I'm thinking on infecting my young nephew with some TTRPG goodness and in need of a suitable system for that. It's most likely going to be one GM (me) plus one player, maybe I can lure the missus in as well. I have okay experience as a player myself but, admittedly, not nearly enough experience as a GM, so I'm looking for something reasonably uncomplicated and easy to get into. Also not very brutal to start with. I have my own setting in mind (it's more or less your general fantasy), so I just need a system to build upon.
I found Scarlet Heroes, which seems to me designed exactly for my situation here and I like it a lot, but I would like some more options before I start hacking at stuff. Any advise?
You already said Scarlet Heroes...or just White Box and just make starting hit points CON+D6, give enough money to buy platemail. Also there is a Holmes D&D supplement that has a ton of 1 hit point monsters that was pretty whimsical and fun, makes single PC combat extremely viable.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-rvuyIrPEBCNUpTVUhCVERxSTQ/view?resourcekey=0-sdtLj5NN_G2x2LLTb510bw
EDIT: Actually this doc has that page along with a ton of other Holmes stuff which is more than enough for an extensive campaign: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-rvuyIrPEBCMTlpSE5xNndDaDA/view?resourcekey=0-_l-63AcuvBRRjFdns-xPJw
I started my son on Dragon Warriors but he really got hooked playing a Mentzer Classic MU 4 riding a white dragon :)
Quote from: S'mon on April 21, 2023, 01:31:07 PM
I started my son on Dragon Warriors but he really got hooked playing a Mentzer Classic MU 4 riding a white dragon :)
You are in the UK, aren't you...
Quote from: Brad on April 21, 2023, 02:29:40 PM
Quote from: S'mon on April 21, 2023, 01:31:07 PM
I started my son on Dragon Warriors but he really got hooked playing a Mentzer Classic MU 4 riding a white dragon :)
You are in the UK, aren't you...
Yup
Quote from: Klava on April 21, 2023, 10:21:19 AM
I'm thinking on infecting my young nephew with some TTRPG goodness and in need of a suitable system for that. It's most likely going to be one GM (me) plus one player, maybe I can lure the missus in as well. I have okay experience as a player myself but, admittedly, not nearly enough experience as a GM, so I'm looking for something reasonably uncomplicated and easy to get into. Also not very brutal to start with. I have my own setting in mind (it's more or less your general fantasy), so I just need a system to build upon.
I found Scarlet Heroes, which seems to me designed exactly for my situation here and I like it a lot, but I would like some more options before I start hacking at stuff. Any advise?
Before I give an answer is this a genre specific request (Like only fantasy) or all rpg genres?
Ok so an interesting case. Not only a new player, but a small group and new-ish GM. A few recommendations. Let's break this down into new player and new GM recommendations.
Here are some criteria I think are valuable for new players:
-Based on or least related to D&D: If a new player does get into the hobby, they're likely to end up playing D&D, so it's an asset for them to already be literate in its fundamentals.
-Standard Elves-Dwarves-&-Wizards Fantasy: Probably easier for people coming from outside of the hobby to imagine the setting and their character.
-Simple Math and minimal Derived Statistics: For a new player, it's easier to just say "this number on your sheet is what you add to an attack, or a strength roll or whatever" rather than giving them multiple places to cross-reference.
-Quick and simple character creation: New players should get the experience of building their character, but I've seen more than one person put off of the hobby because they showed up to play a game and spent half the time building characters.
-PCs still need to have a "cool factor" and a feeling of power to them: Personal belief of mine, but I don't think a new player, especially a young one, is unlikely to vibe with the "I'm shit; you're shit; the whole world is shit" attitude of some of the more Grimdark games.
-PCs should not be too fragile: Related point, but still different. There are light-hearted games where you can die very easily, and dark/gritty games where you're actually extremely resilient.
-Simple spell or ability descriptions: Nobody wants to spend their first game session looking up what their spells do.
