0:02 solo TTRPGs.
0:04 These little handy dandy booklets right
0:07 here can add so much story and fun and
0:10 mechanics to our solo games. But here's
0:12 the thing. What if you don't want to
0:13 pick up any fun extra supplements for
0:15 your games? What if with the current
0:18 state of the world, you'll feel way too
0:20 guilty spending 10 bucks on a Zen
0:21 whenever you know for the for the same
0:24 price you could almost get all the gas,
0:25 but you still want to be able to play.
0:27 You still want to be able to experience
0:28 this awesome hobby that we have. What if
0:30 I were to tell you that you can play
0:33 solo without any of the extra stuff? As
0:36 much as this adds awesome variety and is
0:38 so cool to have all these extra tools
0:41 and things in our TTRPG solo scene, what
0:43 if I told you that you don't necessarily
0:45 need it? If you can't afford it, you can
0:47 still play solo. Not even if you can't
0:48 afford it. What if you just don't want
0:50 it? Well, today we're talking about the
0:53 solo game loop. a repeatable system that
0:55 you can just run scene by scene that
0:57 keeps your game and your solo game
0:59 moving forward without getting lost or
1:01 bored or overwhelmed or without needing
1:03 anything extra. I say, let's break it down.
1:05 down. [music]
1:07 [music]
1:09 Well, hello everybody. My name is Turk.
1:10 Welcome back to Grouch Couch. Around
1:12 here, we do all different kinds of weird
1:15 TTRPG things, but today we're talking
1:18 about a tool or a system that I use
1:20 constantly when I play solo. Even when
1:22 the system doesn't tell me to do this, I
1:24 find myself subconsciously doing this.
1:26 This is the thing that keeps solo
1:28 sessions fast and intuitive and even fun
1:29 a little bit. And it works with
1:32 basically any game or the absence of any
1:34 game. I'm talking about Dn D and Dragon
1:36 Bade, Morborg, The Walking Dead,
1:38 whatever. Because not every game is all
1:40 about mechanics. Sometimes it's just a
1:42 little bit about structure and your solo
1:45 engine that keeps things chugging along
1:47 as you play. So, we're going to talk
1:49 about five steps. So, get your pen and
1:51 paper ready so you can write all these
1:53 bad boys down so you remember your solo
1:55 journal. Get it out, get it ready, flip
1:57 it open with your favorite pencil, and
1:58 we're going to begin. But first, of
2:00 course, my friends, if you like what I'm
2:01 doing here, all these tips and tricks
2:02 and solo things, make sure to subscribe
2:04 here on the channel. I appreciate you
2:05 for doing so. And if you want to support
2:07 the show, you can use our links down in
2:09 the description to pick up solo things
2:10 or anything else if you want to to help
2:12 support the show. It allows me to keep
2:13 creating and making videos on fun random
2:15 little little things. But that is weird
2:16 to say because today we're talking about
2:18 a way and a method to play in our world
2:21 without spending a single penny. Right?
2:22 Of course that goes without saying that
2:25 you have some kind of a d20, a pencil
2:26 and a piece of paper. All right?
2:28 Although I am developing an idea to play
2:29 without it, but we'll talk about that in
2:30 a separate video. Without any other
2:34 further ado, let us begin. So the solo
2:35 game loop, at least that's what I'm
2:37 calling it. It has five steps to it.
2:39 Okay? And what I love about this is that
2:40 it's not complicated. All right? It's
2:42 literally kind of how stories work.
2:44 You're just turning it into a simple
2:46 little checklist that you can do and
2:47 that you can play with without
2:49 completely phrasing. All right, step
2:51 number one is scene or situation.
2:53 Whenever you begin playing, this is
2:55 where you're going to describe what is
2:57 critical to the scene that your
2:59 character is in. Think of this as a
3:01 moment whenever the game master or the
3:02 GM or whoever you're playing with is
3:04 going to explain everything that's
3:05 around you. He's going to go, "All
3:08 right, here's what you see." Add in as
3:10 many or as few critical details that you
3:12 feel like you need to add into this
3:13 situation. Okay, but here's what I think
3:15 you should establish. Of course, the
3:16 setting. Where exactly is your
3:17 character? Are you in a ruined church?
