerful moment.
20:23
Speaker 1: Yeah, one hundred percent. There's that grieving process if you
20:26
Speaker 1: lose a character. I mean that's true with a table game,
20:29
Speaker 1: like a social game as well, but I don't know,
20:31
Speaker 1: I do feel like it's stronger with solo games. Okay,
20:34
Speaker 1: we're moving on to the next question, Simon, This one's
20:37
Speaker 1: for you. What can solo games do or give you
20:40
Speaker 1: the group games cannot.
20:42
Speaker 2: Yes, So for me, what solo can enable is a
20:46
Speaker 2: really deep sense of immersion in the other world that
20:50
Speaker 2: you're creating. And whilst table games can do that to
20:55
Speaker 2: a degree, often it's a little bit more social. We
20:57
Speaker 2: have people are munching pretzels and yeah, having fun and
21:00
Speaker 2: is more humor in it, whereas I think with a
21:04
Speaker 2: solo game you could really get that immersion and believe
21:07
Speaker 2: in the fantasy a lot more. And the wonderful thing
21:10
Speaker 2: about it is the world you create, the environment, the geography,
21:14
Speaker 2: the places, the characters. You learn about those things and
21:19
Speaker 2: in a very deep way, and with the characters, particularly
21:23
Speaker 2: as personalities emerge through the play, and it's like getting
21:27
Speaker 2: to know someone. It's a really strange but wonderful experience
21:32
Speaker 2: to have that, and I think that's something that you
21:35
Speaker 2: could only really achieve in solo. And I maintain that
21:39
Speaker 2: that solo play is great for everyone and for me
21:42
Speaker 2: it certainly made me a better GM as well. And
21:45
Speaker 2: the techniques and tools that I've used in solo I
21:48
Speaker 2: now bring to my life table. So yeah, it's something
21:52
Speaker 2: for everyone. So if you really want to feel something
21:55
Speaker 2: very very deeply and get completely immersed, then that's where
21:59
Speaker 2: the how if.
22:00
Speaker 1: Solo is fantastic. I agree with all of that for sure, Maddie.
22:04
Speaker 1: Same question for you, What can solo games do or
22:07
Speaker 1: give you that group games cannot.
22:10
Speaker 4: I think I'm going to give two answers to this.
22:12
Speaker 4: One is deeply mercenary and practical, is that usually even
22:17
Speaker 4: your friends who are super into tabletop games and love
22:20
Speaker 4: playing games together are busy adults with hugely busy lives,
22:25
Speaker 4: and it can be really really hard to get a
22:27
Speaker 4: table together, and a solo game is a great way
22:30
Speaker 4: if you're really looking forward to playing a game together
22:32
Speaker 4: and it has to be canceled at the last minute
22:34
Speaker 4: or something, you can still get your TTRPG fix even
22:37
Speaker 4: though your friends aren't available. And it's great to have
22:40
Speaker 4: a balance of deeply social, deeply kind of camaraderie filled
22:45
Speaker 4: games and then ones that are a bit more personal
22:47
Speaker 4: and introspective. And that kind of leads into my second answer,
22:50
Speaker 4: which is for the kind of games that I play,
22:53
Speaker 4: there are a lot of games that really focus on
22:56
Speaker 4: loneliness and isolation, especially games that use the in the
23:00
Speaker 4: loan system, and it can be a really good way
23:04
Speaker 4: of both getting into the mind of a character and
23:07
Speaker 4: also reflecting on your own feelings about isolation and loneliness.
23:12
Speaker 4: So well, that's kind of a depressing answer. I think
23:14
Speaker 4: it can still be valuable to look at these more
23:17
Speaker 4: difficult emotions in a safe way.
23:19
Speaker 1: Very true, Very true, Dan, same question for you. What
23:23
Speaker 1: can solo games do or give you that a group
23:25
Speaker 1: game cannot.
23:26
Speaker 5: Well, something that's kind of funny that I've noticed in
23:29
Speaker 5: your games, John, is that there's those moments where you say,
23:31
Speaker 5: I'll be right back, but with the power of editing,
23:34
Speaker 5: like we don't have to put that in there. You know.
23:36
Speaker 5: I don't mean to fool anybody into thinking you write
23:38
Speaker 5: the table in the three seconds that you're away, But
23:41
Speaker 5: it's the feeling that we get in solo games where
23:43
Speaker 5: you can just take an hour, take a day, take
23:46
Speaker 5: a week, and come back to it with like fresh
23:48
Speaker 5: eyes of how will I move forward to the story.
