Duet Campaign Advice and Info

https://rpggeek.com/blogpost/61833/games-spotlight-2017-1-two-player-games

Specifically Two Players

There is going to be some inevitable overlap here, where games that are written for
two players could actually scale up with minor tweaks; likewise, especially in these
first two groups the role of GM is often softened. So don't worry too much about the
distinction - the first batch of games will feel more like traditional RPGs, that's all.
GM + PC
Beast Hunters
Mars Colony
Murderous Ghosts
Scarlet Heroes
S/lay w/ Me
World vs. Hero
A Scoundrel in the Deep

Two players as GM and PC

These games look a lot like more prototypical RPGs - one player is in charge of the
world and incidental characters, the other player controls a specific character. Of
these, Scarlet Heroes is designed to feel like an Old School RPG, and allow a due
to make use of existing D&D style modules/adventures.

Beast Hunters is a standalone game, sort of formalizing a duel or opposition

between a hunter and prey; one player is the Hunter and the other, the Challenger,
is responsible for putting obstacles in their way.
World vs Hero is also a standalone game, this time from the designers of Mythic
Game Master Emulator, that uses a tableau of playing cards to pace out a heroic
story.
S/lay w/Me focuses on a player character's relationship with a Lover while trying
to slay a Monster; both the Lover and Monster are piloted by the second player. It's
a constrained narrative game that can play in whatever time slot you have
available, from half an hour to an evening. The game has some things to say about
the story it wants you to play; the title, art, and text all suggest a very sensual (if
not sexual) narrative.
Scoundrel has a very interesting mechanic where a booklet / box of matches
literally counts down their survival in a dire situation. Some actions are even limited
by the life of a single match. V V cool use of an unusual randomizer.
Mars Colony diverges from the fantasy genre to sci-fi survival, pitting an
apparent 'savior' character against the problems of the failing colony. The other
player speaks for the other citizens and presents the mounting obstacles.
 Murderous Ghosts creates a horror story, using some aspects of PbtA ported to
playing cards and interconnected 'choose your own adventure' booklets which is a
neat innovation, as both the ghost and player character can be surprised by
questions.
And one more in the pipeline worth mentioning, GUMSHOE is launching a one-
on-one adaptation of their core system with Cthulhu Confidential as a flagship
game.

Equal Roles
Breaking the Ice &
Shooting the Moon
Three Days
Hot Guys Making Out
Our Radios Are Dying
The Beekeeper

183 days
aka Six Months Three days
The Sky is Grey
and You are Distressed

Doll
Adventurer & Troll
Bathysphere
Sweet Agatha
Trapped
14 days

Kazekami Kyoko
Kills Kublai Khan
One Shot
A Single Moment
Showdown
Two equal players
Moving on to a crop of games where players have mostly equal footing, we notice a
blossoming of cooperatative and relationship games in among the standard
competitive fare.
Breaking the Ice & Shooting the Moon tell the story of a quirky romance
through the first few dates and a love triangle where players are trying to woo the
same beloved, respectively. (The third part of this trilogy is LARP for several players,
also exploring dating and love and stuff.)
Three Days is a similar lighthearted meet-cute rom-com story, too.
And of course, there's Hot Guys Making Out, which does exactly what it says
on the tin. "...is a yaoi role-playing game, set in the Spanish Civil War, in which a
tormented nobleman and his young ward attempt to resist their forbidden love for
each other, and fail." It always seems to be a hit.

Our Radios Are Dying is a freeform game for a duo adrift in space after some
calamity separates them. Players can roll about on chairs to simulate drifting while
they ask questions and reveal their shared backstory.
The Beekeeper was a winning entry in Gamechef 2014, about the twilight of a
relationship. Letters frame the acts of the story, and honeycomb tiles are drawn and
placed as a hive to shape the short conversations along the way.
183 days and The Sky is Grey... both focus on tension in relationships. 183
Days uses a custom deck of cards to follow a probably-tragic relationship between
clairvoyant lovers; The Sky is Grey uses randomized information to prompt a
discussion about honesty and identity.

Doll is a game about truth and the intense bond between children and imaginary
friends. There's room for a lot of dark in this game. Trapped is about being stuck in
a coma. Adventurer & Troll is a fantasy storytelling game that's actually about
asymetrical relationships. Bathysphere is a survival pressure cooker. 14 Days is
about just getting through everyday life with chronic pain; sort of an workshop
teaching tool more than a 'fun' game.

