"Solo Gaming Mechanism?" Topic

Looking at some way to do small commando raids--probably mostly SF, probably solo, and certainly on tables no more than 3' square. Does anyone have a good system for dealing with guards and roving patrols? Herkybird, I've seen what you're doing in Star Wars games, and will certainly steal portions of your system, but I don't think it's quite up to guarding the Maximum Leader or securing the base.

You might try these freebies from THW.

link

Look at Nordic Weasel games on Wargames Vault. Actually Modiphius is printing his premiere set, Five Parsecs from Home now. It's got a good solitaire system. An old one, Clash on the Fringe, is Pay What You Want but you can get a feel for the way his systems work.

No End in Sight is interesting but the mechanics are more complex

Hi Robert!

You are correct about my solo system not working for the specialised scenarios you mention, it was not designed for that!
Good luck with your search!

I think Osprey Black Ops had rules for guards and patrols also.

Good luck

Not a system, per se, but here is something I've done to just add totally random elements into skirmish and adventure games.

When something happens of note (somebody rolls a 6 for initiative, or a 20 to hit, or the party reaches the spot that the pirates had marked with big red X on their treasure map) pull out a Boggle game and roll all the dice.

Then arrange as many of them as possible into words, or use one of those online Scrabble word finders to arrange them into words.

Now. the solo player, or group of players, finds a way to apply the words to some surprise event. This can be a lot of fun with imaginative players.

I'll second TwoHourWargames. But if that doesn't do it for you, then:

Use a die roll to answer yes/no questions and ask those questions when your troops reach interesting points on the table. The actual mechanics can be variable, ie:
1d6: 1-3 = yes, 4-6 = no
1d6: 1 = exceptional yes, 2-3 = yes, 4-5 = no, 6 = exceptional no
2d6: 1st is read as above, 2nd is used to determine strength of 1st roll (2 = yes, 5 makes it a very strong yes)

And you can add a +/- modifier if you think the chances should not be 50/50.
Questions would be along the lines of:
Does a patrol come around the corner? (simple yes/no)
Is the patrol larger than my team? (yes/no, a stronger yes would mean a bigger patrol)
Can another patrol see this patrol?

Mythic Game Master Emulator: link

I can't seem to remember where I found this idea, so it's based on my faulty memory of a role playing game. There was a column of numbers, maybe 1-10 on the left, and a row of modifiers across the bottom that were: highly unlikely, unlikely, average, probable, highly probable.
The columns were color coded: great success, success, uncertain, failure, great failure. You would roll 1d10, find that number in the left column, move across to the column of the modifier and check the color code. I hope that makes sense.

Here, this might help: link

Yea, Stryderg's examples are excellent.

The Mythic Game Master Emulator uses that system, and perhaps that is where he derived it from.

It permits you to run games without massive numbers of charts, or doing a lot of prepping in advance, using the system he shows in the link. In the GME, there is also the concept of a "Chaos Factor", which modifies the results some as well – the lower the Chaos Factor or Level, the less likely some things will happen or change. With a higher "Chaos Factor", scene changes and surprises are more likely to occur.

For dealing with roving patrols, you can also just create a table, or tables (with modifiers if desired), for the sentry guards and encounters with them, etc..

They can range from a very low chance of detection, especially by trained personnel trying to sneak/break in, to a very high chance of that for more secure facilities – varied rates of alertness, etc.:

Extremely Poor Security
Poor Security
Fair Security
Good Security – Average
Very Good "
Excellent "
Superb "

You can have the interlopers/trespassers have to roll every turn for being detected that they are next to, or inside a facility, or when they move around in it – detection chances for this should be lower for each turn/phase, since there will be multiple chances for that to occur.

Also, if desired, for a more abstract scenario scene, perhaps you may want to roll fewer times, and to just determine success or failure – in that case, higher ratings for ALL of the above should be used, since there will be fewer die rolls to determine the success of the raid/entry.

Eliminating or silencing sentries can be done using your existing rules, or using a table similar to the above too.

Thank you all. But am I missing something with THW? I've been sent links to their free download before. I've freely downloaded it. From here, it looks like the SF version of the Gunfight at the OK Coral. ("Blasters at Loading Dock Zero?") It's perfect for two small bands lining up opposite one another and shooting each other down until someone runs away or all of one side is dead.

Do I need to buy the fancy version to get anywhere?