23:51
Speaker 5: Whereas I get a game with the table, if you
23:53
Speaker 5: tell everybody, like, you know, maybe I need to think
23:55
Speaker 5: about this for a little bit, can we come back
23:56
Speaker 5: in an hour? I don't know that that would really
23:58
Speaker 5: like work well with a group flow. So it's interesting
24:01
Speaker 5: that there's such like a self pace to this whole
24:03
Speaker 5: thing and you have this freedom. It's so like like
24:07
Speaker 5: Maddie was saying before that you know, it's it's such
24:09
Speaker 5: like an individual solitaire experience. You get to, you know,
24:12
Speaker 5: do it at your own pace whenever you want to.
24:14
Speaker 5: And it's really true that you can just do it
24:16
Speaker 5: as you please and just take it as you'd like.
24:18
Speaker 5: And that's such a weirdly freeing feeling.
24:21
Speaker 1: So yeah, you never laid to a solo game.
24:24
Speaker 4: You're right precisely when you mean to you.
24:27
Speaker 1: That's right, exactly exactly. No. I love that idea because
24:30
Speaker 1: it's so true. When you're at a table game, you're
24:32
Speaker 1: doing a lot of improvisation as a player or as
24:35
Speaker 1: a GM, right, But as a solo gamer you really
24:39
Speaker 1: have time to chew it over. And as I'm sure
24:43
Speaker 1: all of us have experienced, your second and third idea
24:46
Speaker 1: are very often better than your first idea. Certainly it's
24:50
Speaker 1: true for me, I'm not My strength is not improv
24:53
Speaker 1: Being able to like think things over over time makes
24:56
Speaker 1: all the difference. Coop, same question for you, what can
24:59
Speaker 1: solo game to do or give you that a group
25:01
Speaker 1: game cannot.
25:02
Speaker 3: Well, I think in solo gaming, I know the story
25:06
Speaker 3: that I want to tell, and I know the type
25:08
Speaker 3: of world that I want to continue to live in
25:11
Speaker 3: with no big breaks or deus ex macuna in the action.
25:15
Speaker 3: And I view that as kind of this OSR, like,
25:17
Speaker 3: if if I trust myself enough to buy into the world,
25:19
Speaker 3: I don't have to do anything untoward or what might
25:23
Speaker 3: some might consider juvenile or silly, you know, to quote
25:27
Speaker 3: another podcaster John, I would even say that, you know,
25:30
Speaker 3: if you want something more serious, more like Game of
25:32
Speaker 3: Thrones and less like Monty Python, that's really what solo
25:36
Speaker 3: gaming offers me is just this complete package of world building, theming,
25:41
Speaker 3: and you know, if I choose you know, violence or
25:45
Speaker 3: political intrigue, and it doesn't have to have any you know,
25:47
Speaker 3: magical reber duckies in there to find humor, the humor
25:51
Speaker 3: can kind of be a little bit more organic. I'd
25:53
Speaker 3: also like to add a disclaimer, because I know it's
25:55
Speaker 3: not I didn't harp on it too much. I would
25:57
Speaker 3: never diminish anybody's fun at the table. Ever, whatever you
26:00
Speaker 3: play with, you should have fun doing it. But if
26:02
Speaker 3: you're going to go solo you can customize the crap
26:05
Speaker 3: out of it and it's your game, nobody else's. So
26:08
Speaker 3: that's what solo gaming gives me is basically complete control
26:12
Speaker 3: over the type of narrative and story that I want
26:14
Speaker 3: to tell. And so it's like, well, you know, how
26:17
Speaker 3: do you get out of your own head about that
26:18
Speaker 3: mythic GM dice rolls talking with other people, seeing what
26:22
Speaker 3: they like. It's it's great, Yeah, good stuff. Coop.
26:26
Speaker 1: This question is our last question. It's a choice player's
26:30
Speaker 1: choice either what genre is underrepresented in the solo podcast
26:36
Speaker 1: world or would you like to hype another creator that
26:40
Speaker 1: you feel deserves more attention in the solo podcast world. Coop,
26:44
Speaker 1: what do you think.
26:46
Speaker 3: A genre that's underrepresented and the solo podcasting realm would
26:50
Speaker 3: probably have to be cyberpunk. It's a genre that I
26:53
Speaker 3: really really like. Ar Taal story in games that is
26:57
Speaker 3: in charge of the Cyberpunk franchise in league with Mike Pondsmith,
27:01
Speaker 3: the original creator had come out with the Cyberpunk Red
27:05
Speaker 3: variant not too long ago pre pandemic. As a matter
27:07
Speaker 3: of fact, it was from twenty nineteen when that version
27:10
Speaker 3: came out, And I think the really interesting part of
27:13
Speaker 3: that is if there was a solo RPG podcast that
27:18
Speaker 3: could really hone in on how to explain mechanics in
27:21
Speaker 3: a really fun or interesting way. Cyberpunk is a good
27:25
Speaker 3: realm for that because it's a meat grinder every session.