3:19 Are you in a tavern, a jungle planet, a
3:22 sewer tunnel, a spaceship? Second bit is
3:24 props. What does your character notice?
3:25 And this is important to not overdo it.
3:28 I have a rule of three when it comes to
3:30 describing a scene for game masters. And
3:32 I think that it applies also to solo
3:34 players as well. Rule of three. More
3:35 than three details, you're going to
3:37 start forgetting crap. Okay, so you got
3:39 three details of what's going on in the
3:40 scene. If you're in a tavern, the floor
3:42 is wet. The air smells like metal.
3:43 There's a half burned banner on the
3:45 wall. There might have been a fire here.
3:46 So, I'm already building out this scene
3:48 here. Rule of three. So, where are you
3:50 and what do you notice? Next bit,
3:52 dangers. Is anything threatening your
3:53 character right now? You do not need a
3:55 danger in every single scene, but you do
3:57 need tension sometimes. All right? And
3:59 you can add anything that's really
4:01 small. And all of this, by the way, can
4:03 come from your Oracle tables. You can
4:06 roll on two words on your oracle tables.
4:08 All right, your words, your fun little
4:10 words, your cards. You can pull out two
4:12 little card words. You can however you
4:14 want to get your descriptors. All of
4:15 this is going to come from those two
4:17 things. All right, so if there is a
4:18 possible danger involved in this, it
4:20 could be something simple like footsteps
4:23 nearby or there's low supplies or you
4:24 feel like something is stalking you,
4:26 right? And then lastly, in step one,
4:27 we're talking about the encounters. All
4:29 right, is there anyone else here? And
4:31 this includes NPCs, enemies, you know,
4:34 survivors, weird little goblin guys in a
4:36 cat. All right, whatever. So, I know
4:37 that was a lot, so let's put it together
4:39 in a quick little example here, right?
4:42 Let's say solo fantasy. Our scene, we're
4:44 outside of a ruined tower in the woods.
4:45 There's fog hugging the ground. The
4:48 front door of the tower is hanging open
4:49 and we see fresh footprints going
4:52 inside. Boom. That's a scene. We do not
4:53 need five paragraphs or a whole novel
4:55 that we're writing to build out this
4:56 scene. We just need a stage for our
4:58 character to stand on. And these things
5:00 that we just came up with should be
5:01 coming from our oracle words or
5:03 something. And they don't always have to
5:04 come from oracle words. Of course, as
5:06 I've said in previous videos, sometimes
5:08 as a solo player, you need to make
5:10 executive decisions. All right? So, if
5:11 you're chasing something down, you can
5:13 make an executive decision. If you feel
5:15 like something is extreme stretch, like
5:17 the footsteps going inside, cuz we're
5:18 tracking someone, maybe you can do a yes
5:20 or no oracle on that. You could say, "Is
5:22 there footsteps going inside?" You could
5:23 do yes or no. All right? But my
5:24 encouragement, even in my previous
5:25 video, I said if you're ever going to
5:27 roll on a yes or no oracle, there should
5:30 be stakes to both sides of the answers.
5:31 All right, so be high stakes for a no
5:33 and high stakes for a yes. All right,
5:34 that's the rule of thumb whenever it
5:36 comes to rolling on an oracle. Don't
5:37 roll on them all the time. And I mean
5:38 yes or no oracles. All right, that is
5:40 our first step. Scene done. Did you
5:42 write all that down? I hope you did. If
5:43 not, you could always rewatch this
5:46 video. Okay, here is step two in our
5:50 solo game engine. This is task or trial.
5:52 This is where we decide what the goal of
5:55 the scene is. And this is kind of a huge
5:57 little step right here because a lot of
5:59 solo plays can absolutely just die right
6:02 here. We've got our scene. What are we
6:04 even doing here? Right? I'm in a place.
6:06 Now what? You know what I mean? So, we
6:08 kind of have to force our question. What
6:10 is the point of this scene? Why are we
6:12 here? And if we're following from our
6:14 last video of three mistakes that every
6:16 solo player makes, we should be looking
6:18 at our story threads to figure out why
6:20 we're here. All right? if we need to.
6:21 But this is a rule that could
6:23 potentially save your game. All right?
6:25 And this is assuming there isn't, you
6:27 know, there is an obstacle. All right?
