Solitaire System
The following is the system I use to plan Solitaire games.
Disclaimer – this system is always in development. I rarely play two games using precisely the same system. Each game I take what works, learn new things, try new things, and tweak things as needed.
It is also not original in any way. Everything here has been scavenged from a multitude of sources and cobbled together into a system that works for me.
Flexibility is the most important rule. The system has two purposes – to help generate ideas so the game does not stall, and to maintain a consistent narrative. It is a tool, not a straight jacket. Everything put in place by this system exists as a prompt and a guideline. I frequently alter, mix, or replace elements in play to fit the emerging narrative. Nothing is set in stone until it is engaged with directly in play.
A) Setup
The first Job is to set up the game. I find that time spent on preparation pays dividends, and a well prepared game ends up more enjoyable, more productive, and more likely to last than one where I have just rolled up a character, grabbed an oracle, and got stuck in.
Setting up the game consists of a number of phases that I usually go through roughly in order. I never consider any of these phases to be “complete” however, and I constantly jump between them as inspiration takes me. Even once play has started the documents generated in these phases remain subject to regular updates.
1) Genre
It is important to establish the Genre of the Game. For some this will be straight forwards because they approach the game with a particular Genre or a particular ruleset in mind. I almost always use a variant of Fate as my ruleset, so Genre is a wide open field.
I keep a document with a wish list of different Genres I am interested in playing, along with ideas I have for the focus of Games within those Genres.
My first step when setting up a solitaire game is always to revisit that list, see if I can add anything to it (even if I might not take that idea further until a later date), and settle on one for my current game.
Wishlist
Once I have settled on a Genre, I make a wish list for that game of things I would like to see in the game.
One of the great things about solitaire play is that I don’t have to please anyone but myself, and having a list of things that interest me helps give me prompts I can keep returning to whenever introducing something new to the game to keep things focussed on what I enjoy.
This wish list of things I want in the game is one of the most useful things I have found to help keep the game focussed and enjoyable. I will sometimes add to it later on as inspiration takes me.
Occasionally I create a second list of things I want to avoid in the game, but generally this is unnecessary.
Ruleset
Again, this will be a simple choice for many people. Given that I generally play fate, and it is so customisable, I tend to look at the genre and my wishlist at this point and see what rules will best accommodate those.
Scale
The last thing I need to establish is the scale at which my game will be played. Again this helps maintain a focus for the game and helps provide a framework for the things I add.
Sometimes the scale will change during play, and sometimes I plan from the outset that the campaign will move across scales.
I choose between 4 different scales of play;
I Personal
Personal games focus on the characters and their interpersonal relationships. Everything is designed to impact them directly.
II Political
Political games focus on the interplay between the different factions involved in the game. Characters will have their own motivations and agendas, and the PC’s will need to navigate between them. This kind of game is often fairly limited in scope, with the action played out between well connected characters within a defined arena of some sort – either geographical, factional, or organisational. Often things will be tightly balanced between different factions and the choices made by the PCs will tip the balance one way or another – with resulting complications and fallout.
III Epic
Epic games play out over a broader scale, with factions being more clearly defined and often clashing over larger areas. This kind of game is often Global in scope with a bigger focus on factions clashing rather than manouvering within factions. Characters at this scale will tend to be representative of the factions they are acting on behalf of.
IV Mythic
Mythic games are broader still, with characters and factions representing fundamental forces of nature. or abstract ideas. Rather than the global clash of nations represented on the epic scale, this is the clash between life and death, light and darkness. In all honesty I do not often play at this scale.
Example
I settle on Fantasy as a genre and brainstorm a wishlist of things I want to include;
Magic
Wizards
Fae
Duels
Mass combat
Subterfuge
I will keep these in mind when setting up the Game and introducing new elements, ensuring that they are what focusses the game.
Mass combat suggests an Epic scale for the game, with factions clashing on a broad scale.
2) Setting and Factions
These come together in my setup process, because although I begin with setting before moving on to factions, I tend to bounce back and forth between the two quite a lot as elements of each spark ideas.
Setting
Setting is about looking at where the action takes place and brainstorming locations. These will be added to throughout the setup process and throughout play.
The first thing to do is to think about the scope of the setting, which will often be linked to the scale. Remember to keep your wishlist in mind while thinking about the sort of things you want to happen in your setting – the setting should be built with your wishlist in mind.
Personal scale stories might take place over a single block or a small town with locations being Houses, buildings, parks etc.