27:29
Speaker 3: You know, you're not gonna hang on to your heroes
27:31
Speaker 3: for any sort of major arc, or at least that's
27:34
Speaker 3: not the intent, because they're going to turn into red
27:36
Speaker 3: and mist soon enough.
27:38
Speaker 5: You know.
27:38
Speaker 3: Part of the best part about playing the game is
27:40
Speaker 3: going down in a blaze of glory. So if every
27:43
Speaker 3: night is a Friday night firefight, then you might as
27:46
Speaker 3: well really hone in on what makes the game fun.
27:49
Speaker 3: Exploding dice, you know, ticking down your enemy's armor, you know,
27:54
Speaker 3: and speaking of sound design, sound design for that genre
27:57
Speaker 3: would be the sky's the limit. Your brain would just
28:00
Speaker 3: explode it possibility.
28:02
Speaker 1: It does sound fun. Thanks Cube, Simon, you're up next.
28:05
Speaker 1: You've got a choice either which genre is underrepresented or
28:10
Speaker 1: promote another creator that you really enjoy.
28:12
Speaker 2: So I'd like to give a shout out to another creator.
28:15
Speaker 2: And I'm going to ask forgiveness farther than permission, John,
28:18
Speaker 2: because this isn't a podcaster. So the person I'd like
28:22
Speaker 2: to give a shout out to is just In File,
28:25
Speaker 2: Fireless Belt, PFI e L. And Justin creates webcomics and
28:31
Speaker 2: his web comics are about his solo games, so he
28:34
Speaker 2: plays BXD and D and he's just an amazing artist.
28:38
Speaker 2: He has this ability to capture the human form in
28:40
Speaker 2: motion in the most extraordinary way, and his comics are
28:43
Speaker 2: visceral and fun, and I just love his work.
28:46
Speaker 1: Oh my god, it's so good. And whenever I read
28:49
Speaker 1: his webcomic, I think this looks like so much work.
28:53
Speaker 1: People think that podcasting is a lot of work. Could
28:55
Speaker 1: you imagine doing what we do? But in comic form?
28:57
Speaker 1: Is it keep on the Borderlands?
28:59
Speaker 2: Yeah, he's up to hundreds of pages now, Yeah.
29:03
Speaker 5: It's huge.
29:04
Speaker 1: I'm going to try and find the link and add
29:05
Speaker 1: that to the show notes. Great recommendation, Maddie. Same choice
29:11
Speaker 1: of questions for you, either what genre is underrepresented? Or
29:14
Speaker 1: would you like to hype up another creator?
29:17
Speaker 4: I think I'm going to sneakily do multiple things in
29:20
Speaker 4: one extended answer, And I just sneakily did a little
29:25
Speaker 4: Google after Coop was talking, because there's a cyberpunk game
29:29
Speaker 4: that I really love, which is Cyborg from pre League.
29:33
Speaker 4: It is part of this sort of OSR style of games,
29:36
Speaker 4: and because it has a very generous third party license,
29:40
Speaker 4: there are lots of indie creators who make stuff for it,
29:42
Speaker 4: and on Itch there's a creator called m eight Ui
29:47
Speaker 4: I'm not sure how you pronounce it, who did solo
29:50
Speaker 4: work for Cyborg, which is solo rules for the game.
29:53
Speaker 4: So now that I know that that exists, I'm very
29:56
Speaker 4: excited to try it at some point. But also, I
29:59
Speaker 4: think that a show that's underrepresented is kind of slice
30:02
Speaker 4: of Life. But there is one game that I know
30:05
Speaker 4: of that does represent this genre, which is Jude's World
30:08
Speaker 4: by Buttonkin Games, and it's about teenager trying to kind
30:12
Speaker 4: of parent trap their parents back together because they're going
30:16
Speaker 4: through a divorce. And while I absolutely love big, bombastic
30:20
Speaker 4: sci fi, fantasy, western and all that kind of stuff,
30:24
Speaker 4: I think going to smaller kind of everyday stories every
30:28
Speaker 4: once in a while can also be really really interesting.
30:31
Speaker 1: Sounds good, all right, Thanks Maddy Dan Over to you
30:35
Speaker 1: a choice of which genre is underrepresented or hype another
30:39
Speaker 1: creator that deserves more attention.