Following the Relationship Games, there's another major current in this collection,
that of A Fated Duel.
KKKKK (wind spirit ninja vs ruler), A Single Moment (two samurai), One Shot
(vengeance seeker and mark), Showdown (a duel)... all have a very similar premise.
Generally, you'll alternate between backstory and focusing on the mano-a-mano in
the present. Given the similarities, it's easy to see opportunity to reskin any one of
these to different stories: Jedi are basically Samurai, right?

Two (or more) Players

A Penny for My Thoughts
Don't Rest Your Head
The Quiet Year
Microscope & Kingdom
Remember Tomorrow
Macabre Tales
ERA
Superheroes,
Lovecraftian suspense &
general horror
Games that scale from two players up:
Included mostly for completeness, many games can adapt to a very small group.
Some even scale to 1 player, even to the point of becoming something akin to a
novel writing aide. Pretty much any game that doesn't hinge on team cooperation or
interaction specifically between player-characters can run solo with some tweaks,
but what you're looking for are stories that will work with a solo protagonist or a
duo, or are written for several players and no GM.

http://www.gmsmagazine.com/articles/starting-a-duet-rpg-campaign

Starting a duet RPG Campaign - G*M*S Magazine

10-12 minutes

dandd[1]By Kirk Johnson-Weider

“Alright, this is my first adventure so be kind,” said Vicki nervously getting her area behind the
GM screen organized.

“Fear not, you’re going to do great,” said Thad enthusiastically.

“You have just arrived at Outbound Station the last outpost of the United Confederacy in
Unexplored Space,” said Vicky.

“So this is our last chance to resupply before entering Unexplored Space?” asked Thad.

“Yes, and to get information about what you might encounter,” said Vicky. “It’s a massive space
station and is used by dozens of civilizations that ply this area of space, including some
civilizations from Unexplored Space. The sort of people you have been assigned to make contact
with.”

“Great … alright, I open fire with my mass drivers and use two of my antimatter warheads on
Outbound Station,” said Thad seriously.

“What?” asked Vicky incredulously.

“Yes, I’ll take prisoners from the survivors to question about Unexplored Space and loot the
derelicts for supplies,” said Thad with a slight smile. “I … you what?” asked Vicky.

“Just kidding, I dock up and will head to Communal Area,” said Thad with a laugh. “Relax, just
trying to lighten things up — you look too tense.”

“Thad dear, I hate you,” said Vicky.

This column will focus on the process of starting a duet campaign, especially for someone who
isn’t that experienced of a GM, perhaps even someone who has never GMed before. In many
ways, duets are a great opportunity to try to GM. You have one player and usually this is a
significant other or good friend who isn’t going to give you a hard time. It’s a very safe and fun
environment for someone who otherwise might be daunted by the idea of GMing. Still you will
probably have a host of negative thoughts as even with duets, and an audience of one, it can be a
daunting prospect. So first things first, let’s tackle some of the most common fears of beginning
GMs. I’m a horrible GM.

Nope, you aren’t. Okay, well, maybe you are, but you know it and that separates you from a lot of
GMs out there. The truth is that most GMs are pretty bad and all beginning GMs are disasters.
However, you can’t become a good GM without actually running adventures. So maybe you are a
horrible GM, but that doesn’t mean you can’t become a great GM. In fact, anyone can become a
great GM if they do two things: run adventures and keep trying to improve. That’s it.

So I’m not going to sugarcoat it and say you’re going to do great running your first duet
campaign, because you probably won’t, but I will say that you can run a great duet campaign if
you work at it. The only way to get the skills to do that is to try. There are no skills that people
just know without practice and work and GMing is a skill. My advice is to commit yourself to
running three adventures in a campaign and stick to that regardless of how the adventures go,
because a common mistake of many beginning GMs is to scrap their campaigns the moment
they hit some bumps. Your worst enemy is that image in your mind of a perfect adventure that
you want to run, that never happens even with the best GMs, and you need to focus on the fun in
the moment not the ideal moment.

My players will hate my adventure.

Not likely. In my experience, most players are very forgiving of new GMs. Players know how
hard it is to GM, a lot of have tried to GM themselves and the rest are terrified about the idea of
GMing. Most players really try to be nice to a new GM and those that don’t, well, you shouldn’t
be playing with them in the first place. Another thing to consider is that with roleplaying
everyone can have a great time even if everyone is pretty bad at it. This is because as long as
everyone puts in a good faith effort then everyone has a good time. It’s the attitude of those
around the table, not their skills, that determines the success of an adventure.

stress_28[1]I don’t know the rules well enough to GM.