Under those criteria, the kings are games like Index Card RPG or the Black Hack (and it's many derivatives). I particularly think that ICRPG is a great first game, because it has no class levels, no derived stats, but still a lot of "cool factor" in the flavor of the character options. It does have the factor that by the RAW PCs only have 10 HP, but you can literally just raise that to 20 or 30 without it affecting anything else in the game. As a bonus, it also has a really good DM advice section. Standard OSR games like OSE or BFRPG score reasonably well on these criteria, but they often have a lot of derived stats, and the characters can be quite fragile.
Now, some criteria that I think are good for a newer GM:
Unified Mechanics: It's much easier for a GM to just pick which of the six attributes their players should roll for each situation, rather than have separate rules for different types of activity.
Simple, easy-to-use monster stat blocks: Probably obvious, but if you're not experienced with a game, it's better not to have to stop at the table and read the entry in the monster manual.
Facilitates theatre-of-the-mind play: Contrary to some people, I think games that rely on grid-based tactics are actually harder to GM than free-form ones.
Easy to obtain and run adventures/modules: Certainly not necessary, but for a less experienced GM, it can be useful to have examples of how a particular game might be run, especially as regards to the underlying math of a game (i.e, target numbers for checks, monster group sizes, etc.).
Here's where the bigger OSR games come out better. While they often don't have unified mechanics. They tend to have large, easily available libraries of monsters and adventures. Dungeon Crawl Classics and OSE in particular have huge amounts of published material available. ICRPG has really good monster stat blocks, but it doesn't have many monsters, so you'll have to start homebrewing pretty quick. Same is true of the Black Hack. As far as I know neither of them have much (if any) in the way of published adventures.
There's also the unrelated issue of price and availability of the books. ICRPG and the Black Hack you'd probably have to get as print-on-demand orders, so while they're not expensive, there will be a time delay. OSE and Dungeon Crawl Classics are more quickly available, but both run kind of pricey. The King of Cheap and Available is Basic Fantasy RPG, where not just the core rulebook, but the monster manual and most of the other supplements and adventures are available for $5-10 each on Amazon. I often recommend it to new players or groups just on those grounds. You could buy your nephew his own rulebook, and have lost almost nothing if he promptly loses or throws it away.
EDIT:
This might counteract everything I just said, but it's worth mentioning that most of us just started with whatever the current edition of D&D was at the time, usually as kids, and often with other kids as DMs. I played my first game of D&D with the 3.0 starter set. I think I was around 12 years old, and playing with a DM of the same age. All of that is to say that to some extent the game you pick doesn't matter. People who are going to get into RPGs are going to see the potential and want more.
(Accidental repost)
Scarlet Heroes powered by Old School Essentials, Basic Fantasy, or Advanced Labyrinth Lord should do the trick for you.
Quote from: ForgottenF on April 21, 2023, 03:44:23 PM
Here are some criteria I think are valuable for new players:
-Based on or least related to D&D: If a new player does get into the hobby, they're likely to end up playing D&D, so it's an asset for them to already be literate in its fundamentals.
-Standard Elves-Dwarves-&-Wizards Fantasy: Probably easier for people coming from outside of the hobby to imagine the setting and their character.
-Simple Math and minimal Derived Statistics: For a new player, it's easier to just say "this number on your sheet is what you add to an attack, or a strength roll or whatever" rather than giving them multiple places to cross-reference.
-Quick and simple character creation: New players should get the experience of building their character, but I've seen more than one person put off of the hobby because they showed up to play a game and spent half the time building characters.
-PCs still need to have a "cool factor" and a feeling of power to them: Personal belief of mine, but I don't think a new player, especially a young one, is unlikely to vibe with the "I'm shit; you're shit; the whole world is shit" attitude of some of the more Grimdark games.
-PCs should not be too fragile: Related point, but still different. There are light-hearted games where you can die very easily, and dark/gritty games where you're actually extremely resilient.
-Simple spell or ability descriptions: Nobody wants to spend their first game session looking up what their spells do.
Hm, based on this I'd recommend Dragonbane - https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/409397/Dragonbane-Quickstart - unarmoured PCs can be fragile, but you can play a knight in plate.
