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Master Solo Engines: Gain Compelling Adventures by Asking, and Answering, the Correct Questions
by Chad [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 11/26/2023 10:27:13

It includes useful ideas about generating and organizing ideas, framing scenes, and recording detail, parsing out gm and player modes. But it is at times poorly edited. Its great for a free product but it could stand to be updated for clarity and use of space.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
Master Solo Engines: Gain Compelling Adventures by Asking, and Answering, the Correct Questions
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Guide to Playing Alone
by Robert K. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 05/10/2022 10:16:20

There's nothing substantial here: Guide is very short, and has large fonts and empty spaces. It mostly tells just tells you think about what aspects of games you like, then tells you to use the Mythic GME and finally to sign up for another guide through an email list.



Rating:
[2 of 5 Stars!]
Guide to Playing Alone
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Frustration to Freedom: 30 Days to Legendary Solo Roleplaying Adventures
by Courtney D. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 10/21/2020 02:51:21

This "training course" consists of thirty lessons going through all the fundamentals of solo roleplaying, and most having an exercise to help you put the lesson to use. It assumes you have no prior experience and tries to explain everything clearly. If you're particularly busy and don't have much time to yourself, doing the lessons day-by-day is a blessing as MOST don't ask for too much time (the exception would be the one or two which ask you to research different game engines for yourself, no small feat!).

The lessons I've found to be absolutely core to solo roleplaying. They may be completely eye-opening for those who have merely dabbled in solo rpg sessions. It asks you to explore what it is that YOU want from your sessions and helps you understand what tools are available. Finally, this encourages experimentation as well as mixing and matching one's tools in order to tailor their experiences for themselves.

I highly recommend this for anyone and everyone getting into solo roleplaying.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Frustration to Freedom: 30 Days to Legendary Solo Roleplaying Adventures
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Fate Solo
by Jim B. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 11/22/2018 21:07:00

It could really use an editor's hand to clarify the text.

Things you might like:

  • What it comes down to is that if you're looking for a solo GM emulator that uses Fate dice instead of other dice, here you go. Given that there are dice apps and online dice rollers, and given that many RPGers already have an assortment of physical dice, you should have little trouble finding a way to roll dice for some other tool. I don't see much need for a Fate-dice-only tool.
  • You could use Fate Solo for Fate Core or Fate Accelerated. The character creation section is written for Fate Core, but it wouldn't be hard to adapt it for Fate Accelerated.

Things you might not like:

  • If you're not already familiar with solo RPG play, solo oracles, and so on, this isn't the place to start. This isn't an introduction to solo RPG play. You already need to know how you'd use a solo oracle before you can make sense of this document. That prerequisite should be called out in the product description.
  • If you're not already up to speed on Fate Core, this isn't the place to start. You need a decent familiarity with Fate Core before you use this. That's another prerequisite that should be called out in the product description. This isn't a stand-alone product.
  • It asks you to use a randomizer "to discover what the modifier means" or "to help frame questions," but it doesn't tell you what a randomizer is, where you might find one, or how you might make your own. It doesn't tell you how a randomizer might explain a modifier or frame a question. Presumably, it's talking about things like the Event Meaning tables from the Mythic Game Emulator, or the situation/adventure generators you can find in various resources. If you already have these other resources, however, why do you need Fate Solo? Your other resources probably use something other than Fate dice anyway, so there goes the "philosophy" of Fate Solo - "That when playing Fate you don't have to pick up non-Fate dice." Is it really so horrible to touch non-Fate dice?
  • There's no explicit explanation of the notation used in the oracle, which is an odd omission for a core tool. The text gets around to telling you that the number of pluses or minuses is the number of "surprise factor" rolls to make, but it doesn't tell you how to handle Yes+ vs Yes-, for example. It doesn't tell you if Yes+ and Yes++ differ in ways other than the number of surprise rolls. One can guess that Yes+ means "Yes, in a beneficial way" while Yes- means "yes, but there's a catch." Or maybe it means that if there's a surprise, Yes+ is a beneificial surprise while Yes- is a problem surprise. Either way, leaving the notation to guesswork is still an odd omission.
  • It's odd that the "first non-blank dice" helps you pick between two options. Does the author expect you to roll your four Fate dice one at a time, every time?
  • The surprise factor description could definitely use some editorial help to clarify the text. In essence, the chance for a plot twist increases the longer you go without one.
  • If you want help using the oracle to establish a game world, a campaign story arc, a short-term story arc, or a scene, too bad. This doesn't offer any help with any of that.
  • The interview, which takes up roughly half of the page count, has a lot non-nutritive filler ("great to be here," "umm," etc.). It includes some brief, limited comments on forming questions and runnnig NPCs, but that information should be incorporated into the description of the solo engine. The interview itself isn't important. (Or if the author considers the interview important, he should give the context - who the interviewer was, and when, where, and why this interview was conducted. As presented, it's an anonymous interviewer without any context. Maybe it's the author's own hypothetical interview?)

