solo play???

[adidamps2]

ok do to moving and the inability to find any decent players in my area (i cant seem to find any rpg shops here) and the fact that no one were i work is remotely interested in rpg's i am left to with my spouse to play. so i was wondering how i should go about having her create her character?

 

a few more pts for creation or should i just scale down the adventures for her.

i also gave thought to building a character my self to help out. a weaker sidekick of sorts, or should i just let her run her character solo and focus more on the advertures a solo hero would encounter?

 

my thought for the setting would put her in a time comparable to ours, with supers being realativaly (sp) new to the world...

 

any thoughts or suggestions would be appreciated.

[Dr. Anomaly]

Re: solo play???

 

Mmm. I don't know how much this will help; the circumstances are somewhat different, and I don't know how much experience you have as a Champions GM (or how comfortable you feel with your skills), but:

 

I've been running a solo Legion of Super-Heroes campaign for several years now, with a couple of different charcters (by the same player) as Legion members, spread over a wide range of Legion history. Given that the Legion is galaxy-spanning and the characters from the comic books tend to be pretty powerful, my general approach to helping the player build her character went something like this:

 

1) Define core concept (martial artist with unbreakable sword and ability to render herself invisible; teenager with a for all intents and purposes invulnerable force-field she can never shut off and so has never had human contact; a teleporter who believes she's dead -- and medical instruments agree with her)

 

2) Talk about what powers and abilities might go with the core concept. Make an entire laundry list; don't leave anything out. Even if you don't end up using everything, it'll give ideas for how to advance the character with experience.

 

3) Ask the player which powers feel more like her concept of the character; don't concetrate on game mechanics, concentrate on effect ("Do you want a narrow beam of energy that can cut through pretty much anything, or a bigger, wider beam of nearly intolerable energy which does more damage but could be resisted by a sturdy enough material?" and not "Do you want an NND Does Body RKA, or a 15d6 Energy Blast?")

 

4) Ditto characteristics, Talents, Perks, etc.

 

5) Talk about character Disads.

 

6) Write up the character. Don't worry about points just yet.

 

7) Look at final character; is it too powerful? If so, negotiate about what to drop or reduce in power. (In this case, since it's a solo campaign, "too powerful" is less about "is the character more than 350 points" than "is this character unstoppable by the villains I'm thinking about using?") Remember, since it's a solo campaign, you're probably going to have to give the character a lot more points or tone down your villains...or make the character part of an NPC team. (If the character's a true solo, there's no one to pull her fat out of the fire if something goes wrong via bad die rolls or a misunderstanding between player and GM. And having an NPC hero just happen to show up to rescue the character can leave the player feeling like they're playing a "supporting role" to a starring NPC.)

 

That's how I usually go about it. I realize since the characters I've built for my solo campaign are for a high-powered campaign, and it's not a true "solo" in that it's a solo player, but there are lots of NPCs, it may be of limited help to you. But if nothing else, it may have given you some ideas.

[gojira]

Re: solo play???

 

Just to go off on a completely different direction from Dr. A's excellent post:

 

Have you considered Hero Central? I just got into a game there, and while we really haven't started yet, I think it's going to go just great. It's play by email, effectively, so it won't take much time. If your spouse isn't in to it, you can easily play by yourself.

 

And while it's not a substitute for "come over and we'll have pizza and game", it's not like a computer game either -- there really is a live human on the other end.

 

(Also in this forum, there's a post for the Global Guardians, which is also a PBEM game. They're looking for players.)

 

 

Just my couple of nickles.

[adidamps2]

Re: solo play???

 

DR. A--thanks a lot and those were some great tips..and a lot to concider..

 

gojira--although the thought of PBEM sounds like fun i dont think the wife would be down for that...and the thought of me "spending more damn time on the computer" wouldnt go over well with her either...lol but thanks for the invite...an option i'll keep open to but not a way i want to go just yet.

[Supreme Serpent]

Re: solo play???

 

Solo play can definitely work - heck, there are certainly enough solo hero books out there to mine for ideas!

 

Might want to end up with higher points than normal - not necessarily higher powered, but enough points to ensure some flexibility. Or, build in the flexibility at a low level at the start and give out high XP for a while to allow her to quickly get up to "solo hero" level. By flexibility I mean having access to several different ways to resolve things, both with and without powers. For example - Spider-Man isn't just a fast strong guy - he's also got his webshooters, and his science/chemistry skills have saved the day more times than I can count.

 

I wouldn't personally get her a sidekick, unless she brings it up. Maybe after adventuring for a while she'll want to train another hero, and you can use that as a way to reinvigorate the game and keep it fresh. Don't push one on her. But there can definitely be other NPC heroes around, for "crossovers" and guest-star appearances. And non-hero NPCs are vital - make the world mroe involved for the PC, and in a solo game fill a vital support role. Want to run a mystic adventure for a non-mystic PC? Introduce the gypsy fortune teller who can share occult knowledge/advice with the PC, but the PC still has to be the one to face it. Some scientist contacts to help develop serum X, but the hero still needs to be the one to administer it to the monster. Law enforcement contacts to boost the player's detective work. Things like that. If you can, introduce these folks first in a way that has the hero helping them first, so the player feels like these are her friends/contacts that she could naturally go to for help, instead of someone she has to search out because she *has* to have help. Spidey has a relationship with Dr. Connors so it's natural to go to him, much easier than knocking on random windows at STAR labs asking for a favor.

