AP: Realizing you might be the villain in the story (also, stumbling into a potential character arc)

So, I've been playing a solo game of Trollbabe, experimenting with various things in a search to take more of that "writing exercise" edge off it.*

However, what prompted me to write this bite sized AP is that the latest scene I played was probably the most immersive solo experience I've had so far, and probably the only time in my roleplaying career (social or otherwise) where a potential player character arc has manifested itself without any planning or engineering on my part.

Ripples In A Pond

I apologize ahead of time if my physics are all wrong...

Think of a rock hitting a pond. That rock represents the interaction you have with an external tool such as an oracle. For the purposes of this post, lets assume the rock represents a query to said tool.

This is a recommendation of the iOS app CreativeWriter & a musing rolled in one

Link to app site here: http://resonanca-it.com/creative-writer

Solo Gaming Appreciation Month 2016: Trollbabe actual play

I don't get to play a lot lately, unfortunately, but this is my way of doing my part for Solo Gaming Appreciation 2016 (#SGAM2016). Hopefully, more scenes to come in the remaining days of November, and if not, December.

Experimental Oracle 2

An experimental prompting oracle...

Experimental Oracle

Most Plausible...

Scenario:

Best Case Scenario:

Worst Case Scenario:

:

Active Bonus:

What's happened so far:

(Just for fun) Alternative timelines:

Most Plausible...

Timeline:

Best Case Timeline:

Worst Case Timeline:

Alternate Event Table for Oracles like Mythic, etc. I based this on a word cloud of the cyberpunk novel Halo by Tom Maddox (for those who read Mirrorshades, it's the same universe as Snake Eyes; novel link here: http://project.cyberpunk.ru/lib/halo/).

It doesn't have any particular cyberpunk flavor, because it's just a bunch of words without context, but I think it naturally leans towards the modern at least. Hope it's useful to someone.

https://plus.google.com/u/0/108395059461267285712/posts/K96Zfd9wYPG

What would a "Lumpley Principle" for Solo RP look like?

I think I've arrived at a provisional definition of Solo RPGs, along the lines of the Lumpley Principle (see definition of LP at http://big-model.info/wiki/Lumpley_Principle):

System (including but not limited to 'the rules') is defined as the means by which a person commits to (settles on) imagined events during play.

The underlined part is my modification. I'm not sure yet if the best word is "commit" or "settle", so I leave both for now.

Does it matter? Who knows. I'm hoping it tells me or someone something about solo RPGs that takes their design somewhere interesting. Definitely puts the emphasis on how a player settles on what action "really happened" in play. You know, the stuff you report in your actual plays or that makes it into your write ups (if you write).


See some ongoing discussions here:

Story-Games: http://story-games.com/forums/discussion/20535/what-would-a-lumpley-principle-for-solo-rp-look-like-or-is-creative-writing-storytelling-rp
RPGNet: http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?775912-theory-wankery-The-quot-Lumpley-Principle-quot-of-Solo-Gaming
G+: https://plus.google.com/u/0/108395059461267285712/posts/5X5oTZ8nJzv