A rambly update

Even though my blog has been somewhat quiet, I've been busy trying to make concrete some of the  thoughts I've had about a solo rpg'ing structure based on the monomyth. I've  shared previous attempts, which were fun, but did not quite have the results or feel I wanted, so I've been tinkering a lot and play testing-- trying to make it simpler, clearer, more inspiring, and more fun to play (for me). 


I've had about four real playtests using a character and cyberpunk setting that prompted me to call the adventure "Turing Heat".  The first two playtests were aborted at the Refusal of the Call stage, because I wasn't satisfied with the story-- either because I felt I left something out, or some things were not fitting together in a coherent fashion, or because I thought some of the story ideas outright corny.

Actually, the 3rd playtest wasn't bad by any means, but a Rory Story Cube roll focusing establishing a character's personality flaw in the story made me want to start over just as I was finishing the Ordinary World stage. The reason I did that was that the idea felt like it really belonged in the opening moments of the scene as it was such a character revealing thing. It just made what I had written down feel "un-tight".

I restarted the story again, with that idea as the opening scene, and it felt much more better and satisfying. I've left it at that so far as I prepare to play the Call To Adventure once again, but I think I've learned the need to keep the randomized inspiration focused as much as possible on the world and character elements I had set up previously with the help of the structure.

On the other hand, I had been having fun on the previous playtests until I started examining what I had set down for story so far. This got me thinking that perhaps another problem is that my mental filter is too critical.

Perhaps other folks in this solo rpging community feel the same way. I'd love to hear your thoughts on it, and how you negotiate the need to keep things coherent without reworking or too much thought.