30:42
Speaker 5: You know, it's one of those things where I feel
30:44
Speaker 5: like representation is interesting because I think we're so saturated
30:48
Speaker 5: with fantasy stuff that a lot of us do that
30:50
Speaker 5: everything by comparison seems like it's underrepresented. So I make
30:55
Speaker 5: the music for my own show. And one thing I
30:58
Speaker 5: did is sort of like a little passion project was
31:00
Speaker 5: I released like a video game soundtrack for a game
31:03
Speaker 5: that doesn't exist, and it's like this Duke nukeom Doom
31:06
Speaker 5: style ninety shooter thing. And I thought to myself, I'm like,
31:08
Speaker 5: that would be so fun to do like a post
31:11
Speaker 5: apocalyptic wasteland game and use that for soundtrack. But then
31:14
Speaker 5: obviously there's a few people who are doing that in
31:16
Speaker 5: the in the space. But if you're in the slice
31:18
Speaker 5: of a stuff too, I think like a modern game
31:21
Speaker 5: like D twenty had the you know, with all the
31:23
Speaker 5: D twenty things. D twenty Modern was pretty interesting with
31:26
Speaker 5: what they try to pull off with that, but like
31:28
Speaker 5: something like that would be a lot of fun too,
31:30
Speaker 5: doing maybe something that leans into like maybe Vigilantes or something,
31:35
Speaker 5: because it really modern is something I don't think we
31:37
Speaker 5: do a whole bunch of in this space, and that
31:39
Speaker 5: would be kind of fun to do as well as
31:41
Speaker 5: well as you know, westerns and space opera would be
31:44
Speaker 5: a lot of fun to do too. I find that
31:45
Speaker 5: the longer I do my show, the more I dream
31:47
Speaker 5: of all the other shows I could be doing at
31:49
Speaker 5: the same time, and then I think about how limited
31:51
Speaker 5: my time is, and I think, you know, maybe someday,
31:54
Speaker 5: but I think that, yeah, I definitely yearned for running
31:58
Speaker 5: my own space opera, solo play and some sort of
32:00
Speaker 5: a knockoff Star Wars kind of deal and come up
32:03
Speaker 5: with my own version of everything. That's very much you know,
32:06
Speaker 5: leaning into it without touching it. But I'd also really
32:08
Speaker 5: love to before I, you know, end my time on
32:11
Speaker 5: the mic here, I'd like to promote an artist as well,
32:13
Speaker 5: somebody who I've actually had to do some work for
32:15
Speaker 5: me for a project I was going to release sometime
32:17
Speaker 5: in the near future, and that's Alexi gore Boot. I
32:20
Speaker 5: don't know how to properly pronounce his name, so I'm
32:23
Speaker 5: sorry for that. But on Instagram it's a l e
32:27
Speaker 5: x E Y g O R boo T. He does
32:31
Speaker 5: sword and sorcery like comic book style, real like you know, flashy, bright,
32:35
Speaker 5: colorful artwork, and it just is so evocative for what
32:38
Speaker 5: the kind of game that I like to try to
32:40
Speaker 5: put on. So I just feel like he's just such
32:43
Speaker 5: a nice guy. He's great for illustrating, so I'll contact
32:46
Speaker 5: him for whatever, but I cannot recommend his stuff enough.
32:49
Speaker 1: I'll try and put his link for him in the
32:51
Speaker 1: show notes as well. All Right, folks, I just want
32:53
Speaker 1: to say thank you so much for coming together and
32:56
Speaker 1: doing this third round table. It's been really fun and interesting.
32:59
Speaker 1: Got a great diverse group of people here with a
33:02
Speaker 1: bunch of different experiences and perspectives. So thank you so
33:05
Speaker 1: much for coming. I enjoy all of your shows on
33:07
Speaker 1: the regular. Please keep making them and maybe we'll do
33:10
Speaker 1: this again in the future sometime.
33:12
Speaker 4: Thank you so much.
33:13
Speaker 3: Thank you for your time, John.
33:16
Speaker 1: And thank you for listening. So I've just finished my
33:19
Speaker 1: first past at editing this episode, and I realized that
33:21
Speaker 1: I said the word fantastic enough times to warrant a
33:24
Speaker 1: drinking game. So my apologies for my lack of imagination there,
33:28
Speaker 1: but I'm confident that my fan that my wonderful guests
33:33
Speaker 1: more than make up for my shortcomings in that regard.
33:35
Speaker 1: Were they a great bunch. Today we spoke with Simon
33:38
Speaker 1: from Legend of the Bones, Mattie Seerl from A Game
33:41
Speaker 1: of One's Own, Dan of Legends from the Fireside, and
33:45
Speaker 1: finally Coop the gm of Echoes of Eshington and co
33:48
Speaker 1: host of Myth and Moon. If you'd like to find
33:51
Speaker 1: out more about these great podcasts and podcasters, check out
33:54
Speaker 1: the show notes or my blog for links. And for
33:56
Speaker 1: even more great solo podcast variety, try our new website,
34:01
Speaker 1: Solo Roleplayers network dot com. The next real episode of
34:04
Speaker 1: Tale of the Manticor is just around the corner, so
34:07
Speaker 1: I'll see you soon. Until then, the chaos roll