What I’ve Learned Playing Werewolf the Apocalypse for 10 Days Solo

Now Playing BABYMETAL-Distortion

It’s day eleven of a challenge I have set for myself, to play Werewolf the Apocalypse (WtA) solo once a day everyday in April. So far it… hasn't gone the way I’ve planned. Challenges have presented themselves from the real and imagined spaces in my life. It’s been ten days and I have learned a lot. Let’s get into it.

I Don’t Have a Place Where I Feel Comfortable Closing My Door

While reading Stephen King’s On Writing I discovered a relevant piece of advice on writing which also benefits solo RPG players. King states that a writer needs a space that has zero distractions where they can focus solely on the writing process. I came to realize that I do not in fact, have that space in my current life. I’m a dad with two kids, and both of them have come down with stomach inflammation. I've been vomited on three times this weekend. I even took time off work to take care of them both. I just don’t have the time to solo play during the weekends. My family comes first, even if I am doing a solo play challenge. I have only played seven sessions out of a possible ten. I have already “failed” the challenge. It would be easy to quit, but I don’t have to quit, in fact I’m even more determined to try and keep going.

I Still Don’t Have a Clue on How to Share My Sessions

One of the goals of doing this challenge is to share your game with others. There is a large section of solo players who think that the best way to keep motivation is to share what you are doing with others. Ironically the practice of playing TTRPGs solo drives people towards creating communities. I couldn’t agree more with this philosophy, one of the main goals of this substack is to just be able to start conversations with strangers over the internet about playing solo TTRPGs.

Hearing what others think about and how they approach the hobby is honestly one of the greatest joys I have in my life. It’s this very specific puzzle and it's simply fascinating how each player approaches it. Much like writing, there is no right way to do it. Everyone does something different and we can take lessons from all of these different approaches. I am struggling for my own plan on sharing my game. I would love to tell a compelling story, but it’s simply not my skill set. I do like thinking about solo rpgs and do want to share what goes on under the hood during a solo game. Stay tuned, I might post some session reports, or I might write a blog post about something completely different…

System Familiarity Does Not Replace System Mastery

One major take away I have gained is that I really should have chosen Ironsworn over this new edition of the Storyteller System. Being familiar does not equal mastery. I have already learned a lot and changed my opinion on parts of the system. Initially I was turned off from some advice on streamlining more crunchy aspects of the system. Turns out the authors know what they are talking about. There is an approach to running NPCs that I fundamentally do not agree with that was introduced to this edition of the Storyteller System.

The Storyteller System utilizes a d10 pool system, usually a stat + skill to build your pool. You roll the dice and anything over a five is a success, with pairs of tens equaling 4 successes instead of 2. It’s simple, and the math is so simple that the developers propose to treat your NPCs’ dice rolls as static numbers rather than actually rolling. A GM would “Take Half” i.e. just take the average roll, if you have a pool of four dice, then statistically half of that, two, in this case is the assumed number of successes. If this was an opposed roll like a combat or a race, the GM wouldn’t roll for the NPC they would just state, roll your dice, 2 or more success is a win. It feels so so wrong, we should roll dammit!

You know what though, in solo play taking half is brilliant and feels great. It allows you to focus on running your own characters and focus on the story. I highly recommend doing just that for any of your World of Darkness games.

Situation is Important, But I Need Characters

Staying motivated is the main hurdle when playing by yourself. The best part of this hobby is that we don’t have to care about what anyone thinks while playing. The worst part is that we don’t really have any obligations to keep playing, after all nobody really cares that we are playing except ourselves. Examining my own potential motivational roadblocks, I am happy with the environment and situation I put my characters in, but I rushed the character creation process to meet my deadlines for this challenge.

Characters are what drives me in the World of Darkness, the main joy of playing is not being lost in world building but being lost in what is going on in your characters’ heads. I need more time to get to know my pack, and just think about characters. This next week now that my pack has participated in their first hunt will be more character focused. I need to like these people or I am just never going to want to play. The good news is I am warming up to them, but if I were to do it again, I would have used a different set of characters that I already knew.

I Really Do Like Mythic Second Edition

What more is there to be said, it’s a great system that personally just clicks with me. I have already had two random events as well as an altered scene which have impacted my play sessions in such a positive way. I cannot recommend it more highly. Mythic adds some much needed spice to a player’s solo session. If you haven’t at least read Mythic 2e, stop and do so now. It’s as good as everyone says it is. AND it is modular, Tana writes a monthly zine where she provides fresh mechanics, and as play advice to players of Mythic. Sometimes we just get to have nice things.

Solo RPG Design is Intimidating

I had big plans for how I wanted to run my game, moving parts that would affect my pack’s decisions and potentially harm their personal lives. It's a concept that I love, more game to my RPG. I haven't put any time or experimented with my potential ideas. I have got to change that this coming week. Setting up a map would go a long way in making my design goals a possibility. Got to get these ideas onto paper! My first goal is to have a faction system that will have proactive groups within my setting. I have drawn a rough sketch of areas and potential threats. I love Blades in the Dark and have for the time being made a sort of clock based system. Each location’s clock will be colored depending on which groups are vying for control and how successful they are. How I move these clocks… I don’t know yet!

Stay Tuned

More updates on my current game as well as miscellaneous thoughts on playing RPGs solo are on the way! Something truly worrying is that I have started looking into Harn… God help me

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