The more I look at solo engines for use with Fate, the more I've realized that Fate doesn't need an outside solo engine. Fate's own discussion of "Scenes, Sessions, and Scenarios" gives you questions to pose. Aspects can describe a situation and assert truths about the setting. The Create an Advantage action lets you create aspects on the fly, and you might or might not get the answer you were hoping for. You've got everything you need to ask and answer questions, without an outside oracle. You can use "Create an Advantage" for meta-questions (questions about the situation instead of actions your character carries out), and there's your oracle.



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[2 of 5 Stars!]
Fate Solo
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Fate Solo
by Michael B. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 07/20/2018 02:16:43

I love using FATE dice and really like the FATE Solo Oracle. I use it for most of my solo adventures.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
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Fate Solo
by Bradford E. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 02/20/2017 10:00:56

Like another user before me, the writing for this was ambiguous, at best...save the character creation...that part was pretty straight-forward. The rest on how you use the oracle assumes a lot of pre-existing knowledge of the player. For instance, how do you determine the odds of something happening when rolling for the Oracle? Though its intent is admirable, this just isn't a well-thought-out solo module. Use Mythic GME, instead...sure, it seems a bit more cumbersome, but in the end it's more concisely-written, and the only hurdle you'll have to make is deciding when to make Compels.



Rating:
[1 of 5 Stars!]
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Frustration to Freedom: 30 Days to Legendary Solo Roleplaying Adventures
by Harry B. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 02/19/2017 04:32:21

Its been a while since I bought this. I never got around to write a review but now with the new format and new price I feel its time to correct that oversight.

First of all a warning. The original course was via e-mail and you got 1 chapter/lesson per day. The new format gives you all lessons in 1 handy PDF but... if you are like me you will scan through the PDF, read the stuff thats new to you and skip the things you already think you know. I urge you to use this like it was originally intended. Read one or two chapter and do some of the homework, then put it away for the next day.

Chances are that (as a serious solo RPGer) you already know most of the stuff that is in this course. It is my personal believe that all Solo RPGing builds on the solid foundation layed by Tana Pigeons Mythic GME. Other described techniques and methods are freely available and might be known to you. So why get this book?

What FtF adds to SoloRPGing is something I haven't seen in other products. This is not yet another Solo Engine or coloction of random content list. FtF dares you to make up your own content lists, brainstorm and write your own setting. It wants you to get out of all the theory books, systems and sourcebooks and have a real solo adventure!

The course is practical. Lets you create your adventure and while doing that you learn to use all the great tools we have today. It is this course that finally got me from ammasing tools and source books to actually using them to have fun. I highly recommend you get this course.

PS You do need a Solo Engine with this and I advise you to get http://www.rpgnow.com/product/16173/Mythic-Role-Playing?manufacturers_id=480&it=1



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Frustration to Freedom: 30 Days to Legendary Solo Roleplaying Adventures
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Fate Solo
by Dillard R. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 02/14/2017 00:08:08

This product needs a lot of work. It is very confusing as written. There are three "modules" for Fate Solo. First is the Oracle or engine for answering yes/no questions. A yes/no question is asked about a situation roll Fate dice and based on your roll and what odds you have determined for the answer to be true you get a result of yes or no. This yes or no can be modified by getting a plus + result or a minus - result. How? I am not really sure. Examples aren't given within the module on the Oracle. However, at the end the author gives a very quick example of play, but doesn't explain how he arrived at his results that aren't contradictory. Also in this section he refers to using a randomizer for framing questions but gives no examples of such randamizers.

In the Character Module the author describes his recommendation for generating characters. This is straight forward. The characters are initially quite over-powered in comparison to a normal character. This is so they can handle a variety of activities without being stuck for the lack of other players.

The module on Surprises relies on figuring out surprises based on results from the Oracle module. Since the explanation of the Oracle module was muddled this module isn't any better.

Recommendation: Don't buy this. Don't get it for free. I would recommend getting Mythic or something similar.



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[1 of 5 Stars!]
Fate Solo
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Guide to Playing Alone
by Jean-Baptiste B. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 01/04/2016 04:26:08

Yes, this article cost 1€36, and it is too expensive ... This book is empty. Vague advices, large font size, big margins ... First chapter ? "Know Roleplaying", well ... Second ? "Know Thy Self", are you Diamond, Spades, Hearts, or Clubs ? Hum ...

Truly the subject of the book begin page 9 and finish page 13 with an absolutely pointless page 11. And what we have in this pages is vague advices and few links to the blog's author for a list of solo engine, reference to Mythic System etc.

There is better on this subject on forums.

This article is not bad per se, but it's not a "guideline of how to start roleplaying alone" and certainly not what we expect from a "Sage" of solo rpg gaming.



