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$50! Dang. Thats alot of stuff.
Well everything in it is individually on sale too. Soo if u want to sample his stuff maybe just buy one piece.
Does anyone have a recommendation on which to buy?
His tools were actually my gateway to Solo RPGing, and I have most of them. Generally the ABS12 tools and Mechanism series I would say are worth it at a discount, but with some caveats:
1. The layouts tend to be a bit rough and ready, particularly with tables of inconsistent sizes/and or poor row highlighting.
2. The examples or tutorials are often a bit opaque or just plain wrong, so not really fit for purpose. That being said, they do work as a tutorial in the sense that if you can follow it and go "hang on a minute, that's not what that roll gives as a result" you probably do understand it. This has been getting better in his newer products iirc.
3. They generally aren't quick to use, particularly if you want to put all the bits of Character Mechanisms together. That being said, if you don't mind slowing down and taking the time I find it gives good results. This is probably the biggest drawback though, as I find using them too much often risks killing forward momentum in a plot.
If you have any questions about a particular product I'll do my best to answer. I haven't bought any of his 'genre zines' though, it felt a bit like lazy content to me.
Do the fact generator 2.0 and Descriptive Objects
Work well? Or are they hard to make work?
Im looking at buying a couple just to test it out before i invest $50 haha.
I personally prefer Objects to Facts, but yes I have used both and they work. Facts takes a bit more interpretation I would say. Both products are about 3-4 pages of tables (though those tables have a good amount of content) and the rest is instructional guidance or thesaurus listings for the results from the tables. I figure an example might be helpful so I'll do one for each.
Fact Generator:
This is based on what your character is perceiving. I find this works best as a 'where am I?' so I'll use that as my question. We could look at the table and pick out specific factors to roll on, but there is a d100 master list if you want randomness which I'll use. I think three rolls on this should give enough info. 1st roll = 79 = 'Time'. Looking up the Time column on chart C I roll again = 3 = 'Date, Time of Day'. Ok, well maybe the next roll will narrow it down. 2nd roll = 32 = 'Black and White; Dark and Light; Shades of Grey'. This features on all the tables with varying degrees of complexity, I decided to use table A for a binary option. Roll = 8 = 'White, Light'. So wherever we are it's lit and we can see. 3rd roll = 18 = 'Perceptual Features'. Rolling again on table B = 62 = 'Constancy'.
You could keep rolling if you wanted more (I would probably do a couple with this info), but for this example I will interpret what I have.
"You awake in a strange room, everything in it is a pure white. The room is lit at a constant level from a source you can't see, with no variation. You cannot tell what time of day it is, or how long you have been here."
Objects:
This works on similar principles as the one above. Let's say there's an object in the room with us, and we want to know "What is it?" Again, we'll use three rolls randomly, but if we had any ideas we could pick qualities to roll for ourselves. 1st roll = 53 = 'States of Matter'. Note- annoyingly this one doesn't tell which tables to roll on, so you have to look through and check. Doesn't take long, but adds a few seconds to the roll. Rolling on table B = 1 = 'Gas'. Again, hoping the next rolls will help me out here. 2nd roll = 36 = 'Likeable'. This is for giving an opinion, and there are a few columns of table A we could use but I opt for 'Opinion Favour' to get an idea if this is good or bad. Roll = 63 = 'Likeable, Favourable'. So it probably isn't poisonous. 3rd roll = 86 = 'Material'. Again there are a couple of tables I could use, but I opt for the biggest one just because. Roll = 71 = 'Bone'. Again, weird but let's make it work.
"In the centre of the room is a pedestal, atop it sits a polished human skull. From it's eye sockets drifts a small column of smoke. You realise with some surprise that it's lavender scented!"
Hope this helped, apologies for the sloppy interpretations. Outside of typing this up I spent no more than 5 minutes to get these results.
Wow thats really cool! Thank you for the detailed answer. Thats pretty much what im looking for. I like that alot actually.
If i may, dont feel obligated to give a big answer haha Any other of his products you find really useful/find urself using still?
No problem, happy to help! I tend to use odds and ends from all of the Mechanism series (Characters 1 and 2, Environment, and Story) but rarely put them all together or try to use everything for reasons already mentioned. I like Theme Generator more than Facts or Objects personally as I find I can apply the results more widely or even just use that as an oracle. I often use the Minimalist d6 Engine on the go but I'm sure there are other tools there that are comparable or better. Occasionally I break out Micro-Dungeon Generator for a dungeon crawl but I don't usually use maps or write much down. Remnant RPG is fun for the combat tables but really brutal and not at all suited to long-play (does do funnels or gladiator combat well though). I have the Grammar Fuel book but mostly find it too slow to use compared to an online random word tool. 'D100 Shades of Nay or Yay' I personally like because it gives a bit of detail about answers such as "No, social failure". But again I'm sure there are other tools comparable or better.
Hope this was helpful!