Honestly, it doesn’t take complete rules mastery to GM, but you do need to know the rules. A
beginning GM should stick to a RPG he has played before or a system that is very simple
mechanically. There are many skills to GMing and a common mistake is to consider rules
mastery one of the most important. It’s not, and if you are stressed about the rules, that stress is
draining time and energy from developing the narrative elements of your adventure. Rules are
important, and you do need to know the rules as the GM, but don’t stress about it. The rules are
there to help, so if the rules are actually adding to your stress as a GM, then there is a problem
either with the rules or you. So take a deep breath and realize that knowing the rules is okay, you
don’t need to have mastered the rules, and if all else fails ask your players, check the book, or
better yet just make it up.

I don’t have the time.

Maybe you don’t and that is a legitimate reason to not GM, but usually when I hear this
complaint the problem is that beginning GMs want to have everything scripted out and every
eventuality covered. This is why a lot of GMs like published adventures, which are usually very
tightly designed to keep PCs in line and following a script. However, for a duet campaign you
need to loosen up and this brings us to the last negative thought we will discuss.

What if the players do something unexpected?

This doesn’t happen as often as you may think, but it does happen. The trick is to just make a
guess about the consequences and wing it. All you have to remember is that the consequences
you determine will affect the player’s future actions. So if a player does something smart or
heroic and you like that, then reward the player so he keeps doing that. Once the adventure
starts, a good GM just rolls with the punches; the adventure you wrote is only a framework and
you adjust it on the fly. Actually, the adventure you wrote is just to get you thinking about the
situation; it should never be a script.
What do you really need?

The most important thing you need is a player. If you have a player, the rest falls into place
pretty easily, but let’s break it down.

1. The setting.

You do need a setting, but you probably need less than you think you need. The goal is not to
have an answer for every question, but to know enough to be able to make up an answer for
every question. Your goal is to have enough information that you can communicate the feel of
the setting to your player. The next instalment will tackle the illusion of depth and some tricks to
how to make your setting feel complex, even when it’s not.

2. The PC.

Communicate with the player over the PC concept, because the PC makes or breaks a duet
campaign. However, once you and the player find agreement, you don’t have anything else to do
with creating the PC, except maybe to help out if the player doesn’t know the rules that well. My
advice is to not worry about the PC too much; if the PC is at least in the ballpark of fitting in your
campaign, then run with it. You’ll never have a perfect fit for the image in your head of the ideal
PC for how you envision the campaign, but that’s alright — trust me, your ideal PC really
wouldn’t have worked as well as the one your player created.

old-books[1]3. The adventure.

The whole point of your work is to have an adventure to run. Using a published adventure for
your first time GMing is not a bad idea, though it does confine you in many ways and actually is
harder to internalize. Remember: your notes on an adventure are merely an outline, guidelines,
that are there to help you figure out how the PC’s actions will unfurl the action. From my
perspective, all adventures operate around NPCs. Providing stats for NPCs can help understand
the NPC, though combat mechanics really don’t help you understand a NPC. I really believe that
if you understand the major NPCs involved in an adventure, you can adjust and morph the
situation based on the PC actions. So spend as much time trying to understand the NPCs as you
spend writing out the challenges. The biggest fault of beginning GMs is to obsess over the rules
and numbers and not the story and dynamics that make that story engaging.
Some Tricks

What follows are a few tricks for beginning GMs.

1. ALWAYS give an answer.

Many years ago I was a player in a campaign andthe GM had really designed a fabulous setting
that was a high-magic empire. He had spent weeks working on the various elements of the
setting. In the first adventurem the first question asked was “what is the name of the Emperor?”
The GM didn’t have an answer. He froze. He said he would get back to us on that. Right there
the campaign ended; sure we ran the adventure, but that moment is where the GM lost the
illusion of depth. If the PCs ask a question that about something they should know, give an
answer, even if you have to just make something up.

2. Make a list.

Make up a list of names that are appropriate for your setting for easy reference as your player
explores the setting so that you will be able to give names to people on the fly.

3. Keep notes.

Someone should be keeping notes. Usually it’s the GM, but when I run duets with my wife as a
player I use her notes to keep things straight as she takes excellent notes. Due to the pace and
depth of a duet we may in a month of playing have over a hundred NPCs who are of some
important to the campaign. Without notes things get muddled, which isn’t a big deal, but
consistency adds a lot to any campaign.

1246881[1]4. Roll dice.

When all else fails, have the player roll dice: a skill check, combat, or even a meaningless roll
(just don’t tell the player it’s meaningless). Actually, if you need to stall, you roll dice and look
down thoughtfully at the dice while you think.

