All Things Solo

Sources: Player Approach Part I & Part II

# Ode to Heroes and Heroines Similarity Provides Structure and Stability Contrast Piques Your Interest Choose a base character: This can be a favorite character, someone you've created, or even a fictional character from a book or movie. Identify traits and characteristics: Think about the character's key traits and characteristics. These can be physical attributes, personality traits, or habits. Find synonyms or antonyms: For each trait, find an opposite that contrasts with it. In Drizzt's case, he could be compared to a dark elf who is cruel and power-hungry, representing the opposite of his kind-hearted nature. - OR - find a synonym word for a trait and use it to provide Structure or Stability. Exaggerate, understate or contrast traits: Take the chosen traits and their opposites, and either play with them in a way that creates an interesting contrast within the character. Ask "What IF" questions: This is to further explore the character's traits and how they interact with others or in various situations. For example, "What if Drizzt had grown up among surface elves instead of dark elves?" or "What if he was as power-hungry as his fellow dark elves?" Compare with other characters: Analyze the character's personality with other characters to identify similarities and contrasts between them. This can help you develop a deeper understanding of your character and their relationships with others. Iterate and refine: Continue to explore different aspects of the character, adjusting and refining their traits and interactions as needed. You can Combine some of the traits with a conjunction to turn them into the parts of a PC's personality.

# Questioning the Holy Grail Who ? - Ask about a character related to the quest. What ? - Ask about an object or action in the quest. When ? - Ask about a time of the quest. Maybe add a time limit. Where ? - Ask about a place(s) of your quest, or along the way. How ? - Ask about the way your PC can or "can't" achieve the goal(s). Why ? - Ask about a reason or a cause for the quest. WHAT IF... More info is in Muses (under the same title).

## Vision When you move a token in a map, don't just look at it, try to imagine that character is sweating to get into a defensive position in fear of getting shot! Or whatever is the context. And express it in any mode of play for record purposes. ## Place How do I incorporate this place into my game? Could my character find remnants of events in it? What type of characters would be interested in this place? Maybe they want to do something important in it? WHY? Because... ## Travel If you're measuring time and rolling for random encounters, whatever the length of your journey, don't bother with more than 2 random encounters regardless of distance. 1 combat encounter and 1 point of interest that is randomly decided (including IF there is an encounter) is enough.

# All That Glitters Is Trap! Conflict is anything that makes things difficult for the PC and opposes them. So, where to get inspiration for conflicts? Real life! Best type of conflict to use in Solo Play is the conflicts you're experiencing in life. Other than that, pick any famous person / group in the world, find their "haterz" and just steal from them. Fiction: Find the protagonist -> Find about his goal -> Find the antagonist > Read what the Bad Guy does to the protagonists to stop them. Easy.

# My Precious! Change elements in the content of inspiration to whatever is your dream. Use Freeform Association with CHOSEN words. Change things depending on your mood, be it good or bad. Combine the context at hand with another thing you find cool. Doodles (not just drawings but writing random sentences, singing a made up song about the context). Rule-based personalization: "1 PC with an inner conflict", "1 villain with the opposite outer conflict", and "1 dungeon." Experiment with all these ideas and more things from the rulebooks ingame. Try some other activity (other than gaming) if you have a creative block.