I tried a PbP ... once. It moved far too slowly to keep my interest and some players would make multiple posts before some other players replied at all to a GM post.
Using a chat room (with integrated dice roller) is much closer to my speed.
CT Only: Solo Play?
- Thread starter MarsStraub
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I tried a PbP ... once. It moved far too slowly to keep my interest and some players would make multiple posts before some other players replied at all to a GM post.
Using a chat room (with integrated dice roller) is much closer to my speed.
True, speed of play is vastly different. Both styles have advantages, it just depends on which advantage set meets your needs best.
Well, I've been running my own solo Traveller games for a couple of decades... each one was a bit different from the last. I thought I'd tried so many alternatives, that I published my system as both a softback and a PDF.
It's called SOLO and its aimed directly at solo Traveller players ...
http://www.paulelliottbooks.com/solo.html
It's called SOLO and its aimed directly at solo Traveller players ...
http://www.paulelliottbooks.com/solo.html
MarsStraub
SOC-3
It looks like it says it's for the Cepheus Engine. Do I have to have that to go with SOLO? Also, is there an example of how it works, such as a free starter kit, something like how they did with the free basic DnD 5e?
I have bought this. Everyone else should buy it too. Seriously.
Paul, will you be coming out with an expansion any time? One that handles merc campaigns for example?
Supplement Four
SOC-14 5K
Whippy, can you give use a run down on how it works?
Have you seen Paul's previous Star Trader? Solo is more than just an expansion of Star Trader, it's a new system. There are many goods bits I liked. One is that you control a groups of PCs instead of just a single PC. Another is what Paul calls the "The Plan".
Are you familiar with Mythic? That system is good and I've used it a lot, but you're continually rolling to answer questions at all stages of a scene or session. Solo's "The Plan" mechanism reduces all of Mythic's die rolls that to just two. The idea behind "The Plan" is that you must write down what your group is trying to do.
By writing down the plan, you can more truthfully examine it to decide the target number and which DMs really apply. Also, by writing it down you're less likely to "cheat" by finagling things!
There is loads of other stuff too like a chapter on NPCs, plot lines, and a nice play example.
As good as Solo is, it gets even better with the four campaign chapters. Paul shows how the system can be used in four different campaigns and provides additional tables for each. He covers nearly all of the classic campaign types like trading and travelling. He also has an active duty navy campaign and, one I really want to use, a scouting/surveying campaign.
The only thing "missing" - and saying something is "missing" in a book like this is comes across as rather petty - is a chapter for a merc campaign. That's why I asked Paul about it.
Here's a link to a review by Andy Slack. He explains things much better than I do and, given his long time as a Traveller and RPG author, you should listen to him more than me.
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Olschoolgamer
SOC-8
I play a few computer survival games like Empyrion- Galactic survival and find this is a good premise for solo Traveller.
The random animal rules are the back bone for this sort of play. You wreck on a primitive planet chocked full of beasts that want to eat you while you survive long enough for rescue or repair your ship.
If you are feeling saucy you can throw in a few primitive alien tribes to befriend or antagonize the characters.
The bullet/power packs only last so long and unless you find the resources to make tools and feed your self you die quick.
One of my first and favorite CT modules was Marooned/Marooned alone.
Also, there was a Taskforce minigame whose title I cannot remember that was well designed to go with CT. It to was a solo game of planetary survival.
The random animal rules are the back bone for this sort of play. You wreck on a primitive planet chocked full of beasts that want to eat you while you survive long enough for rescue or repair your ship.
If you are feeling saucy you can throw in a few primitive alien tribes to befriend or antagonize the characters.
The bullet/power packs only last so long and unless you find the resources to make tools and feed your self you die quick.
One of my first and favorite CT modules was Marooned/Marooned alone.
Also, there was a Taskforce minigame whose title I cannot remember that was well designed to go with CT. It to was a solo game of planetary survival.
Yes, I had bought and played this in the 1980's. It was called Survival and was in a double adventure book with The Barbarian. Both games could be played solo. There were several alternate scenarios for Survivor.
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