@here: great suggestions all, thank you very much. there's much of this stuff around, i'd never be able to navigate through it myself :)
Quote from: GhostNinja on April 21, 2023, 03:25:41 PM
Before I give an answer is this a genre specific request (Like only fantasy) or all rpg genres?
no, it's not genre specific. i'm going to have to mangle whatever system i decide to use in the end anyway to fit my own setting.
and translate/rewrite it in my native language. so it can be anything that mechanically fits the purpose i described.
Greetings!
Klava, I would also suggest that you get ShadowDark. It is simple, straightforward, quick character generation, and yet, also modular so that you can easily add or change things.
Also, all in one book!
Semper Fidelis,
SHARK
Quote from: SHARK on April 22, 2023, 03:40:04 AM
Klava, I would also suggest that you get ShadowDark. It is simple, straightforward, quick character generation, and yet, also modular so that you can easily add or change things.
Also, all in one book!
yes, SHARK, i've been considering that one as well. it looks solid, and, as you mentioned, i'd only have to buy a single book - which, taking into account my limited capabilities to purchase anything from any company in so-called "civilized world" (which is to say, asking friends in other countries, basically), is a big plus.
i don't exactly understand some of it's parts though.
- You must have tension building in your game!
- Well, duh...
- Here, use these torches! And no dark vision!
doesn't that feel kinda... arbitrary?
anyway, good stuff, i'll give it a more thorough read. thank you :)
Quote from: Klava on April 22, 2023, 06:45:07 AM
Quote from: SHARK on April 22, 2023, 03:40:04 AM
Klava, I would also suggest that you get ShadowDark. It is simple, straightforward, quick character generation, and yet, also modular so that you can easily add or change things.
Also, all in one book!
yes, SHARK, i've been considering that one as well. it looks solid, and, as you mentioned, i'd only have to buy a single book - which, taking into account my limited capabilities to purchase anything from any company in so-called "civilized world" (which is to say, asking friends in other countries, basically), is a big plus.
i don't exactly understand some of it's parts though.
- You must have tension building in your game!
- Well, duh...
- Here, use these torches! And no dark vision!
doesn't that feel kinda... arbitrary?
anyway, good stuff, i'll give it a more thorough read. thank you :)
Hating on darkvision has been a bit of an OSR talking point for a while now, and it appears that Shadowdark decided to really lean into that as a selling point. The truth is that the presence or absence of Darkvision is really only as much of an issue as you choose to make of it. Most RPGs don't even have it as an option. It's a thing in D&D because D&D is one of very few games that operate on the (honestly kind of silly) premise of a game world which is not only full of large subterranean complexes, but where the occupants of most of those complexes can see in absolute darkness. If you're not running that kind of world, darkvision matters a lot less. If you don't have lots of traditional dungeons, there won't be that many places with no natural light, and if the monsters can't all see in the dark, even the dungeons are going to be lit.
Personally, I prefer the game without darkvision, because I like absolute darkness to be a tool I can use sparingly, but I'm pretty lenient with my characters' light sources. The only thing I really hate is when half the party can see in the dark and the other half can't. It's just a pain in the ass to always have to describe every situation twice to account for the different vision levels.
The emphasis on torches is a product of a certain group of people who want D&D to be more of a resource management/survival game. I get the appeal of PCs being able to run out of torches/fuel/ammunition/food, but I've always found that the same thing always happens, even in old school groups. People start out with the best of intentions when it comes to tracking resources, and then quickly realize that it's a big hassle which rarely ends up mattering in the game. Over the course of a campaign, everyone just tapers off of tracking their resources out of a kind of unspoken agreement.
Others will of course disagree, but I'm firmly in the camp of abstracting resource management (such as by the
Black Hack's "usage dice" system, or using inventory slots rather than weights, etc.). I find it has the best balance of keeping the possibility or running out of a crucial resource in the game, while still keeping the paperwork down to a point where players will actually do it.
