As Wil Wheaton hath decreed, it's International TableTop Day! In so proclaiming, it makes me think about gaming and my corner of tabletop — role-playing games — and more specifically, doing them solo, without the input or involvement of anyone other than myself.
I've been quiet these days at No One To Play With...and not by choice (or at least that's what I usually tell myself). It seems being sick, going on trips, daily drudgery, and all manner of excuses manage to squelch my fun...well no longer!
I'm using TableTop Day as inspiration to recoup my time. It's mine! I'll jealously safeguard that precious commodity from this point forward, despite any excuses that threaten to stonewall me. I realize that I am my own worse enemy in this regard.
How many hours do I waste simply browsing the web, twitter, facebook, and all that useless junk? I like to be inspired by reading others' games — solo or otherwise. However, doing something alone lacks the benefit of feeding off of one another's energy, which is one of the things that make standard games so much fun. The main thing here is to take some initiative and simply do it...for at least twenty minutes.
Starting today, I hereby promise unto myself to do some gaming every day, whether that be to play out a scene, sketch out a new adventure setup for a one-shot, stat a favorite character, jot down some musings, or whatever. Whatever it is, at least a bit every day. This is not to say that I promise to resolve all my games to conclusion, or try to drop less of them in favor of the next novel idea (that is my gamer ADD). Toppling those challenges is not realistic.
I've already played a bit today, and will dab at it a bit more. This week's fun has been picking up my longest-running campaign (the Drowsbane Legacy) that's been on hiatus for almost a year, and converting it to Fate. This is not an easy system to use in a solo environment, but it seems to go well for me currently. If I get a chance before I burn out on it, I'll write up what I've done that seems to be working well.
Again, happy TableTop Day to you all! Do yourself a favor — go play something today! ...and every day thereafter.
How many hours do I waste simply browsing the web, twitter, facebook, and all that useless junk? I like to be inspired by reading others' games — solo or otherwise. However, doing something alone lacks the benefit of feeding off of one another's energy, which is one of the things that make standard games so much fun. The main thing here is to take some initiative and simply do it...for at least twenty minutes.
Starting today, I hereby promise unto myself to do some gaming every day, whether that be to play out a scene, sketch out a new adventure setup for a one-shot, stat a favorite character, jot down some musings, or whatever. Whatever it is, at least a bit every day. This is not to say that I promise to resolve all my games to conclusion, or try to drop less of them in favor of the next novel idea (that is my gamer ADD). Toppling those challenges is not realistic.
I've already played a bit today, and will dab at it a bit more. This week's fun has been picking up my longest-running campaign (the Drowsbane Legacy) that's been on hiatus for almost a year, and converting it to Fate. This is not an easy system to use in a solo environment, but it seems to go well for me currently. If I get a chance before I burn out on it, I'll write up what I've done that seems to be working well.
Again, happy TableTop Day to you all! Do yourself a favor — go play something today! ...and every day thereafter.
Good luck!
ReplyDeleteTime gets away from me, too. I did play some Pathfinder Adventure Card Game in honor of the event. Like Will Wheaton says, "play more games!".
Cool! I've been mildly interested in the Pathfinder ACG for solo play. Recommended? I would go for an iOS version if there was one (table space being scarce).
DeleteI'm happy to see you're back! :) Even if not blogging as much, we always like more solo gaming. I've been curious about Fate in a solo setup for a while, it would seem about the worst possible system for it. Do let us know how it goes :)
DeleteI'll try my best to post the actual play with commentary.
DeleteI get more play and more fun out of the Pathfinder ACG, but I know they're not to everyone's taste. Some people don't like the setup (putting together cards from various stacks and a fair bit of shuffling); some find the play less than immersive; some find the game too much of the same thing, draw a card, play some cards, roll some dice. But it works for me. I like the different characters, the gaining skills and items and such that carries over from adventure to adventure, the short playing time. I suppose it can also cost a bit if you get all of the adventure packs (which I think you'd want to eventually if you enjoyed the game). I bought them over the course of a year so it wasn't too much at any one time. For me, it's one of the best game investments I've made in the last few years. Good value for money as far as I'm concerned. But it's not to everyone's taste that's obvious.
ReplyDeleteThat's good to know. The lack of deep immersion wouldn't turn me off, but the prep time (card swapping/deck building) might make it a no-go for me. Like I said, if there was an iPad version of something like that, I'd probably get it. I played Iron Crown's old Lord of the Rings CCG ages back, and had lots of fun with it...it had a solo option too. I'm sure, given time and space, I'd probably dig Pathfinder too.
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