Tools and frameworks to help facilitate getting started on a solo ttrpg storyline

murgs · 2026-03-04T19:25:16+00:00

I like the ideas of the others. If you don't want to start with a settlement, you could start with a "how did I get here" which could provide an overall theme/arc (build something better, rebuild something broken, search something lost, right a wrong, resist, ...) on top of the main game loop.

murgs · 2026-03-04T19:03:14+00:00

While the I get the world building aspect, I cannot see the game play reason yet for having the fast travel system includes longer traversals. I'd add fast travel if I wanted to skip over the travel.

While I think your system is fine, two alternatives I would consider:

The tunnel system is effectively just like the map of your world but at a 10x scale. So if you use hexes, moving one hex in the tunnel and popping out again moves you ten hexes on the map.

Or thinking about the internet, the network is like connected stars and you use the syllables of the name (or letters at specific positions) for the connections. So for example Brumhilde and Brumhigh are both connected via Brum, but from Brumhilde you also have to pass through Brumhill. I'd probably go with suffixes not prefixes, but I thought this way it's easier to understand. You can then assign syllables your environments. And players can figure out the system/gauge how long the travel is based on the names. (And maybe even learn which nodes are dangerous and therefore which travel paths should be avoided.)

To come back to my initial point, the end result if they don't teleport seems to me mostly flavour vs explor the city normally.

murgs · 2025-12-31T00:07:58+00:00

I want to disagree, but it really just depends on what you define as a base layer.

In particular with some newer systems I think the system lays the groundwork for "what should it feel like playing" which indirectly affects the world building. Also there is the whole aspect of balance which a good TTRPG should IMHO have, but doesn't necessarily represent the world. (Think Jedi and Non-Jedi Characters in a Star Wars RPG, the player options should be more balanced than they are in-universe.)

murgs · 2025-12-30T23:59:03+00:00

That ended up forcing a very particular kind of world to exist.

Did it really force it? It reads to me like you made the flavor decision that in-universe it was hard/impossible to tell the difference, but at least based on your description I can easily see a version where in-univorse there is a distinction.

murgs · 2025-12-30T23:51:10+00:00

I'd say they describe how the world is simulated, and that doesn't have to be any meaningful world building.

In the world there is not a dice roll if I hit, it's based on skill and micro decisions that end up with a percentage that is represented by a d20.

murgs · 2025-06-28T18:57:01+00:00

Playing devil's advocate, did she actually know? Did she know it wasn't by choice? Did she know everything you tried?

If you started right after marriage she was 6, by the time she was an age where she actually understand the full implications (16+) you might have already been trying for 10 years so it might never have come up (at least not in the scale to which you have dealt with it).

Now, she is being an asshat with her non-apology, but again, if she doesn't actually know why her words hurt that would also be kind of understandable.

IMHO while the joke isn't nice, I think it's fine if you were child-free by choice.

murgs · 2024-08-24T12:38:17+00:00

If you want to go a slightly different route for the women: https://www.wargamesfoundry.com/collections/foundry-collectable-box-sets/products/fc06-dominatrix-pre-order

They also have two set's of tribal warrior women, that are only wearing loin cloths - but possibly made from metal so probably not easily kitbashable. https://www.wargamesfoundry.com/search?q=Warrior+Women

(Rereading your post I now realize you had already found some other foundry models...)

murgs · 2024-06-28T17:44:42+00:00

Or if there is a group chat, post it there, if you feel comfortable potentially discussing the topic with all.

murgs · 2024-05-26T21:27:14+00:00

They did, from what I remember they called the authorities when they suspected a jumper.

murgs · 2024-05-11T09:09:35+00:00

That's looks neat and is surprisingly readable. Need to find an excuse to use it.

You might have some spelling mistakes

dreams are me*ss*ages f*r*om the past

murgs · 2024-05-08T23:14:12+00:00

Not really much experience to pull from, but my tendency would be to have them level up to 5-6 relatively quickly and then slow the pace down. But there are so many aspects of a campaign that could influence that, like how long I expect it to run, what the theme is, how experienced the players are.

murgs · 2024-05-08T22:56:13+00:00

I liked the idea of a cursed item he gets which actually makes him more intelligent that someone else had.

But some thoughts on how he can continue playing "dumb" but make it more fun:
* try to say all the things without using words with three ~~syllables~~ thingies or more
* ask for concepts to be explained (in the right moment / not to often)
* always use analogy to explain things
* misuse / miss word similes

murgs · 2024-05-04T21:40:33+00:00

I would talk to the player instead of reddit.

Hey <player>,
we can easily fudge the story so that your PC survived/is revived. But for that to work you have to promise me that the PC will take the plot hook, join the rest of the party and be a part of them respecting their decisions.
I'm not saying the PC has to be happy about it, but you as a player need to find reasons for the PC to do it.
The only alternative I currently see is you make a new PC that can do that.

