Single-player Adventures

[jamesrbrown]

LOTR_Nerd, I can't make any promises, but I am working on it every free moment I can find inspiration. The story is there, but it is a matter of putting it into an enjoyable narrative. Thanks for the encouragement!

[hinko]

Hello James,
I am interested in The One Ring and if purchased would play it by my self. So I'm interested in how to do this game by my self. Can you give me some advise? Where to find things.
Greetings, Hinko

[Stormcrow]

If you're going to play any RPG by yourself, I recommend using Mythic Game Master Emulator.

[Grey Seer]

If you're going to play any RPG by yourself, I recommend using Mythic Game Master Emulator.

I've never heard of this emulator before... How does it work?

[Stormcrow]

You ask one or two yes/no questions, like "Are there orcs behind the door?" You decide what the odds of a "yes" answer are, and cross-reference that with the current Chaos Factor—how out of your control the current situation is. This gives you the percentage chance that the answer is "yes." The question and lookup process replaces a game master.

There are other elements, like keeping track of threads and characters, but they all revolve around asking the chart yes/no questions. When you make rolls, if you get certain results you may trigger unexpected events; you then have to determine exactly what they are using a couple of tables of random elements. The higher the Chaos Factor, the more likely that interrupting events may occur.

It's a very clever system, really. It is well-explained in the book.

[jamesrbrown]

Mythic sounds like an interesting system. I wonder how it could be used with Tales from Wilderland or The Darkening of Mirkwood.

Unfortunately, it has been forever since I looked at my single-player adventure, "Secrets of Lake-town." The last time I worked on it, I was hitting a wall in creativity and second guessing my system of choices. It got boring.

At this point, I don't know if I'll ever finish it. I may have been overthinking things; it seems I should have gone for a simpler approach.

[Stormcrow]

Mythic sounds like an interesting system. I wonder how it could be used with Tales from Wilderland or The Darkening of Mirkwood.

It probably wouldn't do pre-programmed scenarios very well, since you'd have to spoil them for yourself by reading them.

Mythic's strength is in creating stories that seem to come out of thin air. They actually come from the very questions you ask, but you usually end up with an overall adventure that feels like someone designed it and you're discovering it. It provides for surprising twists you would never have thought of yourself.

Mythic can also be used by a game master who wants to improvise entire adventures or just parts of adventures. The Darkening of Mirkwood has lots of gaps to be filled in; Mythic could do that easily.

[Lifstan]

Chaosium did a very good gamebook to explain Call of Cthulhu 7th ed. Would be nice if Cubicle 7 would make one for The One Ring.

BTW, I still have the Middle-earth Quest solo book A Spy In Isengard. I never use it so if you'd like to read it for additional inspiration, PM me your address & I'll send it to you.

Is it any good? Just had a quick look at it: it seems that the rules are unusual for a gamebook (with a map?).

[Otaku-sempai]

Chaosium did a very good gamebook to explain Call of Cthulhu 7th ed. Would be nice if Cubicle 7 would make one for The One Ring.

There is nothing like being polite and sincere. And that is nothing like being polite and sincere. There is a nice gamebook; it is the revised rulebook for The One Ring Roleplaying Game. No, it doesn't have rules for solo play, but the game isn't designed to be played that way, so you can't really fault the publisher for that.

BTW, I still have the Middle-earth Quest solo book A Spy In Isengard. I never use it so if you'd like to read it for additional inspiration, PM me your address & I'll send it to you.

Is it any good? Just had a quick look at it: it seems that the rules are unusual for a gamebook (with a map?).

I enjoyed the Middle-earth Quest/Tolkien Quest adventure books back in the day. They used a simplified version of the mechanics for Middle-earth Role Playing (MERP), which themselves were a streamlined version of Iron Crown's Rolemaster rules.