6:28 If there isn't an obstacle, you can
6:30 assume success and move on. You don't
6:32 want to get hung up on it. Okay? If you
6:34 got to skip step two, that's okay. If
6:36 there is no obstacle, just continue on.
6:38 Because I really think that solo players
6:40 love wasting time proving things and
6:42 being fair to themselves on things that
6:43 don't exactly matter. Every single scene
6:45 doesn't need a trial, right? Like, do I
6:48 successfully walk across this room, bro?
6:50 Yes. You have legs. Let's go on ahead
6:52 and keep on moving. All right. So, at
6:53 this point, you can ask about your
6:55 obstacle as well. When you're setting up
6:56 your obstacle, your trial, whatever it
6:58 is, what stands in your way. Does it
6:59 make sense with your descriptor words
7:01 that you rolled on? Is there maybe a
7:03 locked door, suspicious NPC, monster
7:05 patrol, moral dilemma, a storm is coming
7:07 in and you got to get inside. All right.
7:10 Give yourself options even is what you
7:12 could do. What are possible approaches?
7:14 And it's fun to think about these as in
7:17 like skill checks, right? sneak, fight,
7:20 negotiate, investigate, run away, use
7:21 magic. All right, these are fun where
7:22 your skill checks are going to come in.
7:24 So, this is like whatever system that
7:25 you're potentially playing in. If you're
7:27 playing with zero system and you're
7:29 keeping it completely free here, you
7:31 could also just be making a dice roll to
7:33 see successes on things as well, but you
7:35 can think about them in story format.
7:36 Like, my character is fighting. Let's
7:38 roll to see if he fights well. I got a
7:40 20 critical success. He fought very
7:41 well. You know what I mean? So, I just
7:43 said a lot, but let's continue on with
7:46 our example here. Okay, our situation.
7:47 We're still in a the ruined tower with
7:49 the footprints that lead inside. Here's
7:51 our trial to get inside without being
7:53 seen. All right. Or to find out who even
7:56 went inside. The obstacle is something
7:57 that is already in there. We got to
7:59 figure out if it's friendly or not
8:01 friendly. Depends on our story thread.
8:03 We could use perception to try and see
8:04 inside to see if we can see them
8:06 immediately inside. We could also just
8:08 try to sneak in quietly. We could try to
8:10 climb in through a broken window. We can
8:11 wait and observe. You know what I mean?
8:13 Or we could set a trap at the door.
8:14 These are actions that we're taking to
8:17 get over the trials or the tasks at hand
8:19 here in this scene. Which brings us to
8:21 our third step. And this is action.
8:23 Okay. Now, you get to do the player
8:24 part. You decide on what your character
8:27 actually does. This is where we stop
8:29 narrating our game. We have our scene
8:30 built. We have our obstacle. Now, we
8:33 need to take an action. All right. So,
8:34 we figure out our character's
8:36 intentions. Since we already set up the
8:38 task here or the trial, we should
8:40 already know what we're trying to do and
8:41 what we're going to do, right? So, we
8:43 can keep this a little bit short. We can
8:44 just say what we do. And then we're
8:46 going to roll our dice. It's important
8:48 to start saying what your character is
8:49 starting to do. So, you're mentally
8:52 moving forward in the scene so you don't
8:54 roll and fail and then backtrack. All
8:55 right? You're already here, right? So,
8:57 you can say, "I creep up to this
9:00 doorway. I listen for a moment or I slip
9:02 in to scan the room." Right? And then we
9:05 make our test, our check, our whatever
9:07 system you're making. We roll our dice.
9:08 Okay? And if we're doing multiple steps
9:10 on a trial, we can do you could
9:12 absolutely do multiple tests. So we
9:14 could roll sneak to get up to the door.
9:16 If we succeed, then we're at the door.
