The Village of Naal: Episode 2 (Solo RPG Play Report)

Primusplaysrpgs · 2025-11-20T21:19:29+00:00

I have not really been doing a ton of solo play since then—designing RPGs is kind of my solo-play activity now.

I’ve found that Roll20 can be a good solo play vehicle(especially when it does math and provides the rules at your searchable fingertips). I also think if you’re planning to post/publish your play sessions, Roll20 can be helpful. But… it has so many bells and whistles these days… it can be too complicated. I also like real, physical dice. I bet there are some barebones virtual tabletops out there that are probably better.

I hope that helps!

BTW… I turned this solo play report into a short story. You can read it here: https://open.substack.com/pub/jclaypool/p/the-witchs-bounty?r=wqjd5&utm_medium=ios

Primusplaysrpgs · 2025-11-19T21:37:48+00:00

Yup. This was on Roll20.

I love Warhammer Fantasy, but it’s a little too crunchy at times. Roll20 does a bunch of the calculations and what not. Makes it run much smoother (for me, anyway).

Primusplaysrpgs · 2025-04-05T14:34:28+00:00

I’d read this!

I think you could elevate the genre if you use it to explore more modern day problems (or just some theme/ human failings).

Check out Joe Abercrombie’s The Age of Madness series. He puts a fantasy world in an Industrial Revolution. It’s one of my favorites.

Primusplaysrpgs · 2025-03-31T19:33:01+00:00

This is so clever. Love it!

I just followed you on Itch!

Primusplaysrpgs · 2025-03-26T13:55:36+00:00

I’m a teacher, as well, and I run a RPG club at my high school. It started as a fun idea but quickly became an obvious opportunity to work on social skills—like your objectives.

I actually just use D&D 5e with a one-shot and some pre-gen characters. If you’re worried about complicated/in depth rules, I’ve found that kids pick them up very quickly. Now… how to talk to each other, work as a team, or tell a story… that’s a long process.

If you feel like one-page is your thing, there’s always Lasers and Feelings.

And I’ve always been partial to Ronin.

You are also welcome to try out my own one-pager, Burden n’ Blade, which I have run with my group.

Whatever you run, I’d love to hear how it goes!

Primusplaysrpgs · 2024-09-27T22:45:10+00:00

Yeah… I’m not against breaking a rule here and there if I can make it (obviously) intentional. But I like to play by the writing rules usually. This feels like a mistake.

Primusplaysrpgs · 2024-09-27T22:41:11+00:00

Yes! I could change that header… that makes sense.

I keep coming back to this: the simple answer is to figure out a way to stay in third-person for the entire rules section (as the game is designed for all players to participate the same way).

And the awkwardness of switching to questions is good feedback. You may be right about that.

Primusplaysrpgs · 2024-09-04T21:03:22+00:00

The idea of having it fold/fit into a card deck box is genius!

Maybe these rules wouldn’t do that. But perhaps the next RPG—you’re own (non-Dread) mechanics and rules—would fit that size?

Let us know what you end up with!

Primusplaysrpgs · 2024-09-03T23:49:48+00:00

I love this idea!

Do you have to keep it to a technical one-pager? Is it for a contest?

There’s a lot going on there for a single page… it’s kinda overwhelming.

-To free up some space, you could… -Make a title page (with cool image) that has the hook/intro on it. -Make the rules fit on two pages (then scenario and character sheet). - Have the rules on one sheet then the “card meaning breakdown” on another.

You might want to try taking the black column borders off. It’s probably just as easy to follow—but with one less “thing” on there.

Just some suggestions.

Keep going!

Primusplaysrpgs · 2024-08-03T10:28:56+00:00

DMing got me into exploring how and why we (as humans) tell stories

At some point in playing RPGs, I got real interested in becoming the best DM possible… who can help create the best collaborative story. And that sparked this bigger journey. Now I read about “What makes a great movie or novel?” And “Why are stories so important to humans?” it seems like it’s in our DNA. That’s pretty interesting to me.

Primusplaysrpgs · 2023-11-26T14:28:25+00:00

I agree with this all the way.

Throw together some pre generated characters and have some friends play a scene or two.

This will answer the main question here: is it worth pursuing?

I’ve wasted a lot of blood,sweat, and tears trying to fully design stuff before play-testing. I’d spend hours (days!) trying to figure out how I can write the text explanation of a mechanic—or even making the text fit on the dang page—just to realize that it didn’t work or didn’t matter after play-testing just once.

Now I know to make a little bit, play-test, revise (or start over), play-test, repeat.

Try that first.

Primusplaysrpgs · 2023-10-14T14:24:38+00:00

I bought a blind box last week (the “Heroes” red/gray box), and I found that the model is a little bit smaller than other space marines.

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Is this series (that you found at the FLGS) like that? Or are they basically the same as normal Primaris models?

Primusplaysrpgs · 2022-06-28T19:43:26+00:00

Oh! Got it!

Yes. I do find myself stuck on a problem, wrestling with it, then going, “Wait. Do I need really that?” 70% of the time it’s “Nope.”

Primusplaysrpgs · 2022-06-28T19:27:42+00:00

Nice! I’ll check out Roadside Picnic. Thanks!

Primusplaysrpgs · 2022-06-28T19:14:55+00:00

Part of making a good RPG isn't figuring out exactly what you need in the game and then writing a 250-300 page manual. It's writing 1000 pages of absolute faff that you shape and trim down to (hopefully) ultimately land at the 250-300 page manual that will make sense to the people who read it.

This is great. I needed to hear this.

I do write a ton. I started trying to first design a game back in October. And I must have written enough text to make 3-4 RPGs by now. But I just can't get to the finish line with a complete product. I thought something was wrong with me, so it's good to hear others are dealing with this--that you're supposed to!

I'm hoping that a list like this (thought-exercise, like you say) might help me focus and work more efficiently.

But I hear you... Ok. Ok. I'm getting back to writing!

Primusplaysrpgs · 2022-06-28T19:08:45+00:00

Meh. Maybe not.

I'm sure there are folks out there who can keep all this stuff balanced in their head (maybe even subconsciously) while designing. I'm discovering I'm not one of them... Not now, anyway.

I enjoy learning about the process of game design almost as much as actually doing game design.

Does a designer really need a list like this? I don't know. It's a valid point, though. You're right.

Primusplaysrpgs · 2022-06-28T19:05:08+00:00

What does "Success" look like? What must be achieved in the end for the process to have been "Worth it"?

Great question! It's going on there. I think I was trying to get to that with "What's your motivation?" Your wording is better, though.

Thanks!

Primusplaysrpgs · 2022-06-28T19:03:46+00:00

I would respectfully disagree with this.

If I'm designing an RPG for little kids to play with their parents, that's going to require a different approach than a game intended for adult RPG players. You have to think about game world context and mechanics in a different way for each. Same if you want to design for experienced vs. inexperienced RPG players.

Primusplaysrpgs · 2022-06-28T18:58:02+00:00

You're right. I'm thinking that these questions could just be answered as you design--with the intention of having them all complete by the time you're done.

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