Since there's a lot of RQ6 love around in these here parts, I figured I'd ask if anyone's run a campaign with it; one GM and one player. If so, what tweaks (if any) did you do?

I've had fun running a few one-on-one games with my wife. She was new to RPGs, and I thought we'd try it out just the two of us to see how she liked it before getting a group together. It went well, and she went on to play in a group with me, but gaming has been scarce since the birth of our first child a few months ago.

The RuneQuest 6 system worked well, I thought, for playing with one central character. But it does depend very much on what kind of game you want to play; there's been conversation on here previously about how RQ tends to focus on deep character backgrounds, and perhaps games that are more focused on interaction and exploration than on combat and dungeon-crawling, due to the lethality of the combat rules. I found this to be even more true playing one-on-one. A single character is quite squishy, and if outnumbered, has a good chance of being beaten, so combat is often best avoided through stealth, diplomacy, subterfuge, magic, etc, all of which were used liberally in our game; it helped in a sense that her character wasn't a combat-focused one, and the scenario wasn't a meat-grinder either. She was playing an apprentice witch who used her smarts and her minor magics to avoid fighting.

If you're thinking of more derring-do, that's totally possible as well though, and I think that the tools you need are right there in the rules: liberal use of Rabble and Underlings as opponents, and having your player au fait with the Outmanoeuvre tactic is key, as well as perhaps some Acrobatics to be able to dodge blows without falling prone ... I can see it working really well, in fact, for a lone-wolf jack of all trades, along the lines of Fafhrd, the Grey Mouser, or Conan, or indeed Cugel the Clever! If you're going that route and wanting your character to be able to take on multiple foes, I recommend possibly either increasing the PC's Action Points while leaving those of foes alone, maybe bumping up their Luck Points as well, and possibly even going as far as doubling Hit Points in each location, allowing a character who can take a lot of beating, in an Indiana Jones sort of way ... The other thing to remember is that just because a lone character may come across insurmountable odds combat-wise, that is in no way a "game over" moment; I've found it much more likely that characters in a RuneQuest game be captured for ransom, imprisonment, a snack for later, etc, than often seems to be the case in a D&D scenario (not that this never happens in D&D/YMMV, of course, etc).

Fundamentally, once you're out of the mindset of combat being always to the death, or even the go-to solution for all conflict, I think you're golden.

RuneQuest is a particularly good choice for lone hero play because it can create very well-rounded characters, who may have recourse to talking, fighting, stealth, magic, divine intervention, and just plain running away very easily.

Personally, in order to make the game very interaction-based, I included a major NPC who acted as potential ally, rival, frenemy, love-interest, traitor, person-to-save-from-trouble/get-the-PC-into-trouble, and it was fun to have these two characters with a sort of snappy love/hate dynamic, and a good way to introduce setting elements through roleplay instead of infodumps like "here's what your character knows about x" ... But that's not necessarily to do with RuneQuest at all. Make of it what you will.

Wow. I can't really add anything to that comprehensive response...

Quote from: markfitz;834342Fundamentally, once you're out of the mindset of combat being always to the death, or even the go-to solution for all conflict, I think you're golden.

This, and all I'm going to add is, you should probably pay attention to the optional Passions rules:).

Not much more I can add either, other than that I definitely agree Runequest is an excellent choice for one-on-one gaming, and I used it for such many times back in the 90's with 3rd edition and again later in the early 00's.

10/10 would use for 1-on-1 again

Thanks much, guys - very helpful.

Excellent reply, markfitz!  I especially like the suggestion of doubling action and luck points.

Thanks guys ... I'm really missing playing at the moment! That pent up gaming energy comes out when I get a chance to talk about RuneQuest .... Maybe I can persuade my wife to play a game just the two of us again ... Now that the little Misterman is sleeping through the night!

Quote from: AsenRG;834525This, and all I'm going to add is, you should probably pay attention to the optional Passions rules:).

This is very true as well ... When creating a character, particularly for one-on-one play, it's crucial to tie the character in to the setting, and create links to family, friends, etc. I highly recommend the use of the Passions rules as a way of mechanically expressing two things:

1) what the character wants to do; having a Passion such as Acquire Wealth may be the default in D&D dungeon crawling, and there's no reason why that wouldn't work in RuneQuest as well, with the added trick that a character might have to roll Willpower versus that Passion in a situation where it's highly dangerous or inconvenient to do so ... That said, I like to ask all of my players to give me at least one Passion that expresses a character motivation for ... complication, let's say. They could be classics like Revenge on Family's Killers, Loyalty to King, Hate Chaos Creatures, but also perhaps Seduce High Ranking Nobles, or Acquire Beautiful Works of Art, Uncover Occult Secrets or perhaps Debauchery ... Any of these tell me as a GM what kind of game the player wants to play, and should provide a motor for the character in the world ... one that sometimes just can't be ignored!

2) they can help establish a web of connections that fits in with the family and connections rolled or chosen at character generation. All of those Emotion + Character ones, like Resent (Younger Brother), Rivalry (Fellow Bardic Guild Member), Respect (Pirate Captain), or, best one really, Love (Family Member, Spouse or Indifferent Beauty), give you the strongest link in the constellation of characters around the PC, which is crucial in a one-player game. It's great for any game, but really cool to have a character with paramours and rivals, NPCs that really shine, when it's all there for the one central character ...

okay, three things!

3) the third is another one I've experimented with, which is a belief system. Not every character needs one, but it's sometimes very cool to have the character's beliefs be strong enough to be a Passion. It could be Cynicism, it could be Idealism, it could be Arrogance even, or Cultural Superiority, but I think it's nice to have a Passion that reflects a world-view. I'm also a big fan of using, in the case of a character who has a religion, their Devotion skill as another Passion in many cases, for augments, for tests, for measuring against other characters, etc.

okay, no, I meant four things (this is getting to be like the Spanish Inquisition)

4) yeah, finally, FINALLY, Passions that are acquired in-game are awesome. Oaths are one form of Passion that can express a goal ("I swear by Alsere I'll win the tournament!") or they can be an Oath of Loyalty to a liege, but I think it's very cool to have characters swear Oaths on what matters to them, their gods, their swords, their honour, etc and then bring it into the game as a new Passion. A Geas is also a good one, a condition that can be laid upon a character by certain authoritative circumstances, either magical or just meaningful, depending on your interpretation of the Celtic myths ... And then quite simply developing a Hate Passion for an enemy, or falling in love, are fantastic reasons to add one to the character sheet.

Sorry for rambling on! These thoughts on Passions are of course applicable to any RQ game, but I think they work particularly well in a one-on-one, as they give the opportunity to actually play out internal conflicts, between Passions and Willpower, which are such a staple of great stories. With a party situation, there can be conflicts of interest and aim between members, but one central character can be made much more compelling by sometimes being in conflict with him or her self ...

(you can tell I'm supposed to be writing my PhD, can't you?)