9:18 Now we're rolling perception to see if
9:19 we can hear anything coming from inside
9:21 of this tower, right? And of course,
9:22 whatever system that you're using. And
9:24 what I also will point out is that if
9:25 your system doesn't cover it or if
9:26 you're playing system neutral, you can
9:28 also just do yes or no. All right? You
9:30 can just roll yes, I succeed. No, I
9:32 don't succeed. It's simple. And if you
9:33 think your character is really good at
9:34 something, what you could also do is you
9:36 can is you could fudge the role a little
9:37 bit. And what I mean by that is
9:39 basically give yourself advantage. So if
9:40 you're rolling 2d6, if you're rolling
9:42 2d6 on something, let's say four through
9:44 six is success, right? Which is usually
9:46 what it always is. We can roll both of
9:47 them. We can say my character is really
9:48 good at sneaking. We roll both of these
9:50 dice. That's two fives. So that's a bad
9:52 example. But let's say one of these was
9:53 a two and one of them was a five. We
9:54 take the higher roll cuz our character's
9:56 really good at it. If our character is
9:57 really bad at something, we'll fudge it
9:58 the other way. All right, which is hard
10:00 to do, but you're a player, so remember
10:01 to do this. And you go the other way and
10:02 you give them the two to say that they
10:04 fail. Okay, that's how we can also fudge
10:06 our oracle rolls. If we only have a d6
10:08 2d6 in front of us and we're playing
10:09 this game, that's what we're going to.
10:11 But here's a key rule to remember on
10:13 action, okay? Do not roll for every
10:15 single thing, all right? In every single
10:17 yes or no oracle, all right? Roll what
10:20 matters. Make executive decisions. And
10:22 if failing would be interesting as well
10:24 as succeeding would be interesting, then
10:26 roll. Here's the best rule of thumb
10:28 here. I've said this in a few videos,
10:29 but if you were playing a normal game
10:31 and the players had all the time in the
10:34 world to lockpick a door and infinite
10:36 lockpicks, why even make that skill
10:38 check? The game master should have just
10:39 said the door is open or you
10:41 automatically succeed. Go on ahead and
10:42 go through. There's no reason to stall
10:44 on that. Only make checks whenever it's
10:46 important to the story. Yes. And make
10:47 executive decision. All right. So, what
10:49 about afteraction? Huh? This was really
10:53 easy actually. This is resolution. Okay.
10:55 Now, we find out what happens in our
10:57 story. This is where the dice decide
11:00 your fate. And you get to interpret the
11:02 outcome because we can use our skill
11:04 checks, successing or failing,
11:07 successing, succeeding or failing as
11:08 potential oracles, right? Let's say
11:11 we're playing D and D 5e and our goal is
11:14 to get a 14, right? And we get 15.
11:16 That's barely a success is what we want
11:17 to think. We don't just think flat
11:18 successes here. We think barely a
11:21 success. Or if we get a 13, that's
11:23 barely a failure. If we get a two,
11:25 that's an extreme failure. If we get a
11:27 20, that's an extreme success, right?
11:30 And we can use that to then judge our
11:32 interpret, which is the next part of
11:33 this. Okay, we got results and then we
11:35 got interpret. And interpret, of course,
11:37 is the most important part. What exactly
11:38 does this success mean in the story? All
11:40 right, and here, my friends, can be the
11:43 possible secret sauce to all of this.
11:45 We're moving forward the whole time,
11:46 like I said, right? We're moving forward
11:48 before we roll. And then we move forward
11:49 and we roll, right? So, we're not
11:51 staying in the same exact scene for too
11:53 long, okay? Because I feel like this is
11:55 where the players can get suck stuck.
11:57 You can fail a roll and then go, "Okay,
12:00 I try again." Right? No. Please, no.
12:03 Failure should also move the story. So,
12:06 if you sneak and you fail sneaking,
12:07 something then needs to get you out of
12:09 that scene, moving on to the next scene,
12:11 right? Someone might chase you away or
12:13 someone comes and captures you or, you
12:16 know, some big move happens to then move
12:18 the story forward. Someone comes out of
12:20 there, out of that tower, and is now
12:21 trying to attack you because they heard
12:23 you sneaking up on them. Or you move
12:24 into an interrogation scene where they
12:26 are now talking to you. Why are you
12:27 sneaking up on me? What's going on? Now
12:28 we're in a different scene with
12:30 different stakes. All right, they can
12:31 grab you and pull you into the tower and
12:33 now they're interrogating you, right? We
12:34 got a different scene to build out. We
12:35 got new things to make. Failure should
12:37 always move you forward as well as
12:39 success. Okay, and that's what brings me
12:41 back to don't roll if there's no stakes.