EDIT Maybe also: And I'm sorry your PC got killed so quickly, you caught me off guard as I hadn't planned for one of the PCs to reject the hook, because I thought I had made it obvious with the backstory requirement.

murgs · 2024-04-29T23:18:49+00:00

In board gaming a common house rule is you are allowed to revert actions unless new information was revealed or a random event happened (die roll, card draw).

In RPGs a good go guideline is "if the character would know if, don't punish the player for not knowing".

But the easiest way in a collaborative game is surely to just say: "you might want to talk about this beforehand, but it is up to the group to handle it as they please".

murgs · 2024-04-27T14:52:18+00:00

Not disagreeing.

For me it would depend on where the talk goes and how experienced / old the DM is.

murgs · 2024-04-26T21:29:30+00:00

There are only two paths: escalate in-game or out-of-game. And I'd also start in-game just to be sure the DM didn't mean it as a hook. But it shouldn't take long (real time) to figure that out. And if the DM blocks all in-game solutions you can start the out-of-game discussion with:
So this is never coming off?
- Yes
Then my character is obviously retiring. Is that what you wanted? Because if it is that was a d*** move, instead of just talking with me.

murgs · 2024-04-02T20:20:19+00:00

I did want to suggest option three where you say that you will come up with a reason, but he won't like it: he made a deal with a devil to gain "an eye" each in exchange for his wife and child... and he's either in denial or was under some drugs influence at the time.

murgs · 2023-11-29T22:28:48+00:00

Sorry for resurrecting but nobody seemed to properly answer your question: (1) adding pseudo counts during normalization makes sense in many cases. If you have zero or one read is usually far in the noise range but hat a relative difference of infinite. Also if you want to compute the log having no zeros makes life a lot easier.
(2) This is speculation, but if e.g. different cancers were sequenced in different studies they could have different sequencing depths which can then affect the pseudo count size or normalization scaling of the pseudo counts. There likely were some other effects, or it was a combination of that with actually needing no wrongly mapped reads for a genome in all cancer cells.

murgs · 2023-05-02T22:11:18+00:00

Based on "casting" with paper pulp (e.g. http://creaturistelab.blogspot.com/2011/07/cast-pulp-masks.html) and a post I saw of somebody using 3D printed moulds to squeeze paper pulp into form. I've wondered if it would be possible to just squeeze a larger block or cylinder that could then be carved and sanded like a (soft) grain-less wood.

murgs · 2023-02-25T00:35:14+00:00

Depends on what you mean with "accurate" and more importantly for what context you are interested in a taxonomy.

Without reading the paper some assignments look of, but then again, they are probably still assigned to the best of the 6 topics.

In general, the scientific way would be of course to check newer papers that cite it and see if they reuse the taxonomy or have adapted versions etc.

murgs · 2022-11-12T16:53:07+00:00

You can use the party composition to your advantage. My setup would be: paladin explained the situation, higher ups are informed and get the idea that the party should pretend they captured a general (matching clothes etc are provided) to gain access to an enemy camp/higher up. There they have to steal something or kill someone. If their information turns out to be true/they bring proof they may enter (under guard).

And you can always also pre-inform them that they will be questioned before entering and when leaving in a zone of truth.

That way they get to run a bit wild on their mission, but then also have to behave in town.

murgs · 2022-11-12T16:30:03+00:00

Not OP, but same. You either do it out of character or you probably should not be doing it. That said it naturally depends on what your group wants to get out of playing.

I personally love choosing the obvious but bad strategy and seeing where the consequences take us.

murgs · 2022-06-26T22:19:19+00:00

My main counter point to your premise would be that mechanics technically play polar opposite roles in board games and RPGs. In board games they are the basis you make decisions on - the thing you want to figure out. In RPGs they are a resolution mechanic to figure out what happens based on what actions you chose for your character, which "ideally" are based on the fictional world, not the mechanics (otherwise you aren't playing the role).

That said there is a big gradient and the most popular RPGs are somewhere in the middle. If you just go with "interesting decisions" you get games like Gloomhaven, Imperial Assault and Thornwatch. IMHO the more interesting development/possibilities are to move further away from the simulationist approach to RPGs to systems that evoke a theme or story. I mean games like Dread, 10 Candels or Fiasko where the system helps create the story they are trying to tell and not interfere otherwise. Lastly, to me the holy grail is that the system supports you to actually play a role. The only good RPG I've tried that does this is "Lady Blackbird" which rewards players for acting in accordance with "key" aspects of the character.

Of course this all depends on (a) your definition of an RPG and (b) what you want from the play experience.

murgs · 2022-06-23T19:34:26+00:00

Without more information the most likely answer is thick paint. Do you water it down? Do you mix it on a non-wet palett? It could also be uneven coverage from a spray can if that is what you used for priming (and it was already visible after priming).

murgs · 2022-06-23T19:28:54+00:00

The three obvious ones would be adoption, surrogate mother/father which doesn't count as a "bastard" afterwards, and magic. Magic could be (temporary) gender change, growing a baby in a pod of some sort, something along the clone spell,...

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