[Kostchei]

I always view 4 players as quorum. You can have fun with less, but it is a much choppier experience- sometimes flat, sometimes good. Ans 6 is my limit - just based on divided tabletime.

I have craved TTRPG experience when covid and living overseas prohibited it, and things like "solasta" were ok, for a day or 2, but, the social aspect is much better- there is more fun to be had in groups.

I am a bit disappointed that folks (@Cthulhu_52) feel old gamers to be exclusory- I guess it must be true, I hear it now and then, but I am running a game at work with 4/6 new -as in never played before, specifically because I think it is fun to get people in. "make new players"

I'm 49 and been playing/running games since I was 14. I have run games at clubs (thehitpoint), did conventions- where you GM for complete strangers and now I am just running a gygaxian campaign- that is- folks should be able to drop in with their character and not turn up next week, no problem.

Despite great strides in computing roll20 etc, the online is just not as snappy, nowhere near as much cross-table repartee. Maybe it's the way the audio is handled- can't distinguish 2 folks talking at the same time in most systems.

anyway, I'm back at it, in full swing, post covid, and nothing comes close to running a real campaign with interested players. Great fun. And I hope that's not because I want an audience. (although some great players treat it as performative, never mind GMing)

[themodelplumber]

I'm curious why you think this method of social play has to exclude solo play, and can't exist alongside? Or am I reading this correctly as being mournful that people are turning to solo play? The thread is about solo play. It is starting, though, to seem like there's quite a bit of projection and look-how-social-things-can-be clouding out the fact that it's a perfectly great hobby to do this solo.

Social play is nice but solo RP is also nice...solo is also the underdog, as are many solo hobbies. So projecting the "that's too bad" onto it is not really looking very triumphant or self-secure or whatever it's supposed to be.

Could we even set aside space for considering the coolest things about solo that people aren't talking about, maybe out of embarrassment?

- One's imagined fantasy-self can help day-to-day self feel relief from the grind

- In solo RP there's no need to converge on a single best-self model in the same way social frameworks push people to do (sometimes dangerously so)

- Imaginary friends are cool, even awesome

- Playing with yourself is as fun as you make it

Any other embarrassing stuff to get out here?

I was trained by some awesome psychologists and made a career out of coaching extroverts and introverts--there's really no reason not to put this silly social-private dichotomy behind us.

(Some of the highest-CHA socialites you know are also dying to be more introverted...)

[Kostchei]

I'm not saying they can't, I just found my own exploration of solo play not as effective.

Perhaps this is my fault, but for someone who spent the last 2 years enforced solo, if I could have got solo rpgs to work, that would have been great.

And I think the reason is the same as why the online versions don't feel as good. Actual interaction is a part of most RPGs and to people like me, what makes them so good.

For my personal solo stuff, - I wanted a particular set of mechanics, I wanted the "crunch" part (character optimization)- which something like solasta can replicate, and I got it. It was "ok". It's just it didn't get a second play. It turned out, for me, that the crunch, exploring the fluff etc- even though you can replicate it solo, feels like a poor shadow.

I mean, for the last 2 years I would have been ecstatic to find a brain release /decompress mechanism that worked as well for me as in-person RPGs.

Not meaning to cast solo stuff as "not real" or lesser in any way. I did a bunch of solo dungeon runs in Adnd 30 years ago. But if someone is running solo and haven't tried groups, don't have the confidence to reach out to a group, I'm not sure what re-assurance can be given. RPG.net, enworld and other forums seem much more prickly than the folks I have met in RL gaming. Not sure how to help with that.

[themodelplumber]

So more of a didn't work for you situation, that makes sense, thanks.

[AlwaysRock]

Check out Gather.town. It helps a bit with audio overlap.