RPG a Day - Day 2

The topic for Day 2 of RPG a Day: Best game session since August 2015.

Hrm. That's a narrow window, since I haven't had any gaming at all since I moved to St. Louis in October. The only gaming I did during that period was with my short Sentinels of the Multiverse game.

There was something in there worth mentioning, though.

One thing I tried with this micro-campaign was a solo session. That is, a one-on-one game with one of the players. His character had been isolated from the rest of the team, and we took an off week to resolve what happened to his character while she was on her own.

"I'm sorry, but the dice have spoken: You were eaten by the Grue."

Neither of us had ever done a session like this before. It was interesting. There were definite moments of awkwardness, given that it was only the two of us. I was talking a lot, too, since I was role-playing for all the NPCs, plus giving descriptions of the setting. Without the additional players at the table to diffuse the attention, it was kind of intense, like those moments when you're having a really deep and personal conversation. Except, we were talking about a secret factory underneath a mountain producing alien kill-bots, so it was rather a strange dynamic.

I can't help but wonder if there might not be a better way to handle it where the player helps take on an active, co-GM role. Of course, that means less control on the part of the GM over the story, but we're already talking about a non-traditional game structure, so why not?

Actually, what also made this session different was the notion that the player already knew where things were heading. This meant that we were less focused on the "game" aspects of things and more on the story, and making the journey to a pre-determined outcome as interesting, and in-character, as possible.

Overall, it was interesting and successful. I can understand why people don't do it often, though.