Any good randomization systems for Solo play?

[JamesEightBitStar]

So, I really want to play D&D and other pen n' paper games... but thing is, I'm the only guy I know who knows the rules and plays oldschool. I could join a local gaming group but then I'd have to play 3E.

So I was thinking, random generation. 1e claims to have this... but I've found its system on random dungeon generation for solo play to be rather insufficient.

So does anyone know of such a system?

[Brad]

If you're playing solo D&D, this really isn't much more than hack-n-slash. Have you considered getting an Apple ][ emulator and playing the old Gold Box SSI AD&D games? Curse of the Azure Bonds and Pool of Radiance are both pretty decent games.

[JamesEightBitStar]

If you're playing solo D&D, this really isn't much more than hack-n-slash. Have you considered getting an Apple ][ emulator and playing the old Gold Box SSI AD&D games? Curse of the Azure Bonds and Pool of Radiance are both pretty decent games.

I actually own a boxed set of those. The PC MS-DOS versions, not the Apple II (I didn't even know they were released on Apple II, personally). Personally my favorite is Gateway to the Savage Frontier.

Though its not exactly the same as soloing the rulebooks.

[PapersAndPaychecks]

I had a go at writing a scenario for solo play, once. I might have another go; I've got some ideas about how it could work.

[stranger]

I have not seen anything I would call "good" to date.

If you have not tried them there are several solo modules you can try: Bsolo-Ghost of Lion Castle, Xsolo-Lathans Gold, CM5-Mystery of the Snow Pearls, Msol1-Blizzard Pass, Msol2-Maze of the Riddling Minotaur and MV1-Midnight on Dagger Alley. I am probably forgetting more but these give you something to look for if you have not tried them.

[T. Foster]

I have not seen anything I would call "good" to date.

If you have not tried them there are several solo modules you can try: Bsolo-Ghost of Lion Castle, Xsolo-Lathans Gold, CM5-Mystery of the Snow Pearls, Msol1-Blizzard Pass, Msol2-Maze of the Riddling Minotaur and MV1-Midnight on Dagger Alley. I am probably forgetting more but these give you something to look for if you have not tried them.

XSOLO, CM5, and MV1 (the latter two of which had a "magic viewer" gimmick where you had to use a piece of red plastic to read the text) were all thoroughly rancid and I wouldn't recommend them to anyone (I also seem to recall at least one of them being broken/unwinnable, but maybe I was just playing them wrong or wasn't clever enough at age 10...). M2 was better, almost passable, but its gimmick (use an 'invisible ink' pen to uncover the text, like one of those "Yes & Know" books) was even more annoying. I never owned M1 or BSOLO. There was also XS2 (Thunderdelve Mountain), but I never owned that one either.

[northrundicandus]

Judges Guild' Survival of the Fittest is kind of neat. I wonder if JG produced any other solo modules for D&D?

[dcs]

There's a whole rash of solo modules for Tunnels & Trolls if that's your bag.

[WSmith]

I have in the past just used the random dungeon generator in the DMG.

[JRMapes]

I dont have a copy here at the time with me but I do have a little program that was designed to help you write pick-a-path type solo adventures. Basically all it does it keep things easily numbered for you. I found it so-so. It does as advertised but it is an unnecessary item to write such adventures.

Basically all you need is a good word processor with tagged indexing capability or a cheat sheet index so you can easily recall where your entrances, exits, specials are located.


as for a program to play solo the best I cna suggest is the one that was in the download section here on the web site. It is taken straight from the random dungeon generator in the dmg.