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[1 of 5 Stars!]
Guide to Playing Alone
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Guide to Playing Alone
by Paul M. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 11/13/2015 13:45:54

Just recently inducted into solo gaming, this book has some solid advice for a beginner getting into solo rpg's. The author has his own site dedicated to the subject, and has been indispensable in my start in this surprisingly satisfying interpretation of our hobby. Highly recommend trying it.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Guide to Playing Alone
by Sophia B. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 03/26/2015 04:25:05
http://dieheart.net/alone-review/

Solo Role-playing is its own beast and while it is basically the same hobby there are some differences from normal role-playing in a group. Cabbage Games aka “Kenny the Cabbage” recently released the Guide to Playing Alone to help you get started with solo role-playing. The author is fairly active in the Lone Wolf G+ community so I asked for a review copy.

What do you need to know?

The product is a short 13-pages PDF.

Solo roleplaying is a way to roleplay when you are unable to roleplay with mates. It can’t take the place of time around the table, but solo roleplaying gives you a deep roleplaying experience, one that requires only yourself. The only excuses you’ll hear are the ones you bring. It is meant as a guide for learning the three key elements of solo rpgs and how to start roleplaying alone.

The product

The author, Kenny, identifies 3 core elements and explains them in the book:

Know Roleplaying Know Thy Self Know Thy Toolbox The first section is about role-playing and explains the basic setup: the player and the GM. You need to be both but can outsource the GM part by using a solo engine. What is this, you ask?

The solo engine is similar to the games engine of video games, but for solo tabletop role-playing. I would have liked a more elaborate explanation. The most common engine is the Mythic Game Master Emulator which is still the most sophisticated one out there. If you are not familiar with solo role-playing and the GME it wouldn’t hurt if there would be some explanation on what this can do for you and where it falls short. What exactly does a solo engine?

Next up is Know Thyself and I found some useful insights in this section. The author refers to Bartle Types, a classification for player types in MMOs by R. Bartle. Such designations are neat tools for getting clear about what type of player you are and what you want to get out of your game. Thus they help you to get a clear vision on what you want to achieve with solo role-playing.

Finally, we come to the Toolbox category. The author lists elements of tools you will need for solo role-playing. This is the meat of the show and will be most interesting for new soloists. Again, this part of the book is quite short but will get you started into the right direction. Personally, I’m more of a spontaneous person so I found it useful to have an organized list of useful types of tools. This approach is much more coordinated than I’m used to. However, the author mostly doesn’t mention specific tools but only broad categories like solo engines, setting books, random organizers and such. Luckily, he mentions the Mythic GME which is a must-buy for any solo role-player anyway. He also explains a bit more about what a solo engine is. Additionally, he refers to his website which also lists some tools although they are not as extensive as the list of the G+ community (check out the sticky post). I would have liked some more specifics in this section.

The last section of the book is Getting Started. Now it’s time to get your hands dirty and begin the journey! Kenny lists four prerequisites for a game:

1.Characters 2.Story 3.Techniques 4.Logging I was especially interested in Techniques and Logging. Techniques are always useful and logging has been a problem in the past when I first tried out solo role-playing. How do you write down your experiences without having to write a full story and still retain a roleplaying experience? Unfortunately, the author doesn’t go into detail but refers to a blog post he made. As there is no hyperlink I tried to find the blog post but couldn’t. The website, soloroleplayer.com is pretty fresh and it looks like this post isn’t up yet.

It would have been helpful to get some examples on how solo role-playing really works, for example with an Actual Play. After reading the whole book the newbie soloist has gained some insight into the topic but might be a bit stumped on how to incorporate the theory into practice.

Look & Layout

This is a minimalistic PDF with one-column layout. The artwork is sparse but good. The PDF is easy to read. Props for having electronic bookmarks, many publishers skip this. I am really missing hyperlinks as there are some references to web links which I had to copy & paste manually.

Summary

First off, I think it’s great that Kenny did the work to put out a guide for solo role-players. It’s the first of its kind. I love that it will probably help to promote this niche in the role-playing community. That said, as a complete guide, the Guide to Playing Alone falls short. It is more a primer to solo role-playing as it gives you some starting points. The advice is solid but a bit scarce. I really like the framework the author set up. The methodical approach is interesting and helpful, even for veterans. For absolute beginners this is a handy product as it gets you started. I just wish that the book would go more into detail and specifics. I see a lot of potential which hasn’t been realised yet. For people who have already played solo rpgs this is a nice addition to your collection but not a must-buy. For USD $1.47 you might want to pick it up nonetheless as it offers some advice which you might find valuable. All in all, the Guide to Playing Alone is a good product but simply too superficial for my taste. If this would be fleshed out more extensively it could easily be an awesome resource for solo role-players and thus be even more helpful for beginners & veterans alike.

Edit: Kenny answered to my review and said that he will update the product in the future after he has gathered some more feedback. Future releases will be free for all who have purchased this guide.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
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