12:44 If you think that the no and the yes
12:45 both don't have high stakes to move your
12:47 scene completely forward, then don't
12:49 roll them. Make an executive decision to
12:51 just go the proper path and then do a
12:53 roll on something else. Right? So, our
12:55 examples, if we succeed, we sneak
12:57 inside, we find a hidden staircase,
12:59 we're inside now, right? We're in a new
13:00 scene and we have a staircase that goes
13:01 down. We got to figure out how to handle
13:03 the staircase. This is our next next
13:06 task or trial, right? If we fail, we're
13:08 stepping on broken glass. The thing in
13:09 the inside is now coming out and we're
13:11 moving into combat, right? Which brings
13:13 me to the final step which I already
13:14 kind of mentioned a little bit. All
13:16 right, but this is the step that makes
13:18 the solo play feel like a real story, a
13:20 movie, a TV show, something like that,
13:24 right? Transition. Transition is you
13:26 setting up the next scene because you
13:28 don't want to get to your resolution and
13:29 then go, "All right, what do I do now?"
13:31 Right? You want the story to pull you
13:33 forward. So, you can even ask some
13:34 questions in the middle of transition
13:37 like, "What is the most logical next
13:38 scene that is going to push our story
13:40 forward?" And we do not absolutely have
13:42 to have. So let's say every single step
13:43 is what I mean. We could have a little
13:45 transition scene where we don't have to
13:46 build every single thing out, right? So
13:48 let's say we get into the tower. There's
13:49 nothing going on in there. But now there
13:51 are hidden stairs that go down, right?
13:53 So we can start down the stairs and then
13:54 we could build out the scene inside of
13:56 there. So the first room and the stairs
13:58 were our transition scene. You can treat
13:59 that as that if that's the way that you
14:01 go. You could also see the guy go down
14:02 the stairs. So now we're just going to
14:03 follow him down the stairs. And where
14:05 does it lead us to? We're building out
14:07 our next scene, right? So, our
14:08 transition scene could be the next room.
14:10 It could be something small, whatever.
14:12 But what are the next steps? Right after
14:13 that, we're going to get into the next
14:14 room. We're going to get to the next
14:16 threat, the next clue, the next
14:18 conversation, whatever it might be.
14:19 Okay, I already went into my example,
14:21 but here's what I have in my script. You
14:23 sneak into the tower successfully. The
14:25 staircase goes down into a crypt. You
14:26 hear whispering and there's a candle
14:28 light moving below. That's our next
14:30 scene that we've just built out. Boom.
14:32 Next situation. Back to the top of the
14:34 loop, right? We just built out the next
14:36 scene. So, what happens after scene or
14:38 situation? We move on to task. We decide
14:40 what the goal of this next scene is.
14:41 Right? We're down in the hidden tomb.
14:43 There's a candle flicking, right? We're
14:44 down here now. So, now we get to build
14:45 this out. Figure out what our task is.
14:47 And then we get to move on again. So,
14:49 here's the gist of it. Right? We have
14:51 five steps to actually spell out an
14:53 anagram. Start. Easy to remember. Scene,
14:56 trial, action, resolution, transition.
14:58 And I feel like this here is so
15:00 powerful. Okay. I'm going to talk a
15:01 little bit more about it. Before you get
15:02 out of here, cuz I know you're thinking
15:04 about it. Before you get out of here, I
15:05 want to talk a little bit more about it.
15:06 Okay, this is going to keep you always
15:08 moving towards your next goal because
15:10 you know what step you're on. Okay, you
15:11 don't get confused or middled up in the
15:14 middle, right? Every scene here is now
15:15 going to have a beginning, a middle, and
15:17 an end. Okay, we're going to be building
15:19 out the scene, talking about what our
15:20 task or trial is. We're going to be
15:21 taking an action. We're going to be
15:22 resolving that action, and then we're
15:24 going to be transitioning into the next
15:26 scene. And it can make your failure fun
15:28 because your failure then becomes a new
15:30 scene, not a dead end. All right? And
15:33 this isn't like rules necessarily, but
15:35 this is a story structure and a way to
15:38 play that will keep you good and playing
15:40 without any without anything else. All
15:41 right, without any other tools or any
15:43 other books, you can do this for free.
15:45 You could just play. This is your game.
15:46 All right, so yeah, that's the solo game
15:49 loop scene trial action resolution
15:51 transition. It's pretty good. And I
15:53 actually and and once you get this down
15:55 and you do this a few times, it's going
15:57 to be kind of become second nature. And
15:59 sometimes when I play, I find myself
16:00 falling off of it for a little while.