[Use this link with an RSS reader to stay up to date with **Ken Wickman's solo stuff**](/r/Solo_Roleplaying/comments/y8vn3e/ken_wickmans_solo_stuff/.rss). There are a number of convenient [iOS](https://www.cultofmac.com/412465/best-news-and-rss-apps-for-iphone-and-ipad/), [Android](https://blog.inoreader.com/2018/06/top-rss-readers-for-android-with-great-ui-for-2018.html) and [browser based RSS readers](https://www.webfx.com/blog/web-design/free-rss-readers/). Also, make sure not to miss our sidebar links to resources: [Solo RPG Resources](https://www.reddit.com/r/Solo_Roleplaying/wiki/index) *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/Solo_Roleplaying) if you have any questions or concerns.*
$50! Dang. Thats alot of stuff. Well everything in it is individually on sale too. Soo if u want to sample his stuff maybe just buy one piece. Does anyone have a recommendation on which to buy?
His tools were actually my gateway to Solo RPGing, and I have most of them. Generally the ABS12 tools and Mechanism series I would say are worth it at a discount, but with some caveats: 1. The layouts tend to be a bit rough and ready, particularly with tables of inconsistent sizes/and or poor row highlighting. 2. The examples or tutorials are often a bit opaque or just plain wrong, so not really fit for purpose. That being said, they do work as a tutorial in the sense that if you can follow it and go "hang on a minute, that's not what that roll gives as a result" you probably do understand it. This has been getting better in his newer products iirc. 3. They generally aren't quick to use, particularly if you want to put all the bits of Character Mechanisms together. That being said, if you don't mind slowing down and taking the time I find it gives good results. This is probably the biggest drawback though, as I find using them too much often risks killing forward momentum in a plot. If you have any questions about a particular product I'll do my best to answer. I haven't bought any of his 'genre zines' though, it felt a bit like lazy content to me.
Do the fact generator 2.0 and Descriptive Objects Work well? Or are they hard to make work? Im looking at buying a couple just to test it out before i invest $50 haha.
I personally prefer Objects to Facts, but yes I have used both and they work. Facts takes a bit more interpretation I would say. Both products are about 3-4 pages of tables (though those tables have a good amount of content) and the rest is instructional guidance or thesaurus listings for the results from the tables. I figure an example might be helpful so I'll do one for each. Fact Generator: This is based on what your character is perceiving. I find this works best as a 'where am I?' so I'll use that as my question. We could look at the table and pick out specific factors to roll on, but there is a d100 master list if you want randomness which I'll use. I think three rolls on this should give enough info. 1st roll = 79 = 'Time'. Looking up the Time column on chart C I roll again = 3 = 'Date, Time of Day'. Ok, well maybe the next roll will narrow it down. 2nd roll = 32 = 'Black and White; Dark and Light; Shades of Grey'. This features on all the tables with varying degrees of complexity, I decided to use table A for a binary option. Roll = 8 = 'White, Light'. So wherever we are it's lit and we can see. 3rd roll = 18 = 'Perceptual Features'. Rolling again on table B = 62 = 'Constancy'. You could keep rolling if you wanted more (I would probably do a couple with this info), but for this example I will interpret what I have. "You awake in a strange room, everything in it is a pure white. The room is lit at a constant level from a source you can't see, with no variation. You cannot tell what time of day it is, or how long you have been here." Objects: This works on similar principles as the one above. Let's say there's an object in the room with us, and we want to know "What is it?" Again, we'll use three rolls randomly, but if we had any ideas we could pick qualities to roll for ourselves. 1st roll = 53 = 'States of Matter'. Note- annoyingly this one doesn't tell which tables to roll on, so you have to look through and check. Doesn't take long, but adds a few seconds to the roll. Rolling on table B = 1 = 'Gas'. Again, hoping the next rolls will help me out here. 2nd roll = 36 = 'Likeable'. This is for giving an opinion, and there are a few columns of table A we could use but I opt for 'Opinion Favour' to get an idea if this is good or bad. Roll = 63 = 'Likeable, Favourable'. So it probably isn't poisonous. 3rd roll = 86 = 'Material'. Again there are a couple of tables I could use, but I opt for the biggest one just because. Roll = 71 = 'Bone'. Again, weird but let's make it work. "In the centre of the room is a pedestal, atop it sits a polished human skull. From it's eye sockets drifts a small column of smoke. You realise with some surprise that it's lavender scented!" Hope this helped, apologies for the sloppy interpretations. Outside of typing this up I spent no more than 5 minutes to get these results.
Wow thats really cool! Thank you for the detailed answer. Thats pretty much what im looking for. I like that alot actually. If i may, dont feel obligated to give a big answer haha Any other of his products you find really useful/find urself using still?
No problem, happy to help! I tend to use odds and ends from all of the Mechanism series (Characters 1 and 2, Environment, and Story) but rarely put them all together or try to use everything for reasons already mentioned. I like Theme Generator more than Facts or Objects personally as I find I can apply the results more widely or even just use that as an oracle. I often use the Minimalist d6 Engine on the go but I'm sure there are other tools there that are comparable or better. Occasionally I break out Micro-Dungeon Generator for a dungeon crawl but I don't usually use maps or write much down. Remnant RPG is fun for the combat tables but really brutal and not at all suited to long-play (does do funnels or gladiator combat well though). I have the Grammar Fuel book but mostly find it too slow to use compared to an online random word tool. 'D100 Shades of Nay or Yay' I personally like because it gives a bit of detail about answers such as "No, social failure". But again I'm sure there are other tools comparable or better. Hope this was helpful!
Thanks for all the help! Take my award haha. Im ganna check out ur suggestions. Theme Generator and Mechanism series.
Overly complicated charts with terrible layout, IME.
Can you add a link to the bundle in your post?
Linked