Political scale stories might take place within a single city, or across the scattered holdings of a single faction. Locations might again be buildings within that city.
Epic scale stories might take place across a whole globe, or even multiple worlds or planes in some stories. Locations might be whole cities or geographical locations. For an interstellar or interplanar setting, locations might even be worlds or planes.
Mythic scale stories go outside of the box and so the settings might resemble any of the above, or might be different entirely.
Locations
For each location I fill in;
Breif Description: What does it look like? What is its function?
Nested locations: Sometimes the location will be nested within a larger location (eg a building within a city). Sometimes it will have smaller locations nested within it (eg. A building containing several important apartments)
Face: A character or characters linked with the location. People you can expect to find here.
Faction: Any factions that are linked with the location.
Notes: Any important information about the location with regards to Items/characters/plots. Usually this will not be filled in until play has started, but sometimes characters back stories have important links to locations.
Factions
Next I brainstorm the Factions operating within the setting. First I do this as a simple list before going back over them and adding details.
I sometimes leave locations until later, but I always begin with at least 3 different factions to create tension between them.
Remember to keep your Wishlist in mind when brainstorming factions.
Each faction should then be developed by adding notes under the following headings (partly taken from Dresden files accelerated):
Description: What is the faction about? What do they do?
Goals: What do the faction want to achieve
Resources: What do they have at their disposal
Weaknesses: What problems do they need to overcome or solve? What stands in their way?
Characters: What characters are involved in the faction?
Locations: List the locations the factions are linked to
Instinct: As a stereotype, how does the faction behave? What kind of thing are members trying to do as a short term goal?
Actions: List 3 to 5 generic actions the faction is likely to take to achieve their goals
UPDATE
after reading more game books and playing more adventures I have realised that the information above is not immediately gameable and have started listing a number of agents for each faction and given each agent a set of possible actions rather than (or sometimes as well as) actions for the faction as a whole. I have found that this helps make the factions more concrete and gives them a way to directly impact the story.
3) Create Characters
Once I have the basics of a setting and a bunch of factions with conflicting goals, I look through them and brainstorm a list of possible character concepts. Generally I try to think up at least 1 character from each faction, but more is fine.
Note that your characters should be linked to a faction, but they don’t necessarily need to agree with it – they could just as easily be opposed to the faction.
I draw my player characters from this list, but any left over can easily be introduced as allies or villains later on.
Looking back at your wish list can help with inspiration for characters, but don’t hesitate to include any concepts that appeal to you – this is another wishlist of sorts.
Then create your characters using whatever system you have decided upon. They will already be tied into the setting because they were created with a link to a particular faction in mind.
One of the great things about Solo Play is that you can try wildly different things in terms of a games cast of characters than you could get away with in a more social game where you are limited by the size of the group. Here are a few ideas I have tried;
Solo Solitaire. One possibility which from the atual plays I have read seems popular is to simply create and play a single character. This has the benefit of letting you get to know that character really well, and is probably the most “immersive” option, although given that solo play already requires you to split your hats between player and GM, I am not sure how much benefit this actually grants.
Traditional Party. An obvious option, and one I tend to favour for a lot of games, is to play through the adventures of a traditional adventuring party- Just taking on the roles of all the players (or partially automating the characters in some way). This takes more book-keeping than a single character, but many games are easier to balance encounters for this kind of setup.
Marvel Teamup. Often I begin with a single character and introduce more later. Sometimes I do this by playing a scenario with each character as individuals before bringing them together for a scenario as a team, in a similar manner to how marvel movies build up. This enables me to get to know each character without having others to distract from them, which can be helpful in cutting down the mental load when playing a whole group solitaire.
Split the Party!! One of the benefits of Solo play is that nobody is sat around bored if you split the party, even if you ignore some characters for a while and concentrate on others. Taking this to an extreme you could even explore a game from multiple perspectives by creating and playing multiple different characters who have nothing in common and possibly never even meet – each exploring the events of the game from the perspective of a different faction, location, or situation. Think the way characters are spread out in something like Game of Thrones, with each character getting a chapter or two at a time before the spotlight shifts. This feels especially appropriate for Epic games, but I can see some political games working like this as well.
4) Create Problems
Look over your Wishlist, your Factions, and your Characters and come up with 2 or 3 problems affecting the setting that will need to be resolved. More can be added later, but these will help provide the structure for your campaign, at least to start with.
