People of the Sprawl! I’m going to start running a game for my wife, 1-on-1. It’ll be my first time running this game (I do have lots of Apocalypse experience from before), so I ask for you help regarding any do’s and don’ts for 1-on-1 games.
People of the Sprawl!
People of the Sprawl!
I’ve run 1-1 games before, and I can tell you a few mistakes to avoid:
1. Don’t use a GM PC. You can give your player ally NPCs to help out on missions, but they should all also be threats, traitors, unsteady allies, or flawed people as well. Decide what their flaw is, and how the corporations might exploit it. Check out henchmen in Dungeon World for how ally NPCs might provide mechanical benefits other than just fictional positioning (e.g. reduce damage taken, deal extra damage, reduce prices, etc.).
2. Don’t prep as if you were writing a module for the public. Or even for a diverse team. You have one playbook you’re writing for. If she’s a Reporter, make everything about the story. If she’s a Pusher, make everything about the Vision.
3. Sprawl specific stuff:
Dissuade her from using the Soldier playbook. It’s too focused on teamwork with other PCs. The two core Soldier moves involve team planning: Here’s the plan is awkward without other PCs and seems inefficient with just one person benefiting from it, and half of the benefit of I love it when a plan comes together only help if there are other PCs off on separate scenes.
The Hacker is very appropriate for 1:1 play. Better yet, just give her Jack In for free no matter what playbook she chooses! Then she can take Hacker moves with her “choose a move from another playbook” advance, if she wants to focus on that. That also opens up new kinds of scenes and missions you can run 1:1. Even a Killer can be a good hacker. The matrix moves are spread out over every stat except Meat and Style.
Since she’s the only one spending money on stuff, missions will be more expensive. Normally, there are 2-5 players to spread costs of bribing NPCs and buying specialty gear around. Alone, she’s going to have a hard time breaking even on runs, even if the job pays well and she’s paid in full. So to make up for that, let her find Paydata or loot good gear during the run that she can use or sell. Be generous with Cred. Basically she’s spending two or three times as much as a normal PC would to get the job done, so help her find a few cred along the way. 2 extra cred worth of plunder, paydata, and robbery might do it.
Obviously Links an Help or Hinder are right out. Since she won’t be getting XP for Links, every mission, ask her to do the Links thing with an NPC. Which NPC knows you better? What did they observe? What do they now know about you? And how do you feel about them now? For every 4 different NPCs she does it with, she should mark XP. If she does it four times with a single NPC, she should mark XP.
Jon Lemich this is fantastic advice!
Excellent, thank you!
Jon Lemich All of that is fantastic advice, but I disagree with item 1. The DMPC is a fine tool so long as the DM doesn’t abuse it (just like all of their other tools). You can use a DMPC to provide an outside perspective on the party’s actions, create conflict, or provide the PCs with an organic in-character source of information that they probably need. It allows the PCs to take a part of the plot and the scenery with them on their adventure. Plus, there’s the added benefit that if the DM says something, it is almost universally treated as gospel. If the DMPC says something, the PCs will treat it like part of the narrative and it may or may not be trusted.
That being said, a DMPC becomes problematic when the DM uses it to remove the PCs agency from the game. Though that’s not unique to NPCs. The players can steal the spotlight from each other just as easily as the DM can.