Quote from: ForgottenF on April 22, 2023, 12:19:10 PM
Hating on darkvision has been a bit of an OSR talking point for a while now, and it appears that Shadowdark decided to really lean into that as a selling point.
...
The emphasis on torches is a product of a certain group of people who want D&D to be more of a resource management/survival game.
...
Others will of course disagree, but I'm firmly in the camp of abstracting resource management (such as by the Black Hack's "usage dice" system, or using inventory slots rather than weights, etc.). I find it has the best balance of keeping the possibility or running out of a crucial resource in the game, wile still keeping the paperwork down to a point where players will actually do it.
yeah, i get it. as you say, resource management should, imo, be an instrument to create tension
where applicable - not a persistent nuisance to constantly deal with. and it looks to me like in Shadowdark it's leaning more towards the latter ::)
When my daughter was five I used Faerys Tale from Green Ronin as her introduction to RPGs. It went very well and eventually we moved on to Basic D&D, 1e AD&D, 6e Call of Cthulhu and Classic Traveller.
https://greenroninstore.com/products/faerys-tale-deluxe-pdf (https://greenroninstore.com/products/faerys-tale-deluxe-pdf)
@ForgottenF
Aside from not having D&D- or OSR-style stats and game mechanics, would you consider Ironsworn? It hits all of the other parameters you mentioned and, due to the way content is generated, using published adventures is not unnecessary. It's also incredibly easy to hack if you want to incorporate non-human PCs.
Quote from: Klava on April 21, 2023, 10:21:19 AM
I'm looking for something reasonably uncomplicated and easy to get into. Also not very brutal to start with. I have my own setting in mind (it's more or less your general fantasy), so I just need a system to build upon.
I found Scarlet Heroes, which seems to me designed exactly for my situation here and I like it a lot, but I would like some more options before I start hacking at stuff. Any advise?
Easy - Swords & Wizardry White Box, an absolutely terrific clone of the original D&D box set from 1974. Extremely simple and, being a clone of the game that started it all, also the perfect introduction to fantasy RPGs. The best version available now is the Fantasy Medieval Adventure Game edition (FMAG). As my good friend capitalbill summarized:
"The impetus of WB:FMAG was to take the last printing of Swords & Wizardry: Whitebox that had been released to the fans/put out to pasture- clean up the formatting, correct some errata, add some illustrations, and some art.
In my opinion, I think Charlie Mason did a good job. And buy in is inexpensive as there are three different covers available on the cheap on Amazon, Drivethru, and Lulu."
Quote from: ronwisegamgee on April 23, 2023, 08:07:33 AM
@ForgottenF
Aside from not having D&D- or OSR-style stats and game mechanics, would you consider Ironsworn? It hits all of the other parameters you mentioned and, due to the way content is generated, using published adventures is not unnecessary. It's also incredibly easy to hack if you want to incorporate non-human PCs.
I was not familiar to Ironsworn, but I do have some experience with Dungeon World, and from a cursory read of the Ironsworn rulebook pdf, it seems that the two games are very similar in design sensibility and structure.
I considered mentioning Dungeon World in my previous post, because it does meet some of the criteria I mentioned. Here's why I didn't: The unique selling point of tabletop RPGs, as opposed to similar mediums like videogames or choose-your-own-adventure books, is the idea that your options are limited only by the game scenario and your own imagination. That's more or less true in different games, depending on both the system and the GM.
The thing about "Powered-by-the-Apocalypse" games (including Ironsworn from what I can see) is that they're at the far end of that spectrum. The "moves" system presents itself as a menu of options you browse through and pick from, rather than as in-character choices which then have dice rolls to game-ify them. They also frequently want to commodify your character's goals and motivations, which restricts roleplay. A good GM can flex the game around that to allow for more creative play, but they'll be fighting the system to do so.
All of that is a long way around to go to say that I don't think PBTA games do a good job representing the RPG medium and it's strengths to a new player, and run the risk of giving them an inaccurate idea of how RPGs are meant to be played.