16:02 But if I'm moving forward at a good
16:04 narrative pace, sometimes I'll just kind
16:06 of forget what's going on. All of my
16:08 scenes don't always have trial. I
16:09 usually try to make them have trials cuz
16:10 that's fun. We get to roll dice. You
16:12 know what I mean? But they don't always.
16:13 Sometimes they're just like narrative
16:14 trials where I have the characters
16:16 talking to each other or something's
16:18 going on, right? And that's why even in
16:19 there I included that it doesn't always
16:20 have to have a trial. But when it
16:22 doesn't, you need to assume something's
16:23 happening and you need to have a new
16:25 goal. If you don't have a goal or like a
16:27 new transition, then you should roll
16:29 some dice. All right, I was reading
16:32 through Substacks. I'm obsessed with the
16:34 solo TTRPG scene, you guys. I like to
16:35 see what's coming out next. I like to
16:37 see the new tools. I like to see what
16:38 other folks are doing. Shout them out,
16:40 show them some love. I like to like
16:42 posts and help push things forward cuz I
16:43 think a rising tide raises all ships.
16:45 I'm really all about that. And I think
16:46 everyone should give solo role playing a
16:48 try at least once. And I don't remember
16:50 who it was and I think it was the
16:52 soloist who had like a Substack and they
16:53 were talking about the way that they do
16:56 solo like their order of operations or
16:57 something and that inspired me to make
16:59 this video. So I just want to shout out
17:00 I think it was the soloist. Please don't
17:02 kill me if that's wrong. But this is my
17:04 game loop, right? This is how I play. If
17:06 you go back and watch any of my actual
17:07 plays, whichever one it is, by the way,
17:08 there's a bunch on the channel if you
17:10 want to watch me do this in action. I
17:11 didn't even really say that this is what
17:13 I'm doing. Just from re-watching my own
17:15 content, I've realized that this is what
17:16 I'm doing. So, when I was writing the
17:18 script, I was going back. I was watching
17:20 my stuff at two times speed, of course,
17:22 just to kind of see how I was resolving
17:23 scenes and stuff. And this is literally
17:25 the way that I was doing it without even
17:26 realizing that this is what I was doing
17:28 it. So, now that I put a little bit of
17:29 structure on it, I'm hoping that it's
17:31 going to help me in my solo journey in
17:33 the future. But, I would like to say not
17:34 everyone plays the same way, and that's
17:36 totally fine. So, if you have a fun
17:38 little solo game loop that you use on
17:40 the daily, please leave it down there in
17:42 the comments below because videos like
17:44 this are all about sharing our rules and
17:46 our wisdom and our ideas to help
17:48 everyone else in the solo world have
17:50 more fun in our hobby and in our scene,
17:52 okay? It's literally what this is all
17:53 about. So, shout out to you guys for
17:55 sharing your wisdom. I hope my wisdom
17:56 helps you. And I really do hope that
17:58 this here can can get you playing solo
18:00 without even picking up or buying
18:02 anything. And if you've watched to this
18:03 part of the video, you're lucky cuz I'm
18:05 going to tell you what I'm going to try
18:06 to do. I don't know how long it's going
18:07 to stay there, but in our Discord in
18:10 solo TTRPGs, I'm going to pin a link to
18:12 a Google doc that has this whole thing
18:14 structured out. So, if you didn't take
18:15 any notes the whole time, I think I made
18:17 that joke a couple times. Have no fear.
18:19 You can just go and get the PDF in our
18:20 Discord. All right? And there's no payw
18:22 wall to join our Discord. It's just a
18:23 good place for me to post links and
18:24 share things. And it's where all of us
18:26 can kind of share with each other.
18:27 So, you can even share your solo game
18:28 loop in there if you want. For now, take
18:30 a seat on the couch and roll initiative.
18:31 At least until you get to use a solo
18:33 game loop yourself. I have been Turk
18:34 from the Grouch Couch. Roll on that,
18:38 weirdos, and I'll see you next time.
18:43 [music] Like, share, subscribe.
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18:48 subscribe.
18:49 Subscribe. [music]
18:53 Like, share, like, share. Like, share,