5. Relax.

Don’t do adventure design 30 minutes before an adventure. Relax and get yourself ready to GM.
Even if you don’t have something mechanically worked out, by this point, it’s too late to add
anything. It’s better to spend the remaining time you have getting yourself relaxed, comfortable,
and excited about the upcoming adventure.

Next time we will finally get to the illusion of depth, and how to give your duets the feel of a
vibrant and well-thought out campaign, even when it’s not particularly well-thought out.

Kirk Johnson-Weider is the very nice man and great talent behind Blue Moon Aurora.

http://www.rpgjuce.com/blog/2015/4/8/one-on-one-solo-and-duet-rpg-adventures-and-
campaigns

One On One, Solo, and Duet RPG Adventures and Campaigns

By Wizards RPG Team
4-5 minutes

For many people it is very difficult to find a group that some would deem a full party of
adventurers to play Tabletop RPGs. When I got into gaming this was the case for me. I struggled
to find people to play Heroes Unlimited which for me this was the game that I loved when I was
12 and loved up until recently. My first RPG group was 2 players and a GM. When the GM
moved it made it near impossible to game because we had it in our mind you needed multiple
players to play the game properly. If we only knew about the possibility of playing with 1 player
and a GM our RPG experience would have been drastically different.

The 1 player and 1 GM format I have seen called different things. I have seen it called 1 on 1, solo,
and duet campaigns. What the actual correct terminology is I am not quite sure. What I do know
is that this is a great way to run and play games for those of us who may struggle to find groups
to play with. Some people use these types of games to help players catch up after mission a
session. Some people use these types of games to teach a new player how the game is played.
Either way it is a great way to game and can provide a vastly different experience than you may
be used to.

A few years ago I attempted to run a Heroes Unlimited game like this for my wife. Our first
session was a lot of fun. She played a Mega Hero that we rolled a lot of the stuff randomly. That
character ended up being very similar to Thor which was pretty interesting. The idea of those
first few sessions was that she had no idea how things worked on Earth. She broke an elevator
door and beat 2 guys into a coma when they tried to kidnap her. Unfortunately the campaign
didn't last very long because we ended up moving.

We tried again to do another duet campaign using Pathfinder when I was really getting into that
system. The idea was that my wife would make and control a few characters. Her party was an
Aasimar Sorcerer and an Oread Barbarian. We played a couple games and this was fun but we
wanted enough players for a full party. This game died off but only because once again real life
stepped in and we moved again.

There are many ways to play a game with one player. Maybe that player controls only a single
character or they control a whole party of characters similar to how they would play a video
game like Baldur's Gate. Maybe they handle all of the groups social interactions with NPCs or
maybe they only control their single characters social interactions while the DM controls all of
the other members of the group in social environments similar to Dragon Age for example. In
the latter example the players choices could lead to some members of the party leaving the
group. No matter how you choose to play this can be an extremely fun way to game.

This style of play is one I wish I was able to try sometime. I would love to play both as just a
single character without a party and also a campaign where I play as a single character but in
combat I can control a whole party. If I had a DM who was good at improvising I think this could
be one of the most enjoyable ways for me to play a game.

On YouTube there are at least 2 channels that cover this style of game. Matt Click's afistfulofdice
on YouTube and has recently started running games on his channel for his fiance. He is also my
DM for the Provokers campaign and is a very good DM. Andrew Armstrong known as
DawnforgedCast has a couple games in this style on his channel. One is with his wife, and the
other is with one of his viewers. To see how these games can be played go and check those
channels out. If you are interested in running or playing a game in this style feel free to join the
Tabletop RPG One Shot Group and seek it out.
http://www.rpgready.com/solo-roleplaying-solo-rpg/

The Complete Guide to Solo Roleplaying - RPG Ready

Arthur England
12-15 minutes

Solo Roleplaying
Why Solo Roleplaying?

Before I delve into the topic of Solo Roleplaying, I first need to define what I mean. For me the
term “solo roleplaying” refers to gaming all by myself. I’m the GM, I’m the player(s)…I’m
responsible for the whole kit and caboodle. Some people call one GM and one Player a solo
game, but for me that’s a “Duet.” Ok, now that we’ve cleared that up, let’s proceed.

The concept of playing a roleplaying game solo really throws some people for a loop. After all
RPGs are social games, right? Sure, but that’s only one part of it. RPGs also let you flex your
storytelling muscles, dive deeply into character motivations, and explore new rulesets and dice
mechanics.

Solo roleplaying lets me test out new rulesets to get comfortable with a new game’s mechanics
before I take it out in the wild and unleash it on my gaming group. And it allows me to play
games that might never otherwise make it onto my table. I confess, I’m a bit of an RPG junkie…I
already have way more games than I’ll ever be able to play with a group. Solo roleplaying lets me
get my fix with these games.