As far as Ironsworn particularly goes, the Move descriptions do seem to be a little more open-ended than what I've seen in some other PBTA games, but there's still a lot of individual actions and jargon to learn. I'll try and use an example from the book:
Let's say the player wants to convince a tribal chief to do something: Either the player or the GM has to recognize that as a "Compel" move, go to the appropriate page, and work out which attribute to roll it with. Then, the player has to roll both their "Challenge" and "Action" dice, compare the results, and then compare the result of that comparison back to the results table for the "Compel" move. And that result probably means they roll another test. So let's say they got a miss. The player now flips to the "Pay the Price" table, and chooses a result, possibly having to roll more dice to get it. Only then does the GM decide what that result means in the fiction of the game
By comparison: if the player wants to take that action in Index Card RPG, the GM just says "Ok, that's going to be a hard charisma roll", the player rolls one die, and the GM tells them what happens.
On the other hand, as you can probably guess, I have a pretty low opinion of the whole design ethos behind PBTA, so if you like it, my opinion probably isn't worth much to you.
Quote from: ForgottenF on April 23, 2023, 12:18:08 PM
Quote from: ronwisegamgee on April 23, 2023, 08:07:33 AM
@ForgottenF
Aside from not having D&D- or OSR-style stats and game mechanics, would you consider Ironsworn? It hits all of the other parameters you mentioned and, due to the way content is generated, using published adventures is not unnecessary. It's also incredibly easy to hack if you want to incorporate non-human PCs.
Let's say the player wants to convince a tribal chief to do something: Either the player or the GM has to recognize that as a "Compel" move, go to the appropriate page, and work out which attribute to roll it with. Then, the player has to roll both their "Challenge" and "Action" dice, compare the results, and then compare the result of that comparison back to the results table for the "Compel" move. And that result probably means they roll another test. So let's say they got a miss. The player now flips to the "Pay the Price" table, and chooses a result, possibly having to roll more dice to get it. Only then does the GM decide what that result means in the fiction of the game
By comparison: if the player wants to take that action in Index Card RPG, the GM just says "Ok, that's going to be a hard charisma roll", the player rolls one die, and the GM tells them what happens.
On the other hand, as you can probably guess, I have a pretty low opinion of the whole design ethos behind PBTA, so if you like it, my opinion probably isn't worth much to you.
You're honestly doing the same thing in both games: you come across a situation that mandates a dice roll, you roll the dice, and then the GM interprets the results in accordance with the fiction. Ironsworn and PbtA simply provide more guidelines on how to deal with failed dice rolls than ICRPG.
But like you said, you have a low opinion of that style of game, so we'll just move on with our lives
D&D was being played one-in-one and for small groups from the start.
Sacrifice - An Incense & Iron RPG is billed as ideal for one-on-one play. Moreover, it is human-centric and has no magic to keep track of. However, it might be too brutal for a younger player unless your nephew is a fan of the manga Berserk.
this a bit of a necro-post, but i wanted to thank everybody for the help and let you know how it went, guys.
it took a lot longer than i expected, because computer games got there first with my nephew (who'd have thought). and so i went the way i got into the hobby myself in the past - we played some computer games with the dude at first: Dragon Age, Divinity Original Sin, Solasta. at some point i explained what all of that is ultimately originates from, and how the table top version of the same stuff is different from playing within the scripted constrains in CRPGs.
eventually we got to play my little home brew game based on Scarlet Heroes rule-set (shout out to Kevin Crawford and Sine Nomine Publishing (https://sine-nomine-publishing.myshopify.com/)). i used some of the advice given at this thread - special thanks to Brad, i basically took his advice from the first reply in this whole, and it worked very well - though, as they all want to play fucking Harry Potters, i gave health potions and a wand of magic missiles, instead of plate :P. i even got the missus to role-play a magical possessed flying broom that had to be persuaded to carry the PC over a chasm.
generally, it didn't go the way i expected at all - which is mostly my fault for being a terrible GM - but, surprisingly, i'm now looking at more players joining my table, which is fucking terrifying >_<
still, thanks all. this was great fun, even though i did shit a bunch of bricks in the process :P
Call of Cthulhu works pretty well for this. You could rune the Alone Against with 1 player and a GM easily. Paper Chase is also written for 1-2 players.