 

Good luck!

[Matt Frisbee]

Re: solo play???

 

I've run a solo campaign or two in my time, and my advice is to run a lower-powered starting character who is a single city's defender. This would be a perfect situation for a superheroic dark champions campaign, or a street level superheroic campaign. It also allows extensive use of super-criminal organizations with agents like Viper. Good luck regardless of the direction you take it!

 

Matt "Slightly-envious" Frisbee

[The Monster]

Re: solo play???

 

Were I to try this, I wouldn't go for a sidekick; I'd have a semi-rotating cast of NPCs, a few regulars, and a few guest shots for each adventure. Few if any of these would be supers, but they would be people who could be helpful in different ways: detective, scientist, butler (heh - think "Batman Begins"!), reporter, stoolie, landlady, on and on. That way you can bring in whatever info, support, and role-playing you feel is needed or desired, and the campaign feels like a well-populated setting.

[Fur Face]

Re: solo play???

 

I realize this would depend on your concept & campaign style, but you might want to consider what I would classify as "solo survival" powers. These powers could allow you to have a minimum of toning down of the bad guys and not have to worry about doing a lot of GM fudging just to make sure the campaign isn't stopped by one unlucky die roll. Powers such as:

 

1) Regeneration. Could be very limited, or not. There was a comic years ago in a dark champions kind of setting called "Painkiller Jane", where her primary ability was regeneration and her relentless personality. This doen't mean your character will always succeed, since it could take a lot of time to heal, but you don't have to worry about normal combat always derailing your campaign.

 

2) Damage Reduction. "Nuff said.

 

3) Slightly higher resistant defenses: If you want to make your character fearfull of gunfire, allow them of have about 7 pt.s resistant defense. This would stop a 9MM, but not a .44 Magnum

 

4) Ablility to engage multiple opponents: this could be as simple as an autofire attack, or even skill levels for the sweep or rapid fire maneuvers.

 

If I could summarize, I would say its like same concept of protecting major NPC"s: you give them enough to stuff to survive what the PC's can toss out. Now, you have to give the PC enough to survive what the bad guys can toss out.

 

As always, FWIW & YMMV. :-)

[OddHat]

Re: solo play???

 

You've already had some good advice. I've run solo games on and off for two decades, so my own two cents:

 

1) Tailor your adventures to the PC, and always make sure she has NPC help that can provide a needed skill without overshadowing her.

 

2) NPCs are vital. Her relationship with NPCs, both friend and foe, can make and break the campaign. Keep their personalities clear and rich in your mind. A re-occuring cast of NPC friends and foes does wonders for this kind of game.

 

3) This is an opportunity to explore themes and ideas that you might not want to explore with a group. From ultra-high powered play to the most melodramatic romance, you only need to worry about how she and you feel about a story, and overshadowing the other players is no problem at all.

 

4) Don't try to kill her character. Risk free games are dull, but don't set out to design a character or scenario specifically to kill off her PC. I'd go in the other direction, making sure that most villains are going for the capture and having a plan or two in mind to let her triumph.

 

5) If you feel the "Me vs the PC" urge, stomp on it. You have only one player, the GM is always all powerful, and your player should be enjoying the game.

[adidamps2]

Re: solo play???

 

wow guys--thanks alot for all the great advise and you all have given a lot more clarity on some of the directions i would like to go...again thank all of you

[SleepyDrug]

Re: solo play???

 

Out of curiousity....where are you living?

[adidamps2]

Re: solo play???

 

I'm living in Portland, OR - for about the last three months.

[Patriot]

Re: solo play???

 

I'm living in Portland' date=' OR - for about the last three months.[/quote']

 

 

No hobby shops in the Portland area?

Or Maybe a college or highschool club?

[adidamps2]

Re: solo play???

 

No hobby shops in the Portland area?

Or Maybe a college or highschool club?

 

i seen one since i been here, but i havent been able to relocate it yet...yea i know that sounds dumb but when i first moved here this place was like a maze...now i know the general area i live in pretty well but the shop is outside my comfort zone of area knowledge....

 

there is a college near and ahigh school right around the coner from me...never thought about trying them..although the high school would lead to a bunch of adolecent "possible noob" players, or just out side of the age i would prefer to play with(that didnt come out right i think). the college i guess i could look into...

[Maccabe]

Re: solo play???

 

One of the things I usually do with a player new to Champions is make character creation easy for them. I ask the player-"What 5 things do you want your character to be able to do?" Fly, Produce fire, etc

If you create the character this way the player will be able to do what they want and you can handle the mechanics for them.

[Wormhole]

Re: solo play???

 

I think the others have aptly covered everything I might have suggested as far as solo play, so all I can offer at this point is to perhaps check out the Player Finder forum if you'd still like to find a regular play group. Lemming and a few others who post here are from Portland and, if you can get in contact with them, you could ask if any of them have openings for new players in their groups. Good luck.

[adidamps2]

Re: solo play???

 

thanks for that tid bit..ill look in to that too...ty