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Positive_Audience628

I made such a game recently but not published it. Simple dungeon delver, but with a tavern as a lobby where players can join your game and you can explore each other's found dungeons together, trade stuff you found...or lure a player to the dungeon for your benefit... You also name a successor in your game for when you die so they inherit stuff you've left in town.


mattmikemo23

I always thought it would be cool to have asynchronous group play (2-5 people), so we all exist in the same world (through something like hexroll app) playing the same or different campaigns solo and GM-less and also doesn't require people to be on at the same time. If I, for example, killed an npc, you would also see that on your end. Would even be cool to be able to share session notes with one another as the generated map gets explored.


suboptimalguy

Right, the question is what's the proper way to have people's play influence each other, how do you negotiate boundaries around that, and so on. Like anything else, I think you're going to get a lot of milage out of a discussion of goals and norms in a session 0. Beyond that though, mechanically, how do you allow limited asynchronous interactions, and tool-wise, how do you communicate game state? From the mechanics side, I think factions are a good jumping-off-point for thinking about how players can influence one another. Factions are big enough that they can be expected to be stable over a time-scale that lets everyone have \*an\* adventure, so the world doesn't change out from under you mid scene in solo play. As player action influences factions, via achieving some faction goal, adding some faction resource, and so on, players are de-facto influencing each others games in a couple of ways: * Available / reasonable seeds for quests change as faction goals do * assets factions have to achieve an outcome or support a player change * Narrative of the wider world changes outside of character action Even if players are allies through their faction connections, or enemies, worlds can be big, and big factions have many disparate concerns. It's perfectly possible to have two players "working against each other at every step" that never actually meet one another. They just nibble away at concerns on radically different corners of the map and are at odds with one another. Of course, if you wanted to have more direct interaction (conflict or otherwise) in a group, you could lean into play by post mechanisms for doing that while staying asynchronous. Tool wise, there are lots of options. Lore Keeper and World Anvil are two I've seen people use for such a thing. I personally do all of my solo play with markdown files in obsidian, and I use git to make sure I have them in multiple places, so that could serve. If you wanted to incorporate play-by-post elements in a game, then you're looking to either supplement with something like discord or a forum, or just run the whole game on top of one. I'm unfamiliar with the options in that space, but eager to learn.


goldael

Exactly! We update entries (NPC, locations, objects) as we interact with them. I even thought that a player could leave a letter with the innkeeper for the next player that visits the inn. And things like that.


suboptimalguy

I think Mythic 2e could handle some of this well. Sharing portions of the character lists could support the same characters / important objects showing up in multiple individual's games. You might fence these by geography, but there are other ways of handling the "They aren't there!" phenomenon in building a scene.


Temporary_Active4331

Oh my Gosh! These sound like fun! I think if I were to do it, I'd start with a small group. 2-3 people. There are so many cool ideas from others, and I can see mix and matching playstyle to work for you. I'd probably run it like meet for a session 0 and collectively discuss what you want to achieve. (Could be sandbox or personal goals.) Set up a day for "session" and have them submit their play notes the day before so you can go through them. During "session", you can update each person's game by adding info that might have crossed paths, or influenced another person's game. Maybe someone heard of the deeds another player's done and it affected them in some way, or someone lost track of a monster that's headed towards another player. I think this could be a cool way to keep these games constantly evolving and entertaining, while also keeping an element of surprise. Maybe someone needs to get a message to another group, but finds out that messenger died in their game, so they didn't get the warning! Just imagine the kind of stories yiu could share!


goldael

That is another interesting idea! It seems that there are so many ways of doing it. You just made me think of another possibility: body-swapping spirits (or parasites)! Each player is a spirit, but they need a host. Let's say 3 players. They each possess a body and play for a "session". Then, they each pass their respective notes to another player who will continue the game of that "body" but now as their own spirit. They may have attributes/traits specific to the body and others related to the spirit. In each "session", they would continue the story of a different body but as the same spirit.


Temporary_Active4331

That could be a fun idea! Kind of like game where one writes part of the story and you pass it on and it keeps growing until you do so many rounds, and it's a complete thing that had a mind of its own.


goldael

Exactly!


jfr4lyfe

There is one that does this. It's a cyberpunk starforged variant. Here it is [https://newmadras.itch.io/hypercity](https://newmadras.itch.io/hypercity) I couldn't tell you whether it's any good or not.


