(My first thread that I've started here!  Cross-posted from RPG.net)

Whatever happened to solo adventures in corebooks that were used as a way to give an introduction to an RPG system? Examples of these that I can think of off the top of my head are the two in the Basic D&D Red Box set and the one in the first edition of WEG's Star Wars RPG. More recently, I think there was one for the first edition of Spycraft, but I am not sure.

I never played through the Star Wars one, but I remember that the D&D ones were very useful in helping me learn the system , especially considering it was the first RPG I ever played -- they were designed with the idea that the person playing had not had previous contact with RPGs.

I played that D&D solo adventure with every character I ever made, even having some die every now and then.

I also liked the solo adventures they put out that weren't aimed at learning to play. The one I remember offhand had you playinga dwarf exploring an old dwarven city and finally stumbling across the dragonlike beast that did it at the end. Very cool, at least from the viewpoint of the ten year old who I was when I played them.

Quote from: James McMurrayI also liked the solo adventures they put out that weren't aimed at learning to play.

I saw a few of those, but never played them.  But I'd play them if any companies still made them nowadays.

The Fighting Fantasy Gamebooks are out in reprints, as well as some new ones.

Solo adventures rock.  I love them so very much.  I wish there were more of them.

No, they're no replacement for regular play, but they really aren't intended to be.  It's a single-player experience that shares many of the same mechanics of regular play, much like a good computer RPG does.  They're a fun way to pass the time between regular games.

I've found solitaire adventures not only teach players about the roleplaying game rules system, but help introduce the setting as well.

For instance, the solo adventure in second edition Paranoia teach the nuts-and-bolts game rules, but also help players understand the rather twisted nature of life in Alpha Complex. Adventures in Tekumel (Theater of the Mind's Eye's entry in the Empire of the Petal Throne legacy) focused most of its supplements on solitaire adventures in an effort to help players grasp the extremely non-western campaign world of Tekumel.

Perhaps the most interesting "solitaire" adventure concept I've seen was from ICE's "beginner" version of its Middle Earth Roleplaying Game, the Lord of the Rings Adventure Game. It intended the gamemaster to "read" through the programmed adventure for a group of players, with the choices determined by the players and die rolls based on their characters' skills; a kind of "GM tutorial" adventure demonstrating the basics of group play coordinated by a central narrator. I used a similar approach in designing West End Games' Star Wars Introductory Adventure Game, with a regular solitaire adventure in the players' book -- demonstrating the basics of how to use one's character -- and a group "solo" adventure in the gamemaster's book to illustrate the core elements of running the game as a GM.

Although they're not solitaire game adventures per se, the Choose Your Own Adventure-style books can also impart a sense of a game universe's setting. Margaret Weis Productions (the Margaret Weis of Dragonlance fame) is releasing Paths of Doom books to the youth market along those lines; like the ones TSR released in ages long gone, their popularity with the general, non-gaming youth audience remains to be seen.

Best regards,

Peter Schweighofer

Griffon Publishing Studio
//www.destinyrealms.com/griffon/

I think Tunnels and Trolls produced some of the most lengthy and enjoyable solo games. City of Terrors?

I'll just have three words to add: NO ROSE ESTES!