If it's just one player and the GM, I'd probably say find a solo RPG and use that instead but just curate the random roles into something you can work with for both your enjoyment and come up with the story beats mostly yourself instead of having the player do the heavy lifting.
Quote from: Klava on December 20, 2024, 03:37:58 AMgenerally, it didn't go the way i expected at all - which is mostly my fault for being a terrible GM - but, surprisingly, i'm now looking at more players joining my table, which is fucking terrifying >_<
The game not going the way you expect is half the fun! IME more players actually makes the DM's job easier (up to a point of course). More people talking is less "airtime" you need to fill as DM and more ideas being thrown out for you to riff off of. It's less pressure on each individual player to always be involved, too. They can speak up or pipe down as their interest/inspiration in what's going on waxes and wanes. Maybe it's just different experience, but I'd be way more nervous about running a game for 1 or 2 players than I would for 5 or 6.
If you're running a game with two players, just rock on with whatever game you want. Every game I've run works well with 2 players. With your wife in tow as a player, then something like XDM or ICRPG would be perfect.
If you are going to do a one on one game and you're not locked into a genre, then I recommend Traveller. Here you have the opportunity to really get the most out of a system and every boy loves the gear porn. It's not as complex as it seems at first blush either and you can drop the ship operations stuff to simplify it even more. In my experience, young boys prefer a tighter system rather than a rules light system if the math is straight forward.
A piece of advice to give you running for a youngster is to give them a clear goal from the out set. "You've been hired by worried parents to find their missing daughter and bring her home." Once they figure out the concept of they are on a job then you can introduce the idea that they can pick jobs after a couple of adventures.
(If you're wondering how to drop the ship ops Traveller, then just treat the ship like a bus where there's no combat and a pilot that does the driving for you. I also did a Stargate type game where the PCs would jump to a world with no gate with a portable gate and it was their job to connect to the network and open up travel.)
Some of my best memories from this hobby come from a D&D 5th ed game I ran for two friends for the better part of a year. There really wasn't anything that needed changing other than having a decent idea of what challenges two players could handle. Im sure the same would go for most other games.
So this is where I'm doing a shameless plug for a couple of friends of mine who run 5E adventures with just a DM and a single player. Worth checking out if you want to feel inspired. It's called 'In Two the Dungeon'. See link below:
https://open.spotify.com/show/3Bu4IF4D2REG3FepbhX9ms?si=X1SUOCbeTB6pdX5Zo8d3XQ
White Box Fantastic Medieval Adventure Game, is $5 in paperback on Amazon. A complete game, that presents original D&D plus the Thief class, for $5. That's a deal.
For me the key thing with small player groups has been multiple characters per player. It really helps for dnd.
I take this as a happy ending because they want to play more! :D Be proud of yourself, you are a good GM who facilitated their fun and they want to do it again soon. So much of life working and playing together rarely goes as we plan. That's why we all practice beforehand, especially as teams, and still when it counts there's always the unexpected.
The important thing is everyone leaned on each other, engaged in the fun, and gave space to let others shine. :) You all won. And there was nothing to lose except an opportunity to enjoy each others' company and have a happy memory to share.
Go off and do it again! :D
Quote from: Brad on April 21, 2023, 10:40:18 AMYou already said Scarlet Heroes...or just White Box and just make starting hit points CON+D6, give enough money to buy platemail. Also there is a Holmes D&D supplement that has a ton of 1 hit point monsters that was pretty whimsical and fun, makes single PC combat extremely viable.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-rvuyIrPEBCNUpTVUhCVERxSTQ/view?resourcekey=0-sdtLj5NN_G2x2LLTb510bw
EDIT: Actually this doc has that page along with a ton of other Holmes stuff which is more than enough for an extensive campaign: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-rvuyIrPEBCMTlpSE5xNndDaDA/view?resourcekey=0-_l-63AcuvBRRjFdns-xPJw
This was a great answer. I would add that Mythic role-playing system (the one that originated Mythic Solo GM) is a good one also. Based on d100, completely adaptable and with great tools to improvise.
