Hey there,
I was planning on running a single-player game with my girlfriend some time in the future, because of some difficulties in getting a group together. Can you give some hands-on experience with this kind of setup, beyond the tips given in the book?
I thought about structuring it more like a film (which often have only one main character and some sidekicks) instead of a serial (with a larger cast of important characters).
I think world building would pose no big problems as you can have some nice questions which start the brainstorming process.
But what about the actual game? Do you suggest using sidekicks from the beginning, so my one player has other characters to interact with? Should the player be able to have some control over the characters? Maybe she can begin with a gang/clan/troupe/pack?
Do you have any suggestions to keep the game from getting stale? I fear that with only two players, you would not get the critical mass of complications and creativity needed to spark a nice, chaotic session of everyday madness 🙂 Without switching the spotlight around a bit, the player might get burned out quickly. Maybe shorter sessions would be more appropriate?
Feel free to discuss this topic with me in here! Thanks for your help!
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I will direct you to Mo Jave and Brand Robins, who are the experts on 2-person Urban Shadows.
Thank you very much for your fast reply.
Having read the chapter about going solo again, I think much depends on my players choice of character. If she chooses blood and hearts, she is probably going to be able to solve many conflicts herself. Otherwise the +Allies mechanic seems to be a really nice idea to have other people solve problems which are out of her league.
Brendan Conway and Jenn Martin probably have fun ideas for this too.
I played a pretty good 1-1 session of US. At the beginning (and during the game) I made sure we filled a good relationshop map. Not only adversaries, but some neutral and friendly people. Some people the character can care about. Some leverage. Some enemies. When we added people to the game I tried to create connections to other entries on the map to.
Also I allowed pretty much player agency – not uncommon to PbtA games, but IMHO even more important the smaller the group is.
After all it is about conversation. As long as conversation happens all is good. So you need fuel in easy reach. That means both player and MC need to have a good grasp and high investment into the fiction/world.
To me that is easiest accomplished with worldbuilding/leading questions and a good amount of characters we both can go to.
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All NPCs all the time!
I think the biggest part of one on one Urban Shadows is just making sure that NPCs are consistently tugging on the Player Character. They need her help, or she needs theirs. Someone cashes in a debt- oh, speaking of debts, the book does a really good job addressing those for 1×1. Without other PCs debts get a little wonky.
The system falls down if you don’t weave in all of the factions- they are crucial in a one on one game. Maybe feature one, but keep the others simmering just under the surface, ready to strike.
Jenn Martin Thanks for the tips. I guessed the tips in the book arose from playtesting, but hearing it first hand that 1-on-1 works gives me some more hope. I will try to grok the new debt system and see how it might work out. I think the first session will work out fabulously as in any PBTA game, but I fear that gas might run out faster than in a multi-player game.
I think we will give it a try and then report our impression of this. We tried it once with D&D and it did not really work out smoothly. But with a more narrative ruleset, who knows…
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Ok i just want to thank the crew for their awesome help! We played a short game yesterday for 3h and IT WAS A BLAST!!! My girlfriend really lighted up on the creativity front and we created a very compelling setting. I was really nervous about gaming with only one PC, which was also unaquainted with the more narrative roleplaying games, but it really worked out!
She plays a Consulting Witch from Scotland in Modern Day London, a position that was installed by the Grand Witch Coven as a mediator between supernatural conflicting parties. As witches (refluffed Wizards) are more concerned with balance than the more academic, hermetic mages, they would like conflicts to stay low key and be resolved by diplomatic, or at least discrete channels.
She has a nice aparatment, a very knowledgeable cat familiar in her sanctum (who happened to be an imprisoned witcher, whose crime is shoruded in mystery) and has only begun to calm the waves in supernatural London. Here the mages and the vampires (invading from France, sacre bleu!) wage a cold war since 50 years. Recently the incidents have been increasing and the mediator was put into place. She is assisted by an old Hunter of a Clan loyal to the witches of Scotland, and opposed by a mysterious Fae called Peter, who is a Puck, constantly irritating and embarrasing the witches in his path.