The nature of the problems will vary depending on your scale:
Personal Problems will be aimed at directly affecting the characters and things they care about, so pay particular notice to the character and their backstory. You might want to add detail to the characters back story to more firmly embed the problem,
Political problems will be rooted in the Factions you created and divisions within those factors. This may be an external problem which factions have different ideas about how to deal with, but pay attention to your factions and how they will react when creating the problem. You may want to revisit the details of your factions to build on this.
Epic problems are clashes between the factions themselves. You may want to revisit the factions to ensure there is scope for an epic clash. You may also want to add a faction at this point which is specifically designed to clash with the others.
Mythic problems are more conceptual in nature. They could share similarities with problems from other scales, but will involve Gods and Ideas.
Once you have a problem begin by thinking what its endpoint will look like if it plays out without interference, then work your way backwards step by step to the situation at the campaigns start.
If the Problem is a villain, then consider this their plan for enacting their end goal. If the problem is more of a force of nature then this is the series of events that will lead to calamity unless the characters intervene.
Problems do not necessarily have to be something that the characters are working to stop either – they might just as easily be working to ensure the climax of a problem DOES happen, either because they are working for somebody else, or because they are furthering their own plans.
Sometimes they might switch between attempting to progress a problem and attempting to stop it as events unfold.
These are a bit like dungeon world Fronts.
Make sure there are at least 3 to 10 steps in the plan.
EG.
Problem; The Lord of Blades is preparing an army to invade Breland
Climax: A horde of Warforged warriors descend on Breland
A Brelish Fort is put under siege and sacked by a warforged army
Warforged scouts infiltrate the Brelish border, sabotaging key positions
Warforged agents infiltrate Breland, surveying defences and looking for weaknesses
Warforged soldiers begin to desert the army
Agents openly recruit Warforged soldiers to the Lord of Blades employ
Warforged begin to go missing – they are joining Lord of Blades warbands
This provides a rough map of how events will play out without interference.
5) Create Hooks
Start with the first step of each problem, and create 2 to 5 ways the characters could be hooked into dealing with that problem. Look at your characters and their backgrounds while doing this, that way you can make the hook personal.
One of these Hooks will form the basis of the first session of play. The rest can be put to one side and used to introduce other problems, or deepen problems the characters are already dealing with, once play has started.
Once the characters have begun dealing with the first step of a problem, you will need to start looking at the second step and brainstorming hooks that will get the characters involved and move the problem on.
During play, problems will most likely become derailed. When this happens, Use your knowledge of the factions, characters, and other elements involved in the problem to alter the steps leading to its conclusion. It may be that the situation has altered so radically that even the climax of the problem will need to change.
If the characters make it impossible for a problem to reach its climax, then that problem has been dealt with.
6) Outline adventures
You should outline an adventure stemming from each hook you create. This does not need to be detailed, as you can build the details in play – just a rough idea of the events the hook will drag the characters into.
Adventures can take a number of different forms, but it is probably best to keep them short so that the game maintains its pace.
At this stage I would probably just record the kind of framework I think the adventure might use, and any ideas that leap out at me as being must-includes for the adventure. Both of these things would remain subject to change depending on both my whims and the state of play when the hook was actually triggered, but having some ideas in place already just helps keep things moving smoothly.
I suggest varying the frameworks used, to help keep the game from becoming predictable.
Frameworks I have found helpful include:
9 Questions: Written by John Fiore back in 2013. This is a fairly solid framework for a short adventure. This was the first form of adventure framework I started using when I first began playing solitaire games. It works best for adventures comprising a conflict between two parties, with steadily escalating risks.
Here is the gist, but I suggest searching for the original documents as they contain good advice on running it, and mush more detail.
1a) What looming hostility inherent within the setting unexpectedly comes into conflict with the heroic motivation, threatening to worsen over time?
This is basically developing how the characters find and interact with the Hook.
1b) What actions consistent with the heroic motivation do the heroes take that bring them into conflict with a looming hostility inherent within the setting?
In other words, how do the characters react to the Hook?
2) What unusual event occurs soon afterwards?
3) What elements of the results of Q1a or b and Q2 suddenly get twisted together in a surprising manner, increasing the danger to the heroic motivation?
4) How can the fight be brought to the enemy, gaining ground for the heroic motivation?
5) How can any heroic gains from the results of Q4 suddenly be undermined as new information about the true face/scheme/power of the enemy becomes known?
6) How can the adverse results from Q4 and Q5 be further intensified, forcing the heroes to commit to a do-or-die course of action in accordance with the heroic motivation?
7) Where can the heroic motivation be most effectively redeemed?
