Single Player, Single DM compatible High Fantasy Systems
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Heya,
I am working on helping my partner approach the concept of TTRPGs. She is curious, but definitely not ready to try it with other players. As such, I am looking for a system which lets me DM for her, while making for a comfortable enough experience for a singular player.
Things I am looking for are: Should include combat that serves to support the narrative, not to slog down the pace There should be a way to include magic abilities to model a character who is a sorcerer or wizard or such. It should be open enough to help encourage her building a sense of “I can do anything as long as I can reasonably imagine it in the situation”, rather than just trying to stick to explicit options
I have started watching Me, Myself and Die recently and certainly have been enjoying the pacing, but the system used, at least in the first season, seems to be difficult to make work with a high fantasy character, which is quite important in this case.
Any recommendations? If need be, I am also happy to homebrew some stuff, as long as I feel like the balancing is easy enough to do.
Thanks for reading!
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Heya,
I am working on helping my partner approach the concept of TTRPGs. She is curious, but definitely not ready to try it with other players. As such, I am looking for a system which lets me DM for her, while making for a comfortable enough experience for a singular player.
Things I am looking for are: Should include combat that serves to support the narrative, not to slog down the pace There should be a way to include magic abilities to model a character who is a sorcerer or wizard or such. It should be open enough to help encourage her building a sense of “I can do anything as long as I can reasonably imagine it in the situation”, rather than just trying to stick to explicit options
I have started watching Me, Myself and Die recently and certainly have been enjoying the pacing, but the system used, at least in the first season, seems to be difficult to make work with a high fantasy character, which is quite important in this case.
Any recommendations? If need be, I am also happy to homebrew some stuff, as long as I feel like the balancing is easy enough to do.
Thanks for reading!
You could use Fate. Fate is a generic system that can do high fantasy just fine. It doesn’t need a full party like D&D does. It handles social and physical conflict equally well. The way aspects work is very “As long as I can justify it in the story, it could happen”. You can spend fate points as a player to alter the story, too, which is fun. I also like that it’s generally “You can get what you want, if you’re lucky or pay the price”. “Succeed at a major cost” is almost always on the table.
The downside is it has big “tyranny of the blank page”. D&D-likes you can just point at “Human Fighter” and go. Fate asks you to come up with your high concept, trouble, and background on your own. If you’re creative and that excites you, it’s freeing and exhilarating. If you’re shy, it can be overwhelming.
The core rules don’t have a detailed magic system. It’s up to you to decide how you want it to work, or to buy a splatbook where someone else made a system. It’s pretty easy to tinker with.
It’s also up to the GM to make sure the threats are reasonable. There’s no “CR” system like D&D. But players also always have the power to concede, where they lose the immediate conflict but survive. You don’t have to worry about accidentally wiping the player(s) usually.
You could look for some PbtA games, which are extremely popular. I personally don’t like them much because playbooks feel more like mad libs than creative writing. I also don’t like the dice system, and often find it punishing to the point of not being fun. (I just played a PbtA game last night and don’t think I rolled even a success on like 6 rolls in a row. I felt incompetent and it sucked).
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Heya,
I am working on helping my partner approach the concept of TTRPGs. She is curious, but definitely not ready to try it with other players. As such, I am looking for a system which lets me DM for her, while making for a comfortable enough experience for a singular player.
Things I am looking for are: Should include combat that serves to support the narrative, not to slog down the pace There should be a way to include magic abilities to model a character who is a sorcerer or wizard or such. It should be open enough to help encourage her building a sense of “I can do anything as long as I can reasonably imagine it in the situation”, rather than just trying to stick to explicit options
I have started watching Me, Myself and Die recently and certainly have been enjoying the pacing, but the system used, at least in the first season, seems to be difficult to make work with a high fantasy character, which is quite important in this case.
Any recommendations? If need be, I am also happy to homebrew some stuff, as long as I feel like the balancing is easy enough to do.
Thanks for reading!
Dungeon Dive keeps telling me that Scarlet Heroes + Whitebox is a great solo experience (or one player and one GM) you can replace Whitebox with your preferred OSR theme setting.
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You could use Fate. Fate is a generic system that can do high fantasy just fine. It doesn’t need a full party like D&D does. It handles social and physical conflict equally well. The way aspects work is very “As long as I can justify it in the story, it could happen”. You can spend fate points as a player to alter the story, too, which is fun. I also like that it’s generally “You can get what you want, if you’re lucky or pay the price”. “Succeed at a major cost” is almost always on the table.
The downside is it has big “tyranny of the blank page”. D&D-likes you can just point at “Human Fighter” and go. Fate asks you to come up with your high concept, trouble, and background on your own. If you’re creative and that excites you, it’s freeing and exhilarating. If you’re shy, it can be overwhelming.