In the actual play session, she narrowly escaped an angry werewolf, made debts to some Unseelie Fae in Londons underground waterways and narrowly escaped a mysterious hooded stranger who controlled the werewolf with to a magical barbed choker. Sadly she lost some incriminating evidence during her retreat, her business card…
Now the hunt is on, and she has to determine the identity of the mysterious werewolf handler and his schemes. Maybe he is a wizard in league with Night, maybe he is a freelancer? We will “play, to find out what happens”…
Jochen Steimel that is one HELL of a recap! I’m really impressed, I want this to be a novel so I can read it. 😀
Actually, reading it now, it may seem that she just made two mediocre “Escape” rolls, but, well, it escalated quickly. Even without much happening on the mechanical part of the game (maybe 10 moves in total), it felt like a game and not a chat of make-believe.
This session really laid the groundwork for some serious intrigue, and I am stoked about knowing more. Especially as this is sooo much different compared to my other regular group of four players. That group contains a hunter, a dragon, a vamp and a werewolf. As you can see, it is a very “combat-heavy” group, whereas the frail witch tries to avoid direct confrontation like hell 🙂
We really like how the system rewards creative “problem solving” apart from, “bash it till is agrees” 🙂 If it comes to heavy lifting, I will probably use the +Allies mechanics as recommended in the book (I like it), with the hunter helping her out. But in the meanwhile, I will be delighted by the antics put up by her in order to escape the dangereous situations that “just seem to happen”.
And yes, I am a vile GM, always twisting the results of rolls into the most inconvenient (and adventurous) situations..
Bam! That sounds like an awesome session. Eager to hear more. 😀
I am really excited! The hardcover is on its way now that i can order it from my favorite dealer in “obscure” RPGs (my local dealer is sadly not very indie-friendly). Finally i can lay my hands on some shadowy goodness, instead of having to stare at my tablet to peruse Urban Shadows.
Actually we were able to get another solo session into our schedule. Again it was only 2 hours long, but with two players, this game really gets exhausting fast 🙂 (in a good way)
The session started with Raelyn, the London consulting witch being called by her contact from the witches council. Another murder has happened, this time in the British Museum! Apparently the witness was not very accurate, as no further information was available. So Raelyn had to investigate this mystery.
Having arrived at the British Museum she quickly found the location of the murder by following the stench or dark magic. A few questions later we found out that the murder was performed at the soon-to-be-opened “Exposition about the Worlds Magic of Old”. Here, in the room featuring caribbean and meso-american magic, Raelyn encountered the corpse of an acquaintance: The fae Tarquin Blackburn, exiled goblin emissary of the summer court. Having been murdered by black magic, the corpse showed no signs of overt violence. But a mask of the voodoo loa Baron Samedi, was missing (according to the plaque found beneath an empty slot on the wall). While she tried to put a name to the face of the deceased, she remembered that she was indebted to him, because he once saved her from a “jest” of another fae, her archenemy Puck. Raelyn shuddered as she thought of the fact that her debt was now automatically transferred to whatever fae Tarquin was indebted the most (as an exile, that means a lot…)
Suddenly Raelyn was surprised by voices coming from the corridor: the museum personnel was arriving for a last-minute check of the exhibition. Quickly she tried to use her magic to veil the corpse in invisibility. Sadly her attempt to let it out to extend her magic did not proceed as intended. As she saw the corpse slip away from her sight, she found her own veil vanished, the power being used to fuel the other, more difficult spell.
A few quick words and the display of a very eccentric scottish tourist later, she was send out of the exhibition, leaving the bewildered personnel behind.
With the information from the British Museum, Raelyn decided to contact the Witch Council of London. In a local cafe she met the three witches Arabella Finn (High Witch), Persephone Atkins (Master of Defence against Dark Magic) and Eliza Wilde, an unknown young witch. The witch council was disappointed by the lack of concrete evidence by which to act against one of the perpetrating parties and demanded that Raelyn produced more. Without proof, the witches could not act to restore balance to strife-torn London without provoking retaliation from one of the other factions.
Raelyn decided to gather more information. As Tarquin was a fae associated with the summer court, she tried to reach her only known contact: Lady Mya Conway.
The Conway Manor was located in South Kensington in a rather modest urban palais. Mya agreed to help Raelyn, for a price. A debt it would be, and the promise to help Mya defend herself against some enemies she made amid the vampires of the city. As soon as Raelyn agreed, Mya told her everything she knew about Tarquin, and his entanglement with the various factions of supernatural London. Apparently everyone was now involved. That sounded like a really fun week…
As soon as Raelyn left Conway Manor, she was victim/witness of a drive-by-shooting targeted at the house. Nothing of value was damaged, but Raelyn had to stay low and could not get a good look at the drivers….
So cool!!