Solitary Musings II
Added 2021-09-05 22:41:19 +0000 UTCHeya, everyone!
Hope you all had a chance to help out the wizard Magnolius get past the debt collection golem in Deadbeat Potion Shoppe!
Last week, James McMillan asked how I like to handle solving mysteries in solo roleplaying, and Greg Hunter offered 'detective' as keyword inspiration. That got me thinking about what I like about mystery or investigation-type adventures in solo play, so I thought it would be interesting to make another Solitary Musing about the topic.
For me, personally, the interesting part of solo investigations is not so much solving a preset mystery, but being able to create a connect-the-dots environment, a setting populated with characters who have the potential to be interconnected.
I hope my musings will inspire your own new ideas on how to create your preferred custom solo gaming experience!
Solitary Musings II includes:
- Mystery Pyramid discusses a technique using setting as a funnel to create characters, tension, and conflict.
- Foreshadowing Incidents is about having the starting point of your investigation showing only a small or different part of a larger plan to unravel.
- Connecting the Dots goes into using progress bars to build up suspense and how to anticipate the big reveal.
Anyway, enjoy!
Cheerio,
John
Comments
Great content. I'm really enjoying your work and was about to ask you a couple questions about the adventure seeds posts (as I'm new in this SOLO playing) but this post (and musings #I) and the "actual play" pdf's answered them all.
Giancarlo
2022-06-20 11:01:08 +0000 UTCThats the Murder She Wrote inspired game, right? Ive been wanting to pick that up!
John
2021-09-06 08:15:55 +0000 UTCIf you like connecting the dots, also take a look at Brindlewood Bay. Its mystery system could easily be ported to solo play
Jim
2021-09-06 08:14:46 +0000 UTC