Solo roleplaying isn’t the bulk of my gaming, but it does have a place. There are times when I
don’t have time to get a game together, but still want to mess around in the hobby I greatly
enjoy. I can play for an hour and two to scratch that RPG itch.

Solo roleplaying will never replace the energy, group creativity and social aspects of playing with
a group. However, Solo play will still let you explore, create, battle, test and learn!
How to Solo Roleplay

You need 3 basic things to run a solo game.

An RPG Ruleset – this is your normal gaming ruleset. It could be Dungeon’s & Dragons, Edge
of the Empire, a version of FATE, or whatever else floats your boat. There are several schools of
thought when it comes to picking your solo system. Some soloists prefer more crunchy, rules
heavy systems as they provide more detail for how to adjudicate any given situation. For others,
rules-lite systems work better as they are are really just wanting to have a fiction writing
experience that is guided a bit by the dice. You can’t go wrong either way, at the end of the day
you should just pick what you want to play, and play it. That’s the whole point of soloing in the
first place.
A Solo Engine – this is a set of “rules” for using the your gaming ruleset. Solo Engines help
take on some of the heavy lifting typically carried by the GM. They help guide you in deciding
what is going on in the world around you. Sole roleplaying isn’t GM-Less per se. As I mentioned
before, you are player and GM. The Solo Engine helps you with the GM part of the job so you
aren’t just making up a story, you are reacting to the story. Solo Engines like the Mythic GM
Emulator allow you to “ask the GM” questions, while others like The 9 Questions Engine provide
a framework for your adventure, but don’t answer questions.
A Record Keeping System – since you aren’t working from a set of prep notes or a published
adventure, you’ll need some way of keeping track of what is happening. Several of the Solo
Engines provide you with forms you can fill out as you go to keep a record of the action. Some
soloist RPGs prefer to get a special journal to keep their notes in, others find index cards do the
trick just fine. Your notes can be brief bullet points, or long form stories complete with detailed
dialog. Pick whatever suits your style of play and run with it!

Solo RPG Engines

1. Mythic GM Emulator

Mythic GM EmulatorThe Mythic GM Emulator is the go-to engine for most solo gamers. The
best way to explain the Mythic GM Emulator is using the book’s own words:

Most RPGs operate under the principle that there are players and there is a Game Master, who is
responsible for running the show. The GM prepares all the details of an adventure, and then
“runs” the players through that adventure. This usually requires a great deal of preparation on
the part of the GM and the handling of many details. Mythic: GME is different in that it requires
no preparation from the GM. Mythic adventures are meant to be played off the cuff, with
perhaps a few minutes of brainstorming to come up with the opening scene. Mythic can also be
played entirely without a GM.

The same mechanics in Mythic that allow a GM to run an adventure without preparation also
allow a group of
players to do without the GM. You can think of Mythic as an artificial intelligence. It is designed
to use simple rules of logic to answer any yes/no question. So, whether you are playing alone, or
acting as an unprepared GM, or are a group of players without a GM, just ask your questions …
only, instead of asking a live GM, you ask Mythic.

Check out the Mythic GM Emulator

2. Conjectural Roleplaying Emulator

CRGEConjectural Roleplaying Emulator is used to answer binary questions that a player would
normally ask a GM. CRGE answers these questions, sometimes with a twist. CRGE ultimately
leads toward the unexpected. What good GM would not add some surprise in to the story to
shake the players off the foreseen path?

CRGE makes sure to emulate that GM tool of surprise. In addition, CRGE has a framework
where players take turns controlling the flow and scenes of the story. Nobody controls the game
like a GM would, but players are given the chance to chase their own vision and make sure their
player characters (“PC’s”) have some of the limelight.

Check out the Conjectural Roleplaying Emulator

3. The 9Qs Solo RPG Engine

9Qs Solo RPG EngineDerived from screenwriting techniques, the 9Qs Solo RPG Engine features
nine questions that guide a solo player through spontaneous role-playing game adventures by
directing and inspiring the creation of exciting encounters. Those encounters will become the
building blocks of a complete story, from the intriguing opening sequences to the climactic final
confrontation between the heroes and their greatest threats!

To make this happen, the 9Qs exploits the unique rhythm that is the interplay between the
Game Master and the Player Characters. During a game, you are both the GM and the PCs. So,
as you play, you’ll be presented with the challenge of creating a cohesive narrative out of
disparate inspirations and the heroic actions of PCs.