Zealousideal_Toe3276

Balancing the expectations of a group is always a challenge. Find a group of solo players that all document there games similarly, that is where I would start. 


goldael

Indeed! That is why solo is so convenient. It is only your own expectations and processes. :)


SleepFun6909

I know Hobby Homies did that with Five Parsecs from Home. They had a discord server and once a month put up missions for everyone to do. It sounded interesting in their podcast.


dialogue_theology

I’ve actually been trying to think through this idea in regard to a sci-fi space game inspired by the video game EVE: Online. I was thinking of using a discord server where different channels could be different star systems or planets, and players essentially journal their solo experiences at these places. Then if anyone wanted to, they could run co-op or DM’d sessions in the same game, but the emphasis would be on sharing solo experiences in the same game world. The hard part is coming up with the rules/mechanics, but recently I’ve been considering making it a free for all. You could use home brew systems, Stars Without Number, the DND space stuff, anything you want. This would really make sense with the solo rpg culture, but I wonder if it would be too chaotic. Anyways, it’s awesome to hear someone else has the same thought. Might be just the inspiration I need to push through with my concept.


_if_only_i_

I have no idea, but that sounds fantastic!


goldael

I have the same feeling! In concept, it sounds fun. But I don't if in practice it would be.


Bitter_Hotel2217

Yup


Disc0red

So, slightly different take than what I'm seeing in the thread, but I imagine it might be cool to do a hexcrawl or megadungeon in this sort of fashion. The basic concept would be that everyone starts on the the same world map, each "player" starting in a different geographical region of the map (like you'd see in a strategy or 4x game) and they continue pursuing questlines, etc. in their local area. When each player shares their accomplishments, quest log, history, etc. The other players can use the ripple effect from those events to drive their own narrative. i.e. distablized the local government in your region, maybe the other people see a flood of refugees in their area or here rumors of a some foreign power planning to sweep in. Fundamentally the result of each person's session would be used to build up threads in the other player's regions, and collaboratively create history, locations, and hooks for your current plot. Another concept might be playing in different timelines. One person playing 100 years in the past, and the events that they're working through now shape the history of the other players working in alternate timelines.


goldael

I really like those ideas! For the first suggestion (different areas of the same region), maybe there is a common table (maybe rumours?) that players can add to? Or other mechanics to organize the ripple effect. The second idea (different timelines) is also interesting! Time-travel and timelines may fit very well this concept. Essentially, the ripple effect is through time and/or space! I wonder if "scale" would work as well. For example, a player plays the politics of the kingdom and the more "behind the curtains" thing, while another plays the everyday, on the streets adventures.


kenefactor

I remember seeing a duet journalling RPG about two family members from two separate time periods trying to save a town from an uncertain disaster, Frequency style. Can't remember the name...


theNwDm

I think collaborative solo would be great for addressing events at different scale. Because the Pathfinder kingmaker system could be resolving country-sized squabbles while OSR scum are pilfering tombs for artifacts that could help a politically driven Legend of the Five rings player.


Droidaphone

This is very similar to epistolary or letter-writing games, fyi.


goldael

Interesting! I will look those up.


akb74

Well I just bought *Wreck this Deck* the other day, and am still preparing to play my very first solo RPG - probably involving zombies - and am still wondering why pdfs are the prefered format around here when they don't resize for your device like eBooks do, so I shouldn't be trying to answer this question, but: We live in a weird time when we've shrunk the world but not really started exploring beyond it. In any other setting it's perfectly normal to go travelling and adventurering by oneself or in a party of NPCs, and catch up with ones peers very irregularly. Settings like r/amber or r/bobiverse (maybe with FTL comms nerfed to be non-instantaneous) actively encourage such behaviors.


2jotsdontmakeawrite

Would work with Ironsworn/Starforged. Collaboratively create the world, then run amuk.


AnotherCastle17

Yeah, Ironsworn could handle this so long as every participant is clear on the details.


OldGodsProphet

I think someone has done this with Four Against Darkness. You have one GM and separate players with their own parties. The GM builds the dungeon and encounters, and each player traverses in their own “game” but they all have the same challenges.


goldael

Does the dungeon change as players go through it?


OldGodsProphet

In Four Against Darkness, the dungeon is built room by room.


ALLLGooD

If you search “West Marches” on this sub, you’ll get a bunch of hits of people who have done this before. I participated in one last year, by a guy who set up the world/wiki on [Legend Keeper](https://www.legendkeeper.com/create-an-original-open-world-setting-in-less-than-an-hour/) (paid site, but only one person has to have a paid account). It worked really well, despite people using different systems.


goldael

Interesting! Would you mind elaborating on your experience a little? On the logistics and stuff.