The core rules don’t have a detailed magic system. It’s up to you to decide how you want it to work, or to buy a splatbook where someone else made a system. It’s pretty easy to tinker with.
It’s also up to the GM to make sure the threats are reasonable. There’s no “CR” system like D&D. But players also always have the power to concede, where they lose the immediate conflict but survive. You don’t have to worry about accidentally wiping the player(s) usually.
You could look for some PbtA games, which are extremely popular. I personally don’t like them much because playbooks feel more like mad libs than creative writing. I also don’t like the dice system, and often find it punishing to the point of not being fun. (I just played a PbtA game last night and don’t think I rolled even a success on like 6 rolls in a row. I felt incompetent and it sucked).
Seconding Fate, the rules do a good job of supporting the fiction rather than encumbering it. I felt it very much supported that feeling of “I can do anything I can reasonably imagine.”
To help with the tyranny of the blank page, I’d recommend coming up with a pregenerated character to demo how it all works. Then, encourage her to change or adjust anything she wants to on the sheet. My players initially found it easier to modify something to their liking than to come up with something from scratch.
Magic can be as simple as “Roll your Lore skill” if you want or you can look up several more detailed add-ons that are out there, like Fate High Fantasy magic.
The rules are freely available here: https://fate-srd.com/fate-condensed.
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Seconding Fate, the rules do a good job of supporting the fiction rather than encumbering it. I felt it very much supported that feeling of “I can do anything I can reasonably imagine.”
To help with the tyranny of the blank page, I’d recommend coming up with a pregenerated character to demo how it all works. Then, encourage her to change or adjust anything she wants to on the sheet. My players initially found it easier to modify something to their liking than to come up with something from scratch.
Magic can be as simple as “Roll your Lore skill” if you want or you can look up several more detailed add-ons that are out there, like Fate High Fantasy magic.
The rules are freely available here: https://fate-srd.com/fate-condensed.
A note, if you pursue this: There’s fate core and fate condensed that are very similar, but have a few minor changes. Stress (similar to HP) is handled slightly differently between them. I prefer core’s method, but some people like condensed.
There’s also fate accelerated which is even lighter weight.
They’re all free on the website linked above - https://fate-srd.com/ - rules drop down has all the options
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Heya,
I am working on helping my partner approach the concept of TTRPGs. She is curious, but definitely not ready to try it with other players. As such, I am looking for a system which lets me DM for her, while making for a comfortable enough experience for a singular player.
Things I am looking for are: Should include combat that serves to support the narrative, not to slog down the pace There should be a way to include magic abilities to model a character who is a sorcerer or wizard or such. It should be open enough to help encourage her building a sense of “I can do anything as long as I can reasonably imagine it in the situation”, rather than just trying to stick to explicit options
I have started watching Me, Myself and Die recently and certainly have been enjoying the pacing, but the system used, at least in the first season, seems to be difficult to make work with a high fantasy character, which is quite important in this case.
Any recommendations? If need be, I am also happy to homebrew some stuff, as long as I feel like the balancing is easy enough to do.
Thanks for reading!
I think Godbound could be a really interesting system for a one on one. Players take on the role of literal gods, and are forces to be reckoned with even at first level. And their godly powers are really game breaking, but totally on purpose! In fact, one condition of passing to level 2 is to have changed the world around you. This is done through some super nifty systems that let you (the GM) handle villages, factions and so on with very few stats. Like all books by Kevin Crawford, itvs designed for sandbox style adventures and comes with practical tips on how to prepare yourself to handle things without burning yourself out.
It’s an OSR game, but Godbound feels particularly narrativist, to me. For example no skills, just a d20 roll under your stat, if at all needed. And you get a +4 bonus if any of your Facts (think, Aspects in Fate) apply. I won’t go into combat details, but to put it succinctly : you don’t even look at the Hit Points of your enemies, you do damage in Hit Dice! So even the most peaceful of PCs can wipe the floor without even making an effort. Think the Three Kingdoms video games, where your hero can take on entire battalion as a matter of course (and yes there are rules for that, and yes, they are simple)
And there are two adventures set in the China inspired area of the setting, to really get the idea that this more wuxia than sword and sorcery. If you know Exalted? That’s the version with rules that won’t drive you mad with all the bean counting.
Scarlet Heroes mentioned elsewhere is by the same author. An Echo Resounding is an extension for it. Combined, they are an earlier incarnation of Godbound, in my opinion. In the sense that all the stuff you find in those two books got refined and unified in Godbound. And then pushed to eleven because now you play freaking gods (and there are optional rules to play mortals).