Quote from: Brad on April 21, 2023, 10:40:18 AMYou already said Scarlet Heroes...or just White Box and just make starting hit points CON+D6, give enough money to buy platemail. Also there is a Holmes D&D supplement that has a ton of 1 hit point monsters that was pretty whimsical and fun, makes single PC combat extremely viable.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-rvuyIrPEBCNUpTVUhCVERxSTQ/view?resourcekey=0-sdtLj5NN_G2x2LLTb510bw
EDIT: Actually this doc has that page along with a ton of other Holmes stuff which is more than enough for an extensive campaign: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-rvuyIrPEBCMTlpSE5xNndDaDA/view?resourcekey=0-_l-63AcuvBRRjFdns-xPJw
I am not having much to be contributing to the question, but am wanting to thank you for this response, for it is something I have being needed recently!
BX D&D
AD&D
Possibly 2 and 5e D&D.
TSR put put a small series of One-on-One modules way back. One was for BX I think. I'd have to dig through to find them.
1 and 2e Shadowrun can handle it. Especially if running a decker. In fact I did sprite work for a fan made PC game called Decker that was just about puttering around the matrix, doing jobs, upgrading.
Older editions of Call of Cthulhu can as well.
Weirdly enough most of the Palladium line can handle a single player campaign long as the GM knows what they can and can not throw at the player and any NPCs in the group.
And this is the big one. NPCs in the party can turn about any RPG into a 1-on-1.
Eldritch Escape: Tokyo concentrated on 1-2 players. But in my experience Call of Cthulhu is perfect for that. Just as someone already written here.
Since we're necro-replying, Beowulf hits about half of your desiderata, and is worth mentioning - it's a heavy reworking of D&D 5e to be about being a solo Anglo-Saxon-ish hero. You have companions but IIRC they're largely one-use-special-power providers, or you can injure/kill them to save your hero from a dire fate, then try to find replacements.
Not super-wizardy, but the art & adventures are very atmospheric.
Cthulhu or other "investigative" RPG (few combat) should do the trick. Take Blade Runner, for instance: three PC seems to be a maximum for me. If I remember well, the gumshoe system is tailored to a given number of characters and adjusts the players' resources on investigative abilities so that adventures should run well.
Quote from: Naburimannu on December 24, 2024, 09:44:09 AMSince we're necro-replying
well, i did revive this thread i created a while back myself, you know - to give thanks, and to let those who might care know how it went. so, technically, it's just me who engaged in any necromancy here >_>
@all: thanks again, guys. even though my mind is set (and my hand are full >_<) i do read and appreciate all the advise and opinions. and maybe someone else would find this thread useful?
Well, I didn't want to tack on since you seem to have it covered, but if it's for future refernce, I came across RuneCairn which is built specifically for 1 GM and one player. Did not play myself, it's an ItO dericative with heavy Viking/ Nordic themes.
I can't recall the names but back in the 90s, I recall TSR putting out some 1 on 1 adventures (think these were them: https://www.tsrarchive.com/add/add-hhq.html).Pretty sure a lot of them were designed with specific classes in mind. Those might still be available on drive thru or on Amazon used
Quote from: a_wanderer on December 26, 2024, 05:26:11 AMWell, I didn't want to tack on since you seem to have it covered, but if it's for future refernce, I came across RuneCairn which is built specifically for 1 GM and one player. Did not play myself, it's an ItO dericative with heavy Viking/ Nordic themes.
I was wanting to mention this too! Here's a link for the curious: https://byodinsbeardrpg.com/books/runecairn-core-rules/
The thread has focused on fantasy per the op, but I will say that I've always found superhero games to be great to run for 1 or 2 players. Link to my own game is in my sig.
My fellow is advised «Black Sword Hack» for games gm + pc. Is anyone else had tried it for that purpose?