Check out the 9Qs Solo RPG Engine

4. Covetous Poets Adventure Creator

Covetous Poets Adventure CreatorThe Covetous Poet’s Adventure Creator and Solo GM
Guidebook is a supplement for roleplayers who would like to write their own adventures, or play
their favorite roleplaying games solo.

The first section of the book, the Adventure Creator, will guide you through the process of
creating your own RPG storyline using a pre-prepared act structure. The Story Charts found in
the middle of the book contain hundreds of ideas for things, actions, locations, plot devices and
more for fantasy, horror, and sci-fi genres, which will help inspire you as you create.
The second section, the Solo GM Guidebook, uses the Adventure Creator as the basis to begin
playing roleplaying games solo. This supplement doesn’t provide an RPG system or rules set,
instead it lets you take your favorite RPG system that you already own and build stories for it as
you play. Using the Adventure Creator and improvisational techniques you will make up your
story scene by scene, discovering what happens as you go, but still creating a coherent narrative
thanks to the act structure which continues to guide the story.

The book also has additional chapters that covers different types of act structures so you can
design your stories however you want, as well as extra charts and information for creating
characters and locations.

Check out the Covetous Poet’s Adventure Creator and Solo GM Guidebook

5. Perilous Intersections

Perilous IntersectionsPerilous Intersections is a lightweight engine to power your solitaire

roleplaying game adventures. It works by directing you to answer the Big Questions that brings a
hero into conflict with a setting’s threat. It keeps some measure of surprise while the emergent
plot provides resistance to the protagonist’s motivations.

It works best with characters that have strong motivations and are action-driven. It can work in
tandem with any existing RPG system, and is interactive, responding to the PC’s efforts to
counter the main antagonist, making his/her choices matter.

At the heart of this solo engine are intersections. An intersection is a particular method of
interpretation whereby one runs a random idea prompt through a filter. This filter always
provides a “push” on the PC’s goals and motivations, and sometimes against him/her directly.

Perilous Intersections also has a timing mechanism that brings urgency to the scenario and
demands resolution. Like any similar solo engine (Mythic GM Emulator, the 9Q’s, and many
other great indie games), it relies heavily upon proper interpretation of random prompts and
cues. Largely intended as a solo engine, it can be used in a group setting, giving a collaborative
approach to a GM-full multi-player structure, similar to the Mythic GM Emulator.

Check out Perilous Intersections

Solo RPG Tools

In addition to your RPG Ruleset and Solo RPG Engine, there are a bunch of tools that
can help make the solo gamer’s life much easier. First of all, don’t forget to look
through the setting information and source books that come with your game
system. You’ll find NPCs, fantastic locations and story hooks that you can use to kick
off your game. Usually that’s the toughest part of playing solo…figuring out where
to start.

Resources like Eureka: 501 Adventure Plots to Inspire Game Masters can provide you
with great jumping off points to matter what genre you are playing.

Idea Generators are also key to getting “unstuck”…several solo engines require that
you have an idea generator handy to help seed the plot. A couple you’ll want to
consider are:

• Rory’s Story Cubes – either physical dice or iOS App

• Event Meaning Generator from the Mythic GM Emulator engine
• The Idea Generator – random words and/or images
• Abulafia Random Generator – Abulafia is a collection of user-contributed random
generators housed within a special kind of wiki.
One issue that does arise with Solo RPG Engines is the number of tables and
lookups that have to be made. And that’s not to mention keeping track of what
questions have been asked, and the resulting answers. These two sites help do a lot
of the heavy lifting if you’ll be playing a game with a computer or tablet nearby.

• Online Mythic GM Emulator

• RPGSolo.com
Here are several other resources that I recommend for enhancing your solo play
endeavors.

• UNE – Universal NPC Emulator – With just a handful of dice rolls, UNE can help
create a surprising non-player character (NPC) with its own motivations. A few
more dice rolls, and UNE can provide more direction to place the newly-
created NPC smack dab in the center of the story. It can even help determine
the NPC’s general mood towards the player characters.
• The Location Crafter – The Location Crafter is an RPG supplement designed to help
Game Masters create exciting locations for characters to explore, complete
with encounters, fast and easy. Create locations before you play or as you
adventure, off the cuff. The Location Crafter uses a simple system of expected
elements and randomness, with mechanics to throw in twists to make your
locations exciting and new each time! You decide how much detail to include
with your location and it can be scaled to any size, from a simple hotel room
to a planet or universe.
• BOLD – The Book of Legend and Deeds – With just a handful of dice rolls, BOLD
can generate interesting character histories, downtime events, and even
adventures. Any character instantly obtains deeds and legends that are
overcome in unexpected ways. These deeds can even arc out in to entire
stories.
And finally, here are a couple of online groups you’ll want to check out to learn more
about Sole Roleplaying:

• Mythic Roleplaying and Word Mill Publishing Fan Club

• Lone Wolf Roleplaying Google+ Community –
Solo RPG Actual Play Examples
How about some actual play examples? Here are a few actual play sessions that will
help you get a better feel for how Solo Roleplaying works:

Actual Play Posts:

• Flashing Blades + Mythic GM Emulator

• Hero quest Glorantha + Various Tools
• Supers! + 9Qs Solo RPG Engine

https://www.rpg.net/columns/list-column.phtml?colname=duets

#50: Closing Thoughts (11/20/2014)

Some final thoughts on duets.
#49: Fantasy Campaign Ideas (10/01/2014)
Fifteen ideas for Duets fantasy campaigns.
#48: Duets vs. Groups (08/19/2014)
The differences between duet and group play.
#47: NPC Evolution (06/19/2014)
How NPCs can change.
#46: A Good Start (05/20/2014)
How do you start a Duets campaign?
#45: Tidying Your Notes (03/18/2014)
Keeping campaign notes in order.
#44: Disasters (02/19/2014)
How to avoid RPing disasters & how to resolve them.
#43: Of Dreams and Castles (01/23/2014)
Building, growing, and preserving in RPGs.
#42: Humour (12/17/2013)
A look at the humor genre for Duets.
#41: Horror (11/22/2013)
How to execute horror in a duet.
#40: Quick Starting a Duet (10/24/2013)
How to get a new campaign going in a hurry.
#39: Mindfulness (09/17/2013)
Great roleplaying by being an engaged roleplayer.
#38: Player Decisions (07/18/2013)
Driving players toward difficult decisions.
#37: Convincing Your Partner (06/18/2013)
Getting a new RPG to the table.
#36: More Successful Duets Campaigns (04/16/2013)
A successful d6 Star Wars Duet — and the definition of success.
#35: Effective Duet Campaigns (03/19/2013)
A case study of the 3e Periador campaign.
#34: NPCs III (02/20/2013)
Executing an NPC — actually running them, that is.
#33: NPCs II (01/22/2013)
How to make special NPCs stand out.
#32: NPCs I (12/20/2012)
Using great NPCs for great effect.
#31: Musings on Duets (10/18/2012)
Gen Con causes some rethinking on duets.
#30: Adventures II (09/27/2012)
A structure for Duet adventures.
#29: Adventures I (07/18/2012)
Tips for running adventures in duet sagas.
#28: Story Arcs (06/21/2012)
Creating story arcs as part of a duet saga.
#27: Duet Campaigns (05/24/2012)
Campaign = Character.
#26: Duet Settings (03/22/2012)
Concept & conflict in your saga setting.
#25: Duet Saga Introduction (02/23/2012)
A duet that can encompass multiple campaigns.
#24: Beginnings (01/19/2012)
Launching a new duet.
#23: The Little Things (12/01/2011)
The importance of little details in a campaign.
#22: Praise (09/27/2011)
Can praise be better than XP and gold?
#21: Successful Play-By-Post Campaigns (08/18/2011)
Play-by-posts for any number of players.
#20: Harry Potter as a Duet (07/20/2011)
How Harry Potter would be tricky if run as a Duet.
#19: Failure (06/23/2011)
How to use failures in duets.
#18: Mistakes to Avoid (05/19/2011)
Character, campaign, prelude, present, and other duet problems.
#17: Decision Trees (04/21/2011)
Using decision trees to help internalize the thinking process.
#16: War Campaigns II (03/24/2011)
A model structure for war campaigns.
#15: War Campaigns I (02/24/2011)
What to consider when creating a war duet.
#14: Political Campaigns III (12/29/2010)
A final look at politics & duets.
#13: Political Campaigns II (10/21/2010)
Details in political campaigns.
#12: Political Campaigns I (09/23/2010)
Creating campaigns focused on diplomacy and governance.
#11: Play-By-Post (08/19/2010)
Running a two-player game on the interwebs.
#10: A Sci-Fi Campaign (05/20/2010)
A synopsis of sci-fi for two.
#9: Making any RPG Support Duets (04/22/2010)
Which RPGs are best suited for duets?
#8: Making Time (03/19/2010)
Alternate ways to run duets, including by the internet and as a part of real life.
#7: Romance (02/17/2010)
Running romance in a two-player game.
#6: Communication (01/20/2010)
Elements of successful communication in a Duets game.
#5: Going the Distance (12/18/2009)
Making a duet campaign last.
#4: Starting a Campaign (11/16/2009)
Do's and Don't's for the new GM.
#3: Side Adventures (10/19/2009)
Fitting duets into a group campaign.
#2: Tipping the Scales (09/21/2009)
How to give single players a fair shake.
#1: The Basics (08/17/2009)
Running a roleplaying adventure with one player