8) Where does the final showdown between the heroes and the enemy take place in relation to the results of Q7?
9) Where does the world stand after the results of Q7 and Q8?
This is a good place to insert another hook…
5 Room Dungeon: Designed by John Four as a quick method for games masters to create short dungeons, however the format can easily be adapted to situations other than literal dungeons.
They work well when for an adventure in which the characters will be moving from one situation to the next in search of the adventures climax.
Again I would suggest searching for the source material. A lot has been written about using 5 room dungeons in various contexts, and they are a flexible resource once you get the hang of them.
Room 1: Entrance and Guardian
The Hook
Room 2: Puzzle or Roleplaying Challenge
For Solo play, this really means a skill challenge for the characters
Room 3: Trick or Setback
Room 4: Climax
Room 5: Reward, Revelation, Plot Twist
This is a good place to insert another hook…
Perilous Intersections: Written by Rory Bracebuckle. This is a more freeform adventure framework than the above methods, and was a gamechanger for me when I first discovered it. It is also more difficult to describe in a short form than the methods above.
The Gist is that you roll up a series of random “Seeds” and each scene is setup with one of these seeds providing inspiration for a situation that challenges the characters goals.
It is a useful framework when you want something a little less structured than the above methods, and I find it works well when you have an idea for the starting point (the Hook) but want to play to find out what is actually going on.
Story Questions: I have found that a similar framework to Perilous intersections can work by generating a series of questions that the adventure will answer and using them as frameworks for scenes in a similar method to Perilous Intersections. In fact I have found that this works really well when combined with Perilous intersections, replacing the Big Questions with more story specific ones.
This is a useful framework when you want a freeform adventure, but actually have some idea about what is going on but the questions instead revolve around the characters actions and their consequences.
There are many more frameworks that can be used for adventures, and I will probably add more here with time, but these are some of the methods I have had the most success with.
To prepare an adventure record the following information;
Hook:
Frmework: (subject to change)
Ideas:
Ramifications if the Hook is ignored:
7) Begin Play
Pick a hook (I sometimes do this randomly), prepare whatever you need to for the framework you have chosen, and get started on the first scene.
I like to keep a handy list of Possible hooks to be introduced ready nearby, so that I can constantly be on the lookout for opportunities to introduce a new hook. Unless I am overwhelmed by the number of Hooks that are opened (probably about 3 open at a time), I introduce a new one wherever possible. This means that I can keep the characters options open within the game and ensure they are busy juggling priorities.
Of course, triggering a hook doesn’t mean the characters have to follow up on it, and I like to have an idea of the ramifications for the hooks I leave dangling for too long…
At a minimum I try to finish each adventure with at least one hook open, so that I can move straight on with things without losing pace (which in my experience can kill a solo game).
I label hooks with the problem they stem from so that I know what they should be building towards, and I mark hooks which lead into the next phase of a problem.
When I feel ready, and the narrative supports it (sometimes before I feel ready) I trigger a hook that moves a problem into its next phase. I do not necessarily (or often) wait until all of the previous phases hooks have been triggered before moving to the next phase. They are simply options intended to provide inspiration on exploring that phase of the problem.
Sometimes inspiration will appear from the narrative and new hooks will suggest themselves, or hooks I have listed will become irrelevant.
Sometimes my characters will begin working on long term goals of their own, in which case I will go through the Problem creation process and create the steps needed to accomplish their goal. Sometimes a new problem will rise in play and I will go through the process in a similar fashion.
When the characters derail the intended steps of a problem I will attempt to create a new set of steps for that problem to attain completion. If this is not possible then the characters have successfully dealt with that problem (and the fallout may well create the impetus for new problems).
Lastly I should note that although I always plan with the intention of running an entire campaign, I never begin play with the expectation that I will successfully do so. The realities of Solitaire play are that it is often difficult to maintain motivation past a handful of adventures, and I generally regard fully completing a single adventure as a win. I find that for me it is easier to maintain my interest if I focus on the present moment of the campaign and don’t put any pressure of expectaction to take it any thurther. I also find however that it is easier to keep going if I have some kind of framework in place for the route ahead, and there is nothing worse than a successful and enjoyable game grinding to a halt because I don’t know where to take it next, or because it is starting to feel like it is not really going anywhere.
I hope that this helps others with inspiration in finding their own system for setting up and playing solitaire games. Please feel free to cannibalise whatever you like and make it work for you - after all, that is what I have done.
Happy Gaming.