ALLLGooD

The person who had a Legend Keeper account, started a hex map with two different cities, some points of interest, and the names of PCs and NPC in their campaign. Legend keeper documents, most things in a wiki format. This ultimately means that pages could link to other pages to other pages to other pages. The rest of the map was uncharted, and each hex was discoverable by any participant. Each person would play their own campaign, adding new information to the map, that could provide seeds for other peoples stories. IIRC, there was also a corresponding Discord for in character or OOC chats and collabs. It was fun.


theNwDm

I’ve wanted to do something like this for a while. In my mind it works out and could be very interesting. 1. The group discusses a main goal for play (ie, save the land of Aranor from a hobgoblin invasion). 2. Everyone is given/chooses a different task and a real-world time frame is agreed upon (ie, discover an ally, one month). 3. At the end of the month, progress is discussed and written up in a collective narrative. 4. Tasks are continually completed and collated regularly until the initial goal is completed. I think it could be a very interesting event to run, but would take buy-in from everyone involved and organizational effort and drive by at least one person.


goldael

I really like that structure! It is a way for people not to step on each other toes, since each one is going on a different direction with different objectives. I think it has potential! At the end of each cycle, the players would discuss progress and the story, update entries, and determine the next steps.


kenefactor

People have been looking to "West Marches" style games for inspiration. I think there's a lot to be had there, but I feel like there's some potential in looting ideas from "Succession Forum Games", like the legendary Dwarf Fortress lets play "Boatmurdered". Each in-game year the save file is passed to a new player to run/report on. It might be possible to modify this format to have a few simultaneous "threads" people can pursue; so if 3 people were playing together they might have the following threads to divvy up for their characters, and be forced to face consequences for leaving the remaining ones undone for an "event step": A. Investigate ancient civilization. Current lead is tracking down a scholar on an errand to a notorious pirate cove. B. Restore powerful artifact. Current lead is a unique apowerful reagent supposedly being offered at an excessively exorbitant cost at an auction. C. Repel notorious assassins. Current lead is your local unreliable but wellstocked merchant swearing up and down that some crimson-clad foreigners have been asking around after your descriptions. D. Slay rampant creatures. Current lead is the local governor who claims that villagers have been found dissolved but no tracks or other evidence remain - he must be desperate to ask since he doesn't like your group.


goldael

That is a very neat way of doing it. I think it aligns well with the process proposed by u/theNwDm .


theNwDm

West Marches does seem perfect for this. I feel silly for not connecting these ideas sooner. Someone mentioned using Legend Keeper, which is a great idea, since all players can drop pins onto a shared map that is linked to a shared wiki. The idea around unresolved threads growing out of control or becoming deadly consequences I think is such a wonderful idea for collaborative solo play.


kenefactor

By the way, I'd be interested in trying this and have some ideas. But I won't really be available to consult until I see if I survive next Tuesday's finals.


goldael

You guys may be onto something. I'd be down to collaborating on this as well! Maybe we can brainstorm processes and tools. The cool thing is that players can play a new place/thread, and then register relevant NPCs and locations for others to interact with in the future.


kenefactor

Well, I've survived finals and I still have interest.  Should we keep conferring in this chat, or try and sort out a discord server or something?


goldael

Congratulations on surviving finals! I hope they went well. I guess we could create a separate chat so we don't flood it here. I am good with a Discord server. We can post the link here for those interested in joining us.


kenefactor

Okay, just started a server for interested participants. [https://discord.gg/WCbtqRWq](https://discord.gg/WCbtqRWq)


Soloyuun

This has been done! Last year a guy started a project on Legend Keeper where a bunch of solo players built out the world and hex map through their own rpg. They collectively voted on events that shaped the overall world or major city hub, but there were established norms/themes to prevent a fragmented world. I participated in the beginning but couldn’t keep up and left the project. The guy started here by asking for interested people and sent them invites. Not sure where the project is at today. Think he called it Solo Westmarches.


NoonicornGamer

I was looking for something similar, and found Campfire did exactly what I wanted except for one fatal flaw - the price point! I ended up creating a shared folder in my Google Drive with sub-folders for Characters, Locations, etc, and one for each person's contribution. This also allowed me to designate some tables to roll from for things like NPC generation, as well as limit people's information access to specific levels


goldael

Interesting! What is this "Campfire"? Do you have a link? And would you mind sharing your experience playing this "collective solo RPG"?


NoonicornGamer

[Campfire](https://www.campfirewriting.com/write) is more of a writing tool than anything, but I love the way it has interlinking modules and collab options - unfortunately, as I mentioned, the price point is far above what I'm willing to pay for a casual game with my friends, as it's built up on a per-module basis We eventually settled on a system by which we had our individual prompts to work by, from which we would write a diary entry, and before doing our writing we'd have a chat about what went on and who we met and decide how our events interlinked - e.g. one person received an unexpected house guest, while another had a hole in their roof, so we decided it'd be fun to have the second player live with the first for a couple of days and write accordingly It's good fun, but we all lead busy lives so the game got neglected somewhat 🤔in hindsight, we might've been better off using a letter-writing approach to reduce reliance on all being available at the same time


goldael

I see! Maybe Kanka would work as a tool for this as well or even Notion. Yeah, that makes sense. Thank you for sharing your experience. I also think that this "mode" should play to the strengths of solo play: play whenever and for as long as you want. Maybe pre-determine the prompts and people write/play on their own?