This is great. Seeing this example is just what I needed. I've printed out a set of cards and will definitely implement them in my next solo game. Thank you!
It's difficult in solo play to not just give yourself the GM Move that will potentially help you the most, so I like to draw one rather than just picking one. It's also fun to discover the random GM Move and weave it into the narrative! BUT, there are times when a particular GM Move will make the most sense, so in those cases you should use that move rather than drawing.
Thanks Jason! I know I get a lot wrong when I'm doing solo, but all I really care about is a cool story. I've got another solo video coming up at the end of the month (2/22/23) using the Batman character I made on 2/1/23 in the Gotham City you'll see on 2/8/23. I hope you enjoy it!
It would be cool if you did a regular play through campaign. You could have a prep video for those that want to watch you prep as well. It would be great to promote your products on drive through RPG.
That was the original plan, but you're the first person to say "I want more of this", so I haven't posted any solo-play videos since this one. I may work on one this weekend though with a new character (I've played through Isilith's story, so this will give me a reason to create a new solo character!)
You can totally make a roll table. There are 12 GM moves, so you can use a d12 table, or use a d20 table to weight some of the moves in your favor (because "Deal Damage" is week GM move IMO). You can also roll a d12 and a d8 (with d8 being your favorite GM Moves) and use the one that best fits the situation. Just some pre-coffee thoughts this morning :)
hey somewhat late to this comment but you should totally also check the Apocalypse Oracle solo engine. It's meant to be used for PbtA games and we had a lot of fun playing with it with my SO.
@Crap Phone do you mean unknowns as in encounters, or as in "things" that pop into the story? There are loads of encounter tables and loot tables on DriveThruRPG you might look into!
@@SessionZero I guess I am wanting some of both. Do the random encounters play into the plot? Can I develop plot as I play that has twists sometimes. I don't want to start out as ""GM" for my solo game, knowing the villain and how the bad guy will act. I want that to develop spontaneously as I go along but also be coherent . LOL, not asking a lot am I? I am actually working on developing this in a Dungeonworld framework, working from dangers to stakeholders to a front. I am using a gain clue mechanism to tie things that I encounter as I go along into the whole plot/story. So I am looking for ideas that others have that may help with this. Thanks for reaching out. If you have any thoughts on these, they'd be most welcome.
@@crapphone7744 outside of something like Four Against Darkness I've done very little solo play, so take what I'm about to say with a grain of salt. I think with something as narrative as Dungeon World (or any PBtA game) you kind of have to play both GM and Player (but I could be wrong lol). I've just been tinkering with using DW and my Oracle Deck to "make it work", and have some new (better?) Solo stuff coming out later this week. As far as a clues go, I made a post about it on Google+ several years ago but it was probably too complicated at the time. I've been thinking about "holding clues" since I first saw the newest Arkham card game. It could be as simple as modifying Discern Realities, but I think a really good, narrative custom move would be best. Feel free to shoot me an e-mail if you'd like to continue the conversation! Bholland3220@gmail.com
How did you come up with the Grim Portents? I have yet to try solo play, but they seem so interesting. Did you just come up with 'x' items that can happen? Also, do you find this removes any 'twists' that might come from playing solo where you let the oracles decide what happens etc.? Thanks!
Jonathan, I just made up Grim Portents that "made sense" for the narrative. It IS going to remove twists if you do it this way though. In my constant solo playtesting I've decided to leave the Grim Portents blank, and when narratively appropriate decide upon (using the Oracle) AND mark the next one on the list, which allows the fronts to unfold without your advance knowledge. I'm still working on my Solo ruleset (in starts and fits LOL, and sometimes I go way down a branch that I end up scrapping), and when it's finished and I've had some others test it I will be adding it to the Oracle Download.
Thanks Alex! I've got two more coming soon. In the next one I show how I rolled up that Clockwork Dragon from this video using the Monster Generator, and in the one after that I design the Gnomish Royal Crypt. Both videos have the theme of building upon your established context.
Damon these are Ultra Pro card sleeves, with a Magic: The Gathering basic land card behind the Oracle Deck print for rigidity. I honestly never tried to print on card stock, but it will probably be a cheaper option! I'm revising the Oracle Deck right now to add a few features, least of which is making the deck available on print-on-demand. I have no real time table for when that will be complete though.
I typically go through half the deck per "session", but mainly because of the time I have available. But that's totally arbitrary, so you can do the whole deck if you want, or just stop "when you're done". I'm working on a set of rules to use the deck for "delving", with additional cards that you add into the deck at certain places (such as, shuffle this into the top 25% of the cards, shuffle these two into the 2nd 25% of the deck, et cetera). The first will most likely be a Castle-Ravenloft-like (but obviously NOT Castle Ravenloft) delve with the castle's master (Strahd, but obviously NOT Strahd von Zaravich) showing up at certain "depths" of the deck.
@RogueSkyPilot I forgot that I'd started that video with "Hello Internet", so I didn't understand your comment until I re-watched it this morning. I was like "Am I missing some reference?" YES, I was missing my own reference! LOL