This is the final installment of Duets. I've been running duets for twenty years and writing about
them in one form or another for the last nine. The writing began with a mega-thread I started
with Doug Lohse on the Wizards of the Coast forums on the topic. We shared our thoughts on
the subject and answered questions for GMs. We called duets 'solo campaigns' at that point; it
wasn't until I started this column that I settled on the name 'duets' for roleplaying consisting of
one GM with one player. The hobby and industry favors the terms 'solo' and 'one-on-one'. 'Solo'
is just not accurate as this is not a choose-your-own-adventure approach while 'one-on-one' is
very confrontational or kinky sounding and a poor term for the subject. 'Duets' invokes the
cooperation and harmony that a one GM with one player roleplaying experience creates; it's a
great term for a great aspect of roleplaying and I consider its introduction and promulgation the
biggest success of this column.

For myself, duets began as a compromise. I wanted to GM but organizing a group was often
more work than it was worth. Frustration led me to focus on small groups of one to three
players. Then I discovered something startling: the smaller the group the better the roleplaying.
You could accomplish so much more with fewer players. I've run a lot of duets, mostly with my
wife, and the pacing, detail, and narratives are vastly more intricate and compelling than nearly
all of my group experiences. It's a very different way of roleplaying - more intimate, more
demanding, and more frightening. Groups provide a shield for both the GM and the individual
players. You deal with the events happening in the setting with a degree of detachment and the
group dynamic slows the pace and often absorbs the drama. I'll admit that I've been in some
groups where the players fully invest and find a way to harmonize with one another. That
doesn't mean their PCs all get along, just that they find a dynamic between their PCs that makes
the session engaging and the campaign dynamic. Yet if you compare duets to groups overall the
quality of the roleplaying and story development is like night and day.

Why is this? I've theorized a lot on this over the years and come up with two simple reasons.
First, in a duet there's less distractions. You have one GM who is focused on one player and you
have one player who is completely focused on the adventure. Second, and perhaps this is the
cause of the first reason, is that the player has so much time to work with. Let's say you GM a
three-hour session with five players. The GM will take up at least half of that time or about 90
minutes. The five remaining players each should get about 18 minutes - which means that only
10% of the entire time of the session a player will get to actually roleplay and interact with the
setting. It's no wonder they're distracted and quote movies or fiddle with their phones; they are
sitting passively for 162 minutes. With a duet the GM still takes up half the time, though with
less repetition and explanation needed, while the player has all the rest of the time to herself.
This is the essence of why duets are so effective - they give you more time. Not only that but
duets are easy to schedule so not only do you make better use of your time, you can game more
often as well.

Now there is something I have not discussed much at all that's perhaps the secret ingredient for
duets: the compatibility of GM and player. How well their play styles mesh will define the
success of their duet. It's a pretty obvious point, but I've danced around it in various columns
preferring to focus on the necessity of communication and compromise. The truth is there is no
GM and player who are in perfect harmony. I would posit that even if a role-player could make
an exact clone of herself their play styles would be different. We are fickle beings. This is one
reason groups have an advantage over duets as the group dynamic waters down play style
differences. With duets everything is out on the table and differences will become apparent.
Compatibility is not having the same play style; it's being willing to humor each other's play
styles. This isn't really compromise so much as finding enjoyment outside of your comfort zone.
My point is that when you are lucky enough to find a partner to run duets with whose play style
meshes with yours, then cherish that relationship. How do you do that? You go more than half
way in humoring and finding enjoyment in their preferences. They'll do the same, and when
both of you go beyond halfway then everyone gets an experience that is better than 100% of what
they expected. I am extremely fortunate to have a wife who is both my favorite player and GM.
Duets made that possible.

I have at this point pretty much exhausted my opinions on the subject of duets. All that remains
is to thank everyone who's taken the time to read these columns and especially to those who've
taken the time to comment on the forums or send me a private message. It is my sincere hope
that this column has helped people start up their own duets as they are truly fantastic
experiences. Beyond this, I intend to do a new column starting, hopefully, in January that will be
more focused on group roleplaying, though I suspect it will have application to duets as well.

Thanks for reading! Now go start a duet.